No, they weren't parody storyboards. I'd been following this whole thing for a few days before it ended up on slashdot. Basically, some guys calling himself 'horns' got his hands on some storybords. 2 scenes worth. I don't know how. I don't know if someone stole them and gave them to him not realizing what they were or what. He believed them to be the real thing.
Anyway, horns emailed descriptions of the storybords, frame for frame to NaboOnline. They posted them. They were also emailed scans of them but decided not to post them. I read a whole bunch of posts in NaboOnline's message boards - he was emailing copies of them to some of the people there
so they could see them. No one was really sure if
they were real or not. General consensus of the people who had seen them seemed to be that they looked real.
Aldera.net decided to not to post the storyboards, but to post links to copies of them that were elsewhere. Again NaboOnline decided not to - but instead posted 3 small pictures of the heads of the new characters. Not the whole storyboard, just three little images.
Next I heard, aldera.net got a cease and desist letter, which they posted. Then NaboOnline got one. Aldera.net says that they never posted the storyboards - just links to them. But nevertheless had to take down the links. You can go to the site to read more about their interaction with Lucasfilm. NaboOnline also took down the images.
Now - the thing that gets me about all this is that NO ONE KNEW IF THE STORYBOARDS WERE REAL!!! Until now that is. The actions of Lucasfilm's lawyers pretty much confirm that the storyboards were real.
Now, I know the arguements about intellectual property and all that - but I still think this whole thing makes Lucas look like a jerk.
I totally agree. As a huge BNL fan, I was thrilled
when I found the mp3 of Pinch Me. It was months
before the song appeared on the radio - and I thought what BNL did with the interruptions in the
song was very funny, very clever, and very BNL.
I've saved the track with my other rare/live
BNL stuff as well.
I absolutely love the fact that my favorite band
is using napster rather than turning around and
sueing their fans and I think the CNN article misrepresented them by making
them the poster boys for guerilla warfare against
napster - which I don't think was ever their intention.
I totally disagree. I found the mp3 of Pinch Me
ages ago - and I thought it was a terrific idea.
Instead of sueing their fans like some bands are
doing, BNL is using napster to promote themselves. In other words, actually taking advantage of napster. I honestly don't think their intentions
are to "break it". And if you listen to the very
funny comments they make during Pinch Me, you'll see that. One of the jokes has Steven Page saying, "Hi, we're the Barenaked Ladies and we're trying to put our song on napster and we don't know how.
Uh, Tyler, can you push that button over there..."
And the jokes that BNL interrupts the song with
don't really cut off any of the song. The whole song is there. I know people who edited the comments out and made their own sound file of the song.
My point is that I don't think BNL is out to fight
the technology - they are embracing it. And if
there are other songs of theirs out there with
funny stuff mixed in, I definitely want to download
it. For entertainment value. Because BNL is always
entertaining.
Slashdot Mirror
Anyway, horns emailed descriptions of the storybords, frame for frame to NaboOnline. They posted them. They were also emailed scans of them but decided not to post them. I read a whole bunch of posts in NaboOnline's message boards - he was emailing copies of them to some of the people there so they could see them. No one was really sure if they were real or not. General consensus of the people who had seen them seemed to be that they looked real.
Aldera.net decided to not to post the storyboards, but to post links to copies of them that were elsewhere. Again NaboOnline decided not to - but instead posted 3 small pictures of the heads of the new characters. Not the whole storyboard, just three little images.
Next I heard, aldera.net got a cease and desist letter, which they posted. Then NaboOnline got one. Aldera.net says that they never posted the storyboards - just links to them. But nevertheless had to take down the links. You can go to the site to read more about their interaction with Lucasfilm. NaboOnline also took down the images.
Now - the thing that gets me about all this is that NO ONE KNEW IF THE STORYBOARDS WERE REAL!!! Until now that is. The actions of Lucasfilm's lawyers pretty much confirm that the storyboards were real. Now, I know the arguements about intellectual property and all that - but I still think this whole thing makes Lucas look like a jerk.
Anyway, that's the scoop.
I've saved the track with my other rare/live BNL stuff as well.
I absolutely love the fact that my favorite band is using napster rather than turning around and sueing their fans and I think the CNN article misrepresented them by making them the poster boys for guerilla warfare against napster - which I don't think was ever their intention.
And the jokes that BNL interrupts the song with don't really cut off any of the song. The whole song is there. I know people who edited the comments out and made their own sound file of the song.
My point is that I don't think BNL is out to fight the technology - they are embracing it. And if there are other songs of theirs out there with funny stuff mixed in, I definitely want to download it. For entertainment value. Because BNL is always entertaining.