Assassin’s Creed theme by The_Rick_14
Download: AC.p3t
(5 backgrounds)
| Assassin's Creed | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Genre(s) | |
| Developer(s) | |
| Publisher(s) | Ubisoft |
| Creator(s) | |
| First release | Assassin's Creed November 13, 2007 |
| Latest release | Assassin's Creed Nexus VR November 16, 2023 |
Assassin's Creed is a historical action-adventure video game series and media franchise published by Ubisoft and developed mainly by its studio Ubisoft Montreal using the game engine Anvil and its more advanced derivatives. Created by Patrice Désilets, Jade Raymond, and Corey May, the Assassin's Creed video game series depicts a fictional millennia-old struggle between the Order of Assassins, who fight for peace and free will, and the Knights Templar, who desire peace through order and control. The series features historical fiction, science fiction, and fictional characters intertwined with real-world historical events and historical figures. In most games, players control a historical Assassin while also playing as an Assassin Initiate or someone caught in the Assassin–Templar conflict in the present-day framing story. Considered a spiritual successor to the Prince of Persia series, Assassin's Creed took inspiration from the novel Alamut by the Slovenian writer Vladimir Bartol, based on the historical Hashashin sect of the medieval Middle East.
The first Assassin's Creed game was released in 2007, and the series has featured thirteen main installments in total, the most recent being Assassin's Creed Mirage in 2023. Main games in the Assassin's Creed series are set in an open world and played from the third-person view. Gameplay revolves around combat, stealth, and exploration, including the use of parkour to navigate the environment. The games feature both main and side missions, and some titles also include competitive and cooperative multiplayer game modes.
A new story and occasionally new time periods are introduced in each entry, with the gameplay elements also evolving. There are three overarching story arcs in the series. The first five main games follow Desmond Miles, a descendant of several important Assassins throughout history, who uses a machine called the Animus to relive his ancestors' memories and find powerful artifacts called Pieces of Eden in an attempt to prevent a catastrophic event, referencing the 2012 phenomenon. From Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag to Assassin's Creed Syndicate, Assassin initiates and employees of Abstergo (a company used as a front by the modern-day Templars) record genetic memories using the Helix software, helping the Templars and Assassins find new Pieces of Eden in the modern world. The next three games, Assassin's Creed Origins, Odyssey, and Valhalla, follow ex-Abstergo employee Layla Hassan on her own quest to save humanity from another disaster.
The main games in the Assassin's Creed franchise have received generally positive reviews for their ambition in visuals, game design, and narratives, with criticism for the yearly release cycle and frequent bugs, as well as the prioritising of role-playing mechanics in later titles. The series has received multiple awards and nominations, including multiple Game of the Year awards. It is commercially successful, selling over 200 million copies as of September 2022[update], becoming Ubisoft's best-selling franchise and one of the highest selling video game franchises of all time. While main titles are produced for major consoles and desktop platforms, multiple spin-off games have been released for consoles, mobiles, and handheld platforms. A series of art books, encyclopedias, comics, and novels have also been published. A live-action film adaptation of the series, titled Assassin's Creed, was released in 2016.
Development history[edit]
While the games in the series have had several narrative arcs, Ubisoft views the series as currently having three periods of development and design philosophy. Until 2015's Assassin's Creed Syndicate, the franchise was structured around single-player content, and while centering on open world spaces and several role-playing elements, were more action-adventure and stealth-oriented. Period two, covering from Assassin's Creed Origins to Assassin's Creed Mirage, brought in more role-playing elements and live-service features to increase player engagement. Period three will launch with Assassin's Creed Shadows, using lessons from the second period of development to make engrossing single-player games similar to the original titles but with features to allow players to share achievements and content with others, all to be backed by the Infinity hub system.[1]
Period one[edit]
The first Assassin's Creed game originated out of ideas for a sequel for Ubisoft's video game Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, aiming for the seventh generation of video game consoles. The Ubisoft Montreal team decided to take the gameplay from The Sands of Time into an open-world approach, taking advantage of the improved processing power to render larger spaces and crowds. Narratively, the team wanted to move away from the Prince being someone next in line for the throne but to have to work for it; combined with research into secret societies led them to focus on the Order of Assassins, based upon the historical Hashashin sect of Ismaili, who were followers of Shia Islam, heavily borrowing from the novel Alamut.[2][3] Ubisoft developed a narrative where the player would control an Assassin escorting a non-playable Prince, leading them to call this game Prince of Persia: Assassin,[4] or Prince of Persia: Assassins.[5] Ubisoft was apprehensive to a Prince of Persia game without the Prince as the playable character, but this led the marketing division to suggest the name Assassin's Creed, playing off the creed of the Assassins, "nothing is true; everything is permitted". Ubisoft Montreal ran with this in creating a new intellectual property, eliminating the Prince, and basing it around the Assassins and the Knights Templar in the Holy Land during the 12th century. Additionally, in postulating what other assassinations they could account for throughout history, they came onto the idea of genetic memory and created the Animus device and modern storyline elements. This further allowed them to explain certain facets of gameplay, such as accounting for when the player character is killed, similar to The Sands of Time.[5]
After Assassin's Creed was released in 2007, Ubisoft Montreal said they looked to "rework the global structure" in developing the sequel, Assassin's Creed II. They felt that parkour was underutilized in the first game and designed the world in the sequel to feature freerun highways to make it easier to enter into parkour moves, for example using rooftops to escape pursuits.[6] The change in setting meant that the game would feature a new cast of characters, including a new protagonist, Ezio Auditore da Firenze. Assassin's Creed II also brought in more use of crowds to hide in plain sight that the developers had seen used in Hitman: Blood Money, adding more to the concept of social stealth as a gameplay option.[6] Finally, Ubisoft Montreal completely reworked the repetitive mission structure from the first game through numerous side activities, collectibles, and secrets. These additions became a central part of the series going forward as well as other Ubisoft games like Watch Dogs, Far Cry, and Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon.[6] Assassin's Creed II was followed by two sequels, Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood and Assassin's Creed: Revelations, which also featured Ezio as the main protagonist and introduced the ability for players to recruit NPCs as Assassins and manage them in missions.[6]
Assassin's Creed III originated from both Ubisoft Montreal, who wanted to progress the series' narrative forward in time, and to an unattached project that had been developed at Ubisoft Singapore and featured naval ship combat. As the main team had settled into the American Revolution period for the game, they found the ship-to-ship combat system fitted with the story and redesigned the setting to incorporate it further. Another major change in Assassin's Creed III was transitioning the parkour and freerun systems to work in the natural woodlands of 18th-century Massachusetts and New York. This further allowed the adding of trees and other vegetation within the city areas themselves, not just as part of the parkour systems, but to add more varied environments, which would continue as part of the series' ongoing design.[6]
