AUGUST 10, 2002
Volume 3, Issue 16

Well, this is the last week of freedom for me...school starts tomorrow....ugh. At least I get new school supplies with Star Wars on it! :) Anyway, perhaps, we will start sending the newsie out on Sunday. Well, Han Solo1138 is BACK!!!!!!!!!! We have your Action Figure review and a GREAT article on Once Upon a Toy! ENJOY!

IN THIS WEEK'S NEWSIE:
1. SITE NEWS AND UPDATES
2. STAR WARS WEEKENDS NEWS
3. ONCE UPON A TOY (AND DOWNTOWN DISNEY) INSIDE LOOK (BY PRINCESS LEIAORSO)
4. STAR WARS DVD

WOOKIEE SECTION
    WOOKIEE LINK
    WOOKIEE TRIVIA
    WOOKIEE POLL
    WOOKIEE ACTION FIGURE REVIEW (BY HAN SOLO1138)
    SIX DEGREES OF STAR WARS

1. SITE NEWS AND UPDATES

- We are proud to announce our brand new affiliates! Make sure to check them all out!
    AMIDALA'S SW LAIR
    ANAKIN CANTINA
    CHARMING TO THE LAST
    CORUSCANT ONLINE
    DANIEL LOGAN.COM
    FORBIDDEN DESTINY
    FORBIDDEN LOVE
    HANDMAIDEN LAIR
    LADIES OF STAR WARS
    LEIA TRIBUTE
    LIKE MOTHER, LIKE DAUGHTER
    MOONS OF IEGO
    LOYAL DECOY
    PADME ONLINE
    REBEL CHICK
    REBEL PRINCESS
    TRANQUILITY AMONG THE STARS
    USE THE FORCE              

- If you have a site and wish to become affiliates please click here.

- Our newsboard is down so we are improvising and made a "new" one. Either way, it is working out well and fits great with the site.

- We are thinking of changing our layout again! This time, it will be frames and the navigation will be easier. (Not to mention, it will be easier to keep up). So we hope to have it done sometime in the next two weeks...

2. STAR WARS WEEKENDS NEWS

- There's nothing big this week. We are keeping in touch with Disney for any scheduling occurring in the next two months!

-We need your reports and pics! Please send them to Princess Leiaorso!

3. ONCE UPON A TOY (AND DOWNTOWN DISNEY) INSIDE LOOK

-We first want to apologize for not having any pics, Princess Leiaorso didn't have her digital camera :(

-Well, after watching a GREAT movie (Signs) I decided to scout Once Upon a Toy. On the walk over from Downtown Westside to Pleasure Island, I made a pit stop in Starabilia, a store dedicated to collectors. Well, they HAD Star Wars Cookie Jars in the window, so I HAD to go in. After drooling over the cookie jars, Star Wars pins collections, and Ray Park and Sir Alec Guiness autographed posters, I decided to leave before I cried for coming without a cent.  I finally managed to get across to LEGO Land without the tourists mobbing me and got to the Star Wars section. The little Lego Yoda cried out my name as I looked at the price tag for the Star Wars Lego Pens. $15, not too expensive, but there was NO way my dad would pay that much for a pen. Then there was the Darth Maul, the Darth Vader and the $20 R2-D2 next to the Star Wars Lego caps and t-shirts. Of course the Yoda and Darth Maul were WAY out of my price range ($99.99 and over) yet there is still hope to bring R2-D2 home... Now over to the great masterpiece everyone had been talking about for months: the great toy store... Well, the entrance was enticing, a huge Mr. Potato Head and Buzz Lightyear (which seemed to be great picture taking pals for the tourists). So I made my way into the store. Next to the cash registers...LIFE and STRATEGO Star Wars Editions...$24. Being the cheapskate that I am, no way I would buy that there. Then, as I made my way further into the store, the green and blue packages with the little gold headings on them caught my eyes. The beautiful colors on that wall that created a camouflage of everyone's favorite section in toy stores reached out to me across the hundreds of children crying to their mommies to get them the Mickey flashlight...I had finally spotted the Star Wars section. That little corner in the back seemed insignificant to everyone else except to me. As I dogged myself through the lines of tourists and the displays of Cinderella Barbie, I thought...I have no money...Oh well, just seeing these toys would be enough. The wall was filled with R3-D3 next to Captain Rex. Along with those little blasters and lightsabers. And a whole section dedicated to 25th anniversary figures. The little rotary rack with Djas Phur and Palpatine struck me as I stopped looking at prices and slobbered at everything else. Well, there were your usual figures (Anakin, Shaak Ti, etc) but the two I couldn't find ANYWHERE finally appeared before my eyes. The stupid price tag though...$10...I could buy them cheaper online....oh well. So much for that. I was finally able to leave the store without hurting the salespeople and planned out how I was to spend my money the next two months. Disney was still way too overpriced for me. I guess the Star Tours figs are worth it, but everything else can SURELY be bought somewhere else.

4. STAR WARS DVD

- The madness is back. After FINALLY getting LOTR, I can concentrate on the thing that REALLY makes my life go on...well, not really, but that's what I like to think. Star Wars DVD November 12. It is still NOT fair that the stupid British peeps get it first (no offense to ANYONE!) but I guess it's ok considering some countries didn't get to see AOTC until June/July. All I know is that the DVD will be online as soon as the first person in London gets it. Let's say around 7am British Time on November 11th... That's good enough right? Well, I'd rather just get the good quality DVD a day later and pay my $25 so that Ben Burt can actually get his pennies for good mixing of Walrus and Road sounds...but that's just me. Either way, for those of you who missed it, here are the things that will be featured on the DVD (and our comments on them):

Dolby 5.1 Surround EXSound- well, everyone loves surround sound and the speeder chase will be AWESOME!

