Category: Star Wars

Kevin Smith Reviews ‘Revenge of the Sith’
Director Kevin Smith (Clerks, Chasing Amy) has written one of the first reviews of George Lucas’s Star Wars: Episode 3 — Revenge of the Sith. Posted on his website, www.viewaskew.com, the review contains numerous spoilers — and numerous adjectives that are not likely to be included in any ads for the movie. Smith calls it “quite simply, f***ing awesome.” He remarks that it “is so satisfyingly tragic, you’ll think you’re watching Othello or Hamlet.” He says that Lucas was correct in setting a dark tone for the film and suggests that there are several scenes that will disturb children. However, he notes, “This is the birth of Darth Vader we’re talking about. The only comic moments in the flick are given to R2D2, and while good, they’re all pretty few and far between; the order of the day is dark, dark, dark.”

George Lucas to Appear on ‘The O.C.’
NEW YORK – The force is with “The O.C.” George Lucas will guest star as himself on the May 12 episode, the Fox network announced Tuesday. The “Star Wars” creator will express interest in the graphic novel of the main character, Seth Cohen (Adam Brody).
Brody’s character, an avid “Star Wars” fan, frequently has the good fortune of meeting his heroes. His favorite band, Death Cab for Cutie, recently played on the show.
Earlier this season, the trailer for “Star Wars: Episode III √≥ Revenge of the Sith” premiered during the program. The final installment of the “Star Wars” saga will open in theaters on May 19.
Fox recently announced that “The O.C.” will return for a third season. It airs Thursdays (8 p.m. EST).

Lucas: ‘Star Wars’ to Live on TV
LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) The “Star Wars” movie saga is drawing to a close next month, but George Lucas says the universe he created may continue to expand on television.
Speaking at the biggest “Star Wars” convention ever held over the weekend, Lucas said he’s approved the creation of two TV series to continue the franchise in the future.
“We’re doing a pilot television series now called ‘Clone Wars,'” Lucas told the audience at Celebration III, a huge “Star Wars” convention in Indianapolis. “Well, we’re going to take that and turn it into a 3-D animated version full series.”
The animated series will presumably pick up and expand the story of Cartoon Network’s 2-D “Clone Wars” shorts, executive produced by Lucas and directed by “Samurai Jack” creator Genndy Tartakovsky.
The second project, Lucas says, will be a live-action series in the vein of “The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles,” which had a one-season run on ABC in the early 1990s. According to StarWars.com, Lucas says the show would take place in the time between the events of the forthcoming “Episode III” and the first “Star Wars” film, which follows “III” in the story’s chronology.
“There’s none of the main characters from I, II, and III …,” Lucas says, before pausing to correct himself. “Well, actually, that’s not exactly true now that I think about it. We haven’t really started the TV show, so it’s hard to answer. There’s a lot of issues that are connected, but you won’t necessarily see a lot of the people that are connected.”
Lucas expects work on the live-action series to begin in about a year. He says he’ll be involved with getting the show off the ground before ceding day-to-day control to a showrunner.
“Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith” opens in theaters on Thursday, May 19.

Yoda Coda: ‘Star Wars’ Theme To Hit Charts
LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com)- Apparently somebody at SonyBMG thinks that John Williams’ theme for the new “Star Wars” movie has a good beat and you can dance to it. “Battle of the Heroes” will hit record stores through much of the world on Tuesday, May 23, selling as a single.
The theme refers to the lightsaber battle between Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) and Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) that makes up one of the climaxes in the elaborately named “Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith,” which will hit theaters on May 19. Because the “Sith” soundtrack will be in US record stores on May 3, it’s unclear if “Heroes” will drop as a single in domestic record stores.
As was the case with the original “Star Wars” theme 28 years ago, “Battle of the Heroes” features John Williams conducting the London Symphony orchestra. The single will be released a limited edition numbered CD format.
No word on whether the possible success of “Heroes” might lead to a single release for Bill Murray’s classic 1977 “Saturday Night Live” rendition of Williams’ “Star Wars” theme, which featured the immortal lyrics “Awww Star Wars/ Nothing but Star Wars/ Give me those Star Wars/ Don’t let them end.”

