- 1 day ago
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:01What binds the universe together?
00:04It's the greatest mystery in all of physics, the force.
00:09Is the force a remarkable prediction of groundbreaking science?
00:13Physicists said the universe is made out of atoms, period, end of story.
00:17We're now eating our words.
00:19Or a prophecy of our mind's greatest potential?
00:23This is one step towards thought recognition technology.
00:26Star Wars visionary George Lucas crafted a galactic mythology.
00:32Lucas turned the final frontier into a living, breathing, exciting sort of place to be.
00:39A saga that has inspired scientists to redefine the boundaries of possibility
00:44and to reassess the potential of humanity itself.
00:51Tomorrow begins with a spark of imagination.
00:54A flash of insight that demolishes yesterday's limitations
00:58and inspires technologies to create new worlds.
01:03I'm Ridley Scott, and these are the prophets of science fiction.
01:13I think George looked really ahead. He was very original. He's the man.
01:18Because he stuck with the plan as well.
01:20He just stayed with the science fiction fairy story.
01:25You know, what followed is still formidable.
01:321973. In the wake of Vietnam, America is demoralized by Watergate.
01:39It is a country with little faith in heroes.
01:4329-year-old filmmaker George Lucas worries that the children of this era are losing their optimism and imagination.
01:52But Lucas has a plan. An epic filled with hope and wonder.
02:04Wait, what's a Wookiee?
02:08Why are they in space?
02:10It's an idea that may be too far ahead of its time.
02:15The princess hides a secret message in the robot.
02:20And his name is Obi-Wan Kenobi.
02:24These aren't the droids you're looking for.
02:29He's got this, like, breathing thing, right?
02:35Then he's all...
02:37Use the Force, Luke.
02:41And then the princess gives them all medals.
02:46Does it have to be in space?
02:52Hollywood is not ready for Star Wars.
02:59Movies were pretty gritty back then.
03:01French Connection won Best Picture.
03:04Very adult films.
03:05The Exorcist.
03:08Gritty, adult fare.
03:10So Star Wars probably seemed pretty out there to film executives.
03:14It was just not in the zeitgeist at the time.
03:16It had yet to create its own zeitgeist.
03:19George Lucas and Star Wars changed my life.
03:22It was a crease that got put in my brain that's never come out.
03:27Star Wars initiated a paradigm shift.
03:30Not just in movie making, but in society in general.
03:34It showed that big budget special effects have an audience.
03:38It expanded our horizons.
03:40It inspired us.
03:41It opened up a whole universe for our imagination.
03:46The Star Wars saga begins with a simple plea for help.
03:50Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi.
03:53You're my only hope.
03:54What's this?
03:55Luke Skywalker, a small-town farmhand, is thrown into a galaxy-spanning adventure
04:00when his newly purchased droid delivers a secret message in the form of a hologram.
04:06Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi.
04:08You're my only hope.
04:10I think the genius of George in that was the way it wasn't perfect.
04:14A, she flickered.
04:15B, the message kept repeating.
04:17It was like, oh my gosh, this is the way it would be if we had holograms.
04:23The iconic scene where Princess Lea beams out as a hologram kind of set the stage for,
04:29can we at some point produce this sort of holographic technology?
04:33Dr. Paul DeBevick and his team at the ICT are working to redefine the scientific possibilities of holograms to make
04:41them usable in everyday life.
04:44The Institute for Creative Technologies is basically here to create the next generation of virtual reality.
04:50We were interested in creating a 3D teleconferencing system, so what we wanted to show was a human face.
04:56We first of all had to figure out a way to digitize somebody in 3D as they're actually speaking.
05:02We set up a high-speed video projector to put some patterns of light on the face to get 3D
05:07shape.
05:07And then we had a webcam that gets your image, so if you have the shape of somebody's face as
05:14they talk and a webcam image,
05:16that gives you essentially a 3D model of the person's face that we can put on the display.
05:23We're looking at the 3D display.
05:26This is a three-dimensional image of our friend Cynthia, and we're playing it back.
05:32This cutting-edge imagery is the brainchild of a simple experiment.
05:36I got interested in thinking of a way to shoot a time-slice technique of an object,
05:43like maybe a splash of milk that would be cool to freeze and then move around it as it's frozen.
