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Archived News
September 2004
Week 5
Thursday
September 30, 2004 |
Homing
Beacon #120 |
The
latest edition of the Star Wars Homing Beacon is out, which
focuses mainly on Anthony Daniels (C-3P0). Though C-3PO seems to
have trouble remembering key events from one generation to the
next, actor Anthony Daniels' recollections are far more precise.
With the release of the Star Wars Trilogy on DVD, many of those
memories have come rushing back, in crystal clarity thanks to
unparalleled image and sound quality and recently unearthed
archival footage.
"The very first day out in the desert, I
thought there was going to be Hollywood-style trailers, and there
was a boy-scout tent." recalls Daniels. "I stood there
and put on my underclothes and then had six people attack me with
various bits of the costume and two hours later, I was in
pain!"
It took two hours to fit Daniels into the very
first Threepio costume, a process that now, by Episode III, has
finally been perfected to just a matter of minutes. "Somebody
switched on the light and C-3PO's eyes lit up and then they pulled
back the curtains of the tent and I stepped forward into the
rising sun," continues Daniels. "The sun was just coming
up over the dunes, and just hit my costume. Around me, all the
crew -- Americans, Europeans and the local Tunisian people -- just
stopped work and gazed. It was his greatest moment, but from then
on we had to start filming and was all a bit down hill from then
on!"
What coaxed Daniels into the uncomfortable golden
suit was the poignant strength of a concept painting by Ralph
McQuarrie, depicting the lonely droid standing in the sprawling
desert. Daniels says he felt a kinship with the droid,
particularly when it came time to shoot the desert sequences.
"You have to realize that the cameras were
about a mile away and Artoo was empty and being pulled along by
someone with a wire. The wind was blowing. It was cold. I'm all
alone. I can see people at the camera, and they're going to wave
at me when they're ready. I'm looking around, and there, very,
very close to me, is a Tunisian desert person -- a real one, not
someone George had made up. With a face like a million old leather
handbags all sewn together, he was looking at me in this strange
way."
Daniels likens the experience to the classic scene
in E.T. The Extra Terrestrial when young Drew Barrymore sees the
alien for the first time. "It was the same. We both went, 'AHHH!'
I looked at the camera and I looked back and he'd gone. He
absolutely melted back into the sands. That was a very bizarre
experience. He's in some village now saying, 'And then there was
the day when I saw the gold god...'"
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Thursday
September 30, 2004 |
New
Amazing Stories Magazine |
Subscription
Deal on New Amazing Stories Magazine and Star Wars Merchandise
Specials Available Now on paizo.com
Paizo Publishing, LLC, announces that, for a limited time,
subscriptions to Amazing Stories, the 21st-century entertainment
magazine, will be available to Star Wars Insider fans for the
amazing rate of only $29.95, a savings of $41.93 off of the cover
price and $5.00 off of our charter subscription rate! Subscribe
online at paizo.com before November 30, 2004, and use the
promotional code SWI at checkout.
Your love of good science fiction and fantasy probably
doesn’t stop with Star Wars. You may also be interested in
fantastic storytelling in books, movies, comics, TV, and more,
from The Lord of the Rings to Spider-Man to Buffy the Vampire
Slayer. Brought to you by the same great editorial staff as Star
Wars Insider, we’ve set out to bring readers a magazine
featuring great new stories in the realms of science fiction,
fantasy, supernatural horror, and superheroes. We are carrying on
the 78-year tradition of Amazing Stories by publishing new,
original fiction from your favorite authors, such as Timothy Zahn,
Aaron Allston, Greg Keyes, as well as covering the storytellers of
our generation in all of the other mediums.
While you’re on our revamped website, check out the other
Star Wars items still available! We’ve got a wide variety of
Star Wars Insider and Star Wars Gamer back issues, as well as a
few silver Boba Fett action figures. Also, we’re having a moving
sale for our Episode II IMAX posters and banners. For a limited
time, the IMAX poster is available for $14.95 and the huge IMAX
banner is $150. We also have a very small quantity of autographed
photos of Amy Allen (Aayla Secura) and Michonne Bourriague (Aurra
Sing) on a limited-edition ticket given away at the Fan Club
dinner in Seattle in February 2004. These are available for $29.99
each.
So, swing by paizo.com
to score on your Amazing Stories subscription special, as well as
the IMAX poster and banner, the autographed photos of Amy Allen
and Michonne Bourriague, and all the other great finds for the
Star Wars fan at www.paizo.com.
Paizo Publishing™, LLC, publishes special-interest magazines
in the fields of entertainment and hobby gaming. It is Paizo’s
goal for every magazine and every product to be an event that
encourages new and experienced hobbyists and fans to become more
excited about their interests. Dragon is the official source of
new rules, spells, artifacts, and ideas for players of Dungeons
& Dragons. Dungeon is the official source of D&D
adventures. Undefeated, the magazine for “Games You Can Win,”
is a graphically intense publication featuring the tactics and
strategies to exorcise the “loser” in all of us. Amazing
Stories, our newest magazine, is the relaunch of an American
classic and reports on all the best in the worlds of science
fiction, fantasy, and supernatural horror, and features original
works of fiction from the world’s top authors.