For Assassin's Creed III's sequel, Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, the Ubisoft team built upon the foundation of its predecessor, particularly with regards to the naval gameplay, merging it seamlessly with the land-based gameplay.[6] The team also used the game as a chance to address aspects of the series' storyline. Choosing to focus on an outsider's perspective to the Assassin–Templar conflict, they set the game around the Golden Age of Piracy, with the protagonist, Edward Kenway, starting out as a pirate who initially becomes involved in the conflict with the prospect of wealth. Similarly, after the conclusion of Desmond Miles' story arc in Assassin's Creed III, the modern-day segments put players in the role of a nameless individual controlled from a first-person perspective. The team chose this approach because they believed it allowed players to more easily identify themselves in their character.[6] This trend would continue in the series until Assassin's Creed Syndicate.[6]
Development of Assassin's Creed Unity began shortly after the completion of Brotherhood in 2010,[7] with the core development team splitting off during the early stages of development on Assassin's Creed III.[8] As the first game in the series to be released exclusively for the eighth generation of video game consoles, Unity featured a graphical and gameplay overhaul. The setting chosen for the game was Paris during the early years of the French Revolution, with players taking control of a new Assassin named Arno Dorian.[7][8] After Unity, Ubisoft released Assassin's Creed Syndicate in 2015.[6]
Period two[edit]
After Syndicate, Ubisoft decided that the series needed a major reinvention across both gameplay and narrative. It was decided to make the next game, Assassin's Creed Origins, closer to a role-playing video game than a stealth-action game, which would also bring a game with many more hours of play than previous titles. Some long-standing features of the series were eliminated for this purpose, such as the social stealth mechanic. This changed how missions were presented — rather than being linearly directed through the Animus, the player character could meet various quest givers in the game's world to receive missions.[6] From the narrative side, Ubisoft placed the game before the formation of the Assassin Brotherhood in Ancient Egypt to make the player character, Bayek of Siwa, a medjay that people would respect and seek the help of.[6] The modern-day storyline also shifted back to a single character, Layla Hassan. The developers limited the number of playable sequences for her character compared to previous games but gave them more meaning, such as allowing the player to explore Layla's laptop with background information on the game's universe.[6]
Origins was followed in 2018 by Assassin's Creed Odyssey, which shifted the setting to Classical Greece and followed a similar approach to its predecessor but with more emphasis on the role-playing elements.[6] 2020's Assassin's Creed Valhalla, set in Medieval England and Norway during the Viking Age, continued the same style as Origins and Odyssey. The developers recognized feedback from the previous two games and brought back the social stealth elements, as well as the concept of a customizable home base that was first introduced in Assassin's Creed II.[6]
In 2023, Ubisoft released Assassin's Creed Mirage, a smaller title which sought to pay tribute to the franchise's earlier installments by focusing on stealth and assassinations over its predecessors' role-playing elements. The game started development as an expansion for Valhalla before being turned into a standalone release, and was set in 9th-century Baghdad during the Islamic Golden Age, a decade before the events of Valhalla, to which it served as a prequel.[9][10]
Future[edit]
In 2022, Ubisoft announced several additional games for the series. Assassin's Creed Infinity has been described by its executive producer, Marc-Alexis Côté, as a "new design philosophy" for the series,[1][11] as well as a hub that will provide the releases of future games.[12] The first two games to be included in Infinity will be Assassin's Creed Shadows, set in Japan during the Sengoku period,[9] and Assassin's Creed: Codename Hexe, rumoured to be set in Central Europe during the 16th century.[13]
Gameplay[edit]
The Assassin's Creed games are centered around one or more fictional members of the Order of the Assassins. Their memories are experienced by an in-game character in the modern-day period through a device called the Animus and its derivations. The Animus allows the user to explore these memories passed down via genetics. Within the context of the game, this provides a diegetic interface to the real-world player of the game, showing them elements like health bars, a mini-map, and target objectives as if presented by the Animus. Additionally, should the player cause the historical character to die or fail a mission, this is rectified as desynchronization of the genetic memory, allowing the player to try the mission again. Through the Animus interface, the player can retry any past mission already completed; for example, in Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, the player achieves better synchronization results by performing the mission in a specific manner, such as by only killing the mission's target. The Animus also imparts special abilities to the modern-day character that helps them to see their target in a crowd or other unique points of interest.[14][15]
While playing as the Assassin characters, the games are generally presented from a third-person view in an open world environment, focusing on stealth and parkour. The games use a mission structure to follow the main story, assigning the player to complete an assassination of public figureheads or a covert mission. Alternatively, several side missions are available, such as mapping out the expansive cities from a high perch followed by performing a leap of faith into a haystack below, collecting treasures hidden across the cities, exploring ruins for relics, building a brotherhood of assassins to perform other tasks, or funding the rebuilding of a city through purchasing and upgrading of shops and other features. At times, the player is in direct control of the modern-day character who, by nature of the Animus use, has learned Assassin techniques through the bleeding effect, as well as their genetic ability of Eagle Vision, which separates friend, foe, and assassination targets by illuminating people in different colors.[16][17]
The games use the concept of active versus passive moves, with active moves, such as running, climbing the sides of buildings, or jumping between rooftops, more likely to alert the attention of nearby guards. When the guards become alerted, the player must either fight them or break their line of sight and locate a hiding place, such as a haystack or a well, and wait until the guards' alert is reduced. The combat system allows for a number of unique weapons, armor, and moves, including the use of a hidden blade set in a bracer on the Assassin's arm, which can be used to perform surreptitious assassinations.[18]
Storyline[edit]
Premise[edit]
The Assassin's Creed games primarily revolve around the rivalry and conflict between two ancient secret societies: the Order of Assassins, who represent freedom, and the Knights Templar, who represent order. Versions of these societies have existed for centuries, with the Assassins seeking to stop the Templars from gaining control of Pieces of Eden, artifacts that can override free will to control people.[19]
These artifacts are remnants of an ancient species pre-dating humanity called the Isu, or Precursors, which created humanity to live in peace alongside them. The Isu ensured humans could not rise against them by creating the Pieces of Eden to control them. When the first hybrid Isu-human beings emerged, named Adam and Eve, they were immune to the effects of the Pieces of Eden. They stole the Pieces of Eden, which led to a great war that ended when a massive solar flare devastated the surface of the Earth. The Isu began to die out while humanity thrived. Three Isu—Minerva, Juno, and Jupiter—attempted to prepare humanity for a solar flare they knew would come centuries later. Minerva and Jupiter prepared vaults from which humanity could activate a protective shield around Earth with the Pieces of Eden and the Eye, a means to communicate how to find and use these vaults; however, Juno saw humanity as a threat and attempted to sabotage Minerva and Jupiter's plan. Minerva and Jupiter were forced to destroy Juno, unaware she had hidden her consciousness to wake upon activation of the Eye. All that remained of the Isu were the traces of their memories in the world's mythologies, and religions, while the Pieces of Eden were lost to time.[19]
