October 2000
Would Anakin Skywalker turn to the dark side? Was Boba Fett going to make an appearance? And most crucially of all, would Jar Jar Binks die horribly? After months of skimming through the wild speculation on the Internet sites - Episode II was still more than a year and a half away - the invitation had arrived. I could now read the script of Star Wars Episode II. Only I wasn't going to get a copy in the post, oh no. I had to actually, physically travel to Lucasfilm in northern California to read it. Security, you understand.

So I flew to San Francisco and drove up into the hills to the remote valley where Skywalker Ranch, George Lucas' HQ, is hidden away from the eyes of the world. At the entrance lodge, security guards confirm your identity and hand you a map. It's quite useful having a map as the Ranch is several miles long. There's criss-crossing roads that dip through redwoods and past a lake (that's Lake Ewok), a fire station (gleaming fire engines with "Skywalker Ranch" on the side), a baseball diamond, kitchen garden, vineyards, horses, and random deer. Oh, and bicycles, used by Lucasfilm folk to get around.

We are met by Iain Morris, Art Editor at Lucasfilm, and taken to an oak-panelled room in the Main House (where George Lucas has his office) for coffee and muffins. Then we are escorted to a luxurious stag theatre, lit by art nouveau lamps and with gigantic armchairs for seats. Apparently, this is where George watches films; I looked around for signs of thrown popcorn and spilt coke, but it was immaculate. Howard Roffman, Lucasfilm's head of Licensing, sat us down and told us a story, in which we find out exactly what Anakin Skywalker does, who Boba Fett really is, and, thankfully, not very much at all about Jar Jar Binks. We are treated to three partially finished sequences from the film. In one, the speeder chase through Coruscant, Obi-Wan and Anakin are played by stand-ins, and their hilarious over-acting gives me a rough idea of how Star Wars might look if John Waters had directed it instead.

Then the big moment arrives. We are led to an office, where a pile of bound manuscripts are waiting for us. The script! At this current moment in time, this is the Holy Grail of Star Wars fandom. We are each asked to sign for them, and are escorted to separate offices to read it. I've got just two hours with it. I sit down with my notepad and pen and turn to the first page. I read: Star Wars Episode II "Jar Jar's Big Adventure".

November 2000
Having read the script, I have been able to plan out which spaceships and vehicles we'll feature in the Cross-Sections book. I have also had my choice of author approved by DK and Lucasfilm. Dr Curtis Saxton is an Australian who holds a PhD in theoretical astrophysics and knows more about Star Wars than I would ever have thought humanly possible. He writes an enormous website called the Technical Commentaries, whose mission is to "synthesise and explore a self-consistent reality for the Star Wars universe." (Sample topic: Hyperspace - phenomenological study and physical rationalisation of superluminal travel"!) Apart from this, Curtis has no actual publishing experience, and I realise that I'll be held responsible if anything goes wrong!

January 2001
I arrange for Hans Jenssen, Richard Chasemore and Curtis to fly to Lucasfilm to research the vehicles and spacecraft to be featured in the Cross-Sections book. Between them, the two artists have 13 major cross-section artworks to research, plan, draw, get approved, ink, colour and finish. To begin drawing, they will need good reference and at this stage in the film's production schedule, that's going to be hard to come by. Iain Morris says that he can get us access to concept artwork and reference pictures - but no scale models, since they are all stored at special effects supremos Industrial Light and Magic (ILM) and ILM is totally out of bounds to pesky licensees like us. However, we might possibly be able to have a meeting with Doug Chiang, one of the concept design supervisors for the film and therefore a Very Important Person.

Sunday 4th March 2001
It's a warm spring morning in northern California. The illustrators and I are getting over jetlag. We're awaiting the arrival of Curtis Saxton, flying in from Australia. Eventually, from out of the sunshine, a dark figure appears - with an Australian accent. Curtis, dressed in a double-breasted suit, struggles with a gigantic and very ancient alligator skin suitcase ("my grandfather used it when he went exploring in Africa…"). As I get to know Curtis, I realise that despite being just 27 years of age, he makes no concessions to youth in his manner or dress. As a self-declared "young fogey", he wears a formal suit at all times. After making introductions, Curtis produces a ball of green string from his pocket. I nod as if in understanding, explaining to the bemused illustrators later "it's ok, he's just a bit eccentric."

Monday 5th
Lucasfilm people are even more bemused with Dr Saxton. Used to people dressed casually in jeans and T-shirts, they didn't know what to make of Curtis in his dark suit and black, shiny shoes.

