Wookieepedia:April Fools' Day 2012/Dave Filoni

"Canon? You're in Dave Filoni's World now, people."

- IGN praises Filoni's attempts to replace the current canon with his fanon.

Dave Filoni, also known by his online handle SuperShadow, is the director of the Star Wars: The Clone Wars feature film, and the supervising director of the Star Wars: The Clone Wars TV series. Never intending to become an actor in the series, he provided a voiced bit part for Embo, a character that was intended to be killed off at the end of the seventeenth episode of the second season, Bounty Hunters. However, due to the popularity of the character, the episode was re-shot, allowing Embo to live with the potential to resurface later.

Life
"I always get worried about disrupting continuity. I seem to get blamed for that a lot."

- Dave Filoni

Filoni grew up in Mt. Lebanon, Pennsylvania. While attending Mt. Lebanon High School, Filoni was in the school's marching band as well as player goaltender for the hockey team. He went on to attend Edinboro University. At some point in his life, he began the website SuperShadow.com and hid behind the guise of a blond-haired nerd. His fanon articles would be praised by thousands and scorned by others, including those at the Star Wars wiki Wookieepedia. Upon interacting with George Lucas as the forthcoming director of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Filoni's dream to create his own canon came true.

SuperShadow.com
The SuperShadow website first appeared during the production of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. He released "exclusive" information and claimed to be an Industrial Light & Magic employee and friend of George Lucas. One day later, 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." To this day, Suttle still says he is friends with George Lucas, but he no longer claims to be employed by him or have any "official" connection to Star Wars.

He continued posting "news", which turned out to be fake with the exception of stories that appeared on other websites earlier in the day. He attracted controversy again when he claimed to be in possession of the script for Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, even though George Lucas had not finished writing it at the time. SuperShadow's source was "Brad Bender, head of Lucasfilm Internet Relations". There has never been a Brad Bender employed by Lucasfilm, but this was all made academic when Episode II turned out to be nothing like SuperShadow's version of the story. His excuse was that the script he'd received was a "Rough Draft". SuperShadow claimed that he had read the script for Episode III, but could not post any information about it due to copyright restrictions. After enough spoiler information had been released about Episode III to cobble together some kind of basic plot, he posted what he claimed to be the script&mdash;it contains only a brief rundown of each scene and no dialogue. He also claims that Lucasfilm released the title "Revenge of the Sith" earlier than expected (July instead of November) because one of his readers had successfully guessed it.

During a Q&A session with fans in February 2008, Shadow claimed that he and Lucas met during the 1990's. According to Shadow, Lucas saw one of his documentaries on extraterrestrials, and was so impressed that he contacted Shadow, beginning their "friendship". "

At the very least, Shadow seems to have admitted he is from North Carolina, or at least has ties to the area. During the 2007 NCAA Basketball tournament, Shadow mentioned how "his" University of North Carolina Tarheels were going up against "Lucas's" USC Trojans.

SuperShadow's Q&A
SuperShadow has attracted a legion of fans who send him their questions, which he answers on his website every day or so. These questions pertain to Star Wars history, trivia, and the upcoming movies. These appear on the index page of his site, with the answers in bold text following the questions. An 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.)" Suttle often contradicts himself. For example, originally he claimed that Darth Imperius (a character that does not exist in Star Wars canon) was Darth Sidious's Sith master. Then SuperShadow posted some so-called spoilers for Episode III, which include 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."

This was only half correct because in the final version of Episode III, Palpatine did not explicitly state he killed his master, but that he referred to himself in the third person without revealing who he was. The quote is actually from the novelization of Revenge of the Sith, and was originally posted on millenniumfalcon.com. Regardless, the master was Plagueis, not Imperius.

On March 28, 2005, it appeared that his website was suspended, although it stated "for billing purposes". However, he soon returned.

On March 5, 2008, under The George Lucas Questions and answers, the following conversation was posted "George, I've got an excellent proposition for you and your only true friend SuperShadow. Here's my plan: You orchestrate your immense fame and wealth to become the world tyrant over every nation of Earth. You would establish one religion, one government, one economy and so forth. This is not borrowed from the biblical ends times as you might at first surmise. This is something new and much more bold. My original concept does not involve any pacts with demonic entities or enlightened creatures of any kind.

Furthermore, you would round up and capture the unlimited number of Russian and Chinese spies, which infest the United States and Western Europe. The ones SS is always referring to. Obviously, SS would be your second in command and I'd be third since it's based on my brilliant schemes.

