A GALAXY OF FANS : `STAR WARS' MOVIE TRILOGY KEEPS FINDING NEW AUDIENCES WHO CLAMOR FOR GEORGE LUCAS' SCI-FI SAGA TO CONTINUE.

Byline: Glenn Gaslin Daily News Staff Writer

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away - actually, make that during the '70s, right here in America - there was a movie.

It told of a young man who lived in the desert and then moved away to save the galaxy. It told of heroes and thieves, fear and adventure, science and mysticism. It showed how space should look on the movie screen, and how regular folks live on other planets. It was called ``Star Wars,'' and it started something.

Six years later, the second sequel, ``Return of the Jedi,'' was released and a kid named Zach West was born.

And today, West, now 13, watches one or two ``Star Wars'' movies every afternoon in his Simi Valley house. He builds model spaceships, collects action figures and can play the theme music on the piano.

``I've had dreams where I was in `Star Wars,' '' he says. ``I helped fight and stuff. I fly maybe an X-wing fighter. But usually I blow up in my dreams.''

With dreams and allowance money, West and others his age are fueling a ``Star Wars'' renaissance, a revival of a space opera they never got a chance to see on the big screen.

During the past year, pop culture consumers haven't been able to avoid ``Star Wars.'' They've been bombarded by new books, toys, cards, video games and rumors. It's big. It's everywhere.

All that's missing is a movie.

Dozens of new novels have visited best-seller lists. Action figures released early this year already have become pricey collector's items, and playthings from the '80s now fetch hundreds of dollars.

Repolished, beefed-up versions of the original trilogy will be released next year, and a fourth installment, the first new movie since 1983, will appear in 1999 or so.

And Zach West will be ready.

``These kids, they somehow realize that this was the Holy Father,'' says Gary Gerani, who has been writing and editing ``Star Wars'' trading cards for Topps since the '70s. ``There's a built-in automatic respect.''

Gerani has seen multitudes of fans emerge, and says the younger ones have even more sophisticated taste than classic buffs, who have now reached or passed their early 20s. But the entire universe of fan-dom is fueling the mini-comeback of a long-dormant franchise.

There's Yoni Boxstein, for example, an 11-year-old in North Hollywood who has seen each movie ``30, 35 times,'' he says, and plays with toys passed down by his mother.

There's Matthew Moghadam, 13, who spends two evenings a week logged onto America Online trying to win ``Star Wars'' trivia contests. He says he often dedicates 10 hours a day to the fictional universe, and that he ``devotes his life to it.''

And then there's Stephen Sansweet, 50, who claims to possess the largest private collection of ``Star Wars'' memorabilia and who recently quit his job as Los Angeles bureau chief of the Wall Street Journal to work full time for Lucasfilm Ltd., the company behind the galaxy far, far away.

``For younger people, when they were growing up, it remained the seminal movie in their lives,'' he says. ``And I think people in my generation passed on a `Star Wars' gene to our sons and daughters.''

Just look at Tony Rowe, 23, of North Hollywood. He grew up on the story of good vs. evil, of Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader, of the evil empire and the struggling alliance, of underworld smugglers and fuzzy creatures with sticks. He's addicted. He can't help it.

Today, he and friends can spend hours dissecting plot lines, playing a new card game and spreading gossip about future movies, which have been ``upcoming'' for almost a decade now.

``Who knows what's going on,'' he says, frustrated. ``There are new rumors every day.''

But myths, leaks and speculation have kept the story alive for decades in a culture where fads can catch fire and fizzle in a matter of weeks.

A well-connected rumor mill has turned series creator-mastermind George Lucas into sort of an all-knowing cult figure. Fans wonder: When will the next movie come out? What's it about? Does Lucas actually have plots in mind for nine movies? What are they? We wanna know

And we'll message each other on the Internet and make stuff up until we're all convinced that we do know.

But Lucas and his tribe of official myth-makers maintain their silence.

Instead, commercial forces have brought the old ``Star Wars'' out of the collective subconscious and into the bedrooms of a new generation. In February, 20th Century Fox will release ``special editions'' of the first three movies, each with remastered sound, restored scenes and new digital effects.

