news

 

 

tuesday 31st july 2007  
>>>setnin select reaches number 250 with artwork by richard skidmore.  this shows a concept design for the bestragex utilities fighter, a setnin designed fighter for use by the empire from quest for freedom for more looks into the worlds of setnin, click on the mini banner above and go through to the setnin select archive.
>>>we're still high on celebration europe in these parts, and here's another fun image from the weekend that you'll see more of this coming thursday when we bring you our celebration europe memories page - day two.  shown here are jason, rebecca, mark and iain, mugging for the camera in the upper deck bar at the novotel hotel.

this is the stuff!

monday 30th july 2007  
>>>turning to the dork side 8 hits the site direct from neil bakers own site a place in the galaxy. you can view it there or go to our humour section on the sidebar where your extremities will tingle from the battering of mirth that assault them...oh yeah
sunday 29th july 2007  
>>>his celebration 4 piece garnered a lot of interest in these parts and we're sure his first celebration europe article will do just the same.  neil baker brings us celebration europe report - day 1.  from getting the badges to meeting mark hamill, this runs through the days entire list of events from a certain point of view.  click here and check it out.

neil, kuldip and...errr, not sure who that is...

>>>those lucky enough to be attending the san diego comic convention - and we have a few friends who are there right now - are seeing some amazing things.  satellite links to the set of indiana jones 4,  great news regarding the new star trek 11 film, with zachary 'sylar' quinto announced as spock and guest star leonard nimoy joining him on stage, and the release of more new indy promotional material, including this gorgeous drew struzan piece teasing the new film.

excited much?

>>>regular readers of Lightsabre know that this lady is a friend of the site and it was a pleasure to finally meet her at celebration europe cynthia cummens has contributed to the forthcoming topps 30th anniversary card set, so click here for much more information from the official site and some gorgeous artwork.

tic-tac-greedo!

saturday 28th july 2007  
>>>news is pouring in regarding the new indiana jones movie, which is released memorial day 2008 worldwide.  steven spielberg, shia lebeouf and ray winstone were joined by harrison ford himself for a chat with the san diego comic-con crowd before revealing the latest cast member to join the shoot.  karen allen returns as marion ravenwood for the movie, much to the delight of fans both in san diego and worldwide.

shia lebeouf, steven spielberg, ray winstone, harrison ford and returning, karen allen

>>>also recently announced for early 2008 is the release of lego indiana jones.  following on in the tradition laid down by lego star wars, this looks set to be another rip-roaring adventure game sprinkled with a lot of humour. click here for more from adam khan of lucasarts, but in the meantime watch this fantastic fan video from indyj21, a polish fan film maker who simply couldn't wait for the game to come out...

