-=SALUTE=-

Greetings,

There are a few new items for the Recon Office this week. First of I regretfully that our ROA, MAJ Loor, has stepped down as the Recon Office's Webmaster. Fortunately, my CA, RA Shay`la has decided to step up and take the responsability of the website. She will be contacting MAJ Loor tonight or tomorrow for all the passwords and codes for the site but she needs some help so I am opening up a ROA position solely for the purpose to help maintening the website.

The letters I have been working on for the past two weeks are finally done, along with the interviews. I will be submitting the questions to Ronin and Astatine for approval and then they will be ready to be sent out by the beginning of next week.

That's on for the Recon office. On with the Star Wars news.

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Comic-Con 2003 Star Wars
by CA:RO Shay`la DuKahn Ludsorkim

Escaping the last week report, this announcement shall make more than one happy person. For the first time, Lucas Online and StarWars.com will have a booth at the Sandiego Comic-Con International. Unfortunately, this con started on July 17th

A special reward for hyperspace subscribers is to be given out; an exclusive limited-edition artwork Clone Wars poster. This poster features all-new Clone War artwork with Anakin, Obi-Wan, clone troopers and the Dark Jedi Asajj Ventress. Posters are available one per Hyperspace account while supplies last. It will be possible to sign up right from the StarWars.com booth at the convention. (Current members should print out a copy of their Member Profile setup page and bring it along to claim their exclusive poster)

"During the whirlwind of activities at Comic-Con International in San Diego, CA this year, don't forget to take part in special fan events on Star Wars Evening, Thursday July 17, and Star Wars Day, Friday, July 18. Whether you want to see who wins the Star Wars Fan Film Awards and catch a fantastic live performance of the amazing Star Wars Trilogy in 30 Minutes on Thursday night or discuss movies, cartoons, comics, toys or books, meet Boba Fett over bagels or pick up an exclusive Clone Wars poster signed by Genndy Tartakovsky, there is an activity for every Star Wars fan to enjoy." -StarWars.com

For the detailed guide with dates and events, please visit this link:
http://www.starwars.com/community/news/2003/07/news20030715.html

For a sneak peak of what Hasbro had to offer, go to this link: http://www.starwars.com/collecting/news/2003/07/news20030716.html



SW Trilogy in 30 Minutes at Comic-Com Report

Following the Fan Films awards last evening at Comic-Con, the audience was treated to a presentation of Star Wars Trilogy in 30 Minutes. And what a delight it was for the fans in attendance...
Thirty minutes Of Fame: SWT30 Widescreen Edition

Everyone knows that the Classic Trilogy makes up just slightly over six hours of the most incredibly entertaining hours in cinematic history, but it is only in experiencing the half-hour live-on-stage farce inspired by George Lucas' opus that one can truly see how enduring the tome truly is.

The Californian comedy troop that makes up the cast of Star Wars Trilogy In Thirty Minutes have flawlessly crafted a play with not only the sharpest wit, but the most amazing comedic timing one could hope for in a live performance. Much to the delight of the audience in attendance of last night's Fan Film Awards at the San Diego Comic Convention were treated to a special presentation of SWT30 aptly titled Star Wars Trilogy In Thirty Minutes: Widescreen Edition.

Just coming off of a month-long stint on a cramped stage in Los Angeles, the cast took every opportunity this new, much larger venue offered. When all was said and done, the actors were simply drenched in their own sweat, much to the joy of the estimated 700+ crowd. Their performances were dead on; their expressions were exactly that of the characters they represented in the films.

From the first minute to the thirtieth, the rate of tomfoolery could not be measured by any conventional meter, as was repeatedly proven by the laughs and cheers heard. And even with the salvo of jokes intended strictly for Star Wars aficionados, it was the interpretations of classic scenes such as the Luke/Vader dogfight from A New Hope and the Taun Taun scene from The Empire Strikes Back that stole the show.

Though not confirmed by anyone associated with the production, the rumor running around the convention all day was that this was to be the final performance of SWT30. Whether or not this ends up being true, there was little doubt that the rumor in and of itself added to the overall atmosphere. If it does end up that this was the last performance, the audience would agree that they went out with a bang. Though in this writer's opinion, the entire Star Wars Generation would be at a loss if the rumor is factual.



