Categories
Star Wars

I want one!!!

Mr. Potato Head goes to the dark side
PAWTUCKET, R.I. (AP) ó A spud on the dark side. That’s how toy maker Hasbro Inc. is promoting its latest Mr. Potato Head figure, Darth Tater.
The toy spud will be available next month, ahead of the May release of Star Wars: Episode III ó Revenge of the Sith, the latest installment in that film series.
Darth Tater will come with a light saber, cape and helmet, in addition to the regular Mr. Potato Head accessories such as eyes, mouth and nose.
The Pawtucket-based toy maker says children will be able to “have all kinds of mix n’ match, Mr. Potato Head fun with this wacky spud dressed as the infamous Star Wars villain, Darth Vader.”
The toy will retail for $7.99.
Star Wars: Episode III, starring Ewan McGregor, Hayden Christensen and Natalie Portman, will open in theaters nationwide on May 19.

Categories
Star Wars

Save me a spot, dude!!

‘I’m Having The Time Of My Life Out Here’
SEATTLE – Are you ready for Star Wars: Episode Three? Don’t get excited just yet, the new movie doesn’t open until May.
But for one Seattle fan, it’s never too early, or too cold, to start the wait.
Jeff Twieden doesn’t care that it’s freezing outside. He’s camping out in front of the Cinerama Theater in downtown Seattle, waiting for Episode Three to open. It’s only 22 weeks away.
“I’ve got another sleeping bag coming, so that’s sleeping bag number three,” he says. “It’s better to be too hot than too cold.”
In 1999, Twieden made international headlines when he and another fan camped out for months in this same spot to see the first of George Lucas’ prequel trilogy.
“A lot of people say ‘Get a life,’ stuff like that. But I’m having the time of my life out here.”
Twieden thinks prequel episodes one and two were a mixed bag, but he can sum up the potential of Episode Three in one word.
“Vader, baby. Vader.”
In the film, the villainous Darth Vader makes his first onscreen appearance in over 20 years.
“We all want to see Vader kick some ass,” he says.
There’s a potential problem in the long wait. Twieden isn’t even sure Episode Three will play the Cinerama.
“That’s the assumption I’m going on,” he says. “If it isn’t, I’ll be more than happy to move to a different theater. It’s really about the wait.”
Rain or shine, through sleet or snow, the wait will last another 134 days.
“Star Wars is about independence and freedom,” Twieden says. “And that’s really what this wait is about. That complete and utter independence.”

Categories
Star Wars

I am happy to know that I own a copy of it!

Lucas Wants TV ‘Star Wars’ Film Banned
Moviemaker George Lucas wants his first Star Wars sequel banned, as he is so disappointed with its quality. The one-off, two-hour-long The Star Wars Holiday Special was originally screened on the CBS network in 1978 and tells the story of Chewbacca’s journey home with Hans Solo to celebrate Life Day with his family.
During the course of the much-maligned movie, Carrie Fisher’s beautiful Leia is seen reducing Hans Solo and Luke Skywalker to tears with a song.
A contributor on the Star Wars website comments, “The Holiday Special has always been the red-headed step child of the Star Wars family.” While a source at LucasFilm adds, “The Holiday Special was the biggest f***-up ever. The Force was definitely not with Mr. Lucas the day that doozy was born.”

Categories
Star Wars

Ohhhh!!! It is awesome!!!

