text:
- The Irish Times: down 7.4 percent
- Irish Independent: down 3 percent
- Evening Herald: down 7.4 percent
- The Irish Examiner: down 6.6 percent
- The Irish Daily Star: down by 6.9 percent
- Traditional telephone wire
- Traditional television and radio
- Radio Communications including fixed wireless
- MMDS and deflector operators providing TV services
- Mobile operators providing voice and data services
- Licensing Framework for Satellite Services in Ireland
- Postal delivery network
- Newspapers
- Radio
- Cinema
- Telecommunications
- Popular websites
- News agencies
- no national news agency
- Trade unions
- Other media outlets
- Laws, Regulations and Institutions
- Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art Design & Technology (IADT), Dublin
- National University of Ireland (NUI), Galway
- School of Media, Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT)
- School of Communications, Dublin City University (DCU)
- University of Limerick (UL)
- Brian O'Neill (ed), 2010, Digital Radio in Europe, Technologies, Industries and Culture, 2010. Intellect Book, Bristol, UK.
- Burke, Ray, 2005, Press Delete; The Decline and Fall of the Irish Press. Curragh Press, Dublin.
- Corcoran, F, 2004, RTÉ and the Globalisation of Irish Television: Intellect Books, Bristol, UK.
- Horgan, John, 2001, Irish Media, A Critical History since 1922. Routledge, London.
- John Horgan, Barbara O'Connor and Helena Sheehan (eds) 2007,Mapping Irish Media: Critical Explorations: UCD Press, Dublin.
- Julian Carlson (ed) 19990 Banned in Ireland: Censorship and the Irish Writer. Routledge, London.
- Kiberd, Damien (ed) 1997 Media in Ireland, the Search for Diversity, Open Air, Dublin.
- McGonagle, Marie 2003, 2nd edition, Media Law, Sweet & Maxwell, London.
- Morash, Chris, 2010. A Media History of Ireland, Cambridge University Press.
- Mulryan, Peter, 1988, Radio, Radio, the story of Independent, Local, Community, Pirate Radio in Ireland. Borderline Publications, Dublin.
- O'Brien, Mark, 2001, De Valera, Fianna Fail and the Irish Press, Irish Academic Press, Dublin.
- O'Brien, Mark, 2008, The Irish Times, A History, Four Courts Press, Dublin.
- Ó Drisceoil, Donal,1996. Censorship in Ireland, 1939-1945. Cork University Press.
- Rockett, K., Gibbons, L. and Hill, J. 1987, Cinema and Ireland, Routledge, London.
- Rockett, K. 1996, The Irish Filmography, Red Mountain Press, Dublin.
- Ship of Fools: How Stupidity and Corruption Sank the Celtic Tiger by Fintan O'Toole, Faber, London, 2009.
- Walsh, Maurice, 2008, The News From Ireland, Foreign Correspondents and the Irish Revolution. I. B. Tauris, London.
Media landscape : Ireland
Last updated: 05 November 2010
1. Introduction [top]
The Republic of Ireland is situated on the western fringes of Europe. It is militarily neutral but a member of the EU and is in the Eurozone. Six of the 32 counties are within the United Kingdom, which has a devolved government and has a different media legal and regulatory environment to the Republic of Ireland. The population of the Republic of Ireland is estimated to be 4,203,200. Even with a rise in the number of foreign national settling in Ireland over the past 10 to 15 years, 87.4 percent of the population are classified within the census as white Irish. 7.5 percent of the population are white European, mainly from other EU countries. There are also relatively small numbers from Asian and African countries.
The official language is Irish, or Gaeilge, which is spoken as an everyday language by the people who live in a small number of communities along the west coast. However, in recent years there has been a revival of interest in the language and there has been a growth in the number of schools that teach through Irish. However the main spoken language is, by far, English, which is also the language of most of the media. Irish language media has tended to be government supported as part of its policy to support the language.
Ireland has a relative underdeveloped economy since southern Ireland gained independence in 1922, a fact that was underlined by high emigration, unemployment and other factors common to struggling economies. Since the mid 1990s, however, that changed dramatically with the emergence of what came to be known as the Celtic Tiger, and Ireland experienced one of the fastest growing economies in the world. Growth, measured in GDP, averaged six percent between 1995 and 2007.
In a single decade unemployment fell to about four percent, which is more or less full employment. Factors that fuelled the economic boom were low corporation taxes, greater access to third level education, and social partnerships between governments and trade unions. Low taxes and a light regulatory regime attracted foreign investment, mainly from the US, and consequently by 1997, nearly half of all manufacturing jobs were in foreign-owned companies, illustrating the importance of a growth-orientated approach, helped by EU funding. However, a huge reliance on a property bubble- property prices rose more rapidly in Ireland between 1996 and 2006 than in any other developed country- meant new houses mushroomed right across the Irish landscape.
The property boom meant the Irish economy and the banking system was especially vulnerable when a downturn came, which happened with the banking crisis of 2007. Just as in Iceland, the boom came crashing down as it became clear the economic growth had been fuelled in recent years by huge loans given for property development or for buying property.
In 2008 the Government gave guarantees in order to recapitalize the banks, nationalized one bank, and in 2009 brought in the toughest budget in the history of the state, with huge reductions in public servants' pay, a pensions levy, cuts in social welfare payments, and cuts in other tax funded area. A growth in unemployment has led to a severe reduction in the government's tax take. There has been a halt in building and a severe reduction in consumer spending. It has also established the National Asset Management Agency, a 'bad bank' that will take over the bad debts incurred by the banks lending policies during the period of the property boom.
All these developments, both the boom and the subsequent downturn, have had a profound impact on the media environment with implications for ownership, employment as well as media diversity.
2. Traditional Media [top]
2.1 Print Media [top]
Ireland has traditionally had a strong and highly competative print media. It is divided into daily national newspapers and a strong regional sector of weekly newspapers. The national newspaper market is further divided into distinct daily and Sunday markets. Northern Ireland has its own newspapers. There are few sales of Belfast newspapers in the South and similarly with south newspapers sales in Northern Ireland, with a few exceptions, are insignificant.
There is little tradition of subscribing to newspapers and there is increasing evidence of readers willing to change newspapers depending on the front page. The strong link between newspapers and ones political affiliation, which was a strong feature of the Irish newspaper market broke down during the 1980s and 1990s, and saw its death knell in the demise of the Irish Press Group in 1995. The three newspapers in the group had been established by one of the founders of the State, Eamon DeValera, in 1931and for many years was read by those who held a traditional nationalist view and supported DeValera's Fianna Fail party. Due to a number of factors and after many attempted to save the group, including going tabloid, which drove away its aging traditional readers without attracting new younger readers, the newspapers finally collapsed.
A unique feature of the Irish print media scene is the strength of the British press in Ireland. It is obviously a factor of both the geographic, cultural and linguistic closeness of the two countries combined with a degree of post colonialism, but it is still a unique phenomenon. Since the mid 1990s newspapers published in London had targeted the Irish market, using Irish editions- often little more than then the word 'Irish' appearing on the mast head and two to four Irish pages wrapped round British content. British newspapers have always been available in Ireland and read, often for sports coverage of British soccer and horse racing, but as the Irish economy grew it became an increasing attractive proposition to specifically target Ireland in order to gain advertising revenue. Rough circulation figure comparisons suggest about one quarter of all daily newspaper sales are for newspapers published in London and one third of Sunday purchases.
The sales of Ireland's national newspapers, including those British published newspapers that offer Irish editions are about, Irish Independent, 152,204; Irish Examiner, 50,346; The Irish Times, 114,488; Irish Daily Star, 102,884; Irish Daily Mirror, 64194; The Irish Sun, 96,725; Irish Daily Mail, 52,144; Evening Herald, 71,187. The total sales of daily national newspapers stands at 704,172
The sales for Sunday Titles are: Sunday Independent, 272,174; Sunday World, 277,504; The Sunday Business Post , 57,783; The Sunday Tribune, 65,727; Irish Daily Star Sunday, 59,691, Irish News of the World, 134,461; Irish Sunday Mirror, 40,224; The Sunday Times, 116,541; Irish Mail on Sunday, 122,991. Total Sunday Titles Circulation: 1147096. These figures are for the six months, January to June, 2009.
However, like newspaper sales throughout most of the western world circulations are on a downward trend, a trend that appeared to quicken towards the end of last year. Sales for the second half of 2009 shows:
Sunday newspapers also suffered. The Sunday Business Post's circulation was down 4.9 per cent over the last six months, the Sunday Independent was down by 0.8 per cent, the Sunday Tribune was down 9.5 per cent and the Sunday World was down 5.2 percent.
British newspapers that publish Irish editions were not uniformly affected by the trend, with some showing small increases.
The Irish Times is the oldest national newspaper, founded in 1859 as a 'unionist' newspaper, that is one that supported the union of Britain and Ireland. However, since the middle of the last century it has developed into a liberal newspaper, which would see itself as in the same newspaper tradition as the Guardian of London, Le Monde or Liberation of Paris, or El Pais of Madrid. It has strong European and world coverage. It is owned by a non-profit making trust since the early 1970s. It was a pioneer in online newspaper presence. It hit financial crisis about seven years ago and was forced to cut down on the numbers employed, which impacted on its world coverage and it reduced the number of correspondents it maintained overseas as well as the number of journalists employed in its Dublin newsroom. It still has resident staff correspondents in London, Brussels, Washington, Paris as well as contract journalists in Berlin, Eastern Europe and other areas of the world.
It has diversified over the past ten years, investing in an expensive online property site, called MyHome.ie, a small investment in radio, as well as a group of Dublin local newspapers, the Gazette Group and a women's magazine, The Gloss. The Gazette Group has had to make severe cuts in recent times and the Gloss now only appears as an insert in the Irish Times.
