BLU-RAY UPDATE...

The first part of Home Theater Forum website's exclusive access to certain aspects of the STAR WARS Blu-rays, plus a transcript of the US LUCASFILM presentation are now online. Definitely worth checking out.

Link: Lucasfilm on Star Wars the Complete Saga Blu-ray: Hands on Report

UPDATE 22/8/11: Here's a very encouraging perspective on the press event from THE DIGITAL BITS website (which has more features and insights on the Blu-rays to come): The Digital Bits - The 2011 Star Wars Saga Blu-rays - First Insights

MORE BLU-RAY STUFF...

In a nice and quiet alcove at Mos Eisley Cantina, Han and Jenny cuddle up and get ready to watch the STAR WARS Blu-rays!

Finally! A proper trailer for the Blu-ray Box set, with clips from deleted scenes and footage giving us a proper idea of the picture quality transfers (the above pic of the B/W alternate Cantina scene edit is greatly improved to what was seen all those years ago on CD-rom in 1997). From YAHOO, here: Star Wars: The Complete Saga - exclusive trailer | Movies Blog - Yahoo! Movies

Also, check out the Pod Race clip: Star Wars BLU-Ray Preview - The Phantom Menace Pod Doc - YouTube

And a recent feature on the Blu-ray blog: Star Wars: The Complete Saga Blu-ray preview with Holiday Special easter egg

A message from Darth Vader for AMAZON: Amazon.co.uk : Star Wars: The Complete Saga (Episodes I-VI) Ltd. Edition Film Cell

On the Prequels side of things, here's a taster of the Special Features Menus: STAR WARS - The Complete Saga auf Blu-ray: Sample Menü-Navigation (HD) - YouTube

Luke looks to the heavens waiting for his next Blu-ray post delivery!

NOT LONG NOW..."THE COMPLETE SAGA": BLU-RAY NEWS

Everybody's probably already seen it, but I'm a completist when it comes to providing as much info as I can on the upcoming Blu-rays. Here's the link to the new STAR WARS BLU-RAY web site area on the official site:
StarWars.com | The Complete Saga on Blue-ray

The front and back holders for the unique cell packaging.

In the UK, fans who pre-order THE COMPLETE SAGA will receive their very own limited edition STAR WARS film cell.The Star Wars Sentiype™ contains a unique 35mm film frame reproduced from the original film footage using state-of-the-art imaging and printing techniques. The film frame is mounted and features original artwork from the Star Wars Blu-ray collection. Each senitype™ is numbered for authenticity.

The Senitype is only available to those that Pre-Order The Complete Saga on Blu-ray.  One limited edition Star Wars Senitype™  will be sent to all persons that have already pre-ordered The Complete Saga on Blu-ray. 

The overall packaging for the British Blu-ray COMPLETE SAGA disc releases.

The Limited Edition Star Wars® Sentiype™ is available whilst stocks last from UK dealers: Amazon, Play, HMV, The Hut and Tesco  


There's more STAR WARS related Blu-ray treats coming up for fans at the EMPIRE film magazine's event packed, star-studded extravaganza at the London 02 Arena-BIG SCREEN-taking place on the 12th-14th August. They'll be a big preview of THE COMPLETE SAGA discs, with on stage guest commentary from some of the key ILM team members involved in the films making and transfer to Blu-ray, plus a Jedi/Lightsaber Academy for the kids and families to indulge in, and an opportunity to have pictures taken on a popular STAR WARS set recreation. COWBOYS & ALIENS, starring Harrison Ford and Daniel Craig, will also be getting an advance UK screening, too! What's not to like!


Find out more about BIG SCREEN here: A Celebration of Film, A Feast for Fans Everywhere - The Live Movie Event | Empire Big Screen

OUT NOW ON US BLU-RAY: "AMERICAN GRAFFITI"

Debbie (Candy Clark) and Terry the Toad (Charles Martin Smith) await the new AMERICAN GRAFFITI Blu-ray! Image: UNIVERSAL

George Lucas's seminal film tribute to his Modesto youth- AMERICAN GRAFFITI- has finally arrived on US Blu-ray and the review verdicts for it are very good.

Check out this review here from the popular BLU-RAY.COM site: American Graffiti Blu-ray

The US release is apparently region-free, so an official UK version of the movie is unlikely.

UPDATE 5/8/2011: My good buddy Chris Baker has let me know of this terrific blog site totally dedicated to the film from super-fan Jeff Hamrick. Check it out here:  http://jeffsallgraffitiallthetime.blogspot.com/2011/08/american-graffiti-lost-and-found.html?spref=fb

STAR WARS ON BLU-RAY: A LOOK AT THE SHINY DISCS...?

This image of the new Blu-ray box set discs and booklet has been doing the rounds on the various commercial sales websites. Some people out there think its a fake, but it looks pretty genuine to me.

We'll soon discover the truth once the exclusive Blu-ray presentation at COMIC CON has come and gone at the end of July...

CLASSIC IMAGE: FORCE-FUL TRIO!

Anakin Skywalker, Ahsoka Tano and Obi-Wan Kenobi work out their next move whilst trapped in the Force powerful dominion of Mortis in ALTAR OF MORTIS, the second part of writer Christian Taylor's popular Mortis Trilogy fantasy, from the recent THE CLONE WARS Season Three, now officially announced for release by LUCASFILM/WARNER BROTHERS on DVD and high definition Blu-ray this October.

