Ask the Jedi Council Archives – 2003
Welcome to the Ask the Lucasfilm Jedi Council Archives. A feature of Star Wars. Com, no longer active. This is not a complete archive but have salvaged what I can.
January 2003
Q : Who will be joining the cast for Episode III?
Rick McCallum: Look for most of the actors from Episode II to return with the story focusing on the characters played by Hayden Christensen (Anakin), Ewan McGregor (Obi-Wan), Natalie Portman (Padmé) and Ian McDiarmid (Palpatine).
Basically everything’s been cast except for incidental characters. That obviously won’t begin until we’re further along on the script.
Q : Who is the cloaked character sitting in the back of the Naboo Senate box in Episode I that seems to look like Darth Sidious?
Jocasta Nu: Look closer, young Padawan. It is actually Queen Amidala’s handmaidens, Eirtaé and Rabé, who accompany her to the Senate hall wearing those dark cloaks.
Q : In Episode VI, while on Dagobah, Ben told Luke that when he first met Anakin, he was already a star-pilot. I thought Anakin was 9 when they first met in Episode I.
Jocasta Nu: Actually, Obi-Wan said Anakin was “already a great pilot” when they met, which he was as witnessed in the Boonta Eve Podrace. It was on Tatooine that Obi-Wan told Luke that Anakin was “the best star-pilot in the galaxy,” a trait that Anakin would develop sometime after his meeting with Kenobi.
Q : At the beginning of A New Hope, Threepio knows about the Princess. Then when he is on Tatooine and Luke asks who she is, Threepio doesn’t know. Did he do this on purpose?
Jocasta Nu: C-3PO was prevaricating as he was programmed to do so. This is elaborated upon in the radio dramatization, in a scene prior to the attack on the Tantive IV. Threepio’s master, Captain Antilles, enacts a voice override command protocol, allowing Threepio to disregard some of his ethical programming to carry out important tasks. Here’s what Antilles says to both C-3PO and R2-D2:
“This is a command/control instruction. Both of you will restrict and protect all references to Leia Organa’s identity and presence inboard this vessel. She is designated a command/control voice.”
Princess Leia also commanded R2-D2 under this protocol to deliver the Death Star plans to Obi-Wan Kenobi at all costs.
Q : Coleman Trebor or Sar Labooda? Which of these “dinosaur-headed” Jedi is the character we’ve seen in Episode II? I’ve seen both names used to describe this Jedi.
Jocasta Nu: Coleman Trebor is a Vurk. Sar Labooda is a humanoid female with dark hair. She does not have a “dinosaur head” and never did. It would seem your data is in error.
Q : In the book Rogue Planet, the description of the Far Outsiders sounds like a description of Yuuzhan Vong. Are they the same?
Jocasta Nu: Yes, the Far Outsiders were indeed an advance party of Yuuzhan Vong invaders.
Q : Why haven’t we seen the stars stretch into lines when a ship jumps to hyperspace in the prequel trilogy?
Steve Sansweet: For the definitive answer, we turn to none other than George Lucas himself. Here’s what he had to say:
“I think of the series as one movie. In order to keep the impact of the hyperspace jump in Episode IV, I have decided not to use it in the first three films. If you’re watching them from one to six, you’ll get the same thrill.”
Q : How are the locations for the Star Wars Celebrations chosen? How can I get my city on the “list?”
Steve Sansweet: We take a giant wall map of the U.S. and its territories, put on a blindfold, get spun around by the Force, and then pin the ronto’s tail on the winning city. But seriously folks, we spent a lot of time and looked at a lot of cities before we picked Indianapolis for last year’s Celebration II. (Celebration I was held in Denver, because it was the home town at the time of the fan club, which put on the event.)
We look for a city with a large and convenient convention center or similar facility, reasonably-priced hotels nearby, as centrally located or as easily reachable by air and car as possible, used to entertaining big crowds (we topped out at around 27,000 people last year), and friendly. We’ve been approached with a lot of suggestions for Star Wars Celebration III, and we hope to be able to settle on a location no later than this summer. You’ll read the first official word here at starwars.com.
Q : When does ILM start its work on Episode III, or has it already?
Rob Coleman’s Answer: I have already begun working part-time on the film. Right now, we are in the pre-production planning phase. Myself and visual effects supervisors John Knoll, Pablo Helman and Ben Snow have been shown the amazing artwork and designs coming out of the Art Department. We have started to discuss how we are going to approach the visual effects and animation work. Just this week, I was looking at which character models we could start building.
Q : Since Episode III is the last episode, what happens to all the sets once you’re finished?
Gavin Bocquet: Most of the large set pieces will be destroyed, as they have been on Episode I and on Episode II, and as they are on all other films. Most film sets are not built to last more than a couple of months, as this would add a great deal to the budget, so there would be no point in keeping them.
However, Star Wars is a little different than other films and certain pieces from the shoot are kept and stored at the archive at Lucasfilm. Usually this will include any smaller and interesting set pieces, usually things like speeders or starfighters, if they are not too big. If they can fit into a shipping container then Rick McCallum and George Lucas will discuss whether a certain piece is worth keeping. But in general most ‘sets’ are not kept.
The largest pieces we have kept so far are a full-size Naboo starfighter from Episode I, and a full-size Jedi starfighter from Episode II.
A lot more of the props and set dressing will be kept, as well as the costumes, since they are smaller in volume and therefore much more easy to store and transport.
Q : Did Vader make a cameo appearance in Episode II? As Count Dooku is leaving the hangar, we see in the lower left corner a silhouette of what appears to Darth Vader! Helmet and all!
