The Dweebletter: 03/27/2005

Friday, April 01, 2005

Word came today that this little guy won't make an appearance at Midnight Madness stores.

Look for him only as originally announced. At Times Square with a $35 purchase, and everywhere on 4/10 free with a $25 purchase. EDITOR'S NOTE: YIPPEE!!! DWEEB DEMOCRACY LIVES! (AND I DON'T HAVE TO STAY UP PAST MY BEDTIME TO GET A TOY!)

April 2nd Books Checklist
Here is a quick checklist of books that should be in stores on April 2nd. Happy hunting!---------

Galactic Crisis (Star Wars: DK Readers, Level 4) by Ryder Windham Hardcover - $12.99 and Paperback - $3.99

Incredible Cross-sections of Star Wars, Episode III - Revenge of theSith: The Definitive Guide to Spaceships and Vehicles Illustrations by Hans Jennsen and Richard Chasemore, Text by Curtis Saxton Hardcover - $19.99

The Making of Star Wars, Episide III - Revenge of the Sith by JONATHAN RINZLER Hardcover - $35 and Paperback - $21.95)

Revenge of the Sith Trivia Quest: Star Wars Episode III by Random House Paperback - $4.99EDITOR'S NOTE: OOO....I HOPE THEY COME OUT WITH AN ALL-6-MOVIE TRIVIA BOOK!!!!

Star Wars, Episode III - Revenge of the Sith by Matthew Woodring Stover Hardcover - $25.95 Audio Cassette(Abridged) - $25.95 Audio Cassette (Unabridged)- $39.95 Audio CD(Abridged) - $25.95 Audio CD (Unabridged) - $49.95

Star Wars, Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (Graphic Novel) by Miles Lane, Doug Wheatley (Illustrator) Paperback - $12.95

Star Wars, Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (Sticker Book) by Random House Paperback - $6.99

Star Wars, Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (Ultimate Sticker Book) by Dk Publishing Paperback - $6.99

Visionaries (Star Wars) by Iain McCaig, et al Paperback - $17.95

The Visual Dictionary of Star Wars, Episode III - Revenge of the Sith Text by James Luceno Hardcover - $19.99

Obi-Wan's Foe by Jane Mason and Sarah Stevens Hardcover - $11.99 and Paperback $3.99

Star Pilot (DK READERS) by Laura Buller Hardcover - $12.99 and Paperback $3.99

Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith Play-a-Sound BookAdapted by Matt Kelly

Star Wars Bright Idea Coloring Book (Target Exclusive)

Star Wars: Balance of the Force Coloring Book

Star Wars, Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (Big Sticker Book) by Ryder Windham

Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith Movie Scrapbook by Ryder Windham

Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith Movie Storybook by Alice Alfonsi

EDITOR'S NOTE: AND HERE'S SOMETHING TO GET ODDBOB IN THE SHOPPING MOOD:
Deluxe Darth Maul Adult Mask EDITOR'S NOTE: USING THE TERM 'ADULT' SOMEWHAT LOOSELY....
Our Price: $19.99

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A creature of pure evil, Darth Maul had no personality beyond his ultimate devotion to his master, Darth Sidious. EDITOR'S NOTE: YEP. THAT PRETTY MUCH DESCRIBES ODDBOB. (GIGGLE)

The deluxd Darth Maul mask is made of high quality latex and fits over the head.

EDITOR'S NOTE: MORE REALLY REALLY CUUUUUTTTTE TOYS!
SW EIII Playskool Jedi Force Figure Assortment 3

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Estimated ArrivalMay 2005Although this item may arrive at anytime, Playskool estimates this will be released in May 2005. $64.99

Description:
Playskool Star Wars Jedi Force basic figures. Includes 6 individually packaged figures with accessories: 1x Darth Vader and Probe Droid, 2x Yoda with AT-ST, 2x Sw Mace Windu and Jedi Glider Figure, 1x Sw Luke with Speedboard (subject to change).

The Star Wars Jedi Force is the strongest and bravest group of guardians ever known! Their mission is to bring peace and justice to all reaches of the galaxy. So gear up and get into the fun of Star Wars Jedi Force with this awesome action figure…and may the force be with you!

Sith Toy Previews -- Hard, Soft, Mini, Attacktix and more

April 2 the date when Revenge of the Sith goods will officially hit store shelves.

Meanwhile, Hasbro continues to preview some of the exciting toys and games from the new film for release this weekend and beyond.

EDITOR'S NOTE: SOME NEW LIGHTSABERS!!
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AND A SMATTERING OF OTHER COOL TOY EXAMPLES:

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TALKING YODA. TALKING TO MAKE HIM IS EASY. UP TO SHUTTING HIM, MUUUUCCCH HARDER.
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NOT AS COCKY AS THE 12" VADER (AHEM), THE 3 AND 3/4 INCH TOY YOU CAN PERSONALLY TRANSFORM FROM CRISPY ANAKIN TO FEARSOME DARTH. (PLAYING WITH TOYS IS EDUCATIONAL!)
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Star Wars Battl e Buddy Darth Vader - Just the right size for wrestling, tickling, or for just palling around. EDITOR'S NOTE: 'PALLING AROUND' WITH PURE EVIL. HOW'S THAT FOR A NEW T-SHIRT?!

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Press the control panels to hear electronic sounds and phrases from the films

Can You Break The Emperor's Code on April 2?
The Emperor's Code is hidden on each of the (3) Star Wars Episode III Revenge of the Sith Hasbro exclusives available on April 2, 2005 at Wal-Mart, Target and Toys R Us.

Locate the hidden code on each toy, figure out what it means, enter the code into the vault website and you could win a Emperor's Code Breaker t-shirt. But more importantly, figure out the Emperor's Code and you'll reveal his evil plan to take over the galaxy... EDITOR'S NOTE: NOT AIMING FOR SPOILERS, HERE, BUT DON'T WE ALREADY KNOW THAT? (TURN ANAKIN TO THE DARK SIDE, KILL ALL THE JEDI, TAKE OVER. DUH).

HAPPY BEGINNING OF STARWARS SPRING, DWEEBPALS!!!

Thursday, March 31, 2005

So much STAR WARS, so LITTLE time (Thursday)

EDITOR'S NOTE: IT'S ALMOST PRE-SHOW NAPTIME, BUT WE MUST MUST MUST SQUEEZE IN A LITTLE BIT OF STAR WARS STUFF BEFORE THE DAY'S DWEEBING DRAWS TO A CLOSE. (AND PERCHANCE MORE MANANA, TIME PERMITTING).

AS DISCUSSED IN AN EARLIER DWEEB'BLOG, THIS WEEK'S ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY HAS 6 (COUNT EM, 6) STAR WARS COVERS. (I PICKED PRINCESS LEIA. IT WAS A CLOSE CALL BETWEEN LEIA AND HAN, BUT LEIA IS MY HEROINE AND ROLE MODEL. HAN IS JUST CUTE).
Star Wars Quiz at Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly has a quiz online about the original trilogy, prequels and Star Wars spin offs. EDITOR'S NOTE: THERE'S ACTUALLY A GOOD QUIZ INSIDE THE MAGAZINE (I GOT MOST OF THEM RIGHT, NATCH). BUT THIS ONLINE QUIZ IS FUN. (AND EASY)

Click on the link above to check it out.

http://www.ew.com/ew/article/quiz/0,6115,492380
_14586580_0_,00.html

The Force is Coming to a Target Near You

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EDITOR'S NOTE: CHECK OUT THE TARGET DOG...WITH A LIGHTSABER! GIGGLE!

On April 2nd, Target unleashes its stash of exclusive Star Wars toys and collectibles --only available for a short time.

For even more Star Wars action, fans can visit Target.com to enter the Star Wars Sweepstakes, discover their Battle Name, get Jedi Mind-Tricked and more.

There are limited quantities, and online and store items may vary.
EDITOR'S NOTE: AT THE TARGET/STAR WARS WEBSITE (SEE LINK,BELOW) THEY ALSO LET YOU CREATE A STAR WARS NAME. HERE'S MINE:

Lady Roskar Brightlittleponies (NOT THAT THIS SHOULD BE A SURPRISE. I'VE SENSED THIS WAS MY NAME, MY REAL NAME, FOR SOME TIME).

http://target.com/target_group/stores_services/starwars.jhtml

THE WORLDS OF EP3, CONTINUED
Revenge of the Sith showcases more planets than any Star Wars film that has come previously, more planets than all the previous Star Wars films combined. The scale of the Star Wars finale is so enormous that it stretches from the heart of the Republic to the wispiest reaches of the Outer Rim.

To better orient yourself in galaxy far, far away, here's a brief introduction to some of the planets to be found in Episode III.

Polis Massa. It's a sign of desperate times if a chaotic asteroid field must become a refuge. Han Solo was forced to hide in the tumbling rocks next to the ice planet Hoth in The Empire Strikes Back. In Revenge of the Sith, it's Jedi fugitives that come to hide at the Polis Massa colony, a remote outpost based in an asteroid field.

More sedate than the deadly storm of debris seen in Episode V, the Polis Massa field serves as a backdrop, not an ingredient in an action set piece. The scenes that take place there are set within a sealed and modern facility, realized as both a practical set during principal photography and a miniature observation dome. Here, we'll meet the Polis Massans, oddly faceless aliens created as computer-generated characters.

Saleucami. During the early development of Episode III, a Clone Wars montage of alien worlds was to start the movie, as seven different battles on seven different planets dissolved from one to another. This direction was abandoned early, but the concept art that explored these planets was re-used for another part of the film.

The arid world of Saleucami, marked by scattered oases of verdant growth, has just fallen to the Republic. Jedi General Stass Allie still patrols the wilderness, looking for pockets of Separatists forces that may be in hiding. In Episode III, we'll see her leading a team of clone troopers on BARC speeder bikes.

Tatooine. No Star Wars fan should need an introduction to this world. Tatooine is at the heart of the saga, being the cradle of the Skywalker family. As is to be expected, the twin-sunned desert planet will once again appear, as will the Lars Homestead moisture farm, as the foundation of the original Star Wars trilogy is laid by the final acts of Episode III. EDITOR'S NOTE: OK. I JUST GOT GOOSEBUMPS. COME ON,FESS UP. YOU DID TOO, RIGHT?!

A trip to Tunisia was not part of the Episode III production itinerary. Plate photography of the Tunisian environment was gathered during the production of Episode II, and was combined with greenscreen footage of the actors involved to bring to saga to a close.

Utapau. The name Utapau has been lurking in the early draft scripts of Star Wars since the mid-1970s. It was first going to be the name of Tatooine in Episode IV. It was then almost the name used for Naboo in Episode I. Now, finally, Writer/Director George Lucas gets to use that name to describe a planet, a new sinkhole world in Episode III.

