George Lucas Moving Forward With STAR WARS 3D Films

Written By: Ken Hulsey
Source: WENN

George Lucas just can't leave his six "Star Wars" movies alone. Back in mid 1990s he got the bright idea of revamping his original trilogy with new state-of-the-art computer-generated effects to celebrate the 20th anniversary of "A New Hope" (Star Wars). As if the effects in any of those films needed to be replaced? And, of course, he made Greedo shoot first, which still keeps me up at night.

Now, Lucas wants to fiddle with his beloved films once again, turning them all into 3D movies.

This new conversion of these beloved films into the medium of the moment, 3D, has been rumored for some time, but now Lucas and his buddies at Lucasfilm are moving forward.

The first film to get the 3D treatment, "The Phantom Menace", which may actually be improved by a revamp. Maybe the film maker will remove some of Jar Jar's scenes, and replace all of Jake Lloyd's lines? ...... but ......... that's probably just wishful thinking.

If everything goes as planned, "Star Wars: Episode 1 - The Phantom Menace 3D" will be ready to join the log-jam of sci fi and fantasy films slated for release in 2012.

Effects supervisor John Knoll, who is in charge of the 3D revamp, says, "Getting good results on a stereo conversion is a matter of taking the time and getting it right. It takes a critical and artistic eye along with an incredible attention to detail to be successful. It is not something that you can rush if you want to expect good results.

"For Star Wars we will take our time, applying everything we know both aesthetically and technically to bring audiences a fantastic new Star Wars experience."

What everyone at Lucasfilm, and Lucas himself, fail to realize, is that "Star Wars" fans really like the 'old' experience, before he started messing with the films over a decade ago.

I do have to admit, however, that I have always felt that "Return of the Jedi" would have made a great 3D film, with the speeder bikes racing through the woods of Endor and the mass of Tie Fighters coming out of the screen at ya.

I'll just have to reserve some of my comments til after these are finished. This could still be a good thing.

"Star Wars" fans should note that this probably won't be the last time the these films get reworked in some form or another. Lucas has often said that "movies are never finished, just often abandoned."

See Also: Star Wars - 4 Piece Glass Set / Star Wars - Chewbacca Jumbo Vintage Kenner Action Figure / Star Wars - Scout Trooper Collector Helmet / The 100 Greatest Monsters From Movies And Television #61 - #70 / Hey! Don't Molest The Princess! Especially If She Is A Celebrity / Is The STAR WARS Television Series Dead? / The Latest Issue Of STAR WARS INSIDER Free Online / Star Wars - A New Hope - Full Size Wall Mural / Star Wars - Boba Fett Bust / Bank / Star Wars - Slave Leia In Her Metal Bikini - Mini Bust / Star Wars Deluxe AT-AT Vehicle / Star Wars News - TomTom GPS, More Robot Chicken And Darth Vader Banned From Conventions / Star Wars - Death Trooper / Zombie Stormtrooper Bust / New STAR WARS TV And Movie Series To Be UNLEASHED? / Darth Vader Had Emotional Problems ...... Ya Think? / An Idea That Is Way Overdue - Star Wars Themed Lingerie! / Spaceballs (1987)(MGM) / Lucas Begins Casting The Star Wars TV Series / Hey! Remember Mark, The Yoda Puppet Costs More Than You Do! / Can You Believe Someone Dropped $10,000 On Star Wars Collectibles?!! / EE Exclusive Star Wars Holiday Edition Jawas Action Figures / Darth Vader Invades Japan / Star Wars R2-D2 Interactive Astromech Droid / Star Wars Exclusive Ecliptic Evader TIE Fighter With Hobbie / Star Wars Episode 3: Revenge Of The Sith Trailer / Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008)(Warner Bros) /Star Wars: The Clone Wars - What Are The Clone Wars? / Star Wars: The Clone Wars - Designing A New Galaxy /Star Wars: The Clone Wars - Lucas And Filoni Talk About The Film / Interview - Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca Speaks!) / Famous People Talk About Star Wars / Mark Hamill - 1978 Star Wars Press Conference / Carrie Fisher – Lunch With Monsters At A Chinese Restaurant / Star Wars - The Missing Pieces

Is The STAR WARS Television Series Dead?

Written By: Ken Hulsey
Source: WENN

For about five years now, George Lucas and his team at Lucasfilm have been really trying to develop a television series that takes place in the "Star Wars" universe in the time between "Revenge of the Sith" and "A New Hope". Reportedly this show would have featured characters and locations not seen any of the prior "Star Wars" films, video games, television series, television specials or mountains of merchandise.

I use the words, "would have", in the paragraph above because it now looks as if this potential television series is being put into a permanent 'holding pattern', possibly grounded and shoved off into a hanger never to be heard from again.

Ever since the series was first announced way back in 2005 there have been rumors about potential cast members, scripts, and even that the series was in production. Of course, as soon as any of these rumors would start to circulate around, Lucas, or one of his staff, would be quick to dismiss them as nothing more than Internet spread fallacies.

Now, Lucas has come forward to tell the fans that indeed there are scripts, some casting did take place last year, and production could start right away. Only one problem. The film maker has no clue how to produce the show with the limit budget that is allocated for it.

At a recent screening of "The Empire Strikes Back" in Chicago, the film maker told the crowd in attendance that the show was 'shelved' until he could figure out how to make it work stating,"The live action TV show is kind of on hold because we have scripts, but we don't know how to do them.

"They literally are Star Wars, only we're going to have to try to do them (at) a tenth (of) the cost. And it's a huge challenge, (a) lot bigger than what we thought it was gonna be."

Translation: "We really want to use a lot of really cool looking CGI effects that are so dazzling, that you will have to watch each episode over-and-over again to see everything we throw in."

