Prime Minister will you be, hmm?
News reaches the blog from our correspondent in a galaxy far, far away. Well, the Sports Desk, actually. Victoria "power behind the throne" Barrett has captured on film Observer Jedi Knight-in-training Snake (beloved and reviled in equal measure by long-term blog fans for introducing us to the now legendary fiendish music quiz) showing off the ultimate PR freebie.
Envy of the light sabre, which makes very convincing swishing noises, knows no bounds. It has been wielded by the Editor himself. Star Wars has that effect on people. Some people.
In some respects our fevered anticipation and our nervous doubts about Revenge of the Sith reflect the concerns we have over the election. When, all those years ago, we learned that George Lucas planned to film episodes 1-3 of the saga - the prequels - the news filled us with excitement. It was ... a new hope.
... and how we cleberated on May 2 1997, when the first rays of a bright Labour dawn penetrated the dark night of Tory rule! We felt as if a Death Star had been destroyed.
Then came the Phantom Menace, and terrible disappointment. It was a cruel travesty of the old Star Wars values that we had nurtured throughout the Eighties. Still, we forgave Lucas. He needed to win a new generation of fans. He had to appeal to a wider audience - it would have been suicide to pander only to the grass roots.
And was it not thus with New Labour? Did we not give Tony a second term because we knew that the first had been just a transition, a necessary compromise with conservative Middle England to pave the way for a lasting progressive shift in British politics.
Then came Attack of the Clones. A weakly scripted, poorly acted pastiche of what it could have been, dominated by a war launched with subterfuge and cynical manipiulation.
Now George Lucas wants us to get excited about Episode III, the final piece in the jigsaw, the last throw of the dice to complete the project, bring the core supporters back on board and hook a whole new generation for his vision of the universe. And while we have been bitterly disappointed twice already, there is still that lingering hope that this time it will be different ...