The Irish Independent is the mainstay of the global media company, Independent News and Media (INM) and was founded out of the merging of a number of newspapers that reflected political change at the end of the 19th century. It has traditionally been a mid market, conservative newspaper, loyal to the Catholic Church and the more conservative of the two political parties that emerged out of the struggles for national independence and the civil war in the first years of the Irish state in the 1920s. Today it is a mid-market paper that remains conservative, but is less loyal to traditional sources of authority in Ireland, which, of course, have also lost their authority. Its Sunday version has developed into a mix of fierce polemic combined with gossip-led celebrity journalism. The group has interests in Australia, India, New Zealand, South Africa and the United Kingdom. It is also the largest newspaper group in Northern Ireland.
Since 1973 Independent Newspapers, later INM, has been controlled by Dr Tony O'Reilly, a businessman and former chairman of Heinz Corporation. However, in 2009 Dr O'Reilly (79) stepped down as chief executive in favour of his son, Gavin. He did so in the middle of a battle for control of the company led by businessman, Dennis O'Brien, who also controls substantial radio interests in Ireland and abroad. Mr O'Brien has managed to gain 25 percent of INM and has very publicly fought with O'Reilly over differences concerning the direction of the company and issues of corporate governance. In March of 2009 the board was restructured and O'Brien gained three nominees on the board of INM. The boardroom battles for control of the company, worth about €1.5 billion world wide, were a mystery for most Irish people and times it seemed more personal than related to business. The story has moved from the business pages of the newspapers and has taken on some aspects of a soap opera. One of O'Brien's demands was that the group sells off the loss making London Independent and Independent on Sunday, which have never made money since INM purchased the two titles in 1995. However, talks are taking place with the Russian tycoon and former KGB agent, Alexander Lebedev, the owner of the London Evening Standard and the Russian liberal newspaper, Novaya Gazeta.
The Irish Examiner emerged out of the Cork Examiner, founded 1841, the Republic's only regional daily newspaper, serving mainly county Cork and surrounding areas. The group Thomas Crosbie Holdings (TCH), owns 17 newspapers, including the Examiner and three radio stations. The group's newspaper holdings are mainly regional newspapers with the exception of the country's main business paper, the Sunday Business Post. The Examiner has been in the hands of the Crosbie family since 1872. In 1996 the newspaper's name was change to The Examiner and in 2000 to the Irish Examiner.
Until the 1970s Irish newspapers were essentially serious, seeing their role as involved in nation building, a role common in newly independent states. Some attempts at lighter formats, such as the Sunday Review, an early tabloid owned by The Irish Times, which was published between 1957 and 1963, failed to find an audience. In 1972 the Sunday World was established. It was a traditional tabloid in the British model, with its red masthead and cheeky style. It specializes in crime and showbiz coverage. A number of other newspapers have adopted a tabloid format. The Evening Herald, owned by INM is a tabloid format and the Irish Independent comes in both broadsheet and tabloid versions, but is not a tabloid in the traditional sense.
The Irish Star is a daily tabloid owned by INM and Express Newspapers in the UK. It does carry some content found in its British version, but the Irish version has evolved into a different newspaper and is clearly an Irish tabloid, rather than simply an Irish edition. It is offers a mix of campaigning journalism, with much sport, showbiz and celebrity journalism.
The other tabloid daily newspapers are the Irish Sun and the Irish Daily Mirror. Both are Irish editions of British newspapers and in Britain both are highly successful. The Sun, for instance, is Britain's most popular newspaper that specializes in irreverent stories and headlines. However, what is interesting is that the very consciously Irish tabloid, the Irish Daily Star outsells both and with a higher cover price.
Regional Newspapers
It is possible to count over 100 local and regional weekly newspapers in Ireland, but probably about 60 with significant circulations and impact within their local areas. Until the 1990s most were family owned and had long histories, often going back to the 19th century. However, as the Irish economy experienced growth, regional newspapers, many operating as monopolies in their circulation area, were seen as attractive and profitable investments and were bought by major media groups. Today most regional weekly newspapers are owned media groups, as the following shows:
Independent News and Media now owns: the Kerryman; The Corkman; the Bray People; The Wicklow People; The Carlow People; The Wexford People; The Dungarvan People; The Enniscorthy Guardian; The Gorey Guardian; The New Ross Standard; The Fingal Independent; The Drogheda Independent; The Argus; The Sligo Champion; Ireland's Own; The Belfast Telegraph and The Sunday Life in Northern Ireland.
The company also owns two newspaper wholesale and distribution companies, Newspread and in Northern Ireland, Wholesale Newspaper Service Ltd, as well as the the Irish Independent; the Sunday Independent and the Evening Herald titles. The company also has a half share in the country's biggest selling tabloid, the Irish Daily Star, a controlling share in the Sunday broadsheet, the Sunday Tribune and the Sunday tabloid, the Sunday World
Thomas Crosbie Holdings, the owner of the Irish Examiner owns The Kildare Nationalist; the Laois Nationalist; the Wexford Echo; the New Ross Echo; the Waterford News and Star; the Roscommon Herald; the Corey Echo; the Down Democrat; the Western people; the Evening Echo; The Kingdom; the Sligo Weekender' the Enniscorthy Echo; the Gorey Echo as well as three local radio stations, Red FM and Midwest Radio and WLR FM.
The Alpha Newspaper Group, which owns 12 regional weeklies in Northern Ireland bought a number of newspapers in the south, including the Longford News; the Roscommon Champion; the Midlands Tribune and the Tullamore Tribune.
The Celitc Media Group now owns the Westmeath Examiner; the Anglo Celt; the Meath Chronicle; the Westmeath Independent and the Offaly Independent.
The Gazette Group of newspapers, a string of weeklies that serve the Dublin suburbs is owned by The Irish Times,
Many analysts maintained the amount of money that changed hands for newspapers in the early years of the economic boom was unrealistic. However, given the health of the advertising market, especially in areas such as property and recruitment, it appeared any amount of money was worth to get in on the economic windfalls. The newspaper sector today is totally unrecognizable to anyone who knew it in the late 1990s, with most family owned titles now owned by media groups. However, many of the same papers that were so eagerly bought up are now on the market again, victims of the advertising downturn.
2.2 Radio [top]
Radio is and has been hugely popular in Ireland. Listenership surveys show a consistent 85 percent of adults listen to a mix of national, regional and local radio everyday. The most popular programmes have traditionally been news-driven morning programmes, drive-time news programmes in the evening, and magazine and phone-in programmes. Increase in unemployment has hit the drive-time programmes listenership figures since the downturn, but there is still a healthy interest in news-driven, talk radio in Ireland, with news-led programmes constantly coming top in the listenership surveys. While the majority of the commercial radio stations are music driven, there is little doubt that Irish audiences like talk.
RTE operates four national radio channels; Radio 1 with traditional public service radio programming; 2 FM a 24-hour music radio station; Raidio na Gaeltachta with public service radio programming in the Irish language, and Lyric FM, a 24-hour classical music and arts channel. RTE Radio 1 is the most popular single station, though in some areas of the country some local radio stations, in particular, have successfully challenged its supremacy, like Highland Radio in Co Donegal in the north west of the country, which has the highest market penetration in its area in the country.
In early 2006 there were 54 licensed independent 'sound broadcasting services' (radio stations) in Ireland. Like print one of the issues with radio has been ownership and there is little doubt radio has been regulated with a light touch.
Communicorp, which is controlled by the businessman, Dennis O'Brien, owns Dublin's 98 FM, and Spin 103.8; Spin South West, the national music and talk station, Today FM and the national talk radio station, Newstalk. Communicorp did control Independent Network News (INN), which supplied national news to local radio stations, but closed it, with the loss of 16 journalists' jobs. It was said the reason was the down turn in the advertising market.
Meanwhile the Northern Ireland holder of the British commercial television franchise, UTV, has entered the radio market and now has eight radio stations in Northern Ireland and in the Republic. These include stations in major urban areas, such as Dublin's Q102, and FM 104Limerick, Live 95 FM, Galway's Galway Bay FM, Beat, based in the south east and includes Waterford City and Cork City's Cork 96 FM. It also has the station for the two counties, Meath and Louth, LMFM. In Northern Ireland it operates the radio station, U105, and, of course, the TV channel, UTV.
RTE, the public service provider, operates two national stations, and Irish language station and an arts and classical music station. However, it has also began broadcasting digital radio, with six stations now available on a DAB system.
2.3 Television [top]
Ireland's public service broadcaster Radio Telifis Eireann (RTE) has dominated broadcasting in Ireland since the 1920s and even in a more competitive world continues to do so. It is funded by both a license fee and advertising. RTE operates two national television services: RTE 1, and Network 2. Ireland has a third public service broadcasting channel, the Irish-language Telefis na Gailge (TG4). Apart from the public service broadcaster TG4, indigenous competition to RTE television is the private commercial general television channel TV3.
The year 2006 saw the start up of three additional commercial television channels: a sports channel; a general entertainment channel, Channel 6, which has since been rebranded by its parent company TV3 as 3e; and the Dublin City Channel, a cable television channel. They have been joined by a number of other 'city' channels, for Cork, Galway and Waterford. Three community channels have also been licensed. In total the regulator has licensed 14 television services
Even before RTE television was established in 1960 people living on the east coast of Ireland or near the border with Northern Ireland were able to receive British television, especially the BBC. At that time and for many years afterwards, massive aerials that could pick up British television from either Northern Ireland or Wales dominated the skyline of Dublin. For over 40 years, however, British television has been received via cable and more recently satellite. In terms of channel share of viewing in 2005 the 2 RTE channels were the most popular with over 30 percent market share. The other main channels were TV3 (11.5 percent), BBC1 (8.6 percent), UTV (7.2 percent), Channel 4 (5.1 percent), BBC2 (4.3 percent), TG4 (2.7 percent), Sky1 (2.5 percent). The commercial channels seek advertising revenue in the Republic, making the island of Ireland in effect one media market. UTV is unique in that it has more viewers outside its franchise area of Northern Ireland, in the Republic of Ireland, than within it. This environment, which now includes many specialist sports, film and other channels offered to viewers to opt for particular satellite or other packages, means RTE operates in a highly competitive media market.