Here's the info: StarWars.com | The Clone Wars Season 3 on Blu-Ray and DVD This October

OUT NOW ON UK DVD: "THE CLONE WARS" SEASON TWO - VOLUME TWO

The latest of the individual volume releases of THE CLONE WARS series, Season Two: Volume Two, comprising six super episodes (the epic re-taking of Geonosis and the return of General Grievous), are available from LUCASFILM ANIMATION and WARNER BROTHERS from March 21st, and are perfect for fans of all ages who love the animation and excitement of the all-new TV STAR WARS universe, especially parents with youngsters who'll be thoroughly entertained by the daring, fast paced exploits of our Jedi and Clone Trooper heroes during the upcoming Spring and Summer holidays.

Check out our links below for more exciting information on THE CLONE WARS and these particular episodes.

STORMTROOPER WARS: THE CASE CONTINUES...

The seemingly neverending and complex legal/copyright battle between the UK's SHEPPERTON DESIGN STUDIO and LUCASFILM over the Stormtrooper masks rages on...

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3451228/Attack-of-the-clone-helmet-war.html

With thanks to Veronica Weller for the heads up on the article...


UPDATE: 27/7/2011. In the High Court today, SHEPPERTON DESIGN STUDIOS won their ruling against LUCASFILM so as to commercially produce Imperial Stormtrooper costumes in the UK merchandise market. Here is the YAHOO!/SKY NEWS story with video link: Empire Strikes Back In Stormtrooper Row - Yahoo!

AFICIONADO REVIEW: "IT'S A TRAP!"

Forget what's his name Ford, Peter Griffin is Han Solo! Image: FOX HOME ENTERTAINMENT.

With the release of IT'S A TRAP! on DVD and Blu-ray (also available as part of a special Trilogy box set release (wonderfully titled LAUGH IT UP, FUZZBALL!)), did Seth MacFarlane and his talented FAMILY GUY team deliver a great finale living up to its parody predecessors?

Check out our review to find out. Here's the link. http://www.starwarsaficionado.com/family_guy_its_a_trap.html

Please note: the review contains adult language that may be unsuitable for younger readers.

RETURNING TO "THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL"

Always in trouble, Indiana Jones is older but never any wiser! Image: LUCASFILM/PARAMOUNT



The UK's BBC 1 channel (and HD) sees in the New Year's Day at 5.35 pm with a healthy dollop of fun and action with Harrison Ford, who, if adventure had a name, continues to be known as Indiana Jones, as he and his new "family", wayward youth Mutt Williams (Shia LaBeouf) and still feisty after all these years Marion Ravenwood (a fine return for Karen Allen), enter the legendary Kingdom of the Crystal Skull to unearth its possibly alien secrets, followed by a fine Russian villainess, Irina Spalko (the chameleon-like actress Cate Blanchett) and her army of dedicated soldiers, determined to conquer the world with the secrets they can steal. 

Harrison Ford, despite criticisms of his advancing years, has aged well as the iconic hero and carries the film well-looking good at a time of life when most people can barely climb on board a bus! Perhaps the adventure overall could have had a little bit more depth towards the end story and character-wise, and Indy himself could have have had perhaps one more major action sequence in which to shine, but I feel that KINGDOM is a much under-rated film and far better than most people give it credit. Ultimately, though, none of the Indy sequels, despite all their great and highly memorable moments of drama, action and comedy, have ultimately topped or fully matched the strong story or break neck, pitched to perfection pace of the original RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK-that film is still the best and remains unbeatable as one of the all defining action movies ever- but KINGDOM certainly holds up well alongside an Indy sequel like THE LAST CRUSADE in many places and, if there is no new film on the horizon next year for our archaeologist hero, proves to be an acceptable and generally satisfying conclusion to it all.

Remember this original trailer, and how the world was excited to see Indy return after such a long absence from our screens?:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5bvLbl-Ul0

AFICIONADO STAR WARS MYSTERY: KENNY BAKER IN CHICAGO!

Sometime between 1977 and 1978, Kenny Baker, in his US public appearances for the lovable droid Artoo Detoo, took part in what would apparently become a controversial STAR WARS related OLYMPIA beer promotion in Chicago, without the prior knowledge of LUCASFILM, which had the slogan: "The best thing to come out of a can since R2-D2."

Does anyone out there have this advertising image, or more information about the advert in general? Apart from the ONCE UPON A GALAXY BOOK written by Alan Arnold from 1979, and J.W. Rinzler's recent MAKING OF EMPIRE book I'd never previously seen or heard about this.

If anyone can help, please get in touch.

J.W. RINZLER ON WRITING "THE MAKING OF THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK"

With the upcoming release of THE MAKING OF THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK (published in the UK by AURUM PRESS, and the US by RANDOM HOUSE), its author, J.W. Rinzler (pictured), who previously penned the superb best-seller THE MAKING OF STAR WARS, very kindly spared some time to speak to STAR WARS AFICIONADO about its writing and development.


STAR WARS AFICIONADO: Jonathan, congratulations on your new book. Like THE MAKING OF STAR WARS before it, I'm sure it will be a bestseller for a long time to come. Is THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK your favourite STAR WARS movie? And do you have a favourite moment from that film?

