The name Ralph McQuarrie is one that should be a household name. He was the very first person to be hired by George Lucas to bring his idea Star Wars to the big screen. His conceptual paintings for all three original Star Wars films helped shaped the imaginations of an entire generation and every one since.

Saturday, March 3rd 2012 we lost that amazing mind at the age of 82. McQuarrie’s biggest impact on the world will be his work on the Star Wars films, but we would be remiss of we didn’t acknowledge some of his other conceptual works, including Back to the Future and the failed reboot of the original Star Trek, Phase II.

His early designs for the original Star Wars have grown a cult life of their own, with action figures, art prints and even Halloween costumes devoted to his earliest concepts. This is rarefied air in the world of conceptual art, as the very nature of the job is that your work will be twisted and changed for the final product.

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With Valentine’s Day hitting on Tuesday, it only makes sense that the box office would reflect that feeling of love we’re smelling in the air. It looks like guys and gals together made sure Valentine’s Day won the weekend, as Screen Gems’ The Vow starring Channing Tatum and Rachel McAdams managed to take the weekend with an estimated $41 Million.

In a very close second, the Denzel Washington vs. Ryan Reynolds flick Safe House brought in an estimated $39 Million, which wouldn’t be bad if the film’s budget wasn’t a total of $85 Million. Right behind that one was another financial conundrum, Dwayne Johnson’s Journey 2, which cost about $80 Million and only only netted $27 Million here in the states.

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If there is one thing George Lucas has mastered over the past few decades, it’s reminding us that the first three Star Wars films were a fluke. Between pre-teen Darth Vader, Jar Jar, and a ridiculous dance sequence in Jedi, we have all come to the realization that the phenomena of Episodes 4-6 should be untouched and never tainted by the hands of its creator.

With that in mind, Lucas is (kind of) backpedaling from a drastic change to A New Hope that had fans up in arms when the Remastered version was released. In it, the famous scene where Han Solo kills Greedo was brought into question. The original had Han shoot first, killing Greedo before he gets a chance to fire. In the new version, Lucas changed history (Long Time Ago, etc etc) by having Greedo shoot first and miss, allowing Solo to shoot to kill.

Turns out, Lucas never changed anything, he just pulled the camera out a bit. Yeah.

The controversy over who shot first, Greedo or Han Solo, in Episode IV, what I did was try to clean up the confusion, but obviously it upset people because they wanted Solo [who seemed to be the one who shot first in the original] to be a cold-blooded killer, but he actually isn’t.

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The fourth installment of the Underworld franchise tried to bring the series back to it’s bread and butter, Kate Beckinsale in skin-tight leather. That was seemingly all you need as the film bounced back from the disappointing third installment and stands tall with a similar start to that of the first two movies.

The estimated twenty-five and a half million dollar haul puts Awakening on pace to top the over all totals of the first and third movies, whether or not it can catch the series peak, set by Evolution, will depend on it’s hold next weekend. The per theater average and total screen numbers are comparable to the second film which performed the best up to this point in the series.

Coming in at an impressive nineteen million is Red Tails, the Lucasfilm tale of the famed Tuskegee Airman. The movie surpassed many expectations and out paced other fighter pilot films by a solid margin. Much like Underworld: Awakening, the critical reception of Red Tails has not been kind, so it will need strong word of mouth to maintain momentum into next weekend.

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I think George Lucas deserves some credit where it’s due, and say what you will about the prequels, the opening to Revenge of the Sith, with the dogfight over the planet was pretty awe-inspiring. So when the trailer for Red Tails came out, I was excited to see a Lucasfilm production that focused mainly on one of the strengths he still had.

And I’m pleased to say that he’s still got it. The dogfights in Red Tails look good, give a good sense of whose plane is whose (with the exception of the opening battle), further the plot, and build on each other. You can see the Lucas touch of following one plane during its flight then latching on to another.

In one sequence, a group (squadron?) take down a train, with one pilot taking it head on. Another shows how the under-equipped planes of the heroes are able to fight with lightning-fast German jets.

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This past weekend we saw the release of Beauty and the Beast in 3D, the most recent in a string of classic films getting a 3D face lift.  The next big re-release is only a few weeks away with the first of the Star Wars 3D updates. Lucas is starting with Episode One, and is moving on through the franchise with a new re-release every year.

Even though the prequel trilogy lives in infamy among most film fans, the impending arrival of a Star Wars film on the big screen still holds some weight. In advance of the February launch a new set of five posters has hit the web, each with a wildy different design and most of them actually pretty cool.

It is gratifying that the posters excise the existence of Jar Jar Binks completely, although it would have been nice had Jake Lloyd received the same treatment. The upcoming 3D versions of these films represents the greatest perk of the 3D post conversion era we live in.

To have an opportunity to watch classic films on the big screen again in new and exciting ways is an exciting proposition. Hopefully lesser films like the prequel trilogy don’t ruin it before we get back to the original trilogy.

