Life After Star Wars

For many of us the arrival of Episode III heralds a time to finally move on from a childhood that has been artificially extended for the better part of 30 years. But however hard you find it to put your figures on ebay, take the posters off your walls and generally move on from Star Wars, it must be doubly so for George Lucas. He's doing his damndest though and, with the expanded universe now handed off to other capable hands, Lucas is finally turning his talents to other, less intergalactic projects. One of which, Red Tails, is a story that Lucas has been toying with for the last decade and a half but, with Revenge of the Sith in the can, it's now chocs away for the aerial epic. Empire caught up with the man himself to find out the details. "It's a story about African-American fighter pilots during World War II, sometimes referred to as the Tuskeegee Airmen, because that's where they trained," says Lucas. "They were escort fighters and the only fighter unit during WWII that never lost a bomber. So they were, like, the best." Not unlike Rogue Squadron, the more geek-inclined among you might point out, but the action in Red Tails is a little more down to Earth than the stellar saga - at lest comparatively speaking. "It obviously involves racial issues but mostly it's about a bunch of guys who wanted to become pilots. It's a flying movie. It's a really exciting story 'cause they're all 20 years old, they're young guys, most of them are college educated and they went on to become the captains of industry in the United States. It's a pretty inspiring story. Now I'm going to fully focus on it, along with the next Indiana Jones." As for Star Wars there is still the inevitable Episode III DVD release which will, as confirmed by Lucas, hit stores by Christmas. Those saving shelf space for the complete six-film set may have a slight wait, but it looks to be well worth it. "When Star Wars came out there wasn't even VHS, there wasn't anything. It was a whole different world. But when the six pack will come out, I'm not sure. We may wait until we can release it in High-def - which is as good as it gets." High definition DVDs along with the possible theatrical re-release for the films in 3D? To quote Princess Leia, "it's not over yet."