Ok folks there is a ton of STAR WARS news on this here page. So what I'm gonna do is start with non spoilers and work my way to the spoilers. Fear Not, I will WARN you before the spoiler stuff comes. The first bit came from Jedi Jingleheimersmythe!!!
This morning on NBC, they were interviewing Lucas from the Smithsonian about there new SW stuff, and he said " Were finished filming the first episode, and we'll go into post production for about 18 months, then we'll start on 2&3."
This comes from long term Prequel Spy, NIGEL BRUCE who has never been wrong so far. But note he/she/it is saying this was a rumour on set. So take that as you will. You know add the white stuff in the container next to the pepper!
Now for the biggie - my first contact has informed me that there IS a title being bandied about at Leavesden, and he heard this from a guy who heard it from a guy. How does Child Of The Force grab ya? I like it. It seems to make sense. Whaddaya think? When I see my other contact, I'll get him to do some investigating.
This appeared in yesterday's Chicago Sun-Times according to Mr Park Row!!! THIS COULD BE DEEMED AS HAVING SPOILERS, IF YOU CLICK BACK NOW YOU CAN AVOID IT, NOTHING BELOW THIS IS ANYTHING BUT SPOILERS RETURN TO THE SAFTEY OF YOUR WELL PROTECTED BRAINS!!!
Chicago Sun-Times about Ewan. Not much new, except that he is signed for the next two films and that he's got the "coolest" set of wheels (spacecraft). Oh, he also said he dropped his lightsaber the first time he was to duel. Something about the thing being filled with 12 batteries or something. I think it was last Monday or Tuesday's edition.
Ok folks, Let me say, that as of now, I haven't been able to get a response from my "spies" on the following bits of Prequel information. The below came from a spy I have not dealt with before, which does place the info in a realm of doubt. But just because he or she or they are not known to me, means that they are fake. This could be the beginning of a beautiful relationship. Though we must have a skeptical beginning. OK? Cool. There are lots of potential spoilers below, run away NOW!!!
- Being a Star Wars fanatic myself, I immediatly recognized the costume used for the character of Jarjar to be of the "Gran" race (or so the licensees called it). You'll probably know it as the "Ree Yees" character in Jabba's Palace (pinkish head, three eyes). Yes, the Jarjar costume looked different in some ways (larger, mainly, and more lizardlike -- similar to the production sketches you may have seen at the time Return of the Jedi was made), but it's too similar to be a coincidence.
- The rumors that there will be a fully computer-generated character are true, but this is not, as some say, Jarjar (as I just said, there's a costume for him). The generated character's name is, I believe "Sebulba", whom at this point no-one knows what he looks like, but he's apparently involved in a scene similar to that in the Mos Eisley cantina (he's the barkeep or something). I believe the official Star Wars page showed a picture of this Café once. On the subject of CG, I hear the current computerwork is done on sprucing up a Mos Eisley-type Tatooinian city that appears in the film, but there is no way for me to confirm that (perhaps your other spies?). At any rate it'll be a long time before you get to see any final pictures of this CG character.
- As you can imagine, not all of the "Naboo palace sequence", as it is commonly referred to, was shot in on location Italy. Parts were shot in the studio here in Britain, and I can reveal that this is the equivalent of the cantina-scene/Jabba's Palace scene in Star Wars and Jedi respectively, in that it has an impressive array of exotic aliens in it. However, these aliens are obviously not the seedy scum that pollutes the cantina and Jabba's, these are diplomatic representitives of the different factions of the galaxy, and the amazing thing is: it's obvious from their looks and stature -- they look very "sophisticated" somehow. A nice twist on the cantina sequence, and you'll love it. Portman wasn't around, but I believe that's because these aliens will be added to the scene later. Some costumes are rather elaborate and required people of certain posture. These people were recruited using newspaper adds in british magazines, and it would have been too expensive to fly them all to Italy (why they didn't use Italian extras is beyond me, perhaps Lucas' italian isn't good enough). I don't know much else about the Naboo scenes though because I wasn't in Italy.
- One of the main bad guys (perhaps THE main bad guy) of the film is a man called Paraka. He is a very dark and gloomy presence, black faced, wearing black robes. The actor for this part is perfectly cast, lookswise, and is one of the scariest bad guys I've seen in quite a while. He also wields a lightsaber. He worked on the "hanger sets" a lot (which, by the way, are mighty impressive).
- Lots of alien-looking vehicles were standing around in the studio. Some of these were used in panorama-style scenes (as in: just moving or working in the background) but there were also several that looked like battlecraft that I didn't see in action. Some of them look like tanks but very alien. The design on this film is very original and exotic, and often more like fantasy than sci-fi.
- And to close with the most unbelievable tidbit of all, that someone close to marketing told me (which is unfortunately no more than an idea at this point): the blue text that reads "A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away" in the original, MIGHT read "A long, long time ago, in a galaxy far far away" (notice the extra "long"). Sounds strange, doesn't it? Well, it's understandable when you know that trying to sell the idea that these films, unlike most sequels, take place BEFORE the originals, is something that marketing is a bit worried about at this point (and who can blame them? It is rather rare concept, all told, although I don't think it's too hard to understand).
Well, that's all. I have some smaller bits and pieces if you are interested, but for now, this oughta keep you busy. It'll be a few weeks before some of this stuff leaks to the magazines, so that's how people can tell your site from others: so many "news" sites just quote the British magazines these days without revealing anything the fans didn't already know or guess. At least you've always tried to get your own reports, for which I have a lot of respect.
