SuperShadow

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The main page of supershadow.com
Enlarge
The main page of supershadow.com

SuperShadow is the Internet alias of Mickey Suttle, a passionate Star Wars fan, who posts Star Wars news, images and FAQs on his website, www.supershadow.com. His claims, most notably that he is a friend of George Lucas and that he possesses advance copies of screenplays, have made him a controversial figure among Internet Star Wars fans.

Contents

[edit] Lucasfilm response

In issue #90 (Nov-Dec 2006) of the Star Wars Insider, Lucasfilm's Pablo Hidalgo stated in response to a question about Supershadow:

"The site, and the person who runs it, have absolutely no relationship with Lucasfilm or George Lucas. The person who runs it has never met nor talked to George Lucas. So-called information, 'scoops', and interviews on the site are complete fabrications. Lucasfilm has taken action against the site several times when it has attempted to solicit fans' money under false pretenses."

[edit] SuperShadow.com

SuperShadow's website first appeared during the production of Star Wars Episode I. He released "exclusive" information and claimed to be an Industrial Light and Magic employee and personal friend of George Lucas. After one day, the following disclaimer appeared:

This web site has no association with Lucasfilm. SuperShadow.com is a fan operated web site that makes no claims as to the copyrights held by Lucasfilm regarding Star Wars. Star Wars, its characters and all related items are copyright Lucasfilm.

Some have assumed that an actual Lucasfilm employee was made aware of the site, and threatened Suttle with legal action. To this day Suttle still claims to be a friend of George Lucas and a consultant employed by Lucasfilm.

He continued posting what he claimed was news about the new films, all of which turned out to be false — the only exception being the reposting of confirmed news stories which had already appeared on other websites. He again attracted controversy when he claimed to be in possession of the script for Star Wars Episode II, despite the fact that George Lucas had not finished writing it at the time. SuperShadow's source was "Brad Bender, head of Lucasfilm Internet Relations." It was soon discovered that there has never been a Brad Bender employed by Lucasfilm. To further fans' doubts, Episode II lacked any seeming similarities to SuperShadow's version of the story. In response to these doubts, he claimed that he'd received a "rough draft" script.

SuperShadow claimed to have read in advance the script for Episode III, but could not post any information about it due to copyright law. After enough spoiler information had been released about Episode III to cobble together a basic plot, he posted what he claimed to be the script, which contained only a brief rundown of each scene and no dialogue.

After originally claiming the title of the third prequel (Revenge of the Sith) would be released in late 2004, SuperShadow claimed that Lucasfilm released the title earlier than expected (July instead of November) because one of his readers had successfully guessed it.

On October 1, 2005, Suttle claimed that he had been hired by Lucas for help as a "high paid consultant" regarding future projects, including Indiana Jones 4. He claimed to have a ten year contract to help create the scripts (which he has already stated he was working on) and the films, and would be paid an annual salary of $522,924, along with food vouchers, fully paid gym privileges, as well as fully paid health care and housing.

[edit] Identity

The only biographical details on the website are as follows:

"As you would expect, all information regarding SuperShadow is above top secret (classified at the highest level). Mysteriously and very enigmatically, nothing is known about SuperShadow except that SS is very close, personal friends with George Lucas, the creator of Star Wars. SuperShadow is legendary for revealing the plot scripts to Star Wars Episode 1, 2 and 3 many years prior to their theatrical release. Currently, SS is employed by Lucasfilm as a high-paid consultant related to future Star Wars and Indiana Jones projects."

A WHOIS search shows that supershadow.com is owned by Mickey Suttle, of Hickory, North Carolina. However, some belive that Mickey Suttle may also be an alias. Repeated efforts of contact have been unsucsessful.

Suttle also owns supershadows.com, jamescameron.net, ridleyscott.net, darthrage.com, generalgrievous.net, and princessleia1.com. All of these domains redirect to www.supershadow.com. He also owns SirSteveGuide.com, similar to the Star Wars collecting site SirStevesGuide.com, and it too redirects to www.supershadow.com.

[edit] Supershadow Creations

Supershadow has posted many types of Star Wars information and lists on his website; however, all of his independent creations have been debunked as fraudulent by representatives of Lucasfilm.

[edit] SuperShadow's Q&A

Despite the controversy, SuperShadow has apparently attracted a legion of fans who send him their questions, which he answers on his website every day or so. Some have speculated that he writes these questions himself, posing them as fan inquiries. These questions pertain to Star Wars history, trivia, and upcoming movies. They appear on the index page of his site, with the answers in bold text following the questions. Example:

O.K., SS, you promised a long, long time ago and now you must tell us the real Episode III title. Finally someone guessed so speak! Great site and congratulations from Canary Islands, Spain. (SuperShadow: Wish I could, but I just promised Lucas a few days ago that I would not reveal the actual title for Episode 3. The Episode 3 title will be announced on www.starwars.com in November-December 2004.)

