The Official Star Wars Site has announced that Hyperspace members looking to get official answers about the recently-announced Celebration III, Star Wars collecting, fan events and more will soon be able to chat with Steve Sansweet, Director of Content Management and head of Fan Relations for Lucasfilm.

Steve Sansweet has transformed his love for the Star Wars saga into a busy career. He is the author or co-author of ten books (eight of them on the saga), writes columns and feature articles for magazines, and travels the world as a Lucasfilm liaison to Star Wars fans everywhere.

Steve started collecting robots and space toys in the mid-1970s, and over the years that has been transformed into the largest private collection of Star Wars memorabilia in the world.

In 1996, Steve joined Lucasfilm Ltd. as Director of Specialty Marketing to help promote Star Wars to fans both old and new.

Steve Sansweet is scheduled to be online on Wednesday, January 28 at 2:00 p.m. Pacific time (5:00 p.m. Eastern time).

Please note that list minute schedule changes may happen, and that although hundreds of questions are often submitted, not all can be answered.

The Official Star Wars Site has announced Celebration III and this event has been extended to four days: April 21 to 24, 2005. The biggest Star Wars party will be even bigger, will return to Indianapolis, and has been extended to four days. Star Wars Celebration III, the much-anticipated fan gathering, has been confirmed for the Indiana Convention Center, April 21 to April 24, 2005.

"We had such a great experience with Celebration II, that it just made sense to return to Indianapolis," says Steve Sansweet, Director of Content Management and head of Fan Relations for Lucasfilm. "Only this time, we're going to do it bigger and even better. It's going to be an event that no fan will want to miss."

Details about programming, guests, activities, entertainment and exclusive merchandise at Celebration III will be released as they are confirmed closer to the convention date. As it did for Celebration II, starwars.com will post all the latest Celebration III information in the Community section of the site. The Official Celebration III site will of course also have all the latest news. Online ordering for tickets and discounted hotel rooms is scheduled to begin later this summer.

The latest Homing Beacon has arrived, and today we get to talk about CG techniques. Through its use of digital doubles performing hazardous stunts or synthetic characters like Yoda the Jedi Master, Episode III will continue to blaze new ground in the development of believable computer-generated organic characters. One of the tools Industrial Light & Magic uses is subsurface scattering rendering -- a technique that was in early development for Episode II, and one that has garnered recognition from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. On February 14, Christophe Hery will represent ILM in receiving a special certificate of merit from the Academy as part of the 76th annual Academy Awards.

The technical award Hery will accept is one of nine that the Academy will give this year and represents a major leap forward in the effort to create photo-realistic images on screen. While Hery started working on subsurface scattering during the production of Star Wars - Attack of the Clones, the technique wasn't perfected in time to use on the digital characters in that film. Instead, the public saw ILM's first use of the technique on Dobby the Elf in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, later in 2002.

"The idea is to simulate the effect of translucency and depict how light penetrates inside the skin and scatters around the different tissues, then comes out at different points," Hery explains. "Traditionally in computer graphics, we've followed the idea that light shines on a particular point and bounces off the same point. Subsurface scattering allows light to go into a certain point and come out in different places. It opens the door to all different kinds of materials in computer graphics -- especially skin," he says.

For a simple example of the natural effect that subsurface scattering replicates, hold your hand up to a bright light and notice how light shines through your skin and creates reddish and yellow glows. That kind of detail, which was previously missing from CG techniques, is what subsurface scattering brings to digitally rendered characters.

Although the process was first used more than a year ago, the Academy carefully reviewed submissions for their merit before deciding which of the 14 submissions would receive an award. Thanks to ILM's work with subsurface scattering in films like The Hulk and the use of similar techniques by other visual effects companies to create successful digital characters, the last two years of film production have demonstrated that it is becoming increasingly possible to make photorealistic humans and other creatures with translucent elements such as skin, Hery says.

"It's possible to make these look like they belong to the world around them," he says. "We forget that what nature is doing is very complex. All the time (in computer graphics) you're pushing the envelope, you have to go to the next level. This is just one component -- one big component -- of rendering human skin."

TF.N gives us a heads up on recent rumblings about the Classic Trilogy DVDs coming this fall...

In November 2004 we'll see the Original Trilogy on DVD! There
probably won't be any added scenes, simply the 3 Special Edition films along with with a bonus 4th disk. Basically they're going to take the Indy trilogy to use as a model.

Also included will be Episode 3 teaser material!

The Indy boxed set just became the best selling boxed set ever. They expect SW to take that title, later this year. No news of any 6 DVD boxed sets or the classic versions of the film.

The Official Star Wars Site has provided a look at the new Queen of Naboo for Episode III who will be played by Keisha Castle-Hughes. Unfortunately you will need to be a Hyperspace member to see her, but if you are the click here!

This report comes from the Official Star Wars Site!
Answered by: Madame Jocasta Nu-Jedi Librarian

Galactic Voyage has just won "The Golden Web Award" for 2003-2004! This is a great honor!

"Congratulations! Galactic Voyage has been reviewed and chosen to bear the 2003-2004 Golden Web Award. As a recipient of the prestigious Golden Web Award, we invite you to join your fellow webmasters and designers in over "145" countries worldwide, by becoming a respected Professional Member of the International Association of Web Masters & Designers. You and Your Staff at Galactic Voyage have obviously worked very hard  - proudly display your award."

TF.N has a report stating the future of the Star Wars franchise and how we might see Star Wars on the small screen.

"People we trust are telling us that there's a TV show on the design table. Instead of a Rogue Squadron series (which we first theorized some time ago), they may be looking at a post Episode 3 - pre Episode 4 about the rise of Darth Vader and why he is so feared in the OT."

"We cannot confirm yet if the show is intended as live-action or animated (like Clone Wars). Since this is all in the early stages, it could change further down in pre-production. More as we get it - just thought you'd like to know what we're hearing."

I have been sure for some time that television will be the future media for Star Wars. This is truly exciting news if it comes to pass! You can read the entire article here.

Toys "R" Us has Darth Vader's Tie Fighter for $29.99 on their web site. This is a new Toys "R" Us exclusive but you can't order this item yet, and there is no word of when it will be released. You can however sign up for e-mails from Amazon so you will be informed when it becomes available.

This report comes from the Official Star Wars Site!
Answered by: Steve Sansweet

As long ago as 1984, Lucasfilm and the Walt Disney Co. began exploring the possibilities of theme park attractions based on the Star Wars and Indiana Jones movies. One early idea was an entire area at Disneyland with seven rides based on those films. Eventually, in 1987, Star Tours opened in Disneyland, and later in Disney parks in Orlando, Tokyo and Paris. Indiana Jones attractions followed. We continue to believe that the Disney environment is an excellent one for attractions based on Lucasfilm movies, and we are always looking at ways to either freshen or, if it makes sense, expand that presence.

Today I have added two new Fan Art pictures. First, Chris Williams sent in a new creation featuring Princess Leia! Thanks Chris! Second, Jeffrey Milik sent in a picture titled Jedi Fighting which is a familiar scene from The Phantom Menace. Thanks Jeffrey! To see their work, head over to the Fan Art section!