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Archived News-September 2005
Week 4
| Friday September 23, 2005 | |
| JP's Star Wars Insider #84 Rant | |
I don't know about you, but I had been anticipating this issue for many months now. Why? Because it was to feature the clone troopers from Episode III and give you the inside scoop and all you wanted and needed to know. Well, that was the hype several months back. After receiving my copy I quickly searched for the clone section. At first I was settling back to read what I thought was to be in-depth information, but much to my dismay that whole thing sucked! They had given clues that Sergeant Fox, Commander Deviss and others would be featured. Well they were there... sort of. I expected to see pictures and background information on all the well known commanders. You know, Gree, Appo, Bly, Cody, etc. Bly and Gree made it in, but no more information on them. What about the others? How could this article be in-depth without them? Fox had a mini paragraph and no picture. Many other new clones were named, which wet my appetite even further, but other than their assigned group, there was no information or pictures. Nothing! So needless to say I am disappointed. If you don't already have a Hyperspace subscription and will receive this issue regardless, I would not recommend going out and buying it. If you were going to purchase this issue solely for the clones article, don't waste your time or money. Now, with all of that said... If you have the issue, what do you think about it? | |
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| Friday September 23, 2005 | |
| Gamics - Episode 13 | |
Today we have Episode 13 of Star Wars Galaxies-Jedi Advent, and Star Wars Galaxies-Path to the Force which have been created by Nathan Ciprick. You will be able to access these stories through the Comics section. Star Wars Galaxies-Jedi Advent- Star Wars Galaxies-Path to the Force- Be sure to join us next week for the fourteenth episodes of Star Wars Galaxies-Jedi Advent, and Star Wars Galaxies-Path to the Force. Then join us every week as we continue these adventures from the Star Wars Galaxies videogame in the form of Gamics! | |
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| Thursday September 22, 2005 | |
| Character Section Updated | |
Today I have updated the Characters Section with another Clone Commander. The latest addition is Commander Deviss. You can get a listing of characters using their picture by episode at the Characters Section. Or, if you would like to see an alphabetical listing of all of our characters, you can check out the Character Index. Enjoy! | |
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| Wednesday September 21, 2005 | |
| Star Wars on Donald Trump's Apprentice | |
The Official Star Wars Site has announced that the fourth Apprentice season begins this week with a cast of hopefuls hand selected by Donald Trump himself. This time, the teams will be taking on the biggest Star Wars event of the fall -- the launch of Revenge of the Sith on DVD and the Star Wars: Battlefront II video game. Be there this Thursday, September 22 on NBC, to get to know the 18 hopefuls who will inspire a major Star Wars promotion this November. It should be interesting! | |
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| Tuesday September 20, 2005 | |
| Star Wars Q&A - Clone Trooper 3-Pack | |
Hasbro has updated their site with a Q&A about the new Clone Trooper 3-Packs. Q: I’ve seen multiple versions of the Clone Trooper 3-Packs with different color clones inside – how many different 3-Packs are there, and what color are the clones in each? A. There are four different Clone Trooper 3-Packs:
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| Tuesday September 20, 2005 | |
| Exclusive Covert Ops Clone Trooper Available Now! | |
Commemorating the release of Revenge of the Sith on DVD, StarWarsShop brings you this new, exclusive clone trooper figure -- the Covert Ops Clone Trooper. This figure could be the debut of a possible new line of troopers released by Hasbro in the coming months. In addition, the figure comes packaged on a special backer card sporting the Episode III DVD logo and art -- one of only a few Hasbro products that will feature this compelling look. Some missions do not rely upon the overwhelming numbers and battle strength of the clone army. Sometimes, you need covert op troopers to get the job done and seal an enemy's fate, often long before anyone is even aware that they're on the scene. The covert ops troopers are the infiltrators of the clone forces, using prototype armor coated with light-warping material called reflec to escape detection and their advanced training to move silently through enemy territory. The Covert Ops Clone Trooper is partially covered in a vac-metallized finish, with camouflaged patterning on select sections of armor. Armed with a DC-15 blaster and DC-15A rifle, this is one trooper not to be trifled with. Comes with the exclusive, StarWarsShop-branded protective collector case.