05:50Using a rotating mirror and a cup of milk, DeBevec set out to freeze time in three dimensions.
05:58We aimed the camera down onto the spinning mirror. It reflected into a cylindrical mirror.
06:05The milk was down here. I threw a nut into it. It made a splash.
06:10And the high-speed video whipped around the viewpoint of the milk splashing.
06:15It seemed clear that if we replaced that camera with a video projector,
06:19it would generate views of an object to all different directions around it in real-time that you could actually
06:25see.
06:26To play back 3D holographic images, DeBevec and his team utilize an advanced projection system.
06:33Essentially, there is a spinning display surface, which is what I'm holding right here, turning around 15 times per second.
06:41That's going to give you 30 passes per second of this display surface spinning around.
06:47That's exactly the right kind of reflection you want to get for the video projector images that are going onto
06:52it.
06:53During playback, dual projectors work together, beaming twin holographic images onto the rotating surface.
07:01Split the color spectrum right down the middle into oranges and into the cyans.
07:05That allows us to show the human face almost in full color.
07:11You can get flesh tones, you can get blue eyes, you can get the whites of the eyes, you can
07:14get white teeth.
07:15The effect is that there is this floating, autostereoscopic, three-dimensional hologram-like image.
07:23And it's just like Cynthia's face was really there.
07:26That's awesome!
07:28DeBevec and his team are now puzzling out a way to project live holographic messages into thin air
07:34without the rotating reflective surface.
07:37I'm standing in our Light Stage X device.
07:40The way that this works is that we have cameras which take pictures of people from different angles.
07:45And we also have complete control over the lighting.
07:49Eventually, the holograms we show will respond to light in the environment the same way that the real person would.
07:57And it might look like not just a video signal from somewhere else shown three-dimensionally,
08:01but it might really appear to be an image of that person in the same lighting that you are in
08:07that same room.
08:09Breakthroughs in holographic technology promise to overhaul our concept of high-def or 3D TV.
08:17So why don't we have holographic movies?
08:20As computer power becomes cheaper and more readily available, we will have holographic TV in your living room.
08:27The holographic image of Princess Leia pleading for help was just nothing but a teaser.
08:33The beginning of this huge wave of technology that we see in Star Wars.
08:41Lucas builds his universe from the ground up, working with concept artists to create uniquely authentic sci-fi tech.
08:49The most iconic piece of technology in the Star Wars universe is obviously that lightsaber.
08:55That sound was amazing.
08:57The production design of it was so real somehow.
08:59He really knew what he was doing and the authenticity still holds up.
09:02I love just how textural a world it was.
09:07It was a scuzzy, scuffed up, lived in universe that looked like it was patched together out of a billion
09:12different things.
09:13Spaceships look beat up. That's what really makes you feel like you are a part of the movie.
09:19Like you can reach out and touch it in a way that other movies before that, that was never the
09:22case.
09:24I think a lot of that came from his own childhood of dealing with cars.
09:29His passion was cars. He wanted to be a race driver.
09:32Star Wars, in George's mind, was a fusion of Flash Gordon and 2001.
09:39Part of the visceral appeal of the film is the speed.
09:43That part of George that wanted to be a racer is fully expressed in all of his films.
09:541961. Days before his high school graduation, George Lucas cruises through his hometown of Modesto, California.
10:05A speeding joyrider descends on Lucas' custom hot rod and takes a reckless chance.
10:18Lucas catches a glimpse of his mangled car.
10:23And then...
10:25Nothing.
10:371961.
10:40Teenage hot rodder George Lucas is thrown from his car in a high-speed collision.
10:49He emerges from a coma after two days.
10:53And spends weeks in intensive care.
10:58The confined quarters present Lucas with an unexpected opportunity.
11:04A chance to slow things down.
11:08And expand his horizons.
11:12Beyond the ferocious vision and imagination of something like Star Wars,
11:16at the end of the day there's a Joseph Campbell Heroes quest underneath it all
11:22that resonates in a very real sort of way.
11:25Lucas is intrigued by famed scholar Joseph Campbell,
11:29who believes that the human mind is genetically drawn to stories with certain universal themes.
11:37Common threads that connect the mythology of diverse cultures around the globe.
11:42Campbell's ideas will inspire Lucas to build his saga on a dual foundation.
