TF.N has provided a HUGE list of Episode III Spoilers! Spoilers - Hightlight to read:

- The General Grevious report is completely true. As of recently, his name was still General Grevious. Could it change? Could George re-spell it "Greevus?" Was a Saber-Dart once called a Kyber-Dart? Was Sifo-Dyas once called Sido-Dyas? Sure, but for now, that is the reality. All that is missing from that original report is the fight between Anakin and Dooku (definitely expect limbs to be lost). Palpatine is shackled to his chair (you saw it on hyperspace already) with a huge panoramic window behind him. The room is extremely evocative of the Emperor's throne room in ROTJ. The Seperatist ship that they are aboard is a long, slender, sleek vessel. The hanger bay is towards the back of the ship with giant doors that are open on both sides (so you could fly straight through the hole if you wanted.) Do not picture a TF Droid Control ship. They look nothing alike.

-Obi-Wan and his troops (following orders from the council), track Grevious down. Obi-Wan gives chase of Grevious aboard an animal that would best be described as a large and fast lizard. Grevious rides in a vehicle that resembles a one-wheeled version of a Hailfire droid. During their saber duel, Grevious' forearms each split in two and he wields a total of 4 lightsabers in combat.

-Palpatine had the clone troopers made with genetic data that allows him to take complete control of them when he needs to.

-After Obi-Wan eliminates Grevious (confirmed, its a blaster up the guts. A real juicy death for Grevious. Expect his head to leak fluids too), he returns to his troops. Palpatine gives the order for all the clone troopers to kill their jedi masters. Obi-Wan narrowly escapes and all the jedi in the film from this point forward would be considered enemies of the Republic and fugitives. This scene is a bit tragic for Obi-Wan as he is forced to kill a clone trooper he had befriended fighting together in the clone wars.

-Quick shots are shown on multiple worlds of clone troopers turning on their Jedi generals and eliminating them in several creative ways. (for example, you'll see a new world, followed by Republic tanks with a jedi commander on board. The order is given and the tank next to it turns it's turret and opens fire on the jedi tank at point blank range.) Watch for prominent jedi council members to go out this way.

-Yoda has little difficulty dealing with the clone troopers that turn on him on Kashyyyk, especially with the help of the wookiees. You will see why Han warns about wookiees being known to rip people's arms out of their sockets. And don't expect wookiees to be portrayed as simply "tall ewoks." Their technology is very advanced as is their vehicles, and they make good use of the lagoons on their world during combat. Watch for Yoda to do his whole "Away with your weapons I mean you no harm!" bit to fool the clone troopers as Chewie comes up behind them and knocks them unconscious. Wookiee vehicles definitely have a propeller theme. They have a boat with 2 pontoons (it looks like a catamaran). And they have one-man helicopter vehicles they fly around in.

-The last mission that Palpatine sends Anakin Skywalker on is a mission to the planet Mustafar. He is to terminate the remaining leaders of the Seperatists who have gathered there for a meeting.

Hm.. all these spoilers make me a little nervous. By the time that Episode III comes out (May, 2005), we will know exactly what happens in the movie, word-for-word, if spoilers keep coming at the rate they are!

LensQuest has some new Star Wars contact lenses on their website. The Imperial Logo lenses are $54.95, while the Rebel Alliance lenses will set you back $89.95.

If you're looking for the Darth Maul effect, the nearest lenses are 'wildfire' from Wild-Eyes.com, and 'fire eye' from the Crazy Lenses collection at EyeColor.com.

Here are some more spoilers, with more information on Padme's fate. Spoilers - Highlight to read:

Obi-Wan was sent to the new planet to "break up" a meeting of the Separatists at the location. Padme also has tracked down Anakin there. When she finds Anakin, he has already dispatched all the Seperatist leaders.

She is still not full term yet in her pregnancy. Anakin only believes she is pregnant with one child.

Anakin force-chokes Padme and throws her aside as Obi-Wan ignites his saber and the duel begins.

When the twins are born, it is not due to Padme going into labor, but out of necessity to rescue them from her before she passes.

