STAR WARS ALMOST SPOILED? VISIONARIES SHIPS EARLY

[MattBrady]

<img src="http://www.newsarama.com/WizWorldLA05/SWVisionaries.jpg" width="175" height="265" border="0" align="right">Get a copy of Dark Horse’s <b>Star Wars Visionaries</b> from your shop this week?

Oops.

Due to a processing error at Diamond, copies of the books were shipped to accounts on March 16th, even though they were originally scheduled for later shipping.

The mistake caused a flurry of e-mails and phone calls from Diamond to retailers, informing them of the mistake, and requesting that the retailers remove the book from their sales floor until Saturday, April 2nd, the day the Lucasfilm embargo is lifted for related merchandise (including the full line of toys). That is, materials that reveal plot points of <i>Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith</i>. The Dark Horse adaptation of the film is also due to be released that day as well.

While some retailers speaking with Newsarama pointed out that the embargo is due to a licensing agreement between Lucasfilm and Dark Horse, which comic book retailers are not specifically beholden to, the vast majority of retailers are honoring Diamond’s request. No copies can currently be found on eBay…of course, that may change.

And yes, chances are your retailer probably now knows some hitherto unknown plot elements of <i>Episode III</i>.

The solicitation for the book reads:

<i>They've been responsible for some of the most dazzling and awe-inspiring visuals ever put to film, and now the concept artists, behind the Star Wars prequels are bringing their considerable talents to comics.

Just in time for Star Wars: Episode III, the wildly gifted minds of the Lucasfilm art department and visual effects powerhouse Industrial Light & Magic come together to tell their own Star Wars tales in this compilation of short stories. Given free reign to explore any and every aspect of the Star Wars universe, each artist offers a new twist or a deeper view into that galaxy far, far away. Nowhere else will you find a more pure or more different look at George Lucas' enduring creation than through the eyes of the Star Wars: Visionaries.

This is the first time a group of Star Wars movie concept artists and designers have written and drawn comics stories.</i>

The 176-page trade <u>will</u> retail for $17.95.

On April 2nd.

[Darth Presley]

It's always refreshing when a book ships EARLY!!

Has this ever happened before!

[Dan20]

I've never understood why the novelizations and comic adaptations are released before the movie even opens. Lucasfilm works hard to keep things secret for months, and then just spoils the plot themselves by releasing this material. I've heard from retailers who've had customers spoil the plot for them after picking up the adaptations.

[OM]

Originally posted by Darth Presley
It's always refreshing when a book ships EARLY!! Has this ever happened before! ...Well, probably one of the better examples wasn't a comic book. Back when <I>Star Trek III</i> was just about to be released, David Gerrold revised his <I>World of Star Trek</i> to include what had happened to the franchise after he'd originally written the book back in the early 70's. In that extra material, he'd spoiled the ending, where the Enterprise is destroyed. Paramount went ballistic, as they'd kept a tight lid on that particular plot point, knowing full well it would cause far more screaming for heads to roll than Spock's death in the previous film. Paramount ordered the publisher to recall all the copies, but since they hit the shelves almost a *month* before the film's premier, the publisher *and* the bookstores simply shrugged their shoulders and went "oops."

...On an oddball twist to a similar tale, when the novelization for <I>Star Trek V</i> hit ths shelves before the movie premiered, most of those who read the book first were far more disappointed in the film, as the book corrected a lot of the plot errors that Shatner had ignored warnings about during production, and wound up being far better than the film.

[skeletorjr]

Spock died? You sunnuvabitch, thanks for ruining it.;)

[ChimpManZe]

Originally posted by Darth Presley
It's always refreshing when a book ships EARLY!!

Has this ever happened before!


It also happened with Marvel's release of the Return of the Jedi adaptation (the "Marvel Super Special" edition)...it was shipped to shops before the release of the film...and retailers were notified that the book was not to be sold. I seem to recall Marvel sending folks out to NY area stores to verify that copies had been pulled....

- ChimpManZee

[StevieCool]

If you've seen Episodes 1,2,4,5,6 - how many spoilers can there really be in 3?