The series takes place in the modern era, in which the Templars have established the mega-corporation Abstergo Industries. Abstergo has developed a device, the Animus, whose user can relive the memories of their ancestors through their genetic material. Abstergo has kidnapped people who are descendants of past Assassins to locate the missing Pieces of Eden via the Animus.[19] A user of the Animus can move about in simulated memories as their ancestor, but performing actions outside the bounds of what their ancestor did can lead to desynchronization of the memory.[14][15] Extended use of the Animus creates a bleeding effect that gives users some of the skills and capabilities they experienced with their ancestor.[20]
Story arcs[edit]
The first five main games in the series focus on Desmond Miles, a bartender who learns he is a descendant of several important Assassins throughout history, including Altaïr Ibn-LaʼAhad from the Middle East during the Third Crusade; Ezio Auditore da Firenze from the Italian Renaissance during the late 15th and early 16th centuries; and Ratonhnhaké:ton (better known as Connor), a half-Mohawk, half-British Assassin during the American Revolution. Desmond is used by Abstergo to find Pieces of Eden but is freed by Lucy Stillman, an undercover agent for the Assassins. Lucy takes Desmond to meet Shaun Hastings and Rebecca Crane, two other members of the modern-day Assassins. The group is joined later by William Miles, Desmond's father. They continue to explore Desmond's memories and eventually discover the Eye and Minerva's warning of another possible solar flare. They also inadvertently free Juno, who then kills Lucy, revealed to be a double agent for the Templars. The group continues to find the vaults across the globe via Desmond's memories, and Desmond ultimately activates them in time to block the solar flare, at the cost of his own life.[19]
Starting with Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, William goes into exile, while Shaun and Rebecca continue to monitor Abstergo by posing as employees of one of their spin-off companies, Abstergo Entertainment. Abstergo has refined the Animus technology to allow anyone to experience genetic memories from the DNA material of another person, allowing Abstergo to continue their search for the Pieces of Eden under the guise of creating entertainment products. In Black Flag, the player assumes the role of an unnamed Abstergo employee tasked with scanning the memories of Edward Kenway, a privateer-turned-pirate during the Golden Age of Piracy and Connor's grandfather. During their investigation, the player is blackmailed into helping a fellow employee, John Standish, recover sensitive information and deliver it to the Assassins. John is later revealed to be a Sage, a human reincarnation of Juno's husband Aita, who is trying to resurrect her, though he is killed by Abstergo before his plan can come to fruition.[19] In Assassin's Creed Rogue, the player controls another Abstergo employee who is recruited by the Templars to clean their servers after the Assassins breach them and recover data on the life of Shay Patrick Cormac, an Assassin-turned-Templar from the 18th century. The Assassins are ultimately forced to go underground once more, and the player character is invited to join the Templars.[19]
By the time of Assassin's Creed Unity, Abstergo distributes its Animus product via a video game console named Helix, tapping into an extensive, unaware player base to help them locate more Pieces of Eden and determine the fates of various Sages as part of the Phoenix Project, an attempt to recreate the genetic structure of the Isu. The game's opening has players control an unnamed Templar during the downfall of the Templar Order, while the different "time anomalies" take them to Paris during the Belle Époque, World War II, and the Hundred Years' War. The Assassins locate select players and bring them in as Initiates to help their cause. In Unity, the player character is contacted by an Assassin named Bishop and asked to experience the memories of Arno Dorian, an Assassin active during the French Revolution, so that the modern-day Assassins can locate the body of a Sage and hide it from Abstergo.[19] Despite the Assassins' efforts, Abstergo collects enough samples of other Sages by the start of Assassin's Creed Syndicate to move forward with the Phoenix Project. Again, Bishop contacts the Initiate and asks them to explore the memories of Jacob and Evie Frye, twin Assassins from Victorian England, to locate a Piece of Eden known as the Shroud, which Abstergo needs to complete the process of recreating the Isu genetic structure. Although the Initiate manages to locate the Shroud, the Templars beat the Assassins to it.[19]
A new storyline is introduced in Assassin's Creed Origins focusing on Abstergo researcher Layla Hassan. Initially tasked with locating historical artifacts in Egypt, Layla stumbles upon the mummified corpses of the medjay Bayek and his wife Aya, co-founders of the Hidden Ones, the precursor organizati
MD Glossy
MD Glossy theme by Metric Design
Download: MD_Glossy.p3t
(3 backgrounds)
P3T Unpacker v0.12
Copyright (c) 2007. Anoop Menon
This program unpacks Playstation 3 Theme files (.p3t) so that you can touch-up an existing theme to your likings or use a certain wallpaper from it (as many themes have multiple). But remember, if you use content from another theme and release it, be sure to give credit!
Download for Windows: p3textractor.zip
Instructions:
Download p3textractor.zip from above. Extract the files to a folder with a program such as WinZip or WinRAR. Now there are multiple ways to extract the theme.
The first way is to simply open the p3t file with p3textractor.exe. If you don’t know how to do this, right click the p3t file and select Open With. Alternatively, open the p3t file and it will ask you to select a program to open with. Click Browse and find p3textractor.exe from where you previously extracted it to. It will open CMD and extract the theme to extracted.[filename]. After that, all you need to do for any future p3t files is open them and it will extract.
The second way is very simple. Just drag the p3t file to p3textractor.exe. It will open CMD and extract the theme to extracted.[filename].
For the third way, first put the p3t file you want to extract into the same folder as p3textractor.exe. Open CMD and browse to the folder with p3extractor.exe. Enter the following:
p3textractor filename.p3t [destination path]Replace filename with the name of the p3t file, and replace [destination path] with the name of the folder you want the files to be extracted to. A destination path is not required. By default it will extract to extracted.filename.
Assassin’s Creed
Heroes v1.1
Heroes theme by Xehos
Download: Heroes.p3t
(3 backgrounds)
P3T Unpacker v0.12
Copyright (c) 2007. Anoop Menon
This program unpacks Playstation 3 Theme files (.p3t) so that you can touch-up an existing theme to your likings or use a certain wallpaper from it (as many themes have multiple). But remember, if you use content from another theme and release it, be sure to give credit!
Download for Windows: p3textractor.zip
Instructions:
Download p3textractor.zip from above. Extract the files to a folder with a program such as WinZip or WinRAR. Now there are multiple ways to extract the theme.
The first way is to simply open the p3t file with p3textractor.exe. If you don’t know how to do this, right click the p3t file and select Open With. Alternatively, open the p3t file and it will ask you to select a program to open with. Click Browse and find p3textractor.exe from where you previously extracted it to. It will open CMD and extract the theme to extracted.[filename]. After that, all you need to do for any future p3t files is open them and it will extract.
The second way is very simple. Just drag the p3t file to p3textractor.exe. It will open CMD and extract the theme to extracted.[filename].
For the third way, first put the p3t file you want to extract into the same folder as p3textractor.exe. Open CMD and browse to the folder with p3extractor.exe. Enter the following:
p3textractor filename.p3t [destination path]Replace filename with the name of the p3t file, and replace [destination path] with the name of the folder you want the files to be extracted to. A destination path is not required. By default it will extract to extracted.filename.
Playstation B3yond v1.50
Playstation Beyond theme 1.50 by Otic
Download: playb3yond.p3t
(1 background HD, 3 sample backgrounds SD)
P3T Unpacker v0.12
Copyright (c) 2007. Anoop Menon
This program unpacks Playstation 3 Theme files (.p3t) so that you can touch-up an existing theme to your likings or use a certain wallpaper from it (as many themes have multiple). But remember, if you use content from another theme and release it, be sure to give credit!
