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The Star Wars Technical Commentaries

This site has been around for a while; written by a PhD student with too much time on his hands, it contains painstakingly detailed scientific analysis of all things Star Wars.

WAnt to know about the Endor Holocaust? Curious about the exact size of the two Death Stars? Or perhaps you'd like to read about hyperspace ("Phenomenological study and physical rationalisation of superluminal travel"), or the injuries of Darth Vader, or (my favorite) military walkers of the Empire.

There's months of engrossing reading there. A fascinating site.

http://www.theforce.net/swtc/

That scene was cut over a year ago - it was mentioned in the Making of ROTS book published in March; moreover, Lucas' daughter was in the same scene and it was still cut:

http://theforce.net/latestnews/story/Lucas_Respond s_To_Bai_Lings_Claim_92024.asp

If you're looking for lightsabre photshop tutorials, there's tons of them out thre. Start here or here.

If I wanted to learn about the ways of the force I'd read "The Jedi's Guide to the Galaxy".

-sp-

There are also some community efforts to polish up the game and fix bugs and restore at least some of the cut content, but without the voiceovers and cut scenes and so on, I'm sure it will be a tough task.

If you like Batman and Robin, you may be interested in the Grayson movie:

http://www.theforce.net/fanfilms/nonsw/grayson/

Cheers.

Does anyone think that this batman was influenced by the famous "Grayson" trailer/fan film that people kept wishing would be made into a movie ??

http://www.theforce.net/fanfilms/nonsw/grayson/

Does anyone think it'll ever get made ?

I can't imagine what game you're plaing. The story in K2 was so much deeper and more original that K1. K1 was a basic, mostly cliche and often soap operatic story. K2 was Edgar Allan Poe meets Star Wars, dark and gothic. A much better mystery. While the chracters weren't as "romantic" and didn't do a lot of family thereapy like in K1, were original and went along with the dark theme of the game.Certain the Sith Lords were better developed than a lame character like Malak. The dialogue, especially Kreia's was beyond anything Bioware could have done. After playing through K2, going back to K1 is like going back to kindergarten.

The game was incomplete like it was because Lucasarts rushed it out the door 2 months early in time for Christmas, greedy bastards that they are.

http://www.theforce.net/jedicouncil/editorials/030 405.asp

The great flannelled one has said many times that there will be no Eps. 7,8,9. Most recently here:
http://theforce.net/episode3/story/C3_More_from_Ge orge_Lucas_at_Media_QA_91615.asp

Why should George Lucas's property be in the public domain,

Because as the "Phantom Edit" of Star Wars Episode One has demonstrated, many people do Star Wars better than George Lucas can.

If Star Wars had been public domain 5 years ago, the huge error called "Episode One" wouldn't have happened like it did (because, at least, it would be competing with other Star Wars films from people who actually understand what was cool about the originals- like Kevin Smith, for one, or maybe Spielburg).

As far as I know, there are no parts 7,8 and 9 to be filmed. :) Indeed there are such rumours, but that's a common mistake. Lucas originally thought he'd need 9 films to tell the story, but already before he finished filming all 3 of the original movies, he concluded that 6 would be enough. Some form of draft was made for 7, 8 and 9, but they date back from before 5 and 6 were filmed and have now become obsolete. Some of the things were already used in the plots for part 4, 5 and 6, and some of the events described in there have become overruled by what happens in 4, 5 and 6. Think of the original drafts as being a short paragraph each; just a brainstorm for some important events. Oh, sure if you do a Google for those scripts you'll find a lot of stuff. But don't let yourself be fooled, that's all fan fiction or wishful thinking. See also these pages: http://scifi.about.com/library/starwars/bl-sixorni ne.htm http://theforce.net/latestnews/story/gary_kurtz_re veals_original_plans_for_episodes_19_80270.asp Conclusion: even if Lucas *wanted* to make parts 7, 8 and 9, he'd have to go back to the writing table and work out all new stories. He used the best parts from the original drafts to write the scripts for part 5 and 6, and what he didn't use was appearantly rubbish, or has become obsolete and unusable in any case.

hmmm.... what other genres haven't been done? How about a musical?

"I LOVE you Dr. Zaius!"

Download straight from TheForce.Net

I was an organizer of the Toronto lines in '99 and '02. The lines are not about getting in first. They're not about securing the right seats. Rather they're an excuse to get out of the house and totally geek out with a group of likeminded folk. Our line was part giant street party, part sci-fi convention and a great experience overall. Were I not a new father with a tyke to keep an eye on, you can be sure I'd be out on the sidewalk again this time.

