News articles that appeared on DMEB-2
in September 2001.

Note:  Some of the links may no longer be active.

The event will take place May 3-5, 2002 at the Indianapolis Convention Center. There is conflicting information about when the tickets will go on sale though. The Wizards of the Coast site - with the Official Celebration 2 website states October 1st (Perhaps this is for Star Wars Club members?) while the StarWars.com news announcement states tickets will be available in mid-November.

20 September 2001:

TheForce.net Hosts Fan Speak: Curious About George

TheForce.net hosts a forum where fans can ask questions about Star Wars on many different topics. One of the responses is probably something we have all asked. The most recent Fan Speak asked: "What would you ask George Lucas if he would answer one question for you?":

• Why did you focus all of the advertising for epiode 1 on Darth Maul and then tease us with him for only six and a half minutes of footage in the movie? (submitted by Dpskywalker)
  
  

Somewhat related: TheForce.net also asked its visitors what special features fans should have access to via the DVD web-link. Some of the answers are pretty interesting:

• A full cut of Episode I w/ all of the deleted scenes edited in. By HothTrooper
• Sith Section that takes you deep into the history of their kind of religion (if you will). By Ashe Yuvish
• Get to see an alternate ending where MAUL WINS.By darthcleo
  *Gee - Does this name look familiar or something? ;-) *
• They should show the entire Duel between Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan and Darth Maul. By Darth Kaul

Guess we will have to wait and see if "Uncle George" was listening. To see the whole list click here: TFn DVD Web-Link Suggestions.

BTW - A Jar-Jar free version was also suggested.

14 September 2001:

More Shirtless Darth Maul

StarWars.com has given an official announcement of the new "Shirtless Darth Maul" action figure. The page Figure Preview: Shirtless Darth Maul states:

"Later this year, those tattoos will appear in plastic form for the first time with Hasbro's bare-chested Darth Maul deluxe 3 3/4" action figure. The figure has extra articulation in its arms and comes with Maul's iconic double-bladed saber and a training droid with which to spar and maim."

13 September 2001:

Jedi Quest Comic

Dark Horse Comics has released the first of a four part comics series, based on Jude Watson's newest book, Jedi Quest. As you may know, our favourite Sith Lord makes an appearance in the book and in the first issue of this comic series (Thanks Belle for the info!).

At least we have a couple more drawings to drool over - perhaps? For more information visit the Jedi Quest section on the Dark Horse Comics web-site.

12 September 2001:

Shirtless Darth Maul Figure Continued

Rebelscum has posted a couple nice pictures of the new shirtless Darth Maul figure. One shows the image of the front of the new Toyfare magazine and the other is a closeup of the Maul figure with his training droid! For the short article and to see the other picture, visit rebelscum.com.

FYI (Click here for a closer view): The caption at the top of the picture reads: "Is it hot in here? This one is for the ladies. Slap some blue jeans on him, give him a hot chick and a dandelion, and you've got a Star Wars Levi's commercial." For those who don't know it, Levi Strauss ran a series of somewhat risque commercials in Europe, featuring well, ... nice looking men in, or as the case may be, out of Levi's 501 jeans. Nice that someone thought of us!

12 September 2001:

Darth Maul Books in Paperback

TheForce.net is reporting that an ad inside the new Star Wars Insider #56 states that Darth Maul Shadow Hunter will be released in paperback format on November 27th. It then states that this edition features an original Darth Maul story originally available only as an eBook. Looks like Saboteur will finally be available in print! For more information see the TFN report: DM E-Book to be Printed.

10 September 2001:

Shirtless Maul Figure

Hasbro has begun marketing a new - Deluxe Shirtless Darth Maul! The ad appears in Star Wars Insider #56. This was reported by RebelScum.com.

07 September 2001:

Celebration II and EP2

Star Wars Celebration II in Indianapolis, IN from May 3-5, 2002 will not be your ordinary Con, it will kick off the festivities for Episode 2: Attack of the Clones as well as celebrate 25 years of the Star Wars Universe and the release of Star Wars: A New Hope in May 1977. There will be over 340,000 square feet of convention space in the Indianapolis Convention Center devoted to various aspects of the Star Wars Universe. For more information visit the following links:

Star Wars Celebration
StarWars.com
Wizards of the Coast
TheForce.net Collecting

03 September 2001:

Ray Park Talks Martial Arts

On TheForce.net - the following was reported:

On BBC2 yesterday, they showed a programme called "I Love Kung Fu", looking at how Kung Fu had affected our culture since the 70s. Ray Park was on talking about Episode I.

Here's what Ray Park had to say:

"I just remember seeing this picture of this character, standing there with double ended light saber, all in black, and I thought, yeah, I have to do this part, this part is for me.

The stunt co-ordinator, I got a phone call from him, he asked me to come down, and we just had a chat, and he wrote a fight to show George Lucas."

(They showed storyboards of the fight Nick Gillard wrote, and then scenes from the fight they filmed)

"I was just pulled down for the week, just to rehearse it, and then we were going to shoot it at the end of the week and show George, and see if he liked it."

(Then they showed Nick and Ray creating moves for Episode I against a blue screen)

"I started Kung Fu to get into movies because I was sort of fascinated by all this, the martial arts movies. I watched all like the 36th Chamber of Shaolin, to the Ninjas vs Shaolin, you know, movies like that. I wanted to get in and do that sort of stuff."

(They then showed the Maul/Qui Gon/Obi Wan fight scenes from Episode I with Public Enemy's "Fight the Power" in the background, which was very effective)

"The light saber fights, I used techniques from the Bo Staff and Wushu de (de/do/du?) Kaju. I used to specialize in the Kaju routine in competition, so all the flowery movements and the spinning; I brought that from the Kaju.

He's that cocky, and that confident, but that skilful, that he could be flowery, and in between each move he can do like a 'spin spin spin' in before it, but it's just showing his arrogance."

Here's the direct link: Ray Park Talks Martial Arts