‘Star Wars: Episode III’ Trailer Debuts
LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) – Darth Vader is coming.
George Lucas disciples will have a chance to view the new trailer for “Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith” on entertainment newsmagazine “Access Hollywood” on Thursday night, Nov. 4.
The preview includes a hooded Anakin Skywalker with eerie glowing red eyes, Chewbacca leading a group of Wookies in an attack and the Emperor wielding a lightsaber.
According to Internet buzz, the trailer also features a battle scene with a prototype of the X-Wing fighter and the lines “A young Jedi named Darth Vader, who was a pupil of mine until he turned to evil, helped the Empire hunt down and destroy the Jedi knights. He betrayed and murdered your father,” spoken by Obi-Wan.
“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. The film sets up the mysterious circumstances in which 1977’s “Episode IV” begins, namely: Anakin’s capitulation to the dark side of The Force and the birth — and subsequent separation — of twins Leia Organa and Luke Skywalker.
“Access Hollywood” will show the “Episode III” trailer in its entirety before it’s released nationwide with “The Incredibles” on Friday, Nov. 5. The final installment of the sci-fi prequel trilogy hits theaters in a galaxy not so far away on May 19, 2005.

Categories
Star Wars

George Lucas Declares ‘Star Wars’ Over After ‘Revenge Of The Sith’

Director says he never intended to make nine-episode series.
Don’t expect any more “Star Wars” flicks after “Revenge of the Sith” ó George Lucas says he’s done.
“This was never planned as a nine-episode work,” Lucas said. “The media [pounced when] I made an offhand comment, ‘It might be fun to come back when everyone’s 80 and do another one of these.’ But I never had any intention of doing that.”
Lucas said he only decided to do the back-story trilogy ó which “Sith,” due next May, will cap ó because he realized he had already written it in order to tell the story in the first “Star Wars” films. “The original ‘Star Wars’ was only three films, and that was what it was meant to be,” he said. “After a lot of pondering and thought, I went back to do the back story, but that pretty much tells the story. Episode six is the end. There isn’t any more to it.”
“Sith” may mark the end on an emotional level, too. “All the good guys die,” he said, laughing. “And you know, it’s pretty dark. It’s pretty intense. I’m not sure this one is going to end up a PG like the others were.”
That apparently doesn’t have so much to do with actual violence ó like previous “Star Wars” films, this one will have lots of battles and space action ó as with what happens to Padme and the children borne from her union with Anakin Skywalker following their escape and separation. “It’s a happy story,” Lucas joked.
Despite the special-effects advances made since “Star Wars” premiered in 1977, Lucas doesn’t feel threatened by films such as the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, nor does he feel the need to up the ante. Because of its legacy and consistent quality, his company Industrial Light and Magic really has no special-effects competition ó not even Peter Jackson’s WETA Digital.
“My company, we sort of pioneered special effects,” Lucas said. “We’re responsible for the rebirth of special effects in the film business. It disappeared back in the late ’50s and early ’60s, so we put together a group of kids, started it all over again, and eventually moved into digital. We’ve been pushing digital techniques and that sort of thing ever since, and we helped populate the special-effects industry as it is today. A lot of supervisors at all the other special-effects companies are from my lab. We even helped set up WETA in New Zealand, and have supported them with advice and that sort of thing.”
Having accomplished so much on a blockbuster scale, Lucas said that after “Revenge of the Sith” and his upcoming fourth “Indiana Jones” installment (which he hopes to start shooting within a year), he’d like to return to indie-style movies like his 1971 debut, “THX 1138,” which returns to theaters Friday (September 10) with a new director’s cut.
“I think I’ve earned the right to fail,” he said.

Categories
Star Wars

I agree with him, the first is still the best!

