Nov 29 NEWS that Dr Who fans have been waiting years for - the BBC is to make a series of feature films based on the long-running series, according to the Sunday Times.
The films are part of director general Greg Dyke's aims to involve the network in major film production. The BBC plans a movie version of Dr Who plus sequels.
Nov 28 WHILE the Millennium Falcon is one of the best recognised ships in Star Wars, it could have been very different. The official site's classic moment today tells how the Falcon originally looked like the Rebel Cruiser. It explained: "During production this show came out on TV called Space 1999, and one of the ships they had was similar to the Falcon. The two designs looked similar enough that George said, 'We don't want to look like we're copying anybody, so let's change that design."
THE much-anticipated Star Wars: Obi-Wan game has been axed. LucasArts' site said: "Following an extensive review of the project and a great deal of deliberation, LucasArts Entertainment Company has ceased development of Star Wars: Obi-Wan for the PC. The expected breadth and scope of the Obi-Wan project could not be met given limitations of technology and the company's recently heightened quality standards. LucasArts is now planning to bring the game and its assets to a next generation console platform. Further announcements will be made in this regard next year."
Nov 27 ANOTHER Episode II Select photo has been released, this time showing a small ship going through something of a purple hyperspace jump. Not many clues as to what ship it is, though it looks a little like a Rebel Cruiser.
AS you probably know by now, the original Star Wars Trilogy is out on video again, this time with a small update on Episode II. The regular version is currently at number two in the charts while the widescreen video is at number three in the UK.
Hasbro, which makes the Star Wars action figures, has undergone a complete revamp of its website. Now registered members can vote in the second Fan's Choice Figure poll. Now Amanaman, Yarael Poof, Ben Quadinaros, Major Bren Derlin, and Admiral Kendal Ozzel are in the running to be immortalized in plastic. My vote goes to the excellent Admiral Ozzel. To see the new site go here.
Nov 18 SAMUEL Jackson's autograph is among several items being auctioned by Ray Park's official site on Ebay. Also there are some stuff by Park, Jerome Blake (Rune Hakko, Oppo Rancisis, Mas Ameeda) and Halle Berry from The X-Men. Go here to check them out.
THERE'S been several updates on the official Star Wars site. First up the photo hover buttons for each of the films now features a bounty hunter. There's also news of a book release, J Gregory Keyes' Conquest, due out next April from Del Ray Books.
It tells the tale of the Yuuzhan Vong invasion, and their deadly campaign against New Republic worlds. The 'Peace Brigade' heads for the Jedi academy on Yavin 4, where many young students of the Force live. The site said: "Luke Skywalker asks Talon Karrde to rescue the vulnerable students, but the headstrong Anakin Solo takes matters into his own hands. Rocketing to the jungle moon in his X-wing, Anakin discovers his beloved friend Tahiri has been captured by the Yuuzhan Vong. Rescuing her and other captive students may be far more than this young Jedi can handle".
In addition there's a new Episode II Select photo, an intriguing shot of two figures looking out towards a Tatooine-looking sun. One looks a little like a Jawa or maybe Yoda and the other taller figure could be a Jedi.
STATISTICS are always vaguely interesting, and the Star Wars
newsletter has a few of them from its animatics department, currently working hard on
Episode II's post-production. The number are:
14 - Average length, in hours, of an Animatics work day.
4 - The date, in May 2000, when the first animatic shots were delivered. One by Matthew
Ward, the other by Euisung Lee. The set up of these shots began two days earlier.
"A few"-- Number of terabytes of digital storage for the Animatics Department.
10 - 20 - Animatics shots delivered daily ("We’re just getting started,"
says David Dozoretz, Previsualization / Effects Supervisor).
2 - revisions, per shot, on average.
1,000 - Approximately the number of animatics already done. Also, about how many there are
still to go.
