Principal Photography on Star Wars III Complete

An anonymous reader writes "Principal photography for Star Wars III ended yesterday, and they're starting up on the 18 month post-production. Although denied by ILM, here is a quick taste of what the story for episode III might be like (either taken from Lucas' journal in 1983, or just a fake from an insider way back then)."

Comments

BAH!

[bluethundr]

here is a quick taste of what the story for episode III might be like (either taken from Lucas' journal in 1983, or just a fake from an insider way back then)."

Hmmm...Where have I known that taste before? Ah yes! The well familiar taste of bullshit! And when this guy was done writing "Ep III" he might well have tried his hand at another brand of fan fiction.

Lucas' stroytelling prowess seems to have diminished with the ensuing decades after Jedi, but have they diminished this much? I sincerely doubt it. Even taking Ep I into consideration.

Face it folks. We're waiting until the release date.

AS much as my enjoyment of the franchise has diminished with age (damn you adulthood!!!) I am intrigued to see how the movie franchise will end.

Until Lucas changes his mind and decides once more to make the last trilogy

Re:BAH!

[liquidsin]

We already know how the movie franchise ends. Vader dies, balance is restored. See this link for more about it.

Re:BAH!

[squiggleslash]

Yes. In fact, these were actually turned into films in the late eighties but were so truly awful that they were ignored by cinemagoers and even hardcore Star Wars fans disowned them:

Star Wars VII "The Royal Wedding" consisted basically of Han Solo marrying Leia. Critics particularly hated the half hour speech by Lanso (best man) which, by all accounts, went on for way too long and was just embarassing for the audience, as well has Han.

Star Wars VIII "The Solos have Kids" covered about 15 years of the birth, schooling, and subsequent leaving of three brats. Luke makes an appearance as the generous Godfather who teaches these kids in the ways of the force.

Star Wars IX "Return to Disneyworld" covers a trip by Solo and Leia to Florida, years after their kids have left them and the two are in middle-age. The two divorce, but agree to disagree and the whole thing's very amicable.

Re:BAH!

[jtroutman]

Seriously, if you think this is bad you should track down an early draft of Episode IV...Luke had brothers, all of whom had gone off to fight the Empire. The Sith were mentioned. Meticlorians (sp?) were brought up. I first found a copy of the 2nd draft online about 1995. All the things that I thought were complete dreck, that I was so glad were cut from Ep. IV, ended up making it into I and II...

Re:BAH!

[Joe U]

Yes, but the hour long insight into Wedge Antilles' life made Episode IX an instant cult classic.

Re:BAH!

[DCheesi]

Actually I thought Vader was the one who restores the balance himself. Episode I: 1000s of Jedi, 2 Sith. Episode IV: 2-1/2 Jedi, 2 Sith. Hmm, which one sounds more balanced? :)

Re:BAH!

[bluethundr]

We already know how the movie franchise ends. Vader dies, balance is restored. See this link for more about it.

Weisenheimer! If you read a little more carefully you'll see that I said: I am intrigued to see how the movie franchise will end.

Note, what I did NOT say is that Ep III is how the story will end. But, again, unless Lucas changes his mind* THIS is how the movie franchise will end. You wanna pick nits? Let's pick some nits! Yeeeeeaah! C'MOWN!!! How ya like me now??? ;P

*Of note is that therobot 4-LOM stood for "For love of Money". And where money is the motivating factor, I don't think we can entirely rule out the last trilogy ever being made.

Re:BAH!

[Rorschach1]

Yes, we mustn't forget Eric, the 1/2 a Jedi.

Re: BAH!

[Jace of Fuse!]

christianity is the new messiah on the block.

Not the block, the stick. Jesus is the new Messiah on a Stick.

Re:BAH!

