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ArtooDetoo.com presents the following information
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by offering these news items, as well as the other features on our site, we
can help maintain and expand the interest of the Star Wars fan community. Droids
just wanna have fun.
Posted
05/31/2004———————————
Fan Club News!
The fist Official Star Wars Fan Club event since the club returned to Lucasfilm
has been announced. A Fan Club breakfast will take place at the San Diego Comic
Con International Tickets to the event, which are scheduled to go on sale Thursday,
June 3, will be available only to members of the Fan Club, who will be able
to purchase tickets to the limited seating event at StarWarsShop.com The breakfast
is scheduled to be held Saturday, July 24 during San Diego Comic-Con International.
Fan Club members and their guests can look forward to VIP treatment at the breakfast,
including receiving one of Hasbro's limited-edition silver sandtrooper action
figures and a souvenir ticket. Each guest will also receive a goody bag filled
with treasures from the Lucasfilm Licensing archives. Door prizes will also
be awarded to some lucky attendees.
The breakfast will be held at the Marriott Hotel & Marina with special Star
Wars guests that include Steve Sansweet of Lucasfilm. Steve and the others will
share news and answer questions about upcoming Fan Club events, the future of
the franchise, and the upcoming release of the original trilogy as well as the
release of what has been touted as the last Star Wars movie that will be made:
"Star Wars Episode III - The Birth of the Empire"
More details about the event will be available on starwars.com
on Thursday, June 3, 2004, the date when registration for the breakfast is scheduled
to open. Tickets will go on sale at StarWarsShop.com.
This is the first in a series of Fan Club events scheduled for the summer.
Breakfast registration will be limited to members of the Official Star Wars
Fan Club, but members will also be able to purchase one additional ticket for
a guest. The guest will not be required to be a member, but must be accompanied
by the Fan Club member at the breakfast. Tickets will be sold only while supplies
last, so if you want to go, don't miss this limited opportunity!
ALSO POSTED 05/31/2004
WHERE THE HECK HAVE WE BEEN?
Regular visitors to our site may have noticed that there hasn't been a lot of
activity here for quite some time -- actually since last July. Well, except
for a brief note in November. Without going into a lot of detail, the main reason
for our disappearance was family related. It's taken a while for things to get
back some semblance of normality, though things will never be the same. The
other reason was Star Wars Galaxies. Those of you familiar with the game should
understand completely. It ate up all of our free time, and some of it wasn't
even supposed to be free time. The game is fascinating!. If you haven't played
it yet, you really should try it. I met lots of really great people there and
have had a tremendously good time. Those of you in the Kettemoor Galaxy may
have had dealings with one Oneebo Lighrider. If you did, I hope your experience
was a pleasant one, because that was me.
So, what's all that got to do with this site? Well, not much actually, other
than the fact that those events and activities took time away from maintaining
and expanding the site according to my original plans. Consequently, a lot of
things I had hoped to have done by now haven't even been started, so that whatever
I had envisioned for the site is still at least a year away. But, my plans still
are to keep the site active and to improve it. So if you'll bear with me, I
think I can make it go. Thanks for your support!
Posted
11/26/2003 ———————————
R2-D2 INDUCTED INTO ROBOT HALL OF FAME!
- (Atroodetoo.com Newswire) Carnegie-Mellon
University's School of Computer Science welcomed four robots into the Robot
Hall of Fame in it's First Annual Induction Ceremony this past November 10th.
The robots honored were the Mars Pathfinder Sojourner Rover, Unimate, R2-D2,
and HAL 9000.
The Robot Hall of Fame website says two categories of robots are honored in
the Robot Hall of Fame:
"Robots from Science - These are robots from science that
have served an actual or potentially useful function and demonstrated real skills
in accomplishing the purpose for which they were created. These may also be
robots that have been created primarily to entertain, as long as they are functioning
autonomous devices, and have achieved a significant audience."
"Robots from Science Fiction - These are the fictional
robots that have inspired us to create real robots that are productive, helpful,
and entertaining. These robots have achieved worldwide fame as fictional characters
and have helped form our opinions about the functions and values of real robots."
As part of the Induction Ceremony, Dr. James Morris, Dean of the School of Computer
Science launched the Robot Hall of Fame website.
