03/24/08 : For those interested in a look at an earlier version of Attack of the Clones , I've looked at the shooting script in this piece to shed some light on some of the issues apparent in the film. Check back in a few days for some very interesting Empire Strikes Back -related material. Meanwhile, I stumbled across this comic the other day, Darths and Droids, and I just couldn't stop reading. It takes a few pages to get going, but even if you don't know much about role-playing or Dungeons and Dragons its still pretty hilarious.

11/26/07: Aren't hard-drive crashes fun? Thats what I found out all of last week. Only today have I finally recovered and reinstalled my entire system. If all goes well there should be a big juicy update in a day or two so check back. In other news, Lucasfilm has released The Vault, a book/multimedia collection of vintage collectibles, archival material, rare behind the scenes info and photos, and selections from the Lucasfilm Archives--such as a partial copy of Lucas' 1977 ESB treatment. Looks enticing but the hefty pricetag has so far scared me away. Anyone whose gotten this let me know what lurks inside it.

11/10/07: Well, the past months have been incredibly busy. I have been working straight since July, and on weekends as well, leaving me little time for...well, anything really. From a movie-of-the-week to a TV series to finally a few weeks on the new Incredible Hulk feature film (looks awesome BTW--certainly better than Ang Lee's) The Secret History of Star Wars has been quite troublesome for me to find time for. My last week on the Incredible Hulk saw me log 130 pay hours--thats a lot for five days of work. You might be pleased to learn, however, that if all goes well, the second edition of the book might be online as early as late next week. More exciting for all you readers out there might be tonight's article, because the information within it has never been widely published before--a detailed examination of the revised rough draft of Episode I. Read about the film that never was--Obi Wan as an elderly Jedi knight who discovers Anakin, Jar Jar that speaks normally and a Darth Maul that talks back to his opponents; some interesting stuff. I might update this later with art work that was produced with this draft in mind but for now this is the more interesting material. Click on to The Beginning - A Look at the Rough Draft of Episode I . Enjoy!

10/22/07: For those wondering, yes, the second edition of the book is still coming, but obviously unexpected delays have come up. It is in the final stages now--for the last four weeks I have been working on the index section, which is particularly tedious and time-consuming, especially when one works 16 hour days on film sets for five days of the week. It should be posted soon, but there is still a week or two's worth of work to be done. New articles are in the works as well. For now, the Visual Development of Darth Vader has been given an update in an additional stormtrooper-like Vader design I came across, plus a reference to Lawrence of Arabia .

09/01/07: As a companion to piece to my last post, I thought I'd point you all to a site that allows you to view the original Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe (1941) serial in its entirety. The public domain episodes are available on Internet Archive--click here to view them. This was the third and final Flash Gordon series, and though arguably the worst of the trio still has much of the charm that made the original so thrilling. There are 12 episodes in all, running roughly 18 minutes each. While you are there be sure to check out some of the other serials, such as Phantom Empire.On an unrelated note, work on the second edition is coming along, though much slower due to other work than I would like. It will be available by the end of September but probably later in the month rather than sooner.

08/11/07: Just thought I'd use this update to point you all to some nifty information you might not be aware of. Throughout The Secret History of Star Wars I discuss a number of prime literary influences on the series, mostly the original film; as it turns out, some of them are in the public domain and are available for your reading pleasure. The top of the list is of course E.E. Smith's Lensmen books, which are nearly equal in influence to Hidden Fortress and Flash Gordon on the film--although Galactic Patrol is the one which started it all and is considered the greatest space opera novel ever written, also interesting is Triplanetary, a prequel of sorts, and which contains many inspirations for both Star Wars and its own prequels. These are available at Project Gutenberg, along with some of Smith's other works which are all worth reading. While you are there, be sure to check out Edgar Rice Burrough's, A Princess of Mars, the first in the "John Carter of Mars" books that inspired both Flash Gordon and Lucas; many of Burroughs' sequels, such as Gods of Mars and Warlord of Mars are also available to read. Also of interest is The Golden Bough, the pre-curser to the work of Joseph Campbell. Elsewhere, manybooks.net has some additional books by Leigh Brackett and her husband Edmond Hamilton that may be of interest.

07/27/07: New article up, making explicit the original history of the Republic and the Empire which has become a bit obscured--The Republic Revolution .

07/03/07: For those wondering, I am working on a second edition of the book, but due to film-related work I haven't had nearly as much time to devote to it as I would have liked. I can't say when it will be due but most likely not until August. I'm working to provide some additional editing, expansion, clarifications and corrections, fixing some formatting issues, as well as adding at least one additional appendix; I'm also working on creating an index and subject list for those looking for a quick way to reference specific information in the book. Chapter II, "The Star Wars," is also being divided into two seperate chapters. For a good look back at the original film, Lard Biscuit's site has an article on how Star Wars ' status as a cinema classic has arguably been diminished by its expansion into a franchise.

06/19/07: New article up. More interesting for sheer novelty value, it nontheless is a surprising historic artifact--an examination of early Star Wars internet discussion...from 1983!