From the surface, Utapau looks like a flat, windswept world, but get closer, and you soon see that it is riddled with enormous sinkholes. Lining the inner edge of these huge pits are cities. It is in one of these sinkhole cities that General Grievous and the Separatist Council keep their secret headquarters. EDITOR'S NOTE: WELL I GUESS IT AIN'T A SECRET ANY MORE!

Obi-Wan Kenobi voyages to Utapau in a mission to seek out and stop the General, to bring an end to the Clone Wars. Utapau is an entirely synthetic environment. It is a mixture of huge miniatures depicting the sinkhole, walls and building-lined avenues, as well as digital matte paintings. Utapau is home to two native sentient species, as well as a host of loyal and helpful lizard creatures -- like the wall-climbing varactyls and flying dactillions that are both used as mounts.

The Princess Diaries
Carrie Fisher plans ''Star Wars'' tell-all book. She says she kept diaries while filming the original trilogy by Gary Susman

EDITOR'S NOTE: OH MY. I AM A FAN. OF HER SURVIVAL SKILLS, HER WIT, HER ACTING AND WRITING TALENTS. BUT SHE IS SURELY A POSTER CHILD FOR THE DANGERS OF HARD LIVING AND DRUGS. (GIVEN THAT SHE'S ONLY A FEW YEARS OLDER THAN I, AND GIVEN THAT IF I LOOK LIKE THIS A FEW YEARS FROM NOW, SOMEONE SHOULD LOCK ME AWAY FROM PUBLIC VIEW).

LEIA-ING IT OUT THERE Fisher will dish on filming Lucas' ''Star Wars'' trilogy

Now that the Star Wars franchise is winding down, it's apparently safe for Carrie Fisher to dish dirt on what happened behind the scenes during the filming of the original trilogy.

In an interview timed to promote the paperback release in the U.K. of her novel The Best Awful, the actress-author told London's Sunday Telegraph that she's signed a deal to write a tell-all about her experiences shooting the Star Wars movies.

''When I was in Star Wars, I kept diaries. Big books full of what went on, what I thought, what I did,'' said the erstwhile Princess Leia. ''I am going to write them all up as a narrative.''

Fisher didn't say when she would deliver the memoir. ''It will be riveting,'' she said. ''Once I get started, that is. I'm months behind already. What I need to do is put it on my 'To do' list.''

Still, she offered one small bit of dish to the Telegraph. Talking about Leia's famous coif, which Fisher described as ''hairy donuts,'' she said,

''How stupid did I look? But I couldn't complain. They'd made me promise to drop 10 pounds for the film. I failed miserably. So when they asked how I liked the hairstyle, I said: 'Love it, I love it. Great.' Anything to distract them from the fact that I was a bit fat.'' EDITOR'S NOTE: SAD THAT EVEN SHE BUYS INTO THE SEXIST DRIVEL THAT SHE WAS 'FAT' IN ANH. (SHE WAS CURVY, BUT HARDLY FAT).

IN YEARS PAST, SHE HAS SAID NOTHING BUT GOOD...ALBEIT FUNNY/SARCASTIC...THINGS ABOUT HER STAR WARS EXPERIENCES. I WOULD HOPE (AND AM GUESSING) THAT HER DIARIES WILL BE FULL OF SNARKY SHARP OBSERVANCES, BUT STILL FAIRLY RESPECTFUL. (KNOCK WOOD).

ILM March Madness
"These meetings are getting so short now," says Visual Effects Supervisor Roger Guyett, as he finishes explaining a rough comp of a Mustafar sequence to director George Lucas.

It's true; in the home stretch for ILM, the number of completed visual effects shots required per week has dwindled considerably from where we were just a few months ago.

"But these last few have some of the toughest shots," says John Knoll, fellow Episode III VFX Supervisor.

For Knoll's unit of effects artists, these tough shots are mostly centered on Utapau. For Guyett's team, it's Mustafar. For Animation Supervisor Rob Coleman's team... it's over.

"That's it. The animation's done," said Coleman, on March 8th, the day of his last animation review with Lucas. "Well, except for some technical issues that might come up," he clarifies. It was the final piece of animation shown to Lucas for his sign-off. "It all comes down to this," says Coleman.

A plastic-looking gray-skinned rendition of Boss Nass -- not yet painted, not yet lit, not yet fully incorporated into the scene -- walks alongside Jar Jar Binks in a single shot. Though lacking a polished finish, the performance is there, and that's what Lucas examines. He signs off with no fanfare.

Quick, simple, and painless; if anything, de-archiving the 1999 Boss Nass model and getting him ready for a 2005 animation pipeline may have taken more effort than breathing life into his brief cameo.

But back to Guyett's comment about the brevity of these meetings. "Be careful what you wish for," grins Lucas. "There's still the DVD." EDITOR'S NOTE: OH YES YES YES. WE LOOOOVVVVE YOU, UNCLE G!

* * *

Though the review meetings have gotten shorter, the one that kicked off the month of March was exceptionally long.

In February, Lucas was overseas for the ADR and scoring sessions (as reported in previous Post Notes). That didn't mean work stopped at ILM -- there were still weekly review meeting.

Lucas would connect to ILM from London, seeing HD dailies on the small screen. While he approved a lot of finished shots in this format, he was taking things on faith since the screen lacked the size to display all the details.

"I'm going to trust that you guys have put in all that distressing and water stains up on the wall," he would say, for example, examining a Jedi Temple establishing shot. Such fine detail gets lost in the overseas translation.

So, when he was back at the ILM movie theater -- the proper place to be to judge the quality of finished shots -- he re-reviewed several weeks' worth of dailies to make sure they held up on the big screen. It was a fantastic showcase of hundreds of shots.

The ten coolest of the bunch, from where I was sitting:

General Grievous' spiked wheel bike in motion, churning up a rooster tail of dust as it tears through the Utapau street, with a bounding Boga-riding Obi-Wan in hot pursuit.

A true helicopter shot of Coruscant at night -- in the past, establishing shots have been slow swoops towards the targeted building. This instead was a traveling shot, flying down one of the rivers of traffic, capturing the shifting perspective of limitless avenues -- in the animatic of the scene, this was represented with a placeholder helicopter shot of some big American city. The final version captures the feel of such a shot, but on the enormous Coruscant scale. EDITOR'S NOTE: OR AS I LIKE TO CALL IT....HOME.

In the showdown between Grievous and Obi-Wan, there's something we don't often see in Star Wars movies: extreme close-ups of eyes. Like a Sam Peckinpah movie, we get right in the character's face before the fight begins, and that's awfully close for someone as ugly as Grievous.

The crud that fringes the sclera of Grievous' reptilian eyes is intensely detailed; Rick McCallum calls it the "sun dried tomato" look.

Grievous communicating with Darth Sidious via hologram. Lit only by the hazy blue glow of the Sith Lord's hologram, the shadows deepen in the pits and angles of Grievous' death mask.

Establishing shots of the tenth level of Utapau, high near the rim of the sinkhole. There, the Separatists have landed one of their Coreships and it clings to the cliff face.

The dark and spacious Jedi war room, located in the central spire of the Temple. This is different from the smaller amphitheater-style briefing room that was constructed practically in Sydney. This room is dominated by an enormous holographic tank that lights the principal actors in a moody blue. The actor in question, Samuel L. Jackson, definitely has the facial contours to capture such lighting.

An over-the-shoulder shot of Kashyyyk scout trooper clones, wearing camouflaged armor, perched on an enormous branch sniping down at the incoming droids on the lagoon.

An overhead exterior shot of Padmé's apartment , with her standing on her balcony while Anakin leans in the doorframe. Doesn't exactly sound spectacular, but what's amazing about this shot is that only the balcony and frame are practical -- we see the interior of her apartment in the adjacent windows, and it's all miniature, seamlessly integrated with the live action actors.

The base of the Senate rotunda, as the floor irises open and Palpatine's podium extends from the center, rising upwards into the massive Senate chamber. So that's how he gets up there.

The massive rake-like collecting arms on Mustafar's industrial facility wilting under the heat and stresses of the lava sprays. To see such a large structure shudder and convulse definitely captures the volatile danger of this planet's landscape.

Total number of Shots: 2,144Finals: 2,063Final Omits: 192Shots Left to Go: 81

EDITOR'S NOTE: YEP. MORE GOOSEBUMPS.

The Star Wars M-Pire Invades Television

The M-Pire is coming soon to your galaxy, and director Jon Nowak is bringing it to a television near you. EDITOR'S NOTE: IF YOU HAVEN'T YET CHECKED OUT THE ADORABLE TV AD, GO TO THE M&M'S WEBSITE POST-HASTE!

With the debut of the new dark chocolate M&M's this spring, television stations around the world will be airing a new ad campaign that crosses the popular M&M's characters with the Star Wars universe.

Jon Nowak, a 28-year old self-taught director from Minneapolis who grew up on the Star Wars phenomenon, has been charged with cinematically capturing the fall to the dark side--M&M's fall to the dark chocolate side, that is.

To many, Nowak's story may read like the ultimate fanboy pipe dream. Growing up a huge fan of the films and books, his home-grown Star Wars smarts ultimately rewarded him the chance to direct iconic Star Wars personalities within a bona fide Star Wars setting.

Nowak says he owes much of his inspiration to his childhood love for the Star Wars saga. "I've been a fan my entire life," he explains. "I always had all the toys and all the magazines, all the books, everything. I was not only fascinated with the characters but how they created this world as well."

This behind-the-scenes fascination led Nowak to pursue a different form of enthusiasm for Star Wars early on. "I started out my career thinking that I was going to be a model builder at ILM. It wasn't until I got to the university and took my first film series class that I realized, wait a minute, I've been a director my whole life. What am I doing building models?"

Resolving to direct instead, Nowak decided to teach himself the technical aspects of the trade while pursuing an English degree in college. Why an English degree instead of film school? Nowak feels an essential aspect of filmmaking is missing from the modern day film school curriculum.

"When Lucas and his whole gang of people went to film school, it was at a time when they were teaching them to be storytellers before they were teaching them to be technically savvy. Now it's to the point where film school is almost a trade school. It's so technical that people are forgetting the fact that you need to tell stories." EDITOR'S NOTE: WE SHOULD KEEP AN EYE OUT FOR THIS GUY...HE'S GOT THE HORSE AND CART IN THE RIGHT ORDER!

Opting to engage the age-old axiom of learning by doing, Nowak began making shorts to get noticed, which earned him small promo and commercial work. Money earned from these in turn funded his own shorts and documentaries, which eventually won him a spot in last year's Sundance Film Festival.

"I've really been jumping back and forth between shorts and medium form and feature film script writing. There's been quite a variety, and my shorts tend to be a bit darker than my commercial work."

Finding Nowak's background and unabashed passion for Star Wars perfectly suited to the task, he was signed on to direct the ad that would finally turn M&M candies to the dark side. Revenge of the Sith would be the perfect backdrop to play against the launch of the dark chocolate M&M's.

Not just any backdrop would do, however. On a soundstage in Buenos Aires, the expansive interior of the soon-to-be-seen Mustafar conference room was exhaustively recreated in full, all the way down to the patterned floor tiles.