Even if the theatre they're lined at - which they've likely chosen for nostalgic reasons - never gets the film, as has been pointed out time and again, they can just as easily secure their tickets by phone or online.

For the SW Geeks, where you line up for the film isn't important, all that's important is that you have fun doing it - because if you're not having fun then it's just a line and lines suck.

Link to video.

They are comming out with a part two to this called imps. It is suppose to be a "History Channal" styled documentory on the best damn job in the galaxy.

imps

Also one that looks like it should be really good
Heart of an Empire

In my book, the fan films climaxed with Star Wars Troops. In addition to the interesting look into a storm trooper's life, it also provided another (more realistic) view into Luke's dark background.

I agree - they're gits for not allowing the download of the film.

I wish someone would shoot John Fiorella enough money to make Grayson in it's entirety. I thought it had a lot of promise plotwise, and the execution is pretty amazing for a fan-flick.

http://www.theforce.net/fanfilms/comingsoon/revela tions/index.asp

Theforce.net has the trailer...it's already a bit clogged. here

While we're on the subject, let me point out two other excellent fan films.

The first three minutes of Batman: Dead End capture the grittiness of Batman and Gotham better than any Warner Brothers film. After three minutes it goes nutso, but then it still looks really good.

Also, check out the "trailer" for Grayson. The guy spent $18,000 of his own money to produce the trailer. Maybe if he can convince the powers that be to finance the project, he could get a whole movie made.

While we're on the subject, let me point out two other excellent fan films.

The first three minutes of Batman: Dead End capture the grittiness of Batman and Gotham better than any Warner Brothers film. After three minutes it goes nutso, but then it still looks really good.

Also, check out the "trailer" for Grayson. The guy spent $18,000 of his own money to produce the trailer. Maybe if he can convince the powers that be to finance the project, he could get a whole movie made.

The one concern I would have is I think he was spearheaded Bush Senior's Space Exploration Initiative(SEI) which was Bush Seniors version of going back to the Moon and Mars, and he presided over a program that dead ended. You have to wonder if Bush Junior is hoping for a different outcome the second time around, or if he doing a bad rerun of SEI meaning the current initiative is doomed.

A few noteworthy Google hits on Mike Griffin below, a hard name to Google because its so common.

I gather he invented Faster, Better, Cheaper while at SDIO, a concept that has some merit if properly done, it has a lot in common with Kelly Johnson and the old Lockheed Skunkworkds that built the U-2 and SR-71, but became much maligned when Dan Goldin tried to implement it at NASA, because NASA is institutionally and structurally incapable of doing faster, better, cheaper and have it end up being actually faster, better and cheaper.

theForce.net

Mike Griffin, a former senior NASA manager and aerospace industry executive, presented the most charitable assessment of NASA's human space flight efforts, ranking it second in priority only to building a new, more reliable heavy lift launcher.Griffin advised following through with space station, which means returning the shuttle to flight, while setting a new course that includes Mars. To accomplish this, Griffin recommends increasing NASA's budget from $15 billion a year to $20 billion.

"NASA costs each American 14 cents a day. A really robust program could be had for about 20 cents a day," Griffin said. "Americans spend more on pizza then they do on space."

Free Republic

The final nail in the coffin of Goldin's "legacy" came when NASA published its damning critique of his vaunted "better, faster, cheaper" approach.
A couple of points on this greatly misunderstood concept..
First, FBC is not Dan Goldin's invention. It came out of the old SDIO ("Star Wars") organization back in the late '80s. At the time, the dominant paradigm in both military and civil space was big, complex, very capable spacecraft, on which any and all instruments and experiments could be accommodated.
This development model led to decade-long, multi-billion dollar missions (e.g., Galileo, Milstar). When these kind of missions screw-up (e.g., Hubble Telescope, Galileo antenna), the public and Congressional ramifications can be devastating.
"FBC" was devised as a way to deal with this problem. I believe it was mostly developed by Mike Griffin, then Director of Technology at SDIO. The concept was simple: cut costs by having a small, compact, "Skunk Works"-type development team. Fly small satellites, each with one or two instruments, more often. As you are launching smaller sats more often, you have more flight opportunities, so if there IS a failure, you can recover from it quickly. In short, the objective is the knowledge gained from space flight, not to design and fly the most capable vehicle.
It's "faster" because you don't have decadal development times as the satellites as smaller and less complex. It's "cheaper" because you're not paying a marching army of highly paid technical staff (where the true costs of space flight really are). It's "better" because for a given amount of expenditure, you get more data, more often.
You can criticize this all you want to, but the simple fact is that FBC "worked" on a lot of the SDI flight projects of the early 90s (e.g., Delta Star, MSTI), culminating with the successful space test of the Brilliant Pebble spacecraft, the Clementine mission in 1994.
Goldin and NASA (specifically, JPL) never really understood this concept. They understood "cheaper" in the sense of reducing engineering development costs, but kept the glacial JPL pace, which ran the manpower costs right back up again. The Mars Pathfinder mission, NASA's FBC "success" story, was successful o