J.W. RINZLER: The first one - STAR WARS - is my favourite movie. Because it came out of nowhere. I was able to attend a sneak preview. It was a mind blowing event. Its the only one that has a beginning, a middle and end. And they (the other SW films) all sort of have beginnings, middles and ends, but the first one is really the only one. The second one is a very close second favourite. I love THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK. Its a great film, and if I have a favourite part in it - there are so many great parts in it - I'd have to say where the Falcon is being chased through space by the TIE's and Star Destroyers - the choreography is so beautiful there - particularly when they dive down and then you have the Star Destroyers up above. That's almost abstract art. And yet it works in the context of the film. Its really, really interesting and superbly done. And in my mind it has yet to be surpassed, except perhaps by the waterfall scene - that's what we call it - in EPISODE III (the final part of the Obi / Anakin duel on Mustafar) as well. There's some great stuff in JEDI. In all the films. I love them.

SWA: How long did you have to work on the new book? With all your other projects at LUCAS BOOKS how did you find time to put it all together?

JWR: Well, its not easy. The STAR WARS and EMPIRE books took about two years to do, and my main job here (at LUCASFILM) is as an editor, as my day job is working on projects like STAR WARS: FRAMES and STAR WARS: VISIONS, and the DK book YEAR BY YEAR, and so on. The books that I write and research, especially the writing, only takes place early morning, when I get up, between 6 and 7 am, and then 6-7 hours a day at weekends. But over the years in doing them I've also gotten pretty good at knowing which parts to keep and what not. I can do it pretty quickly. And the fact that I laid out this new book myself made things a lot more efficient.

SWA: What lessons/handy hints did you learn from the writing process for THE MAKING OF STAR WARS book that you could apply to THE MAKING OF THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK? 

JWR: Well, with EPISODE IV I read the scripts early, and was doing research on them and reading them at the same time. And that made it harder. For EPISODE V, and if we do (a book for) EPISODE VI, I read all the scripts - all five drafts - just to begin with. It makes all the subsequent research a lot easier to understand and follow with the different scenes and characters in each script draft. Its fascinating, and one of the most rewarding things to do.

SWA: Was there anything included in this book that you weren't able to do with THE MAKING OF STAR WARS?

JWR: To get a lot more images into the first book. It was a little bit frustrating on the first one. It certainly ended up looking great, but I felt we could have had a few more images there. But sometimes you run up against production and design and they have their way on doing things. And also we added fifty pages late into the game on that first book, but this time RANDOM HOUSE said we've got 372 pages to begin with, so I was determined to get as many images possible in there. Sometimes the design may have suffered a little bit but we got around 1,200 images into it. I really wanted to tell the story, and the images have to be there with the text for the whole behind the scenes experience for the readers - something that hopefully the readers will enjoy. There were no great images for the first book that didn't get left out - all the best images were there - but the problem with the STAR WARS book was that it was low budget picture in a weird way - it was a big budget picture but not enough money - but I think they only had the one on set stills photographer available every third day of filming. On EMPIRE, Gary Kurtz was taking a lot of pictures, as was George Whitear - he was the official photographer for the movie and on set. He took many, many great pictures.

SWA: Which part of the book are you most proud of? 

JWR: I guess overall its hard for me to say proud, but I hope the overall flow of the book works and that people get a real sense of the epic story behind the scenes - that it all flows together - words and pictures.

SWA: What was the most difficult part of the book to research?

JWA: It's the beginning of the research. Its physically difficult to be in the archive, after three or four hours going through boxes and boxes of inter-office memorabilia. And then your mind begins to dull over and you don't want to miss something crucial. Then I got the notes that Miki Herman did - the weekly reports at ILM - all there in one box in a Eureka! moment. And then there was the same Eureka! moment with Ralph McQuarrie - all of his material should be in one section, but there was a box full of office reports and with them were two rare original art pieces of his - it was part of the licensing rather than the film, actually. That was a mini coup. Research - that's the hardest and the most fun.

SWA: What pieces of research linked to the book surprised you the most?

JWR: I found in one drawer five or six colour studies by Ralph that were misfiled about twenty/thirty years ago, where Ralph was testing out the colours prior to the full on production paintings - there's one that I think is early Coruscant, nobody's quite sure - and there was one of the battle with Darth Vader and Luke in the carbon freezing chamber. So that was all great. There was also finding a lot of great production drawings from Norman Reynolds - he doesn't get a lot of credit, but he was the one who designed the carbon freezing chamber set for the film. And then the legal archive came up to me one day and they had boxes and boxes of interesting material - all of which was great for the first part of the book.

SWA: Were there any behind the scenes filming myths that can finally be shot down?

JWR: Well, I personally am someone who loves cinema, who ended up working here at LUCASFILM, and got to know George and love the STAR WARS films, but I approach it from the big picture. I know that there had been rumours about Wampa attacks and so on, and they did film some Wampa attacks, and they did film one of them getting shot by the Rebels with a bazooka. And General Veers was supposed to get killed. Those come to my mind. ILM did film his (Veers) Walker getting blown up and then they decided to change that whole beginning sequence. It didn't make a whole lot of sense originally because you had Darth Vader landing on Hoth before they blew up the energy generator, and at some point George must have said, "Y'know, we should probably change this." Veers survived, they blew up the generator, then Vader came down. It makes a lot more sense. I know that ILM did it (Veers death) from their storyboards. Rebel pilot Hobbie - in a suicide run -flies straight into the head of the Walker. That shot of the Walker missing its head is still in the film. Its just used in a different part of the film. That's what I remember from doing the writing for the book.

