George Lucas Goes After Fan Sites

Arkoth writes: "Sci-fi Newswire posted that Lucasfilm has ordered two fansites to pull authentic- looking storyboards off their sites. What used to be a fun game of bringing in rumors and secret images is now starting to become more serious when Lucasfilm ordered two Web sites, NaboOnline and Aldera.net, to pull two storyboards that looked authentic from their Web sites. Looks like George is getting out the big lightsaber and slashing leaks from his movie, which is 23 months from release."

Comments

Re:What's the complaint?

[2nd Post!]

?

Doesn't Lucas own, uh, LucasFilm? Or is that incorrect?

So if Lucas owns LucasFilm, and LF owns the storyboards...

I don't know about the Songs. I was under the impression that the works were copyrighted to the distributor/producer, and not the singer.

The nick is a joke! Really!

PROVE it is copyrighted... that's the defense.

[Dredd13]

Interestingly enough, I'd refuse to take it down without proof of copyright ownership.

e.g., post it as "We don't think this is really Lucas' storyboards, but here you go."

Then when Lucasfilm lawyers swoop in, say, "prove it, show us documentation that THIS work, is copyrighted by you, and we'll happily take it down."

The interesting part there is that then you could CONFIRM the storyline by seeing what articles were taken down, which is a FAR greater coup for the rumor site than getting possibly-fictitious photoshop storyboards in the first case.

If every rumor site did that, Lucas would have to leave them alone for fear of revealing the plot by killing the sites that had the truth.

D

Hate me... See if I care...

[crovira]

The franchise on the children's series "Star Wars" has come to a pathetic end.

I didn't go see episode 1. I don't intend ot see episoede 2 or, should Lucas ever display the poor taste to produce it, episode three.

Episode 4, 5 and 6 were rehashes of every "war movie" ever shot but with fancy "future tech" weapons. Cute at the time but I've grown up in the intervening decades.

The cartoon which purported to be episodes 7, 8 and 9 of the neptology were trite and boring.

Face it guys... It was never anything more than a children's story. My interest ran out by the time it made it to network TV, never mind video releases. Its over.

Thank the Heavens.

In other news...

[Life Blood]

When asked about shutting down the websites George Lucas commented, "I don't want anything to give the end of the movie away before the soundtrack does."

Protecting IP, Plugging Leaks?

[d.valued]

Or is it possible that LucasFilm is trying a disinformation campaign? Think about it: A copies of the script was purloined. Considering that Lucas has enough money to buy armed security guards for the set sites and the people sign mega-NDA's, this is a little far-fetched. What if the purloined script is a pseudo-script? I mean, the "Episode II Trailer" was a fake, so why couldn't this be as well? The Simpsons made several endings to the "Who Shot Mr. Burns?" cliffhanger a few years ago to keep even the people working the show somewhat in the dark. A great line to keep in mind when it comes to information such as this: "Information easily obtained is easily false. In time of war, a steel worker would not know about the tactical abilities of a secret airbase, nor would a double agent in the armed forces know much about public morale."

Oh Jesus here it comes.

[marlowe23]

I don't even need to read the comments. I know what they'll say already. Blah blah blah George Lucas greedy bastard. Blah blah blah worse than Hitler. Blah blah blah make me buy all the merchandise. Blah blah blah just in it for the fucking money. Blah blah blah Episode 1 sucked, face it people, deal with it. Blah blah blah kill Jar Jar. Blah blah blah more Jar Jar jokes. Blah blah blah I hated this movie. Blah blah blah it sucked rancid donkey balls. Blah blah blah George Lucas should be shot, stabbed, gutted, and hanged for making Star Wars. Blah blah blah when is it coming out on DVD. Blah blah blah is this really News for Nerds, is this really stuff that matters, grits, goat sex, yadadah, yadadah, yadadah.

Just disable the comments and run a fucking script. It all comes out the same.

Lucas needs to get a grip

[Verteiron]

The reason he's doing this is probably because his new merchandising juggernaut, Episode II, won't live up to all the expectations and hopes churned up by the fan rumor mill. Just like Episode I. He wants to keep our expectations down to reasonable levels. The question is.. why won't it live up to our expectations?

Think about it. Lucas had a great idea; take a classic fantasy plot, and stick it in a high-technology world. Once he saw the green rolling in, though, any thought of "art" went out the window, and became "How can I change this to make more money?" The result? Compare the Empire Strikes Back to Return of the Jedi and Episode I.

ESB is not cute. Look at some of the scenes in that movie. We have the Imperial AT-AT walkers. We have the asteroid scene. We have the escape-from-the-big-space-slug scene. The introduction of the Super Star-Destroyer, holograms, Vader becoming even MORE evil, brilliant light-saber battles.. I could go on and on, but I already have.

Then we have Return of the Jedi. Yes, there were some very cool scenes, but... Endor was originally supposed to be populated by Wookies like Chewbacca. Lucas, being a man of some intelligence, realized that something cute and fluffy would sell better, so he cut 'em in half and called them Ewoks. The result? A sequence of bizarre, Jar-Jaresque scenes of teddy bears overrunning trained Imperial troops in full body armor. Ok.

If I had a point in this rant, it's that Lucas has completely lost sight of the Star Wars "concept". Midichlorians, Jar-Jar's cartoonish escapes from tight jams... This is a live-action cartoon. I want the REAL Star Wars back.

Re:Lucas needs to get a grip

[zentex]

my smart ass remark for the week...

But Lucas has a grip, and a key grip, and a whole bunch of other grip's. Hell! I'm sure he has 20 guys or more with the title of grip. :-)



---
remove SPORK.

Re:Lucas needs to get a grip

[hyacinthus]

ESB is not cute. Look at some of the scenes in that movie. We have the Imperial AT-AT walkers. We have the asteroid scene. We have the escape-from-the-big-space-slug scene. The introduction of the Super Star-Destroyer, holograms, Vader becoming even MORE evil, brilliant light-saber battles.. I could go on and on, but I already have.

