'I created a giant world and I could deal with only a little part of it,' he said at a recent interview at the Big Rock Ranch studio in California to promote the movie, Star Wars: The Clone Wars.

'Every time you go through a street, there is this funny little character in the corner. I have to create a character, the backstory, the costume, the planet of the character, the culture.

'It goes on the screen for five seconds and that's it. It is the beginning and the end. But I am sitting there thinking, 'Gosh, I would love to go back there.' '

The Clone Wars animated TV series was thus born. It began life as a mere mention in an exchange between Luke Skywalker and his mentor Obi-Wan Kenobi in Episode IV: A New Hope in 1977.

Read the full story in Wednesday's edition of The Straits Times Life!