The Official Episode III spoiler thread

Clone Sergeant · Post by **Clone Sergeant** » 2004-06-04 05:58pm

In some of the Behind the Scenes featurettes that show the Ranch's art department, there are several models of varying scales and sketches of a Republic style warship. This ship may be the Venator. It has a shape that basically resembles an entire dagger when looked at from above or below, rather than just the blade like an OT ISD. It has a very prominent bridge tower like an ISD. On the surface of the hull there are details that look like they are turbolasers. There are 5 "turrets" on each dorsal side of the hull. The ship is seen in the background of the videos so it is impossible to discern how big this ship will be. My personal guess is that it is a destroyer or cruiser mainly because there are hull details that look like they might be guns. However, the ship may also be a battleship or battlecruiser and is equipped with obscenly large heavy turbolasers.

The web docs I'm talking about are Here and Here

Post by **LadyTevar** » 2004-06-04 07:59pm

Clone Sergeant wrote: The web docs I'm talking about are Here and Here

I don't see them. First link showed Lucas in front of some pictures, yes, but they were too unfocused on my monitor to make out. The second link showed Lucas on a TV screen.

Ubiquitous · Post by **Ubiquitous** » 2004-06-04 08:08pm

LadyTevar wrote:
Clone Sergeant wrote: The web docs I'm talking about are Here and Here
I don't see them. First link showed Lucas in front of some pictures, yes, but they were too unfocused on my monitor to make out. The second link showed Lucas on a TV screen.

There is a media file to be viewed if you click on the picture, I believe.

Post by **LadyTevar** » 2004-06-04 08:10pm

ALI_G wrote:
LadyTevar wrote:
Clone Sergeant wrote: The web docs I'm talking about are Here and Here
I don't see them. First link showed Lucas in front of some pictures, yes, but they were too unfocused on my monitor to make out. The second link showed Lucas on a TV screen.
There is a media file to be viewed if you click on the picture, I believe.

Oh.......

McC · Post by **McC** » 2004-06-04 08:29pm

Are we allowed to post screencaps?

Illuminatus Primus · Post by **Illuminatus Primus** » 2004-06-04 08:41pm

I don't see why not under Fair Use since this isn't Hyperspace content.

Go ahead.

McC · Post by **McC** » 2004-06-04 09:00pm

Clone Sergeant · Post by **Clone Sergeant** » 2004-06-05 01:10am

You can't tell from the leftmost screencap McC posted, but the AT-TE in EP3 may end up with lengthened legs. Another model of it is on the table from frame 1:26-1:34 in Web doc 4. It's right next to the model of the new and extremely TIE-like Jedi Starfighter.

Illuminatus Primus · Post by **Illuminatus Primus** » 2004-06-05 01:33pm

Can you post the caps?

McC · Post by **McC** » 2004-06-05 03:00pm

If he can't by 7-8pm ET tonight, I can.

Clone Sergeant · Post by **Clone Sergeant** » 2004-06-05 05:34pm

Edit: Sorry, I can't get the links to work right because geoshitties is the worst web host on the planet. Hopefully McC will be able to post the images later tonight.

McC · Post by **McC** » 2004-06-05 07:30pm

As promised

Post by **Vympel** » 2004-06-05 11:49pm

Venator does have a latin meaning. It means hunter. To me, this suggests that the Venator would be a true ship killer, something more fearsome than an Imperator, possibly some sort of battlecruiser or battleship, mounting a goodly number of heavy turbolasers. But perhaps I'm being too optomistic there.

Really? Thanks for that. Lost some faith before that.

Post by **NecronLord** » 2004-06-06 11:43am

Vympel wrote: Really? Thanks for that. Lost some faith before that.

Yup, or at least, so says my Latin Dictionary

McC · Post by **McC** » 2004-06-06 01:01pm

Raises a question, though: where are all the Victory-class ships? Didn't they come out before the end of the Clone War, and form the 'backbone' of the Republic fleet? If they don't show up in Ep III, though, what are the implications of that in terms of the Victory Destroyers? Do they not exist? Are they relegated to a different level of status (perhaps outer patrol ships or something)? Or do we just say, "They weren't there," despite this battle apparently being a very large engagement?