11:48Science and myth.
11:51We're not these days always so connected to our ancient myths, let's say.
11:56But George Lucas is a major influence in that he has given us kind of a modern mythology.
12:01His mythology introduces a mystical higher power permeating a high-tech universe.
12:07The Force.
12:09The Force?
12:11The Force is what gives the Jedi his power.
12:14It's an energy field created by all living things.
12:17It surrounds us and penetrates us.
12:20It binds the galaxy together.
12:22When the movie Star Wars came out, we physicists began to groan and moan and say,
12:27Give me a break.
12:29The Force?
12:30They said the universe is made out of atoms.
12:32Period. End of story.
12:34Well, we're now eating our words.
12:38When we began to analyze galaxies like our own, we realized that they were spinning too fast.
12:44By rights, they should fly apart.
12:46In other words, something was binding the galaxy together that was invisible.
12:52And it's the greatest mystery in all of physics.
12:56Dark matter. Dark energy.
12:58In other words, the Force.
13:01As astrophysicists crunched the numbers, an elusive material began appearing in the equations.
13:08We now know that only 4% of the universe is made out of atoms.
13:1396% of the universe is made out of, well, the Force.
13:18Dark energy and dark matter.
13:21Dark matter is difficult to detect because it does not emit or reflect light.
13:27We can only infer the presence of dark matter by observing its effects on the visible universe.
13:34Such as gravitational lensing, the distortion of space-time around massive objects like black holes.
13:42It's in this room right now, and we physicists are clueless as to what it really is.
13:49There is a shelf full of Nobel Prizes waiting for the young person who could explain what is it that
13:55surrounds the galaxy,
13:56holds it together, permeates our bodies, and makes up 96% of the universe.
14:03In Star Wars, the Force does far more than permeate the universe.
14:10Lucas' heroes and villains alike channel the Force into seemingly superhuman abilities,
14:17controlled by will, and powered by thought.
14:22These aren't the droids you're looking for.
14:25These aren't the droids we're looking for.
14:28He can go about his business.
14:31You can go about your business.
14:33Move along.
14:34Move along.
14:35Move along.
14:38But is Lucas' take on mind power just a sci-fi fairy tale?
14:44This man doesn't think so.
14:47Brian Paisley at UC Berkeley's Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute is working to give our thoughts a voice.
14:56We're studying how the brain processes speech and translating brain activity into predicted sounds.
15:04We collaborate with a team of neurosurgeons and neurologists.
15:07Their job is to treat severe epilepsy in different patients.
15:12To monitor epileptic patients' brains, scientists have implanted electrode arrays,
15:18networks of sensors which record neural activity.
15:21This is an example of an electrode grid that the surgeon implants.
15:26Here you're seeing the skull of the patient, and as the camera moves inside of the skull,
15:32you can see the actual electrode array that's been implanted on the brain's surface.
15:36Paisley and his team are using these electrodes to focus on the brain's activity
15:41when it hears sounds.
15:43When you're listening to a sound, that generates a very specific pattern of activity in the cortex
15:48that we can pick up using these electrode arrays.
15:52The brain sort of separates sounds into different frequencies.
15:56Each of those different frequencies is sort of processed by a slightly different place in the brain.
16:01If we can understand that, we can just look at which brain site is becoming active,
16:05and that tells us essentially which sound frequency the person is listening to.
16:10What I'm going to show you is sort of a representation of the actual word that the patient is listening
16:17to.
16:17In this case, you're going to hear the word Waldo.
16:20So I'll just go ahead and play that.
16:21Waldo?
16:23As the subject processes a word,
16:26the implanted electrode array captures their brain activity and relays the data to a computer.
16:32Paisley's team uses the computer to decipher what the subject heard.
16:37We were accurate enough to decode specific words directly from the measured brain activity,
16:42and we could resynthesize the sound and make a guess.
16:45This in the middle is the guess that we produced,
16:48and so we can compare our guess to the actual sound,
16:52and that gives us a measure of how accurate our prediction is.
16:58This is one step towards, for example, thought recognition technology
17:03in terms of actually decoding sounds that are related to thoughts.
17:09Paisley's next challenge will explore the upper limits of brain power.
17:13By removing sound from the equation and zeroing in on internally verbalized thoughts.
