Star Wars: The Deleted Scenes #2: Biggs, Fixer and Koo Stark as Camie

"That's no battle": Koo Stark as Camie, Anthony Forrest as Fixer, Mark Hamill as Luke and
Garrick Hagon as Biggs Darklighter in a deleted scene from Star Wars

Our look at the deleted scenes of Star Wars takes us back to Tatooine, where Luke Skywalker looks foolish for promising to show his pals a space battle. We meet his pal Biggs Darklighter – and are also introduced to one of the tabloid press's favourite actresses, Koo Stark.

Looking back at Star Wars Weekly – issue 7

Trapped in the Tentacles of Doom:
the cover of Star Wars Weekly issue 7

My occasional, issue-by-issue look at the UK's Star Wars Weekly (yes, I'm still doing that) reaches issue 7 – the edition which introduced us to Star Wars fandom.

Laughing at Star Wars: the Top 10 funniest jokes in the original movie - part one

Big laughs: the original Star Wars had more jokes than people think

Here's a fact that's sometimes forgotten about the original Star Wars: It had some very good jokes.

I don't just mean in-jokes, i.e. references to other films and literature that made critics and movie buffs feel clever when they spotted them.  (I wrote about some of those references here.) No, I mean genuine jokes which prompted audiences to laugh out loud.  I remember some of the laughter quite vividly from that first viewing all those years ago.

The truth about Jabba the Hutt

While re-reading issue 4 of the UK's Star Wars Weekly in preparation for a forthcoming blog post, I came up against a mystery that has bugged me for quite a few years:

How would Jabba the Hutt have looked if he had figured in Star Wars as originally intended?

Princess Leia: Damsel in distress or feminist icon?

Giving the orders: Princess Leia changes the rescue plan

The third in an occasional series of posts about the characters of Star Wars looks at the only young woman in the galaxy.  

The characters of Star Wars: Han Solo

It's not often discussed, but this scene between Han Solo and Luke Skywalker is one of the big moments in Star Wars

In the second of my occasional series of posts about the characters of Star Wars, I look at the space pirate we boys all wanted to be – Han Solo.

The characters of Star Wars: Luke Skywalker

Our hero: Luke Skywalker watches the binary sunset in Star Wars

To create a great story, you have to have a great mix of characters.

George Lucas got that right with American Graffiti. He got it spectacularly right with Star Wars. And he would struggle to get it right again.