Starwars Facts

It took three different actors to portray Darth Vader : David Prowse (body), James Earl Jones (voice) et Sebastian Shaw (face)

R2-D2 was named after that a technician from "American Graffiti" asked to Lucas the Reel number 2, Dialogue track number 2.

The small actor hiding into R2-D2 is named Kenny Baker and is less than 4 feet tall !

Chewbacca's name is inspired by the name of Chebika City, in Tunisia, near the place where Tatooine scenes where shot.

The name of Jawa is simply taken from the Lucas family doctor's name.

When dedicacing to Star Wars fans, Mark Hamill was writing "Follow the Force", and Harisson Ford, less serious, was writing "Force yourself".

To avoid being distrub while shooting Return of the Jedi, Lucas fainted he was making a horror movie called "Blue Harvest". He wanted the illusion so perfect that the whole crew was wearing caps and shirts especially printed.

In The Empire Strikes Back, Alec Guinness performed all his appearances in six hours !

R2-D2 and C-3PO characters are inspired from the famous comics duo of Laurel and Hardy.

In A New Hope, when our heroes are entering into the spaceport to escape Tatooine, C3PO miss a step in the stairs and almost fall (Fred Simo).

For Star Wars 20th anniversary, the first episode film renovation costed as much as the original movie : 10 millions US dollars.

In 1996, 37% of the toys sold in the United States where Star Wars products.

The name of 4-LOM, one the bounty hunters listening to Darth Vader in The Empire Strikes Back, means : For Love Of Money.

The following Kenner toys never made to the final toy stage : Aunt Beru and Uncle Owen Lars toy action figures.

During the Cloud City evacuation scene in The Empire Strikes Back, one actor can be seen running around with what looks to be an ice-cream maker.

In StarWars, a small pair of metal dice can be seen hanging in the Millenium Falcon's cockpit as Chewbacca prepares to depart from Mos Eisley. The dice do not appear in subsequent scenes.

In the opening scene of Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indy escapes with the golden idol in a sea plane with the registration number OB-3PO. This, of course refers to Obi-wan and C-3PO from StarWars.

Sections of the under-construction Death Star are said to resemble the San Francisco skyline, the silhouette of a favorite city of George Lucas.

Return of the Jedi was originally titled Revenge of the Jedi - but later underwent a title change, due to the fact that, according to Lucas, A Jedi would never take revenge.

The Millenium Falcon was originally inspired by the shape of a hamburger with an olive on the side.

During The Empire Strikes Back's famous asteroid scene, one of the deadly, hurling asteroids is actually... a potato !

In The Empire Strikes Back, ILM designers sought a "radical" design shape for Boba Fett's ship - and ended up using a street lamp plucked off a post outside the ILM building.

In Star Wars, in the scene where C-3PO and R2-D2 are hiding into a closet in a control room and that the stromtroopers force the entry door, one of them knocks his head as he enters.

How strange it may be, sounds for the LightSabers where recorded by moving a microphone next to a TV set !

During StarWars Carrie fisher was 10bs over weight and was mad because george didnt think that women of the future would wear bras

Princess Grace of Monaco was the very very first person to get the first set of 4 StarWars action figures, win on a drawing organized by Bernie Loomis (Kenner toy designer), who was on visit at Monaco in november 1977.

R2-D2 wind-up action figure made by Takara in Japan, was one of George Lucas's favorite toys. Lucasfilm itself ordered thousands of them for company employees.

StarWars is the most successful movie-related toy line up ever sold. Even back in 1978, for the first year that Kenner offered these toys, it sold more than 42 Million of them, with far and away the action figures with 26 Million for a twelve varietie. Between 1978 and 1986, some 250 Million figures will be sold over the World.

Battlestar Galactica Facts

The Battlestar Galactica and the Viper fighters are similar in design to the old show, but were revamped for the new show. The Cylon Basetar, Cylon Raider, and Cylon Centurion each had a completely new design for the new show. Also, there are only four ships that appear in the remake but not in the original: "Colonial One" (the transport used by Laura Roslin), the Olympic Carrier, Cloud 9, and Zephyr (the ringed passenger liner).

