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A long search ago: Google adds gold Star Wars crawl for famed franchise phrase

star wars google search screenshot
Image used with permission by copyright holder
Google is no stranger to running super-cool search features surrounding popular topics and trends. And with the impending arrival of the new Star Wars film, the company has done it again through a fun tool that provides a pretty neat response if you Google the phrase “A long time ago in a galaxy far far away.

Punch in those signature 10 words from the opening sequence of the iconic Star Wars films, and you’ll get whatever is trending for the topic on Google at the moment, but there’s a twist: the results will appear as rolling, yellow text on a black, star-riddled sky, just as you’d see in the opening crawl of the films. As the words ascend on your screen and disappear into the abyss, you can click on any headline you want in order to get to that story. No worries if you missed it: just pull back using your mouse or trackpad and the results will follow along with you, coming back into view. You can also pause the scrolling to read each description. And, once you’ve had enough reminiscing, click the “X” at the top right to return to a normal search results page.

Related: SNL shows hilarious disaster of A-listers in Star Wars audition

As you might imagine, this isn’t Google’s first Star Wars-related Easter Egg trick. On May 4th of this year, lovingly known by fans as Star Wars Day because, of course, of the phrase May the Fourth Be With You, the mega-media company added a new Knowledge Graph to its search engine that brings up information from a Star Wars Databank about a character if you type in his, her, or its name. For example, punch in Darth Vader, and on the right of the search screen, you’ll get his full profile as you would with any celebrity, including what movies he’s appeared in, his affiliations (Sith, Galactic Empire), height (a strapping 6’8’’) and even parents’ names (Shmi Skywalker).

There are also interesting facts: did you know, for example, that Yoda was the recipient of an MTV Movie Award for Best Fight for his Count Dooku battle in Episode II?

Fans are anxiously awaiting the return of the movie franchise with J.J. Abrams’ Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which will be released in theaters on December 18.

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Christine Persaud
Christine has decades of experience in trade and consumer journalism. While she started her career writing exclusively about…
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