SWA: Are there any rare photos/behind the scenes material on the film that you weren't able to find? Are there any other STAR WARS movie Holy Grails that you're still eager to track down?

JWR: Not really. There were some little mini-mysteries I got involved in whilst in the writing, because there were certain books that said that George had written the Third Draft of the EMPIRE script. George wrote the Second Draft after Leigh Brackett died. And it seemed that things were not as organised as sometimes people would imagine, and the Third Drafts that I had said the writing was by George. But reading that draft the writing seemed like it was by Lawrence Kasdan. I asked George about this. The Yoda dialogue between the two drafts was a lot better, and George said, "Probably Larry wrote it, then!" (laughs) and "Why don't you just follow it up and ask him." So I did, and Lawrence Kasdan had the title page for his script version that had his name on it so he faxed it to me and that cleared up that mini-mystery.

SWA: With all the photography and artwork in the archives, how did you go about making your selections? It must have been very tough to be disciplined in your editing?

JWR: There's always a few moments like that. I even had more pictures in it at one point but then I showed it to the art director here (at LUCASFILM), Troy Alders, and he said, "Y'know, this is a little too much here, and you don't need to use two pictures when one will look better." And he was right. I did a second layout of the book and made it a lot more reader friendly. Its not fun to use a great picture too small and not see whats really happening in it. So we cut out some and blew up other pictures. Text-wise I got everything in there. I found the original Alan Arnold tapes so we were able to go back to the original transcriptions and stuff they couldn't say back in 1980 that we were able to say in 2010. It was a pretty satisfying experience. Thanks to Don Bies we managed to get those tapes re-transcribed - he managed to preserve those tapes in the archive as somebody had almost thrown them away.

SWA: In research, did you get to see any of the lost footage from EMPIRE, like the Wampa sequences?

JWR: For each book I go to our film archives and Sterling Hedgpeth basically cues up the different material - he does a lot of pre-research for me and he goes through the differences and shows me all the differences in cut. I pretty much see everything. I've seen the deleted scenes but I've also seen variations of other scenes and its very interesting. He was also able to dig up George's notes on the films first edit so that was a big help as well.

SWA: Will any of the material from the book also be working its way onto the upcoming 2011 Blu-rays?

JWR: They have access to the images that were found for the book. They could use them for the discs photo section.

SWA: You've penned a US released INDIANA JONES original novel. I was wondering if you might create an adventure for STAR WARS? 

JWR: Not for now. I'm probably more suited to the non-fiction side. We have a great stable of STAR WARS authors. I don't think they need me! The INDY original novel I did was supposed to be released in England but something happened and the publisher backed out. But you can still get it via AMAZON US.

SWA: Jonathan, thank you very much for speaking to us. We know the book will be superb.

JWR: When you get your copy of the EMPIRE book I hope you enjoy reading it.

SWA: We look forward to the MAKING OF JEDI, too!

JWR: We'll see if if that happens. This ones got to sell a few copies first!

THE MAKING OF THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK is released on October 12th.

With thanks to J.W. Rinzler, Chris Argyropoulus at LUCASFILM, and Jodie Mullish at AURUM PRESS. 

UPDATE 10/10/2010. Check out the new extended six minute trailer for the book here:

http://www.vanityfair.com/online/oscars/2010/10/boba-fett-talks-about-the-empire-strikes-back-that-crazy-suit-and-the-star-wars-legacy.html

THE CLONE WARS RAGE ON. SEASON THREE - SECRETS REVEALED!

Let's hope we see a lot more of Yoda in Season Three

Its not long now- mere weeks- until UK viewers get to see the brand new third series of THE CLONE WARS exclusively on SKY MOVIES PREMIERE and HD. In the meantime, SKY has very kindly sent AFICIONADO some great new LUCASFILM ANIMATION images from the new series as a little taster.

Cad Bane makes an appearance at Jabba's Court. Does this signal the start of the Hutt Clan war?

A Republic gunship heads towards Tipocca City with urgent news.

Keep checking the AFICIONADO blog for more THE CLONE WARS updates.

THE MAKING OF "THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK" BOOK - SNEAK PEEK TRAILER

On the immense Dagobah set at ELSTREE, Yoda gets ready to film his scenes, watched by a crew member helping Kenny Baker inside the Artoo shell - one of many amazing behind the scenes images from AURUM PRESS BOOKS new THE MAKING OF THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK book, written by JW Rinzler, and out from October 15th.

It's not long now until J.W. Rinzler's epic tome, THE MAKING OF THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, the true story behind the creation and filming of the much loved second STAR WARS movie from 1980, is finally with us (released in the UK on October 15th). In the meantime, UK publisher's AURUM PRESS BOOKS have sent me this great trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kewvFdh_RS4

And here's grabs of just a fraction of that fantastic rare imagery to get our appetities even more ready for the feast....

CLASSIC IMAGE: UGLIES INC.