[Jugalator]

Regarding the "quick taste" linked to in this article:

"Fall of the Republic mini-FAQ" version 1.0, January 1995.
by David Hines, dzhines@midway.uchicago.edu

Questions answered in this FAQ:

1. "Hey, everybody! I've got this thing called "Fall of the Republic -"
2. "Why are you guys screaming like that?"
3. "What's a FAQ, and why does FotR need one?"
4. "Okay, so what's the deal with FotR?"
5. "What do you mean, it's not real?"
6. "Yeah, what's this about the third episode? Wasn't that Return of the Jedi?"
7. "Okay. FotR is a fake, but where did it come from?"
8. "Where is FotR available on the Internet?"
9. "Okay, I've got FotR. How do I convert it into something I can read?"
10. "I don't have ftp access. What do I do?"

1. "Hey, everybody! I've got this thing called "Fall of the Republic -"

AAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!

2. "Why are you guys screaming like that?"

Well, you see, some topics get rehashed quite a bit on this newsgroup. That's understandable, since more people come on to usenet every day. Even if, as is recommended, you lurk in a new newsgroup [lurk: read without posting] for a whole week before you make your first post, you'll miss some of the discussion that's gone before.
Some topics get endlessly rehashed. Topics like bloopers and Mark Hamill's car accident have been brought up over and over, until most people are heartily sick of them.
"Fall of the Republic" [hereafter FotR] is one of those topics. People keep bringing it up when they join the newsgroup. Recently, there has been a huge surge of folks pointing out the existence of FotR. As a result, this mini-FAQ was composed.

3. "What's a FAQ, and why does FotR need one?"

FAQ stands for Frequently Asked Questions. A FAQ lists the questions and their answers. FotR needs a FAQ because so many people have questions about it.

4. "Okay, so what's the deal with FotR?"

It's not real.

5. "What do you mean, it's not real?"

Well, it is real, if by "real" you mean that it really exists, and has been written by somebody.
However, FotR is not "real" in the sense that it is not a real story treatment for the third episode of the Star Wars saga.

6. "Yeah, what's this about the third episode? Wasn't that Return of the Jedi?"

No, that was the sixth episode. RotJ was, however, the third film to be released. Basically, the Trilogy we know is composed of episodes four through six. Lucas is now working on the scripts for episodes one through three. The films are due out in 1998; for more information, see the New Movies FAQ, kept by Aditya Sood.

7. "Okay. FotR is a fake, but where did it come from?"

Good question. "John L. Flynn" is listed as the author, but no one really knows who wrote it, except perhaps the author himself.
Before it was made available on the Internet, most people picked it up at conventions. Dealers sold it at their tables; as far as we know, the story treatment (it's too brief to be a script) made its debut around 1983 or so. It may have been around earlier.
The earliest possible date for it is 1979, which is when "Star Wars" was rereleased with the subtitle "Episode IV: A New Hope." Before then, "Star Wars" was just "Star Wars;" no one could have known about Episode III being a prequel. Most reports, however (I'm using hearsay, admittedly, from reports of people on the group who remember FotR from *way* back) place it at about 1983.

8. "Where is FotR available on the Internet?"

It's at wpi.wpi.edu, in the directory starwars/stories. Log in with "anonymous" as your username and your email address as your password.

9. "Okay, I've got FotR. How do I convert it into something I can read?"

To quote the wpi server itself:

250- All ascii text files are compressed (.Z suffix) to save on room. On
250- Unix systems just type - uncompress file.Z - to uncompress it.
250- MAC user can use the program maccompress-32.hqx - It

stolen script

[grub]

Scanned script direct from George Lucas' desk:

STAR WARS III

(Young Skywalker stares at the horizon, he has a look
of discontent on his face.)

[coffee stains mar several paragraphs]

Skywalker: I sense the dark side..

Kenobi: Yes, you must resist it, young one.

[smeared pizza grease soaks and obscures many pages]

(Skywalker stands over JarJar's body)
Skywalker: A-ha! Who's the master, *now*!

Kenobi: The dark side has taken hold, fight it!

R2D2: >click!< >beep!< >brappp!<

Kenobi: No, my droid friend, it is too late. He has been
consumed.

R2D2: >booooooooop<

[Dried Pepsi ruined the ink for many more pages here]

Kenobi: We will meet again, dark one!