Widescreen (anamorphic widescreen aspect ratio 2.35:1) or Fullscreen- I personally don't like widescreen and could live without it...

5 Audio Commentaries by George Lucas, Rick McCallum, Ben Burtt, Pablo Helman, John Knoll & Ben Snow, and Rob Coleman- funny, audio commentary by Ben Burtt...anyway, the commentaries will be pretty much the personal outlooks on the film...thats pretty much it...but hey, one more chance to look at god...

8 Deleted Scenes with introductions by George Lucas, Rick McCallum and Ben Burtt- Padme's Family?!?! YAY!!!!!!!!!! Deleted scenes always help understand the movie better AND they give away some hidden truths to the saga...

3 Documentaries:
'From Puppets to Pixels'- tells the emergence of digital characters yoda, dexter jester, I'm guessing watto and others (after all it was 95% digital...). It seems very interesting. Yoda looks a lot better in AOTC that in TPM...he looks REAL. Dexter is cool too (I love his mustache!)
'State of the Art: The Previsualization of Episode II'- about the animatics of Episode 2. Another extra which I won't look at much...
Films Are Not Released; They Escape'- about the sounds created by BEN BURTT- the best sound mixer/editor and everything else on earth!!!!!!!!!!!! Definitely interesting...you never know how they made those languages after all...

3 Behind-the-Scenes Featurettes exploring Episode II's storyline, action scenes & love story- Behind the scenes is always interesting since it allows you to see the REAL going ons, almost as if you were there with Hayden (yeah, I wish...)

12 'Making Episode II' Documentaries- for those of you with slow connections (like moi) that skipped out on the making of AOTC on starwars.com. I never saw 'em so they're cool to watch.

Trailers & TV Spots- Well, everyone always tried to find versions which they could save onto their hard drives, (after d/l for an HOUR! each) making their comps SOOO slow... No more...just pop in the DVD and watch them all! (I personally voted for this when they had the survey at starwars.com)

Other Features
Theatrical posters, worldwide print campaign & production photo galleries- Always cool to look at...
'Across the Stars' music video- Another thing not to download...John Williams- YOU ROCK! (they should actually include the soundtrack...but that's another source of profit, isn't it?)
'R2-D2: Beneath the Dome' mockumentary trailer- Out of all the things to download from Starwars.com, this one was a MUST! It's cool to have something like this!
Episode II Visual Effects montage from ILM- I'll watch it once or twice when I'm bored...that's about it (unless you're REALLY into effects.) It is neat to see how they created all those things...pretty much needless trivia
HoloNet News website- funny, but you can always go on it online...
DVD-ROM weblink to starwars.com- ooh...that's special...(sarcasm...)
 

Over all, the DVD looks awesome. I mean, ATOC is one of the greatest Star Wars movies (not that the rest aren't). Lucasfilm is definitely getting better at this...

WOOKIEE SECTION
(yes I have FINALLY made the spelling correction)
WOOKIEE LINK: This week's GREAT site is an affiliate of ours which we think has a GREAT layout. Coruscant Online.
WOOKIEE TRIVIA: Well, we decided to give you all a break and make it easy. What is the name of the droid seen torturing an GONK at Jabba's Palace?
    Difficulty: EASY
    Highlight for answer: 8D8
WOOKIEE POLL: Who is your favorite ewok? Visit the site to vote
    LAST WEEK'S RESULTS: Do you think Padme should be in the ROTJ DVD?
        45%- It would be interesting...
        45%- Hell no!
        9%- I don't care
        (TOTAL VOTES: 11)
WOOKIEE ACTION FIGURE REVIEW
Darth Vader Bespin Duel
Collection 1 # 30
Articulation: 8 1/2 points. head, both arms, left elbow, both wrist, both legs and his sort of at the waist
Acessories: his lightsaber (that has a metal handle..woo hoo!) and the Bespin walkway. The walkway looks really cool in the package but was disapointed upon opening it. It seemed too little and a bit flimsy, but after sitting him up on my shelf leaning over it with his arm strechedout like he is saying "join me and together we can rule the galaxy as father and son" it is awsome!
Best Part: He simply looks cool! This is one of those figures that you buy to sit on your shelf and look stunning! It looks just like The Dark Lord of the Sith and is just breath taking! He is by no means a play toy , but he is cool none the less!
Worst Part: I hate those stupid battle actions! Vaders is one of the better ones (you press a button and he swings his torso around) but the are stupid none the less! I wouldn't mind if Hasbro got rid of those features all together!
Grade: I give Vader a 4 1/2 out of 5. If he wasn't too scene specific and a no-play-just-display toy, he would have gotten the entire 5. I think this is one of the better figures and a must have on all Star Wars fans list!
SIX DEGREES OF STAR WARS:
    In this week's Six Degrees: Aayla Secura and Salacious Crumb
        Aayla Sercura > Yoda > Luke Skywalker > Jabba the Hutt > Salacious Crumb
    Explanation and sources: Aayla Secura is on the Jedi Council with Yoda (AOTC), Yoda was Luke's teacher (ESB), Luke bargains with Jabba for Han's life (ROTJ), Jabba the Hutt had Crumb as his jester.

That's it for this week's newsie! What did you think? Email Princess Leiaorso
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