"The set designers were just blown away by the amount of information that they had to work with as far as reconstructing this thing," explains Nowak.

For added authenticity, prequel trilogy Director of Photography David Tattersall was even on hand to shoot the footage. Nowak was excited to be working with the Star Wars veteran.

"I understand why George has done as much work with him as he has," explains Nowak. "I mean, he's one of the most charming, collaborative, down to earth guys that I've ever worked with. You look at his body of work and you'd expect a serious ego-maniac to be walking out on set, but that wasn't the case at all. He's very informative and very funny. It was a blast."

Nowak discusses the collaborative effort shared with Tattersall on the shoot.

"When I was picking angles, I would run it by David and ask if this was something in line with what Mr. Lucas would have done for the scene. He'd say, 'Yeah, this is probably the way George would have done it.' To be able to have one degree of separation to someone you've been reading about your entire life is surreal."

Fans will not only get to see an entire Star Wars interior recreated, but also the return of Star Wars' most iconic personality. Darth Vader will return in the commercial, and he wants to bring M&M's to the dark side.

Nowak recalls first seeing the costumed character on set.

"The day before the shoot, we were doing a fitting with Darth Vader, and I had been talking to the actor who plays him beforehand and had kind of gotten to know him a little bit. I really did not anticipate the reaction I was going to have when he walked out on the set as Darth Vader. It was like my childhood immediately erupted up and I was very giddy. The first assistant director was a native Argentinian and he said to me in very broken English 'You are like a kid in a candy store.' And I said, yes, you're absolutely right."

Nowak is confident that fans will recognize the commercial as made by a fan for the fans.

"Unlike the other Star Wars commercials that have come more recently, this one pays the most faith to the language of Star Wars, the world of Star Wars. This is the only one as far as I know that exists within the Star Wars universe. It's kind of a fish-out-of-water story that has a bunch of ridiculous little characters enter this very serious environment. It's funny because there's a lot of little Star Wars inside jokes -- enough to really keep the fans salivating."

The potential for film fans to create works of their own within the medium they so admire has never been greater.

Nowak credits at least part of his success to the ability for him and others to easily access the materials and equipment needed to get their films made. Due in no small part to the digital revolution, Nowak also credits George Lucas, the leading proponent of digital cinema.

"I think that what he's done is create an environment where you can choose your mediums EDITOR'S NOTE: 50 POINTS DEDUCTED. PET PEEVE ALERT. THE PLURAL OF THE WORD MEDIUM IS MEDIA. 'MEDIUMS' (UNLESS YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT MULTIPLE PSYCHICS) IS NOT A WORD. based on your story. I mean, to quote the cliché, you now have watercolors and oils and chalk to choose from instead of just oils. Instead of learning on cruddy 8mm video, now you're learning on DV format so that if your experiment does actually succeed, it's in a legitimate format that can be seen by a wide audience. I've exploited that to no end."

"I don't know who said it," continues Nowak, "but someone said that filmmaking will never be a true art form until it's as accessible and inexpensive as a paper and pen. It's democratizing the art form. It's gotten to the point where you'd have to be fairly inept not to find free editing equipment and free video cameras, etc. There are tons of places you can go where you don't have to pay fees to get access to this equipment and be able to make films. It's on the cusp of revolutionizing the art form."

Jon Nowak represents the new generation of filmmaker who can, for the first time, conceive, shoot, and edit a movie with tools available to virtually everyone. For Star Wars fans with a cinematic glint in their eye, Nowak offers a measure of vindication for those who've been returning to the saga again and again for inspiration.

"It's just amazing that all those thousands of hours spent watching and reading about Star Wars could pay off in this way. I called my parents and said, 'See, all those summers I spent watching Star Wars...they weren't all wasted.'" EDITOR'S NOTE: OH GREAT. NOW MY PARENTS HAVE MORE TO NAG ME ABOUT!

AND CHECK OUT THE ADORABLE LITTLE JEDI M&M GUYS:

OODLES MORE SHOPPING AND TOY INFO....LEADING INTO THE BIG RELEASE THIS SATURDAY. I'LL TRY TO POST IT ALL TOMORROW.

BUT NOW....NAPTIME!!!

NOT Star Wars/yawn....

EDITOR'S NOTE: SINCE THIS IS A BLOG AND NOT, SAY, THE NEW YORK TIMES, WE DON'T REALLY HAVE ANY RESPONSIBILITY TO BE GOOD JOURNALISTS. I MEAN, I DON'T HAVE TO REPORT STUFF IF I DON'T WANT TO.

BUT DARN MY SILLY INTEGRITY. DARN DARN DARN.

SO HERE'S A BUNCH OF STUFF I AM HAVING TROUBLE FOCUSING ON...CAUSE, DUH, IT'S NOT ABOUT STAR WARS. LET'S GET THIS OUT OF THE WAY, AND GET BACK TO THE COOL NEW TOYS AND SUCH!

TELEVISON NEWS:

After 11 years, Dr. Carter takes leave from 'ER'
By Bill Keveney, USA TODAY

It's the end of an ERa.

Noah Wyle, the only ER lead to stay with the hit NBC drama for its 11-year run, will depart as a cast regular in May and return for four episodes in each of the next two seasons.

Noah Wyle received five Emmy nominations for his role as Dr. John Carter on ER.

Wyle's character, Dr. John Carter, will say his goodbye to colleagues at Chicago's County General Hospital in the season finale May 19. EDITOR'S NOTE: HMMMM.... THAT DATE RINGS A BELL FOR SOME OTHER REASON. WHAT COULD IT BE? WHAT COULD IT BE?????

One week earlier, Carter will reunite with his true love, Kem (Thandie Newton), in Paris, producers say. ER (tonight, 9:59 ET/PT) will shoot in the French capital in early April.EDITOR'S NOTE: IT'S BEEN SO LONG SINCE I KEPT UP WITH THE SHOW, I NEVER EVEN SAW KEM. (WHOEVER SHE IS)

Executive producer John Wells says he'll feel the loss personally as well as professionally; he and Wyle, 33, are among just a few people still with the show who worked on the 1994 pilot. Sherry Stringfield, another original, returned as Dr. Susan Lewis in 2001 after a five-year absence.

"It's very sad for me. Noah and I have a lot of history together," Wells says. "He's a wonderful actor and a wonderful man, and it's been great to watch him grow up and get married and have a family."

Wyle, who has received five Emmy nominations for his portrayal of Carter, said last fall that he planned to leave ER when his contract expired at the end of this TV season. But he left the door ajar on whether he would return in some capacity.

Wells says it came down to the actor being interested in other career opportunities and the writers having difficulty finding new story ideas for Carter on a series so focused on character relationships.

ER, which has been renewed through 2007-08, is no longer the ratings juggernaut of Wyle's earlier years, but it remains NBC's most-watched scripted series and performs strongly with advertiser-coveted young adults. CBS' Without a Trace now beats ER in viewers (18.9 million viewers to 16.1 million for the 2004-05 season), but ER leads among ages 18 to 49 (9.8 million to just under 8 million).

Wyle's Carter will be leaving to work with a Doctors Without Borders-type organization, Wells says. In an earlier plotline, Carter and Dr. Luka Kovac (Goran Visnjic) provided medical services in Africa, which is where Carter met Kem, a health administrator who works with AIDS patients. Kem left for Africa early this season, after the couple had a baby boy who died.

Wyle, part of an original cast that included George Clooney, Anthony Edwards and Eriq La Salle, took a six-episode break in fall 2003 to spend time with his wife, Tracy, and baby, Owen.

In December, Wyle starred in an action-adventure film, TNT's The Librarian: Quest for the Spear, which received good reviews and attracted a robust 7 million viewers. It was ad-supported cable's highest-rated movie in households for 2004; a sequel is in development.

Tom Weeks of media buyer Starcom Entertainment says Wyle developed Carter into a strong lead character over the years, but his departure shouldn't significantly harm the ensemble show. "No one wants to see him go, but I think the hospital is what people tune in to watch." EDITOR'S NOTE: NOT SINCE GEORGE CLOONEY AND JULIANNA MARGULIES LEFT. IMHO...

'Nightline's' Koppel will exit ABC in December
Veteran journalist Ted Koppel, the face of "Nightline" for 25 years, will leave ABC when his contract expires in December, the network said Thursday.

"Ted and I have discussed a number of options under which he might have remained at 'Nightline' or in some other capacity at ABC News, but Ted believes this is the right time for him to leave," ABC News president David Westin said in a statement posted on ABC's Web site.

Koppel's retirement comes at a time of big changes in the news departments of the three major new networks.

"Who" Will Continue... But Not with the Good Doctor
The Stage has reported that the BBC has announced it is to recommission the DOCTOR WHO series after its ratings success with the first episode. Six episodes have already been written by Russell Davies and he has even written a Christmas special.

Christopher Eccleston, the ninth incarnation of the good doctor, told The Stage that, "It is a huge responsibility to shoulder and I do not want to be thought of as the Doctor to the exclusion of everything else I do in the future. So I’ll have to think long and hard about it."

Variety reported late in the day Wednesday that Eccleston has completed thirteen episodes of the show and his last appearance is expected to be in a Christmas special. They also stated that Christopher "said he did not want to be typecast as the 900-year-old Time Lord."

The BBC's Jane Tranter stated, "I think Chris is fantastic, but we've still got another 12 episodes to go. People will have to wait and see what happens."

Then late Wed. night the BBC confirmed that Christopher Eccleston has quit as Doctor Who after just one episode of the new series.

Talks are taking place to replace him with David Tennant.

Billie Piper, who plays Dr Who's assistant Rose, is expected to star again.

Eccleston is apparently planning new projects and that he found filming the series gruelling.

The BBC announced on Wednesday that it had commissioned the second Doctor Who series, which will again feature 13 episodes. EDITOR'S NOTE: DR. WHO IS SUCH A HIP THING....HIP, VIS-A-VIS DWEEBING, AT ANY RATE...THAT SOME DAY I REALLY MUST GET INTO IT. (BEING THE HIP, HAPPENIN, QOTD THAT I AM?)

Steve Bochco Brings TV War to TV
A female soldier in fatigues stands at a phone booth, starkly framed against a clean, white U.S. Army barracks, fretting over her imminent deployment to Iraq.

“I know I’m going to get killed,” she says, nervously fingering the phone cord. “I’ve seen those faces on Nightline. Every one of ’em’s me.”

The comment comes early in the one-hour pilot episode of Over There, the scripted TV show about the Iraq war scheduled to air on the FX Channel in July. The soldier on the phone—nicknamed “ Mr. B” and played by Nicki Aycox—is referring to the April 2004 special from ABC News that showed the faces of the then-500-plus soldiers who had perished in Iraq. At the time, some offended affiliates pre-empted the program.