Comic-Con Star Wars Fan Film Awards Report

What do you get when you put a line with no fewer than four Jedi, two Boba Fetts, and more guys in Imperial outfits than you can shake a stick at in front of roughly 700 seated Star Wars fans? The answer, of course, is the beginning of a wonderful evening of living Star Wars.
Hosted by fan favorite (and team Rebelscum's favorite as well) Jeremy Bulloch, and featuring quite a few of the more recognizable faces in the Star Wars community including Daniel Logan, Kenny Baker, Steve Sansweet, and the maker of the brilliant short film Troops (not to mention some of the best Star Wars comics ever published) Kevin Rubio; the 2003 Fan Film Awards was a raging success.

Out of the 70 films submitted to this year's competition, judges arduously viewed over a thousand minutes of finely filmed and edited motion pictures before being able to break it down to nineteen finalists. Of course, only seven filmmakers could go home with a Golden Droids statue, and we are delighted that two of the films, The Jedi Hunter and Pink Five, were TFN Fanfilms. Even though we were told all 70 shorts were quite good, it is nearly impossible to disagree that the winners were the best of the bunch:


Spirit Award: Silent But Deadly 2
Best Commercial Parody Award: Darkside.com/switch
Best Animation Award: Trooper Clerks
Pioneer Film Award: Hardware Wars
Audience Choice Award: The Jedi Hunter
Skywalker sound Award: Carbonite
George Lucas Selects Award: Pink Five

You can view all the films at Atomfilms.com



Moscow StarCon 2003 Report

StarCon 2003, the 4th annual Star Wars convention took place in Moscow over the July 4th weekend, and Nadia has compiled an interesting report from the event. The similarity between the Anakin above (next to Padme) and Hayden Christensen is amazing. If George needs a lookalike, he knows where to look. To see the full report browse to http://www.sf.perm.ru/eng/solaris/starcon2003.html



TheForce.Net Comic-Con Special Offers

"TheForce.net is pleased to bring you some very special offers on Star Wars prop replicas at San Diego Comic-Con. If you are attending, you will not want to miss visiting our booth #4139, where on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, by special arrangement with Master Replicas, visitors who register for our promotional mailing list will receive a free gift(while supplies last)courtesy of TheForce.net! Also, because we know it's hard to carry packages around Comic-Con, all purchases will be shipped free to U.S. destinations."



Breakfast with the Fetts at GenCon

What's better than one bounty hunter staring at you from across the breakfast table? Two bounty hunters! Actor Daniel Logan, the young Boba Fett in Star Wars: Attack of the Clones and Jeremy Bulloch, who portrayed the original Fett in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi will be guests at the Official Star Wars Fan Club breakfast on July 25 at GenCon Game Fair in Indianapolis, Indiana.
In addition to meeting the actors behind the infamous bounty hunter, Fan Club members also receive an autograph from Bulloch, and one of Hasbro's convention-exclusive silver-painted Boba Fett action figures.

During the breakfast, fans will have the opportunity to meet and talk with Lisa Stevens, President of the Official Star Wars Fan Club and Vic Wertz, the Director of New Product Development and Associate Editor of Star Wars Insider.

Both Bulloch and Logan will also be signing autographs throughout GenCon Game Fair in the C2 Ventures autograph area.

The breakfast is produced by the Official Star Wars Fan Club. Seats are very limited, and expected to sell out quickly. Guests may register here.



KOTOR in da house!!!

Yes! Knights of the Old Republic is out since July 16th!! Or so it was announced. If you own an XBox, you can own it now, but the PC version will only be available October 15th...

An Xbox.com article was released at http://www.xbox.com/oxm/07142003.htm?det=1&nrmode=published&nroriginalurl=%2foxm%2f07142003%2ehtm&nrnodeguid=%7b43b511b2-875f-4476-8dc7-e13af72b7f66%7d&nrcachehint=guest

TeamXbox.com give you the chance to win a copy! All information at http://www.teamxbox.com/article.php?id=583&t=c



"Weathered" Obi-Wan Saber Review
as reported on Rebelscum.com by Philip

Since this is the first “weathered” version of any saber Master Replicas has released, I was happy to take them up on an offer to review it.