The twins are born on a brand new never-before seen world.

TF.N has reported that there are multiple versions of several Episode III scenes filmed to be able to change how graphic the film will be in the end. Apparently, some scenes are very dark and graphic, while others still convey the same emotion without the haunting images. Here's a quote from a guy who was on set.. Spoilers - Highlight to read:

Let's put it this way... Padme's ultimate fate is still unknown. Lucas covered BOTH scenarios during filming and left some things open for change for the pickups next year if need be. And this was actually pretty easy. It doesn't really affect the rest of the story much at all, because either she dies... or everyone thinks she's dead (besides Bail & Co of course) and she lives out the rest of her life in tragic anonymity. It will all come down to Lucas' final decision on whether or not he wants her to die within the context of EP3 itself. And my contention is unless he intends of ammending that scene in ROTJ, she'll survive EP3. Either that or, like I said, one of the dumbest little plot holes ever is born.

So remember what you read may be right ... or wrong ... from a "certain point of view."

The latest Homing Beacon has arrived, and today we get to talk about Star Wars Galaxies. Since its debut, Star Wars Galaxies has become an engaging window into that far-away galaxy for thousands of avid online gamers. Through the massively multiplayer role-playing game, a player creates a unique character in the Star Wars galaxy, and interacts with other player-characters in real-time in a vivid computer-generated 3-D environment. These characters work, play, fight, adventure and live the Star Wars life in a way never before possible.

Such a mix of characters and scenery makes for a rich source of storytelling potential. This December, Del Rey Books will publish an original novel inspired by Star Wars Galaxies.

Voronica Whitney-Robinson is the author of the book, and helping keep her tale true to the spirit and details of the online universe was Haden Blackman, Producer for Star Wars Galaxies. A fellow Star Wars-scribe, Blackman has penned a number of Star Wars comics tales and, most recently, The New Essential Guide to Vehicles and Vessels.

"Voronica certainly drove the plot, but I was involved to ensure that we were going to the planets that were most interesting in the game, and that we were interacting with in-game characters," he says. "I helped guide her in that specific content, so that the characters in the books are doing things similar to what players would be doing."

Obviously, the planet Dantooine figures prominently in the book, and it’s a key world in the game. Beyond settings, though, there are a number of non-player characters from the game that the heroes of the book will meet. "Nym, who is an alien pirate we developed for Star Wars: Starfighter, is in the game. Also, the characters in the book interact with Princess Leia in a similar way that players would: finding her in a Rebel base on Corellia, and getting new information and a mission from her."

It’s even possible that some players may spot their own game contributions in the novel. "The book highlights not only the content we provided, but also things the player community has developed as well," says Blackman. For instance, one enterprising player took advantage of the game’s creature dynamics, which allow players to control creatures and command them to attack other creatures. "One player actually did that in conjunction with the opening of his own casino in the game, so when he opened, he had this big tournament that he invited everyone to," recounts Blackman. "Voronica took that idea and ran with it, and I think it’s one of the first scenes in the book."

Such interaction between novelist and game producer results in creative cross-pollination. Gamers who have read the novel will be familiar with certain elements that will eventually work their way back into the game. The main characters of the novel, Dusque Mistflier and Finn Darktrin, will appear in the game as non-player characters. "If you read the novel, you’ll know their back-story and their history, and that will make the missions they give you and the interactions you have with them a little more significant," says Blackman.

He also hints at another element from the novels making an appearance. "In the novel, I suggested that she put in a mutant version of a creature we have in the game, and we’re actually going to take that idea and run with it. We’ll introduce that creature -- the mutant version of it -- in the game."

Star Wars Galaxies: The Ruins of Dantooine comes out in December from Del Rey Books.

Here's the latest spoiler report from TF.N:

Elvis1 has dropped some interesting hints of Episode III we've been working to confirm the last few days. Apparently this is "friend of a friend" info, but we believe it is very much on the right track. Spoilers - Highlight to read:

Padme is killed by Anakin. He uses the force 'strangle' on her and goes a little too far. He doesn't mean to kill her.