I still can't understand how it was originally claimed that the script would be "more light hearted" than the others (1 & 2).

I read a purported script for 3 - it just came off as one big downer. Maybe if you had Jay & Silent Bob as C3PO and R2, well, then, that would liven it up.

"My word, Master Anakin, women ain't nuthin' but b***s and h*s."

"Beep-Boop"

"That's right, my robotic little buddy. Snooch the booch."

[AreJaye]

I mentioned in another thread that the only 'spoiler' per-se in this book is for those people who are too slow to have picked up on the fact that Palpatine and Sidious are one and the same.

(And, no, I don't care if I just 'spoiled' it for you. . .it's been PAINFULLY obvious to anyone with 3 or more working braincells since the beginning, so don't even start to whine).

This book is pretty, and it's entertaining, but it's not real informative. The stories are short and stylized (The Artist of Naboo and The Fourth Precept being the most so). This is a book that will be great for fans of art, but not really for fans of meaty stories. Had shops actually waited to sell this, I think it would have gotten lost in the shuffle of everything else that comes out 4/2/05.

Also, I don't think that the individual COMIC SHOPS are under the Lucasfilm embargo. Diamond is, and that's why they're rushing to cover their asses.

[Robot H Brian]

The only possible spoiler I can imagine about Episode III would be for someone to tell me it doesn't suck like the other two.

[Alfonso]

Originally posted by StevieCool
I still can't understand how it was originally claimed that the script would be "more light hearted" than the others (1 & 2).


Who's been saying that? I've only heard otherwise (and with good reason, since like half the cast will likely be dead by its end)

As for "what spoilers could there be?" Tons! I mean, I don't know about you, but I'm personally very eager to see what finally becomes of Jar Jar (I'm hoping it's gruesome). Not to mention the whole mystery of the dual identities of the Sith, what Dooku's relation to Palpatine is, and who actually does what killing (does Anakin kill all the Jedi himself, or does Sidious help?). Also, what became of all the battle droids? (you know, since they didn't appear in the original trilogy)

[Mr Wesley]

Lucas' behavior about spoilers has been really strange in regards to Eps I-III. I remember all the secrecy and name changes in The Phantom Menace to keep things surprising, and then they allow book adaptions to be released nearly a month before the movie, and (my personal favorite) the soundtrack has a listing for 'The Death of Darth Maul' on the back cover.

Yeah, real slick there, guys.

[TK-421]

Diamond UK messed slightly differently. They shipped the first part of the Episode III movie adaptation this week. At around 4pm on the day of delivery they phoned to say that they needed returning to Diamond as they weren't supposed to be sent out until April 2nd. By this time they'd been on sale in my shop for around 5 hours with me having no idea that they weren't supposed to be sold.

[qtzar]

what is the release date on episode 3 ?

[boypop]

I actually remember the snafu with the Marvel Return of the Jedi adaptation shipping before the movie came out and I was one of the lucky buggers to snag a copy before retailers realized the Oops.

I do agree with the consensus though. I love all the films, prequels and the originals but yes, Lucas goes through all this crazy stuff, threatening lawsuits etc. with toy people, website people for revealing plot points then goes and has things like the adaptation released a whole month and a half before the flick. It's all hype if you ask me, by putting all these embargos on stuff only makes people want to know more and by then, the secret's already out.

On the other side, yes, how many shocks and surprises could there be with this film? Lucas revealed the ending himself to this flick in the novelization to Star Wars in 1977, claiming Vader got his suit because he lost most of his body parts when he fell into a pit of lava or something like that. What else?

** The Jedi are slaughtered (revealed in a New Hope)
** Yoda goes to live in a bog like Swamp Thing (Empire)
** Luke and Leia are born (uh-duh)

What else is there? Oh, the fate of Padme. Like you need 4 braincells to figure that one out. She's not around or mentioned in any of the next 3 so unless she's living under a rock in Dagobah or in a sewer with Kingpin's wife Vanessa, it's pretty safe to say, well, you know...

