Yoda fights in Episode II !

[Tuesday, May 23, 2000]

The Episode II news and rumors get more and more exciting every day!! A small update today:

A few days ago, The Force.net posted some very cool inside information and speculation about a new Jedi fighting technique involving two smaller lightsabers instead of just one big saber or a double-bladed one. The article suggests that there's a possibility that we'll see Yoda fighting using this technique!

Lucas has confirmed that we'll see Yoda wielding a lightsaber, but it's hard to imagine Yoda with a 'regular' lightsaber. However, if you look at the above picture I made today, you can see what Yoda could look like when he'd be fighting with two smaller lightsabers! Definitely possible, don't you think?

That's all for today! Enjoy the new picture and see you next update..

Episode II character design

[Tuesday, May 16, 2000]

There are some new Episode II details posted on the web. Today I'll comment on a quote from theForce.net's latest 'spy' report:

"Although things have been running behind to some degree, most of the character design is done."

That means new designs for the following characters:

1. Queen Amidala. Will she have the same elaborate costumes as in Episode I? Perhaps in some scenes. But according to McCallum, Amidala in Episode I is just at the beginning of a personal 'journey'. So the Amidala in Episode II might be very different from the teenage Queen we saw in The Phantom Menace. She'll be a young women now, and it's my guess that she'll be more like the Amidala/Padme we see during the last part of TPM: simple clothes/hair, ready for action. Perhaps there will be some big costumes / hairpieces for the wedding scene.
2. Anakin. He'll probably look a lot like Obi-Wan in Episode I. Perhaps there'll be different clothes when he becomes a Jedi Knight or a war hero in the Clone Wars. Could we see the come-back of the black outfit Luke had in Return of the Jedi? It would be a nice transition to Anakin's black costume/mask later on...
3. Obi-Wan: Obi-Wan will be older and have a beard; probably has the same clothes as in Episode I. Even in A New Hope he still wears the same brown robe and
4. Jar-Jar: the same as in Episode I, perhaps different clothes. After all, he's a general now!
5. Boba Fett: his outfit will be a bit different from what we saw in Episode 4-6. He'll have the same helmet (Boba Fett wouldn't be Boba Fett without it), but his outfit will certainly look newer. Perhaps the armor is different.
6. Palpatine/Sidious: as Sidious he'll look no different from Sidious in Episode I, but what about Palpatine? He'll look a lot older, and perhaps his face will be a bit more like the face of the Emperor in Episodes 6. He'll be emperor in Episode II, but will he wear the black cloack or something else?
7. Bail Organa: in the scenes that were cut from Episode I, Organa wore a white uniform. He's not a warrior himself, but more a leader (Obi-Wan fights for him during the Clone Wars), so his costume could very well be the same white, regal uniform (I always associate Alderaan with the color white, because of McQuarries artwork of the university of Alderaan, and because of Leia's outfit in A New Hope)
8. Yoda: no changes I think. Even when he'll be seen in battle, he probably won't make somersaults. His fighting style will probably be: minimal effort, maximum effect.
9. The New Bad Guy: no idea what he/she will look like. Very different from Maul, that's for sure. But it's clear that he/she will become the new "icon" of evil in this new Episode.

That's all for today! See you next update..

The drawings on the official Episode II pages:
are we looking at a CLONING FACILITY?

The official website has confirmed what everybody expected already: Hayden Christensen has been cast as Anakin! Of course I think it's an excellent choice, because now I don't have to redo the picture on the right I made on May 4. :)

As you can see, once again, the Virtual Edition made you "see things before they happen"! :)

Intriguing glimpses of a new Episode II environment!

However, as interesting as the confirmation of Christensen being the new Anakin might be, what's even more interesting is the intriguing new lay-out of the official Episode II page... what are those drawings we're looking at??? It's clearly pre-production work for Episode II; the style is definitely Doug Chiang's.

The artwork shows a huge city-like, industrial-looking place. My first thought was: perhaps it's some part of Coruscant, not on the surface, but somewhere deep below in the darker regions of the bottomless city...

But upon closer inspection, the place doesn't really look like a city, it looks more like.... a factory! When you look closely, you can see electrical wires and huge pipes, and even some liquid leaking from one of them!

Now here's my theory: what we're looking at is a HUGE CLONING FACILITY! "Oh please!", I hear you complain, "not that old cloning theory once again". Some of you are very opposed to the idea of cloning being in Episode II, because it would be "too sci-fi". Hmmm... I don't agree. I think it's very well possible that we will see some kind of cloning in Episode II, and these new sketches may very well point in that direction...

Let's take a look at some details that make me think we're looking at a cloning facility here.

