Unesco Probing Star Wars Filming In Ireland

First time accepted submitter wijnands (874114) writes Star Wars crews have started filming on the small Irish Island of Skellig Michael. This island, listed as a Unesco world heritage site, features the remains of a 6th century monastery as well as breeding populations of puffins, manx shearwaters, storm petrels, guillemots and kittiwakes. Currently the Irish navy has deployed one vessel to maintain a two-mile exclusion zone around the island. Unesco is now concerned about what is going on the island, which is only visited 13 times a year by tourist groups, and has asked the Irish government for an explanation.

Comments

Good...

[chinton]

Keep an eye on them so they don't do something stupid... Like Jar Jar. Or Hayden Christensen.

Re:Good...

[__aaclcg7560]

It's the perfect place to bury Jar Jar and Hayden Christensen in a peat bog.

Re:Good...

[Nimey]

Leia is a Disney princess now.

Re:Today I Learnt that...

[just_another_sean]

Seems to me that they have a nice cache of Star Wars alien/animal names all provided free of charge by the nice folks in Ireland...

A herd of guillemots sure sounds scarier to me than a herd of nerfs. And I'm sure it's a total pain when your inside an asteroid and a bunch of filthy kittiwakes start chewing on your power system. And of course storm troopers riding around on storm petrels is too obvious to pass up!

It is more visited than 13 times per year...

[Anonymous Coward]

There are 13 tour companies one can take to visit the island. The tours run each day during the summer but only once per day. So there are 13 boats of visitors per day for 5 months out of the year, not 13 visits per year total.

Quote from the article

[timrod]

"We can't tell what the filming of Star Wars on the site will do to the wildlife."

I can see a whole lot of lawsuits from all of the puffins, manx shearwaters, storm petrels, guillemots, and kittiwakes who don't want to appear in a modern Star Wars film. Can't say I blame them, not after Episodes 1 through 3.

Re:Quote from the article

[Dutch Gun]

"We can't tell what the filming of Star Wars on the site will do to the wildlife."

I'm pretty sure I can tell you. Not a fucking thing. Nature is not so fragile that a film crew will destroy an ecosystem just by walking around and filming a few scenes. They're under restrictions on what they can do (i.e. they're not going to be blowing up the island), and they've got an ecologist on the set at all times. This is all about a local jackass getting his nose in a snit.

Stephen Newton, a seabirds expert with Birdwatch Ireland, said he could not get onto the island to check the important colony.

Mr Newton said he was asked by the film producers only days before shooting was to begin if he would help them with an impact assessment to secure permits for filming.

He refused, arguing it would take several weeks to assess, as many of the species breed underground or in rocky crevices where it would be difficult to see what damage is being done.

Are you kidding me? Several weeks for an impact assessment? Does that strike anyone else as a bit over the top?

Likely translation: He tried to shake the movie company down for a few weeks worth of work rather than a day or two, and they told him to piss off, then contacted someone more reasonably inclined. They obviously got the permits, meaning that someone was able to do the work in just a few days. And why the hell should he be allowed on the island after what he tried to pull? The fact that he's blabbing to the press and causing trouble for them now shows they were probably right to snub him.

Re:Quote from the article

[geekoid]

Film crews can be pretty destructive.

This is about people wanting what is happening on the island to be transparent, like it should be.

"Are you kidding me?"

No.
" Several weeks for an impact assessment?"
Yes.
" Does that strike anyone else as a bit over the top?"
Not really. OTOH, I know what is involved in an impact assessment, where you clearly do not.
I will note that I've never been to this island. So maybe there is some geological reason you are aware of when you where surveying the island...?

He is an expert in the species, and wants to be sure their disturbance is a minimal one.

ob. Star Wars joke:
Bleep, booop beedadbee blooeeeuuup.

That really cracked them up in the droid factory.

Re:Who owns the island?

[PvtVoid]

That person should tell the UN to mind its own business!

The island is owned by the Commissioners of Irish Lights, i.e. the Irish government.

From the UNESCO web page on Sceilg Mhichíl:

When in 1578 Queen Elizabeth I of England dissolved Ballinskelligs following the rebellion of the Earl of Desmond, under whose protection it had been, the island passed from the Augustinian Order to John Butler. However, although the monastery no longer existed, it continued to be a place of pilgrimage. Around 1826 the owner sold the island to the Corporation for Preserving and Improving the Port of Dublin (later to become the Commissioners of Irish Lights), who built two lighthouses on the Atlantic side.

Sorry to burst your little libertarian bubble there, dude. Better luck next time.

Re:Not filming in America anymore?

[PvtVoid]

Thanks Obama!!!

Obama is also responsible for why you can't get a date.

These are not the filmmakers you are looking for.

[Registered Coward v2]

They can go about their business. Move along...

worlds largest greenscreen

[Anonymous Coward]

Of course they're filming in Ireland, its the worlds largest green screen.

Puffins attacked the craft services tent, allright

[RevWaldo]

~ They ate all the lobster salad and the chocolate chip power bars. Look at the feathers and tracks. It's just I never heard of them hitting anything this big before.

~ They didn't. But we are meant to think they did. These tracks are side by side. Puffins always march single file to hide their numbers.

.

Re:Today I Learnt that...

[itsdapead]

Many puffins died to bring us this information...