Download for Windows: p3textractor.zip
Instructions:
Download p3textractor.zip from above. Extract the files to a folder with a program such as WinZip or WinRAR. Now there are multiple ways to extract the theme.
The first way is to simply open the p3t file with p3textractor.exe. If you don’t know how to do this, right click the p3t file and select Open With. Alternatively, open the p3t file and it will ask you to select a program to open with. Click Browse and find p3textractor.exe from where you previously extracted it to. It will open CMD and extract the theme to extracted.[filename]. After that, all you need to do for any future p3t files is open them and it will extract.
The second way is very simple. Just drag the p3t file to p3textractor.exe. It will open CMD and extract the theme to extracted.[filename].
For the third way, first put the p3t file you want to extract into the same folder as p3textractor.exe. Open CMD and browse to the folder with p3extractor.exe. Enter the following:
p3textractor filename.p3t [destination path]Replace filename with the name of the p3t file, and replace [destination path] with the name of the folder you want the files to be extracted to. A destination path is not required. By default it will extract to extracted.filename.
Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd theme by wolfgang187
Download: PinkFloydHD.p3t
(1 background)
Pink Floyd | |
|---|---|
 Pink Floyd in January 1968. Clockwise from bottom: David Gilmour, Nick Mason, Syd Barrett, Roger Waters and Richard Wright. | |
| Background information | |
| Also known as |
|
| Origin | London, England |
| Genres | |
| Discography | Pink Floyd discography |
| Years active |
|
| Labels | |
| Spinoffs | Nick Mason's Saucerful of Secrets |
| Members | |
| Past members | |
| Website | pinkfloyd |
Pink Floyd are an English rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experiments, philosophical lyrics, and elaborate live shows. They became a leading band of the progressive rock genre, cited by some as the greatest progressive rock band of all time.
Pink Floyd were founded in 1965 by Syd Barrett (guitar, lead vocals), Nick Mason (drums), Roger Waters (bass guitar, vocals) and Richard Wright (keyboards, vocals). With Barrett as their main songwriter, they released two hit singles, "Arnold Layne" and "See Emily Play", and the successful debut album The Piper at the Gates of Dawn (all 1967). David Gilmour (guitar, vocals) joined in December 1967, while Barrett left in April 1968 due to deteriorating mental health. The four remaining members began contributing to the musical composition, with Waters becoming the primary lyricist and thematic leader, devising the concepts behind Pink Floyd's most successful albums, The Dark Side of the Moon (1973), Wish You Were Here (1975), Animals (1977) and The Wall (1979). The musical film based on The Wall, Pink Floyd – The Wall (1982), won two BAFTA Awards. Pink Floyd also composed several film scores.
Following personal tensions, Wright left Pink Floyd in 1981, followed by Waters in 1985. Gilmour and Mason continued as Pink Floyd, rejoined later by Wright. They produced the albums A Momentary Lapse of Reason (1987) and The Division Bell (1994), backed by major tours, before entering a long hiatus. In 2005, all but Barrett reunited for a performance at the global awareness event Live 8. Barrett died in 2006, and Wright in 2008. The last Pink Floyd studio album, The Endless River (2014), was based on unreleased material from the Division Bell recording sessions. In 2022, Gilmour and Mason reformed Pink Floyd to release the song "Hey, Hey, Rise Up!" in protest at the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
By 2013, Pink Floyd had sold more than 250 million records worldwide, making them one of the best-selling music artists of all time. The Dark Side of the Moon and The Wall were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame,[1] and these albums and Wish You Were Here are among the best-selling albums of all time. Four Pink Floyd albums topped the US Billboard 200, and five topped the UK Albums Chart. Pink Floyd's hit singles include "Arnold Layne" (1967), "See Emily Play" (1967), "Money" (1973), "Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2" (1979), "Not Now John" (1983), "On the Turning Away" (1987) and "High Hopes" (1994). They were inducted into the US Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996 and the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2005. In 2008, Pink Floyd were awarded the Polar Music Prize in Sweden for their contribution to modern music.
History[edit]
The founding members of Pink Floyd were Roger Waters, Nick Mason, and Richard Wright, who enrolled at the London Polytechnic at Regent Street in Sept 1962 to study architecture,[2] and Syd Barrett, two years younger than the rest of the band, who had moved to London in 1964 to study at the Camberwell College of Arts.[3] Waters and Barrett were childhood friends; Waters had often visited Barrett and watched him play guitar at Barrett's mother's house.[4] Mason said about Barrett: "In a period when everyone was being cool in a very adolescent, self-conscious way, Syd was unfashionably outgoing; my enduring memory of our first encounter is the fact that he bothered to come up and introduce himself to me."[5]
1963–1965: formation[edit]
Preceding the band[edit]
Waters and Mason met while studying architecture at the London Polytechnic at Regent Street.[2] They first played music together in a group formed by fellow students Keith Noble and Clive Metcalfe,[6] with Noble's sister Sheilagh. Richard Wright, a fellow architecture student,[nb 1] joined later that year, and the group became a sextet, Sigma 6. Waters played lead guitar, Mason drums, and Wright rhythm guitar, later moving to keyboards.[8] The band performed at private functions and rehearsed in a tearoom in the basement of the Regent Street Polytechnic. They performed songs by the Searchers and material written by their manager and songwriter, fellow student Ken Chapman.[9]
In September 1963, Waters and Mason moved into a flat at 39 Stanhope Gardens, Highgate in London, owned by Mike Leonard,[10] a part-time tutor at the nearby Hornsey College of Art and the Regent Street Polytechnic.[11][nb 2] Mason moved out after the 1964 academic year, and guitarist Bob Klose moved in during September 1964, prompting Waters's switch to bass.[12][nb 3] Sigma 6 went through several names, including the Meggadeaths, the Abdabs and the Screaming Abdabs, Leonard's Lodgers, and the Spectrum Five, before settling on the Tea Set.[13][nb 4] In September 1963, as Metcalfe and Noble left to form their own band,[17] guitarist Syd Barrett joined Klose and Waters at Stanhope Gardens.[18] Klose introduced the band to singer Chris Dennis, a technician with the Royal Air Force (RAF).[19] In December 1964, they secured their first recording time, at a studio in West Hampstead, through one of Wright's friends, who let them use some down time free. Wright, who was taking a break from his studies, did not participate in the session.[20][nb 5] When the RAF assigned Dennis a post in Bahrain in early 1965, Barrett became the band's frontman.[21][nb 6] Later that year, they became the resident band at the Countdown Club near Kensington High Street in London, where from late night until early morning they played three sets of 90 minutes each. During this period, spurred by the group's need to extend their sets to minimise song repetition, the band realised that "songs could be extended with lengthy solos", wrote Mason.[22] After pressure from his parents and advice from his college tutors, Klose quit the band in mid-1965 and Barrett took over lead guitar.[23]
1965–1967: early years[edit]
Pink Floyd[edit]