17:20Internal verbalization is sort of what you hear in your mind's ear.
17:25For example, this internal monologue most of us have.
17:28Sometimes you can actually hear your own voice.
17:32This internal thought process shares key similarities with how we process external sound.
17:38Some of the same brain areas do seem to activate when you're imagining a sound
17:42versus when you're actually listening to a sound.
17:44Paisley and his team are working towards a day when we can broadcast the words of our inner monologue
17:50to the world around us using nothing more than a thought.
17:55One potential application of this type of research would be a brain implant
18:00that could translate their intended speech into external messages
18:06that could actually be listened to by other people.
18:08literally harnessing brain power to interact with the external world.
18:14Because our brain is electrical, it's also responsive to radio.
18:19Computers can now recognize the signature of individual words emitted from the brain.
18:24And so the question is, can we use radio, electromagnetic signals,
18:29to communicate and control objects to the outside world?
18:32That's similar to the forest.
18:34Within a few years, we'll simply be controlling objects with the mind.
18:38Walking into the room, rearranging things, bringing up movies,
18:43turning down the volume of a stereo.
18:45All of that with the power of the mind.
18:49Mysteries of the mind are only one side of George Lucas's creation.
18:57Poki religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid.
19:02The key to the success of the Star Wars movies, in my view,
19:06is the sheer adventure and exuberance of the stories.
19:10Lucas equips his rebel fighters with a high-tech armada powerful enough to cripple an empire.
19:17But before Luke Skywalker can take on the dark side,
19:22George Lucas must fight his own battle against the limited technology of his time.
19:36Summer, 1961.
19:40Sideline Formula One racer George Lucas reinvents himself
19:46as a speedway photographer.
19:50A path that leads to film school
19:54and to his ultimate calling,
19:57storyteller.
19:58But Lucas never loses his fascination with speed.
20:02And he channels this passion into the heart of Star Wars production.
20:10My favorite part of Star Wars that I still watch even today
20:14are the dogfight scenes at the end of the movie.
20:17I mean, imagine, laser beams going back and forth,
20:21starships whizzing through all sorts of obstacles.
20:25What George had done before making Star Wars
20:27was to screen again and again the dogfights in war movies
20:32about Spitfires and Messerschmitts.
20:34So he had worked out exactly what was really exciting on screen
20:39with terrestrial airplanes and put that into space.
20:43So that's a perfect example of this ability to combine existing technology
20:50with the leap of imagination which puts you in a different place.
20:54But existing technology can't always keep pace
20:57with Lucas' high-octane imagination.
21:00George always has the story first and then figures out,
21:04are we going to do this?
21:05The pressure of delivering the goods will drive a solution.
21:11You just have to make leaps into the unknown
21:13and hope that fate has a trampoline ready for you to catch you.
21:17Lucas was an innovator. He was an inventor.
21:20If technology didn't exist to bring his visions to film life,
21:24he sees the opportunity himself to create technologies
21:28and filmmaking abilities that didn't exist until he figured out a way to do them himself.
21:34Lucas founds an effects company to support his creative vision.
21:39Industrial Light & Magic changed everything.
21:41ILM still changes everything.
21:43Lucas managed to say a good story can be told well
21:47with all the bells and whistles available to us today
21:51and with a set of ideas that people think are fringe.
21:59Throughout production of Star Wars, ILM forges new frontiers in film-making tech.
22:05From revolutionary motion control cameras to game-changing digital effects
22:11with an influence that quickly extends beyond the silver screen.
22:16Those dogfight scenes in outer space are a story that really captures your imagination.
22:23And that's something that we physicists need.
22:25We want to push the envelope.
22:27But where do we go pushing the envelope?
22:30That's where George Lucas comes in.
22:32He introduces entire new worlds to us.
22:35Worlds that we physicists then have to fill in, in terms of the technology.
22:42Switch to targeting computers.
22:45Lucas employs groundbreaking digital graphics to push the envelope of a nascent technology.
22:52Rebel pilots lock onto their Imperial foes via targeting computers.
22:58Targeting computers are able to tell to the smallest detail what needs to be done,
23:04how things operate, how the ships need to approach.
23:07So there's the navigation aspect, but there's also the technological information.
