May the Fourth Be With You – 6 Ways to Celebrate 'Star Wars' Day
Fans everywhere are celebrating unofficial Star Wars Day aka May 4. From watching all-day marathons of the movies to dressing up as their favorite characters to just sitting at home and remembering the first time they saw "A New Hope," there are plenty of ways to enjoy the day. Here are six of our favorites.
1. Check Out the New "Star Wars Rebels" Trailer
Lucasfilm premiered a brand new, minute-long trailer for "Star Wars Rebels." The animated series, which premieres on Disney XD in the fall, has had a lot of build-up as other animated versions of the Star Wars universe, like "The Clone Wars" have been well received.
2. Experience the Cantina Scene in a Whole New Way
Lucasfilm teamed up with YouTube and invited some top web video people to play with their Cantina set. College Humor held Cantina Band auditions with musicians like Ben Folds, Liz Phair, Reggie Watts and Weird Al.
Bored Shorts TV had kids act out the Cantina scene, then re-created it with adults.
And ApprenticeA breaks out the lightsabers for an intense – and intensely nerdy – duel.
3. Watch a Message From the Writers
Writers Lawrence Kasdan – who also co-wrote "The Empire Strikes Back" – and J.J. Abrams – who is also directing Episode 7 – sent out a quick message to fans in which they reveal … absolutely nothing, which is what you'd expect from the guy who made "Cloverfield."
4. Judge the Lame and Not-so-lame Attempts to Cash In on the Holiday
We expect companies to put out Christmas-themed commercials and Valentine's Day commercials. But since May the Fourth is a made up holiday, if a corporation tries to cash in on it, they risk looking foolish like the cranky old politician trying to make Grumpy Cat memes.
Bud Light makes R2D2 beer-can thin.
The perfect beer for when you fly through space on a falcon & learn your worst enemy is your dad. #MayThe4thBeWithYou pic.twitter.com/6Y16lWfaPh
— Bud Light (@budlight) May 4, 2014
Yoplait and Toblerone do a decent, if weird, job of making their product Star Wars-y.
This is not the Toblerone you’re looking for… #StarWarsDay #Maythe4thBeWithYou pic.twitter.com/RojGq2Lrnb
— Toblerone (@Toblerone) May 3, 2014
Good morning and #MayThe4thBeWithYou! Happy #StarWarsDay! @StarWars http://t.co/9hZByDIbUR pic.twitter.com/a8QIPeEIXE
— Yoplait Yogurt (@Yoplait) May 4, 2014
Ford missed a golden opportunity (come on, "May the Ford Be With You?") but a couple British companies picked up the slack. Toyota in Great Britain proved they're fans from back in the day and Volkswagen proved they're fans from back in the weird.
Happy Star Wars Day folks. Did you know #Toyota created this Celica way back in 1978? #MayThe4thBeWithYou pic.twitter.com/0vQpbtc7Cy
— ToyotaGB (@ToyotaGB) May 4, 2014
The force is strong with this one. May the fourth be with you. #HappyStarWarsDay pic.twitter.com/YsO5feJvg4
— Volkswagen UK (@UKVolkswagen) May 4, 2014
Tech companies like Norton and Cisco tend to do okay at the nerd stuff.
"These aren’t the droids you’re looking for." Protect yours with Norton http://t.co/zbKfafKbKR - #MayThe4thBeWithYou pic.twitter.com/N4RIhWg8Iz
— Norton (@NortonOnline) May 3, 2014
In honor of Star Wars Day, we created a mashup of our favorite character and an ASR 9000. #IoE #maythe4thbewithyou pic.twitter.com/qD011hkgWT
— Cisco (@Cisco) May 5, 2013
Vans Shoes got it right, though who knows how many people died of heat stroke wearing that wookie outfit while skating.
A Wookie's gotta skate. http://t.co/LJcg0qs2bV #vansxstarwars #maythe4thbewithyou pic.twitter.com/DmEvahIgkG
— Vans (@VANS_66) May 4, 2014
The Toronto Maple Leafs managed to make everybody's favorite Sith lord way less threatening by making him Canadian.
#TMLtalk Image: #MayThe4thBeWithYou pic.twitter.com/rhhSASHOUw
— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) May 4, 2014
The Arizona Diamondbacks, however, took it to the next level by turning pitcher Josh Collmenter into an Obi Wan bobblehead.
#MayThe4thBeWithYou. Get a Collmenter @starwars Bobblehead on 7/20 you will: http://t.co/TD3XLjU7o0 #HappyStarWarsDay pic.twitter.com/yyvzevWP9l
— Arizona Diamondbacks (@Dbacks) May 4, 2014
Applebee's and LinkedIn both just slapped the hashtag on their usual ads, but NASA truly nails it.
Flying by the "Death Star," Saturn's moon Mimas! http://t.co/gvgsnDEBYC #MayThe4thBeWithYou #HappyStarWarsDay pic.twitter.com/dCTDiZxNpx
— NASA (@NASA) May 4, 2014
And, surprisingly, General Electric executes a perfect May the Fourth tweet by making a physics joke as well.
May the Force be... equal to mass x acceleration. #HappyStarWarsDay pic.twitter.com/ph4nyIvRHN
— General Electric (@generalelectric) May 4, 2014
5. Read Cast Tweets
Well, one at least. Most of the cast appears to be on media lockdown as they're meeting in London. However, John Boyega, who is playing an as-yet-unrevealed role in Episode 7, did send this out.
Before this was a normal day but now it's one of the most special days in the year!
— John Boyega (@JBoyega) May 4, 2014
6. Get Something Signed
Anthony Daniels, who will once again be the voice of C-3PO, did a signing at London's Disney Store.
Those who are about to appear at the London Disney Store salute you! (He's my new Master after all).What are you doing with the Force today?
— Anthony Daniels (@ADaniels3PO) May 4, 2014
Photo: sailorshipper: Anthony Daniels with the ‘death star’. May the 4th be with you. http://t.co/DIgmyiJNWU
— Rebecca Harder (@Rebecca_Harder) May 4, 2014
How do you celebrate May the Fourth? Let us know in the comments below!