Something to celebrate
Dust off your light saber, boot up your TIE fighter and get ready to travel to a galaxy far, far away.
Tuesday (May the 4th) is 鈥淪tar Wars鈥� Day.
Celebrated annually, the date never changes. It鈥檚 a reference to the oft-said line (and its many variations), 鈥淢ay the force be with you.鈥�
George Lucas鈥� behemoth franchise first hit movie screens on May 25, 1977, when 鈥淪tar Wars Episode IV: A New Hope鈥� was released.
It kicked off a fandom that has spanned decades and generations, introducing us to the world of Jedis, Stormtroopers, Sith, Wookies, Ewoks and too many other species to list.
Over the past nearly 44 years, that first movie has blossomed into television cartoons, live-action series or shows.
According to the website radiotimes.com, there are a number of ways to watch the 鈥淪tar Wars鈥� movies, cartoons and live-action series in order.
They can be viewed chronologically (telling the tale in order); by release date; or in either Godfather or Machete order.
The former of those, according to the website, is the best way to explore the plot twists of Luke Skywalker鈥檚 story. The latter takes out 1999鈥檚 鈥淭he Phantom Menace,鈥� deeming it 鈥渋rrelevant鈥� to the overall plot of the franchise.
The hours involved in watching everything 鈥淪tar Wars鈥� is crazy. A dedicated Reddit user who took the time to break everything down and found the time commitment to be 6 days, 5 hours and 4 minutes.
Watching just the movies is a more doable option, though viewers should prepare to settle in (preferably not in a Tauntaun) for a long day.
Binge watching the 11 live-action films Tuesday, will require either an early start or a late stop. The nine core films and two anthology movies (鈥淩ogue One鈥� and 鈥淪olo鈥�) take up a whopping 25 hours and 7 minutes.
Still too much time? The nine core movies come in at 20 hours and 39 minutes.
Of course, Disney+ (which owns the rights to all things 鈥淪tar Wars鈥�) is also celebrating Tuesday, when the streaming service drops the first episode of its new animated series, 鈥淪tar Wars: The Bad Batch.鈥�
The show, which takes place post-Clone Wars, follows a squad of clones who differ from the other members of the Clone Army.
That episode is expected to be about 70 minutes.
Other things to celebrate include:
April 29: National Zipper Day, National Peace Rose Day, National Shrimp Scampi Day
April 30: National Adopt A Shelter Pet Day, National Honesty Day, National Hairstylist Appreciation Day
May 1: National Mother Goose Day, Law Day, Free Comic Book Day, Global Love Day
May 2: National Truffle Day, National Lemonade Day, National Play Your Ukulele Day, Take a Baby Lunch Day
May 3: National Garden Meditation Day, National Paranormal Day, National Lumpy Rug Day
May 4: National Star Wars Day, National Orange Juice Day, National Weather Observers Day
May 5: National Cartoonists Day, National Hoagie Day, National Bike To School Day