First of all, the place is HUGE!! When you enlarge part of the sketch, you can see bridges with tiny people walking on it...

Cloning chambers?

But there's a more important detail: the round 'balls' that are used in the lay-out. Take a look at the enhanced picture below.. It's not something small, like a probe droid, but something pretty big. I think we're looking at it from above. It's not a droid, but more like some kind of huge metallic 'egg'. There's a lid on top of it, and even a joint. On the left side, you can see something that looks like a ladder! To climb to the entrance of the egg, or... to climb out of the egg! Could we be looking at a cloning chamber??

There's another circular object on the page. This looks more like a circular 'window' that can open and close. It is also used as a 'window' to show the pictures of Hayden and Natalie. On the enhanced picture of the 'cloning chamber' you can see a circular opening on the side of the sphere. Perhaps that's where this "eye" or window is situated. Could it be used for inspection of the clones in production?

Cloning an army?

If my theory is correct, we're still left with one big question: exactly what are they cloning? Why is the place so huge??? In my opinion there can only be one answer: they're cloning... Stormtroopers! A huge imperial army that is needed by the Emperor. These cloned stormtroopers are replacing the battle droids from Episode I. George Lucas has hinted several times at the fact that we'll see in Episode II or three why the stormtroopers we're introduced... cloned Stormtroopers are much more efficient and reliable than battledroids, they're easy to 'produce' in large quantities and clones don't have families who might protest against the wars..

By the way, by introducing 'cloned' stormtroopers in Episode II, Lucas also makes Episode IV, V and VI much less 'violent', because after all, Luke, Han, Chewbacca and Leia are not killing human beings, but 'mere' clones... (and of course the occasional imperial officer - hey, nobody's perfect :) ).

Of course, you have every right to disagree with me about this. And if you want to discuss this theory, it's implications or it's weaknesses, head over to the Discussion Forum and make yourself heard!!

See you next update..

Cool new Episode II facts:
Boba Fett's apartment; his costume and two new environments!!

[Wednesday, May 10, 2000]

Finally we're getting some official Episode II information!! As you can read on theForce.net, the new SW Insider has some cool Episode II information.

There are two interesting new facts about Episode II:

Two new environments!

According to Gavin Bouquet there will be two new environments never before seen, including one that is entirely CGI!!

Two new environments? Are we talking about two planets? Not necessarily. Otoh Gunga also was a CGI environment, but it was located on the same planet as Theed. Could one of those environments be Alderaan? Or Yoda's rumored homeplanet? Or could it be Boba Fett's homeplanet we're talking about? It's still a bit early to tell, but this news gives us a lot to think and speculate about :)

Boba Fett's ship and costume!

Bouquet also mentions having seen production sketches for Fett's ship and costume, which apparently will be a bit different than we've seen before. It's not surprising that Boba Fett's costume and ship will be different from what we've seen in ESB, because in this movie, Boba Fett must still be a young guy (although we don't know his age in ESB).

The mention of the construction of an 'apartment' for Boba Fett is much more interesting, plot-wise. It indicates that we'll see at least one scene in that location! Now what could happen there? Why would we see Fett's home? Could it be the location where Boba Fett receives his orders? In a transmission from Sidious perhaps? We don't even know if Boba Fett will already be a Bounty Hunter in Episode II...

Boba Fett without armor and helmet?

Also, could this mean we'll see Boba Fett without his helmet? After all, until now, we've only seen Boba Fett in situations where is armor was required. But why would he wear his armor and his helmet in his own apartment? Even Darth Vader took off his helmet while he was relaxing in his meditation cell in ESB.. :) Will Lucas reveal WHO is underneath the mask?

Set designs

McCallum talked about 32 set designs being made in Australia. Let's see what we have now:

1. Boba Fett's ship (the slave 1?)
2. Boba Fett's apartment
3. The Emperor's new throne
4. A CGI environment (it's not sure there'll be a set if this environment is 100% CGI)
5. Another new environment
6. Perhaps several Tatooine sets (if Anakin returns there to free the slaves)
7. Perhaps also some Theed sets (if they're not shot on location in the Caserta palace)

If you have any idea what these new facts could mean for the plot-line of Episode II, don't hesitate to share them in the Discussion Forum!

See you next update..

32 sets in Australia!!!
I want to know more!! :)

[Saturday, May 06, 2000]

In the Homing Beacon there's a quote from McCallum about the sets being built in Australia: ""Right now we have a total of 32 set designs," said McCallum. "We?ve started construction on our first twenty that we?re really going for."