“The media, arguably, has a greater role in communicating the realities of this war than ever before, and, consequently, is an important element of the conflict,” wrote Over There producer Steve Bochco via e-mail, while vacationing in Hawaii.EDITOR'S NOTE: OF COURSE, IT SEEMS LIKE THEY'VE PRETTY MUCH ABROGATED THAT RESPONSIBILITY, BUT MAYBE THAT'S JUST ME......

The nearly completed version of the pilot, screened this week by The Observer, owes a heavy debt to the woozy, muted visuals of Steven Spielberg’s Greatest Generation epic, Saving Private Ryan—but with its boilerplate foxhole drama of men in combat modernized with the addition of a couple of women, speed-metal music and references to Abu Ghraib.

To depict contemporary warfare on television, Mr. Bochco and his characters had to address the impact of TV itself on perceptions of the war.

“Were we not to acknowledge the fact of Al Jazeera, CNN, satellite communication, e-mail, etc., and the way in which it permeates all aspects of the conflict, we wouldn’t be painting a realistic portrait of the environment,” Mr. Bochco explained.

Mr. Bochco, the veteran TV producer behind Hill Street Blues and NYPD Blue, has said he wants his war drama to hew as closely to reality as possible while avoiding the appearance of bias.

In a war that isn’t finished—let alone settled in history—it’s hard not to be seen as taking sides. Nightline host Ted Koppel sought neutrality when he aired the names and faces of the war dead, a concept he told The Observer at the time was a “Rorschach test.” The program, Mr. Koppel said then, was partly “a reflection of what [viewers] bring to it.”

Chris Gerolmo, the writer and director of Over There, said he had a similar approach to making his fictional version of the war. “We’re just going to try to be as straightforward and realistic as we possibly can,” Mr. Gerolmo said, “and let the audience decide what to do about that.” EDITOR'S NOTE: THIS WOULD SEEM TO BE A VERY TOUGH LINE TO WALK. I MEAN, IT'S STILL GOING ON, AND IT'S NOT LIKE YOU CAN GET ANY CLARIFYING DISTANCE FROM IT, HUH? (NOT THAT DEPTH OF THOUGHT OR EDIFICATION IS THE NORM ON TV, BUT STILL.....)

The pilot’s setup—looking at the war and its moral quandaries through the eyes of a handful of young soldiers in a single platoon—inherently tips its sympathies toward the U.S. military. Iraqi insurgents are largely faceless, spending their fragmentary airtime running around and getting killed in large numbers. EDITOR'S NOTE: UGH. JUST WHAT WE NEED, MORE JINGOISTIC ONE-SIDED, ONE-DIMENSIONAL PROPAGANDA.

“We came to kick your ass!” a particularly gung-ho soldier named Bo screams during a chaotic gun battle.

The young grunts are seen in all their elements: having sex, shooting off weapons, getting shot at (and, less often, shot), and musing on the gory death they witness—and in every case, cause.

In one instance, an Arab insurgent’s legs keep on ghoulishly walking after his top half is blown off by a rocket, his glistening guts poking out of what’s left of his torso. Another is seen through a rifle scope as he takes a bullet in the head. Later, the U.S. soldiers examine their handiwork up close, their moral questioning reduced to stunned muteness.

Meanwhile, the explicit interpretations of the news media are never far away. In another scene, the world-weary squadron commander, dug in behind a dirt barricade, schools the “virgin” soldiers who’ve just arrived on why they can’t attack a group of insurgents holed up in a mosque. “Al Jazeera has a cameraman in there!” the commander yells at a soldier who’s about to fire. Explaining that they’re essentially in a battle for public relations, the commander asks bitterly: “Does that sound like war to you?”

The Iraqis are also aware of TV-news imagery, as when captured insurgents cry out indignantly, “You will take me to Abu Ghraib!”

“I take my clothes off now!” spits another, as the standard TV film stock flashes to cable-news-style Betacam video.

Even that scene has the effect of drawing sympathy for the soldiers, who are portrayed as too confused to be blamed for what they’re involved in.

In individual vignettes, during intimate “getting to know you” conversations between soldiers, each of the characters talks about their lives back home as, say, high-school quarterback or aspiring singer, as if in an “Army of One” recruitment ad.

That’s soon followed by a jump-cut scene in which those same soldiers stand dazed after a bloody gun battle, or after a roadside bomb has blown off a cohort’s leg, leaving a mushy pile of blood and muscle tissue.

The back-and-forth approach echoes coverage of the actual Iraq conflict, which has generally toggled between two different wars’ visual and narrative vocabularies: the patriotic righteousness of World War II or the tragic senselessness of Vietnam.

Mr. Gerolmo said Over There’s look draws heavily from films about both of those conflicts: Steven Spielberg’s World War II movie Saving Private Ryan and Stanley Kubrick’s Vietnam flick, Full Metal Jacket.

“You can look at the first 25 minutes of Saving Private Ryan, if you want to stage a battle,” said Mr. Gerolmo, referring to the multiple filters, film stocks and handheld cameras used to shoot those scenes. “Every single possible technique you can use, they used. We watched that religiously. For the base back at home, we watched Full Metal Jacket.”EDITOR'S NOTE: THAT SAYS A LOT, RIGHT THERE. THEY DIDN'T STUDY ACTUAL HISTORY TO MAKE THIS, THEY STUDIED FILM HISTORY. TYPICAL, MYOPIC, HOLLYWOOD MIND-SET.

He said the clean, square shots of Army bases were based on the Kubrick film.

“Those two models were very, very large in our minds,” he said.

But because the war remains undecided and ambiguous, Mr. Gerolmo said the story line remained something new. “We’re sort of launching ourselves in slightly less well-trod terrain, story-wise,” he said.

Mr. Bochco said he has never been a war-movie buff, and he insisted that Over There wasn’t inspired by other war dramas, even if it used their visual cues. Specifically, he aimed to deflect political readings of the program.

“I don’t see Over There as either a World War II-style drama or a Vietnam-style drama,” he wrote. “It’s its own piece, reflective more of the human drama of men and women in harm’s way, than it is a political piece making value judgments about the righteousness of this conflict. The fact that some may see it one way and others another way is, to my way of thinking, illustrative of the fact that the show is aggressively non-political in its tone.”

Mr. Gerolmo felt that by focusing exclusively on the moral quandaries of soldiers, they would avoid the political undercurrents altogether.

“What’s changed since Vietnam, it seems to me, is even people who are against the war seem to have substantial sympathy for the people who are fighting it,” he said. “That’s really a big change from Vietnam …. [I]f you’re interested in these soldiers and you can work up some sympathy for their stories, then regardless of how you feel about American policy, which is formulated by altogether different people than the people we’re writing about, you can watch this show.”

John Landgraf, who became president of the FX Channel in early 2004, said that it is possible to fictionalize the ongoing war in part because the press has already had a chance to give its take.

“I think there’s an accelerating pace with which we sort of metabolize and contextualize things,” he said. “Journalists, I think, are the first line of contextualizing historical events. But journalists have had a couple of years now. I really honestly think it’s time for the next wave, which are the writers and artists.”EDITOR'S NOTE: THAT'S A BS WAY OF SAYING THAT IN AN ERA WHERE KNOWLEDGE AND CONTEXT HAVE BECOME IRRELEVANT, FROWNED UPON, ALMOST, HOLLYWOOD HAS AS GOOD A SPIN AS ANYONE ELSE.

In the same breath, Mr. Landgraf said making things ultra-realistic was the only way to avoid casting political judgment. “Making it not real is in some way editorializing, is it not?” he said. “Isn’t the whole point of making a show that is dramatically honest and fair as possible to make it as real as possible? Making it unreal is hedging your bets.” EDITOR'S NOTE: OF COURSE, SO IS SHOWING ONLY ONE SIDE OF THE CONFLICT AND NOT GETTING ANY UNDERSTANDING OF THE MANY SIDES AND THEIR VIEWS.

Hired in 2004, Mr. Landgraf has been tasked with continuing the transition of the FX Channel from a backwater for M*A*S*H reruns into a place for dense, realistic, quasi-HBO dramas about cops, firemen and soldiers (The Shield, Rescue Me, Over There, respectively). The network has another hit in Nip/Tuck, about the lives of Los Angeles-based plastic surgeons.

Mr. Bochco, an avid watcher of CNN, said the creators didn’t draw directly on cable news coverage in conceiving the show. But the pilot has entire scenes that are largely familiar from TV news reportage. One is a night sequence shot entirely in green-hued night-vision, reminiscent of the first Special Forces raid; another is shot entirely in orange, presumably during the sandstorm that struck while U.S. troops approached Baghdad in 2003.

“As a director, you want to use the jiggly cameras and flat light that the TV guys use,” said Mr. Gerolmo. “So it looks real, so it looks to Americans like the footage they’ve seen of Iraq. Other than that, the raw TV news doesn’t have the time to do anything in depth and we’re doing something else.”

What defines the show against depictions of war in past TV shows—and the last fictional TV show about war appeared in 13 years, when ABC broadcast China Beach—is that characters who suffer horrible injuries will continue their broken lives in subsequent episodes.
Mr. Gerolmo recalled a 1962 TV series called Combat!, directed by Robert Altman, in which injured characters simply disappeared.

“If you got hurt in Combat!, you were out of the show,” said Mr. Gerolmo. “And this is a show about the war and the human consequences of the war on people involved directly and people tangentially involved. And once you do that, you’re doing a different kind of show on television, because they don’t have that.”

Mr. Gerolmo predicted that the show’s ratio of scenes set at home versus scenes set in combat in Iraq would eventually amount to about 50-50.

For Saving Private Ryan, Mr. Spielberg has said he injected his own conscience about war through the character of Corporal Upham, the intellectual, knock-kneed typist too afraid to kill the enemy until the very end. In Over There, a version of that character, nicknamed “Dim,” waxes poetic on the consequences of war on man’s soul.

“We’re savages,” he says. “We’re thrilled to kill each other. We’re monsters. And war is what unmasks us.”

Then he concludes: “But there’s a kind of honor in it, too. A kind of grace. I guess if I’m a monster it’s my privilege to be one.”EDITOR'S NOTE: OH. RIGHT. THIS IS GOING TO BE A SUBTLE, INCITEFUL TAKE ON THE WHOLE THING. URP.

But just as the show seems to fall on the side of American honor in war, it veers back to a more severe reality, especially with the bloody conclusion to the pilot, which The Observer agreed not to disclose.

Mr. Gerolmo said directing the Iraq war drama on sets in Southern California had affected his views on war. But it was also exciting to make war pictures.

“It made me feel horrible about the idea of war,” he said, but “at the same time, directing shows about war is really fun. When nobody gets hurt—that’s exciting. It’s really a charge. It’s really an adolescent fun-filled day to blow up a truck. Blowing up stuff when nobody gets hurts, that’s exciting.” EDITOR'S NOTE: AND THEN HE GOT A LATTE AND A SCONE AND FORGOT ALL ABOUT IT! FAR OUT, MAN! (SIGH.....)