Undefeated is a trademark of Paizo Publishing, LLC. Amazing
Stories is a trademark of, and Dragon and Dungeon are registered
trademarks of Wizards of the Coast, Inc. Star Wars and related
marks are trademarks of Lucasfilm, Ltd.
Jenny Bendel Director of Marketing & Public Relations, Pop
Tart, Roller Girl, Revolutionist, and 5th-Level Half-Elf Chaotic
Evil Rogue
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Thursday
September 30, 2004 |
JediNet
Redesign |
JediNet
has just redesigned there site with an old Star Wars comic book
style. I think it is an improvement over their last design, but
you still have those advertisements to deal with. Be sure to go
and have a look! |
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Wednesday
September 29, 2004 |
Life
Story Movie Magic special on Star Wars |
Life
Story has created a Deluxe Collector's Edition Movie Magic
magazine in celebration of the DVD releases. The magazine is
roughly 100 pages and covers topics such as "The Making of
The Star Wars Trilogy" to "The Visual Effects of Star
Wars", and many more including a Star Wars Movie Poster
Gallery. Overall it is a pretty good magazine with a lot of
pictures, some popular, some a little rarer. The bad part about it
is, even though it's supposed to be all about Star Wars, only
about 3/4 of it really is. There's articles on Harry Potter, Star
Treck and other films. The magazine should be on display until
November 22, 2004 and cost around $9.95. |
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Tuesday
September 28, 2004 |
Daily
Star Wars Webstrips Start Next Week! |
The
Official Star Wars Site has announced another new Hyperspace
feature! Members of Hyperspace, the Official Star Wars Fan
Club will soon have access to new installments of Star Wars
adventures every weekday in the form of exclusive comic strips
starting October 4th! Hyperspace will be home to four ongoing
strips, each telling a different tale set in the Star Wars
galaxy. Two of these are new never-before-seen strips, while the
other two are reprints from the original newspaper comics that ran
in the late 1970s and early '80s. Be sure to read
the full article and see what is in store for us next week. |
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Tuesday
September 28, 2004 |
SW
Celebration 3 Registration Opens |
Registration
for Celebration III is now available:
Fans who purchase a 4-day admission badge for
Celebration III from the official site, and choose to have the
badge shipped in advance, can receive the show's first exclusive
collectible - a Darth Vader "3-in-1 topper." The topper,
featuring Darth Vader's signature mask and helmet, is for car
antennas, pencils, and key chains, and is free for 4-day badge
holders for only $2.95 shipping and handling. Vader toppers will
be shipped with admission badges in 2005, close to the start of
the show.
Once at Celebration, collectors can pick up a set
of three other exclusive Star Wars toppers, complete with a
display case. The display case will be designed to hold four
toppers, but the only way to get the fourth - Darth Vader - is
with a 4-day advance sale Celebration III badge. The Darth Vader
toppers are limited to one per 4-day badge purchased in advance,
adult or child
REGISTER
FOR CELEBRATION 3 |
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Tuesday
September 28, 2004 |
Steve
Gawley & Jon Berg Chat Tomorrow |
The
Official Star Wars Site has announced another Hyperspace chat
for tomorrow! With the classic Star Wars films finally on DVD,
Hyperspace has been inviting some of the original artists who
developed the amazing visuals of the saga to participate in online
chats with Fan Club members. This month, legends such as Dennis
Muren, Lorne Peterson, Paul Huston and Tom St. Amand have fielded
questions from original trilogy fans. This week wraps up the
Classic ILM chats with two guests left on the roster: Steve Gawley
and Jon Berg.
Steve Gawley began his professional modelmaking career with ILM
in 1975 as one of the first 15 original visual effects crewmembers
to work with George Lucas on the production of Star Wars. Since
that time, he has supervised and participated in the budgeting and
construction of the high quality work in many of ILM's projects,
including all the Star Wars films.
He has built models for 10 of ILM's 14 Academy Award-winning
film projects and received a 1989 Academy Award nomination for
Best Achievement in Visual Effects on the feature film Back To The
Future, Part II. Gawley's other credits include Raiders of the
Lost Ark, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Space Cowboys, Pearl Harbor,
A.I. Artificial Intelligence, and Hulk.
Jon Berg was a stop-motion animator and modelmaker for the
original Star Wars trilogy. He worked alongside Phil Tippett in
bringing an assortment of holographic aliens to life for a chess
game between Chewbacca and R2-D2. In Empire, he worked extensively
on the AT AT walker sequence, designing the amazingly intricate
walkers as fully workable stop-motion puppets. For Return of the
Jedi, he worked in the Creature Shop, serving as consultant in the
design of the myriad of aliens that populated that film.
Berg's other, non-ILM film credits include Ghost Busters,
Robocop II, The Fly and Naked Lunch. Jon Berg, working from molds
created by Don Bies, is also responsible for the constructing the
Star Wars Fan Film award trophies given out each year.
