Jan 28 STAR Wars did well in a new poll of movie's greatest ever heroes and villians. The Total Film survey put Harrison Ford's Indiana Jones in the top hero spot, while Ford's other famous character, Han Solo, made it to number six. In second spot was James Bond, and third was Russell Crowe's Gladiator.
And top villian was who else but Darth Vader.
HOPES of a new feature-length Dr Who film have taken a knock. The Telegraph had quoted BBC movie boss David Thompson as saying a £40million film was on the horizon. But the BBC denied this and a spokeswoman said: "The Sunday Telegraph got it wrong." She added there were plans for a movie, but that there had been no progress.
BUFFY star Sarah Michelle Gellar has been furiously back-tracking after threatening to quit the show if it switched networks. Scifi.com quoted Gellar as saying: "I just said it in passing, and it was only meant to show my appreciation and support for The WB. But Fox has been very good to me, too. I intend to stay with Buffy, no matter what."
Jan 25 STAR Wars legends Harrison Ford and Liam Neeson are to team up to star in a Cold War film. K-19: The Widowmaker is based on a true stor of a Russian submarine crew's bid to keep their payload from a nuclear meltdown. Ford will play the sub's commander.
SARAH Michelle Gellar will quit Buffy if it switches TV networks, it has been claimed. Daily Radar said the vampire slayer would put a stake in the show if Buffy goes from WB to ABC, or anywhere else for that matter.
Gellar said: "The WB has been so supportive, such a great network over the past four years. It feels like home. I don't want the show to move, because I feel that we belong on the WB. It's where our fans are. If Buffy leaves the WB, I'm out."
CINEMA-goers in the UK are more hungry for films than ever, a report on the BBC says. It said: "Britain's cinema-goers are keener than ever to get their film fix, with attendance hitting a 26-year-high of more than 142.5 million tickets."
Box office takings were also up 4 per cent on 1999 at £627.5m, and the highest takings for a single weekend also came last year - thanks to Toy Story 2, which took a huge £7.8m. That figure beat The Phantom Menace's previous record in 1999.
Jan 20 CALIFORNIA'S continuing power problems caused some delays with the Episode II crew. TFN reports that some of the crew went home early due to the possible power failures, which eventually didn't come.Chances are the chaps at ILM have their own generators though, so there shouldn't be any major crises.
Jan 14 YOU remember that thing we said the other day about Sean Bean being the next Dr Who? Well despite what The Mirror thinks you can forget it - he ain't.
Jan 13 RESIDENTS in a small Scottish town are under siege by Star Wars fans - because of its name. The residents of Balfron, north of Glasgow, have woken up to the fact they share their name with a well-known Star Wars planet.
The Balfron Heritage Group has now decided to take advantage of this intergalactic phenomenon and set up their own website. The fictional Balfron is an unwelcoming place inhabited by cave-dwelling folk and is also where Lando Calrissian met up with twin con artists, the Tonnika sisters after he met them at the High Stakes Casino. Balfron itself is more down-to-earth, although it is now keen to attract more sci-fi visitors. In the Independent newspaper today Jim Thomson, chairman of the heritage group, said: "We get thousands of tourists a year and many of them recognise the name as there are still scores of devoted fans out there.
"I would hate for us to be compared to the planet as it seems a pretty grim place. We hope the website will encourage people to visit the far more welcoming Endrick Valley." Villagers are still debating whether to call one of its pubs the High Stakes Tavern.
If you fancy a look at the real Balfron go here.
Jan 12 AN interesting survey from the Star Wars site at the moment, you can vote for the best action sequence in any of the films. In a pretty even battle the Death Star trench run is nudging ahead with 35 per cent, while the Imperial walker attack in TESB has 30 per cent, the escape from Jabba's sail barge has 19 per cent and in last spot is the Podrace with 16 points.
COULD the sequel to The Matrix be in trouble? It is according to a report on Sci-fi.com. It says Michelle Yeoh will not be re-appearing and Keanu Reeves may have broken his ankle while training.
Yeoh said: "I'm not going to do The Matrix. I'm a great fan of the Wachowski brothers [directors Andy and Larry], but some things are more important. I just started my own production company, and the filming of it conflicted with my movie. I believe it is time to do other things, stories coming from Asia. At the end of the day, you have to do what's really important to you." Either way doesn't look like the film will start shooting any time soon.
THE latest Episode II Select photo has been released and seems to be a Senate chamber of some description. The floor design looks a little like the Rebel insignia, but decide for yourself here.
Jan 5 SEAN Bean is the new Dr Who, a national paper announced today. In one of its first big budget films, Bean will play the colourful Time Lord made famous by the long-running TV series.
Accompanying him will be the actress Tara Fitzgerald, according to the paper. Bean is best known for his role as Sharpe in the ITV period drama, as a Bond bad guy and for starring in the film Essex Boys. Filming for the new movie is set to start in the spring. Other actors to play the Doctor in the movies are Peter Cushing and Paul McGann.
Jan 4 KENNY Baker made it into the Sun today. The R2-D2 actor is one of seven dwarves who apparantly have had a bet to see who can get 'better aquainted' with Julie Goodyear, the former Coronation Street star, in their panto.
