ReturnOfTheJedi
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'Star Wars Battlefront II' invites you to the dark side in November
The winners write the history books. When the second Death Star explodes over Endor in Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, the Rebel Alliance rejoices. It's a thrilling moment of victory after eons of interstellar military adventuring: Forests full of weary Ewoks, droids and soldiers burst into cheers, throwing their arms in the air. But what did members of the Galactic Empire do? How did the Imperial soldiers on Endor feel as they watched their dreams of a stable galaxy burst into flames, right in front of their eyes? What did they think as they watched their friends die? This is where Star Wars: Battlefront II begins.
ICYMI: The U.S. Army is making actual hover bikes
try{document.getElementById("aol-cms-player-1").style.display="none";}catch(e){}Today on In Case You Missed It: The Galactic Empire will have some competition for Speeder Bikes soon enough, from the US Army. Researchers there have been working on hoverbikes for a few years now, based on an Australian inventor's design. Make sure to watch the video of the temperatures stacking up each year, bringing us to the hottest recorded weather for 2016, or a video of the sunspot twice as big as Earth. As always, please share any interesting tech or science videos you find by using the #ICYMI hashtag on Twitter for @mskerryd.
The original 'Star Wars' trilogy is returning to theaters
If you yearn for the heady days when you could watch the original Star Wars movies in theaters, you're in for a treat. Alamo Drafthouse (a very big fan of classic movies) has arranged screenings of Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi in special locations over 20 cities over the course of August, starting in 7 cities on August 6th. These are the tweaked re-releases from 1997 (sorry, no despecialized versions here), but they'll give you a hint of what it was like to see the adventures of Luke, Leia and Han in their initial format.
Ancient LaserDisc is a treasure trove of unreleased Star Wars footage
They say you can't put a price on happiness, but we bet the Star Wars fan(s) who bought this LaserDisc off eBay didn't mind paying $699 for 30 minutes of bliss. After all, it contains 50 raw and behind-the-scene takes from Return of the Jedi, which the public has never seen before. Back in the day, Lucasfilm used LaserDiscs to save material due for processing on its proprietary EditDroid software, a precursor to modern-day systems like Final Cut Pro. The good news is that whoever it was that shelled out the money belongs to the light side of the Force and has chosen to share their good fortune. They're posting the disc's content bit by bit on a Facebook page, and right now, there are five videos you can watch to make the weekend better. Seeing as copyright issues might arise along the way, though, don't be surprised if the clips disappear faster than Yoda's body.
George Lucas officially announces Star Wars on Blu-ray in 2011
As rumored, all six Star Wars movies will be released together on Blu-ray in 2011 for the 35th anniversary of the release of A New Hope. George Lucas personally announced the set on stage at the Celebration V event, and showed off a deleted scene from Return of the Jedi that will be included (embedded after the break.) While the "highest picture and audio quality" and extensive special features are promised, what won't make it to Blu-ray are the original versions of the movies; Lucas told the New York Times that only the special editions will be included, since restoring the original versions in high enough quality would cost too much. No word on price, release date or any plans to release the films individually, but if you can stand living in a world where Greedo shot first then this will certainly be on next year's shopping list. [Thanks, @thunsaker]