Starbuck, who is played by Katee Sackhoff, was a man in the original Battlestar Galactica (1978) show, played by Dirk Benedict. It's also the name of the first officer aboard the Pequod in the book Moby Dick.

In the original Battlestar Galactica (1978), Viper weapons fire was red lasers and the Cylon Raiders fired blue lasers. In this version, both ships fire actual bullets.

The executive officer was named Paul Tigh in original scripts, but this was changed to Saul Tigh in the final filming for legal reasons.

Commander Adama has a shaving mirror in his cabin. This mirror is made by IKEA, and is a model called "Fräck". This word is similar to "frak" which is the primary vulgarity in the Battlestar Galactica universe.

The first season was aired in the United Kingdom on SkyOne months before it aired in North America. This resulted in an increase in North Americans downloading episodes on the Internet that were made freely available by British viewers of the show. Fearing that this widespread "previewing" of the series would diminish the show's ratings once it aired in North America, executive producers Ronald D. Moore and David Eick made a written plea to fans to stop downloading episodes and wait for them to air in the United States and Canada.

"Kobol" in the ancient Persian language means "Heaven". It is also an anagram of "Kolob", the name of the planet/star nearest the "throne of God", according to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) - Glen A. Larson, the executive producer of the original television series, was a church member and incorporated a number of themes from Mormon theology into the show.

Executive Producer Ronald D. Moore maintained an ostensibly weekly blog on the Sci-Fi Channel's official Web site, talking about different aspects of the show and answering fan questions. Ultimately, updates were far less often, due to Moore's busy schedule. As a replacement, Moore began recording podcasts for each episode (starting during the third season), and Anthrax's Scott Ian wrote an ongoing blog series for the site.

During the show's first season, it consistently remained Sci-Fi Channel's top-rated program, pulling in more than 3 million viewers. Its 10pm viewing even finished ahead of UPN's Star Trek: Enterprise which aired at 8pm on Fridays on a non-cable/satellite network.

The rank structure for the officers serving in the Colonial Fleet are as follows: OFFICERS: Admiral, Commander, Colonel, Major, Captain, Lieutenant, Lieutenant (junior grade), Ensign. ENLISTED: Master Chief Petty Officer, Chief Petty Officer, Petty Officer (1st, 2nd Class), Specialist, Deck Hand, Recruit. There are also Marines aboard Galactica which conform more closely to the traditional enlisted Marine ranks, with Sergeants, Sergeants-Major, etc. Unresolved is the question of whether the Marine officers would also adhere to the mixed rank structure.

Sci-Fi Channel ordered six scripts for a second season of the show before the first episode even aired in the United States. It ordered a 20-episode second season a month after it began to air in the United States.

In the original scripts, Admiral Cain's first name was Nelena.

Number Six (Tricia Helfer) was named after Patrick McGoohan's character in the television series The Prisoner (UK).

StarTrek Facts

Denise Crosby was originally cast to play Counselor Troi, and Marina Sirtis was cast as a security chief named Lt. Macha Hernandez. Shortly before filming the pilot, the two switched roles and the security chief's name was changed to Lt. Natasha Yar.

Tim Russ, later to play Tuvok on Star Trek: Voyager, was a candidate for the role of Geordi.

The corridor, engineering, transporter room, and battle bridge sets were derived from sets originally built for the first four Star Trek movies.

The ceiling of the transporter chamber on the Enterprise D is in fact the floor of the transporter chamber from the Enterprise in the original series.

The original version of the Starfleet uniform was very uncomfortable for the actors, leading to a change of design from one-piece to a two-piece outfit in Season Three. Although the new uniforms were easier to wear, the jackets had a tendency to "ride up" when the actors were sitting down. Patrick Hewes Stewart got into the habit of straightening his jacket with a sharp downward tug as he stood up, an action that became known among the cast and crew as "The Picard Maneuver" (from a tactical maneuver mentioned in the show).

Data's cat "Spot" is a male throughout the history of the show, but is suddenly female in the episode "Force of Nature, and in the episode "Genesis" gives birth to kittens.

Two characters on the show were named after real people: The alien "Q" was named for Janet Quarton, a British fan; and Geordi La Forge was named after another Trek fan, George La Forge, who was confined to a wheelchair.