Also, when Anakin wakes up as Darth Vader and is told what happened to him he becomes so angry he rips apart the room he's in with the Force.

And lastly, when Mace Windu confronts Palpatine, Palpatine's electricity bolts deflect off Windu's saber and into Anakin's eyes. Anakin flips out again and lops off Mace's arm.

The first two paragraphs we've been able to corroborate for the most part, but the last part about the deflection is something we hadn't heard from anyone else. Make of that what you will and here's a bit more clarification from other insiders we've heard on the subject. Spoilers - Highlight to read:

I like the term "Force Choke" myself - and it is a great connection to Vader's penchant for choking people in classic Star Wars.

And the source is on the right track but the reason Vader rips the room apart isn't because of what happened to him. It is because of Vader being told he killed Padme.

Kevin "Q-3P0" O'Hara gives us this update on Jedi in the MMORPG Star Wars Galaxies:

Since our metrics show we are very close to seeing our first Jedi, I wanted to take a minute to update the Jedi FAQ (doing so now).

During extended internal testing, we'ave made a couple of changes that conflict with the FAQ. The big one is skills. Being a Jedi is a consuming task, Jedi must devote themselves to the path. This means that character can only buy Jedi skills. We found that Jedi, while they are supposed to be unbalanced, were more unbalanced than we wanted with access to all skills. Also the Force Sensitive Slot is expressly for players to be Jedi. There was too much potential for abuse from players who used it only a secondary character slot. Just so you know, we may be open to debate on this issue, but as with most design decisions we wanted to start out tight and loosen up as needed.

This leads to the next issue, the new Jedi Holocrons. Our original system called for no clues. Obviously it has been taking a long time for us to see our first Jedi. We anticipated it could take months, but now it is getting longer than we feel comfortable with. To that end, we recently updated the game with new Holocrons to offer a little guidance. The problem was the old Holocrons were too available because they could be farmed from static missions. This happened to an absurd amount after the hint was given in a interview a couple weeks back. To that end we changed the old Holocrons to Holocron splinters (a massive distrubance in the Force shattered them). They were always worthless, they are currently still worthless. We very much hate the idea of stealth nerf and try to avoid them - except for anything regarding Jedi. Call us on it if we don't tell you about an important change regarding Commandos, however, don't expect us to tell you everything that goes on behind the curtain about Jedi.

The third change was already revealed, that Jedi suffer total skill loss at their final death instead of "permadeath" (same thing except you don't have to recreate the character unless you want to). This had the unannounced effect that Jedi Master do not become "Blue Glowies" (I know most of us hate that name too). I'm not going to talk any more about Jedi Master though.

The final thing I think we mentioned a long time ago but didn't get updated in the FAQ was, simply, lightsabers cannot be sold or traded. There was a misleading bit that said Jedi aren't as effective with borrowed lightsabers. That won't be a problem.

The folks at Latino Review have managed to interview Hayden. The full interview is as follows:

I recently got a chance to interview Hayden Christensen for his upcoming film, Shattered Glass. Like any dorky fan boy, I was chomping at the bit and asked him to confirm some rumors about Episode Three. Kids, put your diapers on because the expectations have been raised. He actually used the term “Bad-Assed” to describe the final showdown between Anakin and Obi-Wan. Another reporter also asked him if he would be donning the infamous Darth Vader costume. He couldn’t reveal any details, but he will be in the suit. David Prowse don’t give up your day job. 2005 has never seemed farther away!

Julian: George Lucas has described the tone of Episode Three as being the darkest of the franchise yet. Is that true?

Hayden: "Yes, it really will be. It still has to reach out to a specific audience, but it will be substantially darker than the previous films."

Julian: Nick Gilliard (the stunt coordinator) has said the light saber battles in the film will be the greatest so far. That’s a bold statement once you’ve seen Yoda and Count Dooku go at it. Can you confirm this?