Also, I rather like the idea of the Venator-class ships being enormous "ship killers." It seems very appropriate, given that we're talking about the Clone War compared to the Rebellion which required little more than heavily armed police action.

Post by **NecronLord** » 2004-06-06 01:03pm

We'll keep it. It's unlikely every type of vessel would be deployed at the same battle, though I'm hoping for a few Victories nonetheless.

Alan Bolte · Post by **Alan Bolte** » 2004-06-06 11:05pm

Well, at the scale we're talking about, the Victory might well be a true destroyer, and there might well be a number of dagger vessels smaller than the Venator that have a production name which is never mentioned cannonically and can quietly be changed to Victory for all later documents, and all previous drawings of the Victory assumed to be erroneous. That, I think, is our best-case scenario.

Illuminatus Primus · Post by **Illuminatus Primus** » 2004-06-07 12:58am

The Victory has been called the "Victory-class destroyer" in both The New Essential Guide to Vehicles and a Holonet News article.

Clone Sergeant · Post by **Clone Sergeant** » 2004-06-11 03:16am

The most recent Hyperspace Postnotes has even more details about the space battle, specifically the opening shot.

Here's a run down of the highlights:

-The article says the Confed. ships trying to escape from Coruscant. This makes sense since they have just managed the incredible feat of kidnapping the Supreme Chancellor. They no doubt wish to get away before the Republic fleet can bring enough force to bear to block their retreat. Unfortunately, a considerable number of Republic ships have already arrived and have engaged the Seperatist fleet by the film's opening.

-Obi-wan and Anakin's main goal in the battle is to reach the Seperatist cruiser which is holding Palpatine and rescue him, not to engage the enemy fleet and it's fighters.

-Anakin and Obi-wan will fly their fighters in a synchronized fashion, matching each others movements in space perfectly. This is supposed to be a way to show how great a team they are, and to make their inevitable split all the more gut-wrenching.

-There was an idea to have the battle taking place so close to Coruscant that ships and fighters were interacting with some sort of planetary radiation shield or some other type of field above the planet. This would have been used as an excuse to show energy bolts with a trail effect like real life machine guns. The fighters' engines would produce a ripple effect behind them as well. Thankfully this idea has so far been left out of the shots.

- The Republic ship model we discussed recently is probably going to be in the film. The Postnotes has pictures of early animatics of the battle and the Venator class(which the model most likely is) shows up several times.

-A Trade Fed. battleship appears in one of the pictures with the Venators and my guess now is that the Venator is much larger than an ISD, and is most likely some sort of cruiser, or battlecrusier. But this is just speculation based on animatic which may change.

-There is a picture that provides a fairly close shot the Venator's guns. It has 4 large turrets on each side of the dorsal hull. The barrels are clearly visible. Unfortunately, the shot is at angle that makes it hard to determine the exact number of barrels. However, the guns do look dissimilar to the ones on the Acclamator class.

-It seems that the Republic and the Separatists are fond of hull paint schemes. One of the Trade Fed. battleships had one in green and all the Republic ships have a Red and gold one that resembles the kind of paint schemes on the Republic gunship along with other Republic ground vehicles.
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More details about the battle also showed up in the latest homing beacon. Here is a list of ideas that were thrown around for so-called "mini-dramas" which play out during the battle. These ideas may or may not show up in the film but do give us an idea of the direction the VFX guys are going.

-Colliding / scraping starships
-Sacrifice ship to break through blockade
-Diving formation of assault frigates to save cruiser from swarm
-Shockwave causing havoc from large explosion of ship
-Shockwave bombs across surface of larger ship causing damage
-Shockwave bomb on droid fighters
-Tractor beams picking up ships to repair / collision
-Pockets of intense debris caused by explosion that heroes fly through
-Reinforcements dropping out of hyperspace to help less-than-fortunate ship
-Launching and docking tri-fighters / clone fighters
-EMP bomb causing loss of power to large ships, out-of-control collision
-Vulture droids landing on large ships and attacking
-Leaking fuel ignited by ship passing
-Combined ray attack
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My only complaint so far is that this Venator class is the only type of Republic ship mentioned or seen so far. I had personally hoped to see a Executor-like, death-dealing, KDY monstronsity appear to educate the Seperatists about the New Order.

