- Gore Verbinski
First, I want to wish everyone a happy Easter. And secondly, while it is something that is more or less unrelated to the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, it may still interest some fans...
Light & Magic Season 2[]
I logged onto my Disney+ account recently, and imagine my surprise that the second season of Light & Magic released, though not entirely unexpected, given the significant role Industrial Light & Magic had in the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy alone. While we do see a shot or two of the films in season 1, namely Bill Nighy as Davy Jones, there have been very little-to-no references to the franchise. Well, other than a few familiar faces and names from the company here and there, but we'll get to that later.
As covered by most sources, namely StarWars.com, ILM.com, and of course The Walt Disney Company, Disney+ has released the trailer and poster for season 2 of Light & Magic, which were both unveiled at Star Wars Celebration in Japan. The acclaimed documentary series from Lucasfilm and Imagine Entertainment explores the continuing legacy of Industrial Light & Magic, now celebrating its 50th anniversary, as it enters its most challenging and revolutionary period: the dawn of digital. From creating the first fully realized CG character to solving the challenge of digital water, it is an era that finds ILM scaling new heights of innovation despite dramatic setbacks.
Among the first group hired at ILM in 1975, Joe Johnston began his career as a storyboard artist and concept designer on the original Star Wars trilogy, and later went to the University of Southern California film school under George Lucas' sponsorship before embarking a successful career as a director. Years later, after veteran screenwriter and filmmaker Lawrence Kasdan directed Light & Magic Season 1, Johnston was given the opportunity to pick up the story for Season 2, his directorial debut in the documentary medium. This season would chiefly center around the production of the Star Wars prequel trilogy, The Phantom Menace (1999), Attack of the Clones (2002), and Revenge of the Sith (2005). Surrounding these Lucasfilm productions were a bevy of groundbreaking achievements for client productions as varied as environmental effects and a fully-animated feature with Rango (2011).
Season 2 Episode 3 "There's No Going Back" is particularly notable for Pirates fans. In addition to interviewing Lucas, Johnston chose director Gore Verbinski as one of Light & Magic Season 2's other filmmaker interview subjects. Verbinski collaborated with ILM on a watershed string of features, including the first three Pirates films and Rango, as well as the process he dubbed "emotion capture". "The Pirates films that he directed were interesting because ILM had to keep besting themselves, and Gore tells that story quite well." Other interviewees include John Knoll (Visual Effects Supervisor), Hal Hickel (Animation Supervisor), Polly Ing (CG Sequence Supervisor), and Lorne Peterson (Model Shop Supervisor), who have appeared throughout the two seasons. Not to mention some behind-the-scenes footage that may be entirely new to Pirates fans, as there are even clips of Bill Nighy in his "Davy Jones" gray CGI reference pajamas in Dead Man's Chest and At World's End that isn't on any of the various home video releases, as well as details about the cursed skeletons in The Curse of the Black Pearl and the climactic Maelstrom sequence with "the largest blue screen ever" (according to Knoll) in At World's End.
All three parts of Light & Magic Season 2 are now streaming, exclusively on Disney+.
ETA:
Almost two weeks after the episodes aired, it seems they were willing to share a clips of the episode their social media, including Facebook, Twitter/X, and Instagram, which focuses on Bill Nighy as Davy Jones.
PotC Wiki coverage?[]
Now, here's where things may get wishy-washy, loosey-goosey, or whatever...How does POTC Wiki cover this? Well, dear reader and potential editor, that is more or less complicated. While it would make sense to cover every detail, the only certain point is that Bill Nighy as Davy Jones appeared in every episode via title card and/or a small reference clip. On that note, it would make sense to have an article about the show overall, which we do have. But regarding individual episodes, one may take the approach by Star Wars Wiki aka Wookieepedia on Behind the Attraction, where the main-focused episode is the article-to-be. Of course, that may depend on whether or not the matter is discussed further amongst the community.
To end on a better note, Happy Easter once again, and if by chance I don't end up posting a blog in May, Happy early May the Fourth be with you Har har! And that be all for the latest news...unless I missed something. If you have not already watched Light & Magic, are you going to watch it now? Or are you not interested in Light & Magic in the least? Please comment below!