He was assisted in the site launch by GRACE, a mobile robot developed by the
Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University.
Kathleen Holliday, director of special programs at Lucasfilm, accepted for R2-D2,
and there was a message on behalf of "HAL" from Arthur C. Clarke,
who lives in Sri Lanka. Two key actors from the original Star Wars trilogy were
also on hand for the celebration: Kenny Baker, the man behind, or actually inside
R2-D2, and David Prowse, who played Darth Vader in the original Star Wars Trilogy.
You can see our previous articles about the
Robot Hall of Fame HERE,
in our News Archive. You can also look at our nomination letter for R2-D2 HERE.
And you can read the Carnegie Mellon press release HERE.
Posted
07/15/2003 ———————————
Galaxies for Sale on eBay – Cheap?
Justin
posted the following article on GameGirl.com
about eBay auctions for Star Wars Galaxies items. (edited)
Perhaps you can measure the popularity of an MMOG based on its auction potential.
Only days after its launch, users harvested Star Wars Galaxies for real-world
resources: Most real world Galaxies auctions are for credits. Some are for buildings,
or accounts.
Browsing the Ebay completed SWG auctions, you can get an early sense of the
market value for credits, items and characters. A sample of some of the more
expensive auctions:
10 July - Star Wars Galaxies 500,000 Credits Flurry - $550.00
13 July - Star Wars Galaxies 500,000 Credits Chilastra - $350.00 (12 bids)
12 July - SWG Star Wars Galaxies ST Armor Chilastra - $260.00 (18 bids)
30 June - Star Wars Galaxies Game Weaponsmith Starsider - $250.00
14 July - Star Wars Galaxies Alot Of work On Account SWG - $197.00 (11 bids)
Galaxies features a robust in-game auction system, which should help with the
redistribution of powerful items. These early EBay auctions show there is still
the desire to get ahead in the game with money instead of time.
Star Wars Galaxies is a product of Sony/Verant, the same company behind EverQuest.
They banned EBay auctions for in-game characters and items, based on an intellectual
property claim. Some of the early Star Wars auctions contain language designed
to avoid intellectual property claims against the item sales. It will be interesting
to see if Verant/Sony mounts a legal claim against ongoing SWG auctions on EBay.
Posted
07/14/2003 ———————————
Boba
Fett to Host Fan Film Awards. Star Wars Delta
Source reports that Boba Fett, otherwise known as Jeremy Bulloch, will
host the second annual Star Wars Fan Film Awards Ceremony this week on July
17, 8:30 P.M., at Comic-Con International in San Diego, CA.
Just as with the Oscars, fan filmmaker finalists will be present for the ceremony
and the winners will be able to give some brief insight into the making of their
films.
Nearly 70 fan films were submitted this year and vetted by Lucasfilm's partner
AtomFilms. 19 finalists finalists were selected and posted on the Official Star
Wars Fan Film Network website.
"I was particularly happy that we sponsored a Fan Film Awards contest that
culminated in 10 fan filmmakers getting trophies at Star Wars Celebration II,"
said George Lucas. "Out of the current crop of young movie makers will
likely come some of tomorrow's best writers, producers and directors."
"Once we saw the popularity of the Fan Film Awards last year, we knew we
had to continue them," said Jim Ward, Vice President of Marketing at Lucasfilm.
"We are pleased to partner again with AtomFilms and with Comic-Con International.
We really look forward to seeing our fans' creativity and recognizing their
contributions."
The three main Star Wars Fan Film Awards, presented at Comic-Con International,
will be:
• George Lucas Selects -- The competition's "best
in show" honor was selected by George Lucas and will be presented by him
on video. The winning filmmaker will receive $2,500 in cash, a custom Fan Film
Awards trophy, and a visit to the Skywalker Ranch for an audio-production session
with a Skywalker Sound engineer.
• Skywalker Sound Award -- The runner-up, whose prizes
include $1,000, a custom trophy, and a Skywalker Sound audio-production session,
was selected by a team of Lucasfilm and AtomFilms judges.
• Audience Choice Award -- The winner of this trophy
was selected by thousands of online audience members that voted for their favorite
entries.
All winners will get the special Fan Film Awards trophy first given last year.
