Via Sunderlandecho.com:

With The Force Awakens due to hit screens on December 18, excitement over Star Wars is reaching fever pitch once again.

Now, with only 12 weeks to go until the big day, here are 12 little-known facts about everyone’s favourite space saga …

The first Star Wars film, which was released in 1977, is known as Episode IV: A New Hope, but it wasn’t always this way. It only gained its episode number and sub-title when it was re-released in 1981, after the second film in the series, The Empire Strikes Back, had been released as Episode V in 1980.

Star Wars and toys go together like Tusken Raiders and gaffi sticks, but the success of the original film came as such a surprise when it was released that there were no toys based on the movie ready for Christmas 1977. So, in a bid to not miss out on the holiday season, toy company Kenner sold an empty box with a promise that the action figures would be delivered later. (Those empty boxes are now worth around £1,200!)

The Star Wars films already star one famous princess, but if things had turned out differently they could have featured a real-life royal. Koo Stark, an old girlfriend of Prince Andrew before his marriage to Sarah Ferguson, shot scenes for the first Star Wars film playing a friend of Luke Skywalker named Camie. Unfortunately for Koo, the scenes were left on the cutting room floor and have yet to re-appear in a special edition (so far).

Star Wars is full of strange creatures with bizarre languages and accents but it was the warm West-Country tones of Darth Vader actor David Prowse that caused the most hilarity on set. The well-known Vader voice was overdubbed by James Earl Jones but on set the lines were provided by Bristol-born David. The American actors in the film found this so funny they dubbed him Darth Farmer!

Click below to read the full article.