PS. This whole snafu with Visionaries is kind of funny actually. I didn't even know or care about the book until everyone started making such a big deal about it going on sale pre 4/2.

And whether it's today or April 2, does it really make a difference? Its still a month before the movie. Sometimes corporate headwigs are such nincompoops.

[Babbster]

I sincerely doubt that Lucasfilm cares about spoilers (for all the reasons listed above). What they really care about is maximizing profitability and synergy between products. For example, if people actually care about the Visionaries book but aren't interested in the other comic products set to hit at the same time, then an early release could mean that people go down, pick up Visionaries and pay zero attention to the other books. If, however, all the books are visible at the same time, it becomes that much more likely that folks will buy more of them.

In this particular case that's probably less of an issue (the synergy is more likely to go from adaptation to Visionaries rather than vice versa), but since Star Wars made movie merchandising what it is today I'm sure that's the primary cause for concern.

[StevieCool]

The only possible spoiler I can imagine about Episode III would be for someone to tell me it doesn't suck like the other two.

That's pretty funny.

Who's been saying that? I've only heard otherwise (and with good reason, since like half the cast will likely be dead by its end)

Lucas was quoted on this when the second one came out - in response to "Won't the third one be dark?". I may be wrong, but I think I read it on Cinescape article. All I really remember was thinking how a comment about SWIII being light hearted and having humor was just f*ng stupid.

Unless they added Ewoks. But Ewoks are just as stupid as that comment. So it was still a no-win solution.

As for "what spoilers could there be?" Tons!

Those are valid questions/spoilers, but I guess I just didn't dig the first two movies enough to care about those plot points. The first two movies (to me) lacked the desire to make the audience care about the characters. Maybe the fact that so much more information is available now compared to 1976, but I remember my schoolbuds having discussions about the snow beast from "Empire", if Greedo fired first, and how bad*ss Boba Fett was. Episodes I and II just didn't deliver the same effect. So maybe it was because we didn't have message boards to throw our two bits around in...

[Phoenix11]

Don't sleep on this.

I don't want to be the jerk who comes and teases without telling, but I will say this: If the first Visionaries story comes to pass in the movie, we're all gonna crap ourselves.

Its much more than "the jedi are dead," "anakin falls into lava," etc.

I really hope the first story of Visionaries is part of the movie - its a spoiler in the truest sense of the word.

[AreJaye]

Originally posted by Phoenix11
Don't sleep on this.

I don't want to be the jerk who comes and teases without telling, but I will say this: If the first Visionaries story comes to pass in the movie, we're all gonna crap ourselves.

Its much more than "the jedi are dead," "anakin falls into lava," etc.

I really hope the first story of Visionaries is part of the movie - its a spoiler in the truest sense of the word.

Uhh. . .and how do you figure it would play into the movie? Seeing has how HE says he missed Obi Wan on the lava planet?

That story takes place three years after the Imperial Occupation of Tatooine. It's an EU story. All the stories in there are EU stories. If you read the foreward in the book, it says the ideas in VISIONARIES are mostly ideas rejected by Lucas from the movie. I took that to mean the villain in that story was submitted, probably as an alternative to General Grevious, but rejected.

Don't expect to see You Know Who in the movie. Seriously. Especially as there has been NO mention of him so far as returning.

[daryldens]

And, as we all know, the Spoilers resulted in miserable box office for both Star Trek 3 and Return of the Jedi. I think spoilers are so overrated nowadays. While I'm not advocating spoiling anything, I wish these companies and creators would put as much effort into the exceution of their stories as they do in trying to prevent spoilers.

I think the real problem with what happened in this case is that some retailers may have increased sales because they have the book early to the detriment of other retailer's sales.

[Phoenix11]

AreJaye,

Don't get me wrong, that's why I used the "if" in my post.

My main point was that this book gives more insight that just here's how the Jedi die - we know they die, but here's how.

I know we are talking in code here a little, but that story, no matter who the charcter, is a wrinkle we didn't know.
I always assumed that what happens in that scene goes off without a hitch, I don't think many people guessed someone would try to show up and wreak havoc.