A SLICE of humour has crept into the official site, the latest poll asks if there should be a US-style recount of last week's poll. The options are yes, no, or yes but only in the outer territories :-)
Nov 14 THERE'S a week or so before the Star Wars Trilogy is re-released in the UK, but TFN has some fascinating news on the Episode II promotion that accompanies the video.
It revealed that George Lucas kicks things off by saying the Clone Wars start in the next film and Anakin gets fully seduced by the dark side in Episode 3. It also shows Then it talked about how in this episode they go back to the Lars homestead. Joel Eggerton and Bonnie Piese comment a bit about portraying Beru and Owen but don't reveal much.
Anthony Daniels also spoke of his role as C-3PO. The site said: "First he and George commented how 3PO starts the way we saw him in TPM but gets more or less completed by the end of the movie, but then they showed us! First they showed Anthony doing the puppeteering for 3PO and then in the new suit! Basically he's made out of junk. He's a mish mash of spare parts, beat up looking, grey, brown, not the goldenrod we're familiar with, but we see where the siver leg comes from! What a sight seeing a "completed" 3PO! If this is how Owen meets 3PO in Ep2, then it's no surprise he doesn't recognize him in ANH."
It also said that the new films show more of the Star Wars universe, partly to convey how Luke feels trapped on Tatooine in A New Hope.
ETHAN Phillips, Neelix in Star Trek Voyager has revealed details of the next Trek series to a fan site. Apparantly the new series will be based 100 years before the original series, and may mean it will show the birth of the Federation. Phillips also said the cast would consist of three men and two women.
As for Voyager's last season, Phillips said that executive producers Ken Biller, Brannon Braga and Rick Berman will write the last seven episodes, which will presumably tell the story of Voyager's return to the Alpha Quadrant.
IF you've got a few thousand pounds spare you could do worse than buy Liam Neeson's lightsaber. The weapon which Qui-Gonn Jin used in The Phantom Menace is one of several movie props to go under the hammer at Sotheby's in the new year to help with the fight against Aids.
Nov 7 WITH the re-release of the original Star Wars trilogy imminent (November 20 in the UK), adverts are to be placed on certain Fox home videos. To view it go here.
STAR Wars fans are to be given the chance to show off their creative streaks and make parodies and documentaries on the film - via the official site. Atom Films and the site have produced The Star Wars Fan Film Network.
Anyone can now put forward submissions to be considered for the site. The films will be launched later this year. To discover more to go www.starwars.atomfilms.com. The web site said: "Star Wars has always inspired creativity in its fans around the world. This project provides a creative outlet for amateur filmmakers and animators to showcase their work on an official site. Participants in the Star Wars Fan Film Network will have access to a library of audio clips from Darth Vader breathing to the lightsaber wave and Rebel blaster fire to incorporate into their own original works." Films on the network will also get royalty payments.
WE'RE a little late with this, but it's worth saying anyway. The wonderful Anthony Daniels (C-3PO) now has his own official web site. It includes details of where he will be (currently it's Japan) and several impressive fan drawings. Anthony gives a typical self-effacing intro when he says: "You'd think that someone who plays the most advanced form of artificial intelligence known to man would be good with computers. I'm not."
Nov 4 TEMUERA Morrison, rumoured to be playing Boba Fett's dad in Episode II, has been talking about the role. Jedinet reported him as saying: "I've been over to Fox to do some costume stuff and I'm standing there with all the gear on and all I can think of is 'Wait till my son sees this'."
Morrison said he has some scenes with Obi Kenobi and "a bit of a space chase through the asteroids".He also laughs that he has the immortal line: "I'm just a simple man trying to make my way in the universe."
THE X-Files is back, and the Daily Radar has a full review of what's in store in the new Duchovny-limited series. Duchovny will be in less than half the episodes, after being adbucted previously and a pregnant Scully now hooks up with former T-1000 Robert Patrick, who is FBI agent John Doggett.
