For almost 50 years, James Earl Jones has voiced one of the greatest cinematic villains of our time.

Although the time for the 91-year-old to step away from the role of Darth Vader, the central antagonist in the "Star Wars" franchise, has come, his iconic voice will still live on thanks to artificial intelligence.

In an exclusive interview with Vanity Fair, Star Wars sound supervising editor Matthew Wood said Jones signed off on using his archival voice recordings for many years to come for future Lucasfilm projects.

Vanity Fair reported that the Ukrainian start-up at Respeecher was tasked to make the character sound like Jones did 45 years ago in the recent Disney+ miniseries “Obi-Wan Kenobi."

Using artificial intelligence synthetic speech technology, and with the help of Jones, they were able to accomplish just that, the media outlet reported.

CNN reported that Jones' voice was first heard in "A New Hope," although he wasn't credited for the role.

Wood said Jones' family was pleased with the work result, the media outlet reported.

"No, I am your father." "These aren't the droids you're looking for." "Do or do not. There is no try."

Oh, and then there's this: "May the Force be with you."

Born in 1977, the "Star Wars" series of live-action films — 11 of them to date — has long been enshrined in popular culture. Given their immense popularity, it's hard to believe, as Ronald Brownstein wrote in his recent book, "Rock Me on the Water: 1974 - the Year Los Angeles Transformed Movies, Music, Television, and Politics," that it took several years for George Lucas to pull together the funding and studio support for "a space epic inspired by the Saturday morning movie serials of his youth."

The payoff was substantial, for within a few months of its arrival, "Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope" was at the time the biggest-earning movie in history.

Ever the nostalgist, Lucas was unusual among the filmmakers of his generation for not caring much about what was going on around him: He celebrated carefree youth, as with the 1973 film "American Graffiti," and the kind of sci-fi in which the good guys have plenty of tough scrapes but emerge victorious.

The challenges of the ongoing pandemic these days make a deep dive into the fantasy universe of "Star Wars" just right. And, thanks to the efforts of a devoted fan base and the movie machine behind the series alike, May 4 is just the day to do it.

The day was made for a punning slogan: "May the Fourth be with you." The origins of what has become an annual holiday for true believers are a little murky.

A Danish newspaper hazards that it owes to a punning ad placed by the British Conservative Party on Margaret Thatcher's ascendance to the post of Prime Minister of the United Kingdom on May 4, 1979: "May the Fourth Be with You, Maggie. Congratulations." Finding direct evidence requires a search as diligent as Darth Vader's quest for the Rebel Alliance base, but whatever the case, the pun was out in the wings, just waiting to be put to use, however it got here.

And put to use it has been. A Toronto theater hosted a big-screen marathon of movies mixed up with costume competitions, trivia quizzes and parodies more than 10 years ago. Billed as "Star Wars Day," the celebration spread throughout geekdom. When Disney acquired Lucasfilm in 2012, it appropriated the holiday, using it in 2020 to mark the finale of the animated series "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" on Disney+.

Get into the spirit with these activities

Meanwhile, there are good reasons to let the Force take you away this May the Fourth. For one thing, bingeing on a series of films in which good eventually triumphs makes for a welcome mental health break. Just be sure to allow for breaks — get up and move around lest you become as inert as Han Solo frozen in carbonite.

In the company of friends and family, you can cook up a few brainteasers and conversation starters of your own during those breaks.

One favorite Star Wars Day pastime is to hold forth on which film of the series and its spin-offs is the worst — and, it has to be admitted, there are a couple of stinkers. There are people out there whose hard hearts are not moved by the sight of Baby Yoda, those for whom Jar Jar Binks is the film equivalent of fingernails on a chalkboard.

Binge-watch, trivialize, argue (in a friendly way, of course) about best and worst moments; whatever you do, embrace and enjoy an impromptu holiday that's meant for the inner kid in all of us. Just don't spend it in a seedy cantina like the one in Episode IV — you never can tell what kind of trouble you'll get into if you do. May the Fourth be with you!

PAPILLION, Neb. (KMTV) -- Matt Feldmann, Josh Bodine and Matt Bodine estimate it took about 25,000 LEGO bricks to make their version of the Imperial Star Destroyer.

LEGO made a set for about $130 and another for $700.

"It was just kinda disappointing, the LEGO set was, because they kinda hyped it up for a long time and then they released the pictures and it looked kinda small," said Josh Bodine.

He and his friend Matt thought they could do better. Josh's younger brother joined in the effort since they'd done builds together before.

"I was just kinda asked, 'Do you want to come with us?' I decided sure, why not," said Matthew Bodine.

They took some breaks while waiting for brick deliveries and after some collapse setbacks. They said it took a year and a half.

"Once COVID hit, we were like, 'Man, we have a ton of free time.' So then we started building a lot more than we were able to before that," said Feldmann.

They used a lot of bricks they had, but Matt Feldmann said he still put in about $1,700 to buy the best pieces.

They designed it themselves and admit their creation doesn't meet LEGO stability standards, but they prefer to follow their creativity instead of instructions.

"We can build whatever we want, have whatever details we want, make it as accurate as we want, make it as big as want, so it's way more fun to actually take those creative liberties," said Josh Bodine. Matt Feldmann added with a laugh, "yeah if we were LEGO designers, we'd definitely get fired from this."

They'll be showing off their creation at Brick Days-Omaha. They're a little worried about transporting it but think they can re-piece it together if any problems arise.

You can check it out at Brick Days on July 24 and 25 at Mid-America Center.

Watch the construction process from Bodine's Youtube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=videoseries

This story originally reported by Jennifer Griswold on 3NewsNow.com.