Actor Bids Fond Farewell to C-3PO
LONDON (Reuters) – Bidding goodbye to the gold robot after almost 30 years, Anthony Daniels shed a nostalgic tear for the mechanical manservant who changed his life.
“Oh yes, it was with moisture. This was very much a fond farewell,” Daniels said of his last scene as C-3PO, the android who became an icon in the “Star Wars” movies.
His last scene in the sixth and final film was hardly the heady stuff of magic for Daniels. Digital effects saw to that.
“I finished filming on the last film last week. For the final shot I walked along a blue corridor with a blue background behind me talking to someone who wasn’t there.” he said.
“Revenge of the Sith” is due out next May and completes a trilogy of pre-quels, which tell the back story of the original movie about a battle between good and evil in a distant galaxy.
Daniels makes no secret about his favorite of the six.
“The first film spoke to everyone on the planet. It still works as a funny, bright movie. It still has legs,” he said of the films by U.S. director George Lucas.
When Lucas returned to the pre-quels, Daniels was not so sure.
“George’s devotion to digital effects over-balanced the films. Too many digital funky characters become a little bit wearing. The storytelling always gets subsumed.”
STRANGE IMMORTALITY
For the 58-year-old Daniels, playing a fastidious robot who sounds like a prissy English butler transformed his career.
“He (C-3PO) gave me that lead into a strange kind of immortality. People are very fond of him. His image has haunted me around the planet,” he said.
There was also an undeniable sense of achievement from the self-deprecating British actor as he reflected on the squirming discomfort of clunking around the Tunisian desert in searing heat to make film history.
“He has been a best friend for me. He is going to live forever in the ether,” he told Reuters in an interview.
Critics may have admired his on-screen chemistry with fellow robot R2-D2 but Daniels said: “I was talking to myself all the time. It was a very lonely experience. I was locked inside a box and had a friend who didn’t speak to me.”
The English stage actor was initially reluctant to audition for the part and even risked “losing his voice” to Hollywood star Richard Dreyfuss as Lucas contemplated dubbing him over.
“Now I have the honor of being the only person to have appeared in all of the movies and I have become the principal spokesman for them,” he said.
For there is plenty of life left in the “Star Wars” phenomenon with the worldwide DVD launch of the first three movies on Sept. 21.
Just listening to Daniels’ schedule is exhausting.
There is the Paris “Star Wars” convention, the “Star Wars” exhibition in Osaka, being inducted into the Robot Hall of Fame in Pittsburgh, joining forces with storm troopers in London to launch the DVD.
Then comes all the razzmatazz of the final pre-quel.
But nothing will erase his treasured memory of the first time he saw a sketch of the android he was to play.
“When I saw the painting by the design artist, the eyes of the character looked deep into my soul. He was a very forlorn figure with an abandoned air. He really did look into my soul. We made this tremendous contact.”

Categories
Star Wars

Will you buy it?

