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Archived News
January 2004
Week 4
Saturday January 24,
2004
Hyperspace Chat-Steve
Sansweet |
The Official Star
Wars Site has announced that Hyperspace members looking to get
official answers about the recently-announced Celebration III, Star
Wars collecting, fan events and more will soon be able to chat with
Steve Sansweet, Director of Content Management and head of Fan
Relations for Lucasfilm.
Steve Sansweet has transformed his love for the Star Wars saga into
a busy career. He is the author or co-author of ten books (eight of
them on the saga), writes columns and feature articles for
magazines, and travels the world as a Lucasfilm liaison to Star Wars
fans everywhere.
Steve started collecting robots and space toys in the mid-1970s, and
over the years that has been transformed into the largest private
collection of Star Wars memorabilia in the world.
In 1996, Steve joined Lucasfilm Ltd. as Director of Specialty
Marketing to help promote Star Wars to fans both old and new.
Steve Sansweet is scheduled to be online on Wednesday, January 28 at
2:00 p.m. Pacific time (5:00 p.m. Eastern time).
Please note that list minute schedule changes may happen, and that
although hundreds of questions are often submitted, not all can be
answered.
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Posted:
by Jedi
Power
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Saturday January 24,
2004
Celebration III in
Indianapolis |
The Official Star
Wars Site has announced Celebration III and this event has been
extended to four days: April 21 to 24, 2005. The biggest Star Wars
party will be even bigger, will return to Indianapolis, and has been
extended to four days. Star Wars Celebration III, the
much-anticipated fan gathering, has been confirmed for the Indiana
Convention Center, April 21 to April 24, 2005.
"We had such a great experience with Celebration II, that it
just made sense to return to Indianapolis," says Steve
Sansweet, Director of Content Management and head of Fan Relations
for Lucasfilm. "Only this time, we're going to do it bigger and
even better. It's going to be an event that no fan will want to
miss."
Details about programming, guests, activities, entertainment and
exclusive merchandise at Celebration III will be released as they
are confirmed closer to the convention date. As it did for
Celebration II, starwars.com will post all the latest Celebration
III information in the Community section of the site. The Official
Celebration III site will of course also have all the latest
news. Online ordering for tickets and discounted hotel rooms is
scheduled to begin later this summer.
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Posted:
by Jedi
Power
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Saturday January 24,
2004
Homing Beacon #102 |
The latest Homing Beacon has arrived, and today we get to talk about
CG techniques. Through its use of digital doubles performing
hazardous stunts or synthetic characters like Yoda the Jedi Master,
Episode III will continue to blaze new ground in the development of
believable computer-generated organic characters. One of the tools
Industrial Light & Magic uses is subsurface scattering rendering
-- a technique that was in early development for Episode II, and one
that has garnered recognition from the Academy of Motion Picture
Arts and Sciences. On February 14, Christophe Hery will represent
ILM in receiving a special certificate of merit from the Academy as
part of the 76th annual Academy Awards.
The technical award Hery will accept is one of nine that the Academy
will give this year and represents a major leap forward in the
effort to create photo-realistic images on screen. While Hery
started working on subsurface scattering during the production of
Star Wars - Attack of the Clones, the technique wasn't perfected in
time to use on the digital characters in that film. Instead, the
public saw ILM's first use of the technique on Dobby the Elf in
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, later in 2002.
"The idea is to simulate the effect of translucency and depict
how light penetrates inside the skin and scatters around the
different tissues, then comes out at different points," Hery
explains. "Traditionally in computer graphics, we've followed
the idea that light shines on a particular point and bounces off the
same point. Subsurface scattering allows light to go into a certain
point and come out in different places. It opens the door to all
different kinds of materials in computer graphics -- especially
skin," he says.
For a simple example of the natural effect that subsurface
scattering replicates, hold your hand up to a bright light and
notice how light shines through your skin and creates reddish and
yellow glows. That kind of detail, which was previously missing from
CG techniques, is what subsurface scattering brings to digitally
rendered characters.
Although the process was first used more than a year ago, the
Academy carefully reviewed submissions for their merit before
deciding which of the 14 submissions would receive an award. Thanks
to ILM's work with subsurface scattering in films like The Hulk and
the use of similar techniques by other visual effects companies to
create successful digital characters, the last two years of film
production have demonstrated that it is becoming increasingly
possible to make photorealistic humans and other creatures with
translucent elements such as skin, Hery says.
"It's possible to make these look like they belong to the world
around them," he says. "We forget that what nature is
doing is very complex. All the time (in computer graphics) you're
pushing the envelope, you have to go to the next level. This is just
one component -- one big component -- of rendering human skin."
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Posted:
by Jedi
Power
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Saturday January 24,
2004
Classic Trilogy DVD
Rumblings |
TF.N gives us
a heads up on recent rumblings about the Classic Trilogy DVDs coming
this fall...
In November 2004 we'll see the Original Trilogy on DVD! There
probably won't be any added scenes, simply the 3 Special Edition
films along with with a bonus 4th disk. Basically they're going to
take the Indy trilogy to use as a model.
Also included will be Episode 3 teaser material!
The Indy boxed set just became the best selling boxed set ever. They
expect SW to take that title, later this year. No news of any 6 DVD
boxed sets or the classic versions of the film.