SuperShadow's detractors contend that he routinely contradicts himself, citing the following example:

Can you tell us who trained Palpatine? (SuperShadow: Darth Imperius was the master of Darth Sidious/Palpatine) Thankyou Master Shadow, this site is DA BOMB! (SuperShadow: Everyone says so.)

However, that same day, SuperShadow posted some "spoilers" for Episode III which included this apparent quote from the movie:

"Darth Plagueis was my master. He taught me the key to his power," Palpatine said. Suddenly, Palpatine's voice turned cold, and old: "...before I killed him."

[edit] "Interviews"

In February 2005, SuperShadow claimed that he had spent a few days at Skywalker Ranch working with Lucas editing Episode III, listing a detailed hour by hour journal of all the things they supposedly accomplished. He claimed Lucas would consult him on many aspects of the film's contents. Around March-April 2005, his website began posting supposed interviews with several of the Episode III actors, as well as Lucas himself. On many occasions, when answering questions submitted by fans, "Lucas" would praise SuperShadow for his input regarding production, plot ideas, and even the future episodes of Star Wars. He claimed Supershadow had a huge part in planning the prequels, from script ideas to being an extra in the movies.

However, no name resembling Suttle or the alias "SuperShadow" appear on any of the prequel movie credits. When a comment was submitted to his website about proper credit credentials, Suttle did not answer.

Just before the release of Revenge of the Sith, SuperShadow released another interview with "Lucas" again answering questions that fans had submitted. After the mention of the sequel trilogy, Lucas said:

"George Lucas: Whether Episode 7 ever gets made is up to the fans. If Revenge of the Sith is the biggest hit film in 2005, then we will move forward with Episode 7. If the fans let me down and Revenge of the Sith is not as successful as I would like, then we will close the door on the Star Wars films. Box-office failure will prove that there is no longer sufficient interest in Star Wars to justify making yet another trilogy."

Supershadow's "Lucas" interview also stated that Lucas would leave the production of any additional Star Wars films to his children and to SuperShadow.

Do you really want to make Episodes 7, 8 and 9?
George Lucas: "Absolutely not. I'm finished making Star Wars films. However, Shadow wants to continue making them. It will take perfect conditions for me to green light the next trilogy. First, Revenge of the Sith will have to be the biggest box-office hit of 2005. Second, the Star Wars TV shows will have to be produced and ready for broadcast. Finally, I will need a five year break before I even come close to considering working on Episode 7. Let's be honest. Episode 7 may never happen. If it happens, you will all have Shadow to thank for it. He is the driving force behind Star Wars. I decided to make Star Wars TV shows based on ideas formulated by Shadow. He is a very brilliant and clever guy. I owe him so much."

On May 25, 2005, SuperShadow.com was defaced by an online forum group called g00ns. The group sharply criticized the content of the website:

"This site was defaced by www.g00ns.com.
We have grown tired of this site's bullshit, everything on this site is a lie, SuperShadow is not affiliated with George Lucas in anyway. Stop lying to these naive Star Wars fans, you are not a friend of George Lucas, you don't even know the guy. You don't have access to any scripts that aren't already public. And one last thing, you are not going to produce the next trilogy, so stop the bullshit."

[edit] Star Wars sequel trilogy

SuperShadow claims to possess the scripts, or at least the outlines, for Episodes VII, VIII and IX of Star Wars, supposedly involving an army of Dark Jedi on rocketpacks, a superweapon which creates black holes, and characters fighting clones of each other. He also claims that the sequel trilogy will not be made by Lucasfilm, but by SuperShadow himself, and the fans who support his website.

SuperShadow claims that these scripts have been written by George Lucas, even though the creator of Star Wars has said many times that Revenge of the Sith was the final Star Wars film.

[edit] The Star Wars TV Series

In response to an October 2, 2005 question by a fan about the two upcoming Star Wars TV series (the animated Star Wars: Clone Wars and the live-action series), SuperShadow responded that "I have been given full control over the Star Wars TV shows. Expect greatness."