The Sun said Julie was furious when she discvored their wager. One source said: "Julie's not short of fans, but not many are this short." Kenny added he was hoping Julie would wear a mini-skirt as he would then just come up to her hem-line! Julie was barmaid Bet Lynch in the hit soap opera.
THE menu logos on the official site have updated, with Jar Jar, Greedo, Chewbacca and Admiral Ackbaar taking centre stage.
AHMED Best is going walkabout on the Episode II set again. This time he meets Don Bies, the man who looks after the world-famous astromech droid.
A CLASSIC moment at the official Star Wars site today talks about how Stormtroopers died. Sound expert Ben Burtt said: "In Star Wars, I don’t think the stormtroopers said much when they died. In Empire, they just screamed. Not much actual dialogue, but we recorded what little there was by hiring some local disc jockeys to read lines into walkie-talkies transmitting from across the street. It sounded perfect."
Jan 1 HAPPY New Year to everyone!
Dec 29 THE Times had a little snippet of interest yesterday. In its On This Day feature it mentioned December 28 1977 when south Londoners took deckchairs to the West End for the first British screening of Star Wars. Queues started at 7.30am and advance ticket sales were at £170,000.
The article added: "One fact that surprised film company officials was that the crowds were rolling in despite the reduced public transport services. Few could help to book for any of yesterday's later shows and most were happy just to get tickets."
TO be treated with a large bag of salt, but Aint It Cool News seems to think that Steven Spielberg will be asked to come in and help George Lucas and Rick McCallum edit and tidy up Episode II. An e-mail supposedly from a Lucasfilm worker said: "All I will say for now is that George and Rick are"stressing" over a major reworking of the storyline. It's putting deadlines back and makes our work extremely frustrating.
"There are whispers that Spielberg is coming on board to help with the editing and story. It's a total shambles! Everyone wants another Empire Strikes Back......the team is aware of this, but we're a long way off." The official site said recently that a rough two-and-a-half hour cut of the film had been made and ILM were now ready to 'pounce on it'. However AICN is not always 100 per cent accurate with its reports so don't go stamping on your Yoda model for the time being.
ANOTHER new Episode II Select photo has gone up. This latest offering is just as vague as others but looks like it could be some kind of post or even pre-production work. Check it out here.
DESPITE everyone seeming to think it, Ray Park has still not been officially signed up to play Marvel Hero Iron Fist in a new movie. TFN thought he had but later said Ray's official site would not confirm the news, only saying talks were still taking place.
Dec 21 EVERY so often there are some perks to my job, and one such bonus came up on Sunday when I was invited to meet the legendary Christopher Lee, who is in the new Star Wars movie.
As well as acting he is an accomplished singer and was recording a video for his new single, which will be out in February, called She'll Fall For Me. Along with Gary WIlson of Clacton he was in Greenwich for the shoot.
Fortunately I got to chat to Christopher Lee for more than an hour between takes. He is an incredible man, very warm, articulate and passionate about his work. He wasn't giving too much away about Episode II though, although he did explain how he landed the role. His agent arranged for him to meet the Star Wars casting director for a chat. They didn't talk about Star Wars at all, let alone a possible role, but a while later George Lucas rang Mr Lee up and said he had a part he'd like him to play. The 6'4'' Mr Lee did say he loved working with Lucas and that he considered him "a genius" for the things he had put on the screen. He wasn't saying anything about the part though and added that the photo of him on the French Star Wars magazine wasn't one of him in costume.
EVER wondered what George Lucas sends his friends for Christmas. Part of that is revealed on the official site, which has a display of Lucas-type Christmas cards the various companies have sent out this year. Go here to see them.
Dec 15 SORRY for the delay but have been on holiday in Japan for the past week or so, but am back now and trying desperately to prepare for Christmas! As an aside, Japan doesn't have much Star Wars stuff going on right now but there was an interesting display in the Tokyo Tower which involved movie props.
On display was a genuione X-wing fighter and a life-size Speeder bike from Return of the Jedi, among many other things. They had an impressive display of figures as well, including the Power of the Sith Vader and Maul collection. Anthony Daniels had visited here recently so there were also several photos of him and fans dotted around the place. Will get the photos up on here just as soon as I get them.
SHELLY Shapiro, editorial director at Del Rey Books, has been talking about how the New Jedi Order series of books came together - and gave no promises that no more characters would be killed offShapiro first explained why Chewie died in the first book, Vector Prime. "Word came down from on high that our choices were limited. Chewie was the character we all agreed on. Reader response was split right down the middle: sadness but appreciation for both the need for the death and the effect on the surviving characters; and total, absolute fury. I was not surprised that readers were upset - I'd expected that - but I was surprised at the vehemence with which some of that anger was expressed."
Shapiro was asked about rumours that another major character may be for the chop and replied: "Sorry. My only comment can be that this is a war. People die in wars. That's the way it is."
ANOTHER Select photo for Episode II is up on the official site. This one appears to be an Indy type figure on Tatooine, but as with the other pics, your guess is as good as mine.