It consists of the iconic droids R2-D2 and C-3PO getting ready to view a film,
with popcorn and soda in hand. For the complete story and list of contestants,
click here.
Hasbro Clone Wars Toys
and Story Collection to Debut this August
From the Star Wars Homing Beacon #89. Fans of Hasbro's Star
Wars toy line and Star Wars fiction can look forward to a special bounty of
Clone Wars stories this fall, with the release of the exclusive
Star Wars: Short Story Collection.
The short stories will be packed inside select Clone Wars toys
from Hasbro, and are scheduled to release in August. The collection, produced
by Scholastic, Del Rey, Star Wars Insider, and Hasbro, features tales by fan
favorites Jude Watson, Matthew Stover, and Timothy Zahn.
Fans will be able to get a sneak peak of the stories and an exclusive chance
to win a limited number of copies of the Star Wars: Short Story Collection from
Hasbro booths at Comic-Con International in San Diego, CA (July 17-20), and
at Wizard World in Chicago, Ill. (August 8-10).
Posted
07/12/2003 ———————————
X-Box KOTOR to be available on 07/16/2003.
LucasArts has announced that the Xbox title Star Wars: Knights of the
Old Republic will finally be available on Wednesday, July 16. Sadly,
the release of the PC version of the game will be delayed until sometime this
fall.
In SW: KOTOR, players will find themselves in the golden age
of the Republic leading a group of freedom fighters in a decisive war between
the Jedi and the Sith. The choices the players make will shape the outcome of
the war as well as who they are as Jedi.
Those who are eager to obtain the game may preorder it from the LucasArts
website. A pre-order special had been offered: a special Lightsaber letter opener.
However, demand for the game has been so huge (pushing it to "gold"
before it even releases!) that the Lightsaber letter opener
is completely gone.
Cartoon Network Previews
"Clone Wars" Zap2it.com
reports that The Cartoon Network unveiled the first episode
of "Star Wars: Clone Wars" shorts on Thursday July
10 to reporters at the TV Critics Association press tour. Mark Lazarus, president
of the Turner Entertainment Group, which oversees Cartoon Network, says he received
the tape of the first episode Wednesday night. "We're really excited about
it," he says. "So, with Mr. Lucas' consent we are previewing it."
The clips TV critics saw contained finished animation but temporary sound and
music tracks. They included several impressive battle and flight sequences,
and a scene in which Chancellor Palpatine puts Anakin in charge of a clone-trooper
regiment, over the objections of Yoda and Obi-Wan. The Imperial March plays
over one scene of marching troops, although that may not make it to the final
version.
The cartoon "Clone Wars" will follow the story begun
in "Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones."
Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker lead clone troopers in a war against separatist
forces led by Count Dooku. Mace Windu, Padme Amidala and Yoda, will also be
featured in the cartoons.
The series of 20 shorts is scheduled to premiere at 8 p.m. ET Friday, Nov. 7.
The first 10 installments will air at 8 p.m. weekdays through Nov. 21, while
the second half of the saga will air in the Spring of 2004. Genndy Tartakovsky
, creator of "Samurai Jack" and "Dexter's Laboratory", is
leading the "Clone Wars" team, with cooperation from
"Star Wars" creator George Lucas and Lucasfilm.
The Star Wars characters are drawn to resemble the actors who
play them in the film, although Tartakovsky's style is evident as well.
"Clone Wars" will continue the story laid out in
"Episode II," although it doesn't appear that it will establish plot
points for "Episode III". But Lazarus said that the shorts could lead
to "a more longer-form partnership between Cartoon Network and the 'Star
Wars' Franchise”.
Hey TiVO, Suggest this!
Posted
07/10/2003 ———————————
Star Wars Galaxies Launch Sets
New Record. RPGamer.Com
reports that LucasArts' Star Wars Galaxies has set an impressive
new record for online games by ending its first week with 125,000 users signed
up.
To celebrate, the development team of Star Wars Galaxies held an online celebration
Friday that paralleled the Independence Day festivities. Players were encouraged
to make their own fireworks and set them off at specified locations.
In the future, developers plan to add new content to Star Wars Galaxies, including
ground vehicles and cities for players.