As for real-life war, he added: “It’s so sad that we end up using this as a tool of foreign policy. It seems like the last choice to me.” EDITOR'S NOTE: RAISE YOUR HAND IF YOU THINK HE EVEN REMEMBERS TO VOTE?!

DA MOUSE BIZ

EDITOR'S NOTE: THE FRERES WEINSTEIN HAVE BEEN IN THE PROCESS OF SEPARATING FROM UNCLE WALT FOR SO LONG, IT'S HARD TO BELIEVE IT IS ONLY NOW REALLY HAPPENING!

Dis, Weinsteins are done

After a prolonged, monthslong negotiation, Bob and Harvey Weinstein and the Walt Disney Studios announced Tuesday that they are ending their 12-year exclusive relationship, under which the Weinsteins ran Miramax Films. The divorce was characterized as a "mutual agreement" and culminated what Disney Studios chairman Dick Cook called a "long and arduous process," which he insisted "was always amicable."

"While it's always hard to leave behind the company named after our parents, Miriam and Max," Harvey Weinstein said, "we are hitting the ground running,"EDITOR'S NOTE: WELL, AS CLOSE TO RUNNING AS HE AND HIS TUBBY BRO EVER GET. as he and his brother prepare to launch a new company with ambitious plans to release 15-20 films in its first year. Disney shares rose 45 cents to close at $28.35 in Wednesday trading.

Miramax duo form new media posse
HARVEY and Bob Weinstein, the Hollywood impresarios behind Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill, are close to raising as much as $1 billion (£530 million) to hatch a new media group that will be advised by the actors Robert Redford and Paul Newman.

The Weinstein brothers, whose exit from The Walt Disney Company was sealed this week, are seeking to raise between $350 million and $500 million from outside investors and as much as $500 million more in debt to finance the new company.

Among their long-term plans are the launch of a movie cable channel and the production of Broadway shows adapted from some of the films they produced as founders and co-chairmen of Disney’s Miramax film unit.

The Weinsteins, who will leave Disney formally when their contract expires in September, are expected to inject some of the estimated $130 million they will receive from their settlement with the company.

They have hired Goldman Sachs to help to raise the rest of the money and formed an advisory board that includes media investment banker Steven Rattner, Paul Tudor Jones, the billionaire hedge fund manager, and James Dolan, the chief executive of Cablevision, the US cable operator.

Paul Newman and Robert Redford, who starred in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, are acting as advisers along with Dirk Ziff, the billionaire media heir. Hollywood directors including Quentin Tarantino, Anthony Minghella and Kevin Smith are already making films for the start-up venture.

The Weinsteins plan to release between 15 and 20 films a year, some of which will be coproduced with Disney. But Harvey Weinstein said that the new company would be “a fully integrated media company” with reach into publishing and the internet.

EDITOR'S NOTE: AND LOOK...STUFF ABOUT DISNEY THAT ISN'T ABOUT SNARKY BIZ DEALS!
SNOW IN THE AIR: The art of "Bambi" is breathtaking.
Walt Disney's 1942 masterpiece, "Bambi," with its circle of life, its precise depiction of the wild, its heroism, tragedy, and message of hope, is already among the most innovative and enduring films of all time. But now, past and future collide as a crack team of computer and animation experts, using state-of-the-art technology, have digitally restored "Bambi"'s 110,000 frames to a new brilliance, one at a time.

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And that's only the beginning. The Special Edition double DVD set has an equally enhanced soundtrack, so the film's music flows from the speakers with new clarity. Whether you have a fancy home theater or not, you're in for quite a show.

Start by watching "Inside Walt's Story Meetings," one of many bonus features (which include deleted scenes, games, and a look back at what was happening the year "Bambi" was released).

Andy Siditsky, senior vice president of DVD productions for Disney, is particularly excited about the story-meeting feature, which uses the copious stenographer notes taken at the time to reenact scenes inside the "Bambi" story room.

"Imagine," he says, "sitting in on a story meeting for 'Bambi' with Walt and his team, including two of the famous Nine Old Men."

The reenactment by voice actors is played over the running film, and serves as the DVD's audio commentary feature.

"[Viewers] will hear how Walt articulated his vision and how the team made decisions -- and then marvel at how close the original vision is to the final product."

Donnie Dunagan, who supplied the voice of the young Bambi, was no stranger to the studio back then. Though only five when "Bambi" was made, Dunagan was already a pro, having appeared in seven movies, such as 1939's "Son of Frankenstein."

But The Walt Disney Studio was something special. Now 70, the retired 25-year veteran of the United States Marine Corps looks back fondly on his time with Walt.

"I met Mr. Disney on the second or third day," Dunagan recalls. "I remember the big smile, the gentle voice, but mostly I remember his presence. I got to see him every day with the 'drawing men,' which is what I called the artists who worked on the picture. He was more of a coach than a boss. You paid attention to him, but in a relaxed way. I remember him bouncing his fingers in the air to demonstrate a deer prancing, and then watching the drawing men bring it to life. There was no script to memorize -- they just told me what to say. 'Okay, Donnie, now speak these words like you're afraid. Speak these like you're happy.' Those gentlemen were so much fun to work with, always laughing, playing tricks. I used to smuggle in a water gun -- we all had a blast."

NATURE SHOW: After a spring rain interrupts hisnap time, Bambi watches a stream pick up speed.

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As for the harrowing scene where Bambi loses his mother, the young Dunagan was stunned.

"It surprised me. I didn't know it was in the film until I saw it on the screen. So sad," he recalls. "But then Bambi's father steps in, leads him to safety, and I remember thinking, 'Wow, things can get pretty bad but you still pick yourself up and keep going.' You can recover from loss." Dunagan regrets that after he grew up he did not meet Disney again. "The courage he had, his sensitivity toward animals, the message he gave us in 'Bambi.' I've never forgotten it."

ODDS-N-ENDS

TWC to test Startover this year

Time Warner Cable expects to test its planned Startover service this year in Columbia, S.C., chairman and CEO Glenn Britt said here Wednesday.

Plans for the service -- which would allow TV viewers to run back to the beginning of any program currently airing, providing a function similar to that of video-on-demand or digital video recorders -- first became known late last year.

While many hurdles remain, TWC is making "good progress" on the service, Britt said at a Banc of America Securities investor conference.

EDITOR'S NOTE: AND HERE'S SOMETHING JUST FOR LOTR-OBSSESSIVE (AND DWEEBPAL) JERRY P.
Lord of the Rings: Lothlorien Action Figure Gift Pack
PRICE: $29.99
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Description:
The Lord of the Rings Lothlorien Gift Pack is a set of 4 action figures which all come in a single gift pack. This gift pack includes three previously released figures ( Frodo, Aragorn and Galadriel) and two that are exclusive to this gift pack (Haldir and Celeborn). Each action figure is an official Toy Biz Lord of The Rings 6-inch action figure. (Subject to change.)

Regal, AMC join forces

In a move that will unite the two largest U.S. theater chains' fastest-growing business, Regal Entertainment Group and AMC Entertainment announced Tuesday that they are combining their two cinema screen advertising businesses into a new joint venture called National CineMedia Llc.

The deal already has closed and will not be subject to regulatory approval.

The combined company's national distribution now will reach 11,200 screens and will comprise 36% of the national boxoffice, according to Nielsen EDI.

The new company still will be smaller than industry leader Screevision, which operates cinema advertising on 16,000 screens in the United States.

Combining the operations of Regal CineMedia, Regal's media subsidiary, and National Cinema Network, AMC's cinema advertising subsidiary, National CineMedia will focus on cinema advertising and promotions in addition to business communications and training services and the distribution of digital alternative content. EDITOR'S NOTE: THE MOVIE AD BIZ HAS BEEN A RED-HEADED STEP-CHILD FOR FAR TOO LONG. IT'S A WONDER ANYONE EVEN NOTICED IT TO TRY TO FIX IT. BUT CONSOLIDATION IS A STEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION. IMHO....

NOW....MAYBE WE CAN GET BACK TO THE STAR WARS STUFF SOON!? (PHEW....INTEGRITY AT SUCH A PRICE, EH?)

Not Star Wars....BUT Harry Potter (which is right UP there with Star Wars,eh?)!

EDITOR'S NOTE: THANK YOU DWEEBPAL PLANOKEVIN FOR SENDING THIS ALONG! (THIS WOULD BE ABOUT THE ONLY DWEEBNEWSITEM THAT COULD DISTRACT ME FROM MY FULL-BORE STAR WARS OBSESSION RIGHT NOW).

Bells and whistles for new Potter book
NEW YORK (AP) -- You already know a new Harry Potter bookEDITOR'S NOTE: YES YES YES YES YES!!!! is coming this summer. Here are some bells and whistles.

First, expect enough books out there to fill all of Hogwarts.

Scholastic, Inc., the U.S. publisher of J.K. Rowling's fantasy series, has announced a first printing of 10.8 million copies of "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," the largest such printing for a hardcover release in this country.

The previous record holder was "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," which came out in 2003 with a first run of 8.5 million.

"We have worked very closely with all of our accounts to anticipate the level of demand for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,"' Scholastic Children's Books president Barbara Marcus said Wednesday in a statement. "Once again, we are hearing from our accounts that the pre-orders are phenomenal."EDITOR'S NOTE: NOW THAT WE'VE FINALLY GOT DWEEBPALS JOEL AND SAMANTHA OVER TO THE POTTER-SIDE, THAT'S TWO MORE BOOKS RIGHT THERE!

"Half-Blood Prince" has topped the best seller lists of Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.com ever since its release was announced in December.

To make sure that nobody could miss the book's arrival, EDITOR'S NOTE: SMIRK..Scholastic also announced Wednesday a range of marketing gimmicks, including a Harry Potter crossword puzzle in The New York Times in July,EDITOR'S NOTE: I MIGHT FINALLY DO ONE IN PEN! promotional spots on the Times Square billboard, Google ads and video commercials on domestic flights of Continental Airlines and American Airlines.

Bookstores already are planning their traditional parties to mark the midnight, July 16 publication of "Half-Blood Prince," the sixth of seven planned books. EDITOR'S NOTE: SAMANTHA, I THINK WE GET BACK FROM NORTH CAROLINA JUST IN TIME TO GO STRAIGHT TO BORDERS AND MEET UP WITH ANDREW AND ODDBOB! (LIFE SURE IS GOOD, EH?)!

Worldwide sales have topped 250 million for the fantasy series, which has been translated into 62 languages.

Wednesday, March 30, 2005

At LAST/Wednesday STARWARSSTARWARSSTARWARS

EDITOR'S NOTE: I'M WEARING MY PRINCESS LEIA PALACEWEAR T-SHIRT. I CAN'T HOLD IT IN ANY MORE. MUST POST STAR WARS ITEMS. SIMPLY MUST!