Stuart Freeborn certainly proved himself as one of the STAR WARS sagas definitive UK talents in make-up and creature construction with this motley group of monster heads that would be used in the original films 1976 April/May cantina filming at ELSTREE. All of the monsters in there, and in later US re-shoots with additional Rick Baker creatures, would become icons, especially Freeborn's Greedo, whom George Lucas would take a shine to when he first saw the creature in his workshop after it had been previously constructed for use as an alien in a UK BIRDS EYE peas commercial of the early seventies, and was subsequently re-dressed for his doomed confrontation with Han Solo.

Due to illness (possibly a stomach bug earlier contracted in Tunisia?), Stuart was unable to complete all the required UK masks for the cantina sequence, which begs the question, are there any surviving pieces of original 1975/76 artwork or designs, whether they be in the LUCASFILM archives or in a private collection, that show those creatures that ultimately never made it to reality? It would surely be fascinating to see them, eh?

OPINION: WHAT HAPPENED TO RICK McCALLUM?

From 1995 to 2007 he's been one of STAR WARS great ambassadors-a funny and enthusiastic showman, a veritable master of hyperbole (in both good and bad ways), dedicated independent film-maker and loyal producer to George Lucas. So where is he? What's going on with him? At CV I suddenly realised that I haven't seen him anywhere since Celebration Europe, and that was back in 2007!

His work on STAR WARS (seemingly) over with regards to the films, the new live-action SW series stalled (for now) due to budget constraints, and RED TAILS, the epic World War II story of the Tuskegee airmen, apparently in drastic re-shoots, McCallum has certainly been keeping out of the fans radar, but now I think its time someone like the INSIDER tracked him down for a good long talk. With such a big involvement with LUCASFILM and STAR WARS and INDY (he was supposed to have been the fourth films producer at one point), a really detailed, candid interview with him about all his work on the Prequels (to really find out some stuff we haven't previously been aware of on their making) and for LUCASFILM-the highs and lows-and all the other things hes been working on since, would be very appealing to read.

Somebody let Rick out of the top-secret underground bunker at LUCASFILM!

CELEBRATION V: THINGS WE LEARNED...

Originally, THE CLONE WARS Supervising Director Dave Filoni had planned that the previous 2003 and 2005 CARTOON NETWORK CLONE WARS animated character of Durge was to have returned and been a major enemy in Season One and Two, but instead George Lucas wanted to have a new and different villain, and introduced the cooler bounty hunter, Cad Bane, instead.

Filoni has prepared a time line for the events of THE CLONE WARS, incorporating events from the previous CARTOON NETWORK animated seasons, which will eventually be released to fans.

THE CLONE WARS voice actors were often very surprised at some of the things they signed for fans at CV. There were limited edition cast and crew pieces handed to them that they had actually never received or knew of, and that they now really wanted to have! Some members of the cast had not even seen the UK theatrical release posters for the one and only (at least so far) animated movie! Additionally, all of the actors love their characters, and some would love to contribute more dialogue and story material for the series, but at the end of the day its Lucas's universe and he decides the ultimate direction of story and characters in the lead up to events in EPISODE III.

Ben Burtt worked on the sound design for the original ALIEN, directed by Ridley Scott. He recalled that he met Scott in a limo one late night in Los Angeles-it was the only time the two could meet then-to discuss the creation of a terrifying and highly disturbing noise for the alien space ships distress call which is picked up by the human crew of the Nostromo. At the end of the day, despite lots of work, the sound effect was not considered successful by either Burtt or Ridley Scott and, by that time of its completion, the scene where the transmission is played would be cut from the film (though the completed sequence is on the deleted scenes of the DVD release, and I personally think its a pretty good sound!).

The "Wilhelm" scream, as far as Ben Burtt can track it down, may have come from an actor from an old-time WARNER BROTHERS adventure film, whose character is attacked and eaten by an Alligator.

As has been previously established, the sound of the Garindan snitch at Mos Eisley for STAR WARS was the voice of John Wayne speeded up. At the time in 1976, Ben Burtt had access to a movie studio sound vault and managed to sneak his voice from one of these films into the first movie.

When Sound Designer Matthew Wood had completed his work on REVENGE OF THE SITH, Lucas and Producer Rick McCallum asked him to stay on with his STAR WARS duties for what was originally planned as eight test episodes of what would become STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS.

Carrie Fisher revealed that her Bounty Hunter characters of Boushh had no name when she was filming JEDI. In all likelihood the name was given for the PALITOY/KENNER toy figure release in 1983.

Apart from the white droid later known as CZ-3, Anthony Daniels did not play any other background droids in the original STAR WARS filming of 1976.

Ben Burtt revealed that the sound of the Talz creature heard in the Mos Eisley cantina for STAR WARS was originally planned for the treadwell droid that breaks down in the first introduction to Luke Skywalker, in the Tatooine desert, for STAR WARS.

At THE MAIN EVENT, Lucas confirmed that Darth Sidious did indeed kill his master Darth Plagueis prior to the events of EPISODE ONE, which the character, as ever brilliantly played by Ian McDiarmid, alluded to Anakin Skywalker during the opera scene of REVENGE OF THE SITH.

The title of THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK was thought up by Gary Kurtz during an Italian press conference for STAR WARS. He told the press then that STAR WARS II would have a B-movie esque- title in homage to that genre, and THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK simply rolled out of his mind. The title stuck-at the time, Ben Burtt was surprised at the choice.