The
Art of Star Wars Tours Japan. Akino Yoshihara / Daily Yomiuri Staff
Writer Reports that the Kyoto National Museum is hosting The Art of Star Wars
exhibition, featuring displays art from the saga's original trilogy.
Visitors will view more than 200 original props, models, costumes, paintings
and other artworks from the archives of Lucasfilm Ltd.
The museum, which heretofore specialized in traditional Japanese artifacts,
decided to organize an exhibition based on the U.S. films to increase its income
after it became an independent administrative institution in April 2001.
The museum director said organizing the Star Wars exhibition at the museum is
of great significance because Kyoto is the birthplace of Japanese film, adding
that items used in the films are also worth seeing as excellent works of art.
Based on Lucas' careful preliminary studies and other materials such as production
paintings and storyboards, the exhibition shows how Lucas' vision was realized.
The exhibition includes the hand-drawn storyboard depicting the gripping battle
scene in Cloud City, between Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader, as well as images
of the creature characters.
Among those on display are C-3PO, a tall, talkative, gold-plated robot; his
pal R2-D2; Jedi Master Yoda and Jabba the Hutt.
The exhibition also features key models such as the Millennium Falcon and X-Wing
Fighters. Visitors will be surprised to find the original design for the Millennium
Falcon looked like a rocket with a cylindrical body in the prototypes and image
sketches. Han Solo's famous blockade runner came to be what it is today after
Lucas came up with the hamburger-shaped spaceship when he had a pizza for lunch
one day with a group of ILM employees.
The exhibition will tour to Nagoya, Tokyo, and two locations in Fukushima Prefecture.
A follow-up exhibition featuring the next trilogy, a series of prequels, will
be held Jan. 10-March 7 next year at the Kyoto National Museum.
The Art of Star Wars is open to the public through Aug. 31, 9:30 a.m.-6 p.m.
(until 8 p.m. on Fridays). Admission is 1,400 yen (about $12. US) for adults,
1,000 yen
($8.50) for university and high school students
and 400 yen ($3.50) for middle and primary school students. For the full article,
click here
Posted
07/09/2003 ———————————
Peter Mayhew TALKS about his
role in EPIII. The Force.Net
reports that the June issue of the UK's LOK magazine has an
interview by Robin Hail with Peter Mayhew (who plays Chewbacca
in the Classic films and now Episode III). Robin asked Mayhew how he felt about
the prequel trilogy and Episode III in particular.
Peter replied, “I am very pleased
with Episodes 1 and 2. George Lucas is doing a remarkable job. However, Lucas
assures me that Episode 3 will far surpass the other two in both action and
story, and from some of the pages I have read from the Episode III script, I
certainly believe him.” Later he goes on to say, “As you know, none
of the actors get the full script of Episode III, but they do get the pages
for what scene they are working on. Therefore, I have not read the full script
yet, just a few pages with my character.”
Robin then asked Peter about the role that Chewbacca will play. Peter replied,
“I was told by George Lucas that I would be playing a large part in the
story including the delivering of two twin babies and playing a role in a major
battle scene that involves many war machines. Sadly, I have not read those sequences
of the script yet.”
Robin asked Peter how well he liked the parts of the script that he had seen.
Peter says, “Again, I haven’t really seen the complete script. Lucas
only gives us copies for that days shooting. But from what I’ve seen,
it looks good. Of course, I really don’t have any lines (he laughs). Lucas
has really changed his writing style from back when he wrote the original trilogy.
He is much bolder and willing to push the envelope in both settings and dialogue.
In fact, the opening action scene involving many Wookiees takes place on one
of the many new planets seen in this movie.”
For the full article, click HERE.
Ever wonder how much Mace
Windu's Light Saber is worth? A
recent auction on e-Bay sold an artist proof of Windu's saber by Master
Replicas and signed by Samuel L. Jackson, the actor who portrays
the Jedi Master in the prequel trilogy, for a whopping $7, 201.00. We contacted
the winning bidder for a comment on his new acquisition, but our email inquiry
garnered no response. Probably too busy explaining to the wife why the bank
account is suddenly so low.