``The important thing for us is that this is a long-term franchise. We're not trying to force it in one way or another,'' says Howard Roffman, Lucasfilm's vice president for licensing. ``We are content to lay low.''

And the company did lay low, for almost a decade.

But with the release of new novels in the early '90s and then the ``Star Wars Trilogy'' package on video last year, he says, demand for everything else exploded.

``There's a whole new generation of kids,'' he says. ``I think a lot of them saw it for the first time last year.''

And, best of all for fans, the first prequel will be released ``probably in 1999,'' said Lucasfilm spokeswoman Lynne Hale. Pre-production and some casting have begun.

In the meantime, crafty marketing has generated enough hype to power a space station. Throughout 1996, a mutlimedia adventure called ``Shadows of the Empire'' will unfold. It tells the story of what happens between ``The Empire Strikes Back'' and ``Return of the Jedi'' and takes many forms: a novel, a comic book series, action figures, an original soundtrack, trading cards and on and on. Everything but a movie.

Also adding to the fascination, adult fans are now trading and selling collectibles (``Han Solo in Hoth gear'' action figures, Stormtrooper Trapper folders, Burger King glasses) from the '70s and '80s.

And new diversions have invaded places like Collector's Paradise in Winnetka, a comic book store where the shelves mirror the fickle interests of preteen science fiction and fantasy connoisseurs.

``Every item we have in the store, we have now in `Star Wars,' '' says owner Edward Grinberg, pointing through a glass case at cards featuring spaceships and aliens with triangular heads. They came out only this year, and some cost as much as $60.

Another case houses little plastic people. Action figures. Toys, both new and used. These usually run $5.99 to $20 each. One, known as Yack Face, can fetch about $400.

Little plastic spaceships can cost even more.

Grinberg flips through a stack of ``Star Wars'' comic books and seems to be speaking another language: ``Lords of the Sith. Droids special. Droids special. Dark Empire. Jabba the Hutt ...''

He can sell you novels, Darth Vader coffee mugs, light sabers, small models of monsters, toys he calls ``eight-dollar wookies,'' anything. Most of it made 13 years after the last ``Star Wars'' movie left theaters.

``A lot of the stuff is just horrid,'' says collector Fik, describing the new pulp novels polluting the universe he loves. He reads them anyway. It's all he has. And, of course, he still watches the original movies.

``People love it for the same reason that they still read `Huckleberry Finn' or `The Iliad,' '' explains Mark Cotta Vaz, who has written two books about Lucasfilm, including a guide to the ``Shadows of the Empire'' project. ``If you look at a '50s sci-fi movie, you can tell it's from the '50s. `Star Wars,' taken out of the context of the '70s, is still `Star Wars.' ''

Young Zach West, for example, considers the 1977 movie to be more modern, gritty and realistic than ``Star Trek'' shows from the '90s, which he calls ``boring.''

So he watches his ``Star Wars Trilogy'' tapes. Over and over and over again. He plays the video games Dark Forces and Rebel Assault on a friend's computer. He keeps track of the instant collectability of his toys. And he waits for George Lucas and his band of special effects aces to come out with something new. Not a book. Not a game. A movie.

``It has to go on because everybody likes `Star Wars,' '' says West, ``just like everybody likes the Beatles.''

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4 Photos

Photo: (1--Cover--Color) May the Force Continue

Two deca des after `Star Wars' revolutionized science fiction, a new generation has discovered the galaxy far, far away, devouring new books, toys and games. All that's missing is a movie.

(2) ``Star Wars'' made its debut in 1977 with, clockwise from top left, Alec Guinness as Obi-Wan Kenobi, Harrison Ford as Han Solo, David Prowse (with the voice of James Earl Jones) as Darth Vader, Kenny Baker as R2D2, Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker, Anthony Daniels as C3P0, and Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia. The film chronicles the struggle between rebel forces and an evil empire.

(3) Derth Obbink, left, owner of the Flip Side, discusses ``Star Wars'' with 13-year-old fan Matthew Moghadam at the Tarzana collectibles shop.

(4) ``I've had dreams where I was in `Star Wars,' '' says 13-year-old Zach West, who watches one or two of the trilogy's movies every day.

Gus Ruelas/Daily News