Lucasfilm: TV is Next for Star Wars
As Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith looms on the horizon, the folks at Lucasfilm are starting to talk a bit about the future of the franchise beyond the final movie. Of course, part of that future has been rumored in recent months to include some kind of TV presence, and now the company is acknowledging that fact. EDITOR'S NOTE: GIDDY JOY. JUMPING UP AND DOWN. (A LITTLE BIT OF DROOLING, EVEN).

“We are looking into all kinds of things for the future,” Steve Sansweet, Lucasfilm’s Director of Content Management and Fan Relations, recently told Now Playing Magazine. “We’re looking for television clearly: Animation [and] we are looking into live action television.” EDITOR'S NOTE: MORE JUMPING!

What kind of live action television, be it an ongoing series or some kind of TV movies, Sansweet wouldn’t say. What is clear, though, is that Star Wars will continue well beyond the release of Sith on May 19th. EDITOR'S NOTE: HUZZAH HUZZAH! NO NEED TO SCROUNGE AROUND AND TRY TO GET A LIFE. WHOOHOOO!!!!

“Certainly with LucasArts we are looking into interactive games; not only the kinds of things that are there now, but as technology progresses we’re looking at what direction that can go,” Sansweet continues. “We’re also continuing to see how we can expand Lucas Online in various ways.”

The bottom line? Star Wars – just like the ghost of Obi-Wan – isn’t going anywhere.

“We will keep Star Wars alive and well as long as there is an audience, which we think is an indefinite horizon,” he says. EDITOR'S NOTE: OH YEAH, BABY!!

Digital Episode 3 Different to Film Version
The May issue of Empire Magazine has a quote from Rick McCallum on the digital version of 'Revenge of the Sith' (Pg 78):

"The digital version of the movie will be different from the version that goes out on film. That has to be locked down so much earlier, whereas the digital can go right up to a week-and-a-half before the film comes out"

The digital version of 'Attack of the Clones' was also different to the version that came out on film, the most notable difference being Padme holding Anakin's mechanical hand during the wedding scene.

But will this digital version of 'Revenge of the Sith' be longer than the version on film, perhaps as a reward to theaters that have upgraded to digital projecters, and fans who choose to see the movie in a digital theater. Time will tell. EDITOR'S NOTE: AND ARE THERE ANY ANY ANY THEATERS IN THE GREATER HOUSTON AREA WITH DIGITAL PROJECTION CAPABILITY? WHIMPER???

4th Annual Star Wars Fan Film Awards Voting Begins
In a joint press release, LucasFilm and AtomFilms have announced that the finalists for the 4th Annual Star Wars Fan Film Awards have been posted.

Let the voting begin ...Good luck to TFN FanFilms Staff John Hudgens and all the finalists. The winners will be announced at Celebration III in Indianapolis.

EDITOR'S NOTE: THE FILMS RANGE FROM ABOUT 1 MINUTE TO ABOUT 12 MINUTES IN LENGTH. MOST OF THEM ARE ABOUT 3-5 MINUTES. AND SOME OF THEM ARE QUITE GOOD. CHECK IT OUT AT THE LINK BELOW. (AND FOR YOU MUSICAL THEATER DWEEBS...CHECK OUT "ONE SEASON MORE"....."JEKYLL AND HYDE" MEET STAR WARS. I THINK IT'S MY FAVORITE).

http://www.atomfilms.com/af/content/love_of_the_film

Entertainment Weekly's 6 Star Wars Covers
The next issue of Entertainment Weekly will feature 6 Star Wars covers, one for each of the Star Wars movies. EDITOR'S NOTE: THE HECK WITH NOT BEING FULLY-EMPLOYED....MUST HAVE ALL SIX!!!!

Six Times The EntertainmentOver the years, Entertainment Weekly has gone out of its way to support our favourite little space opera, and to celebrate the end of an era, they are hooking us up in the best way possible: Six fantastic covers!

Inside the special issue(s) readers will find the ‘What’s Your Star Wars IQ?’ quiz, EDITOR'S NOTE: HOPE I SCORE WELL (TITTER) as well as what is bound to be a great cover story.

Whether you are a completist or just like getting a choice,EDITOR'S NOTE: UMMM...WHICH WHICH??? there is little doubt that there will be something cool for you to pick out of the magazine rack next week.

The covers feature:

· Darth Maul (I)
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EDITOR'S NOTE: HELLO, ODDBOB! ARE YOU MY FRIEND?

· Yoda (II)
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· Anakin (III)
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· Han Solo (IV)
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EDITOR'S NOTE: HI, HONEY. REMEMBER WHEN YOU WEREN'T A GEEZER?!

· Darth Vader (V)
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· Princess Leia (VI)
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EDITOR'S NOTE: MUST DIET IMMEDIATELY!

The magazine also features a Great American Pop Culture Quiz with a few Star Wars questions
EDITOR’S NOTE: SEND ME EWS!!! (WHAT DAY DOES EW COME OUT EACH WEEK?)

RotS Meets Free Comic Book Day
Free Comic Book Day is approaching once again, and this year Dark Horse is doing it in style: look for an all-new Anakin/Obi-Wan yarn that ties into the beginning of Episode III (because there just isn't enough going on in that month already), written by RotS adaptation scribe Miles Lane and drawn by Nicola Scott. And did I mention it's free? EDITOR'S NOTE: OF COURSE, THEY NEGLECT TO MENTION THE DATE. MAY 7TH. FYI.....

Head to FreeComicBookDay.com for more details.

Star Wars Reunion Courtesy Dark Horse Comics

With only a few months left in the Clone Wars, Dark Horse hosts an Expanded Universe reunion this week with Star Wars: Republic #74 and Star Wars: Obsession #4.

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The countdown to Episode III continues...

Anakin Skywalker. Obi-Wan Kenobi. Mace Windu. Saesee Tiin. Plo Koon. Ki-Adi-Mundi. A'sharad Hett. Agen Kolar. Kit Fisto. Oppo Rancisis, Quinlan Vos. K'kruhk. Jeisel. Aayla Secura. Tholme. Count Dooku. Sora Bulq. Skorr. Bok. Murgukai clones. Anzati assassins. EDITOR'S NOTE: ANZATI ASSASSINS ROCK! Khaleen Hentz. General Grievous. Asajj Ventress. Bail Organa. ARC Trooper Alpha. Commander Bly. Oddball. Sagoro Autem. Adi Gallia. Soon Bayts. Ausar Auset.

If you don't recognize these names, then you haven't been reading the Star Wars comic books from Dark Horse!

All storylines come together in preparation for Revenge of the Sith and fans of the Expanded Universe can get in on the action with two comics out this week.

First up is Star Wars: Republic #74 by John Ostrander, Jan Duursema, Dan Parsons, and Brad Anderson. "Siege of Saleucami" features the "Reps" vs. the "Seps" with an entire new clone army of Murgukai clones trained by Anzati assassins!

It's up to the Jedi to stop them, and they've assembled a large attack force to stop this new threat.

Meanwhile, Quinlan Vos continues his plan to track down and take out the second Sith Lord.

With the return of many supporting characters from the past few years, plus vehicles from Revenge of the Sith, this issue also includes a brand-new character based on a member of the Dark Horse forums!

Over in Star Wars: Obsession #4, Haden Blackman, Brian Ching, and Sno Cone Studios keep the party going with a virtual who's who of Star Wars characters. Obi-Wan's obsession over finding Asajj Ventress has led him to the graveyard planet of Boz Pity where the Seps are building a large armada of warships.

So the Jedi have gathered together to investigate...and find themselves face-to-face with General Grievous!

This issue also includes many supporting and background characters (including one whose name you won't believe), and features a surprise (but not really) ending.

If you've been reading the Clone Wars comic books all along, you'll get a kick out of seeing so many familiar faces who are all back for one last hurrah before the end of the Prequel Trilogy. If you haven't been reading, then run out to your local comic store and pick these up, and hunt down the back issues. You'll be glad you did. EDITOR'S NOTE: YES, YES YOU WILL. THE EU IS DA BOMB!

EDITOR'S NOTE: AND NOW, MORE IN OUR CONTINUING TALE OF STUFF TO BUY!!

Celebrate The Saga
With epic offers from Kellogg's! If you haven't been to the grocery store lately you might be missing out on some cool collectibles. EDITOR'S NOTE: WHEN I WAS SHOPPING AT TARGET THE OTHER DAY, I WAS MORE EXCITED ABOUT THE CEREAL AISLE THAN THE TOY AISLE. (I'VE ALREADY SENT AWAY FOR A R2D2 COOKIE JAR FROM KELLOGG'S/KEEBLER)!

KUDOS, AND THE MASTER LIST (TO-DATE)
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CEREAL AND POP TARTS
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EGGOS AND CHEEZITS
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SKITTLES
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THE FRITOLAY FAMILY
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Kellogg's has several promotions going on with many of their food products. You can get saber spoons, EDITOR'S NOTE: I GOT MY FIRST SABERSPOON MONDAY. VERY COOL!Episode I on DVD, card game, saga poster, R2-D2 bowl, Darth Vader voice changer, FX plate, Episode III poster or three different cookie jars!

Each offer involves sending in an order form, a few UPC's and a check for a few bucks!

Click here http://www.kelloggs.com/promotions/starwars/index.shtml for the official Kellogg's Star Wars promotional website, where you can read up on all the details and see images of the special products offered EDITOR’S NOTE: KELLOGS CEREAL, KELLOGS FRUIT SNACKS, KELLOGS POP TARTS, KEEBLER COOKIES. SEND ME UPC CODES! (YOUR QOTD IS GREEDY. BUT SHE ALSO DOESN'T WANT TO EAT ALL THIS JUNK. BUT YOU ARE ALL SKINNY, RIGHT? SO YOU EAT IT AND SEND ME THE PACKAGE!)

GIGGLE.....

Pepsi Turns To The Force And The Dark Side
Pepsi Turns To The Force And The Dark Side for STAR WARS: EPISODE III Revenge of the Sith Promotions

STAR WARS' BELOVED YODA LEADS PEPSI ONLINE SWEEPSTAKES WITH MORE THAN $1 MILLION IN PRIZES UP FOR GRABS

Darth Dew Slurpee to be Available at Participating 7-Eleven® Stores for Limited TimePURCHASE, N.Y. - March 24, 2005 -

In conjunction with the highly-anticipated May 19, 2005 release of Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith, Pepsi-Cola North America today announced that it will run an online promotion and a new Diet Pepsi commercial, both centered around everyone's favorite Jedi Master-Yoda.

In addition, Pepsi will partner with 7-Eleven, Inc. to offer Darth Dew Slurpee and four limited-edition 3-D cups at participating stores nationwide.EDITOR'S NOTE: ADDING 7-ELEVEN TO PLACES I NORMALLY NEVER GO AND NOW NEED TO FIND....

"Call Upon Yoda"Beginning April 18, Pepsi drinkers and Star Wars fans have three ways to play the "Call Upon Yoda" instant-win sweepstakes -- online, by phone, or by text messaging -- to see if they've won one of ten $100,000 grand prizes.