The most difficult sound design that Ben Burtt ever undertook for any of the STAR WARS films is still Artoo Detoo-due to the worries in providing a unique sound effects voice for the character that audiences would be able to relate to. It was a task that took a long time-over six months-to achieve successfully. He still has many sound effects recorded for the original STAR WARS from 1976/77 that haven't been used, that are in his personal archives and at LUCASFILM, which may one day be used elsewhere.

Presumably due to Anthony Daniels not being available for a short period, Tom Kane was the voice of Threepio for a little bit of one of the episodes of the CARTOON NETWORK animated micro-series in 2003.

John Morton (who played Rebel pilot Dack and, for one scene only, Boba Fett in EMPIRE) no longer acts-instead he works in a position of organisational work linked to US Homeland Security. He still visits the UK from time to time and is a keen sports rowing expert and aficionado. He worked on EMPIRE for several months at ELSTREE (including the scene of the assembled pilots seen with Princess Leia in the hangar bay) and enjoyed it. His filming work was done in between bouts of shooting for SUPERMAN II-where he played the US Astronaut inside the Earth lunar vehicle destroyed by the Kryptonian super villains-of which the first batch was shot by director Richard Donner, and the next, a year later, was by replacement director Richard Lester.

Talking to dealers at the event, it looks like there will be very little merchandise or celebrations for STAR WARS Thirty-fifth anniversary in 2012, with the next Celebration geared for THE CLONE WARS and, most likely, the Thirtieth Anniversary of RETURN OF THE JEDI in 2013.

CELEBRATION V: CHEERS and JEERS!

Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill make guest appearances at George Lucas's THE MAIN EVENT talk. Image: STARWARS.COM

And so the pilgrimage began again, as 40,000 STAR WARS fans across the world travelled to LUCASFILM's version of Mecca in Orlando, Florida, for the biggest, greatest STAR WARS Celebration  convention of them all, honouring the upcoming third season of THE CLONE WARS and the Thirtieth Anniversary of the much beloved THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK.

The very fine line between severe commercial over-exploitation and creative fulfilment, combined with personal and professional enjoyment delivered to the fans by LUCASFILM (working in tandem with its many affiliates) was just about kept in balance over the four days, thanks primarily to the warmth and camaraderie shown by the actors and creative personnel from THE CLONE WARS, alongside the charm and mighty presences of George Lucas and Original Trilogy veterans Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher (pictured above at THE MAIN EVENT talk).


Overall, the event was great fun. Though despite many STAR WARS related pleasures personally achieved to my great satisfaction at CV, there was still so much to see and do that I was very much aware, as from previous Celebration experiences, that I couldn't possibly see and witness everything, and yet I really wanted to!! With these feelings of need running rampant in my mind, do these Celebrations actually have the power to turn me over to the Dark Side in my quest and power lust for everything convention-related??!!
Will I be the next Anakin Skywalker, and will my next generation be the only chance of redeeming me? "Noooooooo!"

As usual, here are my convention cheers and jeers...

Thats no moon, its a space station balloon! All CV images: Curtis Reynolds.

CHEERS to the ORANGE COUNTY CONVENTION CENTRE-an excellent venue to host Celebration V. And CHEERS to LUCASFILM and REED for a mostly well organised and efficiently run event, far bigger than ever before. But JEERS to LUCASFILM and REED for deliberately placing the event in the middle of the August holiday tourist season, so as to make, in the nicest way possible, maximum profit and exploitation of both the fans and the holiday makers (who would go to the event for a day or two with their families out of interest and curiosity). And JEERS to them for putting it in August in 107 degrees heat every day when most of the fans didn't have cars and had to walk everywhere. So far, I have five painful blisters and am still suffering from heat exhaustion! Next time its in Florida, in the interest of STAR WARS fans health and happiness, please don't put it on in Summer!

JEERS to DISNEY for their greedy and sneakily raised theme park admission prices the week before CV started. They knew we'd all want to see the INDY STUNT SHOW and STAR TOURS one last time, and we had to pay even more for that privilege!

CHEERS to George Lucas and Jon Stewart for THE MAIN EVENT talk. Despite die-hard fans listening to, and being upset, by what they believed was history re-visionism being discussed by the STAR WARS creator, it was nice to see George Lucas look so relaxed and at peace with both the audience and his STAR WARS universe during the one hour talk (which also basically acted as a blatant plug, in a crowd pleasing way, for THE CLONE WARS and the Blu-rays!).

CHEERS to Jon Stewart for proving that he is a knowledgeable STAR WARS fan and knew his stuff! I hope he enjoys his personalised HASBRO Stormtrooper figure, whether it has a bearded face or not!

Republic Commandos at the Endor Bunker recreation!

CHEERS for the incredible digital projection screenings of the six STAR WARS films. Of the films I saw, ATTACK OF THE CLONES was the stand-out visually in its pure digital state, whilst STAR WARS, EMPIRE and JEDI's LOWRY 2004 re-mastered copies looked superb on the big screen. Why, oh why, are these films not being shown on the big screen worldwide more often. The screenings were all pretty busy audience wise, especially EMPIRE, whose anniversary screening was a fitting tribute.