Fans feel the Force
In the most anticipated DVD box set of all time, Greedo fires first.
And as fans and retailers alike can tell you, there are no insignificant details when it comes to George Lucas’ beloved Star Wars trilogy, which finally arrives on DVD in a four-disc collection on Sept. 21.
Greedo, as you may recall, was Jabba The Hutt’s bug-eyed henchman — the one who Han Solo (Harrison Ford) fries in that alien bar on Tattooine.
In the original 1977 film, Solo fired first.
By the time Lucas revisited the trilogy for its 1997 theatrical re-release, the director had decided Solo shouldn’t be that cold-blooded and gave the scene a digital facelift with Greedo firing first and Solo reacting in self-defense. It was just one change Lucas made to the trilogy — much to the dismay of purists — but, as the DVD editions screened by the Sun reveals, it was far from the last.
Most notably, the legendary director has added Canadian Hayden Christensen to the final moments of 1983’s Return of the Jedi.
Christensen — who plays (future Darth Vader) Anakin Skywalker in Episodes 2 and 3 — turns up as Skywalker’s ghostly spectre, alongside Alec Guinness’ Obi-Wan Kenobi and Jedi master Yoda.
In the original film, it was Sebastian Shaw who appears as Vader’s redeemed alter-ego. (Lucas didn’t go so far, thankfully, to erase all traces of Shaw — the actor’s death scene as the man behind Vader’s mask remains unscathed.)
In the feature-length audio commentary, Lucas vaguely addresses the issue, explaining Anakin learned — as did Obi-Wan and Yoda — to retain his “original identity” — before he was resurrected as the black-masked master of evil (a sequence that will likely cap off next year’s Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith.)
Other additions Lucas has made to the trilogy? Replacing the fleeting image of the Emperor seen in The Empire Strikes Back with Ian McDiarmid (who portrayed the dark overseer in Jedi as well as in the prequels), and adding the planet Naboo — from The Phantom Menace — to Jedi’s finale.
Naturally, the tinkering has fans appalled all over again. On the website Aint-It-Cool-News, head geek Harry Knowles recently griped about the revisions, complaining Lucas has “polished his diamond into dust” by mucking with it so many times.
Perhaps — but the director isn’t listening.
Lucasfilm spokespeople continue to adhere to the official line — that the director is merely using the digital tools he didn’t have in the ’70s to make the trilogy more like what he originally envisioned. For his part, Lucas, in his commentary, praises technological advances, referring to the era of rubber aliens and plastic models as “the old days.”
In other words, don’t expect the original theatrical films on DVD anytime soon — purists will have to make do with the 1995 video cassette editions if they want to see the trilogy un-doctored. One thing both Lucas and his detractors are likely to agree on is the trilogy has never looked as good as it does on DVD.
Lucas’ technicians painstakingly cleaned up the original negatives frame by frame, removing the usual dirt, scratches and scrapes that come with time, along with any still-visible seams in the special effects.
In addition to Lucas’ audio commentary, the movies — collected in three discs — include commentaries by sound designer Ben Burtt, effects wizard Dennis Muran and Princess Leia herself, Carrie Fisher.
(Reflecting on the “iron bikini” she wore in Return of the Jedi, Fisher wisecracks she thought it was just Lucas’ way of getting her to exercise.)
The fourth disc offers all the extras fans might expect — more than four hours of footage and featurettes, the centrepiece of which is Empire of Dreams, a 21/2-hour documentary that tracks the saga’s origins (Lucas wanted to pay homage to the 1930s adventure serials he had grown up with as a kid) to its iconic status as modern-day mythology. Unfortunately Empire of Dreams also spirals into abject corporate infommercial by the end.
Of course, that a nearly-30-year-old trio of films can still generate this much attention — and devotion — goes to show how much a cultural and financial Force this space opera remains. No wonder the release of the films on DVD (with a pricetag of around $60) is considered a seismic event, expected to take its place among the top-selling DVDs of all time. (It has been No. 1 on Amazon.com’s best-seller lists in the U.S., Canada, Germany and the U.K. for months.) So with the trilogy on DVD at last and production on Episode 3 set for release in less than a year, is this really it for the saga set in a galaxy far, far away?
Don’t count on it — the Internet, that bastion of wannabe Jedis and bounty hunters, has been rife with rumours for months that the filmmaker and multimedia mogul intends to again revisit the six movies sometime in the future with an “Ultimate Special This-Is-Really-It Edition” — would you expect any less from the man who released the original films twice on VHS in almost as many years in the mid-1990s?
As well, reports (or perhaps the wishful thinking of a few fans) have been circulating that Lucas is mulling shooting three sequels to the original trilogy — Episodes 7, 8 and 9.
(This would be in keeping with his original vision of nine films, the last three of which would feature an elderly Luke Skywalker mentoring an apprentice. Even 20 years ago, Mark Hamill was telling interviewers that Lucas had approached him with this concept.)
Naturally, Lucasfilm representatives have shot down any talk of Star Wars sequels — and you have to wonder, considering how Lucas refers to the films as a “day-to-day struggle,” if he’d ever want to make more.
Then again, as with all things Star Wars, only Lucas — and Yoda — know for sure.
EXTRA-ORDINARY BONUSES
For many fans, a DVD set isn’t about the movies, but the extras. The Star Wars Trilogy boasts more than four hours of bonus features — enough to satiate even the most fervent of followers:
* Among the numerous trailers and TV spots on the DVD is the Revenge of the Jedi preview that debuted in 1982. (Lucas later decided revenge was something the noble Jedi Knights would never seek and retitled the final chapter Return of the Jedi.)
* Episode III Behind the Scenes Preview: The Return of Darth Vader reveals behind-the-scenes footage of the lightsabre battle between Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi. No, not the one in A New Hope in which Obi-Wan dies — but the one that is the cornerstone of next May’s Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. Actors Hayden Christensen and Ewan McGregor are shown trading lightsabre blows and choreographing the showdown fans have waited more than 20 years to see. Also included: the creation of Vader’s new helmet and the moment in which Christensen dons the famed black garb — especially tailored for the Canadian actor — for Episode III’s climactic moments.
* Kurt Russell as Han Solo? William Katt (The Greatest American Hero) as Luke Skywalker? Laverne & Shirley’s Cindy Williams as Princess Leia? As unlikely as this sounds, it could have happened. Screentests included in the documentary The Characters of Star Wars have the actors reading for the roles that would ultimately go to Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher. Before he was even casting actors, though, Lucas was trying to figure out who his characters were. In early scripts, he had a hero named Luke Starkiller (who was also an old general) and a giant green alien named Han Solo.
* Other features include a documentary devoted to the creation of the lightsabre and love-in with Peter Jackson (Lord of the Rings), James Cameron (Titanic) and Ridley Scott (Alien), who explain how Star Wars shaped their careers.
A long time ago in a Hollywood far away …
* George Lucas based Chewbacca on his dog Indiana, a malamute that was also the inspiration for Indiana Jones.
* Lucas wrote an original treatment called The Star Wars in 1973.
* The opening crawl for Star Wars says it’s Episode IV: A New Hope. But that was not in the original 1977 prints. It was added for the film’s theatrical re-release in 1981.
* Every studio in Hollywood turned Lucas down. Fox boss Alan Ladd Jr. finally agreed to make the movie only because he liked Lucas’ American Graffiti. During clashes with Fox, Ladd would lose his job. As a result, Lucas took his next project Raiders of the Lost Ark to Paramount.
* When Darth Vader tells Luke that he is his father, actor Mark Hamill didn’t know about the plot twist until just before the scene was shot.
* Industrial Light and Magic completed more than 900 F/X shots for Return of the Jedi, nearly three times the number created for the original film.
* Lucas made his fortune because he convinced Fox to agree to give him the merchandising and sequel rights for a nominal fee.