Posted
JULY
04, 2003
———————————
DeHavilland Information Services plc
reports that Sony's highly anticipated Star Wars Galaxies,
the MMORPG has finished its opening week. While the site crashed on opening
day, Sony has said that the problems were due to the incredible number of people
trying to simultaneously sign up for the game. Star Wars Galaxies is currently
only on sale in the US, and costs $50, with monthly online fees of between $12
and $15. British fans will be able to sign up later in the summer, when it is
hoped the glitches will be ironed out.
Sony insists all the initial teething troubles have now been cleared up and
claimed to have had more than 17,000 people playing the game simultaneously.
For the full story, click here.
To put “Galaxies” in perspective, CNN.Com says that "Everquest,"
also from Sony Online Entertainment, has 430,000 subscribers, and the company
boasts that it's the "World's No. 1 massively multiplayer online game."
It reached the top while charging its fans almost $13 a month to be part of
the action. Even if only half the “Everquest” subscribers are currently
paying monthly subscription fees, that’s a revenue stream of almost $3
million a month for Sony Entertainment.
John Williams To Be Honored
as “America’s Greatest Living Composer”. Ohio.Com
says that The National Symphony Orchestra will play selections from the work
of Williams on the National Mall as part of Washington DC’s Forth of July
festivities. Jerry Colbert, the concert's executive producer, said of Williams,
“He's one of those stars who isn't all self-important and full of himself.
He likes to be out with people and play different selections.”
To honor Williams, Colbert said, “We thought it would be fun to play some
of his great movie themes, from Jaws, Raiders
of the Lost Ark, the bicycle chase from E.T.,
Superman, Star Wars, and
others, and then give him an award.”
Williams also will conduct the National Symphony Orchestra playing his Olympic
fanfare from the 1984 Los Angeles Games. He also has written themes for the
1988, 1996 and 2002 Olympics.
Williams has scored the music for more than 90 films, including Schindler's
List, which won an Oscar and a Grammy. He has won five Oscars
and 17 Grammys. His most recent musical scores can be heard in Catch
Me If You Can and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's
Stone.
Williams usually spends the Fourth of July participating in concerts in Boston
or Los Angeles. This year he'll be in Washington.
“It is my first time at this concert and I really look forward to it,”
he said.
PBS' "Concert on the Mall, A Capitol Fourth 2003",
airs live at 8 p.m. on Friday.
Posted 06/30/2003
———————————
The republic is crumbling,
the forces of evil are massing and a legion of science-fiction fans are quivering
in anticipation.
Michael Owen-Brown,
reporting for the Courier-Mail, (Australia), says that the
final chapter of Star Wars, the world's most iconic film series, begins unfolding
today when filming starts at Sydney's Fox Studios on the $173 million production.
Lucas and principal actors Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman and Hayden Christensen
have been in Sydney for several days and held a pre-production party at trendy
nightclub Boheme.
Lucas, who only finished writing the script a few days ago, has said the tone
will be much darker than other films in the series.
"Let's face it, all the bad guys win in the end, all the good guys are
dead except for a couple, so it doesn't have a happy ending," he said.
Cast and crew are bound by confidentiality agreements until the film, still
known only as Episode III, reaches cinemas in 2005.
Some "spoilers" revealed -
The conniving Senator Palpatine takes an iron grip on the Galactic Senate on
his path to becoming Emperor, and orders the destruction of the entire Jedi
order.
Only two Jedi are believed to survive the subsequent cataclysm – Yoda
and Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Characters from the original trilogy that will appear in the new movie include
Yoda, droids R2D2 and C3PO, and hulking wookie Chewbacca.
All Australian shooting will be inside Fox Studios, although some "plate
shots" – landscape backgrounds later combined with visual effects
– have been taken in New Zealand, Italy and Switzerland.
A huge team of programmers and designers remain in the United States working
on the computer-generated special effects.
for the full article, click here.
Posted
06/28/2003 ———————————
Galaxy Glitches Grieve Gamers.
David Becker, staff writer for CNET
News.com reports that getting started in "Star Wars Galaxies”
hasn't been easy for subscribers. Many subscribers were unable to register the
morning of the release due to problems with the game's registration servers.
The sign-up process necessary to play the game was riddled with problems, causing
some players to try to sign-up for up to five hours.