Other prizes include Star Wars toys and games from Hasbro and Lego and free 2-liter bottles of Pepsi Lime.

The sweepstakes will also bring fans closer to their favorite characters, Yoda, Darth Vader, C3PO and R2-D2 via unique Web-based interactive games and phone and text messaging programs.

Here's how the "Call Upon Yoda" sweepstakes works:
1. Get a code featured on 12 or 24-packs of Pepsi, Diet Pepsi, Caffeine Free Diet Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Diet Mountain Dew or Sierra Mist.

2. Register at www.calluponyoda.com.

3. Enter your code via phone, online or by text messaging.

4. If Yoda responds, then Yoda will tell you which prize you may have won. If you are not a winner, either Darth Vader or C3PO and R2-D2 will let you know that you should try again.

Yoda will encourage fans to achieve success via the Jedi Training Games and the Intergalactic Translator at the www.calluponyoda.com Web site.

New Diet Pepsi Commercial
Yoda also stars in a new Diet Pepsi commercial called "Jedi Mind Trick."

The spot is scheduled to begin airing in May and features the same award-winning special effects that ILM creates for Star Wars.

Set in a diner, Yoda sits at the counter and uses the Force to try to get a Diet Pepsi to drink with his meal.

A special appearance by the famous wookiee, Chewbacca, ends the spot with typical Pepsi humor.

The commercial was created by BBDO New York.

Darth Dew Slurpee
On the dark side, Darth Dew Slurpee will be available at participating 7-Eleven stores nationwide during the month of May.

Introduced last summer, Mountain Dew Pitch Black is the popular limited-edition soda that combines the great taste of Mountain Dew with a blast of black grape flavor.

Darth Dew Slurpee is modeled after Mountain Dew Pitch Black and will be served in four different Episode III collectible 3-D cups with lids shaped like the head of Darth Vader. EDITOR'S NOTE: WELL THESE SOUND LIKE MUST-HAVES, EH? (ALTHOUGH THE SLURPEE THING PUTS ME INTO SUGAR-SHOCK JUST READING ABOUT IT!)

"Revenge of the Sith is already the most talked-about movie of the year, and Yoda is one of the most beloved movie characters of all time,EDITOR'S NOTE: FOR A CHARACTER THAT MOSTLY NAGS THRU 6 MOVIES, YEAH. BELOVED. (HARUMPH) so we're very excited that he is the cornerstone of our promotion and our new Diet Pepsi commercial," said Dave Burwick, SVP and chief marketing officer of Pepsi-Cola North America. "We hope Star Wars and Pepsi fans alike have as much fun as we've had with Yoda in celebrating the last episode of the Star Wars saga."

"Once again, Pepsi has created a great way to help our fans experience the wonder of Star Wars," said Jim Ward, vice president of Marketing and Distribution for Lucasfilm. "When Revenge of the Sith hits theaters in less than two months, Star Wars fans will finally get the answers to all their burning Star Wars questions. In the meantime, Pepsi is going to give their consumers a chance to win $100,000 and other great prizes in the "Call Upon Yoda" promotion. That's what I call a win-win proposition." EDITOR'S NOTE: WELL, YOU'RE THE MARKETING GUY, SO WHAT ELSE WOULD YOU SAY?!

Join the M-pire

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M&Ms are joing the M-pire (good choice). In a very funny and unique trailer, the different M&Ms dress up in Star Wars costumes to promote the release of the dark chocolate M&Ms.

EDITOR'S NOTE: CUTE CUTE CUTE!! (CRASS COMMERCIALISM IS PAINLESS WHEN IT'S THIS CLEVER).
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EDITOR'S NOTE: THE TRAILER IS GREAT, THE UPCOMING TOYS ARE ADORABLE, AND CHECK OUT THE M&M PACKAGING. THERE ARE SOMETHING LIKE 70 DIFFERENT PACKAGES, AND THEY ALL HAVE VERY FUNNY M&M 'TAKES' ON THE STAR WARS UNIVERSE. FUNNY FUNNY STUFF!
http://www.mms.com/us/mpire/

Target Cards Arriving

The Target post cards for the Revenge of the Sith debut have started to arrive in mailboxes across the country, reminding people to head to their local stores for the launch. We've also got the Star Wars gift cards that feature lights and sounds of a certain Dark Lord. Look for these next week as well.

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EDITOR'S NOTE: THE FLIP SIDE OF THE CARD IS A GORGEOUS, SPARKLY PIC OF THE OBI-WAN/ANAKIN DUEL SHOT. THE CARD ITSELF IS A GREAT KEEPSAKE. (AND THE DARTH, ABOVE, PEELS AWAY TO REVEAL A DISCOUNT)

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48 Hours Of The Force At Wal-Mart

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It's coming. Revenge of the Sith fever is about to take over the world. EDITOR'S NOTE: ALREADY THERE, BABY, ALREADY THERE!

Wal-Mart is gearing up for the festivities and here's a rundown of what fans can expect during "48 Hours of the Force" promotion.

There will be a HUGE selection of Revenge of the Sith merchandise available at 12:01am April 2nd. We've already gotten a glimpse at the POP displays from the Event Playbook, which will feature lava-themed security shrouds, signs, a special Darth Vader standee for photo opportunities, and pallet displays!

But wait, there's more!

We've gotten word that 400 select Wal-Marts across the country will have a large 30' x 60' tent in the parking lot filled with Star Wars "48 Hours of the Force" promotions.

Look for members of the 501st decked out in costume, photo opportunities for kids, a LEGO mural building event, and lava blasts everywhere. Each store should be getting 20 pallets of merchandise, so there whould be plenty for everyone.

But what about exclusives? We've gotten word that Wal-mart will have some kind of "Early Bird" figure set, reminiscent of the Vintage promotion with certificates and dioramas.

Not much more is known on this yet --so consider this a rumor for now-- but expect an official announcement very soon.

Toys "R" Us Press Release
TOYS "R" US Stores to open at 12:01 am on april 2 to celebrate the arrival of Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith Toy collection.

Avid Star Wars Fans Will Be Among the First To Savor New Movie-Related Products -

The wait is almost over for Star Wars fans - at least when it comes to movie-related products for the final chapter of the epic saga. The new collection of toys and games for Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith-which hits theaters worldwide on May 19-- goes on sale at Toys "R" Us stores nationwide on April 2.

At 12:01 AM on April 2, 316 Toys "R" Us stores across the country will open their doors giving Star Wars fans the first opportunity to make purchases from the new toy collection.

The biggest celebration will take place at Toys "R" Us Times Square where Star Wars fans are being encouraged to come dressed as their favorite character from the Star Wars movies.

Here, attendees will be treated to special appearances by Darth Tater* and Star Wars mPIRE* characters from M&M'S, including M-Vader and Mobi-Wan Kenobi.

Special prizes will also be awarded to fans who successfully answer Star Wars trivia. EDITOR'S NOTE: WELL DRAT. LET'S GO TO TIMES SQUARE AND GET TOYS AND WIN PRIZES!

Star Wars enthusiasts who are unable to attend the midnight festivities can log onto Toysrus.com when the virtual store also opens to sell the Star Wars collection at 12:01 am on April 2. EDITOR'S NOTE: FOR THOSE OF US LIVING IN AREAS WITH NO MIDNIGHT STORES!!! (ALTHOUGH I STILL MAINTAIN IT IS WRONG TO BUY THE TOYS, TILL AFTER YOU'VE SEEN THE FILM! AND I'M STICKING TO THAT, BY THE WAY).

"Fans of the Star Wars saga have been eagerly anticipating the final installment of the film franchise and the availability of its related merchandise," said John Barbour, President, Toys "R" Us, U.S. "The Toys "R" Us team and our vendor partners have worked hard to deliver an exciting selection of new and unique products for our Star Wars collector customers and fans of all ages."

An extensive assortment of Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith toys will be showcased in special feature shops in all Toys "R" Us stores.

Products will include action figures, games, Electronic Lightsabers, Darth Vader Voice Changer, assault vehicles, playsets and more from Hasbro. A Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith Plug it in and Play TV Games* unit from Jakks Pacific and LEGO construction versions of Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith vehicles and scenes will also be available.

These feature shops will include a number of exclusive items available only at Toys "R" Us. Star Wars fans should note that additional new Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith merchandise will arrive frequently at Toys "R" Us stores nationwide leading up to the movie opening on May 19 and thereafter.

Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith product that will be available exclusively at Toys "R" Us and Toysrus.com includes:

Trivial Pursuit® DVD Star Wars® Saga Edition Collector's Tin from Hasbro GamesThe Trivial Pursuit DVD Star Wars® Saga Edition game combines traditional game play, modern DVD technology, and questions from all six Star Wars movies. Housed in a special collector's tin exclusive to Toys "R" Us, the game features over 2,400 questions, including 600 interactive questions on two DVDs. Appealing to Star Wars fans and collectors alike, this game contains 20 DVD questions that feature real life Star Wars fans acting out various scenes from the Star Wars saga. No batteries required. Ages 10 years and up.

Stratego® Star Wars® Saga Edition: The Galactic Battlefield Strategy Game from Hasbro GamesStar Wars fans can face-off in this classic battle of Good vs. Evil.Favorite Star Wars characters have come together for the ultimate encounter in this Toys "R" Us exclusive game. Players can abide by the classic Stratego rules or use special powers to add to the strategy. Battles can be recreated featuring characters from the latest movies or by using classic battles from the original trilogy. Both trilogies can be combined to create the ultimate battle that is the Star Wars saga. No batteries required. Ages 8 years and up.

Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith Anakin Skywalker's* Jedi Starfighter from HasbroAnakin battles the enemy using his amazing piloting skills in his Jedi starfighter. This Toys "R" Us exclusive play set allows Star Wars fans to recreate Anakin's piloting skills and mastery of the Force to defeat his opponents in space combat. Starfighter features opening canopy, firing missiles, retractable landing gear and wings that spring open. Product available mid-May. No batteries required. Ages 4 years and up.

Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith Holographic Yoda Figure from HasbroJedi Master Yoda, a close friend of the Wookiees, travels to their homeworld of Kashyyyk to help personally spearhead the Republic defense of that planet. While there, the revered Jedi sends a holographic transmission to the Jedi Council to discuss recent ominous events. The Holographic Yoda figure features unique translucent styling and is available only at Toys "R" Us beginning April 10 as a gift with a Hasbro Star Wars purchase of $25 or more. Not sold separately. While supplies last. No batteries required. Ages 4 and up.

Digital Film Projection Advances Slowly
LAS VEGAS - Six years ago, Hollywood types were predicting a lightning-fast revolution toward digital projection, the heir apparent to those flapping reels of film that have dominated for a century.

It's turned out to be evolution, at a snail's pace.

As they have since the late 1990s, manufacturers of digital projectors such as Texas Instruments, Christie and Sony are showing off their wares this week at ShoWest, an annual convention of theater owners.