50 percent of RTE's broadcast material is domestic product, but in the case of the other Irish stations, domestic product content ranges from 27 percent to 45 percent.
2.4 Cinema [top]
The Irish film industre grew from a tiny, rather amateur activity prior to the 1990s to a vibrant and commercially viable industry with significant employment into the 21st century. Its growth can be put down to a supportive government, led by the then Minister for Arts and Culture, Michael D Higgins, tax breaks and the revamping and professionalising of the An Bord Scannán na hÉireann (the Irish Film Board) as well as organisations such as the Irish Film Institute. Another impetus to the industry was the encouragement of independent production companies and the policy of earmarking some of RTE's budget for independent programme makers, who might also be involved in film. The EUs audio visual policy and the encouragement of European co productions had a major impact on the industry in Ireland. A report carried out for the Film Board suggested the industry was worth over €550 million and represented 0.3 percent of GDP. Probably more importantly it employed over 6,000 people. The report was carried out in 2008 and due to adverse economic conditions over the past two years, that figure has probably declined in the meantime.
Over the past 20-years Ireland has produced a number of producers and directors giving it an influence disproportionate to its size. Film makers such as Jim Sheridan, Neill Jordon, Conor McPhersn, Martin McDonagh, Damien O'Donnell, Paddy Breathnach, Thaddeus O'Sullivan and Pat Murphy and film actors, such as Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Liam Neeson, Brenda Fricker, Cillian Murphy and Stephen Rea either have or are growing international reputations.
In reality there are two film industries in Ireland; the indigenous industry and the international productions that keep crews and actors working and brings in investment. Big productions have also brought immeasurable benefits to Irish tourism and the promotion of Irish culture. The indigenous industry is increasingly seen as central to the creation of a smart digital economy, providing experience to those developing new technologies and giving outlets to writers and other creative workers.
Some of the most successful Irish films include: The Wind That Shakes the Barley (2006): Michael Collins (1996): Angela's Ashes (1999): The Field (1990): the Commitments (1991): Once (2007): Inside I'm Dancing (2004): In Bruges (2008)
Censorship of films has been a feature of the Irish film landscape since Irish independence. The long list of banned films and the cuts that often made films unintelligable were famous. The bans and cuts were usually made in accordante with a strict adherance to Catholic teaching. A liberalisation process of film censorship had begun in the 1960s under the then Minister for Justice, Brian Lenihan. The office of the film censor was changed in 2008, to that of the office of film classification in 2008. The change was made by the son of Brian Lenihan, himself also as Justice Minister.
2.5 Telecommunications [top]
Telecommunications in the Republic of Ireland, are regulated by the Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg). The Minister for Communications, Energy & Natural Resources has overall responsibility for national policy and regulation. All of Ireland's communications infrastructure is now digital but progress in broadband technology has been somewhat slow. ComReg's role covers all kinds of transmission networks including:
ComReg's role includes encouraging competition in the communications sector by facilitating those who wish to enter the telecommunications market and by regulating entry to the network and services. Its role is part of the liberalisation of the telecommunications market. In a rapidly evolving sector, both in technological and commercial terms, ComReg provides the framework for the introduction of new services such as 3G.
Deregulation of the marketplace has meant new entrants to the market now account for 32 percent of the market share.
Broadband is now available in Ireland via DSL, Cable, Wireless and Satellite. ComReg the Irish Communications Regulator has claimed DSL is available to about 88 percent of homes and businesses, however this figure is disputed by many business and other pressure groups claiming it only reflects the number of telephone lines connected to a broadband enabled exchange, not whether those lines are of a high enough quality to receive a DSL connection. There are constant complaints about the actual speeds of the broadband connections available. New ways of viewing online material, such as file sharing and video streaming that requires constant speeds, rather than sporadic speeds, as is needed when looking at individual speeds, has exacerbated the problem.
In 2008 the Minister for Communications, Eamonn Ryan, has announced new planned investment in broadband infrastructure, which may see every household in Ireland capable of receiving broadband speeds of 100mb by 2012. .Five percent of lines connected to broadband-enabled exchanges cannot avail of DSL, due to distance and other issues. Business interests complain that companies are falling behind in the area of online commercial activity because of lack of broadband and adequate speeds.
There are four mobile telecommunications providers - 3 Ireland, O2 Ireland, Meteor and Vodafone Ireland.
2.6 Sources [top]
3. New Media [top]
3.1 Online [top]
The two most popular online services are provided by traditional media outlets, RTE- the public service TV and radio provider- and The Irish Times, the main quality newspaper. The Audit Burean of Circulation, which gives circulation figures for newspapers has also started proving a similar service for online services indicates that Rte.ie has recorded 2.93 unique users per month, while irishtimes.ie has 2.3 million. Independent Digital, which includes a number of news sites and classified advertising sites also recorded 2.3 million users, but the number of visitors to its news site, independent.ie was 1.8 million. Despite such credible numbers most sites run by traditional media are still struggling to make their online services viable, as advertising and other revenue is still small and in most cases hardly covers the operational costs. The Irish Times did charge for its online content for a number of years, but decided to return to the traditional free model, when it saw its users go elsewhere.
3.2 Digital media [top]
A range of online competitors to traditional media has emerged. Many of these sites are generating significant traffic and operate with minimal resources and not all could be considered to be commercial ventures. They tend to be niche players, for example Politics.ie for political news and views, Beaut.ie for fashion and beauty, AskaAboutMoney.com for personal finance etc.
Traditional advertising models are under threat and newspapers have lost much of their classified advertising businesses. Sites like Daft.ie are now dominant in property, while sites like CarZone.ie are dominating motoring classified. The Irish Times and The Irish Independent have had very mixed fortunes with websites they have acquired. The Irish Times bought MyHome.ie, a major property sales site at the top of the market, but it has since lost out to other sites, such as Daft.ie, with no traditional media connections. Search engine marketing -- mainly Google AdWords -- is also sucking revenues away from newspapers, in particular. In 2010, online will be the third largest advertising category in Ireland, behind press and TV and is expected to grow by 9 percent this year when the overall market is expected to decline by 7 percent (source: Billetts)
The cost base for traditional media's online offerings is generally far higher than for online-only ventures, but traditional media might feel somewhat aggrieved as it is they who are covering news and current affairs that becomes the basis of the content of many online sites. However, there are indications that new news and current affairs sites are being planned that might generate original content.
RTE now has a number of dedicated digital radio services and its FM services are also available in digital format. However, commercial radio has been slow to go digital.
3.3 Sources [top]
4. Media organisations [top]
4.1 News agencies [top]
Ireland had no national news agency. There was a government funded agency which operated between 1949 and 1957. There are a number of private news agencies mainly operating within the court system, offering media outlets pictures and stories from the Courts of Law. Many Irish newspapers subscribe to international news agencies, such as Reuters, the Press Association, AFP, or take services offered by newspapers overseas.
4.2 Trade unions [top]
The National Union of Journalists, which operates in both Britain and Ireland organises journalists in print, broadcasting and online, including photographers and production workers. It also has in membership many public relations practitioners and information officers, as well as civil servants who are working in communications, such as those who work for the Government Information Service (GIS). The NUJ is by far the most significant media trade union, with nearly 90 percent of all journalists as members. Its press card is the only one recognized by the Irish police and defence forces and other agencies. It also comments on issues relating to press freedom, legal issues relating to the media and campaigns for media reform. The NUJ, though linked to the union in Britain, has its own executive and structures and publishes its own small magazine in Ireland. It is affiliated to the Brussels based, International Federation of Journalists.
Film workers, broadcasting production workers and other media workers who are not in the NUJ tend to be members of the largest general workers union, the Services, Industrial, Professional and Technical Union, SIPTU, which has special sections for media workers. In has also incorporated the actors union, Irish Actors Equity.
Union influence had reduced in recent years. A number of new employers have refused to recognise union for bargaining purposes. These include the commercial television service, TV3 as well as a number of radio stations. News Corporation, which has been traditionally hostile to trade unions, does not recognise union in Ireland, similar to other countries where the company operates. Irish owned media tends to recognise union and have agreements with them. Despite a new refusal to recognise union, the majority of journalists still retain NUJ membership.
4.3 Other media outlets [top]
There are well over 100 production companies involved in film, programme making and animation. Many are also involved in making advertising and other media work. Independent production was given a major boost in 1996 with the established of TG4, the Irish language television channel, which operates as a publisher-broadcaster and has no production facilities itself and so relies on outside production companies.
As well as producing programmes for RTE and other broadcasting companies, independent production companies also apply to the Sound and Vision fund to make programmes, both radio and television, reflecting Irish culture and heritage. This scheme is funded from five percent of the television licence fee under the Broadcasting (Funding Act) 2003.
4.4 Sources [top]
5. National media policies [top]
It is hard to discern a national media policy in Ireland. It took nearly 20 years to reform libel law and government has yet to deal effectively with issues of media ownership. What has characterized the relationship between government and the media is a deep suspicion, especially of RTE. The new broadcasting legislation, which reduces the powers of the RTE Authority in favour of an authority for all broadcasting has been described by a number of observers as detrimental to public service broadcasting.
A strong belief in the market has informed media policy, with government loath to interfere in issues surrounding ownership and other issues. A threat of privacy legislation hangs over journalists who have been told that legislation that has already been approved by Cabinet could be introduced at anytime.
5.1 Media legislation [top]
Debates surrounding media and the law have been dominated by defamation and libel in Ireland since 1991 when a government appointed body, the Law Reform Commission, recommended major changes in Ireland's libel laws, easily the most draconian within the EU. Successive governments have resisted the campaign led by media organization until recently. A new defamation law came into affect on January 1st, 2010. As far as the media is concerned the new law has not materially changed the balance between the right to publish and the right to ones good name. The presumption of falsity remains- that is the assumption that the media is guilty and must prove the statement published is true and/or fair comment or honest opinion. There are new grounds for defence that have been incorporated into the law, including qualified privilege, and innocent publication. The new law gives a shorter limitation period, the possibility of the courts issuing a statement of wrong, without any damages and also it will now be possible for the media to issue an apology without the assumption that the newspaper or other outlet is therefore admitting liability.
