Red Tails a project George Lucas has been working on for many years opens in movie theaters nation-wide today. Mary Franklin of Lucasfilm has sent us some information about the film and is looking for feedback from those who see the film.
The Discovery Science Center in Santa Ana, California has just opened a new exhibit called “Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination”. I was able to go to VIP preview last night. President of the Discovery Science Center Joe Adams talked about what it took to bring this exhibit to Orange County. “The Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination exhibit is a perfect fit for the Center as it blends science with excitement and imagination. With demand comes opportunity. This is the largest traveling exhibit we have ever hosted. To accommodate the entire exhibit, we had to create two new galleries from our existing space and add a tent in the parking lot. “
The Star Trader reopened on Friday May 6th with a brand new look! The X-Wing fighter that has hung from the upper floor of the old Starcade has been moved back into the store. Cast members say it was repainted by Lucasfilm to match exactly the props used in the movies. It’s flying pretty low so we hope someone doesn’t take a swing at it. The UFOs are still there and don’t really seem to fit in with the new Star Wars theme but I guess having something in there is better than nothing at all. Too bad they couldn’t be turned into A-Wing fighters.
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Last Thursday, Disney sent out to all Walt Disney World annual pass holders this picture and announced the opening date of May 20, 2011 at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Photo found on Inside the Magic podcast.
Rumor has it the Hasbro big ship/vehicle for the Return of the Jedi anniversary will be the Sail Barge.
photo ©Lucasfilm
To help the always crowded Mickey & Friends parking garage at the Disneyland Resort. The new Toy Story Parking Lot opened over the weekend.
Disney is kicking around the idea of showing the 3D movie Captain EO staring Michael Jackson as part of the offering for Disneyland’s Halloween time.
Update: Captain EO has now received the green light to return to Tomorrowland, but the timing was too tight to make it by HalloweenTime. Hooter and the gang will now land at Disneyland this January to boost winter attendance, with the official announcement coming from Jay Rasulo at the D23 Expo. Source: MiceAge.com
Update 2 from D23: Iger denies plans to bring Captain EO back to parks, but acknowledges the film was recently reviewed.
Update 3 from D23: Bob Iger on Captain EO video: “We want to make sure we do it right if we do bring it back.” Read the rest of this entry »
Special effects artist and Star Wars diorama guru Frank D’iorio aka Niubniub headed this exciting and popular project at C4: the Ewok Landscaping event.
So, first of all, are we the only ones that think it’s really cool that a guy who loves dioramas has a last name that starts with the letters D-I-O-R? Anyway, here’s a pic of Frank D’iorio in his Industrial Light and Magic crew member t-shirt, posing with some sample trees. Could anyone expect what these handful of miniature redwoods would grow to become in just a few days’ time? The tree-making seemed to be very popular with the entire family. It was common to see Mom and Dad putting together steps while the kids painted next to them. Frank provided these fantastic printed versions of his website’s visual guides. (Check out http://www.niubniubsuniverse.com/ for the full contents.)
But what’s an Endor diorama without speeder bikes zipping between the trees? Frank had that all figured out, too. A model train was converted to provide the needed elements of speed and movement. Another fun touch was provided by playing Endor sound effects and ambient noises continually in the Ewok landscaping area… not unlike the music and sounds heard in the Ewok Village queue elements at Florida’s Star Tours.
As the days progressed, the diorama grew massive. They realized they were going to need even more landscaping micro bark, and Mark Patton made a supply run to pick up twenty more bags, to expand the environment to incredible proportions.
– A Team Article: Alex, Paul, Brian
If you wandered by Mark’s fantastic Star Tours diorama at C4, you might have noticed one day that his custom Starspeeder 3000 had gone missing, and was replaced by a note that said “Gone to Endor!”
Diorama builders Mark Patton and Frank D’iorio (aka Niubniub) had this special treat in store for convention attendees at Celebration IV … they briefly combined elements from their Star Tours and Endor dioramas to commemorate the 20th anniversary of Star Tours with something that many of us thought would simply never happen!
And sure enough, after a mere twenty years of wrong turns, the StarSpeeder piloted by Captain REX had FINALLY made it to the Forest Moon of Endor!
I can just hear that See-Threepio action figure asking, “Artoo-Detoo, where are you?” Amazingly enough, for those of us who know Rex, he seems to have made a very soft landing. I’d have expected the ship’s nose to be buried in the dirt, or at least a few Endorian redwood trees to have had their bark scraped off as he descended.
I can just imagine those 40 tiny passengers, all the size of action figures, staring out the front viewport as their speeder was surrounded by curious Ewoks. Doubtless, some of them were thinking, “Well, this was rather sedate. I wish we’d booked that flight through the combat zone instead.”
All joking aside, we here at swstartours.net want to say a big thank-you to Mark and Frank for this perfect moment of wish-fulfillment. Apparently Rex finally got “used to his programming”– if only for this one day.
And if you haven’t seen Mark Patton’s Star Tours diorama in all its glory yet, read on through our original report.
Thanks to Josh Eash for additional photo.
This is the Ultimate Group Project. We’ve pulled together a set of twenty of the most talented star wars customizers in the galaxy to bring you life on Judde Lulos (The Empire’s Jewel).
“In the years after the Clone Wars, the Empire spread its reach across the galaxy, overtaking countless star systems. While chasing a Separatist shuttle, Darth Vader stumbled across the untapped resource of Judde Lulos. After reporting this rich unexploited world to his master, Darth Sidious (aka Emperor Palpatine), a spaceport and Imperial Command outpost were quickly developed.
Mostly mountainous terrain encompassed the planet. But one area was ripe for spice mining. The native inhabitants of this world– those who refused to succumb to the Empire’s rule– were driven into the treacherous jungle areas of this world or forced to work the mines. The credits earned from the spice this planet provided, was used to pad the account of the Empire’s Elite. Vader was entrusted to make sure this “jewel” never fell into the hands of the many ruthless organizations that fought for their piece of the Spice Market.
Smaller settlements formed and some attempts to overthrow the Imperial hold on this once-peaceful place were made. When Separatists got word of the existence of this world, they secretly provided the native Rebels with weapons and training to hopefully overthrow the Imperial command center. Doing so would provide a great resource of credits for the growing Rebellion against the Empire….”
The city was the combined efforts of the Jedi Defender and Yak Face customizing forums. We’ve spent almost an entire year creating preproduction sketches, figures, ships, buildings and landscape. The entire diorama is over ten feet long and seven feet across. There are approximately three hundred custom figures in the city with scenes that include a shuttle landing and a sneak attack by the rebel alliance. There are even guest cameos such as Anthony Daniels, George Lucas, a Cylon from the original Battlestar Galactica series and Twiki from the Buck Rogers TV show.”
© 2012 EndorExpress