You can see the whole set of new posters after the jump.

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There are 50 scripts out there somewhere, 50 episodes of a TV series that most fan boys can’t wait to see. The Star Wars live action show has been discussed for years, Lucas has the scripts ready but is waiting for technology to be cost effective enough to make a show that looks like the prequel trilogy every single week.

That is a daunting goal, and requires a bit of a waiting period while the world of digital effects catches up. In the mean time small tidbits about the show keep getting dropped like bread crumbs leading us through the forest. In a recent sit down with IGN, Rick McCallum let slip that the working title of the show is Star Wars: Underworld.

What we know so far about the show, is that it takes place in the twenty year gap between Episode III and Episode IV and will revolve around bounty hunters. This is a very intriguing concept for a show, showing the rise of the Galactic Empire from the perspective of the criminals who thrive under it’s rule. It is also very encouraging to hear McCallum discuss the darker nature of the scripts.

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As a fan of the Star Tours attractions on both coasts, I was excited to go to the D23 panel on the making of Star Tours: The Adventures Continue… I crowded into the 1,000+ seat ballroom, not knowing what Imagineer insights awaited me.

In true Disney fashion, the panel was a professionally crafted presentation, with no room for questions..errr, I mean error. In this panel, lead Imagineer, Tom Fitzgerald, spoke with the aid of Powerpoint and took us on the journey to bring this attraction into the future.

Tom Fitzgerald, began his Star Tours story in 1998 when George Lucas summoned the Imagineer team to his ranch to watch the pod race, and only the pod race. After seeing the infamous scene, the Imagineers decided to wait to see the rest of the film, hoping against hope that it would the pod race would be scrapped for something way cooler.

Ok, so Tom said, “In fact, we did think it was a great idea”, but I can read between the lines. Interestingly back in 1998, way before the 3D onslaught, the Imagineers knew the ride was going to be in 3D.

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Whatever your feelings about Star Wars, and in particular the second trilogy, Cartoon Network is doing a pretty good job with their animated series The Clone Wars. The show has already been on the air for three seasons and is very popular with fans new and old.

With season four about to get underway, Cartoon Network has revealed today the premiere date for that season and also sent us a cool trailer to help get you ready for it. And this new season promises to deliver even more thrills and excitement for fans.

Here’s the scoop for season four directly from the network:

As the heroic Jedi Knights and their clone army fight to preserve order, their efforts continue to be met with strong resistance from the massive Separatist droid army. Escalating and expanding into uncharted corners of the galaxy, the scope and scale of Star Wars: The Clone Wars continue to grow – with exotic adventures and enhanced animation strengthening ties to the Star Wars saga.

Within the galactic battle, fearsome foes from the past return to settle the score. As unexpected alliances are formed on both sides of the battle, the action explodes and the course of the war takes an unforeseen turn!

Star Wars: The Clone Wars premieres on Cartoon Network, Friday, September 16 at 8PM (E/P). Click through to check out the trailer for the new season.

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Presented without much in the way of comment is the first trailer for Red Tails, which tells the story of the first African American aerial combat unit in WWII. These men, also known as the Tuskegee Airmen, were the first men of color to fly in a combat squadron and fought bravely and overcame adversity to defend our country during the war.

The film features an impressive cast including Terrence Howard, Cuba Gooding Jr, Bryan Cranston and David Oyelowo. It’s directed by Anthony Hemingway with Charles Floyd Johnson and Lucas regular Rick McCallum producing. George Lucas is executive producing. Let’s not confuse this with the film The Tuskegee Airmen with Lawrence Fishburne. This one looks like it has better effects.

The film will be released on January 20, 2012 from Fox. Check out the trailer after the break.

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With the Blu-Ray release of the Star Wars saga coming this September, 20th Century Fox is titillating fans with a sneak peek at some of the extras, including this trailer of some footage cut from the original trilogy.

The clip shows a handful of glimpses at some deleted scenes, including the “wampas in the Hoth base” sequence. These aren’t from the digitally remastered/Greedo-shoots-first editions released in the late ‘90s; these are from the original original films, right down to the ‘70s film grain—and that’s not to say they look fuzzy. They’re as crisp and good-looking as you could want.

Fox plans to release Blu-Ray editions of both the original trilogy as well as the prequels and, for the fans who need every damn thing, a whopping nine-disc Complete Saga edition that will include over 30 hours of special features from deleted and alternative scenes like these to, well, pretty much anything else George has lying around in the archives.

You can view the trailer after the jump.

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Now it all makes sense. For years fans have wondered what happened to the visionary genius responsible for films like American Graffiti, Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back. Now, the truth can be told.

Apparently, the real George Lucas has been imprisoned for many years and an impostor has taken his place. How else can one explain the later Star Wars films and the endless obsession with “improving” the original ones.

In this new video from YouTube’s own Slick Gigolo we finally have the real story from the real man himself: George Lucas. At last.

Check out the video after the break. That is, if you can handle the truth.

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