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March 16  1999

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Star Wars unites Netizens

NUA Internet Surveys in Dublin estimates that more than 150 million people are connected to the Internet. Evidence suggests those people use the medium for about 150 million different reasons.

One thing that probably united thousands of Web surfers in a common use at the weekend, though, was the release of the second trailer to the much-anticipated new film, Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. The trailer is available in the QuickTime video format and runs for two minutes 30 seconds. To download it, users have to be able to cope with a bandwidth-busting 20Mb-plus file.

But the hour to two-hour equivalent of watching grass grow while the file downloads ends up revealing a fantastic little video, full of action and sci-fi adventure. It also reveals the power of cyber-marketing which the movie's makers, Lucas Films, has decided is the best use it can find for the medium.

The makers of South Park have also decided that Lucas Films' use of the Net is a good one. They have ridden in Star Wars' slipstream and made a funny spoof called Park Wars, which is a 14Mb file download and is available at the Aarnet Australian mirror site right in with the real Star Wars trailer.

The real Star Wars trailer was released on the Web the day before it was shown in US cinemas, another first for the medium. Lucas Films has hit on a formula that is bound to make the Phantom Menace one of the box office successes of the year when it is finally shown. Net users consistently make the original 1977 Star Wars film one of the most popular releases at the Internet Movie Database. At the weekend it was number three behind the Shawshank Redemption and the Godfather, with an average score of 8.4 out of 10. But it had attracted by far the biggest number of voters; evidence for Lucas Films of potential massive drawing power.

The global newsgatherers at the Associated Press inadvertently found a new use for the Net last Friday. The General Electric communications satellite which AP uses to direct its news to thousands of customers spun out of control, briefly disrupting transmission. There was no news blackout in the 50 minutes that followed the spin-out though. Service to member newspapers and radio and TV stations was provided via the Web while the satellite problem was being fixed.

Not everyone can find such great uses for the Net as Lucas Films and AP, however. Take the case of Germaine Greer. The author of the Female Eunuch and now Whole Woman was asked to write about her Net experiences by the Guardian newspaper in London to help promote its redesigned sites in January.

Instead of waxing lyrical about what a wonderful, helpful medium it was, Dr Greer had this to say:

"I have to be in favour of the Internet because I'm in favour of the free exchange of information, but 95 per cent of what is on it is wrong, three per cent is criminal and the other two per cent is useful, if of course you can find it."

Harrumph.

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