>>>friend of the site and our guest at celebration europe gerald home brings us news from his own site.  he has updated the pictures page to include a photo of himself and the Lightsabre gang at the end of the weekend.  click here for a look a gerald's website, and take a good look round while you're there.
friday 27th july 2007  
>>>we bring to you the ninth page of our four-issue online comic adaptation of quest for freedom, drawn to celebrate not only the 30th anniversary of the original star wars but also the 25th anniversary of that very first story.  drawn and designed by richard skidmore, with cover art by craig burt and logo design by tim wann, this mark newbold written story takes places between the events of empire strikes back and return of the jedi, as lando calrissian and chewbacca search the galaxy for their lost friend han solo.  click the mini banner below to reach the comic book archive and the ninth and final page of issue one of our weekly comic strip, quest for freedom.
>>>r2-kt.  that's the name of a very special astromech that you will be hearing an awful lot of in the coming weeks and months, and for very good reason.  here's the full press release to fill you in properly.  "hasbro, inc. and lucasfilm ltd. announce the creation of a limited-edition star wars action figure to honor katie johnson, a very special star wars fan who tragically passed away from brain cancer in 2005 at the age of seven. in conjunction with this figure, hasbro and lucasfilm will help make more wishes come true for children like katie by donating $100,000 in her memory to the make-a-wish foundations of south carolina and san diego. hasbro’s r2-kt droid figure will be available at san diego comic-con international july 25-29 at the booths of hasbro and star wars shop with a small inventory also being offered for sale online through hasbrotoyshop and starwarsshop following the event.  the star wars saga has always been near to the heart of the johnson family–in fact, katie’s father, albin johnson, is the founder of the 501st legion, a star wars costuming fan club that performs charity work around the world. so it’s not too surprising that katie’s sister allie wished her sister had an "artoo" droid to look after her while she underwent her cancer treatment–just like r2-d2 cared for padmé in star wars episode 2 - attack of the clones.  the r2-kt action figure—which looks like a pink version of r2-d2—will cost $9.99. in addition, albin and allie johnson will be bringing the full-size r2-kt to comic-con to show to fans."  wonderful news, and for more information follow this link to the official r2-kt website.
thursday 26th july 2007  
>>>we're thrilled to be able to present the first part of our three part look back at celebration europe celebration europe memories - part one covers the thursday before and the opening friday of the convention, with images, videos and recollections of the events that happened.  with photo's by a multitude of people and videos culled from youtube this will hopefully take those who visited right back to the event, and those who didn't attend a flavour of what they missed.  and don't forget to come back next week for part two.

these guys won't forget the weekend in a hurry...

>>>our celebration europe dedicated page finally bows out from the main page sidebar and moves to it's new home, on the assorted header page.  click there to see the coverage Lightsabre gave the show in the months leading up to the 13th - 15th july convention.
>>>we begin our look at worlds of importance from the history of the setnin sector with a-desando, the world that gave birth to jan lomona and a planet with a chequered political history...

a-desando

 

Setnin Sector home to the free trader Jan Lomona and world of history and ancient sites.  In the largest of the planets continents, Henmarr, and outside the urban area of Ecaps City lies the region of narrow canyons known as the Lomona Straits, named after the Lomona family who’ve done so much for A-desando over the years.  Close by is the city of Ponon, which sits on the opposite side of Lake Mazapamano and the Ponon Pass from Ecaps City, the capital city of A-desando.  A city largely comprised of housing estates, Ponon was where Narn and Sieera Lomona had their second home, and where their son Jan first met his childhood sweetheart and later fiancée Frans Latka.  Desando Dynamics, the sectors foremost ship design and build corporation, is situated on Garpos Island.  Sharing the Desando System with her three sister worlds - Locaarn, Lagara and Halando, A-desando orbits the yellow star Tri-Lomon at a distance of 275 million kilometres.  Holding three moons in its orbit, Sandosol, Rigette and Gennta, A-desando has a mixed climate varying from cool winds in the north to a warmer climate in the south.  Senator Gennata of A-desando who served the world in the senate for almost fifty years lived out his years in the warm southern state of Drellea

wednesday 25th july 2007  
>>>interesting news comes our way from san diego jessy adams, assistant vice president of get solo llc, in association with lucasfilm ltd are about to release star wars social networking cards.  over to howard roffman at lucasfilm.  "millions of people of all ages have a deep bond with the characters and stories of star wars. these new products are unique, because they capture that personal connection. fans will find the social networking cards to be a fun way to express themselves when meeting other fans, because they can personalize them with their favourite star wars images, include interesting personal information, and even build a collection."  click here for more details on this new development in star wars collecting.

home yoda, home!