Its more of a spoiler because its not as simple as "X" events happen, here are nice pictures of it. Its more like "X" events happen, but there's something more to them than you knew.

By the way, if you-know-who does show up, it would have been one of the best kept secrets, and I still think that would be great.

[matthewstarnes]

Originally posted by Darth Presley
It's always refreshing when a book ships EARLY!!

Has this ever happened before!

Only with Digital Webbing Presents in the past a couple of times!
:cool:

[OM]

Originally posted by skeletorjr
Spock died? You sunnuvabitch, thanks for ruining it.;) ...Oh, bite me. Spoilers don't apply to a movie that's 20 years old, kid. Here, let me spoil a few others for you:

* "Rosebud" is a sled.

* The Grinch now has the strength of ten Grinches, plus two.

* David Bowman is now a baby.

* Hitler died in WWII by committing suicide!

* Apollo 11 landed safely on the Moon *and* returned safely to the Earth!

* Moses did *not* get to enter the Promised Land.

* Clark Kent is Superman.

...Betcha didn't see that last one coming, didja?

[Shakes head in utter dismay]

[skeletorjr]

Originally posted by OM
...Oh, bite me. Spoilers don't apply to a movie that's 20 years old, kid. Here, let me spoil a few others for you:

* "Rosebud" is a sled.

* The Grinch now has the strength of ten Grinches, plus two.

* David Bowman is now a baby.

* Hitler died in WWII by committing suicide!

* Apollo 11 landed safely on the Moon *and* returned safely to the Earth!

* Moses did *not* get to enter the Promised Land.

* Clark Kent is Superman.

...Betcha didn't see that last one coming, didja?

[Shakes head in utter dismay]


Uhhhh, I was kidding. Sorry it didn't translate well to message boards. That's why I used the annoying winky smiley face. :)

[Slayton]

Originally posted by AreJaye
Uhh. . .and how do you figure it would play into the movie? Seeing has how HE says he missed Obi Wan on the lava planet?

That story takes place three years after the Imperial Occupation of Tatooine. It's an EU story. All the stories in there are EU stories. If you read the foreward in the book, it says the ideas in VISIONARIES are mostly ideas rejected by Lucas from the movie. I took that to mean the villain in that story was submitted, probably as an alternative to General Grevious, but rejected.

Don't expect to see You Know Who in the movie. Seriously. Especially as there has been NO mention of him so far as returning.

The concept sketch of You Know Who dates back to preproduction on Ep. II if I'm not mistaken. It was floated around the net for awhile and got all the fan sites excited, but obviously the idea was dropped.

[goofball814]

MY LCS owner had this out Wednesday and basically said that even though it wasn't "street date" until 4/2, he was billed for it, and had to pay for it, so he was going to sell it. I picked up a copy, and there isn't anything that I would call "SPOILER"ish in it.

[Gservo]

picked up the book, the store i went todid not even know, just had about three copies, i got the second one, the owner kept the third :rolleyes:


Honestly the art is beautiful, and you know what, it's not the bad "spoiler wise" if you have seen the trailer, it the that much of a spoiler

[paulski]

Originally posted by goofball814
MY LCS owner had this out Wednesday and basically said that even though it wasn't "street date" until 4/2, he was billed for it, and had to pay for it, so he was going to sell it.

And that's fair enough too, I reckon.

So it ships 2 or 3 weeks early - who gives a shit. It's hardly a crime. It's not going to stop people from going to see the flick in their droves, and kids from buying the toys.

[beta-ray]

I'm not sure but I could have sworn that, at least back in the days of Jedi, the novelizations/adaptations were released before the movie. For Star Trek III it was (the novel)... and from the Phantom Menace on, the storybooks, novels and such were published beforehand. And it will happen for this movie too.

[EMeadow]

Originally posted by paulski
And that's fair enough too, I reckon.

So it ships 2 or 3 weeks early - who gives a shit. It's hardly a crime. It's not going to stop people from going to see the flick in their droves, and kids from buying the toys.