Skywalker: And then I shall show you that the dark side
is stronger! Go! Go! Live in your cave on a desolate
rock! HA ha ha! The dark side makes you live in fear!

Yoda: Evil you are, good you will not.

[Cheeseburger grease ruin most of the rest]

(The village of small furry bipeds rejoices, fireworks
fill the sky. An image of JarJar appears among the light
show. The furry bipeds wave. Roll Credits.]

There, I've save you $8.00.

The Big Question...

[The_Rippa]

Will we be seeing the Star Wars Kid?

The IMPORTANT question is...

[r_glen]

Did the Star Wars kid make it in?

There went the quick taste.

[jensend]

"The web site you are trying to access has exceeded its allocated data transfer. Visit our help area for more information." Slashdot should be more responsible than to post links to personal sites with low bandwidth quotas.

Linking to GeoCities?

[the_riaa]

Okay, you can't even pretend like that's a good idea.

Damn thing's slashdotted before a comment's posted. Fortunately, Google's cache is on the case.

Re:Linking to GeoCities?

[FortKnox]

Y'arr! It be a great thing to pirate from others, but it be greater to pillage the location that it be!

Y'arr!

Good old google!

[starcraftsicko]

Google Cache

Don't you people learn?

[Edgewize]

Last time I checked, Geocities still sucked, and Slashdot still had a million visitors. So please stop submitting stories with Geocities links because they WILL NOT WORK. Ever.

Mirror

[WndrBr3d]

Here's a mirror of the dead link:

mirror

For those who care...

[r_glen]

There's a great picture of Anakin/Vader still floating around (hi-res one was taken down).

Re:YAY!

[Anonymous Coward]

On what planet do you live that you have 6 month years? Here on Earth 18 months is 1 1/2 years.

I can accept bad spelling from slashdotters but bad math is just scary.

Episode III script...

[Deathlizard]

The web site you are trying to access has exceeded its allocated data transfer. Visit our help area for more information. Access to this site will be restored within an hour. Please try again Later. Need extra data transfer? Sign up for GeoCities Pro or Webmaster. Learn more.

Some Of Lucas's best work yet :)

Hold on to your seat kids...

[*weasel]

..this thread's gonna get bumpy.

Here's one of them

[PhukLunix]

DARTH SIDIOUS I find it amazing that your overwhelming stupidity is only offset by your incredible ability with a lightsaber. You've come a long way from those days on Naboo when you were tripping over every single available object.

DARTH JAR JAR Mesa not cuttin' off mesa arms, mesa not cuttin' off mesa legs! Mesa muy good with a lightsaber, Darth Sidious!

DARTH SIDIOUS (massaging his temple) Christ, I need a Tylenol.

DARTH JAR JAR Whatsa bein' wrong, Darth Sidious?

DARTH SIDIOUS Jar Jar, please, don't talk again. Just listen to me.

DARTH JAR JAR Okieday! Mesa listenin' to you now!

DARTH SIDIOUS God, I need a drink, too. Look, Jar Jar. I'm going to take you to fight the Jedi. We're going to lure Anakin to the Dark Side, and...

DARTH JAR JAR (interrupting) Nooooo! Little Annie?

DARTH SIDIOUS Jar Jar, I'm serious. Shut your stupid mouth and listen to me, or I will make you suffer as you've never suffered before, all right?

DARTH JAR JAR Okieday, mesa shuttin mesa mouth now!

DARTH SIDIOUS Jesus. All right, here's the deal - we lure Anakin over to the Dark Side, which should be easy to do. I'm surprised he hasn't drifted over here yet of his own free will. He was a little pouty brat of a kid, and he was a surly, rude, angry teenager who pouted and got all pissy when he didn't get his own way. Now he's a little older and he's still acting like a petulant teenager. I will simply have him embrace his rage, and he will join us.

DARTH JAR JAR But Darth Sidious, if Annie besa joinin' us, doesn't that mean hesa goin' to have to kill mesa?