tuesday 24th july 2007  
>>>as many of you will know, one of the reasons Lightsabre was at celebration europe was to raise money for cancer research uk.  well, we certainly managed to exceed our expectations, by a long way.  our cancer research uk total, and there's still money trickling in, was £1015.00.  many thanks to chris rider, the Lightsabre gang, everyone who donated, our neighbouring stalls, dave prowse for contributing seven signed photographs but especially to gerald home - a complete star - who donated half of the money he raised towards our cancer research uk fund raising campaign.  we shall be handing the cheque over to cancer research uk very soon, and you'll be able to read all about that here on Lightsabre.
>>>setnin select reaches number 249 with artwork by richard skidmore.  this shows a second concept design for the isd revenger, from quest for freedomfor more looks into the worlds of setnin, click on the mini banner above and go through to the setnin select archive.
monday 23rd july 2007  
>>>turning to the dork side 7 hits the site direct from neil bakers own site a place in the galaxy. you can view it there or go to our humour section on the sidebar where the jaw aches from grinning...really.
>>>robot chicken star wars was a huge hit when it aired on adult swim last month.  now, thanks to youtube, you can watch the entire show right here.  click through this link to view the magnificent robot chicken star wars.

the saga cluck-tinues...

sunday 22nd july 2007  
>>>we welcome to Lightsabre our latest star interview guest, the actor who populated numerous roles in the prequels, jerome blake.  we first met jerome at february's sf ball in bournemouth and caught up again at celebration europe last week and his replies can be found here or by going through the sidebar and hitting interviews.  then discuss it at smugglers rants on blogs.starwars.com.  and be sure to come back in two weeks time for the third and final part of our interview with rick mccallum.

jerome blake

>>>those good people at galactic empire network are running a competition with the grand prizes being some very exclusive books.  over to stephen.  "the galactic empire network, in association with dk books, is holding two competitions in which visitors can win two signed, limited edition posters from hans jensen, illustrator of star wars complete cross sections, and two copies of you can draw star wars signed by bonnie burton, matt busch and tom hodges. all they need to do is visit galactic empire network and answer two questions. the competitions end august 21st."  cheers stephen, and make sure you click through and enter the competition for these exclusive prizes.

bonnie and matt signing the books at celebration europe...

>>>the final attendance figures for celebration europe have been released, and they make for very healthy reading.  click here for the full figures, but know that over the weekend 29,000 people paid to enter the excel arena, with 3,500 free passes being handed out to children under the age of eight.  not only does that show that star wars is in rude health with 'the star wars generation', but that future generations of star wars fans are being brought in.
saturday 21st july 2007  
>>>insider 95 hits mailboxes in september, and it's yet another issue packed with wholesome star wars goodness.  cynthia cummens shows us how to draw padme amidala, pete vilmur and bonnie burton show the best of star wars.com, frank parisi reveals some of the new toys to be released and stephen sansweet scouts the galaxy, along with much, much more.  don't hang about, get your copy as soon as it's released.

insider 95

>>>lucasarts hits the san diego comiccon.  in order to both celebrate the past twenty-five years of lucasarts and the bright future of the company, lucasarts are setting up in booth #2913 with an amazing display of new and old product.  click here for more details, or get down there yourself...
friday 20th july 2007  
>>>after a weeks break to maximise our celebration europe coverage we bring to you the eighth page of our four-issue online comic adaptation of quest for freedom, drawn to celebrate not only the 30th anniversary of the original star wars but also the 25th anniversary of that very first story.  drawn and designed by richard skidmore, with cover art by craig burt and logo design by tim wann, this mark newbold written story takes places between the events of empire strikes back and return of the jedi, as lando calrissian and chewbacca search the galaxy for their lost friend han solo.  click the mini banner below to reach the comic book archive and the eighth page of our weekly comic strip, quest for freedom.

>>>Lightsabre had the distinct pleasure of spending some time in the company of stephen sansweet, the author of tomart's guide to worldwide star wars collectibles, star wars from concept to screen to collectible and the forthcoming the vault.  our interview with stephen will hit the site soon, but in the meantime here's a shot of louis, stephen and mark taken just after the interview.  many thanks to chris gereke and lori satre for their help.

louis turfrey, stephen sansweet and mark newbold

>>>it looks like star wars is in for another batch of awards, if the nominations for the emmy awards are anything to go by.  the highly regarded show was garnered with nominations for outstanding directing for nonfiction programming, outstanding writing for nonfiction programming and outstanding nonfiction special.  congratulations are in order to the history channel and everyone involved, and fingers crossed for the big awards day.