JEERS for the digital projection screening of THE PHANTOM MENACE. The projector/copy screening continually broke down, and numerous times STARWARS.COM's Pablo Hidalgo had to come into the audience and entertain the crowds whilst the faults were being sorted out. Hidalgo did a good job, and the crowds were happy if a little frustrated, but when it broke down one further time, a new copy of the film, which wasn't quite as good-and certainly bit darker in picture quality places- worked fine. One thing's for sure, when released on Blu-ray, the extended DVD release version of THE PHANTOM MENACE, with its new cgi Yoda scenes, will need a lot of re-mastering work picture-wise to get it in line with the digital visual beauty of ATTACK and SITH.

JEERS to the STAR WARS fans who nastily booed the inclusion of Hayden Christensen's face over Sebastian Shaw's body as Anakin at the end of the revised 2004 DVD print of JEDI, which was shown in the Digital Theatre. Poor old Hayden doesn't deserve that. Whether we like it or not, in all likelihood this version of JEDI is the one we're all going to have to live with for the upcoming Blu-ray release!

AFICIONADO contributor Curtis Reynolds mingles with the Slave Leia's. Its a tough job, but somebody's gotta do it!

CHEERS to Anthony Daniels and Jay Laga'aia for coming into the immense fan entry lines and saying hello on Day Two of the event.

JEERS to Anthony Daniels for periods of unpleasantness and superior aloofness he showed to some of the American fans that lined up to meet him inside his autograph tent. Though he was entertaining and informative with/to the fans in his talk and in walking the convention floor, his treatment of some of them in his little signing arena was just plain rude at times, and it upset me as a fellow Brit.

A brilliant General Grievous fan costume.

CHEERS to Dave Filoni for all his work in the talks and panels. I'm totally jealous of his position as Supervising Director of THE CLONE WARS but that doesn't hinder my beliefs that he is the best man for the job-the perfect hybrid of fan and creative talent that helps George Lucas bring the series to life. You couldn't get a better champion for the saga and its viewers and he was terrific to hear and see out and about, full of wit and good humour, and a love of STAR WARS that helps give the behind the scenes of LUCASFILM, often feeling to me as being too cold and shut off in secrecy, a bit more of a human face.

CHEERS to Mark Hamill for signing nearly 3,000 autographs at the event. Yep, his autograph price was very steep at $125 but when you see him and the way he's sooo nice to the fans, especially the younger ones who, like us adults, are in awe of him as Luke Skywalker, then you realize that he's actually worthy of the price tag.

A great recreation of the Rebel's Echo Base command centre.

CHEERS again to Mark Hamill for telling off, in a vocally strong way, the behind the scenes people running his one hour talk (this will probably be his one and only fan Celebration appearance and yet he's on stage for just one hour! C'mon schedulers, it should have been two!) for putting on a lengthy clip, without his foreknowledge or prior permission, from his 1980 appearance of THE MUPPETT SHOW that reduced his time to converse with the fans who were eager to ask him questions. Well done, Mark!

CHEERS, and our best wishes, to Robert Watts, who, as ever, was a superb guest and had lots to say about the making of the STAR WARS and INDY films. Sadly, I was informed that he fell and hurt his head towards the end of the event, resulting in his having to be rushed to hospital. We really hope he's okay and that he's on the mend quickly.

The enjoyable MASTERS OF THE EMPIRE Panel.

CHEERS for the EMPIRE panel talk with Gary Kurtz, Ben Burtt, Lorne Peterson and Jon Berg. A very nice hour of behind the scenes recollections, with Kurtz's behind the scenes memories as invaluable as ever.

More of those Mandalorian troopers hit the dealers room!

CHEERS to the fan costume makers for braving the painful, tiring heat to wear their incredible STAR WARS outfits throughout the event, like the incredible Bossk, Cad Bane, Power Droid, the excellent children dressed as Jawas, and, of particular note, the little girl dressed as a pre-cyborg General Grievous.

CHEERS to Irvin Kershner, Lawrence Kasdan and John Williams for their heart warming video messages of support and best wishes to the fans during Celebration V.

CHEERS to HASBRO for their great life size Boba Fett action figure card which you could go into the plastic hold section and have your picture taken inside. Their new 12 inch figures line based on the original classic figures, especially the 1978 Fett, are quite superb.

JEERS to Carrie Fisher for cancelling her talk on the last day of the convention but also CHEERS for her in doing this, as it meant that THE MAIN EVENT could be re-screened for all those people, like myself, who weren't able to see it the first time. And DOUBLE CHEERS for Carrie for coming out onto the stage for ten minutes, alongside Jay Laga'aia, for a standing ovation introduction and quick chat with the fans.

Take a little break with Jabba and friends!

CHEERS to Ben Burtt for his excellent talk with Pablo Hidalgo for the SOUNDS OF STAR WARS book, which Burtt has co-written with J.W. Rinzler. The talk had many great sounds heard and Ben, one of STAR WARS best and longest running behind the scenes talents and raconteurs, had lots of stories to tell. He also does a great Sylvester Stallone impression. Why has it taken five Celebration's to get Burtt as a guest!!

Did anyone out there go to the Burtt/Matthew Wood talk on the last day? Can anyone confirm whether Burtt showed his RETURN OF THE JEDI home movies footage from 1983? If anyone saw it can they PLEASE get in touch and describe the footage?