DARTH SIDIOUS (hurriedly) No, no, of course not, Jar Jar. We've...um...abandoned those usual rules. Yeah, that's right. Now there can be a master and two apprentices.

DARTH JAR JAR Oooooohhhhhhh. Okieday! Mesa ready to besa killin' the Jedi!

DARTH SIDIOUS (quietly) I can't wait until Anakin joins us.

BOBA FETT steps out on to the balcony. SIDIOUS and JAR JAR turn to look at him.

DARTH JAR JAR Hey there, little Boba! How's yousa doin' today?

BOBA FETT Shut up, Jar Jar.

DARTH SIDIOUS Now, Boba, is that any way to talk to a Sith Lord?

BOBA FETT (his mouth hangs open in amazement for a moment, but then he composes himself) You've got to be kidding me. Tell me that's a joke.

DARTH JAR JAR Nonono, it's not bein' a joke! Mesa a Sith Lord! Mesa havin' mesa own lightsaber!

BOBA FETT This has got to be the stupidest damned thing you've ever done, Palpatine.

DARTH SIDIOUS What did I tell you? When I'm in the robes, you're supposed to call me Darth Sidious.

BOBA FETT Oh, blow me.

DARTH SIDIOUS Boba, you will maintain a tone of respect with me, or I swear that I will...

BOBA FETT (interrupting) You'll what? Oooooh, more threats. I'm really scared of you, "dad."

DARTH SIDIOUS That's it! Go to your room!

BOBA FETT No.

DARTH SIDIOUS Go to your room, Boba, or I'll have Jar Jar here cut off your head.

BOBA FETT If he doesn't cut his own head off first. Stupid, clumsy idiot.

DARTH SIDIOUS That's enough, Boba! Go to your room!

principal photography is meaningless...

[wrinkledshirt]

...when most of the acting is going to be done by the CGI characters anyway.

Yeah, yeah, I know. I'm trolling. But Episode 1 was so disheartening that I didn't even bother seeing Episode 2, and Episode 3 has elicited zero excitement from me. So, whoopeedoo, we've got the stonefaced lines-reciting from Ewan McGregor and Natalie Portman. Big deal.

prepare for cutesy scenes!

[goon america]

I bet baby Luke Skywalker and baby Han Solo will have a chance meeting! Maybe baby Han Solo will throw a tater-tot at baby Greedo

Re:prepare for cutesy scenes!

[Rary]

"Maybe baby Han Solo will throw a tater-tot at baby Greedo"

Only if baby Greedo throws a tater-tot first.

Does this mean...

[BigGar']

our efforts to get "The Star Wars Kid" into the film have failed?

As If....

[Dark Paladin]

A million fans are about to cry out in terror - and are suddenly silenced.

Episodes 4-6: I liked them. They were the cowboy fantasy with a tale to tell of redemption, growing into an adult, and the small, plucky rebellion beating the odds against an Empire of British accented bad guys.

Episodes 1-2? We've got some of the worst scripting that has ever happened. Episode 2 alone was nearly a black hole in a craptastic display that was barely saved by the precense of Ass Kickin' Yoda. (And it still had the stupid heroes who couldn't seem to figure out how to roll out of the way of a falling hunk of metal so Yoda had to save their dumb asses rather than taking out the "Bad Guy".)

So unless Episode 3 has a huge song and dance scene with a whole parade of digially generated Natalie Portmans in that super tight white Princess Leia like outfits singing "You Are My Sunshine", I'll just wait until it shows up as a special on Fox.

With plenty of commercial interruptions so I can have a time for hurlage.