If The Empire Strikes Back is serious, it's chiefly because Lucas brought in other writers, Lawrence Kasdan and Leigh Brackett. Kasdan was a good writer in his day (he wrote the script for another little movie which came out around that time, Raiders of the Lost Ark.) Brackett had put in writing time on a number of Howard Hawks's movies, like The Big Sleep and Rio Bravo. ESB is the only Star Wars movie which doesn't give a writing credit to George Lucas.

By Return of the Jedi, although Kasdan is still co-writing, Lucas is back with a writing credit. Is it any great stretch to conclude that the goofier elements of RotJ are Lucas's?

And of course in The Phantom Menace Lucas is back to where he was with the original Star Wars, with (so far as the credits show) complete control over the screenplay. And the story of TPM is something of a mess. It's not just a mess because it's silly and juvenile in places (Jar-Jar, the two-headed pod-race announcer, etc.) It's full of gratuitous retconning; contriving to work both Threepio and Artoo into the story is bad enough, but placing Anakin Skywalker on Tatooine leaves me wondering how Obi-Wan Kenobi managed to survive so long in hiding on what is now Darth Vader's planet of birth. It spreads itself too thin, spending too little time on Tatooine to give us a real feeling for the quality of young Anakin's life there, but also giving too little development to the political subplot--just who is the Trade Federation, and what are the "trade routes" whose taxation supposedly provoked such a profound crisis?

The really frustrating thing is that occasionally The Phantom Menace touches upon powerful stuff, that same, potent _mythos_ which shines through at times in the original movies. When Anakin's mother tells him, "Don't look back," is this not echoing that moment in the Perceval of Chretien de Troyes, when the young Perceval leaves behind his mother to become a knight, and he looks back to see her fall? But there are few such moments in TPM, diluted by Lucas's frequent tries for cheap sentiment and cheap laughs.

It so happens that, when I was ill and confined to bed last week, to relieve the boredom I watched a videotape of a "60 Minutes" show from March of last year, a show devoted almost entirely to George Lucas and the upcoming Phantom Menace sensation. Watching it, I was taken with the eerie feeling that all the warning signs were there to be seen. He doesn't talk about story, and there's hardly any footage to be seen of Lucas directing the actors. There's tons of footage of Lucas playing with computer models, and of his animators talking proudly about how the pods in the pod-race all sound different or about how you can see Jar-Jar's clothes wrinkle. They're come across, not as people directing a movie and telling a story, but as people making a video game and obsessing over how detailed their game engine is.

Re:Lucas needs to get a grip

[David A. Madore]

Permit me to applaud. Wonderfully insightful post (moderators, hint, hint).

George Lucas is clearly capable of the better and the worse. One movie I liked better than the whole Star Wars series was Willow (he wrote the plot). Also, I've heard much praise of his earlier THX 11, but I haven't seen it; has anyone? If he hadn't been driven away by his success, he would have done much better than he has.

Re:Another move from the man who loves money

[Bilestoad]

One other thing about George Lucas... everyone loves to say how rich he is, but Andrew Lloyd Webber makes him look like a beggar.

Re:Hah-ha

[Dredd13]

No, it could just be fan artwork. It could be any of a number of other things. If I scribble something that looks like it might be a Jedi, that doesn't give The Lord of Flannel Shirts free reign to kick a site's ass for posting it.

The DMCA would protect the site unless the copyright holder could show that THAT was their copyrighted work.

That's wherein the litmus test would pass or fail. :)

D

Re:Another move from the man who loves money

[softsign]

But what's the use. StarWars is targeted at the same audience as Rainbow-Brite.

Touche.

--

Re:SIGH... Why does everybody hate the fans?

[ichimunki]

I think you are referring more to how difficult it is to explain the plot holes in the Matrix, as opposed to how long it takes to tell someone that SW Ep2 is filler between Ep1 and the original Star Wars, designed mostly to help move the warehouses full of Jar-Jar Binks junk Lucas still has laying around.

other news..

[Signal 11]

In other, unrelated news, several mothers have reported candy being stolen from their babies near the filming location of the latest Star Wars movie. George Lucas was unavailable for comment at the time of this release.

--

Re:Put our money where our collective mouths are

[bfree]

I went to SW I(x1), IV(x3), V(x3), VI(x3) in the cinema but have otherwise only given (directly or indirectly to the best of my knowledge) George Lucas a percentage on less than $3 which I spent on an R2D2 watch/keyring in a discount shop. I will go to EP II and III just to see the story completed (my only visit to a cinema in the last year was from a 'present' on my birthday where a group took me to get drunk watching Scary Movie), but I still will not buy videos, DVDs or any other merchandising because the entire creation has been destroyed for greed. If he ever makes it to EP VII - IX, it will be on the strength or weakness of EP I-III that I will decide if I will bother to see it, and right now there is no chance.

My only prayer is that as with the first (production order) trilogy this trilogy may slump into a far more evocative and realistic ambiance in the second film......and considering the state of the Universe to come in EP IV it might just stay there for EP III. Something makes me think that somehow the prequels to EP IV are all going to be smiley-happy-kiddy films though, and the misery of EP V is going to look very out of place when this generation of new Star Wars fans see it.

In George Lucas' command room

[Hairy_Potter]

Lackey: Bad news, Darth Lucas, the url's of the fan sites were not on the Princess.

Darth Lucas: And you've searched her thoroughly? What about the webmaster?

L: I'm afraid he died before we could ask him.

Darth Lucas makes a grasping movement with his hands.

L:: Acckkkkkkk

DL: Lackey number 2 you are in command. Play a course to the Princess' homepage site.

Re:SIGH... Why does everybody hate the fans?