"ok, so I follow this evolution but where did jabba come from..?"

thursday 19th july 2007  
>>>Lightsabre and galactic empire network have been allies and friends for a number of years now, and it was our great pleasure to finally meet its webmaster stephen g harrogate last weekend at celebration europe. stephen was just as friendly and helpful as we knew he would be, and it's our pleasure to announce g.e.n as our 8th affiliate.
>>>more images and memories from celebration europe, this time in the form of a great photo of jedi iain armstrong as he made his entry at the celebration europe costume parade.

our good friend iain armstrong at the costume parade

photograph by neil baker

>>>our look at selected characters of importance from the history of the setnin sector continues with yedda familee, one of three siblings who stayed hidden for much of the ki-ki/setnin war...

yedda familee

 

One of a group of triplets, sons of Baron Pede Familee and Baroness Julid Familee. Bought up in a world of care and safety, Yedda had to deal with the outside worlds as best he could when his world was turned upside down. He was caring and thoughtful, as taught by his father, but slowly began to realise that these virtues wouldn’t serve him well off Chinngard. Along with his brother Corri, Yedda hid on Amagad throughout much of the war, coming back into the limelight in the fortress of the Cipple sisters

wednesday 18th july 2007  
>>>trust us, there's going to be a lot of celebration europe talk floating through the site over the next few weeks, as we build up our celebration europe memories page with photo's and pieces by a whole glut of writers and fans.  but, while we wait for that here's a great video montage taken from the weekends activities that really evokes the excitement of the weekend.  oh, and watch right to the end for a first-class piece of quality sarcasm.

>>>well, he's finally hit the big time with a crash.  Lightsabre's own louis turfrey has this photo - taken friday night at the fox pub right next to the excel arena - on the official star wars blog along with friends of the site john stubley and nicky spink.  but i had no idea jedi wore wristwatches...

louis takes on john stubley and nicky spink at kerplunk...

photo by terry hodges

tuesday 17th july 2007  
>>>setnin select reaches number 248 with artwork by richard skidmore.  this shows the millenium falcon evading imperial pursuit.  for more looks into the worlds of setnin, click on the mini banner above and go through to the setnin select archive.
>>>kenny baker was a great guest at celebration europe, mixing with the fans and chatting to anyone who had a question.  as the weekend progressed the upper deck at the novotel became the place to be, and we managed to snap kenny relaxing with family and friends.

photo by anthony harding

monday 16th july 2007  
>>>at celebration europe we were lucky enough to meet up with neil baker, and having had a face to face it's even more of a pleasure to be presenting turning to the dork side 6, direct from neils own site a place in the galaxy. you can view it there or go to our humour section on the sidebar where the airways hurt from snorts of laughter.
>>>anthony harding is a guy you'll be hearing a lot more from over the coming months on Lightsabre.  not only was he present at the battle of the bridge at celebration europe, but he's also joining the Lightsabre staff with his game reviews.  but, until then, here's a great image of anthony and friend of the site bonnie burton saturday night at the novotel hotel, right by the excel arena.