There are still fears the government could bring in a privacy law, especially as one has already been prepared and approved by the government. Many politicians are fearful of what they perceive as a growing 'tabloidisation', or lowering of standards, within the Irish media. Whether politicians are being too sensitive or have a genuine point is for debate. Some editors have suggested the privacy bill would make it difficult to publish or broadcast contentious news stories, as subjects of stories would be able to stop publication, if contacted to comment, by claiming their privacy would be breeched. It could mean the normal and ethical journalism practice of giving people the opportunity to comment on stories concerning them might be dropped. There is little doubt that if the government goes ahead and introduces a privacy act, it would be challenged, probably to the European Court of Human Rights.
The other area that has faced change has been in the broadcasting area. Late in 2009 the new Broadcasting Act came into force, which established the new Broadcasting Authority of Ireland, The Broadcasting Act 2009 provides for a significant expansion of the role and responsibility of the old Broadcasting Commission of Ireland, which had no responsibility for Public Service Broadcasting, namely RTE, which now comes within the ambit of the new body.
Following a campaign led by members of the National Union of Journalists and other activists through an organisation called Let In The Light, the Irish Government introduced a Freedom of Information Act in 1997. At the time it was considered a major contribution to accountability and openness and was praised internationally by free-speech advocacy groups. However, in 2003 the Government amended the Act, putting in place payments for Freedom of Information requests and limiting what the government, especially, was forced to disclose. This was seen by journalists as a major attack on press freedom.
There are examples of cross-ownership of print, audiovisual and online media but there is no anti-trust legislation to prevent media concentration except general competition law, which has shown itself not really up to dealing with the complex area of media ownership.
5.2 Accountability systems [top]
The Press Council of Ireland was established on January 1st, 2008. The Press Council of Ireland is unique in that if has an ombudsman and a press council. The Council is a sort of court of appeal for complainants who are not satisfied with the actions of the ombudsman and his reading of the code of practice. The Council was established following a long debate and campaign for changed in Ireland's defamation laws. The Press Council is funded by the industry and has a representative of the journalists' trade union and members of the public, who apply to be members and are interviewed.
There is also a legally established complaints structure for broadcasting, incorporated into the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland, which came into in 2009, succeeding the old Broadcasting Commission of Ireland and the Broadcasting Complaints Commission.
Advertising has the Advertising Standards Authority, a voluntary body that regulates the industry. The Public Relations Institute of Ireland has its own code of conduct as well as offering training and other services for the industry.
5.3 Regulatory authority [top]
Late in 2009 the new Broadcasting Act came into force, which established the new Broadcasting Authority of Ireland, The Broadcasting Act, 2009. It replaced the old Broadcasting Commission of Ireland, which was responsible for licencing independent commercial radio and television. The new authority is responsible for all broadcasting, including public service broadcasters including RTE. The Authority has to consult with the Minster responsibility for Communicationson a range of public service broadcasting matters including assessing the extent to which RTE and the Irish language station, TG4, has fulfilled its public service commitments in respect of its public service objectives. It also reviews the funding levels to ensure there is the funding necessary to carry the public service role.
The BAI will also licence independent, commercial, broadcasters, examine ownership issues and operate a complaints procedure. However, it is its role within public service broadcasting that caused much controversy. There were those who worried about the new BAI, heir to a body, the BCI, which never had any public service remit at all, now taking over so much of the regulatory functions of RTE's own Authority, which remains, but with diminished responsibilities. Obviously issues concerning the independence for the Public Service Broadcaster are uppermost in the minds of many employed in RTE and other interested observers.
The Broadcasting Authority of Ireland has a number of functions, as set out in legislation. These functions include : to develop of a Statement of Strategy for the regulation of broadcasting services in Ireland: to develop broadcasting codes and rules; to develop of a right of reply scheme; to licence broadcasting and multiplex services; to provide guidance for RTÉ and TG4 and to consult with the ComReg on frequency planning and allocation for radio and television services.
The Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg) was established in 2002. ComReg is the statutory body responsible for the regulation of the electronic communications sector (telecommunications, radio communications and broadcasting transmission) and the postal sector.
The printed media has a voluntary regulatory system, the Press Council of Ireland, which was established in 2008.
5.4 Sources [top]
6. Media resources [top]
6.1 Learning and support [top]
Practitioners, preferring 'on the job' training, have viewed journalism and media training generally, with some suspicion. Despite this, however, journalists are increasingly been recruited from degree programmes, both undergraduate and postgraduate.
The two main providers of media and journalism education and training, are the Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT) and Dublin City University (DCU). DIT offers undergraduate programmes in journalism as well as media practice for film and broadcasting. It also has post-graduate programmes in public relations, advertising and in journalism, including a programme in international journalism as well as a number of digital media post graduate programmes. DCU has undergraduate journalism and media degree programmes as well as a number of masters programme. National University of Ireland, Galway, offer a one year Masters programme in journalism, while the University of Limerick has recently established an undergraduate and post graduate programme in journalism. There are many non-degree programmes also offering journalism, usually two year courses. There are also a number of private colleges that offer journalism courses.
The main academic journal offering analysis on media and journalism is the Irish Communications Review, which is published by the School of Media at DIT. A number of other journals some times deal with media issues within the context of sociology, politics or culture. There has been a major increase in books concerning media and journalism in Ireland in recent years.
There are a number of degree programmes for those seeking to pursue communications studies. Most of these are theoretical in emphasis. DIT offers a programme in film and broadcasting, with a fifty-fifty split between theory and practice. University College, Dublin and National University of Ireland, Galway, and Trinity College, Dublin have film studies programmes. The National Film School is based at the Institute of Art, Design and Technology, Dun Laoghaire, south of Dublin.
6.2 Prime sources for detailed information [top]
The Mediacontacts.ie website gives details of media contacts and other information, including conferences, training and related material. The traditional source of much media information in Ireland has been provided by the Institute of Public Administration's annual year book. Circulation figures for newspapers and magazines is provided by the Audit Bureau of Circulation, the ABC. Readership information tends to be considered commercially sensitive, though the headline figures are published in the business sections of the newspapers, especially The Irish Times and the Sunday Business Post.
Radio listenership figures are published quarterly by the Joint National Listenership Research (JNLR) which can be found on the Radiowave website. A number of academics are examining the Irish media and the most research active are to be found at the School of Media at the Dublin Institute of Technology and the School of Communications at Dublin City University.
Information about the advertising industry can usually be found at the Institute of Advertising Practitioners of Ireland (IAPI), but also in the business sections of the newspapers.
The bodies representing aspects of the industry, such as the National Newspapers of Ireland (NNI) publish reports relating to newspapers, as the BAI, which commissions research relating to broadcasting.
Information ragarding media law in Ireland can be found, among other sites, on that of the media law lecturer, Marie McGonagle, of the Department of Law at the National University of Ireland, Galway. She is the leading academic authority on media law in Ireland.
6.3 Sources [top]
Media and Journalism studies
7. Conclusions [top]
7.1 Development trends [top]
The Irish media is going through a period of intense change. From the mid to late 1990s until 2008 the country experienced unprecedented economic growth. This had a profound effect on the media, increasing revenue and income, attracting huge investment from out of state. It changed the media ownership patterns of years, leading to a dangerous level of concentration of ownership in the hands of a few major media companies.
The media and journalists have also been at the centre of major changes in society, opening up areas to public scrutiny that had hitherto been closed, especially the Catholic Church. It also investigated areas of public life and politics unearthing levels of corruption that few realized existed. Following media investigations a number of tribunals of inquiry have been sitting investigating the allegations first made by journalists.
At another level there are fears the media has become increasingly tabloid with subsequent issues concerning privacy. However, the new Press Council has been introduced and it is hoped that the press will be able to regulate itself and so convince the government not to introduce privacy legislation. A massive reduction in advertising revenue has led to major financial problems for much of the media, especially print.
The economic boom in Ireland can probably be dated from 1995 and ironically that was the year the Irish Press group collapsed. Along with an increasingly healthy economic environment the end of the Irish Press group, after years of struggling, meant a number of out of state media organization targeted Ireland, assuming there were readers now seeking a new newspaper. The British press had long been active in Ireland, but now it arrived in Ireland with a new aggression, offering more Irish content and going head to head with Irish newspapers. Some commentators have suggested a new tabloid culture arrived in Ireland at that time, which changed the Irish print media.
The economic prosperity meant that regional newspapers, for many years, remained in the hands of small family owners were seen as valuable properties and were bought up and became part of major media groups. Following the crisis in the economy a number of newspapers have closed, others are up for sale while others are downsizing, with pay cuts and a reduction in resources available to journalists and other media professionals to carry out their work.
There has been some increase in the number of online publications and activity, though developments in this area have been surprisingly slow. However, it is expected to speed up as more people are connected to broadband in line with government policy.
The recession has halted major media developments, other than in the online line and digital areas. There is a government commitment to switch off the analogue tv service by 2012 and there is evidence of increasing developments in web based publications, given that online advertising appears to be the only area of advertising to hold up, all be it from a low base. The next few years should see a number of online developments as well as possibly a number of regional newspaper closures.
7.2 References [top]
7.3 Contact [top]
Michael Foley
head of journalism and communications department
School of Media, Dublin Institute of Technology
2 Aungier Street
Dublin 2, Co. Dublin City, Ireland,
Tel: +353 1 402 3000
Email: email@example.com
head of journalism and communications department
School of Media, Dublin Institute of Technology
2 Aungier Street
Dublin 2, Co. Dublin City, Ireland,
Tel: +353 1 402 3000
Email: email@example.com


text:
Miranda Leitsinger / NBC News
Joe Adinolfi, an off-duty firefighter, rescued nine people from 5 feet floodwaters and a raging fire when Hurricane Sandy struck his tiny seaside community of Breezy Point, N.Y., on Monday night.
