Morrison's fans have lots of him to look forward to. The actor will appear on screen not only as Commander Cody in Revenge of the Sith, but as multiple clone characters. His character of Jango Fett is, after all, the father of the clone army.

As with most modern animation, the Clone Wars employs digital scanning and coloring to finish the hand-drawn artwork seen in the series. Years ago in traditional animation, each cel was drawn, transferred to acetate, colored, and then photographed. Because of digital innovations, there is no longer a need for the time-honored acetate cel. However, because fans have demanded them, Acme Archives has created special one-of-one edition cels produced in the hand-colored tradition which are being made available to StarWarsShop.com shoppers in limited quantities.

These one-of-a-kind cels come with the original line drawings and are presented against an acid-free laser reproduced background. This setup will come matted and include a Lucasfilm seal and certificate of authenticity.

Also available are a series of original production sketches and layouts, which represent the last truly hands-on phase of the animation process. Like the animation cels, these of course are one-of-a-kind, and will include a Lucasfilm seal and certificate of authenticity.

LAS VEGAS- George Lucas loves stories about redemption.

On May 19, he gets the chance to live one.

When Star Wars, Episode III: Revenge of the Sith arrives in theaters, it comes freighted with more hopes and expectations than an X-wing run at the Death Star.

For many fans, the culminating chapter of Lucas’ six-part, 28-year-old space opera is a chance to return some of the luster to a story they say lost its way in the previous two installments.

For Hollywood, Sith marks the industry’s best hope to regain footing after two years of sliding movie attendance and disappointing big event films.

And for Lucas, the film’s release is a chance to set down the No. 2 pencil and notebook of loose-leaf paper he picked up 33 years ago when he first set out to write a father-and-son tale set in a galaxy far, far away.

"It’s almost over," Lucas told USA TODAY last week at ShoWest, the annual convention for theater owners. "For so long, it dominates your life. There were a lot of tearful moments making this one. You’d realize that every time you did something, it would be the last time. There have been a lot of farewells. But it’s time to move on."

His swan song received a sneak peek at the convention. The footage - which included Anakin saving Obi-Wan Kenobi’s life during a firefight and R2-D2 squaring off with a menacing droid - drew a huge ovation from the crowd.

"That’s the film," says John Bentley, owner of the Metroplex Theatre in Delano, Calif. "That’s the movie to get the lines going at your theater."

Already, the movie world is gearing up for its own goodbye. Fans are stocking tents and packing supplies for a week-long encampment outside theaters. Merchandisers are cranking out everything from Sith action figures to video games to clothing in a retail flood expected to reach $1.5 billion in sales.

Theater owners are deciding how many screens to reserve for the final film.

"A lot," says Robert Beall, owner of Weatherford Cinema 10, a multiplex in Weatherford, Texas. "The last year and a half has been a little bit tough on us. The movies they said were going to be big hits didn’t turn out so big. We’re hoping this one kick-starts the summer."

There’s reason to hope. The trailers for Sith, unlike those for The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones, have earned almost universal praise from Internet fans.

The movie will be dark, much like The Empire Strikes Back, which is generally considered the best of the films. Lucas says he expects Sith to be rated PG-13, a first.

"This one seems to have more energy than the last two, which seemed geared toward kids," says Robert Bucksbaum, owner of the Majestic Crest Theater in Los Angeles. "Kids are still going to see this, but there’s hope there will be more for the adult, original fans."

Most important, Sith completes the story arc, connecting the beloved trilogy of the 1970s and ‘80s to the newer films. C-3PO is back, and Chewbaca makes his return (albeit as a young wookiee). We will see how the Jedi Knights fall and how the Empire rises to power.

And we get Darth Vader. All along, Lucas says, Star Wars has been his story, the tale of a father nearly destroyed by evil until his son shows him the light.

His return could not come soon enough for fans. Vader’s cavernous voice (supplied by James Earl Jones), labored breathing and samurai-warrior-inspired mask have been sorely missed over the past two films, says Philip Wise, president of theforce.net, the largest Star Wars fan site.

