As May the Fourth, AKA the unofficial Star Wars Day, approaches, Disney and Lucasfilm have started to blast us with news about the 2015 release of Episode VII. Important news! Not that knowing John Williams will be orchestrating the soundtrack again (thank God!), or a teaser picture of the first cast member announced, R2-D2, wasn’t important enough but come on! We’ve been as anxious as Luke whining about joining the academy for something that will get us excited about the continuation of a pop culture icon!

And then within a four-day span Disney and Lucasfilm blew up our main reactor with the news that the Expanded Universe means nothing, and then made us as giddy as Ewoks (are Ewoks giddy, they can be!) with the release of a photo of the main cast of Episode VII sitting on comfy chairs in warehouse in London.

Being a Star Wars geek, or dork (just don’t call me nerd!), I felt a need to write about this news. And I did!

Star Wars Cast Revealed!

Every now and then I run across a picture that puts chills down my spine. Old black and white photos of Yankee legends Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, classic western towns, and any photo of Kate Upton (and to be fair this GQ photo shoot of my all-time crush Rachel Green from 2009, and this Princess Leia Rolling Stone shoot from 1980) normally pique my … interest.

Where was I? Oh right. On Tuesday StarWars.com released the most recent photo that heightened the hair on the back of my neck. This picture was released in conjunction with the announcement of the cast of Star Wars: Episode VII.

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I know, seems silly, seeing a bunch of actors sitting in a circle about to do a first-read of the Star Wars script (I’m sorry did I say “sounds silly”, I mean “SOUNDS AWESOME!”), but something about the photo made me feel like I was part of the group. I mean look how cool and relaxed it seems. Everyone just casually hanging out, talking, knowing their about to kickstart something very, very cool. And then there’s Chewy (Peter Mayhew, farthest on the right), analyzing the script. Like he has tough lines or something. “Wave furry hands in the air in disgust and cry out WAARRGGHH!”

Oh, and I know that there are bigger and better things that we should be thinking about instead of this movie, but for some of us that are going through a rough patch in our life, this picture, and this news, allows us to take our mind off of the stressful part of our every day life. So leave me be!

Yes, just the excitement of seeing original cast members like Mayhew and Anthony Daniels, was enough to make me dance around like I was on Endor, and Lando and labia lips Nien Nunb had just torched the second Death Star.

Okay, so it was a bad attempt to be different. The real excitement is seeing Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher in the picture confirming their return to the film franchise.

I wasn’t totally surprised that the announcement was made. If you read my prior post from Friday, you read that I felt, “big news is on the binary sunset horizon and I hope that news brings more optimism.”

Geez, back-to-back Dork Side posts. Sorry Mom for boring you!

Am I optimistic about this casting announcement? Heck to the Yeah I Am!

Adam Driver was already confirmed as the likely villain, throw a black hooded robe on him and I can definitely see a future Sith. Will creepy Max von Sydow be the old wise Sith that shows Driver the way of the Dark Side (thus setting us up for the final two of this trilogy)? Or will he play the Alec Guinness role?

Will Andy Serkis play a Gollum CGI-like role in Episode VII, or will we see him live and on-screen?

Oscar Isaac earned praise for leading the Coen Brothers’ Inside Llewyn Davis, he can’t be so bad as Han and Leia’s son. Maybe Domhnall Gleeson, who has a Jedi look to him, and John Boyega, will be future Jedi, though both could fill the Han and Lando smuggler type characters.

As much as there was some bugaboo about only one new woman joining the cast (have no fear, I’m sure there are other actresses – and actors – that will play parts in this film), I think the one I’m most interested in is Daisy Ridley. Not just because she’s obscure, but because I have a feeling this is our hero. Whether it be as Han and Leia’s daughter, or not, Star Wars has always had that strong female character and I just feel our protagonist is going to be a female, and it’s going to be Miss Ridley. Plus, in staying with tradition, George Lucas always hired complete unknowns as his leads (SEE: Hamill and Hayden Christiansen).

Even Luke Skywalker himself is excited about this cast!

I have to second what my Star Wars-loving Pastor had to say, “I’m just excited for some new action figures.” Count me in for a Ridley and Driver 3 3/4-inch figure!

I was a little unsure when the original news broke about Disney taking over Lucasfilm. And I wasn’t quite sure how I felt about the Expanded Universe news. But hiring J.J. Abrams, a self-proclaimed fanboy, having he and Empire Strikes Back writer Lawrence Kasdan (who also penned Oscar nominated screenplays for The Big Chill, The Accidental Tourist and Grand Canyon), and now this mix of old and new cast members makes me giddy!

And I’m excited that my trio of kids will have their own generation of Star Wars heroes and villains to get to know. I hope Ridley is the hero. My daughter loves to occasionally play with the 3-4 variety of Leia figures that I had when I was a kid. Lil’ Levi likes Chewie (and he’ll be back), Lukas is a Han Solo fan and me … I still love me some whiny Luke Skywalker. I can’t wait! Only 596 days, 8 hours and 57 minutes remain until I’m standing in line for the movie!

Just got chills again!

Expanded Universe 

Every day I sit patiently waiting for Star Wars: Episode VII news to break.

A few months back I set Google up to inform me daily of anything with “Star Wars” and “Star Wars Rumors” in the storylines.

I’ve gotten nothing. Other than the movie is set to release in December 2015. Shooting for the film is said to be beginning next month. Casting should be completed. The only confirmed announcements are J.J. Abrams helmed as director and R2-D2 will return.

Until today when Lucasfilm announced that the Expanded Universe, the too many to list books, comic books, and video games, mean nothing to what is considered the Star Wars universe. The only things canon, as they call it, are the six films (darn Phantom Menace made the cut) and The Clone Wars cartoon series.

I have mixed feelings on this. I’ve only read a few of the Expanded Universe books. I know just the basic storylines, and was intrigued by the stories of Han and Leia’s children, and how one turns evil like Grandpa Darth and is taken out by his twin sister. The stories sounded exciting, and I was hoping to see them developed on-screen.

Except they won’t. All that hard work that the writers of these hundreds and hundreds of Star Wars books put in, goes for naught. My buddies hundred and hundreds of dollars spent on EU books, oh they mean nothing now. I feel bad for those, like him, that were heavily invested in the EU and treated them like they were part of the series. And they were for a while, we thought.

I can see why Disney would do this. They can start fresh. Create their own canon, their own storyline. Sometimes you have to blow it all up and start over (SEE: Death Star II), as the Emperor might say, “Wipe them out…all of them!”

Disney had to let those that believed in the EU know that things are about to get whacked out. There will be different characters, different planets, different stories than the ones they read in the EU books. Plus, it gives the screenwriters and director freedom to not worry about the EU fanboys that take the Star Wars universe too serious. I mean, how fun is it if we know the end of the next trilogy?

Still it’s hard to think they’re just going to wipe out 30 years of storylines and start anew. There are already four books scheduled for release before next winter’s continuation of the original trilogy – and they look interesting. Okay, maybe not “A New Dawn,” which is just trying to get us excited for the Star Wars: Rebels cartoons that Disney is producing, but a story told by the point of view of my boyhood idol, Luke Skywalker, called “Star Wars: Heir to the Jedi.”

I’m still optimistic. I feel big news is on the binary sunset horizon and I hope that news brings more optimism. A new hope. The Force will forever be strong with me … I hope.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUm0Lo6DL-E]