Categories
Star Wars

Hayden Christensen is digitally inserted into the celebratory final scene of “Return of the Jedi.” Nooooooooooo!!!!

SECRETS OF ‘STAR WARS’ SPILLED IN 2-HOUR SHOW
‘STAR Wars” creator George Lucas says he almost landed Steven Spielberg to direct “Return of the Jedi.”
That’s one of a number of revelations in a new two-hour A&E special, “Star Wars: Empire of Dreams,” set to air Sunday night at 8 ó part of the big run up to the DVD release of one of the most popular trilogies of all time.
The A&E special is, in fact, an edited version of the 156 minute documentary on the “Star Wars Trilogy,” due out September 21.
Why didn’t the marriage of Spielberg and “Star Wars” ever happen? Seems Lucas’ famous fights with the Directors Guild and other Hollywood establishments killed it.
Lucas and countless others ó including Carrie Fisher, Harrison Ford and Mark Hamill ó are included in the program about the travails of making “Star Wars” and its classic sequels, “The Empire Strikes Back” and “The Return of the Jedi.”
Among the highlights of the show and the DVD:
* Hayden Christensen is digitally inserted into the celebratory final scene of “Return of the Jedi,” alongside a ghost-like Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda.
* Numerous tweaks beyond the “special editions” released in 1997 have been made to clean up the effects, including the first appearance of Jabba the Hutt.
* Fans speculated Lucas was jealous of “The Lord of the Rings” and so rushed his trilogy out on DVD early. But Peter Jackson appears in the extras, praising the films, talking about how they inspired him and comparing Lucas’s creation to that of J.R.R. Tolkien.
The TV special is the latest step in a campaign that is sure to turn the “Star Wars Trilogy” boxed set into one of the best-selling DVDs of all time.
Still, fans have flooded websites with their growing despair that Lucas refuses to release the original version of the three films, rather than the doctored ’97 special editions that he has made even further changes to for the DVD.