"is that a lightsaber or are you just pleased to see me?"

sunday 15th july 2007  
>>>this will be a day long remembered in star wars fandom, the day jedi battled sith on the royal victoria dock bridge in a fan organised moment of genius.  Lightsabre has a much longer version on the way, featuring staff members louis turfrey and anthony harding, as well as friend of the site iain armstrong but until then enjoy this clip from the climactic moment of the battle of the bridge

 

saturday 14th july 2007  
>>>we were very lucky to get the chance to meet up with neil baker during the weekend of celebration europe, and like the rest of us he certainly got busy checking everything out.  here we see neil modelling a rather fetching orange number for the official star wars blog...

neil baker - the man, the myth...

photo by bonnie burton

friday 13th july 2007  
>>>ian mcdiarmid was the special guest of honour at the opening ceremony of celebration europe, regaling the crowd with a brilliant opening chat full of humorous anecdotes and stories.  watch the video below for the opening ceremony and check back over the coming weeks as Lightsabre's celebration europe coverage is filled in.

thursday 12th july 2007  
>>>as celebration europe draws ever closer we are finally able to announce Lightsabre's special guest.  gerald home portrayed two characters in return of the jedi, tessek - that's squid head to us old time palitoy guys - and the mon calamarian officer.  gerald shall be appearing at the Lightsabre stand in the dealers area, on table d-74 on saturday 14th july, where he shall be signing the very last of his c3 and c4 official pix images.  with a significant portion of the proceeds being donated to cancer research uk, this is sure to be a great way to meet a genuine star of the star wars saga and have a chat with one of the men behind the masks.  don't forget - saturday 14th, table d-74 in the dealers area to meet gerald home.

come and meet gerald home

>>>our look at selected characters of importance from the history of the setnin sector continues with dren nolder, the towering and ferocious mercenary who ran with jan lomona and goah galletti...

dren nolder

 

This towering alien mercenary possessed the strength to tear through steel blast doors when driven to do so.  Nolder assisted the Galletti/Lomona partnership on occasion throughout the Setnin Sector, and also in other sectors such as the Dead Man Sector.  Here, along with Galletti and Lomona, Nolder was cloned and during a close call Nolder was drenched with water - something his race abhorred.  Using his immense strength he tore through steel doors to escape. 

wednesday 11th july 2007  
>>>1986 was a very busy year for nhp.  it was the year that most of the nhp star wars universe was spawned, introducing many of the major characters that inhabit Lightsabre today.  but back in 1986, much like 2007 with the untitled audio drama, nhp - newbold hicks productions - were planning something big.  in those pre-internet days the message didn't spread quite so far as today, so it's a pleasure to be able to bring to you some of the literature of the time.  known by nhp as 'the green sheet', this early detailing of trouble on tantum v includes cast details, special effects information and doodles by current Lightsabre roleplay editor jason brown.  click below and take a closer look and also visit our new trouble on tantum v page in the audio section which details the development of this never-produced mini movie....

the green sheet

>>>saturday july 14th at 5.30pm in the platinum theatre will be the place to be at celebration europe, because that's where and when the european premiere of the rough cut of fanboys is being held.  the films director kyle newman is there holding court, and it's sure to be a fun and affectionate viewing for all celebration europe fans.  click here for more from the official site and make sure to make your way to the platinum theatre for 5.30pm...

i bet those aren't george's hands...

>>>this looks certain to be one of the highlights of the whole weekend, with a glut of production stars attending celebration europe.  not only do we have former Lightsabre guest and droid wrangler don bies, original trilogy production designer norman reynolds and producer of star wars and indiana jones robert watts, but we are also graced by the legendary model maker lorne peterson.  click here for the official announcement - this looks set to be an amazing weekend, and the announcements are far from over, so keep 'em peeled...
don bies lorne peterson
norman reynolds robert watts
tuesday 10th july 2007  
>>>setnin select reaches number 247 with artwork by richard skidmore.  this shows a concept sketch of an a-desandian 'camel' fighter.  for more looks into the worlds of setnin, click on the mini banner above and go through to the setnin select archive.
>>>going to celebration europe?  are you a hyperspace member, but don't know how to register?  well, vital information regarding registering details for celebration europe can be found right here.

top trumps...