Yeah I think the "embargo" is a bit annoying too, especially in light of the fact that the slowness of Lucasfilms's approval division is what has caused all the Dark Horse books to now be late. (Ostrander has commented on this on more than one occasion) and now that they can actually get a book out early Lucas wants to clamp on it?

Especially in light of the fact like most people have said we know all the answers to allt he "burning questions" in the whole saga. It's just a matter of actually watching them do it.

[sleepyturtle1]

Originally posted by Alfonso
Who's been saying that? I've only heard otherwise (and with good reason, since like half the cast will likely be dead by its end)

As for "what spoilers could there be?" Tons! I mean, I don't know about you, but I'm personally very eager to see what finally becomes of Jar Jar (I'm hoping it's gruesome). Not to mention the whole mystery of the dual identities of the Sith, what Dooku's relation to Palpatine is, and who actually does what killing (does Anakin kill all the Jedi himself, or does Sidious help?). Also, what became of all the battle droids? (you know, since they didn't appear in the original trilogy)

Ummm, that's what the stormtroopers did, they replaced the battle droids. Droids were great for ground assaults and all but take out the spaceship that controls them all and BAM, no more ground war. Clones are cheap cannon fodder. But they are so far removed from the original (Jango Fett) that they are effectively good for nothing else. The troppers in "Attack of the Clones" were very effective fighters but by the time of "A New Hope" they weren't much good for anything but strength in numbers type fights.

[tyopot]

never did like lucas or his star wars crap.his toys are ugly.

[OcCaM]

Huh! I'm surprised people even care about the Star Wars Universe after the first two movies.

Actually, after the third (sixth whatever) original movie I never really cared much for this franchise. Still, after seeing the jar jar mess I had zero interest to see another.

I got sucked into watching the second movie for free. I'm not sure even free will entice me to see this turkey.

So, do people really care about this steaming pile of crap, or is it some kindof completist mentality where you just have to know how things turn out?

[Kirk Kushin]

I picked it before I realized it was the forbidden fruit...it is a great book - but now I'm afraid to read past the first story....

Great looking book for $16!

[Kolimar]

Originally posted by StevieCool
Lucas was quoted on this when the second one came out - in response to "Won't the third one be dark?". I may be wrong, but I think I read it on Cinescape article. All I really remember was thinking how a comment about SWIII being light hearted and having humor was just f*ng stupid.

Unless they added Ewoks. But Ewoks are just as stupid as that comment. So it was still a no-win solution.

I agree with Alfonso here. I've only heard otherwise. I even remember an interview with Lucas and his crew talking about this subject in particular. They said that A New hope started in a very dark place and it moved toward the light with Episodes V and VI. Episodes I to III would do the opposite, starting with an apparently ideal Republic, lots of Jedis and naiveté and ending with the all powerful Empire, most of the Jedis dead and Anakin becoming Darth Vader.

If you ask me, this sounds about right. The logic thing to do.:)

[Kolimar]

Originally posted by paulski
And that's fair enough too, I reckon.

So it ships 2 or 3 weeks early - who gives a shit. It's hardly a crime. It's not going to stop people from going to see the flick in their droves, and kids from buying the toys.

I agree.

[Kolimar]

Originally posted by OcCaM
So, do people really care about this steaming pile of crap, or is it some kindof completist mentality where you just have to know how things turn out?

A lot of people care, including me, but it's not crap. It's just not as good we all hoped it would be. IMHO, George Lucas has never been a great director. He's a good writer, producer and director but his strength lies in telling somewhat simple, innocent stories. There is a depth to them (morals, corruption, good and evil - a lot like fairy tales and old-fashioned westerns) but a lot of the Star War fans and non-fans wanted more sophistication in the telling of the story.

[Adam G]

In the past week alone, I have since 2 12in figures for Revenge of The Sith at Kaybee and the regular figures at a local Walmart. I am not talking about the preview figures too. The best part was that there was a hand written note and I quote "These figures must be removed immediately" taped to a Kit Fisto but yet it sat there for 2 days.

