Star Wars is a series of movies by George Lucas. There are 6 in all. Initially Episodes IV-VI were created and released. Then Episodes I and II were released. Episode III opened May 15, 2005, some 28 years after Episode IV was first released in 1977.
In 1977, the USA was recovering from its involvement with the Indo Chinese Conflict. USA needed escapism, and needed to be reminded what a "just war" looked like - underdogs fighting for freedom. The Dark Side represented the Hawks who fomented war for profit.
George Lucas had already sketched the plots for the three prequels. They would show politicians exploiting terrorism and religion to convert democracy to fascism.
The entire arc of 6 movies required almost 30 years to produce. When episode III finally arrived, the USA had time to forget Vietnam, and had time for our politicians to exploit terrorism to convert our democracy to ... something else.
To sell tickets, movie III had to walk a straight line without resorting to parody or satire. So we get lines like "if you are not with me, then you are my enemy". Or "what if the democracy we thought we were serving no longer exists?"
So, by simply sketching the standard system fascism uses to take over a civilization, and by requiring >5 years between each movie, and by starting in the middle, George Lucas's career matched the career of the USA between our wars. Regardless of the style problems and irritations of each individual movie, that is an achievement that will outlast us. And hopefully it will also outlast our own Dark Side.
--Phl Ip
Some of us have heard rumors of plans for Episodes VII through IX. We'll believe it when we see the hype.
Plan for 9 -- is that like Plan 9? It's been done already! May the Farce be with you.
Mmm... this looks like a Master Plan, and an unfinished one at that. Perhaps someone should explain You Arent Gonna Need It to Lucas?
YAGNI doesn't apply to telling stories. A story needs a beginning, a middle, and and end, which all must fit together. One of the things that made Star Wars Ep. IV special was the rich back-story. And refactoring doesn't work for movie sequels: it's not like Lucas can make a couple of movies, and then reshoot them all when he comes up with a new incompatible idea for the next part and ask the audience to re-experience the whole saga as if it were new.
Except he kinda has, with the extra science (miticlorians) and all. Fans don't seem too happy about it, though.
Apparently Episodes I through VI were all intially storyboarded. Since the movies detail the life of Darth Vader, there is no pressing reason for episodes after VI.
Does "initially storyboarded" mean that storyboards for them were all drawn up 20-odd years ago, or simply that storyboards for them all exist now?
The complete storyboards were drawn up for episodes I through VI before shooting was started on IV. [Note: much evidence suggests this is not quite accurate.]
And let's not forget that the story was supposed to be chronicled by the two robots, (at least, that's how the the original story in Kurosawa's The Hidden Fortress was narrated) since they were the only characters who "lived" long enough to tell the whole tale. It wasn't the Skywalker Family Singers.
Of course, C3PO had his memory erased at the end of Episode 3... which explains (sorta) why, upon first encountering Luke in Episode 4, he doesn't spill the beans. Of course, there's still R2D2...
The rumour comes from the novels where Luke rebuilds the Jedis and goes on to finally free the galaxy from Imperial control. However, Lucas has stated that he is not going to make Episodes 7-9. Not like that means you should believe him. But then again, who really wants to bring Mark Hamill back to the big screen? The movie Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back has an answer to that question.
If episodes 7 through 9 will make money, they will be made. Even if George Lucas is fifty years dead and all they have to build it from is a cocktail napkin from 1982, someone will make those episodes, and plaster Lucas' name all over them. Look at all the crappy syndicated series they're making with Gene Roddenberry's name on them.
Great, so we can have more of the George Lucas morality parade and tons of people continuing to confuse this tripe with Science Fiction. See David Brin On Star Wars. Also, all that Roddenberry crap (Andromeda, Earth: Final Conflict, etc, etc, ad nauseum) is under Majel Roddenberry's control, so there's a driving force behind its continuation. Ick.
Lucas really ought to just give up on actors all together. Besides, although it is not hard science fiction, it is more science fiction-y than most of the popular manifestations of the genre.
Hmmm... post-ROTJ Star Wars TV series, perhaps?
We already have this. The Timothy Zahn novels, the comics, etc. May The Franchise Be With You, always. It should be noted here that Timothy Zahn makes the characters in the Star Wars stories come to life in a way that Lucas his own bad sef is simply incapable of. It's not that Lucas is a bad writer; it's just that Zahn is a great one.
Episode IV has been converted to an ASCII "film." See telnet://towel.blinkenlights.nl
Originally from www.asciimation.co.nz 
for those behind a firewall.
Like how they are talking of Superman vs Batman, wouldn't it be cool to mix characters from Star Trek and Star Wars in a movie (Spock vs Darth Vader?).
No it wouldn't.
This retroactive renaming of the first movie is irritating. I saw Star Wars at the theater when it was released in 1977; there was no "Episode IV: A New Hope" anywhere in sight. My girlfriend was going to buy a movie for me recently, so in a fit of nostalgia I asked her to buy the first Star Wars movie. She wasn't sure which one it was, so she asked some kid at the movie store. She came home with The Phantom Menace. Arrgh. That's the fourth movie, released 22 years after the first one.
Note that this is completely in error. When "Star Wars" opens there is text scrolling from screen bottom to top. What is the very first thing that text says? "Episode IV: A New Hope".
It's not completely in error. When Star Wars was released in 1977, Episode IV: A New Hope did not appear in the scrolling text at the beginning. That text only appeared in re-releases after The Empire Strikes Back was made.
Scott Bakula (Quantum Leap TV series, Enterprise TV series) played a bridge officer in episode 5, The Empire Strikes Back.
See: Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker, The Force, Jedi Mind Trick, Yodas Teaching, Star Wars Missile Defense System, Authoritarian Personality
See original on c2.com