I've found this one too

[PhukLunix]

INT - MOS EISLEY CANTINA (Hand written in ballpoint, in crabbed, small letters) No point in reinventing the wheel or paying out our asses again for thirty midgets and a small army of makeup artists and top-ranked FX crews, guys. CGI this in its entirety. Get me some of those Japs at Circlehard or wherever. People love repeat themes and babies too- so we'll just have the Cantina band all be a bunch of toddlers, since this is all maintaining the prequel theme, which should go well for our Huggies Pull-em-ups! plug spot. I can just feel the Baby Snoots dolls flying off the shelves at Target and Wal-Mart now. Oh, squeeze in that Britney Spears-as-Twi'lek-dancer cameo we promised if possible too. - George
YODA and ANAKIN sidle up to the bar. The BARTENDER eyes the sabers on their belts suspiciously.

BARTENDER: We don't serve your kind here.

ANAKIN: (Gestures in some arbitrary, mystical manner) You need to go outside now and shave a bantha. We should serve ourselves.

BARTENDER: I need to go out back and shave a bantha. Why don't you two gentlemen serve yourselves.

ANAKIN Force-pours himself and YODA a couple of tall, stiff drinks.

YODA: (Shaking his head remorsefully) Strong in the Force you have become indeed, Anakin. Powers you are not using responsible. (YODA grumbles) Not responsible. Not responsible.

ANAKIN: With all due respect Master Yoda, coming here was at your request. Not only have I prevented a conflict, but now we have an open bar.

YODA: (Sighing in resignation) Then knocking a few back, we will be, and explaining I will the reason of this meeting.

TRANSITION- Now ANAKIN is Force-pouring rows of drinks, sloppily, for a garrolously cheering crowd of CGI, puppets, and whatever monster suited extras we had in the closet. 'Friends' cast cameo.

ANAKIN: Woohooo! Make mine a Force Light!

YODA: Talking we must.

ANAKIN: Okay. But do you gotta keep talking like you learned your grammar from an electrocuted Wookiee?

YODA: Comment sliding I will let. Talk to you of Amidala, I must.

ANAKIN: Awww you're not going to start coming down on me like the Jedi Council, all, 'marriage is forbidden' this and 'we're throwing you out' that are ya?

YODA: Spending too much time from Amidala you have been. Speaking with Master Yoda she has.

ANAKIN: (briefly sobering up) WHAT? The bitch lies! I never laid a hand on her!

YODA: Calm, young Anakin. She is lonely. Only seeking companionship she was. Busy you have been.

ANAKIN: (Glowering) What I do wi' my time is my bi'ness.

YODA: Indeed it is... indeed it is.

ANAKIN: Will you drop this pretentious, ancient green sage midget nonsense for one minute and get to your point?

YODA: As you wish. Lonely woman, this Amidala. Seek comfort with old Jedi she did. Leads to other things, one thing does. (YODA giggles impishly) Little Yoda needed some comforting too.

ANAKIN: (Sputtering) You... she... WHAT?

YODA: Woman with needs, Amidala is. Old Jedi knows more tricks than just lightsaber.

ANAKIN: (Staring a moment) How is that even possible! WAIT, don't even respond. You're supposed to be a Master! You're not supposed to be doing that anyway!

YODA: Falling in love is expressly forbidden, but love in general is not. Besides. Jedi Master I am. Jedi Monk I am not.

ANAKIN: I'MA KILL THAT BITCH!

YODA: Find her, you will not. Hidden from you she is.

Queue the Linkin Park plug music. ANAKIN howls all angsty, Force-smashes a bunch of bottles and cups into the wall. The crowd gets upset and starts booing him. ANAKIN, knowing his kung fu is inferior to YODA's, pouts and then jumps out a window, bawling the entire way. YODA calmly finishes his drink.

YODA: Never trust a politician, told him I did.

Warning! Major Spoiler.

[Javagator]

Here's why Anakin goes bad.

"Anakin, Meesa your father."
"Nooooooooooooooooooo!"

Episode VII

[bluethundr]

Apparently, TheForce.net has taken it upon themselves to produce Episode VII. After the prequels, how badly could it suck? Might be worth a read for the diehard...

I can no longer watch this series.

[Murmer]

Not Lucas' fault, mind you. The person responsible is my buddy Sean, who part way through The Phantom Menace turns to me and says "I've figured it out. When they say 'midichlorians', the mean 'semen'."