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Posted:
by themostpowerfuljediever
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Friday January 23,
2004
New Queen of Naboo |
The Official Star
Wars Site has provided a look at the new Queen of Naboo for
Episode III who will be played by Keisha Castle-Hughes.
Unfortunately you will need to be a Hyperspace member to see her,
but if you are the click
here!
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Posted:
by Jedi
Power
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Friday January 23,
2004
Stupid question but... |
This report comes from the Official
Star Wars Site!
Answered by: Madame Jocasta Nu-Jedi Librarian
Stupid
question but what are humans called in the Star Wars
universe?
Humans are simply
identified as humans -- notice when C-3PO remarks that Luke
Skywalker is quite clever for a human being, or when Han Solo
ironically calls a wonderful human. The Podracer announcers also
identify Anakin Skywalker as a human. Your confusion may stem from
there not being a homeworld identified in the species name, but that
is not uncommon. The species name "Wookiee," for instance
makes no reference to Kashyyyk.
The origins of humanity in this galaxy have been lost to time. There
are several worlds that lay claim to the prehistoric birthplace of
the human species -- and in ancient times, wars were fought over
such claims -- but the truth remains a mystery. As such, many humans
tend to refer to themselves with names that identify particular
cultures or homeworld: for example, Corellians and Alderaanians.
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Posted:
by Jedi
Power
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Friday January 23,
2004
Galactic Voyage Wins An
Award |
Galactic Voyage has just won "The Golden Web
Award" for 2003-2004! This is a great honor!
"Congratulations! Galactic Voyage has
been reviewed and chosen to bear the 2003-2004 Golden Web Award. As
a recipient of the prestigious Golden Web Award, we invite you to
join your fellow webmasters and designers in over "145"
countries worldwide, by becoming a respected Professional Member of
the International Association of Web Masters & Designers. You
and Your Staff at Galactic Voyage have obviously worked very hard
- proudly display your award."
To see other awards this site has won, go to
the Awards section.
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Posted:
by Jedi
Power
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Thursday January 22,
2004
Star Wars Series on TV? |
TF.N has a
report stating the future of the Star Wars franchise and how we
might see Star Wars on the small screen.
"People we trust are telling us that there's a TV show on
the design table. Instead of a Rogue Squadron series (which we first
theorized some time ago), they may be looking at a post Episode 3 -
pre Episode 4 about the rise of Darth Vader and why he is so feared
in the OT."
"We cannot confirm yet if the show is intended as
live-action or animated (like Clone Wars). Since this is all in the
early stages, it could change further down in pre-production. More
as we get it - just thought you'd like to know what we're
hearing."
I have been sure for some time that television will be the future
media for Star Wars. This is truly exciting news if it comes to
pass! You can read the entire article here.
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Posted:
by Jedi
Power
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Wednesday January 21,
2004
Darth Vader's Tie
Fighter |
Toys "R" Us has Darth Vader's Tie Fighter for $29.99 on
their web site. This is a new Toys "R" Us exclusive but
you can't order this item yet, and there is no word of when it will
be released. You can however sign up for e-mails from Amazon so you
will be informed when it becomes available.
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Posted:
by Jedi
Power
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Tuesday January 20,
2004
What do you think are
the chances... |
This report comes from the Official
Star Wars Site!
Answered by: Steve Sansweet
What
do you think are the chances of MGM's Star Tours expanding or
for Mr. Lucas to build a Star Wars theme park?
As long ago as 1984, Lucasfilm and the Walt Disney
Co. began exploring the possibilities of theme park attractions
based on the Star Wars and Indiana Jones movies. One early idea was
an entire area at Disneyland with seven rides based on those films.
Eventually, in 1987, Star Tours opened in Disneyland, and later in
Disney parks in Orlando, Tokyo and Paris. Indiana Jones attractions
followed. We continue to believe that the Disney environment is an
excellent one for attractions based on Lucasfilm movies, and we are
always looking at ways to either freshen or, if it makes sense,
expand that presence.
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Posted:
by Jedi
Power
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Monday January 19,
2004
New Fan Art |
Today I have added two new Fan
Art pictures. First, Chris Williams sent
in a new creation featuring Princess Leia! Thanks Chris!
Second, Jeffrey Milik sent in a
picture titled Jedi Fighting which is a familiar
scene from The Phantom Menace. Thanks Jeffrey!
To see their work, head over to the Fan
Art section!
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Posted:
by Jedi
Power
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Monday January 19,
2004
Final Day of "TIE
Week" |
Today I have added seven more new ships
and vehicles to the ships section for final day of "TIE
Week." This time we have featured the TIE
Crawler, TIE
Ground Targeting Fighter, TIE
Fire Control Fighter, TIE
Raptor, TIE
Reconnaissance Fighter,
TIE
Shuttle Craft,
and the TIE
Torpedo Bomber.
You can get a listing of ships using their picture by type at the Ships
Section. Or, if you would like to see an alphabetical listing of
all of our ships, you can check out the Ship
Index. I have really enjoyed bringing you "TIE Week"
here at Galactic Voyage, and I hope you have enjoyed it as well.
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Posted:
by Jedi
Power
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