Jedi

As Oscar Wilde once wittily quipped: Ewoks! Uck!The Ewoks are the bad idea whose presence mars the otherwise impressive third panel in the "Star Wars" triptych, "The Return of the Jedi." George Lucas should have used his new generation computer effects to erase a few dozen of the annoying little fuzzballs.But no: there they are in their gibbering millions, a race of cuddly little Poohs in leathery G-strings who yammer away like Daffy Duck on helium while waging war against an interstellar, thermonuclear power with stone age implements -- and winning.

Anthony Daniels admits that being a pop icon can get old. But the man who played the gleaming gold robot C-3PO in all six "Star Wars" movies is by no means complaining. When hundreds of thousands of people have been so touched by your work, it's hard to stay too down. "Yes, there were times when it felt old, and almost - I'm going to use the word 'embarrassing,' without meaning to be unkind," says the 63-year-old British actor, who will be at 1st Mariner Arena Wednesday night to serve as narrator for "Star Wars in Concert," a multimedia presentation of John Williams' Oscar-winning scores, complete with orchestra, a huge movie screen and all manner of light effects.

WASHINGTON -- Forget standing on line for eight hours or camping out overnight. Members of Congress and their aides got to see the re-release of "Return of the Jedi" the old-fashioned way.Free tickets.Dozens of lawmakers, Capitol Hill staffers and their families enjoyed a little intergalactic perk last night as they filed past the spotlights and into a free private screening at the Uptown Theater -- a preview of the "Jedi" re-release sponsored by Twentieth Century Fox.For the rest of the earthly population, the movie opens Friday.

Anthony Daniels admits that being a pop icon can get old. But the man who played the gleaming gold robot C-3PO in all six "Star Wars" movies is by no means complaining. When hundreds of thousands of people have been so touched by your work, it's hard to stay too down. "Yes, there were times when it felt old, and almost - I'm going to use the word 'embarrassing,' without meaning to be unkind," says the 63-year-old British actor, who will be at 1st Mariner Arena Wednesday night to serve as narrator for "Star Wars in Concert," a multimedia presentation of John Williams' Oscar-winning scores, complete with orchestra, a huge movie screen and all manner of light effects.

When you get close to 40, it's tough to justify playing with Star Wars action figures. But thanks to Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo and an army of video game programmers, we older kids have an outlet for our enthusiasm now that George Lucas has revved up the 25-year-old franchise with today's release of the latest movie installment, Star Wars: Attack of the Clones. The filmmaker's gaming company, LucasArts Entertainment (www.lucasarts.com), has turned out great and not-so-great titles over the years using the characters and story lines from the Star Wars pictures.

Are you hurt?" e-mailed a friend in mockery of the Saturday-serial dialogue style in Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones. "Are you blind?" I e-mailed back. For the latest entry in George Lucas' transgalactic saga of the moral rise and fall of Anakin Skywalker and the deterioration of democracy into despotism has an electric visual majesty and boasts Lucas' best direction since American Graffiti. All the talk about Lucas as an empire-builder clouds perceptions of him as an artist.

John Stears, 64, the father of James Bond's lethal Aston Martin, the Jedi Knights' light sabers, the endearing robots R2-D2 and C-3PO, and a host of other ingenious movie gadgets and special effects, died of a stroke June 28 at the University of California Medical Center in Los Angeles.Joseph Wheelwright, 93,a driving force behind the spread of Jungian psychoanalytic teaching, died June 22 at a convalescent home in Santa Barbara, Calif.Guy Mitchell, 72, a country-pop artist from the 1950s whose recordings of "Singing the Blues" and "Heartaches by the Number" skyrocketed to the top of the charts and became standards of the era, died Thursday in Las Vegas.

If you thought Star Wars was finally over after Episode III (that's film six for the uninitiated), think again. The force - it seems - will always be with us. Creator George Lucas has repeatedly denied plans to film yet another blockbuster trilogy, but that hasn't stopped him and his co-conspirators at LucasArts from cultivating adventures from the gaps between the existing films, such as last month's animated feature The Clone Wars. Released today, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, a new video game for most major platforms, has the ambitious task of bridging the 20-year gap between the two trilogies.

Things had been coming to a head at her Kinko's Copies job for some time. Diana Bradley figured the 10 a.m. screening of "Star Wars" at the Senator Theatre yesterday was as good a reason as any to quit. So she did.There was Bradley in the second row, reading a book in the dim, pre-show light while waiting for the newly released special edition of the 1977 film to begin.Bradley was among 400 or so "Star Wars" acolytes at the Senator yesterday morning for the film's first showing, most of them young adults who essentially grew up with Han Solo, Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia and their licensed character merchandise.

Lucasfilm Ltd., the production company founded by Star Wars creator George Lucas and owner of the Star Wars trademark, is suing a Maryland business that sells Star Wars light sabers through the Internet. Lucasfilm filed a patent-infringement lawsuit yesterday against William L. Osburn and an Abingdon company that he owns, High-Tech Magic, in U.S. District Court in the Northern District of California. High-Tech Magic is diluting the Star Wars trademark and making a profit by "confusing fans," Howard Roffman, president of Lucas Licensing, said in a statement.