The group rebranded as the Pink Floyd Sound in late 1965. Barrett created the name on the spur of the moment when he discovered that another band, also called the Tea Set, were to perform at one of their gigs.[24] The name is derived from the given names of two blues musicians whose Piedmont blues records Barrett had in his collection, Pink Anderson and Floyd Council.[25] By 1966, the group's repertoire consisted mainly of rhythm and blues songs, and they had begun to receive paid bookings, including a performance at the Marquee Club in December 1966, where Peter Jenner, a lecturer at the London School of Economics, noticed them. Jenner was impressed by the sonic effects Barrett and Wright created and, with his business partner and friend Andrew King, became their manager.[26] The pair had little experience in the music industry and used King's inheritance to set up Blackhill Enterprises, purchasing about £1,000 (equivalent to £23,500 in 2023[27]) worth of new instruments and equipment for the band.[nb 7] Around this time, Jenner suggested the band drop the "Sound" from their name.[29]
Under Jenner and King's guidance, Pink Floyd became part of London's underground music scene, playing at venues including All Saints Hall and the Marquee.[30] While performing at the Countdown Club, the band had experimented with long instrumental excursions, and they began to expand them with rudimentary but effective light shows, projected by coloured slides and domestic lights.[31] Jenner and King's social connections helped gain the band prominent coverage in the Financial Times and an article in the Sunday Times which stated: "At the launching of the new magazine IT the other night a pop group called the Pink Floyd played throbbing music while a series of bizarre coloured shapes flashed on a huge screen behind them ... apparently very psychedelic."[32]
In 1966, the band strengthened their business relationship with Blackhill Enterprises, becoming equal partners with Jenner and King and the band members each holding a one-sixth share.[29] By late 1966, their set included fewer R&B standards and more Barrett originals, many of which would be included on their first album.[33] While they had significantly increased the frequency of their performances, the band were still not widely accepted. Following a performance at a Catholic youth club, the owner refused to pay them, claiming that their performance was not music.[34] When their management filed suit in a small claims court against the owner of the youth organisation, a local magistrate upheld the owner's decision. The band was much better received at the UFO Club in London, where they began to build a fan base.[35] Barrett's performances were enthusiastic, "leaping around ... madness ... improvisation ... [inspired] to get past his limitations and into areas that were ... very interesting. Which none of the others could do", wrote biographer Nicholas Schaffner.[36]
Signing with EMI[edit]
In 1967, Pink Floyd began to attract the attention of the music industry.[37][nb 8] While in negotiations with record companies, IT co-founder and UFO club manager Joe Boyd and Pink Floyd's booking agent, Bryan Morrison, arranged and funded a recording session at Sound Techniques in Kensington.[39] On 15 February 1967, Pink Floyd signed with EMI, receiving a £5,000 advance (equivalent to £114,600 in 2023[27]). EMI released the band's first single, "Arnold Layne", with the B-side "Candy and a Currant Bun", on 10 March 1967 on its Columbia label.[40][nb 9] Both tracks were recorded on 29 January 1967.[41][nb 10] "Arnold Layne"'s references to cross-dressing led to a ban by several radio stations; however, creative manipulation by the retailers who supplied sales figures to the music business meant that the single reached number 20 in the UK.[43]
EMI-Columbia released Pink Floyd's second single, "See Emily Play", on 16 June 1967. It fared slightly better than "Arnold Layne", peaking at number 6 in the UK.[44] The band performed on the BBC's Look of the Week, where Waters and Barrett, erudite and engaging, faced tough questioning from Hans Keller.[45] They appeared on the BBC's Top of the Pops, a popular programme that controversially required artists to mime their singing and playing.[46] Though Pink Floyd returned for two more performances, by the third, Barrett had begun to unravel, and around this time the band first noticed significant changes in his behaviour.[47] By early 1967, he was regularly using LSD, and Mason described him as "completely distanced from everything going on".[48]
The Piper at the Gates of Dawn[edit]
Morrison and EMI producer Norman Smith negotiated Pink Floyd's first recording contract. As part of the deal, the band agreed to record their first album at EMI Studios in London.[49][nb 11] Mason recalled that the sessions were trouble-free. Smith disagreed, stating that Barrett was unresponsive to his suggestions and constructive criticism.[51] EMI-Columbia released The Piper at the Gates of Dawn in August 1967. The album reached number six, spending 14 weeks on the UK charts.[52] One month later, it was released under the Tower Records label.[53] Pink Floyd continued to draw large crowds at the UFO Club; however, Barrett's mental breakdown was by then causing serious concern. The group initially hoped that his erratic behaviour would be a passing phase, but some were less optimistic, including Jenner and his assistant, June Child, who commented: "I found [Barrett] in the dressing room and he was so ... gone. Roger Waters and I got him on his feet, [and] we got him out to the stage ... The band started to play and Syd just stood there. He had his guitar around his neck and his arms just hanging down".[54]
Forced to cancel Pink Floyd's appearance at the prestigious National Jazz and Blues Festival, as well as several other shows, King informed the music press that Barrett was suffering from nervous exhaustion.[55] Waters arranged a meeting with psychiatrist R. D. Laing, and though Waters personally drove Barrett to the appointment, Barrett refused to come out of the car.[56] A stay in Formentera with Sam Hutt, a doctor well established in the underground music scene, led to no visible improvement. The band followed a few concert dates in Europe during September with their first tour of the US in October.[57][nb 12] As the US tour went on, Barrett's condition grew steadily worse.[59] During appearances on the Dick Clark and Pat Boone shows in November, Barrett confounded his hosts by giving terse answers to questions (or not responding at all) and staring into space. He refused to move his lips when it came time to mime "See Emily Play" on Boone's show. After these embarrassing episodes, King ended their US visit and immediately sent them home to London.[60][nb 13] Soon after their return, they supported Jimi Hendrix during a tour of England; however, Barrett's depression worsened as the tour continued.[62][nb 14]
1967–1978: transition and international success[edit]
1967: replacement of Barrett by Gilmour[edit]
In December 1967, reaching a crisis point with Barrett, Pink Floyd added guitarist David Gilmour as the fifth member.[65][66][nb 15] Gilmour already knew Barrett, having studied with him at Cambridge Tech in the early 1960s.[4] The two had performed at lunchtimes together with guitars and harmonicas, and later hitch-hiked and busked their way around the south of France.[68] In 1965, while a member of Joker's Wild, Gilmour had watched the Tea Set.[69]
Morrison's assistant, Steve O'Rourke, set Gilmour up in a room at O'Rourke's house with a salary of £30 per week (equivalent to £700 in 2023[27]). In January 1968, Blackhill Enterprises announced Gilmour as the band's newest member, intending to continue with Barrett as a nonperforming songwriter.[70] According to Jenner, the group planned that Gilmour would "cover for [Barrett's] eccentricities". When this proved unworkable, it was decided that Barrett would just write material.[71][nb 16] In an expression of his frustration, Barrett, who was expected to write additional hit singles to follow up "Arnold Layne" and "See Emily Play", instead introduced "Have You Got It Yet?" to the band, intentionally changing the structure on each performance so as to make the song impossible to follow and learn.[65] In a January 1968 photoshoot of Pink Floyd, the photographs show Barrett looking detached from the others, staring into the distance.[73]
