1999

• - January 6th - Lucas says no to episodes VII, VIII and IX.

  The Great Beard tells Vanity Fair he won't be doing any sequels. Ain't It Cool News runs the opening sentence of the scroll text from the start of the movie. Harry Knowles is confined to bath of ice on doctor's orders to prevent him 'sploding with excitement.

• - March 11th - Second trailer hits the web.

  In a real-world retcon, the first trailer is renamed a teaser, to distinguish it from the new, longer trailer. A 20th Century Fox spokeswoman says, "This is all new footage. The first was from the little boy Anakin Skywalker's point of view. This is more focused on the storyline." The Lucasfilm servers cope this time.

  It's big and exciting but check out the variety of weird accents on display - Natalie Portman's odd delivery, Ewan McGregor reading his lines like they're ingredients on a cereal packet and, oh dear, we get to hear Jar-Jar's not at all racially offensive pidgin speak - "you sez people gunna die?" Some people feel the first flutterings of panic.


The "proper" full trailer.

• - March 25th - Ticket restrictions announced.

  To discourage scalping, Fox decide not to allow advance bookings. It doesn't occur to them that this will result in people flying across the Atlantic and pitching tents outside cinemas in week long queues for the first tickets. Because that'd be nuts... right? Lucas eventually relents and allows tickets to go on sale on May 14th, with a limit of twelve per customer. Scalps still make a killing.

• - April 6th - Uh-oh: part 1.

  Ewan McGregor, on the publicity trail for the film, suddenly breaks ranks. "Quite honestly, after my initial excitement, the film-making process turned out to be the epitome of tedium," he tells the Daily Express. "There was no spontaneity. Your job, as an actor, was just to get it out. I was frowning a lot. It just became a frowning exercise."

• - April 7th - Fox lays down the law.

  Fox insist that the film be shown in only a cinema's largest auditorium for the first two or three months and with no non-movies ads before the film. Also, if a cinema wants to show it on multiple screens, it must remain on all those screens for the entire minimum run. Fox wants cinemas who fail to comply to be fined or to lose the right to show the film at all.

• - April 21st - Novelisation released.

  Terry Brooks novelises Episode I after Lucas feeds him extra tidbits of info. The book contains lots of supplementary material, including three entirely original chapters. This mean that lots of people knew the story before they even saw the film. Must have cost them a few ticket sales.

• - May 3rd - Tickle this, Elmo!

  Toy retailers are able to sell new Phantom Menace toys in the US as of 00:01 EST. Any retailer which breaks this rule will lose their right to sell Star Wars toys forever. Fans queue all day, and shops open at midnight specially. "I personally haven't ever seen anything like this," says Ratana Oleczak, store manager at a Toys R Us store in Milwaukee. "I've heard of things that are hot before, like people standing in line for Furbies and for the Tickle Me Elmo and things like that, but as far as this calibre, no."

• - May 4th - Soundtrack album released.

  John Williams' new score doesn't disappoint. It sells truckloads, with fans queuing to buy it the night before. A track titled 'Duel of the Fates' is released as a sort of single, and for weeks you can't move without hearing it.


John Williams' Duel of the Fates.