Maybe they can use this to get rid of these damn midichlorians. I am getting pretty damn tired of lightning bolts flying out of my hands.

Grayson is another great. It is actually just a trailer (~7 minutes) but if you saw this on TV you would not for the life you be able to distinguish it from a multimillion dollar production. Well, except for the tell-tale signs of an original plot. :p

Another great is Batman: Deadend. This is just a short. I believe it was shown firts at last year's ComicCon. Like the previous, there were obviously professionals involved, but it was still just a group of friends who put it together, though they happened to be familiar with production methods. The costumes all incredibe. Don't read this if you don't want me to spoil it, but they have Batman, Alien, and Predator costumes that are not in any way inferior to those you saw in the actual movies (personally, I think the Batman costume is better). The dark cinematography is really good too.

Now, nothing I linked to disputes that producing a film is a major effort that requires a lot of work and resources; but it does dispute the idea that you need millions of dollars to do so.

And I figure it's a good opportunity for some of my fellow slashdotters to enjoy some great movies. :)

Grayson is another great. It is actually just a trailer (~7 minutes) but if you saw this on TV you would not for the life you be able to distinguish it from a multimillion dollar production. Well, except for the tell-tale signs of an original plot. :p

Another great is Batman: Deadend. This is just a short. I believe it was shown firts at last year's ComicCon. Like the previous, there were obviously professionals involved, but it was still just a group of friends who put it together, though they happened to be familiar with production methods. The costumes all incredibe. Don't read this if you don't want me to spoil it, but they have Batman, Alien, and Predator costumes that are not in any way inferior to those you saw in the actual movies (personally, I think the Batman costume is better). The dark cinematography is really good too.

Now, nothing I linked to disputes that producing a film is a major effort that requires a lot of work and resources; but it does dispute the idea that you need millions of dollars to do so.

And I figure it's a good opportunity for some of my fellow slashdotters to enjoy some great movies. :)

Grayson is another great. It is actually just a trailer (~7 minutes) but if you saw this on TV you would not for the life you be able to distinguish it from a multimillion dollar production. Well, except for the tell-tale signs of an original plot. :p

Another great is Batman: Deadend. This is just a short. I believe it was shown firts at last year's ComicCon. Like the previous, there were obviously professionals involved, but it was still just a group of friends who put it together, though they happened to be familiar with production methods. The costumes all incredibe. Don't read this if you don't want me to spoil it, but they have Batman, Alien, and Predator costumes that are not in any way inferior to those you saw in the actual movies (personally, I think the Batman costume is better). The dark cinematography is really good too.

Now, nothing I linked to disputes that producing a film is a major effort that requires a lot of work and resources; but it does dispute the idea that you need millions of dollars to do so.

And I figure it's a good opportunity for some of my fellow slashdotters to enjoy some great movies. :)

OMG! Now the fsscp forum server has been slashdotted too!
I'd guess because the fsscp pages are halfway updated, and they haven't updated the "getting started page", making everyone halfway interested in trying out fsscp go to the forums...
( Warning: mysql_connect(): Host 'dynamic4.in.gamespy.com' is blocked because of many connection errors. Unblock with 'mysqladmin flush-hosts' in /usr/home/freespace/cgi-bin/hlp/imports/database.p hp on line 26 )

Hmmm. Seems quite a few ppl are actually interested in an Xwing remake...
I wonder how robust theforce.net's server is.. There's a fairly nice X-wing remake or two there.. eg The Battle Of Endor, for starters.

Yes, but Zelda is a classic worthy of celebration. Much like how people keep remaking and re-releasing much loved movies and songs, videogames deserve the same treatment. Now, whether they're being remade for the benefit of humanity or because someone wants to feel closer to a classic somehow is another story discussion, but the draw is definitely there.

Plus, it's a great way to get to understand the decisions that went into the creation of the classic without the hassle and failures of from-scratch development. Inventing your own gameplay is fraught with peril, especially as it is a skill people are expected to pick up on their own. This way you deconstruct an existing engine down to the minutest detail, without having to worry about your own design mistakes or lack of available art resources.

