June 29 STAR Wars producer Rick McCallum has been extoling the virtues of DVD in the latest Homing Beacon.
He said: "The average person just wants to see the movie, and other people want to go further, but that’s what makes DVD fantastic It’s painful to cut something out; it’s not done lightly. Now, you can see it in a different light. You have to make the decisions at the moment. Years later, you still think about if you should have left certain things in."
The DVD will include an hour-long documentary called The Beginning, which will give "unprecedented access into the inner workings of Lucasfilm and Industrial Light & Magic"
McCallum explained the new openess: "We want to get all the stories, all the pain -- not the ‘oh it’s so nice to work with George and Rick’-syndrome. We want to show the pain we had in getting the picture outt there, the problems we had, the challenges we faced, where we succeeded, where we didn’t succeed, and some of the things we had to cut out. I think that’s what I’m really excited about people seeing."
June 28 JUST when DVD land couldn't get any better - they go and release Willow too. Fox and Lucasfilm announced the 1980s classic, starring Star Wars actor Warwick Davis, will be released as a Special Edition DVD on November 17.
The disc will be packed with things to see, such as a new Anamorphic widescreen transfer, remastered 5.1 soundmix and audio commentaries.
READERS of The Sun newspaper will have spotted a couple who got married - dressed in Star Wars gear. The groom donned Qui-Gon Jinn's robes, while the bride sported Queen Amidala's red gown. Meanwhile the bride's mother was all in white - as Princess Leia.
June 22 THE Phantom Menace will be released on DVD on October 15. The news every Star Wars fans has been waiting for has been confirmed by the official site, and what a DVD it will be. And rather brilliantly fans in the UK will get to buy it before anyone else in the world.
America gets it on October 16, but in the UK it will be on the shelves a whole 24 hours earlier. Amazon are already taking pre-orders.
An incredible six hours of footage and film will be packed onto the DVD, including seven new deleted scenes, an hour-long documentary, multi-angle story boards, the Duel of the Fates music video and all 12 parts of Lynne's Diaries, the web documentaries from the official site.
June 10 TICKETS for this year's show have just gone on sale. You can pick them up from several venues across north east Essex and Suffolk - and those buying early this year could be in for a major bonus. If you leave your name, address and phone number with whoever you buy the ticket from, we'll put you in the hat for a prize draw - with the winner getting to have dinner with Star Wars legend Kenny Baker.
Tickets are priced £5 beforehand, and will be £7 on the day. A family ticket is also available for two adults and two children, priced £15 for four tickets.
The ticket outlets are: Tourist Information Centre, Pier Avenue, Clacton; Forbidden Planet, High Street, Colchester and Suffolk Sci-fi in Ipswich. For more details call 01255 253220.
June 18 Right, made it back from my hols, and there's lots to catch up on with the convention.
Things are going really well, and we've got some major announcements to make over the next few weeks. First up though, is news of one of our sponsors, and a special deal only for visitors to the convention.
Flicks Cinema is sponsoring the show, and anyone with a convention ticket will be able buy two cinema tickets for the price of one on the night of the show.
It is hoped to be screen Planet of the Apes, this year's major sci-fi film, on the day, just weeks after it is released in the UK. For more on our other sponsors, and news of what else is going on in Clacton, go here.
June 1 IT'S going to be a little quiet in here for a couple of weeks while I'm away. But rest assured, there'll be lots to look forward to June, including the name of a brand new guest who will be coming to Clacton this September 8.
May 30 IF you're getting bored of the same old wallpaper on your screen, it's time to head over to the Star Wars site where some cool new Episode II designs are on offer. You can choose from Anakin/Darth, Amidala/Leia, new Ben/old Ben, or new 3PO/old 3PO. Go here to make your choice.
Star Trek: Voyager actress Roxann Dawson (who played B'Elanna Torres), is to direct an episode of the forthcoming series, Enterprise, Sci-fi.com has revealed. Dawson, who confirmed the news at a convention, is in line to take the helm of the seventh episode of the fifth Trek series.
May 23 ACTOR Jack Watling has died aged 78. Jack, from Frinton in Essex, England, was one of the guests at the first Clacton Sci-fi Convention, as he appeared in several episodes of Dr Who. His daughter Debbie was one of the Doctor's first assistants. Jack was famous for films such as Reach for the Sky and Sink the Bismark. For more on him go here.
May 22 ONE year and counting! If all goes to plan it's a year to the day before Star Wars: Episode II is released. Lucas has a tradition of launching his films on a Wednesday about this time of year, so get it marked down in your diary!
YOU can tell you've come a bit too close to the truth when Lucasfilm come knocking on your door. So TFN found out yesterday, after it posted a video of Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) training for a lightsaber battle.
Lucasfilm didn't like what they saw though and the file soon disappeared again. The site simply said: "We have removed the video file from our servers for various reasons," the site reported. "We apologize for the inconvenience."
May 18 THE latest Star Wars select photo is up on the official site. This one looks like some silhouttes, maybe one of them being Amidala.
DAVID Duchovny has finally left The X-Files. After becoming a temporary member of the cast several months ago, Duchovny has now announced he is leaving the show which made him for good.
