Twenty years ago today, Star Wars fans were eagerly awaiting the REVENGE OF THE SITH, exploring the depths of Nar Shaddaa in the KNIGHTS OF THE OLD REPUBLIC II, and beginning to build WOOKIEEPEDIA—the Star Wars wiki. As an ever-growing community of volunteers, the Wookieepedia project now celebrates its 20th year.
Our encyclopedia officially reached 200,000 articles last month. This was only possible with the work of hundreds upon hundreds of fans over the past twenty years. Most Wookieepedians started off editing with little to no writing or coding experience, but our efforts have brought us closer to the goal of creating the most accurate, comprehensive, and well-presented resource about all things Star Wars.
Since Wookieepedia's tenth anniversary in 2015, we have expanded the breadth, depth, and quality of our documentation of both the Star Wars Legends and the new canon continuities, as well as coverage of Star Wars media and production behind the scenes. Wookieepedia has also been building a more friendly and welcoming community. Informed by our contributors' experiences, we have launched ongoing efforts in revamping our policies to be clearer and more fair, improving accessibility, and developing new editing tutorials.
Since 2015, editor recruitment has advanced on Wookieepedia, with the great majority of the current administrators and review board members having joined those groups in recent years. The past ten years has also seen the progress of the Discussions forum and the launch of twenty-two new collaborative WookieeProjects. These include the Project Stardust initiative focusing on essential topics and Project Pride's efforts to improve the wiki's coverage of LGBTQIA+ topics. Most external links on Wookieepedia now have backup archival links to keep a better record of the ever-changing Internet, and bot systems have automated many monotonous site maintenance tasks such as page archivals for the status article peer review system.
Our work continues unabated. Thousands more pages need to be created, lack citations, await expansion, and could use more images. All the while, the franchise continues to grow and require updates. As we enter our third decade, we would love for more readers to join our ranks! May the Force be with us in the next twenty years… ✨
Peter Wilton Cushing OBE (May 26, 1913 – August 11, 1994) was a British actor who gained wide recognition for his roles in the Hammer Studios horror films of the 1950s to the 1970s alongside Christopher Lee. When developing the 1977 film Star Wars, George Lucas cast Cushing in the role of Grand Moff Tarkin to provide a human counterpart for the primary villain, Darth Vader, although Cushing claimed he was approached for the role of the noble Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi. Cushing accepted the role on the basis that he felt his fans would enjoy seeing him in a science fiction film. His part in the film was recorded over a two-week period in May 1976.
The boots created for Cushing's character were ill-suited for the size of his feet, leading the actor to ask Lucas to let him wear slippers and to shoot his scenes from the waist up. Cushing was a courteous but good-humored figure and became well-liked among the film's other cast members, with Carrie Fisher commenting that she found it difficult to act as though she hated his character. He admitted that he struggled with the level of technical jargon and special effects used in the film but worked hard to ensure that his character's dialogue sounded confident.
Given Cushing's well-known status, he was paid a higher salary than the film's lead actors—Fisher, Mark Hamill, and Harrison Ford—and promotional materials presented Tarkin as the main villain. Cushing enjoyed the film greatly and was proud of its success, describing his only disappointment as that his character's death meant that he could not reprise the role in the sequels. Cushing's involvement in Star Wars later influenced Lee's participation in the prequel trilogy films on account of their friendship. In the 2016 film Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Cushing's likeness was recreated via motion capture over the performance of Guy Henry as Tarkin, with permission granted by Cushing's estate. His portrayal of Tarkin influenced the performances of several other actors in Star Wars projects, including Stephen Stanton, Richard E. Grant, and Giancarlo Esposito. (Read more…)
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Below are some of the current community projects happening around Wookieepedia. If you are interested in joining in, check out our newcomers hub page to start your editing journey!
- Project Stardust is improving the Mustafar and Mustafar/Legends articles. See their respective canon and Legends project pages to help out.
- The Featured article, Good article, and Comprehensive article nomination processes help bring articles up to the highest possible standards. Join the effort by helping review nominations.
- WookieeProject Creators is adding the full credits to all media articles. You can assist the team by visiting any article on a piece of media and expanding the credits list.
- WookieeProject Pride is providing citations for pronouns and gender for in-universe topics. See the Sourcing policy for rules on how to cite pronouns and gender.
- Ogg files are being converted to alternate formats to improve the site's usability on Safari. See the Files policy for guidance on eligibility.
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- 1939 – David Winters is born.
- 1950 – A. C. Crispin is born.
- 1963 – Arthur Adams is born.
- 1967 – Tasia Valenza is born.
- 1972 – Thomas Hodges is born.
- 1978 – Star Wars Weekly 9 published.
- 1986 – Return of the Jedi Weekly 146 published.
- 2000 – Star Wars Handbook 3: Dark Empire published.
- 2004 – "Clone Wars Chapter 17" airs on Cartoon Network.
- 2005 – LEGO Star Wars: The Video Game released.
- 2012 – Star Wars: The Clone Wars Comic UK 6.32 published.
- 2016 – Star Wars Character Encyclopedia: Updated and Expanded published.
- 2016 – Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens released on DVD and Blu-ray.
- 2017 – Star Wars (2015) 30 published.
- 2017 – Rogue One Adaptation 1 published.
- 2019 – "Han Solo vs. the Space Slug - The Escape Artist" airs on YouTube.
- 2021 – Phil Eason died.
- 2022 – Queen's Hope published.
- 2022 – Star Wars: The Clone Wars - The Official Collectors Edition published.
- 2022 – Doctor Aphra script published in paperback.
- 2022 – Darth Bane: Dynasty of Evil published in paperback as part of The Essential Legends Collection.
- 2022 – Darth Plagueis published in paperback as part of The Essential Legends Collection.
- 2022 – Kenobi published in paperback as part of The Essential Legends Collection.
- 2022 – X-Wing: Wedge's Gamble published in paperback as part of The Essential Legends Collection.
- 2022 – X-Wing: Wedge's Gamble unabridged audiobook released as part of The Essential Legends Collection.
- 2022 – LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga released.
- 2023 – "Chapter 22: Guns for Hire" airs on Disney+.
- 2023 – Hidden Empire 5 published.
- 2023 – Star Wars (2020) 33 published.