Gak.

What's next?

[Vespillo]

First the plot of EP3 is leaked across the net, what is next? where will the madness end!!

Luckly the plot for Return Of The Kind is kept under lock and key :)

Anakin

[GuyMannDude]

On the molten, volcanic world of Sigma Vulcanus, Anakin Skywalker, a handsome, swarthy man with a dignified stature, makes an important discovery.

Wow. What a picture-perfect description of Hayden Christenson...

Now if the script described Anakin as a punk-ass little pretty-boy shithead with a dippy smile, I'd be more inclined to believe this "script" :)

GMD

Re:Anakin

[OrderOfSemprini]

"androgynous waif boy" also works!

Two words.

[Mr_Icon]

Mannequin Skywalker

who cares

[SethJohnson]

I think I speak for a lot of people when I say that Lucas has completely fumbled this franchise. I could really give a crap that the third movie is finished. He had a few flashes of brilliance when he was young, but lost it.

Hopefully Tarantino won't suffer this fate.

Re:YAY!

[sharkey]

Besides, the story went down so fast...

Are you saying the plot blows?

Lucas could make him a hero

[KalvinB]

by having him kill Jar Jar Binks.

A nice 30 sec bit of him bumping into Jar Jar "accidently" knocking him off a very high cliff and then saying "oops" and running off.

Ben

You know you'll go to the dark side...

[stienman]

Look, rebel scum, I know you're all up in arms about how bad the last two were and how bad this ones going to be, and you're all talkin' 'bout how you'll wait until it comes out on TV, blah, blah, blah.

But let's face it - nothing any better is going to be on at the theater, and you've seen all the other ones, so you're gonna go see this one as well. You know it, I know it, the dark side is calling and you're gonna suck it.

Then you'll complain in the following 'review' story on slashdot about how you were right, it sucked, and you wasted money and time.

Let's just cut to the chase. You're most likely a guy. You like action scenes. The movie could suck, the characters and plot could suck, but as long as it has one or two good fight scenes, you'll be all over it.

Nothing to be ashamed of. Go to the theater (because you don't have the big screen and kick-butt sound system you are planning on building someday), pay up, enjoy the fighting, and go home and then complain about it.

-Adam

Public Service Announcement

[kurosawdust]

In case you are unsure about dropping $8 to see this movie, but don't want any spoilers, I offer the following objective test of this installment's worth:

$ grep "Jar Jar" episodeIII.txt

$

I'm sold.

Re:BAH! BAH! BAH! fake

[frovingslosh]

And let me correct myself before everyone else does - the word from Lucas back then was a vision of 3 movies set long before the original 3, in which there would be no characters that overlap with the original 3 except the robots, and that followed by the last 3 episodes, again with only the robots as a common thread. He certainly had no intention of making the first 3 include Darth Vader, Yoda or anyone else he might be weaseling in because of their obvious marketing potential back in '83 when he was laying out his plan for the 9 movies.

Lucasfilm

[Animats]

Yeah, that's Lucasfilm. Two years of preproduction, three months of principal photography, two years of postproduction.

If only they had some good writers. As Harrison Ford once said, "George, you can write this stuff, but nobody can say it."

Old Book

[strider( corinth )]

Anybody read Splinter of the Mind's Eye? This plot seems to borrow fairly heavily from it. Its initial publication was after A New Hope and prior to Empire. Chances are Lucas didn't (and won't) use large portions of the plot from that book as the basis of the next movie. Also, I was pretty young then, but I'm pretty sure "genetic engineering" wasn't a household term in 1983.

Re:Spoiler

[Elwood P Dowd]

Further spoilers:

Anakin IS LUKE'S FATHER!

Wait...

Re:Principal photography...

[cmpalmer]

I keep imagining George Lucas filming Episode III, all alone in a huge room with blue walls (like the prison in THX-1138, but blue), panning his super digital camera around and talking to himself. Then, when he gets a few hundred hours of footage, he hands it over to ILM and tells them to add the special effects.