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The Tunisian desert region used as a location for the original "Star Wars" and as a tourist destination for fans of the film franchise is now reportedly crawling with a threat more insidious than marauding Sand People — ISIS terrorists. Particularly hard hit has been Tataouine, the Tunisian town that inspired George Lucas to name Luke Skywalker's home planet, Tatooine, and now a pit stop for wannabe jihadists headed to join ISIS in nearby Libya, CNN reported. Three men were arrested nearby the town that's just 60 miles from the Libyan border and arms caches were confiscated nearby, one of...

A new patent granted to aircraft, defense and security company Boeing is taking its cues from science fiction. Just like the glowing energy shields seen protecting troops, machines and even spacecraft in Star Wars and Star Trek, the design -- named "Method and system for shockwave attenuation via electromagnetic arc" -- uses energy to deflect potential damage.

Force Awakens Score in Los Angeles John Williams is currently hard at work composing the score for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which will be recorded in Los Angeles. For the recording of the score, Williams will work with members of the superb freelance orchestra with which he’s recorded numerous film scores over the years. The music will be recorded over several months while working in tandem with the film’s editorial and special effects teams on the West Coast. While previous films in the saga were scored at Abbey Road with the celebrated London Symphony Orchestra, this will be the...

A while back I observed the contrast between the modern leftists’ self-image and the actual political reality of the policies they support. [T]he media and Hollywood types have always convinced themselves, as George Lucas did, that their villains were metaphors for George W. Bush or a cautionary tale about the evils of the right. But here we are, the Old Republic is being dissolved, and it’s their hero who is doing it. They find themselves on the side of the Empire. In effect, they have become the Party of Palpatine. You never thought that a fictional dictator, such as the...

Two pieces of Star Wars news were confirmed on Thursday during Disney’s shareholder meeting in San Francisco. Star Wars VIII will be released on May 26, 2017, and will be written and directed by Rian Johnson of Looper fame. The film continues the saga after the events of Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens. Disney's Bob Iger also revealed the spinoff movie Star Wars: Rogue One will start shooting this summer.

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)The Star Wars franchise quieted critics of its primarily white casts in November after the trailer for The Force Awakens revealed John Boyega as the first black stormtrooper, but now the series is growing more diverse and will reportedly feature its first lesbian character. Del Rey Books editor Shelly Shapiro has revealed that the upcoming Star Wars novel Lords Of The Sith, written by Paul S. Kemp, will introduce the first canonical LGBT character in the world of the science fiction juggernaut. Sci-fi website Big Shiny Robot reports the upcoming novel will feature a character named Moff Mors, who is...

Pretty much everyone who has ever seen "Star Wars" would love to be able to fly the Millennium Falcon around the galaxies. One crafty individual going by the social-media moniker Olivier C is living that dream, and released a YouTube video of himself piloting a custom Millennium Falcon radio-controlled quadcopter drone he built himself.

Ever wanted to see what happens when Star Wars and Star Trek clash? Well in this epic trailer you will see. It is time for Star Wars VS Star Trek!

George Lucas had already been planning to make a seventh Star Wars film before he sold his company Lucasfilm to Disney. When the auteur handed over his iconic franchise he also gave the studio his plotline for Star Wars: Episode 7. Disney, however, did not use any of the 70-year-old filmmakers ideas for the new installment.

Two years after buying Lucasfilm for $4 billion, Disney is starting to reveal just how Star Wars will be integrated into the company’s theme parks. Main attractions will be based on new sequels and spinoffs — the first of which, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, bows next year — not the older films in George Lucas’ sci-fi franchise, according to Walt Disney Co. chief Bob Iger. “There will be a much larger Star Wars presence in our parks globally,” Iger said during a Q&A at Variety’s Dealmakers Breakfast on Wednesday, sponsored by Delta Air Lines and Bank of America. “But...

Lucas, who created the "Star Wars" universe with the launch of the first film in 1977, has been relatively hands-off with the upcoming Episode VII, a fact that didn't go unnoticed by fans upon viewing the flick's first teaser, which features more practical effects than CGI. And it turns out, that non-involvement stretches to even watching the trailer itself.

Now that the trailer for the seventh "Star Wars" movie is out, you can imagine the anticipation among the millions of fans of the film franchise. And why not? The six "Star Wars" films have been enormous successes: they have grossed over $2 billion domestically at the box office, spawned scores of books, comic books and merchandise (how many kids have their own light saber?) and made household names of characters like Darth Vader, Han Solo and Luke Skywalker. They've also been the worst thing ever for the science fiction genre.

Earlier today, it seemed like #BlackStormtrooper might actually eclipse #BlackFriday as a trending topic. That’s because the official trailer that aired Friday for the next film in the Star Wars saga—The Force Awakens, directed by J.J. Abrams and scheduled for release in December 2015—opens on a black man wearing a stormtrooper’s uniform. The man, who is played by John Boyega (of Attack the Block), pops into view perspiring and panting hard. He is surrounded by desert: in all likelihood the rolling dunes of Tatooine, the homeworld of both Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader. And he appears to be in trouble.

It is maddeningly short, but the first official glimpse of Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens serves as a fitting reminder that a galaxy far, far away is actually much closer than we thought. While returning cast-members Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher are absent from the 88-second montage, fans are given a first look at the younger generation of cast-members to feature in this, the first of three planned sequels. Opening some 30-years after Return of the Jedi, the teaser kicks off with British actor John Boyega racing across a desert landscape dressed in full Storm trooper...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DCDYSJwwE4

That great disturbance in the force you felt this morning? It was just Disney announcing the official title of Star Wars: Episode VII. What? You think they were just going to stick with the roman numerals? ... Star Wars: The Force Awakens Cool, right? Or do you hate the title so much that you immediately went to www.nooooooooooooooo.com to press the button? Either way, we came up with a big list of alternate titles, just in case J.J. & Co. change their minds. You're welcome, Disney! Star Wars: The Force Awakens (And It's Really Cranky From Its Nap) Star Wars:...

If you feel a disturbance in the Force, it’s millions of voices suddenly crying out the new title of Star Wars: Episode VII — The Force Awakens. The reveal comes as the movie finishes its final day of shooting (with many more months of post-production to come.)

You're probably aware that most sci-fi space battles aren't realistic. The original Star Wars' Death Star scene was based on a World War II movie, for example. But have you wondered what it would really be like to duke it out in the void? PBS is more than happy to explain in its latest It's Okay To Be Smart video. -break- ...even close-up combat might not happen. Given the sheer distances and the limits of the speed of light, it might look more like classic naval warfare...

We don't have X-wing fighters just yet, but we may soon have their laser weapons. DARPA is working on a system that's downright Lucasian. Prepare yourself for a future filled with real-life pew pew! The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is working with Lockheed Martin to test "a new beam control turret... to give 360-degree coverage for high-energy laser weapons operating on military aircraft." In other words, it stuck a primitive (by rebel standards) "Star Wars"-style laser cannon on a fighter jet and flew it over Michigan eight times. "These initial flight tests validate the performance of our ABC turret...

George Lucas, the man behind the mega-successful interplanetary saga Star Wars, may well have retired, but his spirit looms large at the famous Skywalker Ranch. The creator of Luke, Leia, Indiana Jones and Darth Vader bought the property in 1978 with proceeds from his first blockbuster hit, Star Wars to realise his dream of creating a haven for filmmaking outside Hollywood, at a cost of around $100 million (Dh367 million), according to the Wall Street Journal. Rare visitors allowed into the huge complex — 1,900 hectares near San Francisco — must first weave around hills, orchards, and pastures occupied by...