Steve Gawley will be online this Wednesday, September 29 at
2:30 p.m. U.S. Pacific time (5:30 p.m. U.S. Eastern time) for his
Hyperspace chat. Jon Berg will log on this Friday, October 1 at
2:30 p.m. U.S. Pacific time (5:30 p.m. U.S. Eastern time) for his
chat. Please note that last minute schedule changes may happen,
and that although hundreds of questions are often submitted, not
all can be answered.
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Monday
September 27, 2004 |
Episode
III Rating In The Dark |
USA
Today reports that Revenge of the Sith might be headed toward
a PG-13 rating.
The dark side of the Force rules in Revenge of
the Sith, the finale of the Star Wars saga, due in theaters May
19.
Looking for proof? Filmmaker George Lucas expects
the film to have a stricter rating than any of his previous Star
Wars adventures, all of which have been rated a family-friendly
PG.
The sixth Star Wars film (actually Episode III in
the mythical timeline) details how Anakin Skywalker (Hayden
Christensen (news)) falls prey to "the dark side" and
becomes Darth Vader, the iconic baddie first seen in 1977's Star
Wars, now called Episode IV: A New Hope.
"This is the darkest of them all," says
Lucas, speaking at a New York event to promote the recent release
of his THX 1138 DVD. "I don't think it's going to be rated
like the other ones. It's just more emotionally intense."
The PG-13 rating makes sense, considering the
story line, says Scott Chitwood of TheForce.Net, a Star Wars news
Web site. "From the original trilogy, we know that in Episode
III, Anakin is horribly burned, Padmé (Amidala, the queen and
senator who becomes the mother of Luke Skywalker and Princess
Leia) dies, Mace Windu dies, Luke and Leia are separated, and the
Jedi are wiped out," he says. "It would be hard to do
them justice without the film being PG-13."
A move to that rating for Sith isn't likely to
hurt attendance. Those with children ages 10 and 11 might think
twice, says Paul Dergarabedian of box office tracking firm
Exhibitor Relations, "but their kids probably already have
video games at home that are PG-13 in violence levels."
To read the full article, hit the link above.
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Monday
September 27, 2004 |
Sun
Times Interviews John Lowry |
The
Chicago
Sun Times has an interview this weekend with a one of the
central figures behind the Star Wars DVD restoration:
Q. How involved was George Lucas throughout the
process?
A. Well, it's always more interesting when you're restoring a film
and the director's still alive. [Laughs] But he was there every
step of the way. He'd always ask for something to be sharpened
more, never made softer. He was approving every reel, every shot.
George Lucas is great to work with because he's not shy about
doing some things to improve his movies.
Q. What are you looking for when you're making
sure a frame of film is cleaned?
A. We want to improve the image sequence to make it the best it
can be, while at the same time never creating an artifact that
should not be there, or removing something that's in the picture
that should be there. For example, you think it's a speck of dirt
and it's really someone's fingertip. In our restorations we
enhance the image, improve the contrast, give it a sharpness and
image stability, get rid of the "flicker." That's all
part of the automated process we use.
Q. How many frames did you have to clean up for
the trilogy box set?
A. We went through about 520,000 frames for the trilogy digital
restoration. I use the term restoration because it was originally
a film, and regardless of the output format, it is a motion
picture restoration. It may not be a film restoration, but it is a
motion picture restoration. Basically, in the restoration process
you do your best to bring the movie back to the quality that the
director and cinematographer saw in their dailies during original
filming.
Q. Did you work on the films in order?
A. I think we ended up shipping "Jedi" first. The
biggest challenge of the three was "A New Hope." There
was so much dirt, for example, in that desert scene, that our
computer was getting fooled into thinking it was part of the
actual image and not dirt that had to be removed from the image.
In that sequence alone we ended up cleaning out about a million
pieces of dirt. We've done about 100 films to date, and none was
ever that hard.
Hit the link above for the full article, with some
very interesting questions and answers!
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Monday
September 27, 2004 |
Darth
Vader Invades Network Associates Coliseum |
This
press
release hit over the weekend featuring the big game on ESPN
this Sunday night. If you caught the game, you saw plenty of Star
Wars / Raider fans!
The Force will be with the Oakland Raiders when
Darth Vader descends upon Network Associates Coliseum with his
Storm Troopers as the Team of the Decades -- the Oakland Raiders
-- face the Tampa Bay Buccaneers this Sunday, September 26, 2004
at 5:30 p.m. PT. The game will be broadcast live on ESPN.
This match-up between Oakland and Tampa Bay
coincides with the September 21 release of the STAR WARS TRILOGY
on DVD -- the most-awaited DVD of all time -- and its companion
video game, Star Wars Battlefront.
This Sunday's event, kicking off a season-long
STAR WARS presence at Network Associates Coliseum, will feature
appearances by some of the most popular Star Wars characters,
including Darth Vader, as well as special giveaways and other
celebrations.
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