Hayden: "I will say, on the record, the final fight sequence in this film will, in my opinion, and not having seen any of it cut together, should surpass any fight sequence that has been put on film so far. It’s the longest, I can’t give you specifics, but it is quite the bad-assed fight scene. Nick Gilliard has done an amazing job instilling an arc of story in the fight. It justifies, because you know Anakin and Obi-Wan have it out, but Anakin is the chosen one-he is supposed to be the best. But he comes out on the shorter end of the stick in the fight. It justifies it really nicely as the fight progresses."

Julian: Does Jar-Jar get hurt at all?

Hayden: (Laughs) "I wish I could share some specifics."

Julian: You are playing an iconic character in the Star Wars franchise. As the fan base goes, Star Wars fans are pretty hardcore. Do you get hounded on the streets?

Hayden: "They’re full on fanatical. But the only people that make a point of embarrassing me on the street are six and seven year olds. I get such a kick out of it. They still can’t differentiate between movies and reality to a certain point, so they can’t see me as an actor."

Julian: Do you really embrace it, think of doing other sci-fi films, or do you try to move away from it?

Hayden: "I’m very proud of my involvement with the films. I feel privileged to be a part of something that is so prominent in popular culture right now. But they were two films I was involved in. Hopefully I’ll get to do many more in many different genres. I don’t really see it as something I have to fight against. It’s obviously a character that people will associate me with. Its not like I was in a TV series for ten years and that’s all they’ve seen me in. Hopefully they will be able to see me as someone else. That’s the fun of what I do. I love that I get to be a part of it."

Julian: Are there a lot of Wookies in Episode Three?

Hayden: "There are some Wookies." (Laughs)

Julian: Are there some butt-kicking Wookies in Episode Three?

Hayden: (Laughs) "I can’t say any more, but there are some Wookies in the movie."

There's a new insider in town, the name is Chaos. And they're talking about a concept for Episode III that was literally taken to the drawing board, but never then made it into the final script of the movie. It may be revisted, but don't get your hopes up. Spoilers - Highlight to read:

Is it too early to talk about deleted scenes for Episode III? Well, this one actually didn't even get out of the art department, but still ...
While Lucas was still fleshing out the story for Episode III, the art department was given some freedom to explore some story arcs and broad concepts of the tentative plot of the film. They were drawing a month after Clones was released. The art inspired the story in a way, rather than drawings based on a completed script as is usually the process.

One of the story lines that was eventually abandoned for the film was how Jar Jar would be redeemed in Episode III. After the original character was decimated in the first film, things got worse, with the story in the second film making him even give Palpatine more control of the universe. The artists hoped they could find a way to redeem him - he could be a hero instead of a joke. A whole subplot was even developed to make that happen - but left behind in preproduction.

So that led to a story arc that we all expected - but also isn't happening. The death of Jar Jar. It was thought out in the art department, too, but when push came to shove George had a change of heart. So he was going to die, but now survives and slips into obscurity for the rest of the Star Wars films.

And a funny story from the olden days. He was originally pitched to be a silent character, and when the rest of the Gungans appear at the end of the film, they were a noble and ****** fighting race ready to kick droid butt and defend Naboo.

Things change while you're making movies - just like how Jar Jar will now survive Episode III.

Interesting, basically affirming what we already know and making us think "what might have been..."

Sith Infiltrator talks about Episode III after a lengthy silence on the prodution. Here's a report on a very specific scene and shot in the upcoming film. Spoilers - Hightlight to read:

I was recently watching the new DVD of 'The Adventures of Robin Hood' with my friend who is an insider close to the EpIII production. During the moment when Errol Flynn and Basil Rathbone duel off camera and all we see are their shadows sword fighting across a giant stone wall, my friend grinned and said, "You'll be seeing a similar shot again very soon." He wouldn't tell me any more.
Given Lucas' love of old swashbucklers, will we see Anakin and Obi-Wan dueling in shadow during part of THE duel? It would be one way to give the audience something it hasn't seen yet. One problem: do lightsabers cast shadows?

Count on this ... and it sounds great. This report is brought to you from TF.N

Dennis Budd who is our newest Featured Artist has sent in several of his latest works. Thanks Dennis! Be sure to see the rest of the Dennis Budd Collection that includes full color and penciled art. Also, you can find other great work at the Featured Artists section. Enjoy!