BREEZY POINT, N.Y. -- A raging fire was creeping closer and closer to Joe Adinolfi's home when he decided to get out.
He packed his phone and wallet into a life vest, since there was also about 5 feet of standing water outside his home due to Hurricane Sandy, and thought he would try to reach a refuge within his tiny seaside community of Breezy Point in New York City.
But then he heard a cry for help from the parking lot in front of his home.
"I heard people out there in the parking I couldn't see calling for help, and when I got over there, closer, I saw it was these elderly women," said Adinolfi, a father of three girls who was off-duty from his work as a firefighter that Monday night when the storm struck.
Adinolfi, 48, waded into the waist-high water around 10 p.m. where he found three women clutching onto the back of a SUV, one holding so tightly onto a kennel with several small dogs that her hands were bleeding. The women also had an African Grey Parrot.
"They were crying, 'please help me,'" he recalled them saying. He replied, "'I'm coming ladies. We're going to get to my house, don't you worry.'"
Adinolfi took the cages and led the women back to his home. The dogs bit at his left hand – and he has the bite marks to prove it.
Related stories
- Wind, flames, Our Fathers: Inside story of Breezy Point's terrible night
- 'We'll figure out a way': Breezy Point looks ahead
- Breezy Point residents wonder when help will come
- Sandy's destruction raises question: What is irreplaceable?
"You had to see the dogs and I was carrying that thing, they were like half underwater swimming in this cage. But we got'em all out," he quipped.
The rescue didn't end there: One of the women told him about her autistic brother, who was clinging to a nearby fence with his Spanish-speaking aide standing in the water. Next to them, there was a mother with her two adult daughters and one of the girl's boyfriends.
PhotoBlog: Panoramic view of Breezy Point destruction after Hurricane Sandy fire and flood
Adinolfi made trips back and forth for about an hour through the ocean water, which he recalled thinking felt warmer than he thought it would.
The group dried off at his house and hunkered down there for two hours. One of the women with her mother, Joanne Lepera, said the elderly women were somber, devastated that their homes had been lost to the fire.
As the fire raged closer to Adinolfi's two-story home, the group left for another friend's house. He eventually left them and went to another home, where he stayed the night.
David Friedman / NBC News
Superstorm Sandy made landfall Monday evening on a destructive and deadly path across the Northeast.
Adinolfi modestly recounted the tale on Thursday as he walked through his devastated community, saying, "that was it, that's my story." He also chided himself for staying back after his family left, noting it was "foolish." He had done so to try and prevent flooding in his home, though his basement ultimately filled up with water.
As he passed his neighbors with a reporter, they called him a hero. He lightheartedly brushed that off, though Lepera said he deserved the moniker. She said that when Adinolfi came by waving a flashlight, he told them that he was a firefighter and that their house could be under threat from the blaze since the wind was shifting.
"He was walking through cold water to try to save other people, which is not easy especially with the high, high winds," Lepera, a 28-year-old dental assistant, said by phone, adding that the family had been debating whether they should leave. "He was extremely calm. He didn't seem like there was like any stress on him. He was just trying to help a neighbor out in need."
PhotoBlog: Devastating fire follows flooding in Breezy Point, Queens
The storm delivered two punishing blows to this community founded more than a century ago by Irish immigrants. First it sent floodwaters roaring through its streets and into its homes, then sparked an inferno that claimed more than 100 houses -- including the Lepera home -- nestled side-by-side on tiny lanes of sand.
At the parking lot where Adinolfi made the rescues, one car bore the water marks of being almost completely submerged. There also remained the white SUV the elderly women clung to. But Adinolfi insisted he wasn't a hero.
"That was nothing, really, it wasn't. Just leading them over there," he said. But he softly added, "I hate to think what would have happened to them."
Comments? Questions? Email the reporter at firstname.lastname@example.com
More content from NBCNews.com:
- Deadliest zone: Staten Island reels from devastation
- Sandy power outages could last another 10 days; new winter storm builds
- NYC taxis running out of fuel as gasoline lines grow post-Sandy
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- 'We'll figure out a way': Breezy Point looks ahead
- War veterans hit Sandy's front lines for rescues, cleanup
- NYC-area airports up and running, albeit slowly
- New York trick-or-treaters defy Sandy to celebrate Halloween
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- Your Sandy photos: Show us the heroes in your life
- Sandy's aftermath: How you can help
Follow US news from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook

subset: commoncrawl


text:
The name Lintun is commonly considered to be Male.
This Male name is believed to be of English origin.
The meaning of the name Lintun is thought to be: From the flax enclosure.
For further options see the navigation area below.
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Click Here to see more Male names that begin with the letter L
Or you can click here to see more Male names of the Origin English
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text:
bending strength
Bending strength is a characteristic of materials which is determined by 3- or 4-point bend testing. In this test, the test specimen is exposed to both bending and tensile forces. The measured result is the maximum stress that can be absorbed by the material. This maximum stress and the cross-sectional area are used to calculate the bending strength.


text:
Subscribe to all products in this area
Cordtex™ 10P consists of a continuous core of PETN powder encased by high strength textiles. This is covered by a seamless plastic jacket. It is designed to maintain stability under all but the most demanding conditions.
Open Cut Coal, Open Cut Metal, Underground, Quarry
Product Type:
Initiating Systems
Technical Data Sheet
- 236 - pdf
Safety Data Sheet


text:
Serving the Lowcountry and Coastal Empire of Georgia and South Carolina.
-SouthCoast Health's treatment offices remain open for patient visits-
Due to the current public health emergency surrounding COVID-19, we want to keep you abreast of processes that SouthCoast Health is implementing to protect the health of our patients, employees and the community. SouthCoast Health's COVID-19 Safety Procedures.
Tuesday, November 26, 2019
Friday, November 15, 2019


text:
Rocking certain beauty products for the lips can be tough in the winter months. Not only is your pout typically more dry during this time, but you may also have more unsightly chapping than usual, something to which you most likely don't want to draw extra attention. However, models at the recent Elizabeth & James show at New York Fashion Week proved you can rock a lip stain in winter, and here is how:
For starters, you'll need to find a hue in a faded berry color to work against the pale skin many women have in the colder months. A nude lip balm is another important product for this style, Glamour magazine reports.
When you have the two items ready, start by mixing the stain and the lip balm or lip gloss on a little dish or the stain's cap. From here, use makeup brushes to apply the combo on your pout – spread it out evenly for a fabulous feel that will also hide your chapping. Since the stain you should be using is in the muted berry family, you could also use it to give your cheeks a pop of color by dabbing a bit on the apples and blending it in.


text:
Most of us wait all year for those dog days of summer, where warmth, relaxation, BBQ' s, pools, fresh air and more inspire a wonderful few months of happiness, contentment and bliss. Now what if you had the option to bring some of that precious sunshine indoors, creating a summertime escape to last both inside and out? With this in mind, we grabbed some of our favorite beachy chic decals and fashioned our own happy oasis to show how a little coastal flavor to a simple pop of color can make a world of difference in your home.
Whatever your individual style, we hope you have fun designing your own warm and beautiful paradise. If you loved this video, make sure to check out more of WallPops Easy Decorating Tips!


text:
I want to create a parsing quiz for my Hebrew students based upon the "Perfect" and "Imperfect" conjugations of all 7 major stems (Qal, Nifal, Piel...). I have done a search in the book of Genesis of say all Qal Perfect and Imperfect verbs (code = .???@vq[pi]*) and all the occurrences of this search are multiplied in the search window. My question is...how can i copy a list of just those "inflected verbs" that I searched for? I know i am able to copy the verse list, but that is like 700 verses! and I really only want the "words" which i searched for. Any tips?
So far I have just been copy pasting every word...which takes a while.


text:
The George Lucas Super Live Adventure
In 1991, an up-and-coming stage manager named Scott Faris took a phone call from Kenneth Feld, whose Feld Entertainment ran the so-called Greatest Show on Earth, the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. The year before, Faris had been instrumental in helping Feld Entertainment open Siegfried & Roy's magic show in Las Vegas, which cost a record-setting $28 million to produce.
This phone call was not about Siegfried & Roy.
"Hey, this Lucas thing's happening," Feld said. "Come up and meet with me."
Faris gave notice at his current theatrical production. A few weeks later, he flew to Oakland, rented a car, and drove to Skywalker Ranch in San Rafael, California. There he toured Lucasfilm and Industrial Light & Magic with Feld and a group of Japanese businessmen. The party ended up in a boardroom with about a dozen members of Lucasfilm, where Feld took charge. After a day of sightseeing, it was time to talk about why they'd all gathered together.
"The show's got to be an arena show, and the show has to be two acts, and it has to involve the audience," Faris remembers Feld saying matter-of-factly. No one else in the room spoke.
"I thought 'Okay, what the hell? I'll pick up the ball,' " Faris remembers. "I said, 'what I think we should do is find a way to tie together all of George's films.' " Pens rustled on notepads. Again, no one spoke. So Faris kept talking. "I'm going to create an assignment for you Lucas guys and for myself," he said. And then he laid out the simple instructions that would soon inspire the most bizarre celebration of Lucas' films this side of the Stars Wars Holiday Special: "We're going to watch the Lucas films, all of them, from five different points of view. What is the thematic high point, the special effects high point, musical high point, comedic high point, and [most memorable] action sequence. I'll fly back to San Rafael in a week and I'll meet up with you guys."
Everyone was on board. With that, the meeting was over. They all went out to dinner. And for the next two years, Scott Faris spearheaded what Kenneth Feld casually referred to as the "Lucas thing," hiring and directing more than 100 cast and crew for an arena production eventually titled George Lucas' Super Live Adventure. Japanese TV companies ponied up $25 million dollars to finance the production. Faris dreamed up a script that combined Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Willow, Tucker: The Man and His Dream, and American Graffiti.
