The next Star Wars film, which opens on December 15, will be a prequel to the first one, made in 1977. Just how much Star Wars can the world stomach? And is looking backwards to move forwards such a good idea?
How long will it be before we can open doors and send emails with just our minds?
Star Wars: The Force Awakens has been praised for avoiding computer generated effects, but why does CGI deserve such a bad name?
Image courtesy of Lucasfilm.
A growing vocal minority blame poor computer generated images for ‘ruining’ the movies. But digital effects can co-exist with real sets and stunts - and films have always been fake.
You may want to be careful with that, Darth!
Kenny Louie/Flickr
We’re on the cusp of being able to consistently launch and land rockets, greatly reducing the cost of space travel. But how long before there’s a Millennium Falcon in every garage?
The cast of the film ‘Spotlight’ reacts after they won the Oscar for Best Picture at the 88th Academy Awards.
Mario Anzuoni/Reuters
The bad guys in Star Wars: The Force Awakens might be able to destroy multiple planets at once with their Starkiller Base but it’s far from efficient warfare.
Return of the Jedi saw Emperor Palpatine’s regime brought crashing down – but the hard peace-building work to save the galaxy from a relapse was clearly never done.
Daisy Ridley plays the character Rey.
20th Century Fox
It was by no means a sure thing that Star Wars’ innovative beginning endured until the modern day. Here’s the story of its various scrapes with the wrecking ball.
BB-8 (left) is a new droid addition to the Star Wars universe.
Disney
Four decades later, I find myself surveying 13 billion years of cosmic history and mapping events that really did happen a long time ago in galaxies far, far away.