23:15Today, this technology exists in the real world as Heads Up Display, or HUD.
23:25Heads Up technology is the ability to superimpose information and images on top of reality.
23:32We can do this today to help jet fighter pilots,
23:36to help people who are driving a car.
23:40In windshield HUDs, spectrally pure lasers broadcast a video stream through a tiny mirror, pixel by pixel.
23:49But the technology isn't limited to vehicles.
23:55Heads Up interfaces extend to wearable computers and beyond.
24:01Today, physicists in Washington are creating contact lenses
24:05that have electrodes in them.
24:07And we hope to put LEDs inside the contact lenses so that we can illuminate the screen simply by blinking.
24:16And when you talk to somebody, your contact lens will actually identify who this person is
24:20and print out their biography next to their image.
24:26You'll know exactly who to suck up to at any cocktail party.
24:31George Lucas long envisioned technology integrated with the body and mind.
24:39But even in the Star Wars universe, high tech needs a guiding hand.
24:45In the finality of A New Hope, Luke is finally faced with the challenge of,
24:50do I trust technology or do I trust my own innate ability to tap into the Force?
24:58Use the Force, Luke.
25:00Luke Skywalker is told by the spirit of Obi-Wan Kenobi,
25:04trust your instincts.
25:07And I began to realize, yes, yes, that is absolutely true.
25:11The computer is not that sophisticated.
25:14It cannot guess.
25:16It cannot make the intuitive shot.
25:19And that's why sometimes you have to let go.
25:22Go with the Force.
25:30Luke strikes a balance between science and intuition.
25:35He may not know everything yet, but it is that first step towards self-actualization for Luke.
25:42Lucas plots his next step with a daringly dark sequel that will confound sci-fi expectations
25:49while raising our expectations for a future that has finally arrived.
26:05In 1977, George Lucas unveils his vision to the world.
26:11Suddenly, the world changed.
26:13Somebody had just said, anything you imagine can now be put on screen.
26:18It was the moment where film science fiction caught up to our imagination and exceeded it.
26:25I've never experienced anything like the anticipation of cooking in that room.
26:30It was in the big, the big Chinese.
26:32And it was jammed.
26:34By the time I was finished, I thought, I really got to change my thoughts about the films I'm going
26:38to make.
26:39And a month later, somebody sent me Alien.
26:42So it was fortuitous.
26:451978, one year into a worldwide Star Wars craze, George Lucas returns to Hollywood to produce the biggest independent film
26:55in history.
26:56The Empire Strikes Back.
27:00He was proposing making a second film for more money, a much bigger film in scope and ambition.
27:06The Empire Strikes Back, an amazing sequel to study, actually, in that it does not merely retell, let's say, the
27:13story of the first one.
27:14At the end of The Empire Strikes Back, the good guys don't win. It's right in the title, too, by
27:17the way. There's no surprise.
27:19Luke Skywalker explores new corners of Lucas' ever-expanding universe, guided by his faithful co-pilot, R2-D2.
27:30Don't worry, R2, we're going, we're going.
27:34Lucas' sci-fi robot, Navigator, may now be steering its way into reality.
27:42Intelligent ground vehicles should have its own mindset to allow the vehicle to make its own decision to navigate through
27:50the obstacles, eventually to move from point A to point B.
27:55Lin's latest generation autonomous vehicle platform, Red Raven, relies on dual technologies to see the world around it.
28:05Red Raven actually have to rely on two particular sensors. One is called laser rangefinder, which is down here, about
28:14a foot high from the ground.
28:15And then you also have a camera up here, which basically turns a three-dimensional scene into a two-dimensional
28:22image.
28:23And we have to basically combine the image acquired from camera and the image that is created by the LIF,
28:32what we call, integrate them together to create a histogram.
28:38By histogram, we're able to basically determine what is the opening in front of the vehicle to allow the vehicle
28:45to move on.
28:46All that maneuvering or navigation is actually done by the software that is running on the platform here.
28:54The sensors stream spatial and motion data through Raven's algorithmic software, allowing it to navigate around obstacles as they appear.
29:03As you see that the vehicle is now moving toward me, and you have the sensor who is seeing me
29:09in its way, and so it will just move away.
29:12Scanners and software will Raven clear of objects at close range, but it can also connect to existing navigation networks
29:20to reach distant destinations.
