BC sent the following:

I came across something in the local Marin County (where Skywalker Ranch resides) newspaper last Sunday that seemed of interest - at least I haven't seen anything about it on the web yet.

The IJ (name of paper) has been running a story about TPM every Sunday for the past 3 weeks that features a local person working on the movie. Until last Sunday, I hadn't seen anything in these articles about the movie that seemed new.

Last Sunday's article was about a guy named Matt Wood who works with Ben Burtt on the sound effects. There was a bit about the Neimoidians that seemed interesting. Here's a quote from the article:

"At times, their work led Wood and Burtt to even more exotic realms.

"Take the Neimoidians - a mythical species with reddish eyes and greenish-gray skin whose representatives play a prominent role in Episode 1. "In the film, the actors who play the Neimoidians are British. ""For the longest time, we hadn't figured out what we were going to use for the sound of the Neimoidians,' says Wood. "We tried all different things. Then one day we were working on the Thai version of the trailer and we heard these voices that were very unique. So Ben and I went to L.A. and (recorded) Thai people trying to speak the lines as best they could in their best English.' "In the end, Burtt found the sound he wanted - English actors interpreting a Thai person trying to speak English, Wood says.

You can read the entire article on the IJ web site: http://www.marinij.com/news/archive/index.shtml But it may only be online for a few more days (it's in the Week in Review section).