ScreenThemes, the photographic screen saver and wallpaper program known for its stunning high-resolution images, has added a gallery for Episode I art. Expanding on the work of Ralph McQuarrie, Doug Chiang led a talented group of artists that conceived brilliant new worlds, new characters and new hardware for the Star Wars prequels. These two collections highlight the magnificent paintings that were developed over a 4-year period leading up to Episode I: The Phantom Menace.

With the ScreenThemes software, you can view these images of Star Wars art on your Windows PC in a screen saver set to sound and music with cool transitional effects, and automatically set the crisp, sharp images as your desktop wallpaper.

If you are a registered ScreenThemes user, download Episode I: Artwork 1 and Episode I: Artwork 2 now.

The Episode I: Artwork gallery joins ScreenThemes' classic C-3PO and R2-D2, Princess Leia, Darth Maul duels, Yoda on Dagoba, Battle of Hoth, Han Solo, Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader and breathtaking Episode II action galleries.

Looking for additional artwork images? Try the Classic Star Wars artwork collections.

ZDNET.com.au gives it a 7.5

On the subject of the dark side, while you've got the option to learn dark or light side powers, these don't really play into the game until the final few missions, and it seems to be perfectly acceptable for a light side Jedi to run around choking the life out of his foes with as much anger as you like. Very Zen, we don't think.

Khabal.com gives it a 9.5

In the game, you get to travel all over the galaxy, to familiar places like Tatooine and Coruscant. Each mission is varied in terms of mission objectives and gameplay; while one mission will have you stranded on a desert for the longest time till your ship is repaired, another will have you leaping over container trains to locate the train engine in order to halt a terrorist act. Some missions may require a good few hours of playing, while others need only minutes to accomplish.

LoadedINC gives it a 6.5

Graphics wise the game hasn't really progressed from Jedi Knight II. The textures are clear and well drawn but they're not going to blow you away, the movements of characters are fluid and reasonably realistic. There are a few odd graphical features, for example when you get up close and personal with a large non-player character such as a Wampa the game slows to a crawl even on a fast computer with oodles of RAM and a top of the range graphics card. I get the feeling that the graphics engine is being pushed to its limits.

This is a little later than usual, but Galactic Voyage has selected the next "Site of the Month" winner! The winner for October, 2003 is Harrison Ford Media! Congratulations! I want to say thank you to all who applied. Don't worry if you were not chosen this month. Once you have applied, you will always be in the running!

Do you love Harrison Ford movies? Would you like to keep up with the latest information about Harrison and his works? Then Harrison Ford Media is the place for you! Very simply, they are the most comprehensive Harrison "Han Solo" Ford fan site on the net. Harrison Ford Media is updated regularly with all sorts of different facts, pictures, audio, video, and fan related material with a forum that is available in 5 different languages! There is so much to see and do that you could spend your day looking around. So if you need a Harrison fix, I recommend checking out this site!

If you would like to submit your site to be in the running for November, then apply here to be "Site of the Month!"

Lisa Stevens and Vic Wertz have quite possibly the coolest home theater of anyone in the entire world. The folks behind the Star Wars Insider magazine just finished a new house this last year, with undoubtedly the world's coolest Star Wars setup. DillonWorks has the scoop on the amazing Death Star home theater room, designed by Doug Chiang - complete with a THX sound system, frozen Solo and more. And just in time for the new Indy DVDs. Hey, can we come over and play?

AICN has a story tonight on Lucasfilm's decision to never let the original Star Wars movies to be shown in the public arena again. Apparently the Special Editions are now the only films in existence according to Lucasfilm. Here's a clip - head there for more:

It is the only STAR WARS trailer to not be scored by JOHN WILLIAMS... no hint of "THE THEME" and it gets you jazzed, pumped and ready to dream about a boy, a girl and a galaxy. THIS type of event, is about HISTORY not revisionism. With the YOUNG INDIANA JONES, Lucas was always so strict to try and bring history to kids, what about preserving his own history and allowing it to be told?