Picard rose to his rank of Captain when his commanding officer aboard the USS Stargazer was killed in battle. A model of the Stargazer can be seen displayed by the back wall in Picard's ready room. The ship itself was shown on "Star Trek: The Next Generation" (1987) {The Battle (#1.8)}.

David Gerrold, a writer from the original series, was a consultant and uncredited story editor on the first two seasons. He left in a dispute after a script of his containing two implied gay characters and an allegorical reference to AIDS was pulled from production in the 11th hour. The story, titled "Blood and Fire", was resurrected in 2004 as a non-Star Trek novel by Gerrold.

The Master Alarm sound was reused from Star Trek: The Original Series.

The character of Geordi LaForge was originally conceived to be Jamaican. When LeVar Burton was cast in the role, this plan was dropped; although a Jamaican actress (Madge Sinclair) later appeared as Geordi's mother.

The Master Alarm sound was reused from Star Trek: The Original Series.

Running for seven seasons, the show briefly held the record for longest-running American live-action science fiction TV series (though several fantasy series ran longer). It was soon tied by its spin-offs Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager. In 2002, the record was taken by The X-Files which ended after nine seasons. Stargate SG-1 has confirmed a 10th season, taking the record.

The Ferengi were originally introduced with the intention of making them the main, recurring adversaries in the series (very much like the Klingons were in the original series). However, audiences found the Ferengi too comical to take seriously as potential foes, and the race was gradually refined into the more (usually unintentionally) comical characters later typified by Quark in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. The Borg eventually became infamous as TNG's ultimate nemesis.

The decision to produce TNG for syndication rather than for a network was considered a gamble at the time. It was the most expensive project of its kind ever attempted, but it did so well it ended up opening the door for a tidal wave of made-for-syndication dramatic series (including Hercules, Xena, Andromeda, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and Baywatch), which continued for more than a decade. Had the show failed, Paramount would have just added the segments to the Original Series syndication package, just as they did with the remastered pilot "The Cage".

Many actors who originally auditioned for roles on this show later went on to star in other Star Trek series; including Tim Russ, the 2nd choice for Geordi LaForge, and Vaughn Armstrong, who auditioned for Riker.

Geordi LaForge has been promoted faster than any Star Trek character before or since. In the first season, Geordi was a Lieutenant junior grade; in the 2nd season, a full Lieutenant; 3rd season, a Lieutenant Commander. (Other characters have had that many ranks, but none were promoted as fast as Geordi was.) _"Star Trek: Voyager" (1995) Timeless (#5.06)_, took place in the future, where Geordi was a Captain.

Each of the three live-action Star Trek series after the original Star Trek: The Original Series has had a cameo appearance by a character from its predecessor series in its premiere episode: "Star Trek: The Next Generation" had Dr. McCoy, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine had Captain Picard, and Star Trek: Voyager had Quark.

Originally, Data was going to be the Chief Science Officer on the Enterprise (like Spock was on the original Star Trek: The Original Series) and wear a blue uniform. However, the color blue clashed with the android make-up and the idea was changed. Data was reassigned as the Chief Operations Officer and sported a gold uniform for all seven seasons (except for two episodes, which were; the episode "Future Imperfect" in which we see him on the bridge as the First officer in the brilliantly designed computer simulation rouse of Commander Tomolak Andreas Katsulas, and the two-part episode "Chain of Command" in which he's promoted to first officer and wears a red tunic).

The Borg were originally written as insectoids, but were changed to cyborgs due to budget constraints.

Worf's prosthetic forehead changed in season 2 because the original was stolen.

Lieutenant Reginald Barclay, an Enterprise engineer, has the full name of Reginald Endicott Barclay III, according to the scripts of his episodes. This is a homage to the TV series Benson which had a character named Clayton Endicott III (played by Rene Auberjonois, who would later play Constable Odo in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine).

The two-part episodes "Unification" and "The Best of Both Worlds" both contained 'graveyard' scenes full of wrecked and/or abandoned starships. These scenes were populated with study models that were considered for use in Star Trek: The Motion Picture (as possible versions of the Enterprise) and Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (as the Excelsior). Some of the other wrecked ships were created via "kit-bashing," or by quickly mixing starship parts from many different models.

