Date: 4/17/00
Subject: Darth Maul Fan Page Update

For the time being, this site is goingo into hibernation.

The subject says it all. That's the rumor, though it's probably fanboy wishful thinking.

Again, I would suggest being skeptical until an official announcement is made.

There is a rumor going around the net that the DVD of Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope will include yet more improved special effects, in excess of the Special Edition additions.

I would suggest being skeptical until an official announcement is made.

Yesterday I braved the elements (okay, wind and water, two of the elements) to see The Phantom Menace in a great theater. Suffice it to say, I loved the movie.

For the time being I'm not going to discuss some of the specific plot points of the movie. In a couple of weeks that will change. In the immediate future I should be linking in the Stomp Tokyo review of Phantom Menace tomorrow. It will have many spoilers, and will discuss Darth Maul in some detail.

Only three years until Episode 2!

Roger Ebert has posted his review of The Phantom Menace a couple days early. Click here to read it. There are also a couple of essays relating to the film in his "Interviews and Essays" section.

Ebert gives the film a highly positive review, but there is one passage that gives me pause:

As for the bad rap about the characters--hey, I've seen space operas that put their emphasis on human personalities and relationships. They're called "Star Trek" movies. Give me transparent underwater cities and vast hollow senatorial spheres any day.

Everyone knows that at any moment violence can break out between the rival factions of Star Wars and Star Trek fans. The prejudices are only just kept under control. For Ebert to blatantly inflame passions like this is irresponsible.

So my advice to those of you going to the premiere tomorrow: Watch out for gangs of roaming Klingons! They may not be as harmless as they appear!

I got my Darth Maul cup topper at Taco Bell today. It's pretty cool looking.

If you want cheap (well, kinda cheap) Star Wars stuff you need look no farther than any fast food joint owned by Pepsi Co. Each restaurant is supposed to be a different planet. KFC is Naboo, Pizza Hut is Coruscant, and Taco Hell... I mean Bell, is Tatooine.

The selection of stuff is amazing. Each chain has a set of four drink toppers, large plastic constructs that look like characters from the movies. In addition, each chain will release nine toys, themed to the planet the chain is supposed to represent.

So where is the Darth Maul stuff? Darth Maul will be a topper at Taco Bell, and it looks like he will be the next one released (after Anakin, which is out now). In terms of toys, Darth Maul's Sith Speeder will be found at Taco Bell. And the Sith Holoprojector and Darth Maul's Sith Infiltrator will be at Pizza Hut.

Now we're cooking with gas! The newest TV trailer is out, and it concentrates on Darth Maul. The tag line is "One Truth."

The trailer can be dowloaded here.

By now you've probably heard about the first reviews that came out the theater distributor showings of The Phantom Menace. The reviews have been described by mainstream news outlets as "mixed."

Judging by some fan reaction on the net, this is a disaster. The fact that some people who saw it didn't think it was the greatest movie ever translates to "It's a bad movie." The attitude is one of all or nothing.

The whole situation reminds me of Titanic a couple years ago. All of the rumors suggested that Titanic was going to be a huge expensive flop. The movie was over budget. James Cameron was out of control. He made Kate Winslet cry by yelling at her. Titanic wasn't going to make its summer opening, and there was no way it could make big money during the winter. The best it could hope for was to break even.

Then the first internet reviews came in. They were pretty mixed. At worst, the film was blasted as an overwrought soap opera. Soon every news item was about how bad Titanic was. Why was Titanic's world premiere at a Japanese film festival? Because Japanese critics are known for being kind. (Huh? Since when did anyone anywhere other than Japan care what Japanese critics have to say about a film?)

So what happened? Other than one scathing review (in Time magazine I think) Titanic got excellent reviews. It went on to make more money than any other film in history, and won 35 Oscars. (Maybe it just seemed like 35 Oscars.)

Maybe these early reviews of The Phantom Menace are a good thing. Maybe if people have somewhat lowered expectations, and let's face it, expectations can't get any higher, people will be free to enjoy the movie a little more. And frankly I think that the people who posted the negative reviews just want the attention. After all, if you write a review of The Phantom Menace and say "I love it more than sex" you will be written off as a fanboy. But tear down a highly anticipated film and Entertainment Weekly will give you column space.

I'm not letting these reviews get to me. Go see the film, and enjoy yourselves.

The most recent issue of Playboy (June 1999) has some Star Wars related content. So I really did buy it for the articles! I didn't pause for a moment to ogle June Playmate Kimeberly Spicer (Turn-ons: candlelight dinners. Turnoffs: a guy who acts "fake" in front of his friends.), nor did I linger to survey the surgically-enhanced secondary sexual characteristics of Playmate of the Year Heather Kozar. I went straight to the articles.

The magazine interviews Samuel L. Jackson, though there isn't all that much about The Phantom Menace. There is also a four page movie preview article. The first two pages are devoted to Darth Maul and some of the films props, including some neat close-ups of the main characters' lightsabers. The third and forth pages are devoted to humorous sidebars about the first three films, as well as pictures of the "Babes" of the Star Wars universe.

I visited Borders Books today, and they much kewl junk. You can pick up a Darth Maul mousepad, a Darth Maul journal (with free Darth Maul bookmark!) and numerous books. And be sure to pick up the collected versions of Dark Horse's comic book series like Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi - The Sith War and Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi - The Golden Age of the Sith.