Working with Barrett eventually proved too difficult, and matters came to a conclusion in January while en route to a performance in Southampton when a band member asked if they should collect Barrett. According to Gilmour, the answer was "Nah, let's not bother", signalling the end of Barrett's tenure with Pink Floyd.[74][nb 17] Waters later said, "He was our friend, but most of the time we now wanted to strangle him."[76] In early March 1968, Pink Floyd met with business partners Jenner and King to discuss the band's future; Barrett agreed to leave.[77]
Jenner and King believed Barrett was the creative genius of the band, and decided to represent him and end their relationship with Pink Floyd.[78] Morrison sold his business to NEMS Enterprises, and O'Rourke became the band's personal manager.[79] Blackhill announced Barrett's departure on 6 April 1968.[80][nb 18] After Barrett's departure, the burden of lyrical composition and creative direction fell mostly on Waters.[82] Initially, Gilmour mimed to Barrett's voice on the group's European TV appearances; however, while playing on the university circuit, they avoided Barrett songs in favour of Waters and Wright material such as "It Would Be So Nice" and "Careful with That Axe, Eugene".[83] Mason said later that Gilmour added greater structure to Pink Floyd's music and that "we became far less difficult to enjoy, I think".[84]
A Saucerful of Secrets (1968)[edit]
In 1968, Pink Floyd returned to Abbey Road Studios to complete their second album, A Saucerful of Secrets, which they had begun in 1967 under Barrett's leadership. The album included Barrett's final contribution to their discography, "Jugband Blues". Waters developed his own songwriting, contributing "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun", "Let There Be More Light", and "Corporal Clegg". Wright composed "See-Saw" and "Remember a Day". Norman Smith encouraged them to self-produce their music, and they recorded demos of new material at their houses. With Smith's instruction at Abbey Road, they learned how to use the recording studio to realise their artistic vision. However, Smith remained unconvinced by their music, and when Mason struggled to perform his drum part on "Remember a Day", Smith stepped in as his replacement.[85] Wright recalled Smith's attitude about the sessions, "Norman gave up on the second album ... he was forever saying things like, 'You can't do twenty minutes of this ridiculous noise'".[86] As neither Waters nor Mason could read music, to illustrate the structure of "A Saucerful of Secrets", they invented their own system of notation. Gilmour later described their method as looking "like an architectural diagram".[87]
Released in June 1968, A Saucerful of Secrets featured a psychedelic cover designed by Storm Thorgerson and Aubrey Powell of Hipgnosis. The first of several Pink Floyd album covers designed by Hipgnosis, it was the second time that EMI permitted one of their groups to contract designers for an album jacket.[88] The release reached number nine, spending 11 weeks on the UK chart.[52] Record Mirror gave the album an overall favourable review, but urged listeners to "forget it as background music to a party".[87] John Peel described a live performance of the title track as "like a religious experience", while NME described the song as "long and boring ... [with] little to warrant its monotonous direction".[86][nb 19] On the day after the album's UK release, Pink Floyd performed at the first ever free concert in Hyde Park.[90] In July 1968, they made a second visit to the US. Accompanied by the Soft Machine and the Who, it marked Pink Floyd's first major tour.[91] That December, they released "Point Me at the Sky"; no more successful than the two singles they had released since "See Emily Play", it was their last single until "Money" in 1973.[92]
Ummagumma (1969) and Atom Heart Mother (1970)[edit]
Ummagumma represented a departure from Pink Floyd's previous work. Released as a double LP on EMI's Harvest label, the first two sides contained live performances recorded at Manchester College of Commerce and Mothers, a club in Birmingham. The second LP contained a single experimental contribution from each band member.[93] Ummagumma was released in November 1969 and received positive reviews.[94] It reached number five, spending 21 weeks on the UK chart.[52] In October 1970, Pink Floyd released Atom Heart Mother.[95][nb 20] An early version premièred in England in mid January, but disagreements over the mix prompted the hiring of Ron Geesin to work out the sound problems. Geesin worked to improve the score, but with little creative input from the band, production was troublesome. Geesin eventually completed the project with the aid of John Alldis, who was the director of the choir hired to perform on the record. Smith earned an executive producer credit, and the album marked his final official contribution to the band's discography. Gilmour said it was "A neat way of saying that he didn't ... do anything".[97] Waters was critical of Atom Heart Mother, claiming that he would prefer if it were "thrown into the dustbin and never listened to by anyone ever again".[98] Gilmour once described it as "a load of rubbish", stating: "I think we were scraping the barrel a
Orange Skin
Orange Skin theme by GeneralOfDeath
Download: OrangeSkin.p3t
(no backgrounds)
P3T Unpacker v0.12
Copyright (c) 2007. Anoop Menon
This program unpacks Playstation 3 Theme files (.p3t) so that you can touch-up an existing theme to your likings or use a certain wallpaper from it (as many themes have multiple). But remember, if you use content from another theme and release it, be sure to give credit!
Download for Windows: p3textractor.zip
Instructions:
Download p3textractor.zip from above. Extract the files to a folder with a program such as WinZip or WinRAR. Now there are multiple ways to extract the theme.
The first way is to simply open the p3t file with p3textractor.exe. If you don’t know how to do this, right click the p3t file and select Open With. Alternatively, open the p3t file and it will ask you to select a program to open with. Click Browse and find p3textractor.exe from where you previously extracted it to. It will open CMD and extract the theme to extracted.[filename]. After that, all you need to do for any future p3t files is open them and it will extract.
The second way is very simple. Just drag the p3t file to p3textractor.exe. It will open CMD and extract the theme to extracted.[filename].
For the third way, first put the p3t file you want to extract into the same folder as p3textractor.exe. Open CMD and browse to the folder with p3extractor.exe. Enter the following:
p3textractor filename.p3t [destination path]Replace filename with the name of the p3t file, and replace [destination path] with the name of the folder you want the files to be extracted to. A destination path is not required. By default it will extract to extracted.filename.
God of War
God of War theme by Droops
Download: GodOfWarThemeByDroops.p3t
(2 backgrounds, 1 HD, 1 SD)
A god of war is a deity associated with war.
God of War or Gods of War may also refer to:
Books[edit]
- The Gods of War, a 1985 novel by historical author John Toland
- The Gods of War, a 2005 novel by Conn Iggulden and the fourth in the Emperor series
- The God of War, a 2008 novel by Marisa Silver
- Gods of War, a 2009 science fiction novel by Ashok Banker
- God of War (DC Comics), a 2010–2011 limited six-issue comic book series published by WildStorm and DC Comics, based around the Greek era of the video game series.
- God of War, a 2010 novelization of the 2005 video game, God of War, written by Matthew Stover and Robert E. Vardeman
- God of War II, a 2013 novelization of the 2007 video game, God of War II, written by Robert E. Vardeman.
- God of War – The Official Novelization, a 2018 novelization of the 2018 video game, God of War, written by James Barlog.
- God of War (Dark Horse Comics), a 2018–2021 limited two-volume eight-issue comic book series published by Dark Horse Comics, based around the Norse era of the video game series.
