Get out your blasters and warm up those light sabers-the final installment of the Star Wars prequel trilogy, starring Hayden Christensen, Natalie Portman, Ewan Mcgregor and Samuel L. Jackson, is set to come out in May 2005! That’s right, folks, in less than a year all the movies will finally reach their conclusion, in what I hope will be a blaze of glory.

You may ask, “Why the advance notice, Jedi Pariante? It’s only Star Wars.” I will then look at you and say, “ONLY STAR WARS!” And proceed to give you some stats about the movies. Such as how much money the movies made (the original trilogy consisted of “Episode IV: A New Hope,” “Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back” and “Episode VI: Return of the Jedi,” which were re-released in the ’90s, so the grosses are based on those amounts.

“Episode IV” made roughly $513,700,00, “Episode V” made over $525,000,000 and “Episode VI” made around $391,800,000. The prequel trilogy (which will be completed in 2005) consists of “Episode I: The Phantom Menace” and “Episode II: Attack of the Clones.” “Episode I” made $925,600,000 and “Episode II” made over $630,000,000. (All grosses are gathered from the movie geek paradise, The Internet Movie Database).

It’s not just about the money or the bling-bling movie effects. What makes Star Wars so special are the fans. As anyone who has seen the “Conan O’Brian” episode where Triumph pokes fun at the fans outside a theater before an episode knows that Star Wars fans are rather different. Fans have actually gone to see the movies costumed as their favorite characters. I assure you that I did not do that for “Episode I” and “Episode II,” but I plan on it for “Episode III” … which means I might be seeing the movie alone.

Of course when observing a species of fans, such as the Star Wars fans, one must go to their natural habitat. So I took my membership to the official Star Wars website… I mean I happened to come across the Official Star Wars website (www.starwars.com) and decided to check out the message boards for “Episode III.” The message boards have everything from rumors to debates over not just “Episode III,” but all the movies.

The boards also have a nifty poster trivia game, where fans fill in the blank, name the film and who said it. I believe the poster title says it all. The game is quite simple, the posters are given a quote like: “Join _______ and ____ ___ will ____ the _____ as ___ ___ son.” Then they must fill in the rest of the quote, guess the character and the movie. Fun, eh? Well, not everyone might think so, but they have quite a few posters for fans to try out.

Strangely, I feel at home at the boards, for I find people who love Star Wars more than I, and who wait in just as much anticipation for “Episode III.”

After hanging out and reading spoilers (bits about what will happen in a movie that might spoil it for others), I decided to reach out to my fellow dorks for some help. I added a brief post to the miscellaneous section, asking to help me out with writing an article for my college paper.

Compared to the other posts, I didn’t get many responses, but the ones that I did get gave me some great input. Poster Ke Knivek was an original fan and had this to say about the movies and the upcoming “Episode III”:

“I was 5 years old when the original Star Wars opened, and the impression it made (from the opening Star Destroyer zooming overhead to the destruction of the Death Star) was magical. Imagining what happened before, after, and in between has always been a huge part of the Star Wars experience for me. The prequel movies have added a lot to the Star Wars legacy by exploring some of those areas. ‘Episode III’ will redefine how everyone sees Darth Vader in the Original Trilogy. For that fact alone, I’ll be in line the first day (I don’t dress up, however).”

Darth F@nboy is a little more on the point of “Episode III”:

“My thoughts of III: It will be a great movie. We get PT and OT put together, more Vader action, see the home planet of wookiee’s, find out the week spot of Jedi and see the birth of Luke and Leia! I can’t wait! Favorite character: Darth Vader!”

Hangover Boy chose to comment on the community that I was now entering into and had some insights about these dorks:

” It’s really amazing how one (then 2 more) movies have created an entire community of people. It has brought many people together and because of that, the whole concept of Star Wars has grown exponentially. With every new fan, a new view has been presented to the overall imagination. People who were once fans are now contributing to the SW Saga by writing books, comics, and other Media. A universe this large hasn’t existed since Tolkien created the world and history of Middle Earth. Now, with the new movies, Star Wars has been extended out to a new generation. This proves that Star Wars will live on forever.”

As excited as these posters (and I) are, it is still 353 days until the movie comes out and I can promise you that this will be the Star Wars movie to see. “Episode III” ties together all the movies. This is the movie that shows why Anakin goes to the Dark Side and is also the episode where twins Luke and Leia (played in the OT by Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher) are born. Hopefully, (unless George Lucas messes it up a la Jar Jar Binks), this will be a great movie that will put the Star Wars series to rest, at least the movies. Currently, there are numerous books, comics and a cartoon about the “Clone War” that keep the Star Wars universe alive with fans.

So, it is time for me to depart and get some actual work done (and not just on my costume mind, you!). Here is the answer to the fill in game “Join me and together we will rule the galaxy as father and son.” This line was said by Darth Vader in “Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back.”

May the Force be with you.