In April 1993, George Lucas' Super Live Adventure opened to a crowd of more than 10,000 in the Yokohama Arena in Japan. The show toured Japan for five months.
And yet, 20 years later, almost no one has heard of, or remembers, the Super Live Adventure. It persists only in the minds of the Japanese children who once saw the show live, and few remnants--newspaper archives, blurry VHS recordings, tacky merchandise--survive to preserve its memory.
How could such an enormous production, based on some of the most popular films ever made, drift into obscurity?
How could such an enormous production, based on some of the most popular films ever made, drift into obscurity? It was elaborately produced, even for an arena show, with an elevated stage 60 feet across, a pair of giant screens showing 70mm projections of Lucas' films, hand-fired lasers, and a full-scale inflatable Millennium Falcon landing on stage for the finale.
In a single night's entertainment Willow defeated General Kael, Luke vanquished Vader, the rebels destroyed the Death Star, Nazis unleashed the Ark of the Covenant, and Indiana Jones wrestled with a live tiger. This is the story of how it all happened, how it almost didn't, and why, 20 years on, barely a trace of George Lucas' Super Live Adventure remains.
From Lucas Film to Lucas Live
Scott Faris worked for Kenneth Feld Productions on Siegfried & Roy from 1989 to 1990. It was far from his first job in the theater business, but it was a career-changing one. And what a show it was--the production included "75 tons of scenery, the most sophisticated and powerful lighting system ever created, and [a] six-story-high computerized dragon, spitting smoke and flames." Even in a town built on neon and decadence, Siegfried & Roy's $28 million production burned blindingly bright. In one famous act, Roy rides atop a white tiger which is standing on a disco ball that hangs suspended above the stage.
To ensure the massive production opened on time, Faris took on on more and more responsibilities. "A lot of it fell into my lap and I was kind of the guy that made that show open," Faris remembers. He started talking to Kenneth Feld, who would come to Vegas once a month to check up on the show. During one of those conversations, Faris asked for advice on producing a show of his own. He wanted to move up the ladder.
"I've got a show," Feld said. "With George Lucas. Are you interested in that?" Faris' answer? Hell yes. He leapt at the chance. In 1990, however, there was no George Lucas' Super Live Adventure. Not yet. There was just the potential for something.
"Kenneth was at the peak of his form," Faris remembers. "He had brought the circus back to life. There was a big article about him in Time. The Lucas people came to him and said the 20th anniversary of Lucasfilm is going to happen in [1991], and we want to do something for George to celebrate it."
Feld proposed an arena show, and he knew how to pay for it. He'd established Japanese connections a few years before with a successful Siegfried & Roy tour in Tokyo, so he arranged for Japanese broadcast companies NTV, YTV, and Nagoya finance the Lucas production. Everything was ready to go.
Then, in August 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait, instigating the Gulf War. "Everybody stopped investing," Faris says. "The Japanese economy kind of went crazy and the Japanese were put on the spot and donated to this war effort, the coalition effort. Everything investment-wise froze in Japan so the thing just disappeared."
A year later, out of the blue, Faris got the call from Kenneth Feld. The "Lucas thing" was back on.
As he promised, Faris spent the week after that first Lucasfilm meeting diligently watching the movies and taking notes. But when he returned with ideas for the production, no one else had done anything. "I started going through all my notes and nobody offered up any ideas," Faris says. "I walked away from the meeting and called Kenneth and said 'You know what, these guys just want to be contracted as a division of Lucas Entertainment to create the show. I don't think that's right. I think we can create it ourselves."
Inspired by Lucas' use of the Hero with a Thousand Faces, Faris decided to create a character whose fate would be intertwined with the adventures of each film.
Feld said: Great. Go do it. Faris isolated the thematic high points of all of the films and came up with a way to connect them all together. Inspired by Lucas' use of the Hero with a Thousand Faces, he decided to create a character whose fate would be intertwined with the adventures of each film. When writing Star Wars, Lucas had turned to the narrative structure outlined in Joseph Campbell's The Magic of Myth, which sees a hero answering the call to adventure, undergoing trials, and eventually succeeding in a quest. Some of Star Wars' key plot points, like Luke's initial refusal to leave Tatooine, Obi-Wan Kenobi's supernatural aid, Luke's meeting with Princess Leia, and his rescue by Han Solo all closely follow the Hero's Journey.
Super Live Adventure's central character ended up being a young Japanese-American actress, who would sit in the audience and "randomly" be plucked from her seat at the start of each show. The girl, named Hiromi, traveled through Lucas' film worlds with the aid of a magic wand, seeking a hero to fight the powers of evil. In the end, of course, Hiromi discovers that she was the hero all along.
After Lucasfilm gave Faris' proposed story the green light, he brought on writer Roberts Gannaway to turn his stew of Lucas stories into an arena-worthy extravaganza. The script they eventually concocted not only scrambled together Lucas' films, it blended elements from the Star Wars and Indiana Jones trilogies into half-recognizable amalgamations. When the auditorium lights raised at the start of each show in the summer of 1993, an audience of thousands of Lucas diehards were treated to familiar film clips of their favorite silver screen moments. What followed, however, could get a little--well, strange.
A Hero's Journey
A draft of Gannaway's GLSLA script dated January 26, 1993 begins with an exuberant description of the show's opening moments. "Abstract SOUND EFFECTS - the SCREECH of an exotic beast, the ROAR of a Tie fighter, etc. - reverberate through the auditorium, heightening anticipation and hinting at the marvelous things to come. Each of the large screens displays the 'George Lucas' Super Live Adventure' logo."
"A swiftly edited series of Lucasfilm highlights accompanied by a trumpeting medley of the most MEMORABLE THEMES," the script continues. "It's a thrilling, breathtaking, even humorous collection of similar moments from the different films, and all the Lucas heroes..."
After the opening film montage--which includes clips of Lucas himself directing and working with scale models, just to make sure the fourth wall is good and broken--an actor playing Willow enters from the back of the auditorium and hands a small bundle to Hiromi, who is sitting in the audience. Faris recalls the show's opening moments beat-by-beat.
"He runs up on stage and he's confronted by the evil General Kael from the Willow movie," says Faris. "Willow's frozen with fear and the general comes up on horseback on this giant black Friesian, beautiful Friesian horse, and he climbs down, takes out his broadsword, and he chops Willow in two. And he ends up with only a cloak. It was a great effect.
"[Kael] gets back on his horse and rides off and Willow's discovered out in the house, and he grabs the girl and pulls her out and brings her up on stage and she's got a baby. And that's the baby that the evil queen in Willow wants. This is the setup of the whole show. He brings her up on stage and suddenly they're visited by this spirit, this fairy that appeared in Willow, and she speaks to them and says 'We're looking for a hero to protect us. There's a dark force coming. And you've been chosen to find that hero. Take this wand'--and magically this wand appears. 'And use it on your journey. It will help you.' "
Massive set changes, which regularly exchange one set of towering scenery for another, allow Hiromi and her magic wand to travel through Lucas' films worlds, some emphasizing grand setpiece moments over familiar narratives. A looming castle with a working drawbridge dominates the Willow set. In the world of American Graffiti, dancers dressed in their best 1950s sock hop outfits twirl across the stage as a giant jukebox towers 15 feet above their heads.
When the lights go up on Indiana Jones' segment, the action moves from a suspension bridge dangling high above the stage, to Hong Kong's Club Obi-Wan (complete with giant dragon backdrop), to the Ark of the Covenant. Along the way, Indiana Jones' nemesis Belloq tries to steal Hiromi's magic wand, Indy battles a tiger, and the famous face-melting finale to Raiders of the Lost Ark gets its due as Belloq opens the Ark.
"After this moment of beauty, the angelic voices melt into a foreboding chorus of INHARMONIOUS MOANS," reads the script. "Without warning, a sheet of fire and smoke consumes the altar, blotting Belloq from view. We hear his blood-curdling SCREAM and can practically smell the stench of burning flesh. Then a gust of wind sweeps the smoke away, revealing Belloq's toasted skeleton!"
In each world, Hiromi gets her own heroic moment, building up to the feel-good final reveal that she was the pure-of-heart hero the world needed all along. The script describes these moments with a childlike excitement as if it, too, is surprised by every twist and turn. When Indy is trapped under a statute as the Ark's temple set falls to pieces, she saves the day. "Without a split-second to lose, Hiromi plucks the wand off the staff, aims, and wishes!" reads the script. "A beam of light bursts from the wand and connects with the statue. The sculpture's fall is halted...and it wavers in mid-air! It's as if Hirmoi is holding the statue up with a single beam of light! An awestruck Indy frees his leg and dives to safety." Hiromi, of course, is blissfully unaware of her heroism, evne when Indy "pops his hat onto Hiromi's head" and says "I think you're the hero around here."
The Star Wars segment is the most elaborate of them all, combining Jabba's palace, the Mos Eisley Cantina, and a Death Star poised to destroy a Rebel base. Admiral Ackbar delivers a dramatic speech to a crew of Rebel pilots, but not before bowing in typical Japanese fashion. Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader battle with lightsabers across the Death Star set, but it is eventually Hiromi who saves the day with Luke's lightsaber.
Like the Indiana Jones segment, GLSLA's Star Wars finale combines the Death Star of A New Hope with the climax of Return of the Jedi, blending the threat to the rebel base with the death of the Emperor--this time it's Vader who gets thrown down an energy shaft--and Jedi's climactic space battle. But most of the iconic images from the films actually show up on stage, including Jabba and a life-size Millenium Falcon. Super Live Adventure's script can't truly convey the scale of the production, or its quirks; the way the Japanese audio and the actors' exaggerated motions don't quite line up, lending the show a slight Power Rangers feel. Or the way combining classic film scenes and brand new ones, like Indiana Jones facing off against a sleepy, disinterested tiger, feels a bit like big-budget fan fiction.