Personally, I've always wanted to see that original test screening print of Star Wars that had old WW2 Dogfight footage inserted where the space ships were supposed to go. I've wanted to see... would I think like DePalma that Lucas had made a disaster, or like Spielberg that it was going to be genius? That's HISTORY! Giant HISTORY! The same way that if you go to the Prado in Madrid and you see the Hieronymus Bosch triptych of THE GARDEN OF EARTHLY DELIGHTS... not only is the final version exhibited, but the pencils/charcoal roughs and the pre-painting that he did as well as the finished one. Lucas likes to draw the parallel to being a painter, well historically... the evolution of the art is seen, studied and considered. What's he got to be insecure about... this festival is saying... STAR WARS IS ONE OF THE MOST SIGNIFICANT FILMS IN HISTORY!

I love Star Wars, but I'm ashamed of George Lucas, he's really quite a little man when you come right down to it.

This is going to be a big deal - Lucasfilm is going to let a lot of the Episode III cat out of the bag this November - over a year and a half before the films come out. They're courting some big names for marketing promotions, contests, tie-ins and Happy Meals so they're getting together for a meeting to showcase the final Star Wars movie in just a few short weeks. Yakface broke the news, though it appears they've no idea just how significant this is going to be. And to have a guy on the inside, well, that is excellent. Here's a clip of the action:

Scott works at a place (that shall remain nameless) that sometimes gets cool Star Wars perks and this might be the coolest. Apparently, Lucasfilm is holding an event at the Presidio on November 5th and they sent out invitations to companies that they have done business with. His boss, knowing that he was a Star Wars fan, was gracious enough to just GIVE him the invitation and this isn't your normal paper invitation. It's a Saga Throne Room Vader glued to a glossy black acrylic block with a brushed metal plate attached which reads ...

To see the actual invitation and plaque, head over to Yakface for the look.

GameSpot recently posted a hands-on article about Jedi Academy for the X-Box. It is as follows:

Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy is an offshoot of the Jedi Knight series that was recently released to some accolades on the PC. Now, LucasArts and developer Raven Software are working on porting the game to the Xbox. We got to take Jedi Academy for a brief test drive today on Microsoft's console, and, based on the current state of the game, it looks like Xbox owners will soon have access to a faithful reproduction of the original PC experience.

We got to play a little of both the single-player and multiplayer modes in our time with Jedi Academy. The multiplayer demo was set to the power duel mode from the PC game, which has you teaming up with a partner to fight one drastically more-powerful dark Jedi. The game uses a typical split-screen view to facilitate two-player action, and it will also support Xbox Live for competitive players who want to go online and find a greater number of opponents. The demo station had a number of saved games from the single-player campaign, so we fired up specific levels, like Vader's Castle and Tatooine, to see how well Jedi Academy has translated to the Xbox. Initial impressions tell us that the game will indeed be quite similar to the PC version--which is obviously a good thing, given its critical success.

Jedi Academy is running pretty well on the Xbox right now. The frame rate was even, for the most part, and, thanks to the Xbox's PC-like graphics hardware, it didn't look like any of the original game's graphical niceties had been sacrificed. Gameplay on the Xbox controller worked pretty well too. Jedi Academy features a mixture of first- and third-person perspective gameplay, so you can expect typical FPS-style controls, like free look with the right analog stick and attack with the right trigger. The D pad is used to cycle between your weapons and force powers, and, generally, it was pretty easy in our demo to navigate the game's environments and to use various attacks.

Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy is currently slated for a November release on the Xbox, and the solidity of the build we played today gives us the impression that it won't have trouble making the date. We'll bring you more on the game soon.

Yet another interview was posted today. This one is found at Armchair Empire.

It's pretty basic information, but there's a very interesting snippet about some cut areas of the game:

"An entire world had to be left out due to time constraints. The first pass level art was finished, but time was running out, so we decided to cut it." ... "The biggest level was going to be a massive coliseum where the Hutt lords pitted their gladiator slaves against one another." ... "We cut several sections out of Tatooine." ... "We cut several sections from Taris, more for pacing reasons than because of schedule pressures."