After you've conquered the world, you would set up bases on Venus and Saturn. You'd give us all flying UFO cars and robots that look better than super models. You're the only person capable of making it work flawlessly. Please consider this seriously. The planet needs you more than ever. God bless, praise Jesus and access the Holy Spirit!"

"George Lucas" then responded as the following:

"George Lucas: Shadow and I sometimes spend time discussing the events portrayed in the Book of Revelation from Christianity. It's intriguing to wonder if the Anti-Christ and the False Prophet are alive today. What would they be doing right now? More importantly, why are they waiting, what seems like forever, to initiate their grand plot of global control?

Many of you are probably laughing uncontrollably about now because it does seem extremely silly and far fetched. Yet I have to admit I have the characteristics and skills necessary to rule the entire world. There is so much good I could bring to everyone. I could bring a new world order for mankind that would be beyond description.

However, it's not realistic to dream of such things. There is no one here amongst us who is smart enough to take over civilization. Granted someone from an extremely advanced extraterrestrial species would have the necessary genius to establish what you offer to me, but it's impossible for such entities from outside our solar system to be real. There will never be a united world. It's not going to happen. Thanks for having such a positive outlook on life. I wish you well because you are a fantastic person."

Also, on his Q&A, SuperShadow often tells fans that their ideas are "gold, excellent" and they will be forwarded to Lucas.

Star Wars sequel trilogies
SuperShadow claims to possess the scripts, or at least the outlines, for Episodes VII, VIII and IX of Star Wars. These involve an army of Dark Jedi on rocketpacks, a superweapon which creates black holes, and characters fighting clones of each other. There is a "preview script of episode 7" where Han Solo and Leia Organa's child teams up with Luke Skywalker and Mara Jade's child Ben Skywalker to fight Dark Jedi at the age of 2 according to the supplied timeline. SuperShadow also claims that the sequel trilogy will not be made by Lucasfilm, but by SuperShadow himself, and the fans that support his website. He has specified that the shooting will begin in 2014, and he receives and posts many comments about it. (Recently, however, it was said in the "Lucas" Q&A that SuperShadow chose not to direct the sequels, delegating Episodes 7-9 to Ridley Scott, Peter Jackson and James Cameron respectively.) His episodes 7-9 are titled "The Hidden Circle", "The Republic in Crisis" and "Victory of the Force". SuperShadow claims these scripts have been written by George Lucas, even though Lucas himself has said many times that Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith will be the final Star Wars film. It can be noted that on the sequel trilogy "scripts" on his site, several Star Wars related words are spelled incorrectly. Some examples of misspelled words are kyber (kaiburr), and light-saber (lightsaber).

Recently, SuperShadow has announced another sequel trilogy, consisting of Episodes X, XI and XII. He claims that R2-D2 and C-3PO won't be appearing in the trilogy. The main enemy of the second sequel trilogy is supposed to be the ultimate evil, the "Raverons".

SuperShadow also claims the sequels will feature a battle between an aged Mace Windu and Boba Fett, where Fett "finally gets his revenge" against Windu for the death of his father. This, however, would be impossible, as Windu is canonically dead. However, SuperShadow insists that Windu survived both Palpatine's Force lightning attack and the subsequent fall from his office window, and went into hiding.

The two Star Wars TV series
In response to a question posted on October 2, 2005 by a fan about the two 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."

Most powerful Jedi Knights and Sith Lords
There is a ranking system on the website that contains 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 and Sith
An exhaustive history of the Jedi Knights and their enemies, the Sith. Very little of it has canon to back it up.

Midi-chlorian list
SuperShadow claims to have invented the concept of midi-chlorians, and has compiled a list of each character and their midi-chlorian count. Most of these characters are not recognized by Lucasfilm and only appear on SuperShadow.com.

He has said that General Grievous, who is not Force-sensitive, has many midi-chlorians. He also once claimed Wicket W. Warrick has a -1 midi-chlorian count.

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 "Interviews"
Also on his home page he has falsified interviews that are supposedly with actors Ewan McGregor, Samuel L. Jackson, Natalie Portman, and many others.

SuperShadow's filmography
This page claims that "SuperShadow is one of the world's premier documentary film makers, although none of his films have been found by SS, or Anti-SS, Fans. SuperShadow specializes in films about the paranormal, cryptozoology and extraterrestrials", and lists about two dozen documentaries, none of which exist outside of SuperShadow.com.