Sony Online Entertainment had most of the registration problems fixed by midday.
But as players completed the sign-up, they found that most of the game servers
had crashed. Consequently, most players couldn't play the online game through
Thursday night.
Sony Online Entertainment spokesman Chris Kramer said the game experienced the
problems because of the amount of traffic from eager players simply overloaded
the system. "Nobody's ever had this kind of first-day volume in a game
like this," he said.
Most of the issues had been resolved by Friday morning, by which time the game
servers were hosting more than 17,000 simultaneous players. "There are
still some rough spots, but the performance is getting better and better,"
he said.
"Galaxies" isn't the first massive multiplayer online role-playing
game to experience these kinds of first day problems. "Anarchy Online"
and "World War II Online" lost high numbers of subscribers because
of early reliability and performance issues. Typically, patches are made available
soon after the release of nearly every MMORPG to fix last minute problems that
weren’t apparent in beta testing. To
read Dave's story, click here
Posted
06/27/2003 ———————————
Gary Maddox of the Sydney Morning
Herald reports that a 1000-strong crew is hard at work preparing to
shoot EP III, the final film in the Star Wars saga.
Producer Rick McCallum said that Episode III would be shot almost entirely inside
the studios, with the main shooting taking 12 weeks. Plans are that Lucas will
return as needed for additional filming over the next 18 months.
Referring to the movie scripts, McCallum said "I think they're always tough
for [George] to write, especially this one, because it has to tie everything
up from the prequels to the original trilogy. And you've got really big themes
and issues in this one - how and why Anakin turns into Darth Vader." he
declined to say exactly why Anakin turns into a villainous minion of the Dark
Side. "Let's put it this way”, he said, “That's what drives
this film." For the full article in the Herald, click
here.
Samuel
L. Jackson heads to Australia next month to join other cast members
making EP III, and to die. "I'm basically going down there hoping that
I'm going to have this really awesome lightsaber battle with somebody that takes
me out in the proper way. You know, the way a Jedi of my status deserves to
be taken out.", Jackson told MTV reporters Ryan
Downey and Jeff Cornell.
”It's been a wonderful experience being able to be in 'Star Wars,' first
of all because I was a huge fan. I used to sit around and wonder how you got
into something like that and how great it would be to be in it. Fortunately
for me, somebody must have heard me and I'm in it!"
Jackson isn't upset about seeing his character killed off, though. "[I
owe] thanks to George for creating a character like Mace Windu that makes me,
like, the second-baddest dude in the universe," he said. "It's kind
of awesome. And then, you know, to top that off, giving me the oddest lightsaber
in the universe. I got the only purple lightsaber in the universe, and hopefully,
I get to take it home with me after they kill me."
To see the entire MTV article, click here
Posted
06/26/2003 ———————————
EPISODE III NAME GAME BEGINS. Harry
Knowles' website, AintItCoolNews.Com
reports that rumors for the title of the next and last Star Wars movie have
begun to fly. The first rumor came out of Australia, and said the title is "Star
Wars Episode III: An Empire Divided". We, like AintItCool highly
doubt that Lucas would name the movie after the MMORPG that released in stores
today. So that leaves the second possible title that's been floating around:
"Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith". We've
got to admit that it would be a very cool title, and a cool tie-in to Episode
VI, "Return of the Jedi", which was originally to be called "Revenge
of the Jedi", until George realized that revenge wasn't a particularly
admirable trait for a Jedi Knight.
What's the likelihood for "Revenge of the Sith"?
As much as we like it, we don't think it will make it. The acronym is bad. Following
the traditional convention for referencing the individual episodes, such as
ROTJ, ANH, TPM, AOTC, and ESB, Episode III's handle would be ROTS. But, you
never know. Other sources identify another name floating around as, "Star
Wars Episode III: End of The Jedi". While that would be
a good fit, we don't think that will be picked either, because it would mean
that "Jedi" was used twice in titles, and it is very dark.
So, what will it be? Give me about two years to work on it and I'll get back
to you...
Posted
06/25/2003 ———————————
Master Replicas holds eBay auction for Signed
Prototype Mace Windu Lightsaber.
