From Wookies to Vader, our lives have changed

(CNN) -- The scene is legendary. Darth Vader, the caped embodiment of the Evil Empire, stands before the stalwart Obi-Wan Kenobi. The light sabers hum. Vader breathes his patented breaths.

"When I left you, I was but the learner," Vader says. "Now I am the master."

The rest is history. And what started as a script written with No. 2 pencils, "Star Wars" has since created a galaxy of various empires. It's as though the movie hit hyperspace and never returned.

There are more than two dozen Bantam novels, tons of action figures, numerous computer games, hundreds of trading cards and countless Web sites. Coming soon: the light-saber television remote.

Last year alone, "Star Wars" action figures were the top selling toys for boys and second overall, behind the beloved Barbie. Some of the original plastic action figures, which sold for about three bucks in 1978, are now valued at $1,400.

The movie has raked in more than $300 million; its merchandising sales have soared to a galactic $4 billion.

But perhaps its most lasting impact has been on society.

Vader, Obi-Wan, Luke Skywalker, Han Solo and the like are embedded in our minds. Lovers swoon, telling their partner they're as cute as a Wookie. And who can resist taking in Vader-like gasps and mimicking the baritone bad guy?

The movie was so far-reaching that during the 1980s President Ronald Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative -- the high-tech defense plan to fend off the Evil Empires of the Cold War -- was dubbed Star Wars.

It also prompted a Mel Brooks' parody, "Spaceballs," forever remembered for its pepperoni-faced Pizza the Hut.

Even NBC sitcom "Friends" was pulled into the "Star Wars" saga as if it were the Millennium Falcon caught in the Death Star's magnetic trap. In a recent episode, Ross fantasized about Princess Leia decked out in her shimmering gold two-piece outfit, her hair in curls.

And so, with that, as you prepare for "Star Wars'" return to the big screen, we say, "May the Force be with you."