[Mad Hughagi]

The real sad thing about the whole situation is that the majority of people who invest their time with reading and/or making these sites are more than likely the most hardcore portion of his fan base. The general public isn't looking around to try to find out what is going to happen in the movie, so it shouldn't really be a big problem.

Storyboards are his works

[Infonaut]

If you were a painter and you spent months creating a painting, how would you feel if someone snuck into your studio, made a copy of the painting, then showed it to everyone?

Your strokes might be better than those of the copy, your colors might be a bit richer and brighter, but the value of your painting would be diminished by the fact that its novelty value had already been compromised.

What is the value of a book, when someone puts out the last three pages of an as yet unpublished novel? Though everyone may not go and visit the site to see the ending, the cat is already out of the bag and word of mouth will do its work.

The point is that the comments on Slashdot about Lucas being rich and greedy are beside the point. He may be rich and greedy, but he also has a right to protect his intellectual work. You can't Open Source everything, and even if you could, there are some people who want to maintain control over their artistic and intellectual property, which is THEIR CHOICE.

Re:Storyboards are his works

[ErikZ]

WOAH!
You're saying those two websites have a copy of his MOVIE!?

A better analogy would be, someone who knew the artist, saw the painting, and told his friends what the painting was about.

Big freaking deal.

Re:Storyboards are his works

[Alternity]

The problem with this is that if the storyboards on the sites were bogus and not the true one than Lucas has NO RIGHTS AT ALL ro ask them to remove them. Now if they are truly genuine he is only confirming it and telling everyone who saw those boards what the story is.




"When I was a little kid my mother told me not to stare into the sun...

Re:The Fan as The Enemy

[marlowe23]

I would say it's just backlash for the years that fans have treated people like Lucas as the enemy. Fans are the most ungrateful, vicious, backbiting, critical, unforgiving people in the world, and will not hesitate to turn their never-ending venom on the entertainers they supposedly enjoy. The Internet makes this especially easy. You only have to read the rest of the comments in this forum to know this is true.

Put our money where our collective mouths are

[PDHoss]

We bitch about Lucas and all the CGI. We bitch about Lucas and his greed. We bitch about Lucas because he has a monopoly on desktop operation systems (er... got carried away there).

But how many of us are willing to back up our bitching? My nickel says the overwhelming majority of the readers here will rant and rave and complain and moderate and make jokes about Jar Jar, and then will jump down off the soapbox and fork over the $7.50 to see Episode II anyway. Or we'll call ourselves nonconformists, skip the movies, and later rent it (just to see how bad it is, wink wink).

Is this flamebait? I guess. But I think it's important that as we all get our panties in a bunch in our forum about this thing or that thing, we admit that rhetoric without action is of limited impact to Lucas, Microsoft, Congress, Metallica, etc.

PDHoss

======================================

Re:Put our money where our collective mouths are

[Zulfiya]

But how many of us are willing to back up our bitching? My nickel says the overwhelming majority of the readers here will rant and rave and complain and moderate and make jokes about Jar Jar, and then will jump down off the soapbox and fork over the $7.50 to see Episode II anyway.

Well... yes and no. Yes, I will shell out the $8 (or more, the way prices are going up) for Episode II. But, I'll probably only see it once.

I saw the original trilogy the first time it came out, and Jedi twice. When they re-released, I saw the trilogy again, twice (with different friends) and then Empire again (because it's the best of them). I own the tapes. That's a lot of viewings. (Ok, I'm a pathetic geek, I gave up being ashamed of that years ago).

I saw Ep. I once and have no real desire to buy or rent it.

Those stay-forever blockbusters do partially owe their success to repeat customers, and I do think that he's at least losing that.

Re:Put our money where our collective mouths are

[TheReverand]

Start Trek sucks because Gene Roddenberry died. I don't care what fan writes what, it will never be as good as it was. Pop in Wrath Of Khan and get over it, the legacy is over. The sooner people stop watching the crap they keep putting out, the sooner it will go away.

Screw that!

[ackthpt]

Exclusive clips from upcoming Star Wars EP2 scripts:
ObiWan: This is a Lightsabre©, the weapon of choice of a Jedi© warrior
Anakin: It looks like an old Eveready flashlight.
ObiWan: Uh, well, we had a budget..
Anakin (pressing ON button): *click* FNNZZWWOON
ObiWan: Uh, please turn it back off
Anakin: Wow, this is cool!
ObiWan: You are a very bad student and I can't seem to control you
Anakin: Hey! There are no bad students, only bad teachers!
ObiWan: Look out!
Anakin (accidently slicing his hand off with the lightsabre): AAAAAAGGHHH!!!
ObiWan: I'm afraid I'll have to flunk you, Anakin, Yoda was right.
Anakin: You suck, I'll get even with you some day!

From EP3:
Imperial Storm Trooper: Does this make me look fat?

Oops... Now George will want this expunged. Sorry...


--
Chief Frog Inspector

Jedi Babies

[David Wong]

The bizarre decision to include child versions of all of the original characters is what bothers me. In case you haven't heard, Boba Fett is apparently going to be in Episode 2 - as a child (that kid you see in the supposed storyboards is supposed to be little Boba).

Most of these characters were clearly supposed to be meeting for the first time in the original trilogy. C3PO, when he crash landed on tatooine gave no indication he had ever been there before... even though it turns out now that's his 'birthplace.'

All this makes the new films feel like a cheap spinoff of the original films, instead of an expanded look into the SW universe. Are we going to see a young Han Solo in this one? Lando as a toddler? A tadpole version of that little frog that Jabba ate in ROTJ?

Re:Jedi Babies

[Pig Hogger]

The bizarre decision to include child versions of all of the original characters is what bothers me. In case you haven't heard, Boba Fett is apparently going to be in Episode 2 - as a child (that kid you see in the supposed storyboards is supposed to be little Boba).

It's just been fashionable lately to have babies versions of whatever characters ( Baby Sylvester, Baby Twitty Bird, Baby Bug's Bunny, etc ).