They're still hawking their gadgets to a wary crowd, with studios and theater chains taking their time to evaluate the ever-developing technology, hash out technical standards, and figure out how to cover the potentially multi-billion-dollar cost of installing the new projectors at the 36,000 U.S. movie screens.

"There won't be any big announcements or speeches made this week, because we're not done yet," John Fithian, president of the National Association of Theatre Owners, told The Associated Press. "I use the metaphor that we're baking a cake, and it's an hour-long process, and we're about 50 minutes into the baking job."

Since a handful of digital projectors debuted with George Lucas' "Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace" in 1999, the number of such systems has inched up slowly, with just a few hundred theaters worldwide equipped to show movies digitally.

Lucas and another key advocate of digital film techniques, "Titanic" director James Cameron, will be at ShoWest on Thursday to demonstrate how digital-projection systems can be tweaked to create three-dimensional images.

Cameron plans to show digital 3-D footage from his latest undersea documentary, "Aliens of the Deep," while Lucas will present segments from his "Star Wars" saga converted to digital 3-D.
Lucas has been frustrated by the slow pace, which dashed his hopes to show his final "Star Wars" films in wide digital release.

Theaters do not want to take on the cost themselves, looking instead for Hollywood studios to foot the bill since they would gain enormous savings on the cost of duplicating and shipping 3,000 or more bulky film prints for each major release.

The new systems can project films from digital tapes, DVDs or images beamed directly to theaters. Fithian pegged potential savings at $1 billion a year on the cost of film prints alone.

"There is some real good work being done on finding ways that the studios can use their savings to finance the transition," Fithian said. "I think it's fairly widely accepted by the studios that they need to fund this transition or it's not going to happen."

Lights, camera, baton

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Below: Steven Spielberg shows the result of a videotaped scoring session to composer John Williams, left, and film editor Michael Kahn LOS ANGELES TIMES REUTERS
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Claims for the success and influence of the British film industry frequently verge on the delusional, but the status of Abbey Road studios as a world-class facility for soundtrack recording is easily verified.

Just scroll through the schedule for the Abbey Road Film Festival.

For 16 days, Abbey Road's cavernous Studio 1 will be transformed into a customized super-cinema, screening a selection from the 150 films whose soundtracks have been recorded there over the past 25 years. EDITOR'S NOTE: WOW. WOULDN'T THIS BE AN AMAZING THING TO ATTEND?!

It's a popcorn-chomping list, encompassing comparatively arty pieces such as The Last Emperor, Brassed Off and The Madness of King George alongside copper-bottomed blockbusters such as Braveheart, the Lord of the Rings trilogy and Shrek.

The festival opened last weekend with Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), the first of Steven Spielberg's Indiana Jones adventures and the first movie to be scored at Abbey Road. The Raiders soundtrack was composed by John Williams, who has been back in Abbey Road recently with the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) to record the music for George Lucas's latest and supposedly last Star Wars instalment, Episode III: Revenge of the Sith.

So what is it that brings him back to leafy St John's Wood?

"There never have been, in this country or in America, many rooms where you could put an orchestra and chorus that would be set up for film synchronization,'' Williams explains.
"Basically we use two rooms in Los Angeles and Abbey Road in London. It's set up to do all the computer recording and to project the film, and it has fine acoustics so we can capture specific close-up aspects of the orchestra and still get the bloom of the full room itself. And it has this wonderful history, too, which the LSO adds to every day.''

Williams' vast list of credits includes most of the Spielberg oeuvre, all the Superman movies, the Harry Potter series and dozens more. His work may take him to the new frontier of audio-visual technology, but in his jacket and polo-neck sweater, white beard and glasses, he radiates the reflective air of a university professor. His schedule is tight, but his deep, unhurried voice suggests he has all the time in the world.

At 73, he has lived through endless upheavals in the film and TV industries, but as a young music student at the Juilliard School in New York, he originally had a career in classical music in his sights.

"I was a pretty serious piano student as a youngster,'' he says, "and the first job I had in the Hollywood studios was as a pianist in the orchestra. Then I began to see the possibilities of composing for film and felt I would be able to learn how to do this. It was a gradual evolution over seven or eight years from the piano bench to the podium.''

His first jobs were in television, where he worked on series including Wagon Train, Time Tunnel and Lost in Space, and on the weekly "anthology dramas'' Alcoa Premiere and Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theater.

"That was hundreds of TV films about every kind of subject, so it had to be a place to learn and gain experience. I was lucky to arrive on the scoring scene when the studios were converting from film production to TV. They needed a lot of music and employed young composers to work for not very much money, so it was a great opportunity.''

Williams is now securely entrenched as one of an elite handful of Hollywood composers, alongside the likes of James Horner and Howard Shore. But you suspect that in posterity's opinion, Williams may loom a little larger than most.EDITOR'S NOTE: I WAS ABOUT TO MAKE A COMMENT ABOUT THAT LUMPING HIM IN WITH HORNER AND SHORE, BUT THE WRITER CAUGHT UP. YEAH. DUH. That may be because he has always stuck to first principles, resisting the lure of gadgets and gimmicks.

"A lot of my younger colleagues are able to put a lot of their music into a computer or synthesizer, and audition it that way,'' he says.

"When I was starting in music we didn't have all that equipment, so I continue to demonstrate at the piano whatever the orchestra is going to do. That's going to be an inadequate presentation at best, but it hasn't been a problem for me.''

Has a director ever said to him, "No, that's not what I wanted?''

"I haven't had that problem. Once in a while a director will say this scene is too loud, too fast, or whatever, but I'm happy to rewrite scenes, it's part of what we do. In many cases, I think I can do a better job having been given a second chance at bat.''

Williams must possess some mysterious sociability elixir, because he has even successfully negotiated three movies with the volatile Oliver Stone.

"He's a very different man to George Lucas or Spielberg,'' he says, "but we've had good times. When we made JFK, his idea was that I should record the music for the Dallas assassination sequence before I even saw the film, and he would cut some of the sequences to that. I think I wrote about 15 minutes of music and he cut quite a bit of it in. It was a different methodology and I enjoyed it a lot.''

Considering how much of his work has been on sci-fi projects or for movies on thoroughly all-American themes, it's curious that Williams's rousing symphonic themes and thunderous fanfares are reminiscent of such European classicists as Richard Strauss or Gustav Mahler. In addition, he has a big, fat, soft spot for British composers.

"I've always been a lover of Elgar and Vaughan Williams and William Walton. Somebody once gave me the film of Elgar coming into Abbey Road studios to record Land of Hope and Glory. He said to the orchestra, `Gentlemen [there were no ladies then], please play this tune as though it were the first time you'd ever heard it.' I admire the great musical tradition in this country, so I suppose you could say I'm an Anglophile.''

In this respect he's following in the footsteps of his close friend Bernard Herrmann, composer of soundtracks to Citizen Kane, Psycho and Vertigo. Herrmann lived in a flat off Regent's Park for many years, and Williams was a frequent visitor.

"Benny - as we affectionately called him - loved British music and the whole music-making atmosphere of London, and our wives were great friends. He was a great figure in film music, possibly the greatest.''

When I ask him if he approaches a film score by starting with a central major theme, it's Herrmann's example that springs to mind.

"It's often an approach for me to find a theme or themes that will identify characters or the film itself. Some films don't require that kind of musical grammar. For instance, you wouldn't want a singable melody in Psycho. EDITOR'S NOTE: ALTHOUGH, IT'S SOMETHING ANDREW LLOYD WEBBER WILL NO DOUBT ATTEMPT AT SOME POINT. (SNICKER). But on the other hand, Herrmann did Vertigo and there are some beautifully melodious pieces in there.''

Despite the breadth of his musical experiences, including a stint as conductor for the Boston Pops orchestra and the composition of several concert pieces, Williams will always be best known for his long partnership with Spielberg.

"I think Steven and I started together in 1973,'' he says. "That's a long time to collaborate with anyone, it's a long marriage, but it was never planned that way. I think everybody knows the generous kind of man he is and the contributive spirit he has. We just get on very well.''

Their first meeting was on Spielberg's early The Sugarland Express (1974), which was only a modest success at the box office. However, two years later they reconvened for Jaws, the director's breakthrough into the front rank of popular cinema. Williams' score, with its distinctive pulsing motif, won him an Oscar, though this wasn't quite the novelty it might have been, since he'd already won one for his work on Norman Jewison's 1971 film of Fiddler on the Roof.

He has continued to score such recent Spielbergian highlights as Catch Me If You Can and Minority Report (both 2002), and is about to immerse himself in the director's remake of War of the Worlds. So on balance, this movie malarkey isn't a bad way to make a living?

"Not everyone is comfortable with doing film music,'' Williams says, "but I think it's more and more a valid activity for composers. I think younger people are taking more serious interest in it than was the case decades ago.''

But how many of them will be lucky enough to find their own Steven Spielberg? EDITOR'S NOTE: VERY FEW. BUT THE MUSIC COULD STILL BE GOOD, EVEN IF THE MOVIE ISN'T, RIGHT? (SO MORE TO THE POINT, HOW MANY DIRECTORS WILL BE LUCKY ENOUGH TO FIND THEIR OWN JOHN WILLIAMS?)!

AND CLOSING WITH AN ODDBOB MOMENT (SOMETHING HE PURLOINED FROM AN IMDB POLL, I BELIEVE):

GEORGE LUCAS HAS SAID THAT STAR WARS EPISODE III - REVENGE OF THE SITH IS GOING TO BE "TITANIC IN SPACE"

WHAT EXACTLY DO YOU THINK THIS MEANS?

1. ANAKIN SKYWALKER EXHORTS "I'M KING OF THE GALAXY!"
2. QUEEN AMIDALA WILL WEAR A BIG HAT
3. A FRAMING DEVICE FOR THE STORY FEATURING BILL PAXTON
4. CELINE DION CROONING THE LOVE THEM "MY SITH WILL GO ON"
5. OBI-WAN KENOBI YELLING "ICEBERG--I MEAN, METEOR--RIGHT AHEAD!"
6. WOODEN DIALOGUE IN BETWEEN ACTION SEQUENCES
7. JUDICIOUS USE OF IRISH MUSIC IN TH SCORE
8. A PROMINENTLY FEATURED EXPENSIVE NECKLACE
9. LOTS OF WATER

OR....

10. IT'S JUST GOING TO BE A BIG DISASTER ALL AROUND?
EDITOR'S NOTE: GRRR...ODDBOB WILL BE SPANKED.

The Dweebletter

Friday, April 01, 2005

STAR WARS MANIA BEGINS!! (tonight at midnight!)

Thursday, March 31, 2005

So much STAR WARS, so LITTLE time (Thursday)

NOT Star Wars/yawn....

Not Star Wars....BUT Harry Potter (which is right UP there with Star Wars,eh?)!

Wednesday, March 30, 2005

At LAST/Wednesday STARWARSSTARWARSSTARWARS

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