Inside Skywalker Ranch

Have you ever been inside the confines of Skywalker Ranch? Not me, though I've curiously driven by when driving through the Bay Area. Each time there's a glimpse of something new I'm thoroughly interested. In an article from SFGate.com this intriguing picture appeared.


George Lucas created a replica of his first office at Skywalker Ranch in Marin County, California. February 27, 2013. Photo: Erik Castro, Special To The San Francisco Chronicle



Lucas Cultural Arts Museum Profile

This morning, CBS This Morning presented a profile of Lucas that included another look at his proposed Cultural Arts Museum in The Presidio. In it, they mention both his recent nuptials to Mellody Hobson, but also that his collection could be rotated in new exhibits every six months and not come back to the first ones for six years. Not bad for a genius, billionaire, [married] philanthropist.

The Maker Married Mellody!

Last weekend, at Skywalker Ranch, Mr. George Lucas married his sweetheart, Ms. Mellody Hobson. If you've ever seen the two in person or, perhaps, being interviewed by Oprah, its no surprise that the two finally tied the knot. Congratuations to the Lucas-Hobson families!





This weekend the two are having an enormous reception in Hobson's hometown of Chicago.
Stars Celebrate George Lucas' Wedding at Chicago Soiree (Video)

ILM: Creating the Impossible

If you've not seen the 2010 documentary, Industrial Light & Magic: Creating the Impossible, it's definitely worth your time. Packed into one short hour, the film does a good job showing the birth of the special effects giant and the achievements the company has made in the last 35+ years. 

If you absolutely can't spare the time, at least check out the 52-minute mark. JJ Abrams speaks to the challenges of keeping up with Star Wars and a few tricks used in the making of his first Star Trek outing.

Rare 1980 TESB Hotline Recordings

This is an excellent blast from the past. In the era when long distance phone calls could run you a dollar per minute (better call at night or on a weekend!) the sequel to Star Wars had a unique hotline where callers could here a tease from The Empire Strikes Back. By calling 1-800-521-1980* you'd hear exclusive messages from Anthony Daniels, Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, and James Earl Jones.

*I'll save you the trouble. The number goes to athe voicemail of an unrelated person now.

John Dykstra's Birthday

Today is the birthday of John Dykstra (b. 1947) who led the original Industrial Light & Magic team for Star Wars (1977). Many of the shots that astounded audiences, and led to the film winning an Oscar of best Visual Effects, were created with his Dykstraflex camera. The computer-controlled camera was developed to move around a spaceship model or object so that in playback it looked like the ship was doing the moving. Multiple layers could be composited to create the movie's distinctive look of moving spaceships and other objects.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Dykstra

George Lucas Proposes Museum In San Francisco « CBS San Francisco

If Lucas gets his way The Presidio will have another major institution celebrating American illustration. George Lucas Proposes Museum In San Francisco « CBS San Francisco

A New McQuarrie Portfolio

You've got the art from the Ralph McQuarrie portfolios for the Original Trilogy? Consider branching out for this 35th Anniversary Battlestar Galactica Portfolio on sale now at Dreams and Visions Press.

Ahmed Best Bets He Knows What You Got

Most times this Wendy's commercial is shown in my neck of the woods they cut off the very real beat boxing skills of Ahmed Best. We don't see a whole lot of the Jar Jar Binks actor on the national stage so it's pretty cool to see him pop up here.

Horror Beyond Imagination (from the other George)

Today's Nowherebad.com shirt of the day mixes popular bedfellows Star Wars with Zombies in the form of Tauntaun of the Dead. 

The artist, Blair J. Campbell, has some other interesting mash-ups including this nifty Super Mario Bros. mix.  

Clone Wars Screening at Lucasfilm

Tonight I had an opportunity that most fans from the East never get. I got to attend a screening of episodes of The Clone Wars in one of the best theaters in San Francisco. Lucasfilm, in their Letterman Digital Arts Center at The Presidio, presented the final four episode arc that completed season five of the show. Several strokes of luck got me in this happy crowd of attendees. That and some freeway sitting mixed with Bullitt-style driving through the crowded Friday rush hour traffic. A visit to the facility last week, in a story to be told soon, informed me of the screening and some schedule juggling allowed my wife and I to attend while we're on holiday in California.

Since we were some of the last people to arrive it was a great fortune to see my friend James Floyd of ClubJade.net. After a brief photo none other than Dave Filoni opened the door for us to join the crowd already in the theater. The place was nearly full and possibly held 200 people. We lucked into the center seats of the second row and were treated to an introduction of the show by Supervising Director Dave Filoni and Producer Cary Silver.

About this time a new member was inducted into Filoni's exclusive Wolfpack. Former Lucasfilm blogger and craft mistress Bonnie Burton joined the ranks that include Jason and Jimmy of Rebel Force Radio. She was given a plaque to commemorate the event and high praise from the man in the hat.

 Filoni and Silver explained that we were about to see a slightly modified cut of the most recent pair of episodes along with tomorrow and next Saturday's season finale episodes. The exclusive opening also included a treat not shown on TV, the traditional Star Wars John Williams opening theme over the receding The Clone Wars logo. It would make an excellent bookend to the last moments of the movie which featured Kevin Kiner's full orchestral spin on classic themes.

The arc was brilliant and will be shown on Cartoon Network and StarWars.com soon enough but I can tell you that there are some large surprises and revelations along with more tense action than they usually have time to include in average episodes. I also saw some of the finest animation in all five seasons and had a couple of questions answered. There's even a casting coup that has not been announced yet, but makes season 6 even more enticing. And remember the upcoming Star Wars video game 1313? Well, we get to see some of those lower Coruscant environments as well. 

After the screening we were treated to an hour of Q&A moderated by Pablo Hidalgo featuring Filoni, Ashley (Ahsoka) Eckstein, and Matt (Anakin) Lanter. Their comraderie was clear and Lanter was actually seeing these episodes for the first time. Many crew members were in attendance including Writer Charles Murray and CG Lighting and Effects Supervisor Joel Aron. 

Questions about the future of The Clone Wars and other Lucasfilm projects were steered around but they also took a number of questions from the audience. 

That this was one of my favorite arcs made this a wonderful night and reignited my love of The Clone Wars. Seeing it in a Lucasfilm screening room and then being present for the intimate discussion afterwards made this a night I'll never forget. I look forward to when everyone has seen these episodes so we can actually discuss the ramifications of these new plot twists and information.

And as luck would have it, the final episode will air on March 2nd- the day of our next SWGFA gathering at Heroes Landing. I promise it will be interesting...

Curto Burns covers the UK Toy Fair

 The Collector Cast is back. Check out this month's episode for coverage of the UK Toy Fair. It's a good one with lots of news and a fair amount of instantly out-of-date information about the now-postponed 3D Star Wars Prequels and their toy release strategies.

Sabacc to The Future

The blog's getting an overhaul. After years of directing the Orlando System and co-founding the Star Wars Grand Florida Alliance I'm changing gears a bit and going to focus on my own projects and try to get my collection under control. Periodically, I'll be posting things I've found, things I've collected, events, and notes.

If you were a subscriber when this was the SWGFA blog I hope you'll consider sticking around. Star Wars is headed for a major decade with announcements of the Disney acquisition and new movies so there should be plenty to talk about.