The Empire Strikes Back

May the 4th will soon be upon us, allowing pun-loving sci-fi nerds everywhere to make the same six Star Wars jokes they’ve been making every spring for the last several years. TBS has something special in store to celebrate the milestone this year, though: a marathon of the first six Star Wars films, running all day on the 4th.


In a move that will probably provoke a considerable amount of Kashyyyk kibbitzing, the network has opted to air the films in episode order, starting with The Phantom Menace and ending with Return Of The Jedi, rather than release order, or the more involved fan-created sequences that have cropped up over the years. On the one hand, that’s not necessarily the most satisfying way to watch George Lucas’ saga, forcing viewers to sit through a lot of Hayden Christensen before getting to that sweet James Earl Jones goodness. On the other hand, it means Episode I is safely quarantined in the 6:45 a.m. timeslot, which seems like a pretty safe place for its podracing antics and bumbling Gungans to go.