As conceptually absurd as the production is, the scale of the sets, stunts, and special effects is even harder to believe. It took a cast and crew of more than 100 to make George Lucas' Super Live Adventure work, and nearly two years passed between Faris' initial meeting with Lucasarts and the premiere in Japan.
Before Hiromi could embark on her Hero's Journey--before she even had a name--Faris spent months finding his crew. Then, together, they spent an entire year figuring out how to bring Lucas' fantasies, originally built with scale models and post-production special effects, to live audiences.
Inflatables, Laser Beams, Fantastical Things
Super Live Adventure would need a production designer who could build big.
Scott Faris' first hire, before there was even a script for GLSLA, was production designer Douglas Schmidt. Faris knew about Schmidt due to his work on 1981's Broadway production of Frankenstein. At the time, the $2 million dollar production had been the most expensive Broadway show of all time, and the play infamously closed after a single performance. Schmidt's grandiose sets weren't to blame, and Super Live Adventure would need a production designer who could build big.
"Once Doug was on board, Doug and I went on this research phase," Faris says. "We just flew around the country seeing concerts. If somebody had indoor pyro, we'd go see if. It somebody was using video in some amazing way, we'd go see it. Whatever tickled our fancy, we'd go see, and we'd see how we could work some variation of that into the show."
Schmidt, who still works as a theatrical production designer from his studio in San Francisco, remembers getting a call about the show and being on the next plane to Burbank, where Faris kept an office.
"We had nothing--a big pile of Xerox paper to start with," Schmidt says. "The first thing that I did was arrange a sitdown talk with the folks at Lucas. Mercifully they're right in the neighborhood. I was able to get access to their archives, which was fabulous. It was like a kid in a candy store. Just to hold those Ralph McQuarrie sketches in your hand, just pull open these drawers and see this whole movie in pictures, painted and imagined, it was truly cool."
While Schmidt researched Lucas' films for inspiration, Faris hired more key staff members for the production, including scriptwriter Gannaway, his regular collaborator Jonathan Deans as sound designer, and former My Three Sons actor-turned-musician Don Grady as composer. He hired a Hollywood stunt coordinator to handle stunt rigging and editor Dustin Ebsen to assemble the film clips that would supplement the stage performances. The Super Live Adventure production eventually held auditions in New York and Los Angeles and even Orlando, where stuntmen congregated for gigs at Disney World and Universal Studios.
As the production designer, Douglas Schmidt was responsible for directing the visual look of the entire show. In smaller theatrical productions, the production designer may handle scenery, lighting, and even costumes, directly overseeing nearly every production department. On Super Live Adventure, lighting, lasers, sound, and costumes were such enormous undertakings, they all had their own leads. It still took the entirety of 1992 to put the show together.
"There were all kinds of physical problems to deal with," says Schmidt. "If you look at those movies, and you look at the research materials, everything's huge. Couldn't possibly be bigger. Somehow we had to figure out a way to make all of that user friendly enough that we could get it first to Japan, then tour it, because once we got it to Japan it was going to go to three or four different cities."
Schmidt had long wanted to try inflatable sculptures as set elements, and Lucas' grandiose movies offered the perfect opportunity. Some of Super Live's key set pieces--the Chinese dragon from Temple of Doom's Club Obi Wan, a gigantic jukebox inspired by American Graffiti, and Jabba from Star Wars, were all inflatables. Each inflatable started as a half-inch scale clay model which was then painted with latex. Once the latex dried, it was carefully cut off the model, flattened out, scanned, and digitally enlarged to the appropriate size. While there's a telltale bulge to the inflatables up close, from an arena seat, the massive props were impressively enormous and realistic.
Larger Than Life Inflatables, still in business in San Diego, made the blow-up scenery. Both Faris and Schmidt say that they've never seen another theatrical production use inflatables on the same scale. A full-scale Millenium Falcon--or rather, the front half of one--dwarfed them all. The balloon wasn't quite spaceworthy, though it was based on the original schematics used to design the external set that appears in The Empire Strikes Back.
"It was [mounted on] a steel framework and onboard fans kept the thing inflated," Schmidt says. "These big doors opened up and from way way way upstage the spaceship comes down towards you and is landing, and then a ramp comes down and all the people come out." (In reality, fog machines and dry ice obscured the ramp lowering from the steel truss, and actors walked out from behind the ramp.) With the inflatables, Schmidt was able to match Lucas' sense of scale, and between shows the blow-up stage elements could be deflated, packed into boxes, and carted around with ease.
Many of the sets were constructed from more traditional materials, like the bridge that Indiana Jones fought across; stuntmen and acrobats would have to fall from the wood-and-rope bridge, through smoke obscuring the stage, and into trapdoors hidden in the floor. The temple housing the Ark of the Covenant was reproduced in sculpted foam, and its giant statues would crash to the ground as Indy and Hiromi made their escape. Lucasfilm loaned the production a real Tucker automobile from the 1988 film.
Schmidt designed a raised stage a massive 60 feet in diameter, which could accommodate subterranean elements like trap doors, fog machines, and spears that would pop up to get stabby with Indiana Jones. The backstage area, which also had to be raised, was twice the size. Schmidt also designed a grid that hung over the stage, which actors would repel down from 462 lights bathed the set in a rainbow of colors. The stage was constructed by Tait Towers, known for supplying lighting grids, stages and other pieces of equipment for enormous rock concerts. Their recent portfolio includes the London 2012 Olympics Ceremony and Madonna's MDNA tour.
Costume designer Frank Krenz and Kenneth Feld's prop shop produced more than 400 costumes for GLSLA, including Darth Vader, C-3PO, R2-D2, the aliens from the Star Wars cantina, and more than a few sets of Stormtrooper armor.
Other companies were brought in to supply the sound system, rock concert-caliber lighting, pyrotechnics, lasers, and wild animals (two tigers, two horses, and four dogs). Don Grady based his score on the original music from Lucas' films, then flew to London to record it with the Royal Philharmonic, the same orchestra that played for John Williams.
Sound designer Jonathan Deans recalls that all of the sound effects came on hard drives from Skywalker Ranch. The screams of the TIE fighters, laser zaps, and lightsaber clashes were straight from the movies. Due to the storage limitations of the time, nearly every scene in Super Live Adventure had its sound files stored on a separate drive.
"We actually developed equipment for the show," Deans says. "We created a console that could [control] 15 tracks...The audio was digital on the hard drives, but at the time there were no digital consoles. The console, the LCS console--the next [iteration] of that console became digital and actually was the first digital console to be used in live entertainment. So it was just pre-[digital], by a very short time, that it existed."
And, of course, there were the lasers, which would likely be replaced by LEDs in a modern production--safer and cheaper, but nowhere near as flashy. For the duel between Luke and Darth Vader, the laser technicians created lightsaber by trapping laser beams within tubes.
"The budget for lasers was outrageous," Scott Faris says. "We did things that had never been tried or were not even legal, and we found ways to get them approved. Hand-fired lasers had never been used in that way before, but we had to have it for Luke Skywalker and Han Solo shooting it out with the stormtroopers. And our laser guys worked out a system of interlocking safeties so an infrared beam would target on the chest of a stormtrooper and when it got positive feedback it would fire the laser, and when the laser fired a squib charge would go off on the stormtrooper, and he'd fall and die. It looked just like the movies."
By February 1993, George Lucas' Super Live Adventure was coming together. Feld found an empty arena in North Carolina where the production could set up and rehearse. And rehearse. And rehearse. "We were [there] for two months," Schmidt says. "Two months in Charlotte. We got it together. We had a show at the end."
After two months of rehearsal, it was time to ship cast, crew, costumes, sets, and stage to Japan. As the premiere date of Super Live Adventure drew closer, the Japanese financiers prepared to take advantage of something even more popular in Japan than the Star Wars films--George Lucas himself.
Big in Japan
A thin, early-40s Lucas with the first hints of gray in his beard was the face of Panasonic.
In 1987, Matsushita Electric--now known as Panasonic--began a Japanese ad campaign called Something New. A thin, early-40s Lucas with the first hints of gray in his beard was the face of the campaign. Commercials and print ads were created in the US at ILM, with props and models from Star Wars making regular appearances. ILM even built a robot mascot named Sparky for Matsushita that was designed by artist Ralph McQuarrie.
The Matsushita campaign swept advertising awards in the late 1980s. By 1993, when Super Live Adventure made its premiere, Lucas was no longer starring in the ads, but the cult of celebrity was already established. His face had been all over Japan for years.
Alongside his role of producer and director for Super Live Adventure, Faris found himself also producing a giant press conference ahead of the premiere.
"They wanted to interview [Lucas] for Japanese TV so they said I should go up and ask George the questions," Faris says. He met Lucas at Skywalker Ranch briefly during during production in '92, then flew to Japan to hold the press conference at the Akasaka Prince hotel in Tokyo. Tokyo Disney loaned Faris C-3PO and R2-D2, and they brought in 20 sets of stormtrooper armor and a Darth Vader costume created for Super Live Adventure.
"That all led up to George walking in through a giant laser tunnel," he says. "It was outrageous. There were like a thousand journalists. Then, after that, the coolest thing ever: They got us lunch and took us to a private room and George and I just shot the shit...I'm telling you it was absolute heaven for me. I was a total Star Wars geek myself, and working in theatre, which had nothing to do with film, but I just loved film. I remember [when Return of the Jedi came out] and there was a big announcement in Variety. I said 'I'm going to work with George Lucas.' And 12 years later I met him."
Months after his huge press conference, Faris returned to Japan ahead of the rest of the production and supervised the the voice cast that dubbed the show into Japanese. All audio in the production, from music to sound effects to dialogue, was pre-recorded. The Japanese actors who originally dubbed Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and Lucas' other films all lent their voices to Super Live Adventure. The American actors had to pantomime the entire show, as all of their practice performances in Charlotte had been in English.