And, if you look closely in TPM, there wasn't only Baby Darth, but also Baby Greedo, too... (In the scenes before the pod races, along the pod racer).

Hmmm, I wonder if Episode -1 will feature Baby Palpatine... Or Episode 3 will have Baby Han Solo...

What's the complaint?

[2nd Post!]

These storyboards *belong* to Lucas. It is his right and will to publish or not publish them, especially as he owns the copyright and distribution.

It's different than the Lars/MP3/Metallica thing, because he really does own the rights, and not some corporation or distributor.

No one has the right to take his work and use it in ways he does not allow. In an analogous way to say, the GPL. If we allow *anyone* to infringe on Lucas's rights to his works, why would not anyone infringe on the Open Source's rights to their software/source? Why shouldn't NVIDIA include Open Source stuff in their drivers?

It's his. He owns it. He writes it. He makes it. He sells it. He produces it. He makes the special effects for it.

About the only thing worth complaining about is the quality of the movies!

The nick is a joke! Really!

Re:Another move from the man who loves money

[softsign]

You don't get it. He is not releasing them AT THE SAME TIME. It's not like you have the choice of VHS or DVD. You have no choice if you want to see it now.

Let me spell it out:

1. Movie released in theatres:
   • All the kiddies run out and fork over their money to see it
   • Lucas & Co. make lots of money
2. Movie released on VHS:
   • All the kiddies run out and fork over their money to see it
   • Lucas & Co. make lots of money
3. Repeat steps 1-2 for Episode II & III
4. NOW, after all the people have paid to see it in theatres and on VHS, Lucas & Co. release the movies on DVD. Probably one at a time, and then finally an ubercool Box Set (which will of course, contain never-before-seen footage).

Having said that. More power to Lucas! It's a free market economy you whiny bitches. If you don't like it, don't put money in his pockets. Sneak into theatres, rent the tapes and return them claiming they're broken, hijack transport trucks, whatever...

--

Lucas had no problem with the fake trailer,...

[nharmon]

http://theforce.net/t hea ter/trailers/episodeii/index.shtml

Perhaps these people were running profit-making sites?

Yep, that's me in a nutshell.

[SuperKendall]

No matter how much you complain, you simply can't be a real Star Wars fan without seeing the whole thing, for good or ill.

As the other poster said though, there is no way I'm going opening day (or weekend) this time. Probably bringing down the opening weekend receipts is the only real impact it's possible to have. I fully admit that rhetoric without action is useless (which is why I recently sent real, physical letters to congress and the house supporting the music database bill), but I also know that there are some battles you cannot win and it does no good to try. Even if everyone reading /. boycotted the movie, who would notice? Our absence would be lost in the noise of the whole country pouring in to see the movie, simply because so many did not love 4,5, and 6 enough to truly hate much of #1.

Unless you are close enough to Lucas to tell him you aren't going and why, a boycott is useless.

The other side of the problem with a boycott is that even if you convinced the WHOLE COUNTRY to not see the movie ever, it would not matter at all - Lucas would go ahead and just make the third one however he wanted to anyway. In fact if you make him mad enough he's likley to add in Ewoks again just to spite us.

George Lucas With The Lid Off

[charlesc]

At least no one has put up any storyboards yet for "Howard The Duck Episode II: The Phantom Boxoffice" - hate to have THAT get spoiled.

Let's keep in mind..

[mindstrm]

Companies do not have the legal power to 'order' people to do things. Only the courts do.

Re:Let's keep in mind..

[albamuth]

However in the real world corporations have more rights than people - mostly through intimidation, deep pockets, and general lack of concern for the common human being.

Big deal!

[2nd Post!]

No, they have his storyboards.

It's the *sourcecode*, as it were. It's what makes his movie possible.

Didn't /. complain bitterly when NVIDIA included Open Source material in some of their driver software? What's the difference between someone misusing Lucas's storyboards, and NVIDIA misusing someone else's source?


The nick is a joke! Really!

Re:Big deal!

[mindstrm]

Hunh? I thought they had *parody* storyboards, that were not infact Lucasfilm's at all?

Really?

[2nd Post!]

I wouldn't know, actually.

I haven't seen the storyboards.

I've only seen the letters, and they only talk about stuff like infringing on Lucas's copyrights.:

Dear Sirs:

Lucasfilm Ltd. and its affiliated and related entities (collectively "Lucasfilm")
are the sole and exclusive owners of all rights in the major motion pictures
Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, Star Wars: Episode
I--The Phantom Menace, and the forthcoming feature film Star Wars: Episode
II (collectively the "Star Wars Films"). Those motion pictures and the
characters which appear therein are protected by the copyright and
trademark laws of the United States and other nations. It has come to our
attention that you have posted images, story lines, descriptions, and other
material relating to story boards from the production of Star Wars: Episode II
on your World Wide Web site at www.aldera.net and related pages. Pursuant
to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act ("DMCA"), other federal and state
copyright laws, trademark law, and other statutes, you are hereby notified
that your actions constitute infringement of Lucasfilm's rights. You may also
be in possession of stolen property of Lucasfilm.

We demand that you remove all of the items described above that are
accessible on or through your system or network, accessed by users through
your system or network, or located using your information location tools; and
disable access to any sites fulfilling these criteria. We further demand that
you immediately turn over any Lucasfilm property in your possession to us
and provide us with information regarding the source of the materials. You
must provide written assurance that you will comply with this demand
immediately.

Lucasfilm is the exclusive owner of all relevant rights in and to the Star Wars
Films. Pursuant to the DMCA, we have a good faith belief that any items
falling into the categories identified above infringe Lucasfilm's copyrights and
other intellectual property rights, and are not authorized by Lucasfilm or its
agents. I am authorized to act on Lucasfilm's behalf regarding these matters.
The information provided in this communication is accurate to the best of my
knowledge and is provided under penalty of perjury.