At lunch, we are sat at a table right beside none other than George Lucas. Halfway through the meal, George is shown a large board on which are pinned a selection of types of video case. George examines each in turn before making his choice. Since, at this point the video release for The Phantom Menace hadn't even been announced, we realised we were officially witnessing a Highly Confidential Moment.

The illustrators have got access to work in the Art Room, which is the creative nerve centre for whole look of the Star Wars prequels. We still didn't have clearance to visit the vehicle models at ILM. This was a blow, since we had come above all else to look at the models. It's the best way of getting a sense of the bulk of a ship; by studying the exterior marking, you can get an idea of how the interior might be laid out - which is obviously crucial for the cross-section artworks Hans and Richard had to produce.

Tuesday 6th
The artists begin their initial sketches, deciding which angle shows off the craft to best advantage, allowing us to see as much as possible of the interior and allowing for annotations and captions on the spread. They have been looking through folders of pre-production sketches, which are helpful only to a degree since most of the vehicles change dramatically from Doug Chiang's initial idea to the finished thing. It's a strange feeling when you walk into the Art Room and all around you there's top-secret Episode II stuff pasted over the walls, and every surface is littered with models of every description. At DK, I have to clear my desk each evening and keep all Episode II materials locked up. It's particularly amazing seeing people actually working on the film; for example, producing animatics - computer animated storyboards that are used to pre-plan every shot of the film.

Wednesday 7th
It's the day of our lunch with Doug Chiang. In bright sunshine, we drive up to his white stucco apartment overlooking San Rafael, palm trees everywhere. Doug greets us at the door dressed entirely in white. Doug is laid back and charming. His wife and young children pad softly around. A piano tuner tunes Doug's new piano, all white, of course. Doug takes us into his beautiful, light-filled studio, and shows us his latest paintings. Then we assemble on his sun porch with big glasses of fresh orange juice, and quiz Doug about the spaceships and vehicles he designed for the movie. What weapons does Obi-Wan's fighter have? How many clone troopers do the Gunships carry? How will the loading hatches on the Republic Assault Ship open? Doug tells us everything he and George Lucas decided for the ships, and then we drive off to San Rafael to his favourite Thai restaurant for lunch. As it's his birthday, Hans gets to ride with Doug in his silver Porsche Boxter. Doug is open and talkative about his work on the Star Wars prequels. He asks the illustrators all sorts of questions about their work.

Thursday 8th
Curtis, Hans, Richard and I spend all day working out how the spaceships and vehicles should work. Some, such as Zam Wesell's speeder, have no obvious outlets for important things like exhaust, and Curtis works out complex but scientifically water-tight ways to resolve these apparent problems. He proposes that Geonosian fighter pilots are permanently sealed in their ships, literally hatched in the cockpit. We love it! He's great at taking Hans' and Richard's ideas and pushing them further. Curtis is really firing on all cylinders, the illustrators are looking impressed, and I feel justified in my confidence in him, though later we have to modify many of his ideas.

Friday 16th
Against all odds, Iain has managed to arrange clearance for us to visit ILM. We jump in the car and drive to ILM, whose anonymous, low-rise buildings give away no clues as to its importance as the world's most successful special effects company. At the reception, we receive passes and are whisked along corridors lined with movie posters, through busy work areas, crowded with computers, models, drawings, props, and miscellaneous other stuff. And right out the other side. Eventually, in another nondescript building (I'm sure they were deliberately disorientating us so we could never find our way around again), we reach the payoff - the room where the Episode II vehicle models have been laid out for us like priceless jewels. They are only a few inches tall, but are intricately made, showing all sorts of details like hatches and viewscreens which we couldn't get from anything else. The illustrators and author proceed to debate every last pen-drawn line and measure every length. For me, the important thing was that at last I found out what Curtis' green string was for: taking impromtu measurements. Ahh, of course.

Our final afternoon. We have had the guided tour of the Ranch, seen the beautiful library which has a stained glass dome for a ceiling. We have eaten in all of its four restaurants and eyed up all the Star Wars merchandise in the shop. We've seen the cabinets of actual props from Lucasfilm movies - C3PO's metal hand; Luke's lightsaber; Indiana Jones' hat and whip! We've fantasized about staying in the guest lodge, where visiting VIPs stay, Coppola and Spielberg among them. Preparing to leave for England, we've got reference that we could never have got anywhere else; but we've still got almost nothing on certain spaceships, and now the serious work really begins.