• by Sarah Mahoney , Yesterday

To help introduce SMART Play, its new interactive building bricks, Lego is bringing in the big lightsabers. The company has hired actor Mark Hamill, famous for his Luke Skywalker role in the "Star Wars" films, to answer fan phone calls for a day. As junior executive director of information  (J.E.D.I.), he'll walk callers through the new technology that lets the galaxy playback.

Fans in the U.S. can call 1-877-80-ASK-MARK to hear fun facts about the toys, and a limited number will be invited to join a live video chat with Hamill directing game play for the sets, which start at $40 and range up to $160.

Lego first introduced the new innovation at January's Consumer Electronics Show, and the play sets have been on sale since early last month. While they tap into the brand's rabid "Star Wars" fan base, they've also drawn criticism from education experts, who say the connected tech, which requires no screen, still takes away some of Lego's imaginative properties.

The smart bricks are powered by a custom-made chip, smaller than a standard Lego stud. The combinations of Lego Smart Play with Smart tags and Smart minifigures react in real time to create an interactive play experience. The tech inside the bricks includes sensors, accelerometers, light sensing and a sound sensor, as well as a miniature speaker and easy wireless charging.

Lego says this is its most significant innovation since the 1978 introduction of Lego minifigures. The launch "brings creativity, technology, and storytelling together to make building worlds and stories even more engaging, and all without a screen," said Tom Donaldson, senior vice president and head of Creative Play Lab at Lego, in the announcement. "We truly believe we are setting a new standard for interactive, imaginative experiences and can't wait to see this innovation in the hands of kids."

Following the January announcement, Fairplay, an influential nonprofit aimed at protecting kids from "a commercialized and screen-obsessed culture," criticized the new toys, saying they "undermine what was once great about Legos. The best toys are 90% child, 10% toy," wrote Josh Golin, the organization's executive director. "As anyone who has ever watched a child play with old-school Legos knows, children's Lego creations already do move and make noises through the power of children's imaginations. But with the release of Smart Bricks, Lego is taking play out of the hands of children and putting it into the tiny sensors of these so-called 'smart' devices."