Star Wars

Important reader advisory regarding "Star Wars: Episode 1 -- The Phantom Menace":Here are just some of the stories we understand U.S. newspapers are planning in advance of the movie's May 19 opening -- just 12 days from now! -- perhaps the most important event of this or any lifetime. Additional stories will undoubtedly appear, warranted or not.* STARWARS-IMPACT: How the first movie focused the industry on special-effects blockbusters aimed at teen-age boys, helped create the summer movie season, changed movie sound systems, and led people to believe Mark Hamill could act.* STARWARS-HISTORY: How does "The Phantom Menace" fit into this "Star Wars" trilogy?

SACRAMENTO - When it comes to Star Wars and toys, it's not just child's play. With Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith set to open in theaters May 19, fans are already feeling the force from a new batch of movie-related merchandise. But with everything from action figures to video games beckoning from the store shelf, where to begin? Since the 1977 release of the original Star Wars film, toys and other items have been hot property - for both kids and adult collectors. In fact, Star Wars toys are a rare when-worlds-collide example of a product line equally popular among mainstream shoppers and hobbyists, says James Bullock, who runs the Pasadena, Calif.

There are visible seams down Leia's sides where the front and back molds meet. The leg-body joints are crude. For a weapon, Leia carries what appears to be a generic German Luger. However, despite the figure's crudity, there is no doubt that Hungarian children enjoyed them ...-- A bootleg Hungarian Princess Leia doll, as described in the journal of the "Star Toys Museum"And we mustn't forget the tortilla chips. Among the 5,000 pieces of "Star Wars" ephemera in Thomas Atkinson's museum, a Papa John's pizza box holds the single greatest tribute to the pop phenomenon that is "Star Wars."

Thirty years have passed since America was given a new hope, then watched an empire strike back and a Jedi return, but an exhibit at Geppi's Entertainment Museum in Baltimore serves as a reminder that the Force is still with us. Filled with just a sampling of a local collection, the museum's Special Edition Gallery features glass display cabinets are chock-full of Star Wars paraphernalia: a box of Queen Amidala bandages, giant PEZ dispensers with Darth...

PASADENA, Calif. -- Jorge Candelas spent eight months perfecting the look of his Imperial biker scout uniform. He watched the Star Wars movies over and over, making sure the plastic armor on his uniform sat at just the right angle. He endured teasing from his father, who calls him his "8-year-old who never grew up." But on Thursday, the 30-year-old computer engineer from Durango, Mexico, was marching proud. He joined 200 fellow Star Wars fanatics at a Pasadena high school football field, attempting to march in unison on the commands of a U.S. Army Reserve colonel in preparation for the 118th Rose Parade.

The worst thing about the 20th anniversary re-release of "Star Wars" is all the news stories and reviews that begin with lame wordplay on "the force is with us" or "in a galaxy a long time ago, far far away." I include my own: Enough already with the schlock!The best thing about it is "Star Wars." Big, fast-moving, incredibly enjoyable, the movie remains a trip and a half, and any kid out there who hasn't seen it on the big screen ought to get to the nearest one and settle in for the experience.

Holy whiskers, Pasadena! Aliens, monsters and people in poorly matched underwear are stalking Ritchie Highway!But fear not. Kirk Ringer and Matt Tucker have come to save the day.The 27-year-olds own Sci-Fi Station, a store at Festival Plaza that sells science fiction, horror and fantasy collectibles and memorabilia. It is the first of its kind in the county, they say.For the casual fan, X-Files T-shirts, Batman and Robin figurines, Dungeons & Dragons role-playing games and Terminator 2 CD-ROM games line the floor and walls of the 1,250-square-foot store.

Jerome "Flick" Schaefer fesses up to being one of those Star Wars geeks obsessed with George Lucas' 28-years-in-the-making space opera. But even he was taken aback by the fans who have camped outside the Senator in recent years to ensure they get a ticket for that all-important midnight showing on opening day. "I knew this was a huge event," says Schaefer, an editor and commercial videographer for WBFF-Channel 45, "but it shocked me that all those people...

This must be the surface of a strange moon, sifted with pale dust. Obi-Wan Kenobi is here. So is Lania D'Agostino. "Grab his legs!" she cries. The Jedi is soon pinned. Poised above him, D'Agostino brandishes a reciprocating saw like a lightsaber. This moment will not appear in Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, the final installment in the Star Wars prequel trilogy due in theaters this spring. It's a scene from D'Agostino's daily life. The moon is the Baltimore artist's second-floor Federal Hill studio, which is powdered white with dried polyester resin.

FEW THINGS spooked the collapsing Soviet Union more than the Reagan administration's fascination with a futuristic, Star Wars-type missile defense system. Communism may be gone, but Russia's acting President Vladimir Putin is equally worried about a similar, hugely expensive weapons concept being studied by the Clinton administration. The long and short of it is that the United States -- even after Tuesday's failed attempt to destroy a fake nuclear warhead above the Pacific Ocean -- has enough money to experiment with the high-tech concept.