To me the answer here is simple. Way back in the seventies, Lucas didn't have the kind of resources that he has today, yet he was able to produce one of the best, if not the best, science fiction movie of all-time ..... "Star Wars". The effects were simple, effective, and for the most part, not all too expensive.

If the series is to be made, the film maker is going to have to do it 'old school' with cheaper effects, actual 'real world' shooting locations, and stronger character driven stories.

High end special effects and make up have been the killer of more than one sci fi television series, namely the original "Battlestar Galactica", which had huge ratings, and "Planet of the Apes", which did not.

Unless Lucas changes his way of thinking, the same could be said about "Star Wars", and it never even made it on the air ....... well, not yet anyway.

See Also: The Latest Issue Of STAR WARS INSIDER Free Online / Star Wars - A New Hope - Full Size Wall Mural / Star Wars - Boba Fett Bust / Bank / Star Wars - Slave Leia In Her Metal Bikini - Mini Bust / Star Wars Deluxe AT-AT Vehicle / Star Wars News - TomTom GPS, More Robot Chicken And Darth Vader Banned From Conventions / Star Wars - Death Trooper / Zombie Stormtrooper Bust / New STAR WARS TV And Movie Series To Be UNLEASHED? / Darth Vader Had Emotional Problems ...... Ya Think? / An Idea That Is Way Overdue - Star Wars Themed Lingerie! / Spaceballs (1987)(MGM) / Lucas Begins Casting The Star Wars TV Series / Hey! Remember Mark, The Yoda Puppet Costs More Than You Do! / Can You Believe Someone Dropped $10,000 On Star Wars Collectibles?!! / EE Exclusive Star Wars Holiday Edition Jawas Action Figures / Darth Vader Invades Japan / Star Wars R2-D2 Interactive Astromech Droid / Star Wars Exclusive Ecliptic Evader TIE Fighter With Hobbie / Star Wars Episode 3: Revenge Of The Sith Trailer / Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008)(Warner Bros) /Star Wars: The Clone Wars - What Are The Clone Wars? / Star Wars: The Clone Wars - Designing A New Galaxy /Star Wars: The Clone Wars - Lucas And Filoni Talk About The Film / Interview - Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca Speaks!) / Famous People Talk About Star Wars / Mark Hamill - 1978 Star Wars Press Conference / Carrie Fisher – Lunch With Monsters At A Chinese Restaurant / Star Wars - The Missing Pieces / Peter Cushing – The Good Man Behind Evil Characters / Star Wars Production Notes: R2-D2 (Artoo-Detoo) / Star Wars Production Notes: The Sandcrawler / Star Wars Production Notes: The Landspeeder

Indiana Jones In The Bermuda Triangle?

Written By: Ken Hulsey
Sources: WENN / Cinamatical

In the last Indiana Jones movie, "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull", aliens from another world and Russian spies replaced the Nazis as the hero/archeologist's main nemesis. Now, possibly, Dr. Jones will be tangling with the little grey men once again, in the Bermuda Triangle.

Rumors started popping up all over the place yesterday that a source close to the film had tipped off the New Zealand based movie website, Stuff, that Indiana Jones would be venturing to the mysterious area in the Atlantic where ships and planes seem to vanish without a trace. The informant also stated that filming was set to begin next year for a possible 2012 release.

That was yesterday, and now producer Frank Marshall has responded to these rumors via Twitter, "The rumor about INDY 5 is completely false. Nothing has changed, we are not shooting next year and still in the research phase..."

Read into that as you may, either the news was complete B.S., like Marshall says, or maybe the normally very reliable movie site landed a major scoop, and the producer is trying to do damage control.

Reportedly, "Indiana Jones 5" has been in this 'research phase' since September of last year, when George Lucas had made a few public statements where he seemed to bounce back-and-forth on the subject of whether Indiana Jones, or his son Mutt Williams, would be the main focus of the film.

Here is what George Lucas was saying at that time:

"I have an idea to make Shia the lead character next time and have Harrison come back like Sean Connery did in the last movie"

"The franchise really depends on me coming up with a good idea, and that series is very research intensive."

"So we're doing research now to see if we can't come up with another object for him to chase... hopefully we'll come up with something."

"Harrison Ford 'is Indiana Jones'. If it was Mutt Williams it would be Mutt Williams and the Search for Elvis or something."

Kinda confusing stuff, but we are talking about George Lucas here, the same guy that thought that having Jar Jar Binks being a pivotal character in the "Star Wars" prequels was a good idea.

According to the report coming out of New Zealand, this film will be the ultimate send-off for Jones, a film that hearkens back to the original films with more action and less visual effects.

Now, I don't want to toot my own horn, but last year I speculated the either Atlantis, or the Bermuda Triangle.....or maybe both, would be the focus of the 5th Indiana Jones film.

Was I right?

Could be, but for right now Frank Marshall is saying no.

I'll try to pull another plot idea out of my backside and let's see if I can go two-for-two?

I'm going to say ......... hmmmm .......... instead of aliens in the Bermuda Triangle, it's Nazis again who became trapped there during the war. The Nazis have some special device or relic that could give them enough power to take over the world.

Is Hitler alive and well in the Bermuda Triangle?

Okay, that sounds a bit wacky, but it could work.

Only time will tell if I'm the Nostradamus of movie writers or not. I do have a pretty good track record to back up the title. In an article earlier this year I stated that I thought that the Gorn should be in the next "Star Trek" movie, then a few weeks later J.J. Abrams echoed the same idea.

See Also: Harrison Ford Is Ready For More Indiana Jones...If The Script Is Good / Ford Not Ready To Pass The Fedora To LaBeouf / Mutt Williams Will Not Be The Main Star Of Indiana Jones 5