Sincerely,

David J. Anderman
Associate Director of Business Affairs
DJA/lm

The nick is a joke! Really!

Hah-ha

[2nd Post!]

If it has the Star Wars logos, any Star Wars characters, props, emblems, images, or animals...

It's copyrighted to George Lucas. Period. Rancors, light sabers, Jedi Knights, Mandalorian armor, Force tricks, battle droids, etc.

If there is any mention of anything Star Wars, he can prolly get it yanked. Without verification that it is or is not a real storyboard.

The nick is a joke! Really!

Not like trade secrets:

[2nd Post!]

A trade secret cannot be protected once it's no longer secret.

But something copyrighted is always copyrighted (unless the owner fails to protect it), so Lucas, regardless of source, can go after *his* property, if someone else uses it or publishes it.

It's still an IP thing, but for now the law is on his side.

If you use your argument, that once the information is out, that free speech takes over...

All music, movies, books, etc, become 'public' property the minute they are released, because they have been 'leaked'. How is a storyboard being posted technologically different than an mp3 or a mpeg of Episode 1? IP rights mean all three are illegal.

The nick is a joke! Really!

Aaah, who cares?

[otis wildflower]

In the same way Highlander II destroyed the whole film series for me, Episode I has put me off off any new Episodes. I will only go see E2/E3 if they involve the slow, painful, delicious torture of Jar Jar and the genocide of his race, one gungan at a time..

I'd rather see a new B5-verse movie anyway..

Your Working Boy,

What has happened!

[bfree]

"Horns" leaked what appears to be a very real picture board of EPII to Naboonline who said "due to the fact that we do not want to get into trouble with Lucasfilm, we have decided to not post those images".

http://www.naboonline.com/new s/i ndex.shtml#9701203 is an apology from Naboonline.com to LucasFilm and includes the original letter received from LucasFilm, or more precisely David J. Anderman, Associate Director of Business Affairs, from:netenforcement@lucasfilm.com and then they subsequently state their position as

we do remind that we never posted any storyboards on this site - just 3 snippets of characters....Other sites, however, have linked to or posted some of the images. Aldera.net was asked to remove them.
Which is why we never posted the full images. We thought that a description and 3 character snippets would not invoke any trouble. LucasFilm says to take them off, so we do

A few choice snippets of the LucasFilm letter include.

protected by the copyright and trademark laws of the United States and other nations

so it is for copyright and trademark reasons

Pursuant to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act ("DMCA"), other federal and state copyright laws, trademark law, and other statutes, you are hereby notified that your actions constitute infringement of Lucasfilm's rights. You may also be in possession of stolen property of Lucasfilm.

The good old DMCA comes in along with anything else the lawyers can think to say.....what a surprise.

We demand that you remove all of the items described above that are accessible on or through your system or network, accessed by users through your system or network, or located using your information location tools; and disable access to any sites fulfilling these criteria. We further demand that you immediately turn over any Lucasfilm property in your possession to us and provide us with information regarding the source of the materials. You must provide written assurance that you will comply with this demand immediately.

Oh Yeah? You can demand but don't tell people that they must do things unless you are a court. IANAL but I thought it was as simple as that. Could this be harrassment? Also kind-of big demands to drop all links to all sites that have anything still up even if you are linking to something else or just the homepage.

It concluded with a nice "Persuant to DMCA...infringe Lucasfilm's copyrights and other intellectual property rights...penalty of perjury". Do they have a form letter for this sh*t? And if the site was based outside DMCA zone (e.g. Europe) would they be able to ignore this?

If a tabloid newspaper published this stuff would they get away with it? I'd have thought so! What is the difference here?

There's only one problem.....See the parent post :-)

Re:SIGH... Why does everybody hate the fans?

[Daffy Duck]

Difference being that it would take more than 5 seconds to reveal the plot of The Matrix, whereas the entire story of SW episode two will probably fit on the back of the postage stamp that episode one was written on.

Re:The Fan as The Enemy

[JoeShmoe]

Wow, if you meant that as pun, bravo. +1 Very Clever.

On the otherhand if you were making some clusless observation and only now get the double meaning...never mind.

- JoeShmoe

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= -=-=-=-=-=-=-

The Lucas Philosophy

[jetpack]

I think Lucas has been taking lessons from the IOC. :P

The dog that did not bark...

[sysadmn]

Interestingly enough, George will also have to go after sites that have incorrect info. If not, you'll be able to piece together elements of the picture fromthe things that are not under attack!

SIGH... Why does everybody hate the fans?

[handorf]

What happened to enjoying speculation? Using rumor to build anticipation? Liking the attention?

By the time this movie comes out, I won't care at all. Rumor, speculation, things like this keep me interested.

No $8.00 from me this time, Mr. Lucas. Learn to respect the fans a bit.

Re:SIGH... Why does everybody hate the fans?

[David A. Madore]

Ok, how long did it take you to read that? Less than 5 seconds, I'm guessing.

Sorry. 7.10 seconds when speaking rather fast. 10.75 seconds when speaking at a normal rate.

Mind you, even the plot of The Wizard of Oz is hard to tell in under 5 seconds.

Hypocritical slashdot moviegoers

[Fervent]

Star Wars: interesting myth of a story, appeals to geeks
Corporations: big, evil, don't care about the people who buy their products
Science-fiction scriptwriters: playful, conscientious, like to play along with geeks

George Lucas:? ... Isn't he basically a corporation at this point? Why do we still go to his movies, then shoot other corporations down?

Re:Hypocritical slashdot moviegoers

[Luminous]

Nothing is either all Good or all Bad.

Now that would be a key lesson to learn about the Force come Ep.3

Other Fan Sites

[Mignon]

FS: These aren't the fan sites you're looking for.

GL: These aren't the fan sites we're looking for.

FS: We can go about our business.

GL: You can go about your business.

FS: Move along.