29:22So here's a GPS receiver. So together, we will be able to know what is the current global position of
29:29the vehicle.
29:30And then from there, we should be able to also learn the new waypoint to allow the vehicle to move
29:37from the current position to the new location.
29:40This autonomous technology has the potential to make hacking through rush hour traffic enjoyable.
29:47They really have raised interest from the car manufacturers, from the automotive industry basically.
29:54And they basically wanted to see, they wanted to take the outcome from this autonomous vehicle technology and transfer that
30:02into the actual vehicle of the future.
30:06We could soon enter a future with no drivers, only passengers, while the car itself keeps an eye on the
30:17road, relying on flawless computer vision to ensure the safety of its occupants.
30:28So basically you have all these kinds of features that are very desirable by the automotive industry.
30:34And so they're in the process of developing this. Many, many car manufacturers, including the U.S. ones, as well
30:41as the European manufacturers.
30:44It's going to be there one day. So we're turning the fiction into reality very, very soon.
30:53In The Empire Strikes Back, Luke Skywalker is on his own high-tech journey. One that delivers him face to
30:59face with his nemesis, Darth Vader.
31:05The Dark Encounter will alter Lucas' hero forever.
31:10Don't make me destroy you.
31:12And its aftermath will change the face of real-world medical technology.
31:27In the climactic duel of The Empire Strikes Back, Luke Skywalker's hand is severed and replaced.
31:38Lucas was able very quickly to show the sophistication in the technology of Luke's bionic hand, for a lack of
31:47a better word.
31:49You could tell that the robotic hand would have the acuity and dexterity of a human hand augmented now by
31:56this robotic technology.
31:59In Empire, George Lucas takes bionic limbs beyond the realm of current technology.
32:08But at Loma Linda University Medical Center, Mike Davidson reveals Lucas' vision for bionics may now be within reach.
32:16When I was younger, my mother suffered a stroke. She had a paralyzed arm.
32:20And in my mind, I had this idea that I could build some sort of robotic device to help her.
32:26Michael now works with next-level prosthetics, including the iLimb by Touch Bionics.
32:32The iLimb is as close as we've been able to get to replicating the limb that Luke got in Star
32:37Wars.
32:38Much like Luke's bionic hand, the iLimb has a simulated skin covering.
32:43It is equipped with an array of surface sensors designed to intercept signals sent from the brain to control muscles.
32:50Every time a muscle contracts, it gives off a natural electrical noise.
32:55What we can do is convert the electrical noise from a muscle into what we call a myoelectric signal.
33:01We're essentially reading the body's natural electric noise that's generated when muscles contract.
33:08And we're converting those signals into meaningful movements in the prosthesis.
33:14Commands sent to the user's muscles now activate movements of the bionic hand.
33:19It's kind of like the muscle now controls a switch and it's in charge of the device and tells it
33:24when to go and when to stop.
33:26Earlier prosthetics featured crude closing mechanisms which lacked sophistication.
33:33So this device represents a traditional myoelectric hand.
33:37If we wanted to use it to hold an orange, it would be very hard for a mechanical hand to
33:43just grab this without crushing it.
33:45But iLimb's five independently operating motors guided by real-time sensors constantly regulate the amount of force exerted by the
33:54hand.
33:54These motors stalled out because it sensed that there's an object there and the other ones that haven't met the
33:59resistance will continue to go.
34:01So that way we're applying the same amount of force, we're just distributing it over greater areas.
34:07And so then you can hold it this way and really that's more biological and more natural.
34:13An iLimb user can override this feature when the situation calls for more pressure.
34:19If the client continues to give a signal, it'll pulse and actually get tighter.
34:25So if the patient wants to pick something up but sense that it has the potential to slip and they
34:30know that they can't crush it,
34:33then they can really begin to bite down on it and hold even tighter.
34:38For some iLimb users, the benefits extend far beyond the practical.
34:43Anytime somebody loses a limb, there's still kind of unfortunate stigmas in society where we don't know how to react.
34:51Something like an iLimb is a conversation piece where we could talk about it and say, wow, that's really cool,
34:56that's neat.
34:57It's not just a device by itself, it's an extension of who I am.
35:04With his hero wounded and villains victorious, George Lucas dares to conclude Empire on an ominous note.
