Oct 8 LOOKS like trouble has broken out between Star Wars and Lord of the Rings fans. Over at MTV there's a poll debating which film you're most hyped about seeing. Discarding Harry Potter and Spiderman, the main scrap is between Attack of the Clones and Lord of the Rings. Following a concerted effort by TFN, Star Wars is in the lead at the time of writing.
And seeing as how you can vote more than once, we'd also encourage you to nip over here to stick your cross next to Episode II, unless you're a LOTR fan of course, in which case all of the above is obviously just a wind-up :)
Oct 7 MORE Ewan news. Check out BBC1 tonight at 9.30pm for a special feature starring the Scottish actor.
Ewan is in Money Can't Buy, a survival show based on a search for the remains of a lost civilisation known as the Prehistoric People of the Mosquito Coast in Honduras.
There is some help at hand though via survival expert Ray Mears, and Dr Chris Begley. But even with their assistance Ewan still has to have his wits about him and ends up cold and tired.
GEORGE Lucas and Rick McCallum are heading for London this week to do more work on Attack of the Clones. The official site said the pair would be in the city for a week of looping, a process where actors record dialogue in a studio, and then a week of pick-up shooting of new material.
The site added: "Composer John Williams visited Skywalker Ranch this week to kick off his work of scoring the music for Attack of the Clones. Williams watched the current rough cut of the film on Monday, then met with George Lucas and Editor Ben Burtt on Tuesday to step through the film scene-by-scene and share ideas about specific musical objectives.
"According to Lucas, the visual effects for Episode II are moving along well. Over 800 shots are now complete, with an additional 200 shots very near completion. These shots represent nearly half of the total required for the film, ahead of schedule when compared to Episode I."
THE Star Wars soundtrack has come 26th in a top 100 list compiled by Entertainment Weekly. Despite being about the most recognisable signature to a movie, it failed to even make the top 20, beaten by the unlikely likes of The Sound of Music, A Space Odyssey, and a little ironically, American Graffiti.
Oct 1 EWAN McGregor has entered the UK singles' chart at number 27. Ewan recorded a duet, called Come What May, with his fellow Moulin Rouge star Nicole Kidman.
HEAD over to the official Star Wars site for an in-depth interview with The Phantom Menace DVD producer Van Ling. There's photos of the menus for the forthcoming DVD, out on October 16, as well as heaps of detail on what to expect.
Ling said: "There's a combination of really cool visuals and humor. A lot of different elements make up the mythology of the Star Wars universe. Invoking imagery from the movie helps the viewer get in the mood for watching it by reliving the excitement and some of the anticipation."
Sept 24 IN a film poll by Empire magazine, Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back have been voted the two greatest ever films of all time. In third spot was the epic prison drama The Shawshank Redemption.
Other Star Wars films didn't do so well. Return of the Jedi came in at 40th, while The Phantom Menace failed to get into the top 100 list at all.
MANY of you will have seen the voice of Darth Vader, James Earl Jones, talking at the American tribute at the Yankee stadium, New York, on Sunday night.
Jones said: "We are united not only in our grief, but also in our resolve to build a better world.Our spirit is unbroken - in fact, it is stronger than ever."
Sept 16 AFTER Lord knows how long of waiting, George Lucas has been talking about the imminent release of The Phantom Menace DVD. Out on October 16, the DVD features deleted scenes, a no-holds-barred Making Of... and much more.
E-online investigated, and revealed the disc: "Not only contains outtakes and seven deleted scenes Lucas revisited in recent months with 300 additional effects from ILM, it's home to "The Beginning," an unusually revealing making-of documentary directed by Jon Shenk that Lucas bravely screened for people he hardly knows."
After 600 hours of footage with unprecedented access, the film shows Ewan McGregor's first disastrous haircut to approximate the look of Obi-Wan, Liam Neeson's lightsaber practice (Ewan's better), and there's a trip to Tunisia after an overnight storm flattened sets and ruined props.
In addition Lucas discusses his film's box-office potential against Titanic's record and he shows his cheap side when he talks money with his ILM crew.
It was like making another movie," says Lucas producer Rick McCallum. "We didn't want to take the typical route where somebody throws a video master out and lays it out on the DVD, you have 15 minutes of 'How great it was to work with George' and 'Isn't Rick nice?' We wanted to make it special."
So, if you're willing to plunk down $30 for the DVD, what can you expect?
A new, topless, Darth Maul model is to be released. The official site said after the Maul comic series featured the tattooed one stripped to the waist, concept artist Iain McCaig took up the challenge of designing upper body tattoos.
The site adds: "Later this year, those tattoos will appear in plastic form for the first time with Hasbro's bare-chested Darth Mail deluxe 3 3/4" action figure. The figure has extra articulation in its arms and comes with Maul's iconic double-bladed saber and a training droid with which to spar and maim."
THERE'S a fascinating documentary on the history of ILM, the special effects' wizards, over at the Star Wars site.The documentary "looks at ILM's role on set, and what happens before the digital creations are built in the computer, or the miniatures are constructed."
Sept 9 AS one convention closes, so another one opens. The 8th Cult TV Festival takes place at the famous Adelphi Hotel in Liverpool from October 26-29.
Among the guests are Michael Hurst, Lolaus in Hercules, Jennifer Blank, Kendra in Dark Angel, and Matt Zimmerman, Alan Tracy in Thunderbirds and Stephen Lewis, Blakey from On the Buses.
The four-day show includes TV production workshops, theme parties, trade stands, games and talks. For more details call 01733 205009 or e-mail them here.
Sept 8 THE Clacton Sci-fi Convention is making headlines itself today. With just a day left before the big show on Saturday, the convention has been mentioned in the Clacton Gazette, Evening Gazette, BBC Essex, Dream 100 FM, Vibe FM and the East Anglian Daily Times. For full details on what's going on tomorrow go here.
Sept 7 MAYBE a certain Mr Lucas had a word in his ear, but Ewan McGregor seems to be warming to the Attack of the Clones title for Star Wars 2.
After initially rubbishing the name, McGregor told Radio 1 today: "It reminds me of a 'Flash Gordon' episode. 'Flash Gordon' is an episodic science fiction drama, and so is 'Star Wars' on a much bigger scale. So maybe it's absolutely right."
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