The Prophecy And in time of greatest despair, there shall come a savior, and he shall be known as : THE SON OF THE SUN. And he shall bring Balance to the Force. "Journal of the Whills, 3:12"
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August 2010
The Luke-Kayos end duel as a Flash animation ! 27th August 2010
As promised in the previous month's editorial, I've been able to 'stitch' together the recent Luke-Kayos end duel artwork into one sequence, animated in Flash. Below is the embedded composite of this sequence - as it says in Aurebesh, 'Press to Play' ;o) - whilst I've separated the sequences for their respective scenes within the online version of Episode VII : Plague of Doom.
'Stitching' it together like this certainly makes it more cinematic, and makes our meagre project more worthy to be considered as part of the Star Wars galaxy (if not canon !).
Also, as promised, I had been working on several views of Darth Kayos' Sith starfighter. Taking my cue from the Sith Infiltrator in The Phantom Menace, I realised that although that ship had a beautifully menacing and intruiging design (and was only momentarily on-screen !), its time-frame was a good 30 years past ! Although production-wise we know that Vader's TIEx1 ship was a unique design to make the villain stand out from the rest of his wing, it would be nice to think that, in-lore, logically Vader's starfighter was simply the latest version of Sith ships, the advantages of this new ion-engine design running parallel with the Imperial Navy in the form of its mass-produced TIE fighters, ranging from the standard escort-patroller to the interceptor. I unveil below Darth Kayos'TIE Invader Sith starfighter....
In turn, where Lord Vader had a vast navy at his disposal, his own ship could be made smaller and sleeker, and be essentially a hyperdrive-capable engine housing with front canons attached below the one-man cockpit. If the Emperor, Lord Sidious, required his servant to be anywhere, or felt that his servant needed additional resources, Darth Vader and his navy could be quickly assigned. But for the purposes of our Sith Lords of the Virtual Edition Sequel Trilogy, Darth Monstross has an entirely different agenda. Regardless of whether he had the fore-sight to disregard his naval legacy, by re-locating the central hyperdrive engine thruster to the side wings, a spacious cargo hold was re-incorporated behind the cockpit, akin to the arrangement with Darth Maul'sSith Infiltrator ship. Such a hold could carry canisters of bogan in secret, ready for when the next phase of Monstross' plan could begin....
The Official Site recently announced a premiere date for the third series of the Clone Wars. This thrilling series, with more and more technical sophistication as well as greater direct involvement by George Lucas, will begin on September the 17th. As before, I have to be content with catching the dvd release of the second series before I can even begin thinking about watching the third !! :o|)
Celebration V took place in mid-august in Orlando, Florida, and some neat revelations were publicised - some from George Lucas himself, which were humourously ironic (and unfortunately distracting !!).
The third series of the new CG animated Clone Wars was introduced with some Q&A sessions, including the presentation of a full trailer and the unveiling of a new zabrak warrior and cousin to Darth Maul, known as Savage Opress. Further hints were given regarding the character arc of Asajj Ventress, Lord Tyrannus' erstwhile assassin-apprentice. The Prequel Trilogy concepts of 'Sith Witches' have been melded with the EU location of Dathomir, with the planet's 'Nightsisters' wielding the Force in a manifestation unique to them and their corner of the galaxy. Furthermore, it is said that the Prequels' emphasis on the 'Balance of the Force' and Anakin being 'The Chosen One' will be explored in more detail in series three. Also, it was revealed that Lucas' story-telling in the new Clone Wars series allows him to illustrate further how the popular standing of the Jedi fell to ruin in the difficult situation they found themselves in within the 'entrapment' that was the historic clone wars.
Sound effects pioneer Ben Burtt was also present at C5 to talk in detail about his new book, the 'Sounds of Star Wars', giving great anecdotal insights into the creation of many effects.
In a rare live on-stage interview, George Lucas confirmed that the term 'Ewok' came from the lost 'Miwok Indians' in Marin County ; the name 'Skywalker' is supposed to be fairly commonplace, not to mention that emotionally Tatooine is a place to which Anakin would not willingly return, he's in denial over the loss of his mother ; when Sidious at the end of ROTS obliquely and surprisingly tells Vader that the dark lord himself had killed his own wife, this was an outright lie with the Emperor knowing that Padme was indeed pregnant [I suspect that GL might be confusing himself with the deleted scene where Palpatine hints to Anakin that Padme may be "hiding something"] ; that the scene in TESB:SE where the Emperor reveals to Vader that his son is alive is the first confirmation for Anakin [again, I suspect that GL is a little confused here in so far that he enigmatically retained the dialogue earlier in the film where Vader identifies the probot's signal as the rebel base and that he is "sure Skywalker is with them" - a chronological continuity problem for many astute fan] ; that the Jedi were "basically monks with sticks", they were more negotiators than warriors ; that the Sith Lord Plagueis' apprentice was indeed Sidious ; that Baron Papanoida re-appears in the Clone Wars series 3, along with the news that Asajj Ventress is a female zabrak ; and that - jokingly (I hope !) - Obi-Wan Kenobi comes from the planet Stewjon... a nod to the host, Jon Stewart.
Finally, George Lucas also revealed at C5 that the Star Wars Saga would be released on the blu-ray dvd format in the autumn of 2012 ! To mark this news, a deleted scene from ROTJ was played.... none other than Luke building his lightsabre !
There's already been a lot of fan discussion regarding the merits of such a release, and a wish-list of content. Personally, I'm not yet closely familiar with the blu-ray advantages, other than knowing it offers greater content storage as well as potential user-interaction. Assuming that the original and latest versions of the films could be presented, as well as most or all 'making of' documentaries, I guess my greatest wish would be the ability to optionally include the deleted scenes into their respective films, so that we may see for ourselves how well each episode would fare with such extentions to plot and pace ; and thinking of certain partially filmed scenes - such as Luke's lightsabre training on Dagobah - it would be great if today's CG technology would enable LFL to recreate imagery that's only ever been in the fan's imagination.
Also at Celebration V was the customary pantheon of costumed fans... with a nicely presented 360 degree panorama at sw.com of the spectacle, with much of the focus, of course, on the 'Slave Leias' !!!
