Weeks ahead of the movie’s premiere, stores across America open at midnight as the first merchandise from Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace goes on sale, ranging from action figures to the movie’s soundtrack (whose track titles offer major spoilers for the film’s storyline). Heavily featured in advance promotion, any items with the face of Darth Maul sell faster than nearly anything else.
Sony Classical releases John Williams‘ soundtrack for the eagerly anticipated upcoming movie Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, complete with track titles that constitute major story spoilers. 
Before Episode I‘s theatrical premiere, the pre-production phase of Star Wars Episode II has already begun, with principal photography to commence toward the end of 1999. Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Ian McDiamid, Ahmed Best, and Anthony Daniels are all slated to reprise their roles, though it will be necessary to recast Anakin Skywalker, since the second film will take place at least a decade after the events of The Phantom Menace.
Riding a wave of hype, expectation, and merchandising that no film could hope to live up to, Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace is released, starring Liam Neeson, Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Jake Lloyd, and Ian McDiarmid.
Volcano Records releases the Weird Al Yankovic album Running With Scissors, featuring the Star Wars Episode I-inspired single “The Saga Begins”.
Sir Alec Guinness, best known to SF fans as Obi-Wan Kenobi, dies at the age of 86. He was a working actor for over six decades, though directors had to beg him into participating in his two best-known outings – Star Wars and The Bridge Over The River Kwai; indeed, in recent years, he has made his disdain for the former project very well known to any fans who dared to ask. Reports around the time of his death indicated that Sir Alec Guinness has been suffering from liver cancer. He is survived by his wife and son.
Sony Classical releases an expanded edition of John Williams’ soundtrack from the movie Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, expanded to include the entire score.
John Williams‘ soundtrack from the movie Star Wars Episode II: Attack Of The Clones is released, with four different covers (CD contents do not change from cover to cover).
Emerging into a film landscape with more staunch fantasy and science fiction competition than the franchise has encountered in the past, Star Wars Episode II: Attack Of The Clones is released, starring Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Hayden Christensen, Christopher Lee, Samuel L. Jackson, Temuera Morrison, and Ian McDiarmid. The film’s most lasting contribution may be in setting up the Clone Wars storyline, which will be explored much more extensively on television in the coming years.
20th Century Fox Home Video releases R2-D2: Beneath The Dome on DVD.
Bridging the gap between Star Wars Episode II and Episode III, Cartoon Network premieres the first three-minute mini-episode of The Clone Wars, with character design and direction by animator Genndy Tartakovsky. Executed in a cel-animation style (rather than the full CGI of the later Clone Wars series), the shorts chronicle the battles between the Republic Clone Army and the Jedi vs. the Droid forces of the Separatists.
Bridging the gap between Star Wars Episode II and Episode III, Cartoon Network premieres the second mini-episode of Genndy Tartakovsky’s The Clone Wars animated shorts.
The first four inductees – two real and two fictional – are inducted into the Robot Hall Of Fame created by Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Computer Science.
The panel of judges in future years will pare down the number of nominations awarded to fictional creations. R2-D2 actor Kenny Baker and Douglas Rains, the voice actor behind HAL, are in attendance.
Bridging the gap between Star Wars Episode II and Episode III, Cartoon Network premieres the third mini-episode of Genndy Tartakovsky’s The Clone Wars animated shorts.
Bridging the gap between Star Wars Episode II and Episode III, Cartoon Network premieres the fourth mini-episode of Genndy Tartakovsky’s The Clone Wars animated shorts.
Bridging the gap between Star Wars Episode II and Episode III, Cartoon Network premieres the fifth mini-episode of Genndy Tartakovsky’s The Clone Wars animated shorts.
Bridging the gap between Star Wars Episode II and Episode III, Cartoon Network premieres the sixth mini-episode of Genndy Tartakovsky’s The Clone Wars animated shorts.
Bridging the gap between Star Wars Episode II and Episode III, Cartoon Network premieres the seventh mini-episode of Genndy Tartakovsky’s The Clone Wars animated shorts.
Bridging the gap between Star Wars Episode II and Episode III, Cartoon Network premieres the eighth mini-episode of Genndy Tartakovsky’s The Clone Wars animated shorts.
Bridging the gap between Star Wars Episode II and Episode III, Cartoon Network premieres the ninth mini-episode of Genndy Tartakovsky’s The Clone Wars animated shorts.
Bridging the gap between Star Wars Episode II and Episode III, Cartoon Network premieres the tenth mini-episode of Genndy Tartakovsky’s The Clone Wars animated shorts. This concludes the 2003 run of The Clone Wars; the series resumes in spring 2004.
Bridging the gap between Star Wars Episode II and Episode III, Cartoon Network premieres the 11th mini-episode of Genndy Tartakovsky’s The Clone Wars animated shorts.
Bridging the gap between Star Wars Episode II and Episode III, Cartoon Network premieres the 12th mini-episode of Genndy Tartakovsky’s The Clone Wars animated shorts.
Bridging the gap between Star Wars Episode II and Episode III, Cartoon Network premieres the 13th mini-episode of Genndy Tartakovsky’s The Clone Wars animated shorts.
Bridging the gap between Star Wars Episode II and Episode III, Cartoon Network premieres the 14th mini-episode of Genndy Tartakovsky’s The Clone Wars animated shorts.
Bridging the gap between Star Wars Episode II and Episode III, Cartoon Network premieres the 15th mini-episode of Genndy Tartakovsky’s The Clone Wars animated shorts.
Bridging the gap between Star Wars Episode II and Episode III, Cartoon Network premieres the 16th mini-episode of Genndy Tartakovsky’s The Clone Wars animated shorts.
Bridging the gap between Star Wars Episode II and Episode III, Cartoon Network premieres the 17th mini-episode of Genndy Tartakovsky’s The Clone Wars animated shorts.
Bridging the gap between Star Wars Episode II and Episode III, Cartoon Network premieres the 18th mini-episode of Genndy Tartakovsky’s The Clone Wars animated shorts.
Bridging the gap between Star Wars Episode II and Episode III, Cartoon Network premieres the 19th mini-episode of Genndy Tartakovsky’s The Clone Wars animated shorts.