Categories
Star Wars

Here is some ‘Star Wars’ Stories

‘Wars’ Stories
Here are five things we know about ”Star Wars: Episode III.”
IN GENERAL The new bad guy, Grievous, is capable of attacking with as many as four lightsabers at once
It took George Lucas 21 years, but he’s finally using the word ”revenge” in a movie title. ”Revenge of the Jedi” was only an early dummy title for 1983’s ”Return of the Jedi,” but ”Star Wars: Episode III,” due May 19, 2005, is really and truly named ”Revenge of the Sith.” (Look for the T-shirt on a geek near you, okay look for one on me as I have one.)
Even as Lucas and untold hundreds of digital animators continue to tweak ”Episode III,” a surprising number of details have slipped out, thanks largely to Lucasfilm disclosures on Starwars.com, and less official leaks on fansites such as theforce.net. So hold onto your Jar Jar Binks action figure as we recap what’s known so far (other than the fact that someone will definitely call PadmÈ ”m’lady”):
— Chewbacca’s back-a!
Peter Mayhew, who played Han Solo’s fuzzy pal in the original trilogy, will be sweating it out in the hairier-than-Robin-Williams costume again in ”Episode III.” He’ll have company — at least one sequence will be set on Chewie’s home planet, Kashyyyk. But don’t fear a reprise of the infamously dreadful ”Star Wars Holiday Special,” which showed scenes of domestic life on Kashyyyk (including, believe it or not, a sexy Wookiee TV show). ”Revenge of the Sith” will instead depict Wookiees at war, complete with hirsute soldiers commanding battleships. It’s far from clear, though, how we’ll recognize Chewbacca among thousands of his brethren, especially since Chewie’s name roughly translates to ”raaaargh” in Wookiee-speak.
— Space Battle
After the traditional opening scroll, ”Episode III” will plunge directly into a lasers-a-flyin’ spaceship battle, the kind that’s been largely missing from the prequels. The conflict ñ between Republic forces (the good guys) and the Separatists (as led by Count Dooku, remember?) — will apparently mark the end of the storied Clone Wars, which largely took place between ”Episode II” and ”Episode III” (and in an ongoing Cartoon Network miniseries). It will go on for 20 minutes, which, the Force willing, means a long stretch where we get to listen to stuff blowing up instead of Lucas-penned dialogue (”I don’t like sand.”).
— The New Bad Guy
Meet General Grievous: half-alien and half-robot who looks like the offspring of Skeletor and one of Will Smith’s ”I, Robot” nemeses, is the Donald Rumsfeld of the Separatist forces. The aptly named, many-limbed Grievous is capable of attacking with as many as four lightsabers at once, all taken off the corpses of fallen Jedi. And unlike the near-mute Darth Maul, the all-CGI Grevious will actually talk. (Lucasfilm wouldn’t comment on reports that Gary Oldman is in negotiations to do the honors.)
— Jedi vs. Jedi
Like the other five ”Star Wars” movies, ”Revenge of the Sith” will include a lightsaber fight. But this time, it’s Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) throwing down against his former mentor, Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) — and it’ll get messy. Stunt coordinator Nick Gillard claimed on Starwars.com that at 12 minutes, the sequence will be ”the longest fight scene in cinematic history.” And we already know the ending: Anakin loses. According to ”Star Wars” lore that the new film may or may not follow, the young Jedi-gone-wild will fall into a volcano, which leads toÖ
— Vader
Volcano or not, Anakin comes out of his duel with Obi-Wan gravely injured: mutilated, if not actually dead. Saving him will require a fitting for a familiar black suit, mask, and breathing apparatus, which means his journey to the dark side will be complete. It also means James Earl Jones will finally get some voiceover work.
Now, let the hype continue and may the Force be with us all!