monday 9th july 2007  
>>>turning to the dork side 5 hits the site direct from neil bakers own site a place in the galaxy. you can view it there or go to our humour section on the sidebar where the sides just ache from laughing so much...honest.
>>>back in 1986 nhp - newbold hicks productions - embarked on developing a cine film project.  called trouble on tantum v it was set to be nhp's first live action adventure, but the project never got off the ground.  in the Lightsabre archives there are pages and pages of script treatments, artwork, design and background work, including this.  written by mark newbold, this is the language written for tantum v, to be spoken by the tantalese natives of the forest planet.  take a look back to 1986 and see where that language would have taken us through our new trouble on tantum v page, a new article that shall grow to detail the development of this never-produced mini movie...

tantalese if you please...

sunday 8th july 2007  
>>>former Lightsabre guest and friend of the site joe corroney is appearing at celebration europe, and he's contacted Lightsabre to pass on a special message.  over to joe.  "hope all is well and looking forward to seeing you at celebration europe. i was wondering if you could post this news to your readers at lightsabre.co.uk about my celebration europe print reserve.  i am currently taking a list of reserve requests for prints prior to the show if you email me directly at joe@joecorroney.com or through my myspace page and type celebration europe print in the subject line. this print will be limited to 250 hand signed and numbered editions, 18" x 24" (or 46 x 61 cms) in size and will sell for £35 each. it will only be available for sale directly from me in the art show (located in the south event hall of the excel arena) at star wars celebration europe in london, england from july 13th - 15th. i will be taking reserve requests up until midnight on july 10th and i will be accepting payment at the show. the artwork *will* be available for sale to all fans and everyone that attends the event and there will be *no limit* to how many copies you can purchase in person until it is sold out.  everyone can check out my news section at my official site for more info and for a preview of the artwork www.joecorroney.com/news.  thanks so much mark."  our pleasure, see you there joe.

joe corroney

saturday 7th july 2007  
>>>yet more amazing news for visitors to next weekends celebration europe.  along with billy dee williams, rick mccallum, anthony daniels and ian mcdiarmid the weekend welcomes luke skywalker himself mark hamill.  mark will be signing friday and saturday, and a virtual queue system has been implemented to cope with the expected high demand so buy those tickets now and grab your place in the queue.

mark hamill - we guarantee he won't be wearing this outfit next week...

>>>the insiders guide to celebration europe has hit the official site, detailing all the many and various activities that have been planned for the three-day star wars bonanza next weekend.  click here for the link to the official site and download the pdf's detailing the schedule of events, and make sure you drop by dealers booth d-74 to visit the Lightsabre stand where we'll be more than happy to discuss all things Lightsabre and admiral motti...

just one week to go...

friday 6th july 2007  
>>>we bring to you the seventh page of our four-issue online comic adaptation of quest for freedom, drawn to celebrate not only the 30th anniversary of the original star wars but also the 25th anniversary of that very first story.  drawn and designed by richard skidmore, with cover art by craig burt and logo design by tim wann, this mark newbold written story takes places between the events of empire strikes back and return of the jedi, as lando calrissian and chewbacca search the galaxy for their lost friend han solo.  click the mini banner below to reach the comic book archive and the seventh page of our weekly comic strip, quest for freedom.
>>>our latest affiliate coolwaters productions have long been associated with Lightsabre, ever since its founder and webmaster derek maki kindly helped us with some business on the site.  now, years later, a number of coolwaters productions clients are appearing at celebration europe and, to promote and mark this occasion, coolwaters have redesigned their logo and site.  click here or on the banner below to visit the newly freshened up site and see just who they have on their impressive books.
>>>it's the film we're all watching the progress of and it's shooting right now.  and, while the official site is giving us some excellent information there are always set reports and snippets from extras that give us just that tantalising bit more.  this newly constructed site is a great hub to find out all the indiana jones 4 news you need.
thursday 5th july 2007  
>>>our look at selected characters of importance from the history of the setnin sector continues with aaron calcavera, the young hotshot x-wing pilot who made a name for himself with the rebel alliance...