This Obi-Wan saber from A New Hope, was offered two ways, “weathered”, which is movie realistic and limited to 3,000, and a special edition called “As First Built By Obi-Wan” which was limited to just 500. Obviously, there’s no Signature Edition of this saber.

First off, this saber arrives as most others, in a sturdy shipping box, with a black fitted presentation box, display case, certificate of authenticity, numbered silver-toned metal plaque and plaque stand. This saber sells from Master Replicas for $349 plus shipping and handling.

One of the things fans know about the Star Wars universe is, for the most part, it has a very well worn and lived in look. This is certainly true, as it relates to the rebels.

Upon slipping this saber from its protective wrap, it was instantly clear I wouldn’t need to worry about getting fingerprints on this replica. I’m not sure “weathered” properly describes the finish. It’s more like, “beat up, banged up, burned, dented, scraped, dropped, and thrown, many times a year for decades.” Though each saber is assembled by hand, it seems odd to be able to somehow mass produce something so old looking, but Master Replicas has pulled it off. No thinned down water based paint sprayed on here, the weathering appears to be permanent. Holding it in my hand, and even in the larger than life photos, it is clear this piece truly represents the best of the “lived-in” world of Star Wars.

My collection of prop replicas includes everything Master Replicas has made, but this is the one I’ll get out for visitors to test the feel and weight of from now on.


A set of pictures can be seen at http://www.rebelscum.com/obiwanweathered.asp and for more replicas, check this page out http://www.masterreplicas.com/starwars/ProductsObi4LESaber.asp?sid=



Legacy Of The Jedi Now In Stores

The new book Legacy Of The Jedi has officialy hit stores a little early. A Clone Wars novel, it features adventures with Padawan Dooku, Dooku and Padawan Qui-Gon, Qui-Gon and Padawan Obi-Wan, and Obi-Wan and Padawan Anakin. It's essentially four stories in one. It's pretty cool and well worth picking up. We'll have our review of it up shortly along with a review of Reunion.



IGT To Develop Star Wars Gaming Machine
Press Release (from PR Newswire):

RENO, Nev., July 17 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- IGT, a subsidiary of International Game Technology, today announced a contract with Lucasfilm Ltd. that will allow IGT to create a gaming machine based on the Star Wars movie series.

"The development of the Star Wars video slot will be a significant gaming event," said Joe Kaminkow, IGT's vice president of game design. "Those who stood in line in 1977 to see the first Star Wars movie are now about 50 years old. Exactly the demographic of core slot players.

"Our first game will be themed around Star Wars: A New Hope," Kaminkow added. "I'm happy to be working with Lucasfilm again. My relationship with Star Wars products began over a decade ago."

The Star Wars gaming machine will be developed as a MegaJackpots(TM) progressive system game on IGT's AVP(TM) (Advanced Video Platform). "AVP is the next generation of slot machines, with enough computing power to produce vibrant 3D-like video and theater-style audio which should be a perfect match for this material," said John Sears, vice president of MegaJackpots(TM) for IGT.

IGT's Star Wars machine will be previewed at the Global Gaming Expo, scheduled for Sept. 16-18 at the Las Vegas Convention Center. It has not been determined when the new machine will be available in casinos.
Thanks to Don for the alert.



Future NJO-Type Story Arcs?

Here's an interesting bit from Sue Rostoni on the TOS boards, in regard to the possibility of another extended story arc a la the NJO:

Has what you and the other book-publishing-peoples learned by working on the huge, somewhat expiramental, multi-author, close-to-20-book, series, that is the NJO, helped at all in planning and executing other realms of Star Wars literature i.e. the Clone Wars line? If so, how?