"When Darth Vader showed up in the trailers, that’s when people really got excited that Star Wars was back," he says. "He’s the reason these are more than just movies to people. This is a story people grew up on, a world they live in."

Lucas could not have known he was on the brink of launching his own universe in 1072 when the skinny, scruffy filmmaker set pencil to paper to write a screenplay that was part Western, part biblical parable, part Buck Rogers.

Few believed that a script that included jazz-playing aliens or a gorilla with a laser gun could turn profit. Universal Pictures walked away. 20th Century Fox agreed to finance only $10 million of the $12 million film.

Lucas ponied up $2 million and made the shrewd move of giving up his directing fee for a percentage of the box-office take and all merchandising rights. Since then, his movies - which he personally finances - have taken in $1.6 billion domestically and $3.4 billion worldwide.

How the story began

Star Wars opened in 1977 amid general opinion it would bomb. Instead, it shattered nearly every box-office record, ultimately taking in $461 million in the USA, including a 1997 re-release. It’s the second-highest-grossing movie ever.

Lucas suddenly became ruler of his own empire. Star Wars related merchandise has topped $9 billion in sales so far, Lucasfilm Ltd.’s licensing division says.

Lucas did it all with some pretty simple storytelling, in which the bad guy wears black and the good guy saves the day.

Yet that plain style has influenced a generation of filmmakers. Ridley Scott, director of Alien and Gladiator, recalls being in Los Angeles in 1977 when a friend suggested he see Star Wars.

"That was a seminal moment," Scott says. "I saw what kind of world could be created on film. It inspired me to make Alien as kind of the opposite to George’s amazing fairy tale."

Moviegoers found a deeper meaning in Lucas’ stories, which played on mythic story lines going back millennia.

"One reason for the sensational success of the Star Wars series is that it touches something deeply spiritual in all of us," says William Blizek, editor of The Journal of Religion & Film at the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

"The idea of the Force, for example, tells us that there is something out there, bigger than ourselves - maybe God," he says. "But the ambiguity of the Force allows each of us to describe it in our own way, thereby transcending any particular religion."

As Lucas’ tale comes to a close, Anakin is battling Obi-Wan Kenobi on the fiery, lava-oozing planet Mustafar after Anakin has made a Faustian bargain for power.

"He has made a deal with the devil," Lucas says. "Where else can the film end but in hell?"

Studio executives and theater owners are hoping for heavenly returns. Rudyard Coltman plans to open his new eight-screen theater in Vancouver, Wash., to time with Sith’s opening weekend.

With its digital projectors, surround sound and stadium seating, Coltman’s theater "is really built for his kind of cutting-edge movies, which I think is the direction all movies are headed. He’s kind of the pioneer of what movies can do."

Sith also could be the harbinger of the year’s box office, says Paul Dergarabedian of industry tracker Exhibitor Relations. He points out that Hollywood’s higest-grossing year, 2002, got its momentum when Star Wars, Episode II: Attack of the Clones opened to $80 million and went on to make $310.7 million domestically.

"Star Wars could again be the springboard to summer," he says. "If this movie delivers, if people go out and have a good experience early in the summer season, they’re more likely to come back."

And how the story ends

Armando Gomez, 19, appears to be convinced. The Los Angeles actor plans to camp out with several friends in front of Grauman’s Chinese Theater beginning May 1.

"The last two haven’t been great, but come on, it’s the end of the saga," he says. "How can you not want to know the final piece of story?"

Lucas seemed acutely aware of that legacy while filming his final movie. Sith begins the way Star Wars did: with a fierce space chase. And it ends the way Star Wars began: with Darth Vader aboard the Death Star, the ultimate weapon.

"You could see it in George’s eyes," says Hayden Christensen, who plays Anakin Skywalker and dons Vader’s black costume at film’s end. "You could tell he was going through a retrospective in his mind, making sure the final piece was exactly right. I think he wants this to be seen as not six different movies, but one complete story."

A story, Lucas says, with a pretty simple message.

"It’s really about possessiveness and greed," he says. "Vader wants to control the universe, control life. But you can’t do that. You have to accept life. You have to accept the sun going to go down. And that it’s going to get dark. And that everything, ultimately, has to end."

Even Star Wars.