Like a lot of you, I have already picked up a bunch of Star Wars stuff... And it's only been a couple of days. But what if you want Darth Maul stuff? What are your options?

Nearly endless. Darth Maul is easily the most marketed character of the new movie. Kenner has three figures out already: The standard CommTech figure, the Deluxe figure that comes with some sort of half-sized lightsaber handle, and a Sith Speeder with a Darth Maul figure that is wearing a cloth cloak. There is also a 10" figure, but I haven't seen it yet.

At the local Suncoast Moving Picture Company has lots of Darth Maul stuff, including a Darth Maul bank, a Darth Maul cookie jar (at least that's what I think it is), a Darth Maul hat, two Darth Maul t-shirts, Darth Maul watches (in faux-pewter and colored plastic models), and more Darth Maul posters than I could count. A lot of their stuff is exclusive to them, though I think Suncoast is known by other names in different parts of the country.

And finally, Spencer Gifts has Darth Maul costumes for sale already.

TheForce.net has printed a report from someone who asked Rick McCallum when the Star Wars DVDs will be out. Reportedly, McCallum said they would be out in a year and a half. Not the answer I wanted to hear.

Assuming the info is correct, it makes sense. A year and a half from now would put them out in time for the 2000 X-Mas buying season.

Contrary to what I reported earlier, the "Duel of the Fates" video will not premiere on VH1. It will take its bow tomorrow at 3:30pm Eastern on MTV. VH1 will show the video starting at 6:00pm the same day.

I'm guessing that a good number of the people that visit my site own DVD players, and like me, you're literally champing at the bit to buy the original Star Wars trilogy on digital video disc. The good news is that Star Wars producer Rick McCallum, speaking at the Star Wars Celebration in Denver this weekend, confirmed that Star Wars will be released on DVD... sometime.

He also hinted that the reason that the release has been taking so long is that George Lucas has "something special" in store for the DVD release. Personally, I wish I believed that. Considering 20th Century Fox's record on DVD releases, I doubt they will back any kind of extra filled discs. I guess the best we can hope for is that Lucas has enough clout to release discs the way he wants, or that 20th Century Fox will have a change in policy.

One thing about Darth Maul: no pussy-footed redemption ending for this character. You want to get rid of him, you're going to have to get Highlander on his ass.

It all started on a European radio show when Sam Jackson said he would play any role in the new Star Wars, no matter how small. Seems George Lucas has a brain bigger than a peanut, because he did the smart thing and cast Jackson as Mace Windu in the new film. Jackson is easily one of the best actors working in the US today, and he will be a great addition to the film. And he's just tickled to get to say "May the Force be with you."

Meanwhile, the new Star Wars Insider (issue 43) has a great interview with British actor Brian Blessed, who claims the biggest Star Wars fan in the world. Maybe not, but he's probably the the loudest. Blessed wanted to be in the movie badly, and he got the second role he auditioned for. Good for him. He'll be playing Boss Nass, leader of the Gungans. The interview itself is hilarious, Blessed is quite a character.

A couple of years ago I saw Kenny Baker at a convention. It was a day and a half after he had attended the British premiere of Star Wars: The Special Edition ("I've been drunk for the last 18 hours solid."). He said he's asked Lucas if he could have a role in the new film, but hadn't got an answer. But as we all know that Baker will be playing R2D2 in The Phantom Menace.

Taking a cue from comic books, two magazines are spotlighting multiple Star Wars covers.

The new Star Wars Insider (issue 43) has two covers. Both covers feature Darth Maul and Qui-Gon, though the first higlights Maul and the second Qui-Gon. Unfortunately, no store near me is stocking the first cover.

Premiere magazine this month has four (yes, four) Star Wars covers this month (May 1999). The first has Obi-Won,the second Qui-Gon, the third Queen Amidala, and the fourth Anakin and George Lucas.

George Lucas seems to have given an interview to every magazine on the stands that doesn't feature centerfolds named Tami.

The problem is, most of those interviews just haven't been very interesting. Lucas is so low key in person, it's tough to make him say anything memorable.

By far the biggest snore fest is Lucas' interview with Bill Moyers in Time magazine. They mostly discuss the fact that Star Wars draws on mythology... and then rehash that point for three pages. It's like reading The Golden Bough, only with less variety. The Lucas interview in Wired isn't much better.

The best Lucas interview I've seen is in the new issue of Premiere magazine. They ask Lucas to set the record straight on quite a few different rumors, and his responses are quite interesting. Especially when he talks about an accident Natalie Portman had on-set.

Why did I devote a whole page to Darth Maul? When I saw the first trailer I was instantly struck by Darth's distinctive look. So I took ten pictures I screen caps and threw up a quick page. I've grown it some since then.

But more to the point, Darth Maul is very important to the sucess of the new Star Wars film. Jedi are cool and all, but they basically dress like Franciscan monks. Not the most visually compelling people in the world. In the first Star Wars, everyone remembered Darth Vader. Everybody had to have merchandise with Darth Vader on it. I know I had two color-by-number posters of Darth Vader up in my room when I was kid. Darth Maul is going to be the character from The Phantom Menace everyone will remember.