Joe Corroney has been illustrating Star Wars artwork for Disney and Lucasfilm and Star Trek artwork for CBS Studios since 1997. Other licenses, studios and professional publishers he has illustrated for include Stranger Things for Netflix, Marvel Comics’ Avengers, Spider-Man, X-Men, DC Comics, Green Lantern, Superman, The Jim Henson Company, Dolby Cinema, Indiana Jones, The Walking Dead, X-Files, Doctor Who, The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, True Blood, GI Joe, Farscape, Firefly, Heroes, The Phantom, Hasbro, Xbox, Sony Pictures, MTV, Random House Publishing/Del Rey Books, Simon & Schuster/Pocket Books, Becker & Mayer! Books, Topps, Titan Publishing, Boom! Studios, Wizards of the Coast, IDG Entertainment, Upper Deck, Rittenhouse Archives, Paizo Publishing, and White Wolf Publishing. Currently, he’s developing his creator owned comic book series, Death Avenger and continues to create new Star Wars artwork for Disney and Lucasfilm. He was also the instructor for the Comic Book Illustration and Digital Illustration courses at the Columbus College of Art and Design in Columbus, Ohio for ten years and has taught the Ohio State University’s Summer Comic Book Workshop. Joe runs a full-time illustration studio and can be commissioned or contracted for work. You can contact him at joe@joecorroney.com . — Bio courtesy JoeCorroney.com (Original posting: May 11, 2004)
Tag: Episode III
Unused Concepts
I normally don’t like to include unused concept ideas in the deleted scenes area, but these ideas from Episode III are just too cool to ignore. Read More
Special Deliveries
Let’s talk about delivering the twins, but more specifically about Luke Skywalker. Padmé delivered Luke (and Leia) on Polis Massa and then Obi-Wan delivered baby Luke to the Lars family on Tatooine.
Rescue and Transformation
It’s true that Anakin Skywalker became Darth Vader before he was badly disfigured on Mustafar, but most people associate Vader with the black suit. That final transformation took place after Palpatine’s search and rescue mission was a success. Vader was rebuilt, and the rest was cinematic history. The shots discussed here are not all full scenes loaded with dialogue, but mostly extra bits from or changes to the existing shots.
Jedi Master Yoda
There’s no doubt that Yoda was one of the greatest Jedi Masters of all time. A lead Council member, instructor and a fierce yet reluctant fighter, he went toe to toe with the most formidable of opponents. Unfortunately, Episode III saw him retreating into exile to bide his time until an opportunity arose to set things right. Let’s take a look at some of Yoda’s deleted shots and scenes.
Meanwhile, Back on Coruscant…
Episode III turned out to be one of the most galaxy-spanning films of the series, mostly due to the fact that the Clone Wars were still happening. It became necessary to show Jedi and other characters at war all over. Our main characters also traveled heavily. Meanwhile, the puppet master and phantom menace himself – the soon to be Emperor Palpatine – was cementing his place of power on Coruscant, the heart of the galaxy. Here are a few more scenes we didn’t get to see concerning Coruscant.
Utapau
The history of the planet Utapau goes all the way back to George Lucas’ original drafts of the first Star Wars film, way back in the early 1970’s. Fans like myself were very pleased to see the planet finally make it into a film after all those years. It went through many phases of development but ended up as a green and swampy planet where some important events take place.
To Mustafar and Back
Much like Tatooine, Mustafar was a seemingly insignificant planet, yet would be the location of galaxy-defining events. Drenched in deep reds and molten imagery, it provided the rich and hell-like backdrop needed for Anakin’s final fall into darkness. Here are some of the deleted scenes that revolve around this crimson planet.
Tainted Love
George Lucas has stated many times that he feels the Prequels are more than just the story of Anakin Skywalker and his fall, but also a true love story, albeit a tainted one. The love between Anakin and Padmé is a rocky one, built upon deceit and hiding from different angles. It’s clear they love each other but there is so much happening so quickly that things were bound to fall apart at the seams. Let’s explore this tainted love story a little more closely through some deleted material.
The Politics of Rebellion
One of the subplots that was just about entirely removed from the final film has to do with the beginnings of what would later be known as The Rebellion (AKA The Rebel Alliance). The seeds of that organization started by Mon Mothma, Bail Organa, Padmé Amidala, and a secret group of other senators were originally supposed to be planted in this film. Three of these scenes can be found on the Episode III DVD. To see them all, all you have to do is pop it in and check them out.
Rescuing Palpatine
You have to hand it to Palpatine. Organizing his own capture and rescue to reinforce his cover as a phantom menace to the galaxy was a stroke of pure evil genius. Poor Dooku probably thought so too until he had two lightsabers criss-crossing his neckline. I’m not sure that even Palpatine foresaw what a troublesome rescue it would be, however. What we saw in the finished film was a trimmed down version. Let’s take a look at some of the deleted/altered bits from the opening space battle to the big crash landing.
Review/Commentary: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
It’s what long time Star Wars fans like myself have looked forward to since the 1980s. It’s what younger fans have looked forward to since experiencing the first two prequels. It’s the culmination of nearly 30 years of hard work and dedication by George Lucas and his various crews and companies. It’s the end of an era and the bittersweet farewell to Star Wars on the silver screen (as far as we know). It is Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith and it is good. In this review/commentary I will tell you my thoughts on the film but I will also address some of the common concerns about Episode III based on reviews I’ve seen and fan gripes I’ve heard. Some are understandable but there are some with which I disagree.
Review: Revenge of the Sith Novelization
It’s become clear that Star Wars has almost become a genre unto itself. There’s drama, romance, sci-fi, horror, fantasy, non-fiction—and then there’s Star Wars. It’s hard to just drop it under Sci-Fi because it’s more of a dramatic space opera than a futuristic fantasy book. That said, the Star Wars brand demands its own classification and one has to embrace a certain stylistic approach to write within that universe. This approach was created by George Lucas but ultimately expanded to include outside influences. All these styles combined make up this Star Wars genre and Matthew Stover’s adaptation of Revenge of the Sith quite handsomely takes them all and puts forth a cohesive and compelling novel which bridges many gaps in the saga’s timelines.
The Secret of the Sith
This editorial was written before the release of Episode III.
Hiding, keeping secrets, duping people, duality—these are all themes that are at the forefront of the Star Wars saga. Padmé poses as a handmaiden and vice versa multiple times, Anakin and Padmé’s marriage is kept secret from pretty much everyone, the Sith hide in the shadows refining their evil machinations, Obi-Wan and Yoda hide themselves away on separate planets for years after Episode III, the Skywalker twins are separated and hidden at birth, Count Dooku is actually Darth Tyranus, the seemingly innocent Palpatine is actually an alter ego for an evil Sith Lord who will reveal himself for who he is and take over the galaxy as an Emperor—but is that last statement entirely true? Does he actually reveal himself or is it all about keeping things secret?