StarWars . com StarWars . com is the official website for the " Star Wars " franchise . Founded in November of 1996 , it is run by Lucas Online , the online entertainment arm of Lucasfilm Ltd . The site has undergone frequent redesigns throughout its history , often motivated by the current " Star Wars " film in production . The content development team includes Bonnie Burton and Pete Vilmur . The content production and design team , managed by Nicole Love , includes Dennis VonGalle , Mike Young , and Craig Drake . The site is divided into a number of sections , including news , video , events , films , TV shows , gaming . community and databank . There was formerly a section known as , which was only accessible to paid members . One popular segment of the site was the Databank , which was replaced by the Encyclopedia in September 2011 , and finally new Databank then replaced the Encyclopedia in July 2014 . History . StarWars . com was launched in 1996 to help market the upcoming 1997 release of the Special Edition " Star Wars " Trilogy . It was the first official movie website to post video documentaries in anticipation of a theatrical release , with the multi - part " Anatomy of a Dewback " series . Following the release of the Special Edition Trilogy , StarWars . com focused its attention on , providing news updates , behind - the - scenes features and the popular web documentary ( " webdoc " ) series " Making Episode I , " which was also known as " Lynne ' s Diaries " as installments were often introduced by Lucasfilm ' s Head of Public Relations , Lynne Hale . In 1998 , when it first hosted the Episode I teaser trailer , StarWars . com broke download records in a major milestone of Internet events . After the release of Episode I , StarWars . com diversified its content to include coverage of the Expanded Universe and community activities . It adopted its multi - section model in the build - up to . During Episode II ' s production , StarWars . com posted weekly videos hosted by Ahmed Best from the set of production , entitled " on location . " It also posted a photo or image hand - picked by George Lucas every week as a " George Lucas Select . " It was during this period that StarWars . com supplemented its online coverage with a biweekly newsletter , the Homing Beacon . Right before started principal photography , StarWars . com introduced a pay - service component to its coverage . For an annual subscription rate of $ 19 . 99 , subscribers would have access to exclusive coverage , including daily Set Diaries from Australia , a live webcam broadcasting from the set , online chats , and exclusive archival content , such as the deleted Episode II scene " Jedi Attack on the Control Ship " and classic reprints of the original Bantha Tracks newsletter . In 2004 , with the transfer of the " Star Wars Insider " license from Paizo Publishing to IDG Entertainment , the Official Fan Club ceased to be a licensed property and returned in - house to Lucasfilm , where it became part of StarWars . com Hyperspace . The online subscriber service was renamed . Also that same year , Lucasfilm entered the direct retail business for the first time with the opening of StarWarsShop . com . In October 2006 , StarWars . com was voted as best " Official Movie Site " at movies . com ' s first annual readers ' poll . In December 2006 , the site recognized its ten - year milestone as item number 10 of its " Best of 2006 . " April 30 , 2007 brought Visual Guides to the website , but only for a limited run of seven chapters , before being discontinued indefinitely . On May 24 , 2007 , the main page of the site underwent a major refurbishment at the start of Celebration IV . Beginning in April 2008 , the site ' s regular update schedule was altered , with stories being posted increasingly less frequently . While the weekly polls rotated and a new page was added to promote the new , the site did not post any new updates from May 29 until it relaunched with a new design on July 1 , 2008 . The new site was more - based , but much of the site ' s content was never converted for the newer format . Fan reaction to the new site was decidedly negative , with an outpouring of complaints on message boards regarding the new look , the vast amount of missing content ( something the fans paid for with their Hyperspace subscriptions but no longer had access to ) , and the non - user - friendly navigation . On September 13 , 2011 , another massive overhaul of the website occurred , part of a wider - spanning streamlining of content . This included the discontinuation of the site forums , the end of the members - only Hyperspace Club , and later the closing of the site blog pages . The Databank was converted into an on - site Encyclopedia , which included links to