Star Wars

Star Wars is an American epic space opera franchise, centered on a film series created by George Lucas. It depicts the adventures of various characters "a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away".

The first film in the series, Star Wars (later subtitled Episode IV: A New Hope), was released on May 25, 1977 by 20th Century Fox and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon. It was followed by the similarly successful sequels The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Return of the Jedi (1983); these three films constitute the original Star Wars trilogy. A prequel trilogy was later released between 1999 and 2005, which received a more mixed reaction from critics and fans, compared to the original trilogy. All seven films were nominated for or won Academy Awards, and were commercial successes, with a combined box office revenue of $4.38 billion, making Star Wars the fourth highest-grossing film series. The series has spawned an extensive media franchise—the Star Wars expanded universe—including books, television series, computer and video games, and comic books, resulting in significant development of the series's fictional universe. Star Wars also holds a Guinness World Records title for the "Most successful film merchandising franchise." In 2012, the total value of the Star Wars franchise was estimated at USD $30.7 billion, including box-office receipts as well as profits from their video games and DVD sales.

Rogue Squadron

Rogue Squadron is a starfighter squadron in the Star Wars science fiction saga. Many of the pilots that will join Rogue Squadron are initially members of Red Squadron, the X-wing attack force that Luke Skywalker joins during the Battle of Yavin in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (1977). The squadron appears in The Empire Strikes Back (1980) as Rogue Group. It is prominently featured in a comic book series, a ten-volume novel series, and several video games. The unit is depicted as consisting of "the best pilots and the best fighters".

Appearances

Red Squadron, the forerunner of Rogue Squadron, is first featured in A New Hope (1977) during the attack on the first Death Star. This appearance features many notable pilots, including Biggs Darklighter ("Red Three"), Jek Porkins ("Red Six"), Wedge Antilles ("Red Two"), and Luke Skywalker ("Red Five"). The squadron went on to appear in The Empire Strikes Back at the Battle of Hoth and in Return of the Jedi during the attack on the second Death Star. However, the squadron was never a prominent feature of these films, and was rarely referred to as "Rogue Squadron" (rather, the "Red Squadron" designation is used). The X-wing comic series, written by Michael A. Stackpole and published by Dark Horse Comics, were the first works of Star Wars literature to focus on the adventures and exploits of the squadron. The comic series picked up with the reformation of the squadron after the Battle of Endor.

A New Hope

A New Hope may refer to:

See also

Star

A star is a luminous sphere of plasma held together by its own gravity. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Other stars are visible to the naked eye from Earth during the night, appearing as a multitude of fixed luminous points in the sky due to their immense distance from Earth. Historically, the most prominent stars were grouped into constellations and asterisms, and the brightest stars gained proper names. Extensive catalogues of stars have been assembled by astronomers, which provide standardized star designations.

For at least a portion of its life, a star shines due to thermonuclear fusion of hydrogen into helium in its core, releasing energy that traverses the star's interior and then radiates into outer space. Once the hydrogen in the core of a star is nearly exhausted, almost all naturally occurring elements heavier than helium are created by stellar nucleosynthesis during the star's lifetime and, for some stars, by supernova nucleosynthesis when it explodes. Near the end of its life, a star can also contain degenerate matter. Astronomers can determine the mass, age, metallicity (chemical composition), and many other properties of a star by observing its motion through space, luminosity, and spectrum respectively. The total mass of a star is the principal determinant of its evolution and eventual fate. Other characteristics of a star, including diameter and temperature, change over its life, while the star's environment affects its rotation and movement. A plot of the temperature of many stars against their luminosities, known as a Hertzsprung–Russell diagram (H–R diagram), allows the age and evolutionary state of a star to be determined.

New Hope

New Hope may refer to:

Places

Other uses