Click the link above for the full article.

Here's just a tiny excerpt of the recent article at ComputerAndVideoGames.com:


Talking about added content, BioWare man and KOTOR lead designer James Ohlen told us that: "We have a new planet that you can visit, it's a space station orbiting the planet of Yavin.

"The space station is a small area where you can buy new items, meet a few new NPCs. It's got it's own movies as well - one landing sequence and a leading sequence."


Mosey on over to ComputerAndVideoGames.com for the rest! You'll need to register (free) on their site for the full chat with Bioware.

The Northern Territory News features an interview with Warren Owens. The official site has previously reported that he plays a senator and completed filming back in August, but this article has more info on his character. Here are a few excerpts:

The 58-year-old actor, of Nightcliff in Darwin, plays the part of Fang Zar in the yet-to-be titled film, due out in 2005.
Bound by a strict confidentiality agreement until the movie is released, Owens would only reveal his character is a member of the Rebel Alliance.

"They just wanted my voice and my looks. They didn't even put me in make up," he said.

"All they did was put my hair up in a bun and gave me a funny-looking black frock. But (Star Wars director) George Lucas walked over to me and said: 'I like your voice, keep it up.' "

Thanks to TF.N fot this information.

The Northern Territory News features an interview with Warren Owens. The official site has previously reported that he plays a senator and completed filming back in August, but this article has more info on his character. Here are a few excerpts:

The 58-year-old actor, of Nightcliff in Darwin, plays the part of Fang Zar in the yet-to-be titled film, due out in 2005.
Bound by a strict confidentiality agreement until the movie is released, Owens would only reveal his character is a member of the Rebel Alliance.

"They just wanted my voice and my looks. They didn't even put me in make up," he said.

"All they did was put my hair up in a bun and gave me a funny-looking black frock. But (Star Wars director) George Lucas walked over to me and said: 'I like your voice, keep it up.' "

Thanks to TF.N fot this information.

At a recent press event held by LucasArts, producer Haden Blackman disclosed new details on the current state of Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided, as well as new information about future additions to the game. As Blackman mentioned, players have already discovered how to unlock a "force-sensitive" character slot--a character that may eventually become a jedi--by collecting holocrons, special items derived from quests that give clues about what tasks they must perform in order to advance in their quest.

Blackman reaffirmed that the development team fully intends to continue supporting the game with monthly story-related events and content additions, such as "the warren," a recently released dungeon area that characters of all affiliations (rebels, imperials, and neutral characters) can explore. Blackman explained that the team will also continue to develop the game by adding new "theme parks"--a phrase that the team uses to describe hub areas full of important non-player characters that give out information and quests. The next theme park scheduled for release will be Nym's fortress--an area controlled by the protagonist of LucasArts' Nintendo 64 shooter Star Wars: Starfighter. Blackman also mentioned that the team is currently working on two new major content additions: playable dark jedi characters, who can explore the dark side of the Force, and player mounts, such as dewbacks and kadu, which can be ridden for additional travel speed. These two additions are scheduled for release in the game by year's end, and the next major addition to the game, player vehicles, should, according to Blackman, "follow shortly thereafter." When asked about the status of possible console versions of Star Wars Galaxies, Blackman stated that console versions of the game are not currently in development, but "haven't been ruled out" yet.

Source: GameSpot.

GameSpot has provided some more information on the sequel to Knights of the Old Republic:

We recently had the opportunity to take a look at the PC version of BioWare's popular Xbox role-playing game, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. The PC version of the game is very far along and looks quite good, especially since the game has been tweaked and optimized to take advantage of the graphical power of higher-end PCs. Knights of the Old Republic will let you turn on varying degrees of antialiasing, and will also let you toggle features like anisotropic texture filtering and soft shadows on and off. According to LucasArts producer Mike Gallo, the game's cinematic sequences have also been recompressed to take advantage of higher-resolution displays on PC. The PC version of the game will also feature enhanced audio with support for 5.1 digital sound.