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| Tuesday September 20, 2005 | |
| Clone Wars Volume 2 Wins Emmy Award | |
 Once again the Star Wars: Clone Wars micro-series -- the action-packed
lead-in to Episode III that aired on the Cartoon Network -- has won an Emmy
award for Outstanding Animated Program (for Programming One Hour or More). This
time, it's Volume Two (Chapters 21-25) that has been recognized, marking a clean
sweep for the animated adventures. Volume One was recognized in the same
category last year.Congratulations to the talented individuals recognized by this award: Genndy Tartakovsky, Paul Rudish, Darrick Bachman and Bryan Andrews; Executive Producers Claudia Katz and Brian A. Miller; Supervising Producer Jennifer Pelphrey; Producers Geraldine Symon and Shareen Carlson; Supervising Director Yu Mun Jeong; Directors Dong Soo Lee and Jong-Ho Kim; Director of Computer Animation Scott Vanzo; and Sheet Timers Robert Alverez and Randy Myers. Last month, Star Wars: Clone Wars Volume 2 received another major accolade with its Emmy Award win in the juried category of Individual Achievement in Animation for the 57th Annual Emmy Awards. Star Wars: Clone Wars Volume 2 will be available on DVD on December 6. | |
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| Monday September 19, 2005 | |
| Carrie Fisher Signing at Wattographs | |
Wattographs has a great announcement: Greetings! We announced two great signings last night, but tonight, we launch the often-requested CARRIE FISHER! Wattographs is particularly excited about this signing. We've managed to make more than *30* images available for signing, PLUS we'll be taking YOUR OWN ITEMS down to Dallas with us for the autograph signing! You can get all the details at www.wattographs.com. We hope you take advantage of one of the rarer Star Wars signers and get your opportunity to add Carrie Fisher to your collection! Best, Gary X | |
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| Monday September 19, 2005 | |
| Pride Displays Official Website Launch | |
Pride Displays are proud to announce the official release of the outstanding 'A New Hope' action figure diorama (only 5,000 available) as well as the launch of their impressive new website. To celebrate the launch of www.pridedisplays.com, Pride Displays are offering free shipping in all territories: UK: £29.99 inc FREE next day delivery. EU: €54.90 inc FREE 3-5 day delivery. US: $54.99 inc FREE 7-12 day delivery Pride Displays are taking the collecting world by storm and fully intend on making the 'art of display' something every collector will want to embrace. Pride Displays director Samuel Johnson says; "the days of of figures looking sad on a shelf will soon be a thing of the past". With the imminent pre-order release of the awsome, 'The Revenge Of The Sith' diorama due at the end of the month aswell as the much anticipated, infamous 'Trilogy Cabinet' in the pipeline. Pride Displays are bringing a presence and sophistication to action figure collecting the likes of which have never been seen before. Samuel also say's " the 'A New Hope' diorama has been the point of much controversy, and I am sure will be the point of more to come. We do believe however that we are pioneering a revolution in the way that collectors not only display but also how they present their collections in their homes. Apart from dioramas Pride Displays also manufacture their own unique brand of action figure stands. The 'Dual™' figure stand is one of the smartest, sleekest designed figure stands on the market. Just as the name sounds 'Dual™' encompasses the very essence of it's use, to create scenes of battles & duels. The unique feature of the stand is that it has 2 pegs, one for vintage figures one for modern figures, saving you from having to own various different stands. Each Pride Displays Diorama comes with 50 'Dual™' stands to enable you to create your favorite scenes. Coming very soon from Pride Displays is 'Air™', the worlds first aerial action figure stand. 'Air™' will give collectors the ability to display figures in poses previously thought impossible to achieve. For more information or to arrange for Q&A's or interviews please contact our press office: Rebecca Copson Press Secretary Tel: +44 (0) 116 241 6927 Email: info@pridedisplays.com | |
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| Monday September 19, 2005 | |
| Gamics - Episode 12 | |
Today we have Episode 12 of Star Wars Galaxies-Jedi Advent, and Star Wars Galaxies-Path to the Force which have been created by Nathan Ciprick. You will be able to access these stories through the Comics section. Star Wars Galaxies-Jedi Advent- Star Wars Galaxies-Path to the Force- Be sure to check back later this week for the thirteenth episodes of Star Wars Galaxies-Jedi Advent, and Star Wars Galaxies-Path to the Force. Then join us every week as we continue these adventures from the Star Wars Galaxies videogame in the form of Gamics! | |
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| Sunday September 18, 2005 | |
| Homing Beacon #145 | |
The latest Homing Beacon has arrived and today we to talk about computer graphics. As the digital future began to unveil itself in the early '90s, John Knoll saw its potential. ILM was constantly innovating, using their high-end systems to produce the CGI effects that wowed audiences in The Abyss, Terminator 2: Judgment Day and Jurassic Park. These astounding visuals required a robust processing pipeline to produce, but Knoll saw advantages in creating relatively simple digital effects outside that pipeline. "I developed a bit of a frustration that we didn't have a particularly good way of doing simple work inexpensively," explains Knoll. "I started becoming an advocate of trying to use inexpensive off-the-shelf commercial systems for doing simple work. Use the complicated stuff for the complicated work, and do the simple stuff with simple tools." To that end, Knoll produced a convincing proof-of-concept test in 1993 of dog-fighting X-wing fighters and TIE fighters, all done with off-the-shelf desktop tools. "Nothing happened for quite a while, until 1995 when George Lucas decided that he was going to revamp the Star Wars pictures a little bit," recalls Knoll. "I pitched doing the revised space battle using some of these techniques." The end result was a number of updated space battle shots done entirely on consumer-level computers. It worked so well that similar techniques and tools were used for Episode I. "I spent a lot of time studying the 'style book' of Star Wars -- the way the shots were lit, the way they were composed, how the movement of the ships worked -- because I felt it was very important that the new space battles still feel like Star Wars," says Knoll. The digital models allowed the color and shapes of the ships to move past the restrained bluescreen-friendly designs of optically printed models, but for Episode I, they weren't all digital. The massive Trade Federation battleships were hulking miniatures to capture the detail required of them. "The big ships I still did as a miniature, because at the time I was really concerned with how heavy this model would be. A model like this could easily become several million CVs [surface control vertices], so I had grave concerns of being able to render something like that." Now fast forward to Episode III. Not only are the ILM computers able to handle the complex geometry of something as big and detailed as a Trade Federation battleship, but they handle thousands of warships in battle over Coruscant, with detail so fine that the snubfighters and audience can fly right up to them, just a few meters above their hulls. "I've definitely been a beneficiary of Moore's Law," says Knoll, describing the 1965 prediction that computer power will double every 18 months. "This time, it looked like we were capable of creating big ships all in computer graphics. We have advanced quite a bit in our ability to handle dense hard surface models and have very high resolution textures on them, and to be able to render them efficiently." Whereas a few years ago, the scale of one ship would have required it to be a miniature, for Episode III the scale of the battle involving big ships meant it was much easier and more cost-effective to do it digitally. "It's a huge fleet," says Knoll. "There are many, many of these ships and you don't want to have to spend a lot of time on stage shooting 16 different model elements to go into shots. It's very expensive to do. Of course, it's a lot cheaper to do in computer graphics." | |
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