He had only been in a few episodes in the current show after a pay dispute. There is good news though as his FBI partner, Gillian Anderson, who plays Dana Scully, has signed up to appear in every episode of the next series. Her new is Robert Patrick, who plays John Doggett.
The BBC new site said: "The current series ends in the US on Sunday with Scully and Doggett racing to protect Scully's unborn child. Duchovny has signalled his intention to move out of his sci-fi stereotype by appearing in films including Return to Me and the forthcoming Zoolander."
May 14 SOME possible news on a Star Wars DVD comes via TFN. A source there says staff are transferring 60mm behind-the-scenes footage of the Star Wars trilogy onto digital tape. It added that there were "out-takes, set design footage, and much more There was enough tape there for over 50 hours!"
Although the people working there didn't confirm it, it is pretty sure to assume that they are preparing bonus material for the upcoming DVDs.
May 13 DOUGLAS Adams, the British author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, has died suddenly of an apparent heart attack. Adams, 49, collapsed while working out at a gym.
The Hitchhiker's Guide, which began as a BBC radio series in 1978, was turned into a multi-million selling book, and then into a television series. Scifi.com said: "It was a satirical adventure about a group of interplanetary travelers, including Arthur Dent, Ford Prefect, Zaphod Beeblebrox and Marvin the Paranoid Android."
Adams had lived in Santa Barbara since 1996 and leaves hishis wife, Jane Belson; a six-year-old daughter, and his mother, Jan Thrift.
SCOTT Bakula will play Capt Jonathan Archer in the fifth Star Trek series, Paramount has confirmed. The announcement described Archer as "a physical and intensely curious captain with a bold personality".
This is the first confirmation of the show's name, which will be Enterprise, and its casting.Bakula played Sam Beckett on Quantum Leap.
May 9 EVEN Ewan McGregor thought it could have been better. The Obi-Wan Kenobi actor was speaking at the opening night of the Cannes Film Festival about The Phantom Menace.
He said that Episode II had one big advantage over the first film. "It's just a better script,'' he said. So, was McGregor unhappy with the script for The Phantom Menace''? "No-o-o,'' he said diplomatically. Then, after a pause: "It could have been better. Could have been a lot better.''
The new film should be better too, as Lucas has enlisted the help of screen writer Jonathan Hales for this one, TFN said.
THE second Matrix film's name has been revealed. And while it be tempting to think Matrix II is as good as any, the proper name will be The Matrix Reloaded, and will be out next year.
Sci-fi.com said principal photography began on March 26 in California, with the cast including Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss and Hugo Weaving.
Reloaded will continue shooting in Oakland through June, before taking a summer hiatus. The cast and crew will then reassemble in September at Fox Studios in Sydney to complete filming. Joel Silver will be the producer again.
GEORGE Lucas has begun thinking seriously about Episode III, according to the official site. Producer Rick McCallum said: ""George is starting to think about Episode III," says McCallum, "Hopefully we're going to start in September on conceptual work, and start on animatics for some of the larger sequences for Episode III. We'll try to lock down the costumes by December 2002 so we can make it easier for wardrobe staff to start constructing costumes in Sydney for January 2003."
ILM has completed around 160 shots, compared with about 63 by the same time for Episode I. McCallum revealed: "Our next goal is to have 1,100 shots done for early fall. We're looking at about 2,200 shots total - virtually every shot in the movie."
May 3 STAR Wars fans are to be given a glimpse of Episode II - but you'll have to go to America to catch it. Dragoncon, a convention taking place from Aug 30 - Sept 3 in Atlanta, will be offering a sneak preview of the much-awaited film. Steve Sansweet, Lucasfilm's head of fan relations, will also be there to explain how the new shots fit into the whole saga. For check out their web site here. Expect a trailer for the new film by the end of the year too. Episode II is due out May 2002.
THE first vessel from Star Wars: Episode II has been unveiled - and it looks pretty familiar. The official site has a video clip explaining how the new Jedi Starfighter came to be. And it looks just like the old triangular-shaped Imperial Star Destroyers from the original trilogy.
STAR Trek fans don't have long to wait until the two-hour finale of Voyager - and Kate Mulgrew (Capt Kathryn Janeway) has been revealing what's in store.
She told Scifi.com that the show, which will go out in America on May 23, has a few surprises. She said: "It's Janeway versus Janeway. Adm Janeway meets Capt Janeway. Adm Janeway (Mulgrew) is 73 years old."
The site added: "The finale also promises to bring closure to the B'Elanna Torres (Roxann Dawson) pregnancy storyline, may also feature a surprise romantic relationship and should answer a couple of long-burning questions: Will the crew make it home and does everyone survive?"
GEORGE Lucas has been talking again about the wonders of shooting digitally, and dispelled the rumour that cinemas without the right technology would not be able to show Episode III. He told Entertainment Weekly: "There are 40 digital projectors out there now. We're hoping by 2002 there'll be at least a couple hundred, and a couple thousand by the time the third film is out. But there's no way that we're going to threaten the movie theaters. That would be suicidal."
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