SuperShadow's girlfriend
SuperShadow has posted numerous glamour photos of women he claims are his girlfriend(s). As of January 2006, the images are taken from the public section of Bullz-Eye.com, a subscription-based bikini model website, of a woman named Lauren. The images have been noticeably edited to smudge out the copyright owner information and date.

As of April 2006, he removed the picture gallery of Lauren and replaced it with the previous lingerie model picture as well as a link to a page of "SuperShadow's Girlfriends wearing the Princess Leia bikini from Return of the Jedi" which appears to be a gallery of random female fans wearing homemade "slave Leia" outfits at fan conventions or Star Wars themed parties. The first photo shows a male Star Wars fan standing next to the woman in a slave Leia costume, with his face edited out. This man is Jonathan L. Bowen, a fan who attended Star Wars Celebration 3.

As usual, these new pictures are copied directly from other sites; for example, Kerri Valkova's costume page. Other images were plundered from a site devoted to Leia's metal bikini.

Another picture is of a woman wearing a Leia outfit at a Star Wars themed party or convention with a "painted on" top and bottom (only the "loin cloth" and boots are real), taken from another website.

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

In late June 2006, he removed all the pictures without explanation and the page simply reads "Supershadow's Girlfriend." Many speculate that he is having legal troubles with one of these women.

As of September 2006, the lingerie model magazine scan has reappeared again, with the usual text. Her true identity is still unknown.

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

As of October 15, 2009 it now says "Super Shadows Hot Girlfriend".

SuperShadow's claims and fanon creations
In his and "Lucas's replies, Suttle often mentions characters, events and other in-universe entities that do not actually exist in Star Wars canon and are not mentioned in any published works. Besides the aforementioned Nebar Foxis, a Jedi allegedly played by SuperShadow himself, notable creations of Suttle include Kaja Sinis and Darth Scarz (who are said to be the first Jedi and Sith who existed), Grentarik, Yoda's alleged homeworld, and that Yoda's species is a Whill, among many others. He also gave names to some characters who only have one name in canon, such as Dantius Palpatine, Jard Dooku, and Yoda D'kana. Suttle also has stated that Jango Fett and Boba Fett are merely bounty hunters and have no real connection to the Mandalorians.

As per page 53 of his Q&A archives, Suttle has also claimed that if Luke had joined the Dark Side, his new Sith name would have been Darth Mortimer.

On page 37 of the same archives, however, he claims that Luke would have his Sith name designated as Darth Secretus.

Suttle presents his creations as part of "George Lucas's true vision of Star Wars". The Expanded Universe, he claims, is "fake" and exists only to make money for Lucasfilm Ltd., even though Suttle himself freely uses Expanded Universe material in his own replies and sequel trilogy claims, regarding at least some of its characters as valid. To date, he has made numerous other claims about Star Wars, Lucas, and Lucasfilm, many of which are not supported by any official sources.

Suttle even occasionally makes bizarre claims that have nothing to do with Star Wars. He's claimed to have connections to the Illuminati, as well as having detailed knowledge about secret Chinese and Russian operations in the United States. Suttle has even claimed that he and Lucas are responsible for the recent success of the University of Southern California football team. Suttle has also claimed to be under the orders of what he calls the "nonsense gods".

During a Q&A session with "George Lucas," Suttle mentions how he and Lucas have a luxury box in the Los Angeles Coliseum where they watch every USC Trojan football game. However, the Los Angeles Coliseum has no "luxury boxes".

Ahsoka Tano and Embo are two known fanon creations of his.

Lucasfilm response
In issue #90 (November-December 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."

- Pablo Hidalgo

Career with Star Wars?
Despite being SuperShadow, Filoni made an appearance at Celebration IV on Sunday, May 28, 2007 with producer Catherine Winder in the Celebration Theater (Room 408AB), to discuss the beginnings of the new television series and reveal how The Clone Wars is being created. He will also be writing for the Clone Wars monthly comic.

Dave Filoni's office, as seen in the extra features on the Star Wars: The Clone Wars DVD, is filled with Plo Koon paraphernalia. He has a bust of Plo Koon's head, a model of Plo Koon's ship, an autographed portrait by the actor who played Plo Koon, a replica of Plo Koon's lightsaber on his desk, and his personal Plo Koon costume on display. Filoni also has a note book sized planner on his desk with Plo Koon's picture taped to the outside. Filoni also has a small model of the character Appa on his desk, from Avatar: The Last Airbender. He is also a fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Pittsburgh Penguins.

An avid Plo Koon fan, Filoni dressed up as the Jedi Master for the opening of Revenge of the Sith.