Star Wars 7: The Fallen Hero...yes, it continues.

Most of us stalwart (and low-grade) Star Wars fans are aware that Revenge of the Sith may be the last installment in Geoge Lucas’ epic saga of good and evil. Episode III was the last one filmed, though not the last in the chronology of the Star Wars story proper. That was Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (originally titled Revenge of the Jedi btw).

For the uninitiated, here is how all six movies came to us...in the order they were filmed. Be patient...I will be getting to Episode VII in a moment.

Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (1977)
Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (1983)
Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999)
Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones (2002)
Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005)

George and his merry band of LucasFilm men and women are busy at work on Episodes 7, 8, and (I think) 9. Doing all of this from the safety and security of (possibly) an underground bunker deep in the hills of Marin County. These further episodes will not be theatrical...they will be for television. What the plot lines will concern I will not elaborate here...simply because I don’t care! But if you are a true SW Geek, you may want to visit this SuperShadow.com site. They claim, among other things, to be the only official site of George Lucas. This mysterious SuperShadow guy is supposedly a highly-paid consultant to LucasFilm and has been instrumental for years in the development of all the Star Wars and Indiana Jones scripts. Check it out and decide for yourself whether or not this guy is for real!

According to this SS site above, Episode 7 picks up thirty years after Return of the Jedi...remember...Episode 6? Pardon me for changing to numbers from Roman numerals...it may be easier to follow! Here are a few tidbits. The evil emperor (Sidious) and Vader are long gone...remember? In Return of the Jedi, Vader ran out of gas fighting Luke and was revealed at the end of Episode 6 to look like Humpty Dumpty without his cool Darth Vader helmet. Between you and me, I was really disappointed that he didn’t look like James Earl Jones. Just before that, Vader picked up the evil Emperor and tossed him in the reactor...or somewhere that symbolized Hell I think.

Anyway...in the years since Endor (the forest planet with those annoying Ewoks), the remnants of the Empire have been defeated and the New Republic formed out of the ashes of the Empire. Evidently, enemies against the New Republic still exist (of course!). A rogue group of Dark Jedi have emerged that threaten the stability of the New Republic. Here now, according to SuperShadow.com, is a sampling of the players in Episode 7. There is a Dark Jedi named Asp. Padawan Ben Skywalker is the son of Luke and someone named Mara Jade. And padawan Anakin Solo, is the son of Han and Leia...yes, it looks like they hooked up after dancing with the Ewoks! These two are buddy Jedis...sound familiar and predictable.? Hang on. Little Luke is now head of the Jedi Council. The leader of the Dark Jedi, Shindor, has a plan to makes clones of Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker in order to fulfill the prophecy...that Vader and Luke rule the galaxy hand in hand as father and son....remember? This Shindor guy even wants to reattach Lukes real hand...which evidently was found and preserved by another Dark Jedi named Spiden. I guess they didn’t have an eBay back then, or it would have fetched a pretty penny for Spiden!

I won’t go on any further...but you get the idea. Actually, as I read on...it’s an interesting story line. A story line no more bizarre than the previous six. My own personal concern? They will be made for television as Lucas has apparently retired from big screen stuff. It’s just getting too expensive (over $200 million to produce the last one), and television is considerably cheaper.

As a low-grade Star Wars fan, I will be interested to see what they come up with. I must be careful describing myself as a SW Fan...as real, fervent SW Fans can get quite testy if you don’t get the details exact. I’d hate for some geek dressed in a Darth Vader outfit show up at my door and try to choke me with his thoughts! I must use caution. And, as I recently found out through this SS site, all Jedis...both good and bad...can do that mind choking thing. That comes from years of these guys choking the chicken while watching Star Wars. They can even do that with their mind...how convenient.

Also in the works...Indiana Jones 4. This will supposedly be the “crown jewel” of all the Indy moves. Lucas will produce, Spielberg will direct. Harrison Ford will get a reported $50 million to don that old fedora again. It is planned for production this year...to be released in 2008. I can’t wait for that one...really!

May the force be with us.