Wookieepedia articles for its subjects . The online store ceased centralized operations , becoming a reference hub to external sites of licensed online vendors of official merchandise . Features . Ask the Jedi Council . " Ask the Jedi Council " was a section in the official " Star Wars " website where selected members of the production crew answered questions raised by fans . The section was shut down in 2005 and replaced with a " Questions and Answers " section that includes all previous " Ask the Jedi Council " questions . Communications Disruption . " Communications Disruption " was a weekly image gallery consisting of rare , behind - the - scenes and fan - based images . Users submitted witty comments to accompany the images with a winning entry used to caption the image . Databank . The Databank is the official online " Star Wars " encyclopedia . It debuted in 2014 , when it replaced the Encyclopedia . The Encyclopedia did not comprehensively cover all aspects of the " Star Wars " saga and Expanded Universe material . Many of its pages were related to ' , and a great amount of material was not included , since the Encyclopedia largely focused on recent aspects of " Star Wars " , as opposed to the minutiae covered on this site — for example , material from the second half of series , The Dark Nest Trilogy and " " . The Encyclopedia appeared in 2011 , when it replaced the original Databank . This Databank ' s content was divided into Characters , Locations , Species , Creatures , Technology , Vehicles and Starships , and also categorized by Episode appearance . It included hundreds of Expanded Universe articles explaining characters that were in the movies and their adventures along with Expanded Universe planets and technology . Homing Beacon ( newsletter ) . A bi - weekly e - newsletter that consisted of unique source articles . Image Attack . Image Attack was a feature of StarWars . com showcasing 294 behind - the - scenes images from Episode II . Hyperspace began in 2003 as a pay service on StarWars . com , and in 2004 became the official " Star Wars " fan club . It has member - exclusive webstrips , behind - the - scenes features , and other exclusive material , such as exclusive items to buy on StarWarsShop . com . Originally , U . S . subscribers to Hyperspace also became Fan Club members and received subscriptions to the " Star Wars Insider " magazine . This was later changed so that subscribers could choose which services they wished to receive . The Hyperspace service was discontinued with the 2011 reformat of the site . DVD - ROM Exclusive Content . Owners of the " Star Wars " DVDs had access to an exclusive section of the site that provided " Behind the Scenes " commentary for all six films . This feature is no longer available . News and Other Features . StarWars . com has updated news about many different " Star Wars " topics like the Expanded Universe , Episode III and " Star Wars " in general . It updates every weekday , around 5 to 6 p . m . Pacific time , as the content team is situated in San Francisco , California at the Lucasfilm headquarters at the . Other notable sections include The Clone Wars , StarWarsKids and Community . Its news headlines are distributed via an RSS feed that many fan sites have incorporated into their front - page designs , including TheForce . net . Sith Snapshots . Hyperspace members were able to create a blog at StarWars . com and visit other fans ' blogs . Visitors could comment on blogs but could not create a blog without being a member of Hyperspace . Some notable " Star Wars " celebrities created " Star Wars " blogs in the past , which were VIP blogs that only Hyperspace members could comment on . During Celebration IV in the summer of 2007 , StarWars . com launched the Official " Star Wars " Blog at http : / / starwarsblog . starwars . com / . StarWars . com Message Boards . The " Star Wars " Message Boards were a moderated community where fans could post messages about anything from the movies to the Expanded Universe to even non – " Star Wars " topics . The boards were closed on June 3 , 2011 . Star Wars Kids . Star Wars Kids was a segment of the site aimed at younger fans . It contained games , quizzes , news , arts and crafts , recipes , and other activities . Beginning in summer 2008 , the section focused heavily on " Star Wars : The Clone Wars " . Visual Guides . An in - depth look behind the scenes at appears in a series of updates containing screenplay sections , rare photographs , trivia , and annotated screenshots . Legacy . Within the " Star Wars " universe , starwars . com was the HoloNet address of an extensive list of historical resources . In the " Star Wars : The Clone Wars " theatrical film , Aurebesh billboards outside Ziro ' s club read " WWW STARWARS COM . "