And on top of that, they created the engine specifically to allow anyone to design levels for the classic. Imagine if anyone could go back with the original storm trooper outfits and create their own scenes or storylines for starwars. Some of it would be as good as troops, and some of it would be as bad as The Phantom Menace. Certainly letting anyone be a level designer for a classic Miyamoto game is reason enough for the project's existence.

I do agree, though, that it would be nice if there were more original OS games developed, but that doesn't mean classics like this shouldn't get people excited enough to go out and make their own versions.

Some folks around here have taken to hating Lucas with a sort of religious zeal and nothing you can say will change that. I grew up with Star Wars as a massive component of my life, and I think the new versions of the films kick the old versions' asses up and down the street a half-dozen times. But some people around here disagree and won't tolerate opposing points of view. Frankly, I think it's a little unhealthy to get so wrapped up in this stuff that you allow it to affect your emotions and judgment to that extent.

HarveyBirddman, if you want to engage in more mature and meaningful discourse about the films, go to The Force.net and try out their fan forums. Much more respectful and knowledgeable and level-headed group there and it's not as Lucas-worshipping as you might at first assume (plenty of valid critiques of Lucas there without the emotional outpouring and the wailing about ruined childhoods.)

Honestly, I don't know why Slashdot insists that this stuff should be posted here anymore. Clearly, the Slashdot crowd and the Star Wars fan do not overlap much nowadays.

Dammit, I keep promising not to respond to AC's. Oh well...

BZZZZZZZT!!! WRONG! Pixar started out as the computer animation division of Lucasfilm. Steve Jobs came on board after he bought Pixar from Lucas

or Troops!!!

I don't think the TV miniseries would be out at 2006 since good ole Steven Spielberg is currently working on War of the Worlds (no not that World of the Worlds even thought it would be nice to see that one) and he definately wants to be involved in the Star Wars television project.
I have a funny feeling that it would be about the rise of Darth Vader and how he became feared in the Galaxy.

There's already been a pilot for a Star Wars spinoff show that has gotten favorable reactions. They should consider turning it into a series.

What happens when you detonate a spherical metal honeycomb over five hundred miles wide just above the atmosphere of a habitable world? Regardless of specifics, the world won't remain habitable for long.

> Then they get locked away and carefully guarded in case they might someday be profitable again.

something like how Star Wars 'in case' might happen to pull in $115 million in one day? (last week in fact)

If that's not worth protecting, I'm not quite sure what is.

So a big collective 'awww, too bad' goes out to the numbskulls that tried to pull this 'parody' off and make some $$$ riding on George's sucess.

Give me a fricken break.

I wonder how long it will be before some fan creates a "new master" based on combining audio and picture elements from both the newly released DVDs and the old Laserdiscs (tweaked to match the restored footage, of course.) There are only so many scenes that have been tampered with, and some of them can be "reverse tampered" (ie, by painting out picture elements and compositing the old footage in place).

Hey, several people re-edited EP I, with the technology of the day, so you know that it's definitely doable now...

According to this (9/20/04 - 12:30 PM PDT), this (9/20/04 - 10:30 PM PDT), and TheForce.Net, there are audio issues in Star Wars Trilogy DVD set.

Lucasfilm denied with this statement, "We are always impressed with how closely fans listen to the many different sound mixes we have made for the Star Wars movies over the years. It is flattering to know that, indeed, the audience is listening. Consequently, each mix comes out differently and any changes that you hear on the all-new Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround EX tracks on the Star Wars Trilogy DVD set are deliberate creative decisions. We can confirm that there are no technical glitches as reported."

Whoops, nevermind the sound quality :-)

Slightly offtopic, after we got a 5.1 stereo set for the living room TV, watching dvds haven't been the same since. Those two little speakers from the TV just don't cut it (watch Master and Commander on both and you'll hear the difference). I'm pretty sure this dvd set will have some great audio.

Here is the #1 result on Google when searching for the changes. I actually read it a few days ago. Way more changes are in there than I ever remembered when I saw it in 1997.