‘Star Wars’ Fans Line Up at Wrong Theater
LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) – One group of loyal “Star Wars” fans are hoping The Force is on their side.
Followers of George Lucas’ sci-fi saga began lining up outside Hollywood’s Grauman’s Chinese Theater on Saturday, April 2, despite the fact that “Episode III — Revenge of the Sith” won’t be showing there, reports the AP.
Instead, 20th Century Fox has booked the ArcLight theater, which is about a mile east of Grauman’s for the historic showing of the final installment of the beloved series.
The fans haven’t made a mistake, though. They insist that “Episode III” should screen at the Chinese since the first film, 1977’s “A New Hope,” made its premiere there. In addition, rumors in 1999 and 2002 that previous “Star Wars” films weren’t showing at the historic Hollywood landmark were unfounded.
“We’ve heard all this before,” says fan Sarah Sprague. “This is still the epicenter for ‘Star Wars’ fans. For the big iconic pictures of the 1970s, people lining up were here.”
Moreover, fans feel that the ArcLight’s practice of allowing moviegoers to purchase tickets and reserve specific seats online negates the true dedication of lining up. Although Fox and ArcLight haven’t finalized their deal, the studio insists they won’t be screening the film at the Chinese.
In January, Seattle resident Jeff Twieden became the first person in the country to begin the final “Star Wars” vigil on the sidewalk outside his local theater in preparation for the Thursday, May 19th worldwide release.
The highly anticipated “Episode III” is set two years into the Clone Wars, when Chancellor Palpatine, with the help of his clone army and Sith Warriors, prepares to rid the galaxy of the Jedis in order to declare himself Emperor of the Galactic Empire. Anakin Skywalker will also make his final descent into evil, becoming the heavy-breathing, helmeted Darth Vader.

Revenge of the Spoilers?
Warning: This story does NOT contain spoilers about the new Star Wars movie. Just common Jedi sense.
“All fans should know how it ends,” says Philip Wise of TheForce.Net. “Anakin turns into Darth Vader.”
But all fans don’t know how once innocent Jedi knight Anakin Skywalker turns into the black-helmeted overlord of the Empire (and the three original Star Wars movies). Although, with spoilers abounding on everything from the Internet to tie-in merchandise, they could get a pretty good idea.
“There is always someone who thinks they know something and has to share it with the world,” says Chris Mikkelsen, cofounder of California’s South Bay Star Wars Fan Club.
On Thursday, George Lucas did some sharing himself, unveiling the first full-length trailer for Star Wars: Episode III–Revenge of the Sith during Fox’s The O.C.. As of Thursday night, it was also available on America Online. And then on Friday, it was set to debut in theaters, attached to prints of Robots.
Lucas continues the tease on Sunday. In an interview to air on CBS’ 60 Minutes, the Star Wars guru says that Revenge of the Sith, opening May 19, is so “dark” in chronicling Skywalker’s descent into the pits of hell–literally, there’s “lava at the end” and everything–that it’ll likely draw the kid-friendly sci-fi franchise’s first PG-13 rating.
But Lucas only teases, he does not spoil. He does not do what one Website did last month: Lay out the movie, from beginning to end, in pictures apparently scanned from a children’s tie-in book. (At last check, the site, which also had what appeared to be actual footage of a light-saber battle, was down.)
Wise, who runs the leading unofficial Star Wars fan site (one that doesn’t trade too heavily in spoilers), says the amount of “visual information” out there on the new film is unprecedented.
“It’s one thing to read about it, but to see a picture of [spoiler deleted], that’s different,” Wise says. “Even many people who are spoiler-friendly probably wish they hadn’t seen it.”
Mikkelsen knows from experience about knowing too much too soon.
The fan club organizer says he read way too many spoilers in advance of seeing The Phantom Menace in 1999. For 2002’s Attack of the Clones, he tried to stick to officially disseminated Lucasfilm product.
“I would love to have the conviction to go into EIII blind, and just experience it for the first time, but I know that I can’t do that,” Mikkelsen says.
Though TheForce.Net pulled back from spoilers once it began working more closely with Lucasfilm, Wise says he knows many of his users still want them. Badly.
“There are people who make great sport of this, who want to know every single details, periods and exclamation points, about the movie,” Wise says.
Lucasfilm did not want to comment on Revenge of the Sith spoilers. Well, except for the well-known one.
Owing to the new film’s chronological pecking order–its story must end, more or less, where the first Star Wars movie begins–there is a big given.
“The whole premise of the movie is that this is the movie that finally answers all the questions as to why Anakin Skywalker became Darth Vader,” says Lucasfilm spokeswoman Lynn Fox.
The devil–and the suspense–is in the details. Assuming you can resist temptation.

