Aldera.net

Aldera.net, also known as "The University of Aldera", was a largely popular Star Wars blog created shortly

after the release of Star Wars, Episode I: The Phantom Menace. Throughout its two and a half year existence,

Aldera.net was known for posting highly sensitive material about the upcoming Episode II and was sent an

order to ceast and decist by LucasFilm on at least two occasions. Contrary to popular belief, Aldera.net was

not shut down by LucasFilm when it went offline in 2003.

History
Aldera.net was created in January 2000 by webmaster Charles Taylor. The blog slowly gained popularity for its

insightful take on rumors about the upcoming Episode II. Aldera.net's first major boost in popularity came

when it named Hayden Christensen as the new Anakin Skywalker months before it was made official.

Storyboard
Aldera.net was made famous in late September 2000 when it posted scans of an Episode II storyboard of the

"rain duel" fight sequence between Obi-Wan Kenobi and Jango Fett. Within a matter of hours LucasFilm had

contacted Aldera.net's ISP - Net Nation - and demanded that they remove the web site from their network. Net

Nation declined to do so without a court order. Webmaster Charles Taylor removed the storyboards after

speaking with LucasFilm's lawyers.

Although difficult to verify, this may have marked the first occasion a major film studio threatened legal

action against a blogger.

The Interviews
Aldera.net interviewed three actors from Star Wars Episode II: Rose Byrne, who played the handmaiden Dormé,

Leeanna Walsman, who played the bounty hunter Zam Wesell, and Joel Edgerton, who played Owen Lars. While

pursuing a fourth interview, LucasFilm asked the agencies to discontinue allowing Aldera.net interview

priviledges with actors in the film.

The Script
Among the sensitive material publish on Aldera.net before the release of Star Wars Episode II was a complete

outline of the secretive plot to Star Wars Episode II, including quotes of dialoge directly from the script.

Production Art
The second cease and decist order came from LucasFilm when Aldera.net posted production art of Count Dooku's

star ship.

Official Spoof
A reference to Aldera.net's webmaster Charles Taylor was made on an official Star Wars web site called

Holonet News (holonetnews.com). The article discusses formal sensoring and suspension of The University of

Aldera's Dean "Halcor Raystel" - an anagram for "Charles Taylor". The article also described it's subject as

a "thorn in the side" and made refence to drug use because webmaster Charles Taylor often wrote about smoking

marijuana on his site.