If you thought Star Wars was finally over after Episode III (that's film six for the uninitiated), think again. The force - it seems - will always be with us. Creator George Lucas has repeatedly denied plans to film yet another blockbuster trilogy, but that hasn't stopped him and his co-conspirators at LucasArts from cultivating adventures from the gaps between the existing films, such as last month's animated feature The Clone Wars. Released today, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, a new video game for most major platforms, has the ambitious task of bridging the 20-year gap between the two trilogies.

Lucasfilm Ltd., the production company founded by Star Wars creator George Lucas and owner of the Star Wars trademark, is suing a Maryland business that sells Star Wars light sabers through the Internet. Lucasfilm filed a patent-infringement lawsuit yesterday against William L. Osburn and an Abingdon company that he owns, High-Tech Magic, in U.S. District Court in the Northern District of California. High-Tech Magic is diluting the Star Wars trademark and making a profit by "confusing fans," Howard Roffman, president of Lucas Licensing, said in a statement.

Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith is a pop masterpiece. George Lucas has done the near-impossible. He's kept his gloriously hyperbolic space fantasy so idiosyncratic and so personal that even its failings become expressive. From the first word -- "War!" -- Lucas plunges viewers into spectacular upheavals of men, women and aliens, cyborgs and droids, and then into a political maelstrom that's elating in its pertinence and audacity. Lucas dares to hinge it all on a love story: something still outside his writing-directing grasp.

When you get close to 40, it's tough to justify playing with Star Wars action figures. But thanks to Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo and an army of video game programmers, we older kids have an outlet for our enthusiasm now that George Lucas has revved up the 25-year-old franchise with today's release of the latest movie installment, Star Wars: Attack of the Clones. The filmmaker's gaming company, LucasArts Entertainment (www.lucasarts.com), has turned out great and not-so-great titles over the years using the characters and story lines from the Star Wars pictures.

Are you hurt?" e-mailed a friend in mockery of the Saturday-serial dialogue style in Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones. "Are you blind?" I e-mailed back. For the latest entry in George Lucas' transgalactic saga of the moral rise and fall of Anakin Skywalker and the deterioration of democracy into despotism has an electric visual majesty and boasts Lucas' best direction since American Graffiti. All the talk about Lucas as an empire-builder clouds perceptions of him as an artist.

John Stears, 64, the father of James Bond's lethal Aston Martin, the Jedi Knights' light sabers, the endearing robots R2-D2 and C-3PO, and a host of other ingenious movie gadgets and special effects, died of a stroke June 28 at the University of California Medical Center in Los Angeles.Joseph Wheelwright, 93,a driving force behind the spread of Jungian psychoanalytic teaching, died June 22 at a convalescent home in Santa Barbara, Calif.Guy Mitchell, 72, a country-pop artist from the 1950s whose recordings of "Singing the Blues" and "Heartaches by the Number" skyrocketed to the top of the charts and became standards of the era, died Thursday in Las Vegas.

Anthony Daniels admits that being a pop icon can get old. But the man who played the gleaming gold robot C-3PO in all six "Star Wars" movies is by no means complaining. When hundreds of thousands of people have been so touched by your work, it's hard to stay too down. "Yes, there were times when it felt old, and almost - I'm going to use the word 'embarrassing,' without meaning to be unkind," says the 63-year-old British actor, who will be at 1st Mariner Arena Wednesday night to serve as narrator for "Star Wars in Concert," a multimedia presentation of John Williams' Oscar-winning scores, complete with orchestra, a huge movie screen and all manner of light effects.

Anthony Daniels admits that being a pop icon can get old. But the man who played the gleaming gold robot C-3PO in all six "Star Wars" movies is by no means complaining. When hundreds of thousands of people have been so touched by your work, it's hard to stay too down. "Yes, there were times when it felt old, and almost - I'm going to use the word 'embarrassing,' without meaning to be unkind," says the 63-year-old British actor, who will be at 1st Mariner Arena Wednesday night to serve as narrator for "Star Wars in Concert," a multimedia presentation of John Williams' Oscar-winning scores, complete with orchestra, a huge movie screen and all manner of light effects.

SOMETIMES you just want to scream. Or find an M-16 and start shooting. Or write a really scathing column.Since the first two behaviors aren't acceptable, I'll pick the third. It's about a present for a sick kid that turned into a four-day ordeal.It started when my son Ben came down with a nasty case of the flu that kept him home for six days. On the third day of his confinement, he began to go stir crazy. When I asked what I could do, he suggested that I alleviate his suffering by purchasing a copy of Jedi Knight.

As Oscar Wilde once wittily quipped: Ewoks! Uck!The Ewoks are the bad idea whose presence mars the otherwise impressive third panel in the "Star Wars" triptych, "The Return of the Jedi." George Lucas should have used his new generation computer effects to erase a few dozen of the annoying little fuzzballs.But no: there they are in their gibbering millions, a race of cuddly little Poohs in leathery G-strings who yammer away like Daffy Duck on helium while waging war against an interstellar, thermonuclear power with stone age implements -- and winning.