35:15His 1983 sequel, Return of the Jedi, revisits Luke Skywalker's home planet Tatooine, a treacherous desert world under twin suns.
35:29As George Lucas' trilogy comes to a close, the farm boy has grown into a man and redeemed his father.
35:40It's interesting to have the entire arc be about the fact that it's actually a human being under there and
35:46that there was a soul under there.
35:47So, it's a great thing to see over a period of ten years play out.
35:52Start Lord Dungeons!
35:54Luke and Vader's journey takes the father and son full circle.
36:00But the man beneath the armor was once a boy.
36:07Soon, Lucas will explore the unlimited possibility of Vader's past.
36:14And our future.
36:271993.
36:29George Lucas and ILM have spent the ten years since Return of the Jedi spearheading a technological revolution.
36:39Lucas has finally created the tools of unlimited possibility.
36:47It's time to return to Star Wars.
36:58By 1999, Lucas has completed The Phantom Menace.
37:03The prequel's pod race is a whirlwind look at a technology which could propel mankind into the future.
37:12Everyone, when they watch Star Wars and they see the speeder bikes and the pod racers, they say to themselves,
37:18I want that.
37:19That's what I want for Christmas.
37:22We will have this technology.
37:24Flying cars, levitating buses and trains that soar into the heavens.
37:29At the City College of New York's Marshak Science Building, theoretical physicist Michio Kaku reveals a magnetic experiment which could
37:38turn Big Apple Cab drivers into pilots.
37:42Now, this is a very special ceramic here.
37:46And here we have an ordinary magnet.
37:49Now, watch what happens when I pour liquid nitrogen onto this superconducting ceramic.
37:57It creates a supermagnetic field.
38:00Let me place the magnet on top.
38:03You can then let the two magnetic fields repel each other.
38:07And look at that.
38:09The magnet is floating right on top of the supermagnet.
38:13And notice that if I tweak it, it spins with no friction.
38:18With superconductivity only occurring at very cold temperatures, scientists must achieve the same results in a more reasonable environment before
38:28levitating vehicles catch up with Lucas's imagination.
38:32What we physicists are working on, the holy grail of low temperature physics, is to create room temperature superconductors.
38:40Once we have that, then watch out.
38:43We will have all the levitating speeders of Star Wars.
38:48Room temperature superconductors could usher in a new age of progress.
38:53The last hundred years was the age of electricity.
38:57The next hundred years could be the age of magnetism.
39:02Imagine the infrastructure of your city.
39:04Your car could be like this tiny little magnet here, floating on a cushion of magnetism.
39:10This could solve the energy crisis.
39:12Most of the gasoline that you pay for goes to overcoming the friction of the road.
39:17Imagine no friction.
39:19You simply blow on your levitating car and it starts to take off.
39:24And then you steer it with tiny little jets of carbon dioxide, giving you the perfect levitating land cruiser or
39:31pod racer.
39:32In 2005, George Lucas closes his prequel saga with Revenge of the Sith.
39:40But his sci-fi universe continues to thrive as an ongoing worldwide revolution in art, science and technology.
39:52We'll always owe George Lucas for drawing people toward this notion that the future can be an adventure.
40:01What we hope is that people will take this adventure.
40:07He turns space into a living, breathing, exciting sort of place to be.
40:12And that's important because if you go into a classroom, a lot of our youth are intrigued with the idea
40:18of going into space.
40:20And why? A lot of it has to do with Star Wars.
40:23The thing that I admire the most about George Lucas is that he's a renegade.
40:29He's this rogue filmmaker. He broke all the rules.
40:33If Star Wars had never been filmed, perhaps a generation of scientists might not have been inspired to go into
40:41science.
40:42In a 1977 interview, George Lucas reveals his goal for Star Wars.
40:50I'm hoping that if the film accomplishes anything, it takes some 10 year old kid and turns him on to
40:57outer space.
40:58I would feel very good if someday when I'm 93 years old, they colonize Mars and the leader of the
41:06first colony says,
41:08I really did it because I was hoping there would be a Wookiee up here.
41:16George Lucas was kind of pure, constantly trying to find a new way.
41:21He was a rebel. He created a new language of science fiction and reinvigorated the genre for a new generation.
Comments