I'd LOVE to read some spy reports about these sets!! Or even better: some pictures on the starwars.com! (I know, it might be too early for that..) The only 'spy' information we have, was the report on TheForce.net about Slave-1's interior cockpit construction at the set (which seems to be well underway at this point). There was also mention of the Emperors new "throne" being built. That's 2 sets we know about. I want to know about the other 30 sets! :)

IF you happen to have any additional information about what they're building there, click here to let me know!

Share your thoughts in the Discussion Forum! See you next update..

Anakin, Kitster and Bail Organa!

[Saturday, May 06, 2000]

Some thoughts and comments on the latest Episode II news:

Hayden Christensen as Anakin?

The official Lucasfilm reaction to the rumors about Hayden Christensen being cast as Anakin, is that websites are only speculating. They will make an announcement on the official website, although we don't know when this will happen. I have no opinion about Hayden, since I've never seen his acting. But if we are to believe some spy reports about the reading with Portman at Skywalker Ranch, Hayden's performance was great.

Colin Hanks as Kitster?

According to Harry Knowles, Colin Hanks is up for the role of Kitster, Anakin's best friend when he was a kid on Tatooine. Although Hanks would need some make-up to make him look more like Dhruv Chanchani who played Kitster in TPM, it's very interesting that Lucas would pick a good actor for the role of Kitster. It indicates that Kitster's role could be of some importance to the story. I don't think it's very likely that Kitster will turn out to be Boba Fett like some people speculate. I'll post my theory of what Kitsters role could be in my next update...

Ryan Phillipe as Bail Organa?

It's clear that we'll see Bail Organa in Episode II. He will play an important role in the clone wars (Leia: "General Kenobi [...] years ago, you served my father in the Clone Wars").
I'll try to figure out more about his role in one of the future updates.

Jonathan Hales refining the Episode II script!

According to the Homing Beacon, the official newsletter of starwars.com, "screenwriter Jonathan Hales began his first formal day on Episode II helping George Lucas to refine the final stages of the script. His work begins with several days of story conferences with Lucas". I'm very glad that someone else is looking at the script after Lucas' first versions. In the new poll, you can show your opinion about what could be improved in comparison with Lucas' Episode I.

Poll results

I've posted a new poll; here are the results of the previous poll:

What do you think of Harry Knowles' rumor about a new Sith Apprentice?

1. It's true! (91) 19%
2. It's bogus! (122) 26%
3. I wish it were true, but I'm not sure (181) 38%
4. I hope it isn't true, but I'm not sure (73) 15%

   Total Votes: 467

Share your thoughts in the Discussion Forum! See you next update..

The new Anakin?

[Thursday, May 04, 2000]

Hayden Christensen as Anakin?

The Internet is buzzing with rumors about Anakin being cast. While several names are still circulating, some of the stronger rumors point towards a relatively unknown actor, Hayden Christensen. Both TF.n and Harry Knowles have reports on this candidate. The official announcement can't be far away, and while we're all waiting for George Lucas' final verdict on who is going to be the next Anakin, I've already made a picture of Hayden Christensen as Anakin.

Anakin and Emperor Palpatine

It's pretty certain that Anakin is going to meet Emperor Palpatine in Episode II and Palpatine will somehow already influence the young jedi and start to push him towards the dark side. How will this happen? Not in a straight-forward way. Anakin won't suspect Palpatine's double identity. It's my guess that once Palpatine has sensed Anakin's extraordinary gifts, he will develop a plan to lure Anakin towards the dark side. He might start by enlisting Anakin's help to fight in the clone wars. He might even influence the events so that Anakin becomes a great war hero, thus exposing Anakin to the temptation of pride, ego and selfishness.

A quote from McCallum (Sum Magazine) would support this theory: "We meet Anakin Skywalker when he's a young boy and we watch him become a Jedi- knight, then a Jedi-master. Then on the background of the Clone-Wars, he becomes a great hero, and on that moment pride, ego and selfishness take over and he chooses to go to the Dark Side."

When will this choice take place? Further on, in Episode III perhaps, things might go terribly wrong in the universe, but Palpatine might still pretend to be the 'innocent victim' of all the troubles. Now here's the big temptation he'll present to the ambitious Anakin: he'll basically say the same thing as Anakin/Vader said to Luke in ESB: "Join me, and together we will bring order to the galaxy (=rule it)". Obi-Wan might sense that something is terribly wrong and he might try to discourage Anakin from choosing this path. But Anakin will accept Palpatine's proposal, perhaps because his relationship with Obi-Wan was already damaged (as a result of the rumored love triangle?)

You're invited to share your thoughts about this theory in the increasingly popular Discussion Forum.