Luke Skywalker

A word to the wise, Frank Oz fans: He won't do that Yoda impression. The 68-year-old Hollywood Renaissance man - Muppet puppeteer, movie director and the voice behind the pint-sized Jedi master - holds his characters too sacred for such tripe. "You wouldn't parade your kids around like that, would you?" he said. "They're part of me. I won't use them as a party favor to impress people. " Oz, who currently resides in Manhattan, will return to Los Angeles on Thursday to accept a lifetime achievement honor at the 38th Saturn Awards (which, for the sci-fi un-savvy, is a sort of Oscars for the horror and fantasy genre, presented annually by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films)

A word to the wise, Frank Oz fans: He won't do that Yoda impression. The 68-year-old Hollywood Renaissance man - Muppet puppeteer, movie director and the voice behind the pint-sized Jedi master - holds his characters too sacred for such tripe. "You wouldn't parade your kids around like that, would you?" he said. "They're part of me. I won't use them as a party favor to impress people. " Oz, who currently resides in Manhattan, will return to Los Angeles on Thursday to accept a lifetime achievement honor at the 38th Saturn Awards (which, for the sci-fi un-savvy, is a sort of Oscars for the horror and fantasy genre, presented annually by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films)

The new Star Wars' models take shape at Star Wars Miniland renders epic battles, iconic cityscapes and massive machines in an intimate 1:20 scale at Legoland California . The new Star Wars attraction, which opened Thursday at the Carlsbad kiddie park, utilized 1.5 million Lego bricks to build a visual timeline stretching from the first film in the series to the latest television cartoons based on the space fantasy, bridging...

The new Star Wars' models take shape at Star Wars Miniland renders epic battles, iconic cityscapes and massive machines in an intimate 1:20 scale at Legoland California . The new Star Wars attraction, which opened Thursday at the Carlsbad kiddie park, utilized 1.5 million Lego bricks to build a visual timeline stretching from the first film in the series to the latest television cartoons based on the space fantasy, bridging...

In "Return of the Jedi," Han Solo (Harrison Ford), Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) and Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) join other rebels to make their final assault on the Empire and Darth Vader. They're aided along the way by forest fur balls called Ewoks. Rated PG. The saga continues. So, apparently, does the bonding. Paul Jasper and his sons, Henry and Clint, had joined millions of others across the country in lining up to see the first two "Star Wars" movies in their remastered versions.

It is Day 25 on the set of Kevin Smith's raunchy new comedy "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back"--the final chapter in the director's self-described "New Jersey chronicles," which began with his 1994 cult fave "Clerks." Smith is seated in a director's chair, his beefy frame planted firmly near a row of aging bungalows on the sprawling grounds of L.A.'s Ambassador Hotel, that impressive but faded dowager alongside Wilshire Boulevard. Someone on the set yells, "Rolling!"

SERIES How I Met Your Mother: Lily's (Alyson Hannigan) estranged father (Chris Elliott) visits for Thanksgiving in the new episode (8 p.m. CBS). House: On the eve of Thanksgiving, the team treats a brilliant physicist (Esteban Powell), who traded his career for a job as a courier because he found intelligence to be a burden that led to depression and addiction. With Hugh Laurie, Robert Sean Leonard and Lisa Edelstein (8 p.m. Fox). Accidentally on Purpose: Billie (Jenna Elfman)

Frank Hernandez and his dad, Robert, helped make the reissue of "The Empire Strikes Back" the biggest box-office opener in February. They'd seen "Star Wars" a few weeks before and had been waiting, waiting, waiting for the second part of the series to reach theaters. Frank, a 12-year-old from Brea, loved "Star Wars," easily director George Lucas' most famous movie, and thought "The Empire Strikes Back" was just as good, maybe better.

Not every member of the Star Wars generation has seen all three movies in the trilogy. In explaining what to expect, some young parents sound less like they are talking about a movie and more like they are inculcating a beloved and exalted fairy tale. "You'll see Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia and Han Solo. This is the first one that has them all in it," one mother was overheard telling her young son before the curtain went up. "Will it have the big sluggy one?" he asked.

SERIES How I Met Your Mother: Lily's (Alyson Hannigan) estranged father (Chris Elliott) visits for Thanksgiving in the new episode (8 p.m. CBS). House: On the eve of Thanksgiving, the team treats a brilliant physicist (Esteban Powell), who traded his career for a job as a courier because he found intelligence to be a burden that led to depression and addiction. With Hugh Laurie, Robert Sean Leonard and Lisa Edelstein (8 p.m. Fox). Accidentally on Purpose: Billie (Jenna Elfman)

It is Day 25 on the set of Kevin Smith's raunchy new comedy "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back"--the final chapter in the director's self-described "New Jersey chronicles," which began with his 1994 cult fave "Clerks." Smith is seated in a director's chair, his beefy frame planted firmly near a row of aging bungalows on the sprawling grounds of L.A.'s Ambassador Hotel, that impressive but faded dowager alongside Wilshire Boulevard. Someone on the set yells, "Rolling!"

In "Return of the Jedi," Han Solo (Harrison Ford), Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) and Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) join other rebels to make their final assault on the Empire and Darth Vader. They're aided along the way by forest fur balls called Ewoks. Rated PG. The saga continues. So, apparently, does the bonding. Paul Jasper and his sons, Henry and Clint, had joined millions of others across the country in lining up to see the first two "Star Wars" movies in their remastered versions.

Frank Hernandez and his dad, Robert, helped make the reissue of "The Empire Strikes Back" the biggest box-office opener in February. They'd seen "Star Wars" a few weeks before and had been waiting, waiting, waiting for the second part of the series to reach theaters. Frank, a 12-year-old from Brea, loved "Star Wars," easily director George Lucas' most famous movie, and thought "The Empire Strikes Back" was just as good, maybe better.

Not every member of the Star Wars generation has seen all three movies in the trilogy. In explaining what to expect, some young parents sound less like they are talking about a movie and more like they are inculcating a beloved and exalted fairy tale. "You'll see Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia and Han Solo. This is the first one that has them all in it," one mother was overheard telling her young son before the curtain went up. "Will it have the big sluggy one?" he asked.

"Star Wars" was born a long time ago, but not all that far, far away. In 1972, filmmakers George Lucas and Gary Kurtz were toiling on "American Graffiti" in their San Rafael office when they began daydreaming about a throwback sci-fi adventure that channeled the old "Flash Gordon" serials as opposed to the bleak "message" movies that had taken over the genre. "We had no idea what we were starting," says Kurtz, who was the producer of the first two "Star Wars" films and also a second-unit director.

The 1977 blockbuster that changed the face of Hollywood. George Lucas' archetypal space opera, with orphaned pure-of-heart hero Luke Skywalker pictured) rescuing the princess (Carrie Fisher, pictured) in the Death Star with the aid of scruffy space rover Han Solo (Harrison Ford) (Saturday Showtime at 8 p.m.).