Lucas Says New ‘Star Wars’ May Rate PG-13
NEW YORK – George Lucas says the newest ó and final installment ó of his “Star Wars” films may get a PG-13 rating.
“I don’t think I would take a 5- or a 6-year-old to this. It’s way too strong,” Lucas says of “Star Wars Episode III ó Revenge of the Sith” on CBS’ “60 Minutes,” to air Sunday (7 p.m. EST). “My feeling is that it will probably be a PG-13, so it will be the first `Star Wars’ that’s a PG-13.”
“Revenge of the Sith,” the third prequel to the “Star Wars” trilogy, will open May 19. The movie features Anakin Skywalker’s transformation to Darth Vader, a descent based on Lucas’ vision of hell, a mythical planet composed entirely of erupting volcanos.
“We’re going to watch him make a pact with the devil,” says the director. “The film is more dark … more emotional. It’s much more of a tragedy.”
Despite critical pans of Episodes I and II, Lucas says in the interview: “Actually, I am very happy. I’m very pleased with the whole thing.”

New Star Wars trailer to premiere March 10 during The O.C.; film opens May 19
NEW YORK (AP) – Darth Vader is coming to The O.C.
The trailer for Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith will premiere during the March 10 episode of the Fox show. The final instalment of the Star Wars saga will open in theatres on May 19. The new trailer will be released in movie theatres beginning March 11.
Revenge of the Sith is the third prequel to the original Star Wars trilogy. It continues the chronicle of young Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen), who eventually turns to the dark side and becomes Darth Vader.
As an avid superhero fan, Seth Cohen, the main character of The O.C. played by Adam Brody, would likely relish the event.
The O.C. airs Thursdays (8 p.m. EST).

‘Star Wars’ Bosses Warn Websites Again
Movie bosses financing forthcoming prequel Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge Of The Sith are threatening to take legal action against internet sites that leak pictures and plot details. Currently, various websites are displaying photographs of a pregnant Padme Amidala, played by Natalie Portman, and a new android villain named General Grievous. Other shots online include an aggressive light-saber duel between Anakin Skywalker and his former mentor Obi-wan Kenobi – which leaves Skywalker horribly scarred and propels him to don the black suit of Darth Vader. Producers of the film had issued a warning to various internet sites last year, and have now renewed their threat of legal action. Revenge Of The Sith is due to hit American cinemas on May 19.

Lucas To “Cameo” in New ‘Star Wars’ Movie
Star Wars director George Lucas will make a cameo appearance in the upcoming final film in the sci-fi series. Lucas is set to follow in the footsteps of Lord Of The Rings film-maker Peter Jackson by briefly appearing before cameras in Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge Of The Sith, playing Baron Papanoida in an opera house scene. Jackson has immortalized himself on screen in all three Lord Of The Rings films, playing hobbit Albert Dreary, an uncredited Rohirrim Warrior and an unnamed Mercenary On Boat in The Fellowship Of The Ring, The Two Towers and Return Of The King, respectively.