GL: Move along.

SEE THE STORYBOARDS HERE AND THEY'RE LAME

[David Wong]

Some of them are HERE.

It's nothing to get too worked up about. I think they're fakes anyway... which makes it fit right in with the rest of my site.

Nice grammar

[David Wong]

I knew I shouldn't have skipped those first ten grades of public school...

Another move from the man who loves money

[flatpack]

Of all of the people in the film industry I can't honestly think of one that has time and time again shown themselves to be only interested in the sheer amount of $$$ they can gouge from loyal fans.

First it was the incredible array of editions and boxed sets released for the original trilogy, then it was the fact that DVDs for the new trilogy were only going to be released in 2050 or some other point in the distant future, and now he's attacking fan sites who are catering to the interests of the very fans he makes his wads of cash from!

Seriously, George Lucas has done nothing since the original trilogy worth bothering with. Despite all of the anticipation felt by die-hard Star Wars fans in the buildup to the new movies, he disappointed them all by pandering to 10 year-old children with his movie and its slushy plot, cardboard characters and fucking annoying CGI aliens.

Fuck Geoege Lucas and the piles of cash he rolled in on.

The Fan as The Enemy

[Greyfox]

The trend these days seems to treat your fans as your enemies. I wonder how long it'll be before the fans get sick of this treatment and revolt.

There is no Enemy, Anywhere.

Ugh.

[Gendou]

What is it that causes brilliant, insightful people to eventually become big, dumb, greedy, superficial fools? George Lucas was a visionary. He produced three movies in his youth that shook the very bones of the movie world. Instant classics. Is it just astronomical ammounts of money that turn people into assholes or is there something else here? Come on George! Let your fans be fans! (And MAKE Episode 2 NOT suck, okay?!)

http://www.naboonline.com/episode2/storyboard.shtm

[bfree]

WARNING: SPOILER ALERT.....

The following is broken up by each panel. While some panels seem to continue the last or repeat, it's because good storyboards include each and every shot and camera angle.

FIRST SCENE (in chronological order)

1-Its raining. At the entry ramp of Slave-1, as young Boba Fett hurries aboard Jango Fett turns to see...
2-Obi-Wan ready with lightsabre ignited.
3-Jango opens fire with one blaster.
4-Obi-Wan deflects the bolts.
5-As Jango continues firing, he straffes behind and around pillars.
6-Obi-Wan shuffles while deflecting the bolts.
7-As Jango moves behind a pillar, Obi-Wan charges forward.
8-Jango unholsters a second blaster and does a Chow Yun Fat impersonation.
9-Obi-Wan has trouble deflecting the barrage of bolts.
10-Jango takes off (using his jetpack) over the top of Obi-Wan who swings his lightsaber but misses.
11-As he is flying past, Jango pivotes and fires at Obi- Wan from a high angle.
12-Obi-Wan deflects the bolts from above
13-Jango comtinues to fire now that he is flying away from Obi-Wan
14-Jango lets loose with both guns as he flys backwards.
15-Under the barrage of two blasters, Obi-Wan struggles to deflect every bolt.
16-Obi-Wan rolls off to the side to avoid the bolts.
17-Jango flies off behind a tower.
18- Emerging on the other side, Jango fires the rocket that was poking from the top of his jetpack.
19-Obi-Wan avoids the explosion but is stunned
20-Jango flies higher and out of screen.
21-Obi-Wan recovers and look around for Jango (who seems to have disappeared)
22-Obi-Wan is tense in the silence.
23-Obi-Wan senses something and turns just in time to see...
24-Young Boba Fett in the cockpit of Slave-1 taking aim with the ships heavy blasters
25-Slave-1 fires
26-the shots miss but.....
27-Obi-Wan drops his lightsaber
28-Jango appears from above and jumps down.
29-Obi-Wan recovers and with a yell....
30-leaps forward to kick Jango in the face
31-Jango crashes back onto the landing platform.
32-Obi-Wan lands on his feet.
33-Jango quickly recovers and charges forward.
34-In close quaters, Obi-Wan blocks Jango's attempt to rise his blaster to fire and the pair struggle for the weapon.
35-They grapple over the blaster.
36-Obi-Wan elbows Jango hard in the face
37-High angle shot as Obi-Wan judo flips Jango over his back.
38-Jango hits the ground hard but recovers quickly as Obi-Wan moves in for an attack.
39-Jango traps Obi-Wans foot
40-Jango spins Obi-Wan (in mid air) and brings him down face first onto the ground.
41-Obi-Wan retaliates from the ground with a sweep kick to Jango's head knocking him back.
42-Jango falls back
43-Obi-Wan get to his feet.
44-Jango gets up and takes aim with his arm mounted blaster.
45-Obi-Wan leaps over the bolts and onto Jango's shoulders, then flicks himself back and over, flipping Jango onto his back. Jango rolls to his feet.
46-Obi-Wan charges with a punch
47-Jango moves in to attack, chopping at Obi-Wan's head. Obi-Wan blocks it.
48-Jango ducks a wild punch and grabs Obi-Wan by his waist.
49-Jango sweeps Obi-Wan off his feet and flips him over bringing him crashing down over his bent knee.
50-Obi-Wan (momentarily stunned) is thrown by Jango. Obi-Wan lands and skids over the wet surface.
51-Obi-Wan comes to a halt on the ground and spots something.
52-His lightsaber.
53-Jango suddenly appears, flying towards Obi-Wan.
54-Obi-Wan gets up and reaches for his lightsaber (to summond it).
55-Jango fires his cable
56-cable wraps around Obi-Wan's hands
57-ObiWan fails to catch his lightsaber
58-Jango takes off, still tied to Obi-Wan
59-Obi-Wan is dragged along the ground.
60-Low angle behind Obi-Wan who is still being dragged
61-High abgle next to Jango who is still flying
62-Obi-Wan rolls to one side as he is still being dragged.
63-Obi-Wan manages to roll around one of the pillars.
64-Obi-Wan jumps up and wraps the cable around the pillar.
65-Jango crashes to the ground
66-The jetpack shoots off on its own into the side of a building.
67-Obi-Wan (with his hands still tied) charges
68-Obi-Wan kicks jango over the side of the platform.
69-Jango slides down the side
70-Obi Wan gets pulled to the edge of the platform.
71-Almost over the complete edge, Jango activates claws on the side of his forearms.
72-Jango digs his "claws" into the platform.
73-Obi-Wan falls over the edge and onto the slope
74-Obi-Wan slides past Jango
75-Obi-Wan falls off over the edge.
76- Still tied to Jango, Obi-Wan is hanging
77-Obi-Wan starts swinging
78-Jango is getting pulled down now.
79-jango releases the cable.
80-Obi-Wan falls
81-Distant shot as Obi-Wan falls.
82-Obi-Wan reaches for and grabs a service platform with the tips of his fingers.
83-Obi-Wan jumps onto the platform
84-Jango enters Slave-1
85-Obi-Wan, already back on the platform, summons his lightsaber as he runs.
86-Lightsaber returns to its owner
87-Obi-Wan catches the lightsaber
88-Slave-1 begins to take off.
89-In one move, Obi-Wan takes a seeker pod from his belt and throws it.
90-The seeker pod sticks to the side of the ship.
91-Obi-Wan watches from the platform
92-As Slave-1 takes off into the rain.