Categories
Star Wars

And we have a title – and much, much more!!!

Episode III Finally Has A Title
starwars.com is pleased to announce that Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith is the full title of the next Star Wars film, scheduled for release on May 19, 2005.
The Sith are masters of the dark side of the Force and the sworn enemies of the Jedi. They were all but exterminated by the Jedi a thousand years ago, but the evil order continued in secrecy. They operated quietly, behind the scenes, acting in pairs – a Master and an Apprentice – patiently biding their time before they could take over the galaxy. In Episode III, they’ll finally exact their revenge on the Jedi.
The title was publicly revealed Saturday in a special presentation to a packed audience of Star Wars fans at Comic-Con International in San Diego, California. “For some time now, the naming of a new Star Wars movie has taken on some special meaning among core fans, who love to take part in guessing games before a title is announced, and then engage in debate once it is,” said Steve Sansweet, Director of Content Management and Head of Fan Relations for Lucasfilm. “Let the debates begin.”
The title wasn’t the only surprise for those in attendance at the presentation.
While the Star Wars Trilogy is the biggest news for Force-fan videophiles, Sansweet announced the fall debut of Ewoks and Droids adventures on DVD. 20th Century Fox Home Video will release these animated adventures as well as the pair of made-for-television Ewok live action movies (The Ewok Adventure and Ewoks: The Battle for Endor) this November and December.
September 21, of course, is the release date for the Star Wars Trilogy on DVD.
The presentation included clips of some of the bonus material found in the boxed set, as well as a first look at the animated menus that organize the wealth of information and options within. Jim Ward, Vice President of Marketing for Lucasfilm and Executive Producer of the DVDs spoke about the upcoming release, and announced that the epic feature-length documentary, Empire of Dreams: The Story of the Star Wars Trilogy, would appear as a special edited-for-television edition on the A&E network this fall.
In other DVD news, Sansweet confirmed a projected release date for the much-asked-about Star Wars: Clone Wars DVDs. The incredibly successful 20 chapters of the Cartoon Network animated shorts will be making their home video debut next spring, around the same time as the airdate for the final batch of Clone Wars shorts from Genndy Tartakovsky and Paul Rudish.
But before that, an essential George Lucas film will make its DVD debut. Sansweet took the opportunity to screen the theatrical trailer to THX 1138: The George Lucas Director’s Cut , as well as premiere an all-new trailer to the Comic-Con audience. This video will soon make its way to the official THX 1138 website, which will soon be posting a theater list for the select cities that will be exhibiting the film prior to its DVD release.
On the Episode III front, the biggest news was the confirmation of the Episode III title, and the availability of a shirt with said title at StarWarsShop.com.
Sansweet also welcomed two very special Revenge of the Sith guests: Producer Rick McCallum, and the Chosen One himself, Hayden Christensen.
Fans in attendance also got a first look at Hasbro’s forthcoming packaging design for Episode III product. The stylized visage of Darth Vader looms large over a chaotic field of molten lava.
Star Wars Spectacular debuted an advance look at two pieces of Episode III-related video that will be found as bonus material in the Star Wars Trilogy DVD set. “Episode III: Making the Game” went behind-the-scenes on LucasArts’ forthcoming tie-in video game. An edited version of “The Return of Darth Vader” revealed the gleaming Darth Vader armor from Episode III and showed Christensen donning the armor for the Dark Lord’s debut.
FOR THE RECORD, HERE’S WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT EPISODE III SO FAR
After three long years of relentless fighting, the Clone Wars are nearly at an end. The Jedi Council dispatches Obi-Wan Kenobi to bring General Grievous, the deadly leader of the Separatist droid army, to justice. Meanwhile, back on Coruscant, Chancellor Palpatine has grown in power. His sweeping political changes transform the war-weary Republic into the mighty Galactic Empire. To his closest ally, Anakin Skywalker, he reveals the true nature of power and the promised secrets of the Force in an attempt to lure him to the dark side.