I was curious how certain webmasters go about gathering the information for their prequel sites. So instead of just guessing why they do what they do. I e-mailed a few of them and got some real good anwers. This is the excerpt from some of the e-mail correspondance we had:

Scott Chitwood:

"It is frustrating trying to get news on the prequel. The Lucasfilm secrecy tactics have worked extremely well and we [The Force.Net] have been duped on many occasions when it comes to prequel rumors. At first we thought a prequel trailer would be released with Titanic, but that was false. Our source turned out to be pulling our legs . . . Then, sources told us that the prequel might be released Christmas 1998 and that too turned out to be completely false. One source said C3PO might be "clear," but that was false. The most embarrassing rumor was the prequel character names. I went around telling everybody they were real and there not! That was embarrassing. One source said the Gungans were mouse-headed terminater robots and then another source tells us the Gungans are an alien race. It is beginning to get very, very frustrating. 98% of our rumors have turned out to be false . . . Our sources are making us look like fools. I just hate it for our loyal readers. Sometimes I think we are just the Star Wars version of the National Enquirer because we post some incredibly hard-to-believe rumors. I'm tempted to post a rumor like: "Yoda pregnant with two-headed Wookie." : ) But I think the readers are smart enough to realize almost everything we post about the prequels is false . . . At times it gets so frustrating that you just want to make up stuff. When I was running the Texas A&M site with Darrin, I created a source called Mode so that we would have some fake prequel news to report. It is really innocent and harmless . . . My biggest problem right now is that we keep posting lame news about guns that might be used, a silly picture drawn by one of Chris' friends and pointless interviews with Episode I cast members that don't tell you anything . . . I would give my right arm for just one real Lucasfilm source!!!!"

Scott Chitwood

Staff member of the Force.Net

The Silencer: I really like Scott and he has quickly become one of my best friends on the Net. I just wish he would cool off and except the fact that no one at Lucasfilm is going to just give him the script to the prequel, the name of Liam Neeson's character, etc. Unless your good friends with some of the guys at Lucasfilm, they aren't going to give you any inside info. It is a hard club to join (so to speak)

Chris Kivlehan:

"I must admit I have made up some character names. The dumbest one I thought up was Sio Bibble. It sounded alright to me until I got a bunch of e-mail telling me it sounds like something a baby would say. I have taken a lot of heat for that one, but it's still fun. Coming up with Star Wars names is tough. . . I know it is kind of dishonest, but we are under a tremendous amount of pressure to update our page everyday and if we don't have some cool news to post. I just get inventive and make up my own cool prequel news . . . I actually told everyone I closed down my old website because Lucasfilm made me. The funny thing is that people believed me :)"

Chris Kivlehan

Staff member of the Force.Net

The Silencer: Chris is a cool guy and is notorious for creating fake sources like Delta Source and Princess Vespa when he was maintaining his own website before he joined the Force.Net. He promises in the future that he will choose not to update at all, instead of making up false prequel news.

Paul "Tinman" Davidson

"When we started the Force.Net, we thought we would be flooded with Lucasfilm sources willling to spill the beans on the Episode I production. Unfortunately, that just hasn't happened. We just don't have any personal ties with Lucasfilm and don't know a single person that works there. I personally won't create prequel news just to have something to post . . . I just wish Lucasfilm would give us some more info. like the title of the prequels and I want to know if Salacious Crumb is going to be in the prequels. Hopefully, the Official Site will start releasing more prequel stuff."

Paul "Tinman" Davidson

Staff member of the Force.Net

The Silencer: Out of all my friends at the Force.Net. Paul is definitely my fave because he never creates fake prequel news. Good for you, Paul. May the Force be with you !

So just remember the Force.Net is just for entertainment purposes and visit them often because none of their rumors will spoil the prequels for you. Until next time. I am your friend, the Silencer.

Ain't It Cool News

14 October 1997

Harry's latest rumor is that someone high up (he want say who) has told him that the Prequel trailer will be seen with prints of James Cameron's Titanic, which opens on December 19 in the U.S . . . My first response is no way. No studio has the rights to distribute the prequels yet, therefore; no studio has the legal right to distribute such a trailer (which probably does not even exist anyway). Those who think that Lucas needs a trailer released more than a year before the prequel's release to promote his film are dead wrong. Star Wars is one of the few cultural icons so great that it promotes itself and when Lucas announces the official release date everyone will be there lined up at the theatres for days on end. Also, if your local cinema permits tickets to be bought weeks in advance, you better buy as many as you can, when they are offered to the public, so that you don't have to wait days or even weeks after the prequel's release to see it in the theatre.

I made a phone call to 20th Century Fox and a receptionist said that she is sick and tired of getting phone calls asking if the prequel trailer will be seen before Alien Resurrection, Titanic, etc. She said that the official word at Fox is that Lucas has said that he will not pick a distributor for the prequel(s) until late 1998. Hence, she stated that the earliest we should expect a prequel trailer is November/Christmas 1998 . . .

What is happening here is that Star Wars fans are so desperate to see footage of the prequel that you guys are "willing" a release of the trailer before Lucas has even made one. Be patient. There will not be a prequel trailer released until late 1998 and the prequel itself will not hit the silver screen until May 1999. We have waited over 14 years for the continuation of the Star Wars saga and soon before you know it, the prequel will be here and gone and we will start all the rumormongering again with Star Wars: Episode II.

Also, Harry is unwittingly becoming the center of misinformation for rumors concerning Star Wars. The names he has posted for prequel characters are false and he and all the other web sites are falling prey to a Lucasfilm in-joke: http://www.darthsidious.com/ , http://www.darthmaul.com , http://www.naboo.com and http://www.padme.com. Where do all these links lead ?

Your friend, The Silencer