SECOND SCENE (Warning! MAJOR SPOILERS!)

1-Overlooking a grand arena in a VIP style "box" sits Count Dooku and Poggle the Lesser. I believe Count Dooku is Christopher Lee's character. To his left sits a Nemoidian. Poggle is a strangle looking creature (definitely CGI). I'd say a cross between Sebulba and a Gungan but extremely skinny and with apparent wings. Jango Fett stands behind Poggle.
2-Dooku and Poggle talk and watch the arena. Unnoticed by them, there is a flash far behind them and one of the Lesser guards drops to the ground.
3-A hand taps Dooku's shoulder.
4-Mace Windu reveals himself with one hand and with the other keeps Jango at bay with his lightsaber.
5-View of the Stadium as hundreds of Jedi enter from all passageways. All ready for confrontation with their lightsabers ignited.
6-Dooku reveals the droid army awaiting the jedi. Mace reacts as the droids (battledroids, destroyer droids and superdroids (which look like a cross between battledroid and stormtrooper, very big)) emerge from the dark passageway behind him.
7-High angle of the VIP box and droids are coming from all entrances. Mace is surrounded. Jango backs out of firing range.
8-The droids open fire.
9-Mace deflects the first bolts as Dooku and the other dignitaries move to safer ground.
10-The Droids continue to fire as mace deflects the bolts right back at them.
11-Full shot of Mace as he spins and deflects shots from all sides.
12-A number of droids are smashed back by their own bolts.
13-Mace continues to defend.
14-Jango brings up his flamethrower and fires at mace. Lessers are flying away in the background.
15-Mace leaps high as flame scorches the place he was.
His cloak is on fire. The nemoidian is hit by the flame. 16-Jango blasts at Mace in the air.
17-Mace deflects all the bolts as he rolls in mid air and down into the arena. His cloak is still on fire.
18-Mace lands in the arena. Pan to Jango looking for an escape. Pan to Dooku leaving the area.
19-Mace throws off the smouldering cloak and looks around the arena.
20-Wide angle as Jedi fight for their lives against the superior number of droids.
21-two Jedi leap from another VIP box just as its blasted by droids.
22-More shots of Jedi defending themselves from attacks from all sides.
23-A jedi destoys a superdroid but is gunned down by a destroyer droid.
24-Mace looks back at the VIP box he was in.
25-Droids in the VIP box shoot at Mace who defends. Jango takes off in the distance.
26-As Mace defends from the stands, Jango lands behind him in the arena.
27-Jango aims his cable at Mace from behind him as Mace still defends.
28-Jango fires the cable.
29-Mace turns just in time to force push the cable..
30-around a nearby destroyer droid.
31-Mace turns away from Jango to take care of some droids in the arena.
32-The entangled Destroyer turns and fires upon the source of the cable...
33-Taking Jango by surprise as shots whip around him.
34-Jango detaches the cable
35-Jango flies past the destroyer (jetpack of course)
36-Jango's flight path leads him directly behind Mace who is still battling droids. As Jango passes, Mace swings his lightsaber over his head and hits Jango's jetpack.
37-Jango goes into an uncontrolled dive and the destroyer droid tracking Jango ends up firing at Mace who deflects all the bolts.
38-Jango crashes to the ground and rolls to his feet.
39-The destroyer blasts at Mace.
40-Jango jettisons the damaged jetpack while Mace continues with the destoyer.
41-Jango fires at Mace with both blasters.
42-Mace spins to deflect the new attack.
43-With a destroyer droid on one side and Jango Fett on the other, Mace defends from both foe at the same time.
44-Mace leaps into the air leaving the destroyer and Jango firing at each other.
45-Jango leaps into a sideways roll and keeps firing at the destroyer.
46-The destroyer explodes under Jango's attack.
47-Mace lands and a battledroid fires at him. He deflects the bolt without even looking and charges towards Jango.
48-Jango notices something as Mace charges.
49-Jango's POV of Mace charging with battles raging in the background.
50-The Reek (four legged, tri-horned beast with a bull- like nose ring similar to the Rancor in ROTJ)appears from a passageways and charges through a number of droids after Mace.
51-Shot tracking the Reek towards Mace. Jango looks stunned in the distance.
52-Mace turns and spots the Reek as Jango scrambles to his feet.
53-Mace's POV of The Reek charging directly at him.
54-Mace swipes at the Reek chopping off one of it's horns. The Reeks still catches Mace with its shoulder sending Mace sprawling.
55-Mace loses his lightsaber.
56-Mace hits the ground and rolls up onto his side.
57-Mace's ground POV of his lightsabe and Jango running toward it.
58-Just before Jango reches the Lightsaber, one of The Reek's feet slams down on it.
59-The Reek snarls at Mace as he gets back on his feet and tries to force calm over the beast. It then turns to Jango on the other side making him back off.
60-High angle os the Reek and the two foes on either side. Mace attempting to get closer to his lightsaber and Jango trying to get a clear shot.
61-Jango peer's under the Reek's belly looking for a shot.
62-Jango moves slowly around.
63-The Reek is still looking at Jango and Mace heads closer to his lightsaber.
64-The Reek reacts to Mace's close proximity
65-Mace tries to calm the beast with the force.
66-The Reek calms somewhat.
67-Mace moves closer.
68-mace tries to free the lightsaber with the force.
69-Jango moves toward the Reek's hindquarters
70-Jango continues to move. Mace is obscured by the Reek's front leg. Jango spots his discarded jetpack lying on the ground a short distance beyond Mace.
71-Close up on the jetpack.
72-Jango shifts aim and fires at the Jetpack.
73-Mace reacts throwing himself backwards and away.
74-the Jetpack explodes as Mace dives clear.
75-Mace hits the ground in a roll and ends near a wall.
76-Startled by the explosion, The Reek rears up on it's hind legs, freeing the lightsaber. Jango is ready to pounce.
77-Jango dives at the lightsaber but...
78-It floats offscreen just as Jango reaches it.
79-The lightsaber returns to Mace's hand.
80-Jango looks up at the Reek as it's shadow falls over him.
81-Jango rolls out of the way of the Reeks front legs as they crash back down on the ground.
82-The Reeks charges at Mace trampling Jango.
83-Jango avoids being crushed by the beast's huge feet.
84-Tracking the Reek as it charges at Mace.
85-Mace leaps into the air as the Reek reaches him, causing the Reek to smash into the wall of the arena.
86-Mace flips into the stands in the midst of a group of droids.
87-Mace lands and attacks.
88-Jango recovers and retrieves his blaster.
89-The Reek shakes it's head, looks around and spots Jango.
90-The Reek lumbers around and trotts towards Jango.
91-Jango raises his blaster and aims carefully.
92-The Reek begins to fully charge.
93-Jango pauses.
94-Jango's POV as Reek charges closer.
95-In the last moment, Jango fires into the beast's eys and dives out of the way still ready with blasters if need be.
96-The Reek tumbles and crashes to the ground, dead.
97-Jango stands and whips around looking for Mace with both blasters raised.
98-Mace leaps down from the stands and charges forward.
99-Jango opens fire desperately but Mace deflects all the bolts as he runs.
100-Mace takes out both blasters with blinding speed.
101-Mace lunges with his lightsaber at Jango's head and Jango ducks but is left off balance. jango manages one blast from his arm mounted blaster but it misses.
102-Mace spins and slices across and downward.
103-Jango's helmet bounces and rolls in the dust.
104-Jango's body falls to the dirt (safely assumed dead), leaving Mace the victor.