StarWars.Com
reports that the artist's proof for
Mace Windu's lightsaber will be auctioned off by Master
Replicas beginning today on eBay. The auction will end on Friday,
June 27. The winner will receive a one-of-a-kind artist's proof lightsaber,
signed by Samuel L. Jackson. Artist's proofs are made to the same exacting standards
as the production models, but may be slightly different than the final versions.
The bidding will likely be for the serious collector. When the Yoda artist prototype
set was auctioned off in April, the winning bid was over $6500. Being a single
lightsaber may lower the bidding somewhat, but don't be surprised if the price
goes into orbit for this unique item, since it is the first official Star Wars
prop replica the actor has signed. To view the auction
on eBay, click HERE.
The winner will receive the lightsaber with a special laser-engraved plaque,
a certificate of authenticity, and a museum quality display case.
Posted
06/24/2003 ———————————
What's the Relation Between Senator Palpatine
and Darth Sidious? A lot of people
have speculated on that question for a long time. Rumors abound and theories
have gone unanswered by Lucas - up till now. The questions and speculations
have been officially answered. If your interested in confirming your suspicions,
you can go to the Official Star Wars Databank and read all about it. Star Wars.Com
updated their databank today, and the Palpatine "biography" was one
that got a massive overhaul. Be advised, if you don't like spoilers, don't go
there: You may find out you're theory is all wrong. For the brave of heart,
click here
to get the low down. If you go, be sure to click on the "Behind the Scenes"
tab to get information on the early production of Palpatine.
Posted
06/23/2003 ———————————
THQ Announces Star Wars:
Flight of the Falcon for Game Boy Advance; Pilot the Millennium Falcon in a
Battle Against the Empire
CALABASAS HILLS, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE) June 23, 2003 THQ
® Inc. today announced Star Wars ®: Flight of the Falcon™ for
Nintendo's Game Boy ® Advance. Flight of the Falcon is scheduled for release
during summer 2003.
"We are extremely pleased to be publishing the latest Star Wars videogame
for Game Boy Advance, Star Wars: Flight of the Falcon," said Tiffany Ternan,
Senior Vice President, North American Sales and Distribution, THQ. "The
broad appeal of the Star Wars franchise makes it a great addition to our leading
portfolio of handheld games."
"Star Wars: Flight of the Falcon will once again offer Game Boy Advance
players an opportunity to experience all the drama and exhilaration of the Star
Wars universe," said Liz Allen, director of marketing for LucasArts. "LucasArts
is happy to work with THQ to bring this compelling new title to Star Wars game
fans everywhere."
In Star Wars: Flight of the Falcon,
gamers can pilot the Millennium Falcon in 14 combat-filled missions interweaving
the movie storylines with all new plot twists. Featuring highly detailed environments
and ships, frantic battles and high-speed flying action, Flight of the Falcon
lets gamers battle the Galactic Empire in the skies of Yavin, Endor and beyond.
Posted
06/21/2003 ———————————
StarWars.Com
reports that if you’ve
been waiting for the animated series, “Star Wars: Clone Wars”
to begin this fall on Cartoon Network, you won’t want to miss the upcoming
Star Wars Insider #69, the official
magazine of the Star Wars Fan Club. The issue will have several articles on
and from the people putting the series together.
Also in the issue: articles on Steve Sansweet’s and Jeremy
Bulloch’s (Boba Fett – Original Trilogy) Star Wars collections;
and, the latest news on the long-anticipated Star Wars Galaxies,
the MMORPG that has the whole galaxy abuzz.
Star Wars Insider #69 will ship to Fan Club members on June 27 and will be available
on newsstands in July.
Not a member of the Official Star Wars Fan Club? Why Not!? Click here
for details and to subscribe to the Insider. New subscribers
can save 20% on their subscriptions by joining the Fan Club
and Hyperspace at the same time. What are you waiting for?
Save
20%!
Posted
06/20/2003 ———————————
Hacked over Starwars.com's "Hyperspace"?
Check out our commentary
to see what we have to say about it.
Posted
06/19/2003 ———————————
StarWars.Com
reports that Episode III will bridge the prequel era with that of the original
trilogy. Many of the characters and situations will begin to tie in with those
found in Episodes IV, V, and VI. A character that played a relatively small
but important part in ROTJ will return in a younger incarnation as actor Genevieve
O'Reilly plays Mon Mothma in the next Star Wars movie. For the complete
story and additional information, use the link at the the beginning of this
piece.