Other than the dubbing, little of the production was catered to the Japanese audience. "[The TV companies] wanted me originally to use a Japanese fight choreographer, and maybe I should've," Faris says. "That would've been a good thing, because their swordsmanship was unbelievable. But at the time I was committed to a guy from the theatre who was a broadsword expert...I don't remember, other than them feeling like they wanted to have a say in it, that there was anything that wasn't happening."
On April 27, 1993, George Lucas' Super Live Adventure debuted in Yokohama.
Doug Schmidt remembers a huge audience at the premiere--and a strange one, to Americans unaccustomed to Japanese etiquette. "The audience response was so muted we thought, 'Do they hate it?' We got nothin'. Nothin' during the show. No applause, no oohs, no ahhs, nothin'. They might as well have been dummies sitting there. Then at the end, they went crazy, they loved it! But nothing during the show, which threw everybody. We didn't know what the hell was going on."
Lucas, at least to Faris' recollection, loved the show; he later brought his daughters to see it in Osaka.
Faris remembers sitting in the royal box with his wife and George Lucas, who returned to Japan to watch the premiere. Lucas, at least to Faris' recollection, loved the show; he later brought his daughters to see it in Osaka.
Through spring and summer, Super Live Adventure toured Japan's arenas, drawing big crowds at each location. As it toured, Feld flew over American entertainment bigwigs in hopes of setting up a US tour. The production sold mounds of merchandise to help recoup costs.
But by the end of Japan's summer, the show was finished, packed up, and shipped home for storage. It's been fading into obscurity ever since, begging a question that's difficult to answer today: was George Lucas' Super Live Adventure actually any good?
The Show Goes On, Until It Doesn't
"We were so proud of it," Scott Faris says. "It was so much fun. We explored things that hadn't been done and everybody on the creative team was just into it. They were ready to try anything and make it work."
During one show--maybe opening night--one of the show's generators exploded.
Faris and his crew pulled off a technological feat with Super Live Adventure, but that technology suffered its share of technical problems. Faris, Schmidt, and sound designer Jonathan Deans all remember one disaster differently. According to Deans, there were multiple generators in trucks parked outside the arena, which were used to provide extra power necessary for the show. During one show--maybe opening night--one of those generators exploded.
"It actually blew up," Deans says. "Parts of the generator flew out of the truck and landed on other cars parked in the car park. It was just as Mad Martigan in Willow was about to have his head cut off."
The generator's explosion fried every MIDI chip in the sound system, which they used to send commands between audio devices. Deans and his team had to trigger and mix all of the sound effects and music manually. On other nights, the projectors refused to send the proper timing signature to the audio gear, causing sound to regularly cut out as film clips were being played--and to come back on with a deafening explosion.
Amazingly, no one was seriously hurt during the production, though a forum post from a former cast member recalls "numerous cast members rotated out of the show due to injuries, me included."
The scariest incident--and the funniest in retrospect--came during rehearsal in North Carolina, when one of the tigers escaped from its trainer. Deans remembers the tiger being freaked out by a shiny gold prop for the Indiana Jones segment, attacking it, and running loose. The tiger, he says, was "really fucking pissed."
The escaped tiger was "really fucking pissed."
Scott Faris elaborates: "We hear, suddenly, over the [loudspeaker]: 'Please close the doors. The tiger is loose.' And you just see people running and slamming doors. I remember one person in the office, this would be in the interior of the arena where all the dressing rooms are...this one office person calling us on the phone saying 'Um, the tiger just walked by me in the passageway...' Nobody got eaten, but that was a huge bit of excitement there in the early days."
Still, neither safety nor reliability were seriously detrimental to the show's brief run. All productions of that scale are going to have their problems. Ultimately, if George Lucas' Super Live Adventure had a critical weakness, it was the story.
"Very sweet. Very cheesy. This show would NOT have gone over well in America AT ALL!" writes the same former cast member on a Star Wars fan forum. Schmidt says the story wasn't a strong point, and that ultimately he didn't think the show could've sustained a permanent stint in Las Vegas. Faris, however, whose position as supervising producer put him closer to Feld, says there was ample interest in bringing the show to the United States.
"People were after us when they heard about the show," he said. "We were going to set up permanently at Universal Studios in Florida. Vegas wanted us. There was a lot of excitement after the Japanese run. Kenneth wanted to do a tour. But the one mistake we made was we built Doug's massive deck--the tech department built it out of heavy steel scaffolding that you'd put up around a building to repair it. Very time consuming to set up and very heavy to transport."
The Super Live Adventure stage simply took too long to assemble and disassemble to support a brisk US touring schedule. Sadly, right around the same time Tait Towers built the stage, they also developed a new rolling stage for rock concerts. Rolling arena stages could be set up in one part of the arena while lighting and sound were hung from the ceiling, then wheeled into place, effectively cutting setup time in half. But too much money had already been sunk into the Super Live Adventure stage. They couldn't ditch it and build a new one.
Selling the show to US executives was already an uphill battle, since everyone that Feld brought to Japan had to watch the show in Japanese. Talks never panned out. But the show didn't entirely die away, at first. For a time, people remembered it.
"My next show after that was EFX and it opened the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas," Faris says. "One of the CEOs of one of the theaters called me and said, 'I heard about your Lucas show. Can you put it in my theatre?'...I went down and looked and I said, 'You know what, it's not high enough. The ceiling's not high enough. We can't fit the scenery in.' You know, the temple for Indiana Jones was like 30 feet high, and our grid was another 10 feet over that.' "
After its Japanese run, Super Live Adventure went into storage at a Feld Entertainment warehouse. Doug Schmidt tried to rent certain set pieces from the production multiple times over the years, but could never gain access to them. His contacts at the company demurred; It would've been too costly, or time-consuming, to dig pieces out of storage. When he last tried, about a decade ago, the costumes and props and one-of-a-kind inflatables were gone.
They'd been taking up too much space. Feld Entertainment threw everything away.
A Vision of the Future
Twenty years after its one and only summer tour, the last pieces of George Lucas' Super Live Adventure that remain are souvenirs and memorabilia, the merchandise sold to Japanese audiences during the short tour. And there was a lot of merchandise, ranging from popcorn buckets to mugs, hand towels, lightsabers, keychains, and Darth Vader voice manipulators. Japanese parents were encouraged to buy their children merch; this even gets a minor mention in Gannaway's script, when the intermission describes the audience doing "the sort of things audiences do during intermissions: bathroom, concessions, souvenirs, etc..."
Much of the art on the George Lucas' Super Live Adventure's merchandise looks just a little off. A Yoda doll is just slightly too rotund and ugly. A bag printed with the art from the official poster transforms iconic faces into cartoonish caricatures. A hand towel sporting the logos from each film represented in the show looks like it could've been put together with clip art.
Other pieces are genuinely cool, and even a little awe-inspiring, like the poster of George Lucas, staring straight ahead in a pair of aviators, presented in an orange-tinged silhouette. In his San Francisco studio, Doug Schmidt still has the show's official poster, which combines everything from Willow to Star Wars into one image, mounted above his drafting table. That poster manages to capture the essence of the classic hand-painted posters for Star Wars and Indiana Jones, deftly avoiding the campiness of Super Live's other memorabilia.
Despite the eclectic variety of merch available at the arena show, there were even more designs for pieces that were never made. Feld Entertainment likely made the right call in abandoning the Darth Vader tissue box, but it may have missed out on a hit with the chibi Chewbacca backpack. Sadly, if the props, inflatables, and other set elements of Super Live Adventure hadn't been thrown away, they'd be coveted by diehard Star Wars collectors today.
Even video evidence of the show is scarce. Neither Faris or Schmidt know if the production was ever recorded by the Japanese broadcasters or aired on television. Footage shot from the audience exists--you can find it on Youtube--but you'll be hard pressed to see the details of Schmidt's sets or Krenz's costumes.
Were George Lucas' Super Live Adventure to return today, it may have the legs to tour across the world. While Lucas himself is moving into retirement, Star Wars may be bigger than ever. The series is, at the very least, far bigger than it was in 1993, when Timothy Zahn's Thrawn novels were breathing new life into a dormant franchise. But could Star Wars ever spawn another weird hodgepodge like Super Live Adventure?
Faris believes so. "I was out in Vegas working on a show last month and looking at all these crazy shows around Vegas...and I thought, man, that Lucas show would've worked today," he says.
"Man, that Lucas show would've worked today."
Jonathan Deans feels the same. "To do that show now would be stunning," he adds. "All the technology, we could do that easily now, in every aspect. Technology has grown up and we'd be able to do that in our sleep almost. But of course, we'd make it a lot better."
With the Disney empire now behind Lucasfilm, a new arena show celebrating Lucasfilm's legacy doesn't sound so outlandish. After all, Star Wars' 40th anniversary is coming up in 2017.
And Lucas has always enjoyed a spectacle. As that extravagant Japanese press conference wrapped up in Tokyo before GLSLA's tour, after Lucas' lunch with Scott Faris and a day devoted to endless interviews, the creator of Star Wars gave the director of Super Live Adventure one piece of advice.
"He said, 'Hey, have a great show, and just remember: do what I do,' " Faris remembers. "I said 'Yeah, what's that?' And he said, 'Save the big explosion for the end.' "
[Editor's note: This story was originally published on Sept 5, 2013. We're resurfacing it this week as part of our tribute to the great feature work that writer Wes Fenlon has done with Tested, as he embarks on his new career in games journalism.]


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Stacy and her Dad decided that the Wii sensor bar was a bit too visible for their liking. So what do you do? Stuff it in an old remote, of course!
Dad and I were trying to build a Wireless Sensor Bar and managed to do one that is all wires and batteries. Then He Started digging through all of his remotes around the house and found a couple that didn't work on anything. so we set off to work on a "Version 2″ so to speak. We took one of the remotes and cut off part of the Circuit board and then drilled holes in the side for the IR LED's and used the battery box already on the remote and made a sensor bar that is sort of "Incognito".
More about making a Wii sensor inside an old remote