Hey folks, Harry here... On December 14th, 2000 I received the email you'll find at the bottom of the page from a source purporting to be coming from within ILM. However, I had no way to confirm it, as internal screenings within the Lucasfilm Empire are extremely hush hush. So I decided to just bury the report pending confirmation. However, today I got an email about a story that appeared on IMDB that came originally from StarWars.Com from Mason:

Star Wars To Be Fleshed Out

George Lucas and editor Ben Burtt have completed a rough-cut version of Star Wars: Episode II Click Here , running about two hours long, Lucasfilm said in a statement reported on its Star Wars site Friday. The statement quoted producer Rick McCallum as saying that he has gone through several "emotional stages" while reviewing the preliminary film. "At times, you have to face the truth of what you didn't get and what you hoped for," McCallum said. "The second stage is that you're amazed by all the things you did get that you didn't even think you got. And then the third stage is that you see certain things are infinitely better than you could have even imagined." McCallum says that Lucas recently screened the first half of the film to the special-effects team at Industrial Light & Magic. "It's the first time George has gone through every single scene," McCallum remarked. "ILM is ready to pounce on this."

Now, the weird bit of confusion is where McCallum is saying that George screened the first half of the film... but then goes on to say that it is the first time George went through every single scene.... Hmmmm.... Well, the original December 14th report I got in painted a similar picture but saying the actual time length of the cut at 2 1/2 hours. Is EPISODE 2 in dire trouble right now? Well, you have to understand first that George Lucas works in a very odd sort of filmmaking manner. He doesn't do it like regular filmmakers.... This is an extreme... almost ANIMATED FILM rough draft. Some characters are not even on camera to deliver their lines... and so much of the film is a work of blue screen that it is hard to discern any real sense of quality at this point... I have heard rumblings that there might be a delay in release for the film, but... as it is, ILM has over a year and a half to finish EPISODE II, so we'll just have to wait and see.... It is interesting that McCallum is acknowledging the disappointment at how the screening went... at least they are not in denial, I hope they pull it off.... here is Anon....