[edit] Other lists and information

  • Most powerful Jedi Knights & Sith Lords
A ranking system containing characters from the Star Wars movies, the Expanded Universe, and others which appear nowhere except SuperShadow.com. Suttle claims that these characters correspond with George Lucas's "vision" of Star Wars, even though most do not have published stories or profiles on StarWars.com.
  • History of the Jedi & Sith
An exhaustive history of the Jedi Knights and their enemies, the Sith. Much of this information can be found nowhere else except SuperShadow.com.
  • Midichlorian list
SuperShadow claims to have invented the concept of midichlorians, and has compiled a list of each character and their midichlorian count. Most of these characters are not recognised by Lucasfilm and, again, only appear on SuperShadow.com. Interestingly, General Grievous is listed as having a midichlorian count of 11,900 (the average Jedi is listed at 10K), although he displays no Force-powers in the movies, or in any other licensed Star Wars material. It was also stated in the official Star Wars guides that Grievous had no Force powers.
  • History of Star Wars
A chronology of the Star Wars phenomenon, starting in 1974 with the release of George Lucas's second film, American Graffiti. For a long time, in the text of the page, "Star Wars" was always highlighted in blue and "History" in yellow, making it look like SuperShadow typed "Star Wars + History" into a search engine and copied the result. Eventually the section was edited and it no longer contains these highlighted words.
  • Star Wars fan fiction
SuperShadow's readers send in their own stories, which he posts. The section is mostly concerned with Episode III fanscripts.
  • SuperShadow's Episode III Cameo
SuperShadow claims to have a cameo in Episode III as Jedi Knight "Nebar Foxis." In the "Brief History of the Jedi and Sith" posted on his site, "Nebar Foxis" is described as "the best looking male Jedi of his time." He claimed that to protect his real identity, Nebar Foxis would be credited to "Shadow". Although SuperShadow claimed that he could be briefly seen in the hologram security scene, neither the name Shadow nor Nebar Foxis were listed in the movie credits.
SS, where were you in the Revenge of the Sith movie? I have seen it 3 times and I still haven't seen you. Did Lucas cut out your scene? If so, maybe Episode 7. (SuperShadow: Nebar Foxis is there. Carefully look at the hologram security footage of Anakin killing Jedi at the Jedi Temple. You can briefly see Anakin mow down Foxis.)
Lucasfilm's Pablo Hidalgo officially debunked these claims in an issue of the Star Wars Insider. The character Suttle claims is "Foxis" is in fact Cin Drallig, played by Nick Gillard.

[edit] SuperShadow's filmography

SuperShadow claims to be one of the world's premier documentary film makers, specializing in films about the paranormal, cryptozoology and extraterrestrials. The site lists about two dozen documentaries, none of which are referenced outside of SuperShadow.com.

[edit] SuperShadow's "girlfriend"

At one time SuperShadow had posted numerous glamour photos of a woman he claimed was his girlfriend [1]. In January 2006, it was discovered that the images were of a woman named Lauren, and had been taken from the public section of Bullz-Eye.com[2], a subscription-based bikini model website. The images had been noticeably edited to smudge out the copyright owner information and date.

In April 2006, he removed the picture gallery of Lauren and replaced it with a previous lingerie model picture [3] which had been a fixture of the site for years, as well as a new link to a page of "SuperShadow's Girlfriends wearing the Princess Leia bikini from Return of the Jedi". This gallery was a collection of random female fans wearing home-made "slave Leia" outfits at fan conventions or Star Wars-themed parties. The first photo showed a male Star Wars fan standing next to the woman in a slave Leia costume, with his face photoshopped out. In reality, it was Jonathan L. Bowen, a fan who attended Star Wars Celebration 3 [4]. All the pictures appeared to be lifted from other sites, such as Kerri Valkova's costume page or Leia's Metal Bikini.

In late 2003, SuperShadow posted photos of blogger Nikita Kashner, claiming her name was "Amber Castlerose" and that she was his new girlfriend [5]. Once Kashner became aware of the situation that December, she posted her thoughts on the subject, making fun of SuperShadow by saying "yes, and I have a pet dinosaur made out of gold in my backyard, that eats spoons."

In June 2006, all pictures were removed from the "Girlfriend" page, with no explanation. [6] The page later forwarded back to the main Supershadow page, though a link still remained in the site's sidebar. By August, the original lingerie model "Girlfriend" image was restored.

In September 2006, the link changed to "SuperShadow's friend", though the link still went to the same picture and label as above. By September 18, the link read "SuperShadow's Hot G-Friend".

He has also been noted to have one of the fanmade desktop wallpapers directly from RabitTooth.com. This was the Leia Organa Solo wallpaper, featuring her, once again, in her famous Jabba Slave Bikini. He provides no credit to the site, which explicitly requires such if any of its images are to be used elsewhere.

[edit] Current Status of SuperShadow.com

SuperShadow.com has had problems staying online, although it is hard to tell whether this is due to hacker attacks, or hosting provider troubles. Hackers have made a frequent target of the site, and some of the offline times have been marked by "suspended account" redirects. It is rumored that Supershadow.com is maintained by other people besides Suttle.

In May 2006, SuperShadow introduced a PayPal link to his page, stating that Your donation makes you an official member of SuperShadow.com. He also began selling merchandise with the site's logo on it, but the link to PayPal and his online store were later removed.

Over the summer of 2006, there were no new updates or "interviews" posted on the site, only recycled news from 2005, as evidenced by dated references to Revenge of the Sith playing in theaters.

In September 2006, SuperShadow resumed his "interviews," with "George Lucas" allegedly answering fan questions. He now marks these sections with an asterisk.

[edit] Sources

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../s/u/p/SuperShadow_d10c.html"
In other languages