[matthewstarnes]

It happens all the time.
I worked in retail during Episode I & saw figures and other materials before the "street date". Some stores don't care or have managers who don't really understand "street dates" to begin with. There was one store that would release VHS movies weeks before street dates. Disney ended up not sending them any product until a month after the street date.


Originally posted by Adam G
In the past week alone, I have since 2 12in figures for Revenge of The Sith at Kaybee and the regular figures at a local Walmart. I am not talking about the preview figures too. The best part was that there was a hand written note and I quote "These figures must be removed immediately" taped to a Kit Fisto but yet it sat there for 2 days.

[sweiit]

Lucas was quoted on this when the second one came out - in response to "Won't the third one be dark?". I may be wrong, but I think I read it on Cinescape article. All I really remember was thinking how a comment about SWIII being light hearted and having humor was just f*ng stupid.

About as f*ng stupid as you pretending it ever happened.

I had to register on this board just to respond to this ridiculous post. Your first post about this and now your response is a complete lie. You made this up in your head. Episode III was ALWAYS going to be the darkest. Lucas never said anything (nothing, not one word) that would lead anyone to think that Episode 3 was going to be anything but the darkest of the saga.

As a former contributor to Cinescape, I can tell you that you did not read this there. Get your facts together and stop pretending like you have real information when it comes from some nutty place in your head.

Thanks.

[OM]

Originally posted by ChimpManZe
It also happened with Marvel's release of the Return of the Jedi adaptation (the "Marvel Super Special" edition)...it was shipped to shops before the release of the film...and retailers were notified that the book was not to be sold. I seem to recall Marvel sending folks out to NY area stores to verify that copies had been pulled....

...Yup. Happened down here in Texas, where the comic book shop I worked at got in their copies early, and Diamond called us to have them all pulled. However, they'd already sold out, and they were too late. About an hour later, some goon from Lucasfilm called us and demanded that we contact each of our subscribers and get them to return the issues. As you can guess, not only did we laugh hysterically at the stupidity of this particular scambulance chaser, we also told him in no uncertain terms to go fuck herself *and* said if she had the balls to really generate some negative publicity, she could -try- to sue us. Needless to say, we never did hear anything back on it :D :D

[OM]

Originally posted by sweiit
As a former contributor to Cinescape, I can tell you that you did not read this there. Get your facts together and stop pretending like you have real information when it comes from some nutty place in your head.

...And with an attitude like that, I can see why you're a <b>former</b> editor. Might I suggest you remove that corncob from your ass before it metastasizes and causes permanent craniorectal hemorrhaging?

[shakes head in utter dismay]

[sleepyturtle1]

Originally posted by OM


Craniorectal? Thanks for letting me know the technical term for "head up your ass". Good stuff.

[AreJaye]

Originally posted by sweiit
About as f*ng stupid as you pretending it ever happened.

I had to register on this board just to respond to this ridiculous post. Your first post about this and now your response is a complete lie. You made this up in your head. Episode III was ALWAYS going to be the darkest. Lucas never said anything (nothing, not one word) that would lead anyone to think that Episode 3 was going to be anything but the darkest of the saga.

As a former contributor to Cinescape, I can tell you that you did not read this there. Get your facts together and stop pretending like you have real information when it comes from some nutty place in your head.

Thanks.

Yeah, all I can remember is since the time between TPM and AOTC Lucas telling everyone that Ep. 2 would be a small, personal story, with Ep. 3 being a galaxy spanning dark story.

Never, ever, has anything been said about Episode III being upbeat and lighthearted. Though, I suppose it would be interesting to see the slaughter of 1,000 Jedi being done in an upbeat, kid friendly way. . .

[Kolimar]

Originally posted by sweiit
About as f*ng stupid as you pretending it ever happened.

Take a deep breath and think before you post anything here o anywhere else.

Stevie didn't assure anything.

[tyopot]

what really disgusts me about lucas and his star wars is that even if a character appears for like a second on one of his movies,he`ll probably make an action figure out of that.an ugly action figure that is.

that`s capitalistic lucas.