Film and television[edit]
- God of War (South Korean TV series), a 2012 television series about military leader Kim Chun
- God of War (film), a 2017 Chinese historic war action film
- God of War (upcoming TV series), an adaptation of the video game series, currently in development
Video games[edit]
- God of War (franchise), an action-adventure video game series
- God of War (2005 video game), a video game for the PlayStation 2 and the first in the series
- God of War II, a 2007 video game for the PlayStation 2
- God of War: Betrayal, a 2007 video game for mobile phones
- God of War: Chains of Olympus, a 2008 video game for the PlayStation Portable
- God of War Collection, a 2009 reissue of God of War and God of War II, remastered for the PlayStation 3; ported to the PlayStation Vita in 2014
- God of War III, a 2010 video game for the PlayStation 3
- God of War: Ghost of Sparta, a 2010 video game for the PlayStation Portable
- God of War: Origins Collection, a 2011 reissue of Chains of Olympus and Ghost of Sparta, remastered for the PlayStation 3
- God of War Saga, a 2012 collection featuring God of War Collection, Origins Collection, and God of War III for the PlayStation 3
- God of War: Ascension, a 2013 video game for the PlayStation 3
- God of War III Remastered, a 2015 reissue of God of War III, remastered for the PlayStation 4
- God of War: A Call from the Wilds, a 2018 text-based game played via Facebook Messenger
- God of War (2018 video game), a video game for the PlayStation 4 and Windows
- God of War Ragnarök, a 2022 video game for the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5
Music[edit]
Albums[edit]
- Gods of War (Blasphemy album), a 1993 album by black metal band Blasphemy
- Gods of War (Manowar album), a 2007 album by heavy metal band Manowar
- God of War: Blood & Metal, a 2010 EP of heavy metal music inspired by the God of War video game series
Songs[edit]
- "Gods of War" (song), a 1987 song by rock band Def Leppard
- "God of War", a song by Derek Sherinian
- "God of War", a song by the Faeroese band Týr
See also[edit]
If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.
Glossy Blue
Glossy Blue theme by chasgta
Download: GlossyBlue.p3t
(1 background)
P3T Unpacker v0.12
Copyright (c) 2007. Anoop Menon
This program unpacks Playstation 3 Theme files (.p3t) so that you can touch-up an existing theme to your likings or use a certain wallpaper from it (as many themes have multiple). But remember, if you use content from another theme and release it, be sure to give credit!
Download for Windows: p3textractor.zip
Instructions:
Download p3textractor.zip from above. Extract the files to a folder with a program such as WinZip or WinRAR. Now there are multiple ways to extract the theme.
The first way is to simply open the p3t file with p3textractor.exe. If you don’t know how to do this, right click the p3t file and select Open With. Alternatively, open the p3t file and it will ask you to select a program to open with. Click Browse and find p3textractor.exe from where you previously extracted it to. It will open CMD and extract the theme to extracted.[filename]. After that, all you need to do for any future p3t files is open them and it will extract.
The second way is very simple. Just drag the p3t file to p3textractor.exe. It will open CMD and extract the theme to extracted.[filename].
For the third way, first put the p3t file you want to extract into the same folder as p3textractor.exe. Open CMD and browse to the folder with p3extractor.exe. Enter the following:
p3textractor filename.p3t [destination path]Replace filename with the name of the p3t file, and replace [destination path] with the name of the folder you want the files to be extracted to. A destination path is not required. By default it will extract to extracted.filename.
Star Wars
Star Wars theme by PenguinRage
Download: StarWars_by_PenguinRage.p3t
(3 backgrounds)
| Star Wars | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Created by | George Lucas |
| Original work | Star Wars (1977)[a] |
| Owner | Lucasfilm |
| Years | 1977–present |
| Print publications | |
| Book(s) | List of reference books |
| Novel(s) | List of novels |
| Short stories | See list of novels |
| Comics | List of comics |
| Comic strip(s) | See list of comics |
| Magazine(s) | Star Wars Insider (1987–present) |
| Films and television | |
| Film(s) | List of films |
| Television series | List of television series |
| Television special(s) | See list of television series |
| Television film(s) | See list of films |
| Games | |
| Role-playing | List of RPGs |
| Video game(s) | List of video games |
| Audio | |
| Radio program(s) | List of radio dramas |
| Original music | Music |
| Miscellaneous | |
| Toy(s) | Merchandise |
| Theme park attraction(s) | List of attractions |
Star Wars is an American epic space opera media franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the eponymous 1977 film[a] and quickly became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon. The franchise has been expanded into various films and other media, including television series, video games, novels, comic books, theme park attractions, and themed areas, comprising an all-encompassing fictional universe.[b] Star Wars is one of the highest-grossing media franchises of all time.
The original 1977 film, retroactively subtitled Episode IV: A New Hope, was followed by the sequels Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (1983), forming the original Star Wars trilogy. Lucas later returned to the series to write and direct a prequel trilogy, consisting of Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999), Episode II: Attack of the Clones (2002), and Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005). In 2012, Lucas sold his production company to Disney, relinquishing his ownership of the franchise. This led to a sequel trilogy, consisting of Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015), Episode VIII: The Last Jedi (2017), and Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker (2019).
All nine films, collectively referred to as the "Skywalker Saga", were nominated for Academy Awards, with wins going to the first two releases. Together with the theatrical live action "anthology" films Rogue One (2016) and Solo (2018), the combined box office revenue of the films equated to over US$10 billion, making Star Wars the third-highest-grossing film franchise of all time.