I can only hope Lucasfilm simply wishes not reveal all of the ships that will appear in the battle.

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2004-06-11 03:29am

I'd rather not see anything approaching Executor's size or scale, personally.

VT-16 · Post by **VT-16** » 2004-06-11 07:12am

I had personally hoped to see a Executor-like, death-dealing, KDY monstronsity appear to educate the Seperatists about the New Order.

*fapfapfapfapfap*

this Venator class is the only type of Republic ship mentioned or seen so far.

There is said to be multiple classes from each fleet, possibly one or two recycled Ralph McQuarrie designs on the Republic side.

Clone Sergeant · Post by **Clone Sergeant** » 2004-06-11 01:53pm

VT-16 wrote:*fapfapfapfapfap*

It seems my humor is lost on you, but it doesn't make my point any less valid. Is it unreasonable to expect the Republic to send at least one of it's more powerful vessels to defend it's capital planet? And secondly, The Seperatist fleet has a large vessel providing the backbone of their fleet's strength. Given what we know about Star Wars weapon technology, the Republic fleet would be at a distinct disadvantage if it doesn't have a vessel of comparable strength as well.

VT-16 wrote:There is said to be multiple classes from each fleet, possibly one or two recycled Ralph McQuarrie designs on the Republic side.

Where exactly have these "multiple classes" been mentioned? I would love a quote from or a link to these reports. Also based on what I've seen the Ralph Quarrie designs have been used for the Seperatist fleet. Nothing released so far in Hyperspace or elsewhere that I've read has said anything one way or another about the composition of the Republic fleet in the film.

McC · Post by **McC** » 2004-06-11 07:51pm

Hyperspace has posted a few pics from the opening battle animatic. The images I posted earlier are in fact the Republic cruisers/destroyers/whatevertheyare.

EDIT: Nevermind. Just realized that this info was already posted. *sigh*

EDIT 2:

There is a picture that provides a fairly close shot the Venator's guns. It has 4 large turrets on each side of the dorsal hull. The barrels are clearly visible. Unfortunately, the shot is at angle that makes it hard to determine the exact number of barrels. However, the guns do look dissimilar to the ones on the Acclamator class.

Each turret has two guns. You can make it out on the back turret.

Post by **Vympel** » 2004-06-12 04:45am

Illuminatus Primus wrote:The Victory has been called the "Victory-class destroyer" in both The New Essential Guide to Vehicles and a Holonet News article.

And Star Wars: Rebellion as well (the game).

EMP bomb causing loss of power to large ships, out-of-control collision

An ion cannon effect?

No chance of us not getting to see these pics by not getting them to our email?

VT-16 · Post by **VT-16** » 2004-06-12 05:20am

Clone Sergeant wrote: It seems my humor is lost on you.

That wasn´t humor, that was fan-wankery. The

-smiley only made it all the more apparent.

Is it unreasonable to expect the Republic to send at least one of it's more powerful vessels to defend it's capital planet?

But, the thing is, we´ve got no reason to believe the Republic even HAS Executor-like capital ships. This Venator-class sounds bigger then the Imperial-class and that´s fine. It´s just a bit silly to come up with a huge ship in Ep. III only to showcase another, similar class in Ep. V. Instead of "Holy shit, that thing is huuuuge!" in ESB, we´d get "Oh, been there, done that. Whatever..." Let the Executor-class be "special". For all we know, the "Separatist Flag Ship" could be a precursor to the Executors. Maybe even what prompted the Empire to create ships like that, just to be sure they wouldn´t be overwhelmed again.

Where exactly have these "multiple classes" been mentioned?

Can´t find them, and I´ve gone over several sites. Maybe it was at TFN. "OMG I HERD THERES LOADS OF DIFFERENT SHIPS IN EP. iii IS THISS TRU???++"

You know the drill.