Arc11 1999

Happy Holidays from the Galaxy Far Away staff!
Happy holidays and a very happy new year to all Star Wars fans. Expect Y2000 to bring a great number of changes to the Star Wars universe; and this Galaxy Far Away too! We had a great time in our birthday party (till we got drunk that is!) here at GFA!
Hope you have a great time in and till the new year; in the words of a wise sage from long ago...

"You can't stop change any more than you can stop the suns from setting."

Official Site Updates
The Official Site has decided to take some well deserved time off for the holiday season. The Official Site has posted a funny new welcome page to inform of their time off.
They have also put up a list of some of the facets of their site, called The Outer-Rim to take a look at while they webmasters are away.

Official Site Updates
The Official Site has a load of updates today so sit back, relax and view what's new!
The site has revamped their membership "engines" so if you have have had trouble registering in the past now it is easier than ever.
With the holiday season apon us, Lucasfilm has a special holiday treat for us, in the form of a few of the Lucas companies' 1999 holiday cards.
A new feature on The Jedi Coucil has been unveiled. The Jedis highlighted were Ki-Ada-Mundi, Eeth Koth, Oppo Rancisis.
A new book, to be released by Del Rey in March will chronicle the adventures of Padawan Anakin. The book, Rogue Planet will be written by Greg Bear and will pick up shortly after The Phantom Menace.
Onto more Star Wars book news! While Star Wars fans will have to wait until February for the next installment of The New Jedi Order series, Star Wars: Dark Tide-Onslaught, author Michael Stackpole has been hard at work on the sequel: Star Wars: Dark Tide II - Ruin which is set to be released in April.
Last, but most definately not least, today's new Snapshot is of the infamous ETs in the Senate!

Official Site Updates
Once again the Official Site has churned out another set of action packed updates for our enjoyment.
In a feature called Storyboarding the Menace, we get an indepth, yet highly interesting, look at the tasks that faced Storyboard artist Ed Natividad.
This week a new comic, in the Star Wars series, title Emissaries to Malastare will be released. The story is one of the first pieces of Episode I expanded universe fiction. It takes place after E1 and shows the Jedi Council in action, settling a despute. The comic can be bought beginning today.
Ask the Jedi Council has responded to a question asking, "What was one of the more difficult special effects shots in The Phantom Menace?"
A new Snapshot of the streets of Theed is up, very festive.

Official Site Update(s)
An interesting topic that the Official Site has posted is that for the first time, the Star Wars Fan Club is offering a limited number of Episode I canvas banners. Did I mention they were signed by George Lucas? These veritable hotcakes will go on sale starting 9 am on 12/21.

The feature Anatomy of a Dewback at the Official Site has, in classic Star Wars style been restored and enhaced with Quicktime 4 vidio.
Also, a new snapshot is up. This time it's A99 Aquata Breather.

Official Site Updates
The Official Site has a few, somewhat minor updates today.
First, the Ask the Jedi Council has been updated with an answer has been posted in response to a question asking why Italy was chosen as the location of Naboo.
Second, a new snapshot of Tony Daniels is up.
Last but not least, the official site has announced that tickets are now sale for The Art of Star Wars. An exhibit coming to the Barbican Art Gallery in London, England from April 13 to September 3. Click here for more information.

VHS Release Date(s) of TPM?
Newsdroid.com, siting an article from Ain't it Cool News is speculating that The Phantom Menace will be released on VHS on March 28, but the DVD will not be release at that time.
TheForce.net is reporting that the release date, for the UK, of the VHS is set for April 4.

Official Site Updates
The Official Site has set out a new snapshot for your viewing pleasure. This one is of George Lucas and production designer Gavin Bocquet discussing the street layout of Mos Espa.
The Site has also updated their Aliens of Episode I section with the addition of Boss Nas, Captain Tarpals and Rune Haako.

Official Site Update
The official site has a whole new look. In addition to the eye catching new look, the "new" site has added some more features. Among these are a section called Lucasfilm Jedi Council which is a place to ask all your Star Wars questions, and even cooler you now have the ability to become a member of Starwars.com and become actively involved in the site!
The site has also updated with a new, behind the scenes snapshot from Episode I of the sculpting of a Federation Tank.

...and WHAT A PARTY WE HAD!!!
Wow!
What a party we had last night for our first birthday! It was probably the biggest of it's kind in the Galaxy! Everyone was invited (and came!); Vader, Luke, Leia, 3P0, Chewy.. even Greedo... what a celebration.
Some of the funniest things happened; you'll never guess...
Our Galaxy News Reporters have the details!

Galaxy Far Away is One Year old!
To all our fans, a big thank you; as Galaxy Far Away.com celebrates it's first birthday! From our previous version on Tripod, to our own domain; from the days of 5 visits a day, to days of hundreds! We've come a long way.

Thank you all!
Thank you Star Wars!

Official Site Update
The Official Site has been updated (at last!) with an interesting report on the ILM's model shop and it's role in the amazing effects of Episode I. (more)
Also, today's snapshot features Whippendell Woods, England, which provided the environmental backdrop for the Sacred Temple Ruins on Naboo.

Newsweek confirm's T'Bone's report - Jackson is the 'Anakin to beat'!
Check out this article at Newsweek about Jonathan Jackson being the 'Anakin to beat' for Episode II.

Vote for Portman as Babe of the Century at IGN.com!
Natalie Portman is in the final four for the Babe of the year at IGN.com. Vote here!

A little bit of this and a little bit of that...
A couple of excellent sites added to the Cantina Links.
Also... do you support George Lucas?

Jon Jackson for Anakin
This is as close as we've gotten to a definite word on the casting of Episode II. T'Bone at StarWarz.com has a couple of exclusive insider reports saying Jonathan Jackson is the guy to be beat for the part of Anakin in Episode II.
Details at T'Bone's Prequel Preview

Star Wars Competition for Australians
Hey, there is a Star Wars competition for Aussies only; check out the details here at our affiliates site, ThePrequels.net. Enjoy!

New welcome page to GFA
We have a new welcome page for Galaxy Far Away, as you may have noticed. And because of this change in pages, some of our links may be a bit haywire. Forgive us for this; but if we are lucky, you won't even notice ;-).

Free draw at Brian's Toys
Win a free vintage carded Tri-Logo Lobot in C8.5 condition at Brian's Toys in their draw for this week.

New stuff for the new year at GalaxyFarAway.com
In the next few days we will be adding a few interesting interactive features to Galaxy Far Away ; including a Link Directory, a much better searchable news archive, and a complete search engine for the site. All this, in addition to the Message Board, promise to ring in a great new year at GFA.