CHEERS to the incredibly talented artists in the Art Gallery-the quality of the work, especially linked to EMPIRE, was incredible this year-I just wish that I'd had some spending money to buy a piece!

JEERS to the organisers of the Art Gallery for their incredible short sightedness and lack of organisational ability on the first day. The lines were horrendous, the fans very unhappy and the artists must surely have lost some of their livelihood sales-wise that day.

Darth Vader - Ralph McQuarrie style!

CHEERS to the 501st for their superb fan costumes and props area, and to the always impressive R2 rooms. And kudos to the German 501st for their incredible TIE Interceptor craft-worthy of anything built for the Classic Trilogy back in the day at ELSTREE. Brilliant stuff!

CHEERS to the people behind the Echo Base Ice Bar- great idea, and I loved that Wampa statue!

JEERS to REED and LUCASFILM for the greedy idea of extra profit making VIP passes. This was unfair-all STAR WARS fans should be treated equally and I didn't like having four people in the VIP line walk in front of me for an autograph after I've waited for an hour. My blood was seething numerous times watching these very opportunistic fans at work, many of whom would have lots of autographs and posters to sign and would hold up the regular line in stopping people from getting autographs. VIP passes are for amusement parks and airplane travel not Celebrations!

The incredible German 501st built TIE Interceptor.

JEERS to the autograph dealer who blocked the Jon Berg line and had the ex-ILMer sign nearly 200 autographs which held up regular STAR WARS fans -y'know those regular fans who wanted an autograph for their own collection and not for profiteering!- for up to an hour and a half! These dealers should do their signing sessions after the show and liaise with the autographer and the exhibition organisers beforehand. In the end, with the added nuisance of the VIPs butting in, I didn't get an autograph when I had to leave the line, and MAJOR JEERS to the steward handling the line who stopped me from coming back into the capped line even though I'd already waited quite a while and had been chatting to him previously. Not fair!

JEERS to OFFICIALPIX for having a lousily organised sales area for their generic photos. No one seemed to know what was in stock, many new and great rare images were in (probably deliberate) too short supply, images that were in the catalogue were not available, and some members of their hired-in staff had clearly not watched a STAR WARS film or knew its characters at all! Not a great situation when you're dealing with hundreds of fans who do know the characters and know what they want to buy! In all four days I never once saw manager Ben Stevens on the floor talking to the people who buy the images, and I was at the OFFICIALPIX area a lot over the four days!

The Empire strikes back at CV!

JEERS to the over-priced food and liquids provided at the event by the convention centre. $2.75 for a packet of crisps!! Really over-priced for maximum profit.

CHEERS to the Celebration Store for its efficient organisation and layout.

He may not be my favourite event host, but CHEERS to Jay Laga'aia- Captain Typho himself!- for being an all round nice guy and great supporter of all things STAR WARS. And it was very cool seeing him as the leader of the 501st Stormtroopers at the start of THE MAIN EVENT!

CHEERS to all the members of THE CLONE WARS voice cast for being so nice and accommodating during every part of the convention. BIG CHEERS to James Arnold Taylor for being such a nice guy, enthusiastic and committed to STAR WARS, and for giving me a couple of lines as Obi-Wan Kenobi during my autograph chat.

Is Curtis the Rebel's New Hope?

CHEERS to all the really nice people I met in and outside of the convention-of all ages and walks of life- whose love of STAR WARS remains undiminished. Special hello to Mike and the gang at the VOICE OF THE REPUBLIC podcast and blog-a fresh and funny new look at STAR WARS that's well worth a look.

CHEERS to the panel of WHY WE LOVE THE PREQUELS, and especially FANBOYS Kyle Newman, alongside James Arnold Taylor and a late arriving Dave Filoni, who gave some very valid and nicely presented reasons and arguments as to why we should like and appreciate these Prequel films more-that they can't just be summarily dismissed because of a few scenes or characters that die-hard fans don't like. It was nice to see so much good reaction from the packed audience, and things being said that were similar to my own comments in the recent STAR WARS AFICIONADO "THE PHANTOM MENACE" TENTH ANNIVERSARY tribute edition (its still available on PDF if you're interested!).

JEERS to George Lucas and LUCASFILM for not allowing Dave Prowse to attend Celebration V. He may not be popular at Camp Lucas, but how could you not have the man who played Darth Vader at an event celebrating THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK-Vader's greatest film! And JEERS to OFFICIALPIX for having so few Vader images from any of the films at their booth. One of the Stewards there told me they had been told not to sell Vader pics by LUCASFILM!

CHEERS to the Belgium STAR WARS fans for their incredible TIE fighter prop and the Millennium Falcon hold, and to all those other great talents behind the numerous terrific fan props situated across the entire event.

CHEERS to all the builders of the Hoth dioramas. Splendid work, people!

CHEERS to LUCASFILM for that surprise showing of the deleted scene RETURN OF THE JEDI clip. Awesome and incredible! The world is anxious for those Blu-rays even more!

And so, the teaser video announcement has now come onto STARWARS.COM revealing that Celebration VI will be happening- date as yet unrevealed. Further vindication, as if proof was ever really necessary, that the Force, STAR WARS fandom, and merchandise profit growth, is stronger than ever!