The Radar says: "Scully now has a reputation as a believer, and what Doggett desperately wants is an answer to Mulder's disappearance that has nothing to do with aliens or X-files. Right out of the gate, Scully can't stand the man, but over the course of these two episodes, Doggett will develop a grudging respect for her.
"Duchovny claimed to be bored, and we've been rewarded as a result. The X-Files has been given a shot in the arm. And maybe a probe in the naso-pharynx cavity."
"WE’RE on a train, we have a deadline." So said Episode II producer Rick McCallum in the latest newsletter to fans. He added: "It’s the most extraordinary juggernaut you’ve ever seen in your life. Nothing can stop it. We can’t let anybody rest for a single moment. It seems like a long way away, but every day is critical for us."
Post production - the special effects - has now started, which means there is no-one in Australia now, apart from an accountant. "There’s not even a trace of us there," said McCallum. The site added that in March, the production will return to the studio to shoot any extra material required to complete the film. Despite the use of digital cameras McCallum said the film was so complex it would need all of its three-year time span, and was still on track for a summer 2002 arrival.
WHILE Bantha Tracks is still about the best Star Wars search engine there is, the official site is now helping out too. It offers a search engine to all the fan-made sites it hosts, and can be found here.
Nov 2 STAR Wars producer Rick McCallum has been outlining the progress in making Episode II. In the first major update for a while, McCallum told the official site exactly what was happening. "Where we're at right now is serious post-production mode. George (Lucas) arrives early every morning. He's working with Ben Burtt. Jamie Forester and I are working, along with Matthew Wood and Skywalker Sound, to make plans for the new post-production sound environment that we're going to create for Episode II."
Early next year more studio work is planned for any extra shooting that is needed. McCallum said: "We're also working out the moves with ILM and setting up the schedule of how we're going to proceed. There is an awesome amount of work that we have to do, which we expect to go full bore in January and deal with for at least 15-16 months." One scene, involving Obi-Wan Kenobi, is largely complete and has already been delivered to ILM.
Digital artists are also making wireframe models for various computer-generated characters. "At this point we've gone from the theoretical down to the practical," says McCallum, "We have to actually start making miniatures soon. It's looking really good. Everything's moving."
CARRIE-Anne Moss, who will play Trinity in the forthcoming Matrix 2 and 3, will join the rest of the cast this week to start training for the sequels, Scifi.com said. She revealed: "I'm training now, and we'll start training with everybody in the middle of [this] week, and we'll train for six months, and then we'll shoot," Training will include "kung fu and whatever other action things they need us to learn, and training to get in shape, get some muscles, and get my Trinity body back," she said. However she wasn't in the mood to reveal any of the plot.
Matrix 2 will start shooting in March in Australia and San Francisco, assuming actors' and writers' strikes don't get in the way.
PEACE may well have been the last word in Episode I, but could War be the first in Episode II? It could be if Brian Blessed (Boss Nass) is anything to go by. TFN reports that two sources heard this could be the case, though in what context is not clear.
THE Galactic Republic and its hundreds of politicians are highlighted by the official site today. The site said: "As the Republic grew, so too did graft and corruption. Like the greatest of trees, able to withstand attack from the outside, the Republic began to rot from within. Interest in the common good fell to individual agendas. Senators accumulated wealth and influence by exploiting a bureaucracy too bloated and sluggish to stop them.This all changed when Palpatine declared himself Emperor and instituted a New Order. He did away with the corruption, and by the time of the Galactic Civil War, the senate was disbanded." In the meantime you can take a look at its members here.
BIB Fortuna happens to be one of the best Star Wars characters, and today he's honoured on the official site's classic moments. Michael Carter, the man behind the mask, said: "I don't think Bib Fortuna was particularly evil. I felt he was someone who knew that he could never be number one, but was very attracted to the idea of power. He obeyed Jabba the Hutt and felt a kindred spirit with the great slug."
Archive news: April/May 1999 June/July 1999 August/September 1999 October/November December 2000 January February March April May June July August September October