Charlie again went back to weather Star wars had kept George from doing other things. George said that he wants to do other movies, but that star wars is ALL consuming. He is now being released from that obligation. There will be NO MORE, there no reason to do more! He said he has some things lined up. A film on the Tuskeegee Airmen that he has been trying to get dome for some time. TV shows, he loves TV as a medium. Also to go with the Young Indy DVDs, he's working on 100 documentaries dealing with historical people and places in the Young Indy series.

is it just me or does that give the impression that once ep3 is finished there is no more star wars and he is actually doing different TV shows?

not that i'd trust him as far as i could throw him after seeing jar jar

From theforce.net (http://boards.theforce.net/Classic_Trilogy/b10002 /16704309/?596)

---LIST OF DVD CHANGES---

A NEW HOPE

Confirmed :

- The opening crawl has been re-done to match the colour/quality of the PT opening crawl.
- Lightsaber effects have been fixed. The colours now appear more vibrant and the blades better defined.
- The lettering on various Death Star panels will be written in Aurebesh rather than English.
- An improved version of Jabba inserted into his scenes.
- Greedo still shoots first...however, Han's reaction is 'much more realistic'.
- R2's panels will be consistantly blue in all of the space shots, instead of just a few of them.
- The Dianoga now appears more lifelike and not so obviously Stop-Motion.
- The matte-painted hall in the detention block has been fixed rather than just having a bright white light at one end.

Rumoured :

- Stormtrooper voices redubbed by Temura Morrison (Jango Fett).
- The Emperor may possibly make an appearence to address the Senate in a new scene.
- The Imperial March may be inserted into the score in certain parts to maintain continuity with the other films.
- The 'Binary Sunset' shot outside the Homestead could have clouds to match Luke's later POV shot.
- Rumours of work on Obi-Wan's death scene with CGI.
- Door closings/openings could be smoothed out without the frame jumps.
- Rumour that the aliens and other creatures blink now to make them look non-mask like.
- Vader and Obi-Wan's fight scene may be upgraded with CGI work.
- Battle of Yavin shots cleaned up and recomped.

Denied rumours:

- Bail Organa will not be in ANH, for when Alderaan blows up.

THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK

Confirmed :

- The opening crawl has been re-done to match the colour/quality of the PT opening crawl.
- Lightsaber effects have been fixed. The colours now appear more vibrant and the blades better defined.
- Ian McDiarmid is now in place for Emperor Palpatine's scene, rather than the monkey-eyed old woman. There are also a couple of new lines in this scene.

Rumoured :

- The Tauntauns could be re-done with CGI.
- Rumour that the missing Wampa Attack sequence may be back into the beginning of the film .
- 'Grander escape sequence' between Lando, Leia, Chewie, C3PO and R2 in Cloud City.
- Possible additional deleted scene(s) with Yoda on Dagobah.
- Boba Fett's voice redubbed by Temura Morrison (Jango Fett).

RETURN OF THE JEDI

Confirmed :

- The opening crawl has been re-done to match the colour/quality of the PT opening crawl.
- Lightsaber effects have been fixed. The colours now appear more vibrant and the blades better defined.
- Hayden Christensen appears at the end of the film in place of Sebastian Shaw as 'Ghost Anakin'.
- The Rancor's matte-lines have been removed.
- Naboo now appears in the end celebration sequence.
- In Vader's death scene, Shaw's eyes have been recoloured (to match Hayden's) and his eyebrows removed (as they would never have survived).

Rumoured :

- Palpatine's Force Lightning may have been re-done.
- Rumour that the Jedi Temple now appears in the background of Coruscant during the end celebration sequence.
- Work done on background matte-paintings.
- Rumour that the Ewoks have had CGI work done to animate their facial features.
- Rumour that Watto appears during the Tatooine celebration sequence at the end.

Denied rumours:

- Padme does not appear at the end alongside the ghosts of Anakin, Ben, and Yoda.

MISC INFO

Audio Quality

- "I spoke with Ben Burtt recently. He mentioned the upcoming Star Wars DVDs. It seems that they were able

Honestly, there is a good bit of life in the Star Wars Galaxy. Take a notice of the Jedi and Sith Wars in the Knights of the Old Republic or the rumored Spielberg Star Wars Miniseries.

The "Rise of Vader" done in HDTV format would be impressive due to Speilberg getting his directing/producing chops in made for TV movies and a wealth of experiance.

With the animation studio ready and there is plenty of Star Wars lore to be explored. The difference between the Lucas Empire and Viacom is that LucasFilm/Arts/IML/Skywalker Sound/Lucasfilm Animation is all in house and focused on Star Wars while Star Trek is nothing more than a former Desilu Production under the Viacom Empire.

...that they take place before the Endor Holocaust.

Daniel

jmho

Ah, it took me a while to find it, but here is a cartoon on TheForce.net about the changing plans of how many movies.

More links The Force.Net TeenHollywood.com