In addition, the PC version of the game will make various tweaks and additions to the original Xbox version of the game, including a few new interface options. You can use your mouse's scroll wheel to examine your character's inventory, and you'll also be able to keep better track of your enemies in combat with a floating contextual menu above their heads that will let you immediately choose which sorts of attacks and tactics you plan to use against them, rather than always looking back at the iconic menu at the bottom-right corner of the screen. The PC version of the game will also feature about 30 new high-level items, including new kinds of armor and a new lightsaber crystal, that weren't featured in the Xbox version of the game. These powerful items will be extremely pricey, much like the "bonus merchant" items from Baldur's Gate II that could be installed from a bonus CD included with pre-orders. But unlike that game, Knights of the Old Republic's new items will be available to anyone who buys the PC version of the game, not just those who pre-order it--though LucasArts may include some other extras to eager players who do order the game in advance.

The PC version of the game will also fix a few technical issues from the original game, such as the bug that occasionally caused the your character's list of upcoming combat actions to freeze up if you added too many skills to the queue. Since Knights of the Old Republic will be a huge, fully 3D game, its minimum system requirements will include a 1GHz processor and 128MB of RAM for Windows 98 users, and a hefty 256MB of RAM for Windows XP users (512MB is recommended). Knights of the Old Republic is scheduled for release this November.

I few days ago, I posted some rumors of a sequel to the hit Star Wars game, Knights of the Old Republic. Well, the rumors seem to be true. IGN reported yesterday with news of a possible sequel to Knights of the Old Republic:

A logical action to take after such success is to start planning the game's successor, and apparently, KOTOR 2 is under development. A few sources have already reported that the sequel has been greenlighted for a late 2004 or early 2005 release, and that the game's storyline - which is to take place many years after KOTOR's --will include a completely new cast of characters. But what few people are aware of is that the game is not being developed internally at BioWare, but in Orange County at Obsidian Entertainment. (At least that's what we hear.)

More details and explanations, along with some Rebel Strike rumors can be found here.

Brian Ching was interviewed on StarWarz "Clone Wars Unofficial Site."

Brian Ching, STAR WARS comic penciler, has taken time to answer a few of our hard-hitting questions. :-) He has drawn covers for the EMPIRE series and covers and interior art for REPUBLIC including one of the first appearances of the Jedi-hating villians Asajj Ventress and Durge (as seen on the cover of CLONE WARS VOL. 2). Also, Brian and writer Haden Blackman will be donning an eagerly anticipated 10-issue story arc leading directly into the events of EPISODE III.

To read the interview, follow the link here.

The Toronto Sun reports:

The Star Wars franchise can no longer be taken seriously, according to one former Jedi master.
"Ummm, well, they've kind of got silly now, haven't they?" actor Liam Neeson told The Toronto Sun yesterday while doing interviews for his latest film, the forthcoming ensemble romantic comedy Love Actually.

"That last (Star Wars movie) was just pyrotechnics, you know," Neeson said of Episode II -- Attack of The Clones, lamenting that the "computerized stuff" fails to connect with either the actors or audiences.

Neeson said he expects nothing different when Episode III, in which he is not involved, is released in 2005 to complete the prequel trilogy.

Yet Neeson has no regrets about his own participation in Star Wars lore, despite feeling that he did less than stellar work in 1999 in Star Wars: Episode I -- The Phantom Menace.

"The one I did, I loved working on it," he said, "and I loved working with George Lucas."

Neeson played Qui-Gon Jinn, a Jedi master knight who counsels Obi-Wan Kenobi and the young Anakin Skywalker.

"Admittedly," Neeson said with a wane smile, "we all come across as pretty wooden. But a lot of that was interacting with blue screen, which was difficult and was also a great challenge, you know, to try to make it seem as an everyday thing that (you're with) a winged beast that talks."

Blue screen is an in-studio process in which actors literally perform in front of a giant blue screen, replaced later with computerized special effects. "But listen," Neeson said, "I'm glad I did it."

Looks like we won't be seeing the ghost of Qui-Gon in Episode III.