CLARK: The empire strikes a deal

Talk about a disturbance in the force. This disturbance puts Mickey ears on Darth Vader, for goodness sake.

George Lucas — and yes, I'm going to say it: Modesto native and graduate of Downey High School — sold his Lucasfilm empire to Disney for $4.05 billion earlier this week.

That was big news in and of itself. Lucas long has had a tight grip on all his holdings and Lucasfilm was the mother ship. For him to sell off his namesake company was rattling.

But that was just the tip of this iceberg on Hoth. In fact, for some in the geekosphere world (and let's just get it out there, a geekosphere world inhabitant also lives in my house), that wasn't even a $4 billion blip compared to the real news:

Disney will make three more "Star Wars" films.

Repeat: Disney will make three more "Star Wars" films.

Oh, sweet Jedi mind trick, can it be true?

Yes, my little padawans, it's true.

As soon as I saw the news story Tuesday about the sale and the plan for more "Star Wars" films, it was clear who "the man" was going to be in my house that afternoon — "the man" was going to be "the mom."

You see, my 14-year-old son is a "Star Wars" geek. I'm not casting aspersions with that. He's a self-proclaimed "Star Wars" geek. Make that a proud, self-proclaimed "Star Wars" geek. I knew that this news was going to be big stuff with my (big) little boy.

And it was.

"What?! Are you sure?"

"I'm sure. It's the lead story on modbee.com — check it out."

Assured by the only thing that can be trusted in his teenage, iGeneration head — the Internet — he immediately called his best fellow-"Star Wars" geek friend to give him the news. Much geeky excitement ensued.

Ah, it was a satisfying day in mommy land.

Let's face it, Christmas came early to a lot of self-proclaimed "Star Wars" geeks on Tuesday. And whether you're a Modestan sitting in the grousing what-has-he-done-for-us-lately? camp over Lucas, or a Modestan who still thinks it's pretty darned cool that a dude from our city is one of the most successful people on the planet, you can't deny that it was the talk of the town.

Case in point, my son and I had occasion to be in a particular major chain electronics store that same evening. Just before we were leaving, he wanted to go — again — to the shelf where the complete (soon to be incomplete, apparently) "Star Wars" blue ray box set rests.

Price? $100. He just likes to hold it sometimes.

A store employee came over and asked if he'd heard the news.

Oh, yes, he'd heard.

The employee said it was all anyone could talk about in the store for hours earlier that day.

More geeky excitement ensued.

Of course now all the talk until 2015 — when the seventh "Star Wars" film is expected to be released — will revolve around just what that next storyline will hold.

Lucas won't be involved, hands on. He won't write or direct the new films, though he will be a creative consultant. And yet he already has the storylines in place, it seems.

Lucas is quoted in news reports saying, "I have story treatments of (film episodes) 7, 8, and 9, and a bunch of other movies and obviously we have hundreds of books and comics and everything you could possibly imagine."

My son tried to fill me in on the "Star Wars" world that has gone on beyond the actual films in those books and comics, et al, that Lucas mentions. For example, Han and Leia, it seems, have a son.

"Where do you learn all this stuff?" I asked.

"Wookieepedia, Mom."

Well, duh.

This whole "Star Wars" thing is way bigger than the casual film fan might imagine. It's way, way more than toys and product tie-ins and TV cartoons. It's a complicated world unto itself. In fact, according to a Web report, Disney CEO Bob Iger said the "Star Wars" universe now includes 17,000 characters inhabiting several thousand planets spanning 20,000 years.

Whew.

It's no wonder Lucas wants to retire. I was exhausted just reading about it. Imagine helming the whole empire.

At the age of 68, Lucas is passing the torch to the one company that really makes sense. Lucasfilm and Disney — via Disneyland — long have been tied, both through the "Star Wars" films and the "Indiana Jones" franchise.

But the next phase won't belong to the guy from Modesto and that's going to be a bit odd, isn't it?

It's all been a sense of hometown pride for many, including my son, who said he's bummed Lucas won't make the next films.

"He did good," he said of Lucas. "Hope Disney doesn't mess it up."