Premise[edit]
The Star Wars franchise depicts the adventures of characters "A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away"[2] across multiple fictional eras, in which humans and many species of aliens (often humanoid) co-exist with robots (typically referred to in the films as 'droids'), which may be programmed for personal assistance or battle.[3] Space travel between planets is common due to lightspeed hyperspace technology.[4][5][6] The planets range from wealthy, planet-wide cities to deserts scarcely populated by primitive tribes. Virtually any Earth biome, along with many fictional ones, has its counterpart as a Star Wars planet which, in most cases, teem with sentient and non-sentient alien life.[7] The franchise also makes use of other astronomical objects such as asteroid fields and nebulae.[8][9] Spacecraft range from small starfighters to large capital ships, such as the Star Destroyers, as well as space stations such as the moon-sized Death Stars.[10][11][12] Telecommunication includes two-way audio and audiovisual screens, holographic projections and hyperspace transmission.[13]
The universe of Star Wars is generally similar to the real universe but its laws of physics are less strict allowing for more imaginative stories.[14] One result of that is a mystical power known as the Force which is described in the original film as "an energy field created by all living things ... [that] binds the galaxy together".[15] The field is depicted as a kind of pantheistic god.[16] Through training and meditation, those whom "the Force is strong with" exhibit various superpowers (such as telekinesis, precognition, telepathy, and manipulation of physical energy).[17] It is believed nothing is impossible for the Force.[18] The mentioned powers are wielded by two major knightly orders at conflict with each other: the Jedi, peacekeepers of the Galactic Republic who act on the light side of the Force through non-attachment and arbitration, and the Sith, who use the dark side by manipulating fear and aggression.[19][20] While Jedi Knights can be numerous, the Dark Lords of the Sith (or 'Darths') are intended to be limited to two: a master and their apprentice.[21]
The franchise is set against a backdrop of galactic conflict involving republics and empires, such as the evil Galactic Empire.[22] The Jedi and Sith prefer the use of a weapon called the lightsaber, a blade of plasma that can cut through virtually any surface and deflect energy bolts.[23] The rest of the population, as well as renegades and soldiers, use plasma-powered blaster firearms.[24] In the outer reaches of the galaxy, crime syndicates such as the Hutt cartel are dominant.[25] Bounty hunters are often employed by both gangsters and governments, while illicit activities include smuggling and slavery.[25]
The combination of science fiction and fantasy elements makes Star Wars a very universal franchise, capable of telling stories of various genres.[26]
Films[edit]
The Skywalker Saga[edit]
| Film | U.S. release date | Directed by | Screenplay by | Story by | Produced by | Refs. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Original trilogy: Episodes IV–VI | |||||||
| Star Wars | May 25, 1977 | George Lucas | Gary Kurtz | [27][28] | |||
| The Empire Strikes Back | May 21, 1980 | Irvin Kershner | Leigh Brackett and Lawrence Kasdan | George Lucas | [29][30] | ||
| Return of the Jedi | May 25, 1983 | Richard Marquand | Lawrence Kasdan and George Lucas | Howard Kazanjian | [31][32] | ||
| Prequel trilogy: Episodes I–III | |||||||
| The Phantom Menace | May 19, 1999 | George Lucas | George Lucas | George Lucas | Rick McCallum | [33] | |
| Attack of the Clones | May 16, 2002 | George Lucas and Jonathan Hales | [34][35] | ||||
| Revenge of the Sith | May 19, 2005 | George Lucas | [36][37] | ||||
| Sequel trilogy: Episodes VII–IX | |||||||
| The Force Awakens | December 18, 2015 | J. J. Abrams | Lawrence Kasdan, J. J. Abrams and Michael Arndt | Kathleen Kennedy, J.J. Abrams and Bryan Burk | [31][38] | ||
| The Last Jedi | December 15, 2017 | Rian Johnson | Kathleen Kennedy and Ram Bergman | [39][40] | |||
| The Rise of Skywalker | December 20, 2019 | J. J. Abrams | Chris Terrio and J. J. Abrams | Derek Connolly, Colin Trevorrow, J.J. Abrams, and Chris Terrio | Kathleen Kennedy, J. J. Abrams and Michelle Rejwan | [41][42] | |
The Star Wars film series centers around three sets of trilogies, the nine films of which are collectively referred to as the "Skywalker Saga".[43] The saga was produced non-chronologically, beginning in media res with the release of the original trilogy between 1977 and 1983. This was followed by the prequel trilogy, released between 1999 and 2005, and the sequel trilogy, released between 2015 and 2019.[44]
Each trilogy focuses on a generation of the Force-sensitive Skywalker family and their struggle against the evil Sith lord Palpatine (Darth Sidious).[45] The original trilogy depicts the heroic development of Luke Skywalker as a Jedi and his fight against Palpatine's Galactic Empire alongside his sister, Leia.[46] The prequels tell the tragic backstory of their father, Anakin, who is corrupted by Palpatine and becomes Darth Vader.[47] The sequels follow the conflict between Leia's son, Ben Solo, and Luke and Leia's protegé, Rey, and their eventual alliance against Palpatine after the fall of the Empire.[48]
Original trilogy[edit]
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In 1971, George Lucas wanted to film an adaptation of the Flash Gordon serial, but could not obtain the rights, so he began developing his own space opera.[49][c] After directing American Graffiti (1973), he wrote a two-page synopsis, which 20th Century Fox decided to invest in.[50][51] By 1974, he had expanded the story into the first draft of a screenplay.[52] Fox expected the film would be of limited financial success, and so it was given a relatively low budget, with production being moved to Elstree Studios in England to help save on cost.[53]
Star Wars was released on May 25, 1977, and first subtitled Episode IV: A New Hope in the 1979 book The Art of Star Wars.[54] The film's success led Lucas to make it the basis of an elaborate film serial.[55] With the backstory he created for the sequel, Lucas decided that the series would be a trilogy of trilogies.[56] Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back was released on May 21, 1980, also achieving wide financial and critical success. The final film in the trilogy, Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, was released on May 25, 1983.
Prequel trilogy[edit]
_(cropped).jpg)
According to producer Gary Kurtz, loose plans for a prequel trilogy were developed during the outlining of the original two films.[57] In 1980, Lucas confirmed that he had the nine-film series plotted,[58] but due to the stress of producing the original trilogy, he had decided to cancel further sequels by 1981.[59] In 1983, Lucas explained that "There was never a script completed that had the entire story as it exists now ... As the stories unfolded, I would take certain ideas and save them ... I kept taking out all the good parts, and I just kept telling myself I would make other movies someday."[60]
Technical advances in the late 1980s and early 1990s, including the ability to create computer-generated imagery (CGI), inspired Lucas to consider that it might be possible to revisit his saga. In 1989, Lucas stated that the prequels would be "unbelievably expensive".[61] In 1992, he acknowledged that he had plans to create the prequel trilogy.[62] A theatrical rerelease of the original trilogy in 1997 "updated" the 20-year-old films with the style of CGI envisioned for the new trilogy.[63]
Episode I: The Phantom Menace was released on May 19, 1999, Episode II: Attack of the Clones on May 16, 2002, and Episode III: Revenge of the Sith on May 19, 2005.[64] The first two films were met with mixed reviews, with the third being received somewhat more positively. Together with the original trilogy, Lucas has referred to the first six episodic films of the franchise as "the tragedy of Darth Vader".[65]
Sequel trilogy[edit]
_(cropped).jpg)
.jpg)
Prior to releasing the original 1977 film, and made possible by its success, Lucas planned "three trilogies of nine films".[56][66] However, he announced to Time in 1978 that he planned "10 sequels".[67] He confirmed that he had outlined the prequels and sequels in 1981.[68] At various stages of development, the sequel trilogy was to focus on the rebuilding of the Republic,[69] the return of Luke as a Jedi Master (a role similar to that of Obi-Wan Kenobi in the original trilogy),[66] Luke's sister (not yet determined to be Leia),[57] Han, Leia,[70] R2-D2 and C-3PO.[56][71] However, after beginning work on the prequel trilogy, Lucas insisted that Star Wars was meant to be a six-part series and that there would be no sequel trilogy.[72][73]
Lucas decided to leave the franchise in the hands of other filmmakers, announcing in January 2012 that he would make no more Star Wars films.[74] That October, the Walt Disney Company agreed to buy Lucasfilm and announced that Episode VII would be released in 2015.[75] The co-chairman of Lucasfilm, Kathleen Kennedy, became president and served as executive producer of new Star Wars feature films.[76] Lucas provided Kennedy his story treatments for the sequels during the 2012 sale,[77] but in 2015 it was revealed Lucas's sequel outline had been discarded.[78][79] The sequel trilogy also meant the end of the Star Wars Expanded Universe stories, which were discarded from canon to give "maximum creative freedom to the filmmakers and also preserve an element of surprise and discovery for the audience."[1]
Episode VII: The Force Awakens was released on December 16, 2015, Episode VIII: The Last Jedi on December 13, 2017, and Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker on December 18, 2019, in many countries.[e] The Force Awakens and T