Posted
06/18/2003 ———————————
GAMERS.COM
reports that LucasArts has announced the release date and pricing for the PC
version of Star Wars Galaxies, the
MMORPG set in the Star Wars universe. Release of the game is set for June 26.
Pricing of the software is $49.95, and players can choose different subscription
options for online gaming:
• Month-to-month: $14.99 per month.
• 3 month subscription: $14 per month.
• 6 month subscription: $13 per month.
• 12 month subscription: $12 per month.
A special collector's edition of the game will be available for $79.95. Included
with the special edition will be a book of artwork, a pewter figurine, a lapel
pin and patch set, a signed manual, and extra in-game items.
Posted
06/16/2003 ———————————
LUCAS IN SYDNEY? Word
on the street is that George Lucas arrived in Sydney today to begin working
on EPIII. Filming should start in about two weeks.
Denver in the Running? Also heard was that Denver area hotels have been canvassed to find out about room availabilities around the tentative dates for C-III. The Denver Convention Center is being revamped, so this may be the location.
Posted
06/08/2003 ———————————
June 7th Star Wars Weekend Fan Club Breakfast
A Huge Success! We attended a
second Star Wars Weekend event at Disney-MGM park in Orlando Florida. This time,
there was an Official Star Wars Fan Club Breakfast with lots of guest speakers
and goodies for the fans that attended. We'll be posting the information and
pictures as fast as we can get it processed. Keep checking back! (For those
that missed it, you really missed a great time!)
Posted
06/06/2003 ———————————
Star Wars.Com Sports New
Features and a New Look.
StarWars.Com is offering a free live video feed from the set of EP III this
week, and then starting June 10th, access to the streaming video will be available
to fans through a $20-a-year subscription to the new "Hyperspace"
section of the Starwars.com site. The service will deliver video-only behind-the-scenes
footage of activities surrounding the making of the new "Star Wars"
(which starts shooting this month!) The webcam won’t be trained on actual
scenes being shot. More than likely, fans will be able to watch set construction,
make-up application and various other interesting but non-storyline activities.
A new location for the webcam will be chosen every day and it will shoot continuously
for 12 hours each day. Since the company is in Australia, the 12 hours will
be looped so that the rest of the world can watch the days events captured by
the webcam.
"Hyperspace" subscribers will also receive: Episode III Set
Diary - see what it's like to be on the set all summer long through
this daily insider's journal • The often-requested, never-before-seen
Episode II deleted sequence "Jedi Assault on the Droid Control
Ship" in its original rough-cut form • Photoreceptor
- a new photo series featuring rare and first-look photos and artwork pulled
from deep within the Lucasfilm archives from all five films • Classic
Bantha Tracks - a nostalgic look at the rare and treasured fan magazine
from the 1970s and 80s • First online availability of the upcoming "Clone
Wars" animated series • Live online talks
with Star Wars celebrities, including cast and crew members from Episode III
• A Star Wars-themed email address • Personalization
and customization features to the Cargo Bay collector's database and official
message boards, including avatars and personal profile pages • A
new newsletter, contests, special offers and more. In addition, and
probably most importantly, Hyperspace members will see starwars.com completely
AD FREE.
StarWars.com has also rolled out a new site design
to coincide with the new service. To see
the new look of the site, and to subscribe to Hyperspace, go to Starwars.com
Thanks to Sebulbasteve for the tip!
Posted
06/01/2003 ———————————
May A Special Month for Star Wars and Artoodetoo.Com
As loyal fans know, May is a special month for Star Wars. That's because
all of the movies have released in May. It is a special month for Artoodetoo.com
as well. This is our first May as an active web site, and it has been tremendous
for us. While we know that we're still a small, mostly unknown site, we had
a record month! More than 2000 people visited our site in May, and while that
may sound miniscule compared to most other sites, we are thrilled! It means
more and more people are looking, and more importantly, they're coming back.
Thanks to all for the support, and we promise to continue to make Artoodetoo.com
a fun and interesting place to visit.
For news reported in previous months, check our archive!