Re:SIGH... Why does everybody hate t... (spoilers)

[Kris_J]

Short and sweet, shame it's wrong. Try

Computers have taken over the earth creating a virual reality for all humans, which they use as batteries. Humans in said reality do not know it's fake. One such human is freed by a small group of the last remaining resistance, but leader of said group is captured in the process (due to a double-cross). Previously freed human risks life to rescue said leader. While the group is decimated, our three heroes get out alive.

Also, sincere apologies if I've spoiled the movie for anyone. But I wanted to make the point that the movie is more subtle. "Evil" is still in control, the "Good Guys" only just manage to get out alive.

Not me!

[Brazilian Geek]

But that's part of modern geek culture. We read the whole damn script, what leeked sniplets, flame the whole movie in the weeks before the opening... then, on opening day, we wear our Jedi t-shirts, get our 20 year old lightsabers, make Darth Vader like noises and go to the local cineplex to watch a movie we already know from start to finish like it's brand new and full of mystery.

We'll all watch it at least once - if someone likes it they'll watch it twice and if someone REALLY likes it, they'll watch it 3 times or more.

And besides, you can't really blast it if you haven't watched it - better watch hating and continue to hate it later than to not know why people hate it so much. Come on, you can't HATE Jar Jar just by reading about him - you have to watch to feel it.

BTW, that was not flamebait.

In a related story,

[B00yah]

George Lucas has decided to release Leonardo DiCaprio from his role as Anakin, and has brought on Metallica's Lars Ulrich. On being brought on, Lars had this to say; "This is fucking sweet shit man! I get to hit people with my flashlight!"


öööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööööö

Make sense

[Dionysus]

If the real storyline in any way resembles the fake ones on the site, he could have been sued for not given credit (remember the Spielberg movie, Amistad a couple of years back. He got sued even though the movie was based on a historic event, and then we have the Eddie Murphy movie, Back to America (?), Whoopie Goldberg's "Sister Act". Lots of examples).

*sigh*

[MouseR]

Grow up people.

If the story board would end up on the web, even if only remotelly accurate, it would spill the beans and spoil the movie.

Worse yet, it could bring a whole slew of cheap knock-offs, making episode 2 a lesser success or surprise. Case to the point: Antz vs Bugs Life.

Or perhaps you'd all want the storyboard open-sourced?

Lesse what kind of movie you can do in your basement, with your big brother's Sony digital camera.

(Admitedly, though, this would probably be the only source of a satisfying Jar Jar Bink death scene...)

Explain this to me?

[jgerman]

How is it wwrong for fansites to publish leaked information. It seems to me that if information leaked, Lucas has no one to go after but the employee who leaked it. Once that information is out I'd think freedom of speech takes over.