When a writer's strike hit the series at the start of the second season, several stories from the proposed late 70's series "Star Trek: Phase II", which was eventually dropped in favor of becoming Star Trek: The Motion Picture, were quickly dusted off and adapted for the Next Generation crew.

Lost Facts

Jorge Garcia missed his sister's wedding to shoot this show in Hawaii.

The first season depicts the first 44 days on the island. Locke mentions this when talking to Desmond inside the hatch.

Parts of the plane were used as percussion instruments and can be heard in the soundtrack.

ABC opted not to fly the intact N783DL to Hawaii first before dismantling it. Instead, ABC dispatched 40 production workers to Mojave to cannibalize and ship the aircraft pieces. Dismantling took about 5 days in February 2004.

The airplane pieces on the beach, depicting the doomed flight from Sydney, are the remnants of a Lockheed Tristar L-1011. She began service for Eastern Airlines (N308EA) in 1972 and was retired by Delta Airlines (N783DL) in 1998 having racked up a total of 28,822 landings and 58,841 flight-hours.

N783DL was bought by Thompson's Aviation Warehouse (Mojave, CA) for $50,000. ABC/Touchstone purchased it for about $200,000.

The first episode debuted on ABC with 18.65 million viewers. The second episode attracted 16.33 million viewers.

Hurley uses the numbers 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, and 42 to win the lottery. During the season 1 finale, as Hurley drives to the airport, the numbers appear on the dashboard as the car stalls. Running to the gate, he passes a girl's soccer team with the same numbers on their uniform jerseys. They also appear on the hatch exterior and the vial Desmond uses for injection.

4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42 all added together equal 108, the total of minutes left to enter those very numbers into the computer each time, and the number of days that the castaways spent on the island before the Oceanic Six were rescued.

Jennifer Jason Leigh was approached to play the part of Libby, but she declined.

During Charlie's heroin scenes, Dominic Monaghan is actually snorting brown sugar.

Charlie's shoulder tattoo reads, "Living is easy with eyes closed". This is a lyric from the song "Strawberry Fields Forever" by The Beatles.

The rocks used in the waterfall cave set are made of rubber so that the sound of the actors, and crew members walking about are not picked up on camera.

The part of Charlie was originally written for someone much older, but when Dominic Monaghan auditioned, the writers and producers loved him so much that they set about re-writing the part to Dominic's strengths.

Plane wreckage scenes were filmed at Mokuleia Beach.

The majority of post-pilot beach scenes are filmed along a more remote, secluded stretch of Oahu's famous North Shore. The sandy shoreline is not private but the access is off the beaten path.

Jungle scenes depicting open, grassy pasture areas at the foot of jagged cliffs were filmed in Kaaawa Valley (first season).

Mokuleia Beach is near Oahu's northwest tip (Kaena Point). Kaaawa Valley is over 30 miles away on the island's eastern coast.

The sound stage where the cave scenes are filmed is at the old Xerox building.

Vincent, the dog, is actually played by a female dog, whose name is Madison.

The symbol that Claire wears around her neck is the Japanese kanji for "love".

The shirt that Sawyer wears that has a fish on it is from an actual restaurant. One of the show's creators went to Humpy's in Alaska and liked the logo so much he wanted to use it on the show. They didn't get permission to use it until much later so they took the logo from the site and made their own. No one at Humpy's knew how it got onto the show until much later.

ABC picked up the show before there even was a script. J.J. Abrams and Damon Lindelof had only turned in an outline and based on this ABC picked up the show.

When Jin is at the house of the person he is meant to kill, Hurley is on the television behind him. If you look (extremely) carefully you can see that he is wearing the grey shirt that he is wearing when the television cameras show up at the petrol station later on in the series.

Originally, Michael Emerson was only cast for a few episodes in season two. The producers were so impressed with his performance that they cast him as a regular and rewrote the part of Henry Gale/Ben to feature him more prominently.

The very first scene filmed on the show was the one in the pilot episode when Charlie was confronted by Cindy, the flight attendant, seconds before the plane crashed. Kimberley Joseph who played Cindy, spoke the very first lines of the show's production.

In the original description for Kate, she was a slightly older woman separated from her husband, who went to the bathroom in the tail-section of the plane. However, that idea ended up being used for the character Rose.

Eko was originally to be named "Emeka".