Shelly and I have talked about this. If we did something like this again in the future, we'd not do a 5-year story arc. Maybe 2 or 3 years. We'd employ fewer authors, maybe four. We'd have them all get together at the beginning and be a part of the planning process and we'd have each book's events and plot more carefully detailed before the first book's writing began. Those are the main things we've discussed. What I noticed most about the NJO is that it burned out the editors. As far as the Clone Wars books, these are really not like the NJO in that, while it tells one large grand story, the books aren't so closely tied together. The books, comics, etc, are stand-alones. Many feature different characters in their roles during the war. From an editorial standpoint, it's somewhat easier in continuity checking, and somewhat more difficult too, since we have to consider the comic storylines, the games, the young adult books, the Cartoon Network short, etc. Not only with the stories themselves, but the timeline too.

Sounds like a plan... More of this can be read at http://forums.starwars.com/thread.jsp?forum=24&thread=93010&start=3555&msRange=15



Book Release Schedule

These are all tentative release dates for new Star Wars books...

July 2003

The New Jedi Order - Force Heretic III: Reunion
by Sean Williams and Shane Dix
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August 2003

The New Jedi Order: Destiny's Way
by Walter Jon Williams

The Legacy Of The Jedi (already out, early on schedule!)
by Jude Watson
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September 2003

Young Jedi Knights Collection #1 - Jedi Shadow
by Kevin J. Anderson and Rebecca Moesta
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October 2003

The New Jedi Order: The Final Prophecy
by Greg Keyes

The New Essential Guide to Vehicles and Vessels
by Haden Blackman

Boba Fett #4 - Hunted
by Elizabeth Hand
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November 2003

The New Jedi Order Boxed Set
by Unknown

The New Jedi Order: The Unifying Force
by James Luceno

Jedi Quest #7 - The Moment of Truth
by Jude Watson
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December 2003

Young Jedi Knights Collection #2 - Jedi Sunrise
by Kevin J. Anderson and Rebecca Moesta
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January 2004

Tatooine Ghost
by Troy Denning
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February 2004

Survivor's Quest
by Timothy Zahn
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March 2004

Escape from Dagu
by William Deitz
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April 2004

Shatterpoint
by Matthew Stover
(The mass-market paperback edition of Shatterpoint.)



SWTCG: Dragon Con Tournament Announced

TeamBus.Net has the scoop on an announcement of a major SWTCG tournament to be held at DragonCon this year in Atlanta, GA on August 31. Players get to vote on which Master Replicas Lightsaber will be awarded to first place. Right now, the Darth Maul and Count Dooku lightsabers are neck and neck for first place. Click on the above link to vote.
If you're ready to start practicing for all these tournaments, TeamBus.Net has released the Apprentice Patch for the Jedi Guardians expansion. Apprentice is a program that allows players to play SWTCG online. For more information on Apprentice, check here http://www.theforce.net/ccg/swtcg/resources/ .



SWTCG: Gen Con Prizes Announced

Check them out at
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=events/starwars/championships

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The Non EH Site of the Week is : http://atomfilms.shockwave.com/af/content/pink5
watch that movie... You wont believe it... (Wont believe it got an award from George Lucas... ::Shay`la shudders::)

That's all for me this week. Sorry for the massive Report but there was so much things happening this week.
Hey look! I got it in on time, there must be something wrong with me :) Thanks for your time!

-=SALUTE=-

-- Reconnaissance Office Staff --

((((((((((((O#O))))))(ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ>
RO/AD "Six" Joe/CS-12/SSSD Sovereign
IC/GOE/GS/BSx3/PCx2/ISMx6/MoI/MoT-1gh/MoC-6BoC-7SoC-4GoC-27PoC-3DoC/CoL/CoB/OV-5E
[DRAG]

CA:RO/RA Shay`la DuKahn Ludsorkim/CA-12/SSSD Sovereign
PC/ISMx3/CoL/LoA/OV-2E {IWATS-GFX-ICQ-IIC/1/2-M/1/2-PHP-PHP-SM/2-VBS}

ROA/AD Zsinj/SSSD Sovereign
IC/GSx3/SSx6/BSx2/PCx2/ISMx5/MoT-3rh-1gh-3bh/IS-1SR/LoC-IS-CSx4-Rx3/DFC-BW-Rx2/MoC-6BoC-9SoC-6GoC-12PoC-19DoC/CoS/LoAx5/OV-4E [GLDR] {IWATS-CBX-ICQ-IIC/1/2/3-M/1/2-R-SM/1/2-TM-TT-VBS-XTT}