Giant Freakin Robot

Yesterday we wrote about a rumor that may give away the ending of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. More than anything, I was surprised by people’s reactions. While I thought it sounded rather traumatic, many people have just sort of shrugged it off like no big deal. Today, because you can hardly go a day without new Star Wars rumors, we’ve got some reports about space pirates and the possible identity of Lupita Nyong’o’s character.

It should go without saying that there are potential SPOILERS beyond this point, and if you want to go into The Force Awakens blind, you should probably stop reading.

Do you want to know the end of Star Wars: The Force Awakens? If the answer is no, stop reading now, because this has the potential to ruin the entire experience for you, like even more than that big ass nuclear bomb of a spoiler that dropped some time ago. Like I said, this may be the end of the damn movie.

The Star Wars universe is expanding at a pace that fans have never experienced before. We’ve got Star Wars Rebels on our TVs, Star Wars: The Force Awakens heading to theaters, Rian Johnson’s Episode VIII and possibly Episode IX, and a slew of standalone movies. While we know that Godzilla’s Gareth Edwards is directing one of these, and Fantastic Four’s Josh Trank is helming another, everything else we know about them is unofficial. There have been all kinds of rumors about characters getting their own movie, and now we have another one to add to the pile, Jedi Knight Mace Windu.

Yoda, Han Solo, Boba Fett, and even Obi-Wan Kenobi are all names that have all been tossed around, but Mace Windu is an interesting proposition. The character was originally in drafts of the first three movies, but was removed and George Lucas brought him back for the prequels. He also appears in The Clone Wars animated series. Between those and his substantial presence in the Expanded Universe, there’s a lot of potential background and stories to mine (though the EU is not officially canon anymore, it is still open to be used as fodder for the new installments).

Guns in space are cool when it comes to Han Solo, Captain Kirk, or Ellen Ripley, but otherwise, most people agree that space should be kept weapon-free. That was a big focus of John F. Kennedy’s moonshot speech, as he intimated over and over that the USSR might use space as a “terrifying theater of war.” Space technologies have militaristic uses and connotations, even if they’re not designed for anything of the sort, which was why Russia’s successful launch of Sputnik in 1957 kicked the Space Race into high gear. The U.S. knew that if they had a rocket powerful enough to launch a satellite, they could also launch nukes. Plus, satellites can be used to spy. That’s part of why the U.N. and other countries approved the Outer Space Treaty, which, among other things, restricts the use of weapons of mass destruction in space, as well as using space for military bases or weapons testing (“The Moon and other celestial bodies shall be used by all States Parties to the Treaty exclusively for peaceful purposes”). Despite all this, it used to be common practice for cosmonauts to have access to a gun in the emergency kit of all Soyuz capsules.

Apparently, this all started in 1965 when a return Soyuz flight landed off-course, prompting survival stories that boasted bears, wolves, and other dangerous Siberian wildlife that warranted protection. Though the cosmonauts never actually had to fight anyone or anything and were quickly rescued, the idea had been born that certain situations astronauts encounter could be dangerous enough to warrant a gun. Even after the formation of the ISS, the practice continued.

Well here it is, the moment you’ve been waiting for since Disney bought Lucasfilm and announced there will be more Star Wars movies. We’re not talking about any official plot details or looks at the movie or anything like that, but now we do know what the J.J. Abrams-directed film is subtitled. Meet Star Wars: Episode VII—The Force Awakens.

This is…a title. To be honest, I don’t have particularly strong feelings on it either way, it’s just kind of bland. It’s also a serious departure from the super dramatic monikers like The Empire Strikes Back, The Phantom Menace, and Revenge of the Sith. Then again, Return of the Jedi isn’t the liveliest title ever. I have to say it’s better than The Ancient Fear, which was rumored to be the working title a while back.

World building is key in films like Star Wars, and a huge part of that is the costumes. Nothing throws off a movie quite as fast as when it doesn’t look right. From Han Solo’s vest to Chewbacca’s sweet bandolier to various Princess Leia outfits, the detail and precision in the clothing goes a long way to creating the look and feel of George Lucas’ original trilogy. A book that just came out last week, appropriately enough titled Star Wars Costumes: The Original Trilogy, digs into the aspect of the film in a way, and this book trailer gives you a good idea of what’s waiting for you inside these pages.

Author Brandon Alinger was given an unprecedented level of access to the costume archives at Skywalker Ranch, and the results looks like they’re going to be rather spectacular. As you can see here, Alinger goes into incredible detail, examining the outfits of everyone, from major players like Darth Vader all the way down to minor characters only the most hardcore fanatics can even correctly identify.