Jocasta Nu: Your eyes are deceiving you, young Padawan. The figure in question is clearly part of the Neimoidian ground crew, and in no way connected to the future Dark Lord.
Q : The Return of the Jedi credits list a character named Nicki. Who is Nicki?
Steve Sansweet: Nicki was an Ewok played by young Nicholas — or Nicky — Read (yes, it was misspelled in the credits). Nicky tells Eric Moro in Issue #67 of Star Wars Insider (celebrating the 20th Anniversary of Jedi) that he wore a gray Ewok costume and can be spotted as the Ewok who does a cartwheel at the end ceremony scene. For more on what Nicky did and is up to today, along with a number of other members of that wild and woolly tribe, read the article “Beyond the Valley of the Ewoks.”
Q : Since you started way back in Episode I, have there been any new building materials or processes developed that makes your job easier?
Gavin Bocquet: Over the past 10 years there haven’t been any great leaps in the technology of building materials and processes, although each year there are small improvements and advances in all areas. This can range from materials themselves, like improved casting materials, or larger sheets of MDF (medium density fiberboard), to basic improvements in tools and machine technology.
The film business is, by its nature, a low-volume production business, and therefore we are not able to make use of techniques normally used in industry. If we were making 1,000 of the same object, then we could use these pieces of equipment, but we are more craft-orientated than mass production-orientated, with the need to make only small numbers of any given object.
The world of CAD drawing in the Art Department had seen a big advancement over the last 10 years, and this has a direct input into the Construction Department, as we can often feed the CAD information directly into various machine tools, like the router, or 5-axis cutter, which will cut shapes and elements straight from the digital information out of a variety of materials.
Q : Are there any plans for adapting Episodes I and/or II into radio plays? I quite enjoyed the adaptations of the original trilogy.
Steve Sansweet: So did all of us. The Star Wars movies are particularly well-suited to the theater of the mind’s eye. The radio dramatizations allow for more story points and action to be included, while sticking to the main points of the movies. The radio dramas for the classic trilogy were superbly written by the late Brian Daley and first aired on National Public Radio stations. Some members of the original cast were used, with such unusual additional casting as veteran actor Ed Asner as Jabba the Hutt. All three series were later released on tape and CD.
As for adapting, airing, and making available dramatizations of the Star Wars prequels, that is something that Lucasfilm has looked into over the past few years. But it is a very complicated business, creative and personnel process to get all of the planets to line up just right. So while it is accurate to say we remain interested in such a project, there is nothing currently on the schedule or close to happening. If that changes, you’ll get the news here first.
Q : Who’s voice was used for Darth Vader in the Special Edition of The Empire Strikes Back? I’m talking about the part when he says “Alert my Star Destroyer to prepare for my arrival.”
Ben Burtt: That was James Earl Jones. The line was recorded for A New Hope but never used.
Q : Is there any chance that you or Mr. Lucas will make a cameo appearance in Episode III?
Rick McCallum: No… George won’t let me.
Besides, it might ruin the continuity of my masterful Episode I performance.
George isn’t interested in being in front of the camera, but you never know.
Q : What do I do with the Jedi Master Points on toy packaging?
Steve Sansweet: Add flour and water and turn them into a papier-mâché dewback? String them end to end and use them to trim your next Christmas tree? When it gets really cold, use them as kindling for the fireplace? Send thousands of them to Hasbro corporate headquarters and let them figure out what to do with them?
Actually, the question of what to do with these little rectangles on the back of Hasbro’s figures and other Star Wars toy packaging is probably the single most-asked question sent to Star Wars Insider‘s “Scouting the Galaxy” column — and also to Hasbro. And the answer is that Hasbro, after working through many business and legal issues, has made much progress in coming up with a cool answer of what to do with Jedi Master Points.
“It has taken longer than we would have liked,” notes Jeff Popper, Hasbro’s director of marketing for Star Wars. Hasbro is hoping to be able to announce its plans in the not too-distant future, once every element is worked out. My advice: round up as many of those ubiquitous Points as you can, and stay tuned!
Q : How did you decide to give Zam Wesell’s speeder that howl? Is it based on its look? Where did that sound come from?
Ben Burtt: The howl of Zam’s speeder was produced with an old electric guitar. I play drums in a church band and I asked guitarist Dave Weaver to make the sounds for me one day after practice. I chopped the sound up with a synthesizer program and ran it through an old time spring reverb system. The idea was to produce a sound as if Zam’s speeder were not rocket-powered, but ran on some sort of magnetism, perhaps in a field produced by the automatic Coruscant traffic control.
Q : How big (file size and pixel dimensions) was the biggest matte painting done for Episode I or II?
Jonathan Harb’s answer: The largest matte painting (this one happened to be a 3-D matte painting) for Episodes I or II was the background of the elevator shot of Obi-Wan and Anakin at the beginning of Episode II. Since this show was an HD show, the final resolution of the 2:35 comp was 1920 x 817; and that comp ran for around 850 frames, or 35 seconds of screen time. Each frame takes up around 2.3 megs of space, so the comp of the background took up 2 gigs or so.
The real space-consuming part of the shot came from the source files used to model and render the comp. Including scene files, models, textures, render passes, and final comp, this shot probably consumed 80-90 gigabytes of space until the shot was a final.
Q : Will virtual sets ever put Production Designers out of work?
Gavin Bocquet: In theory no, as whether a set is ‘virtual’ or ‘real’, it will still need to be designed. Most films do not have Concept Designers, and all the design work is done by the Production Designer, so all the sets that might now be virtual, would still need to be designed in the same way as they have been for the last 60 years. Maybe there will be fewer carpenters and construction crew on the film, and more digital modelers, but thankfully the Production Designer’s job will still be the same.
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