Darth Vader's voice is now AI-generated

Source: Lucasfilm / Benj Edwards

Any future appearance of Darth Vader in the Star Wars universe will no longer feature James Earl Jones's voice. The actor signed off during the creation of the Obi-Wan Kenobi show that Disney could replicate his vocal performance as Darth Vader in future projects. Disney has been able to do this with the help of an AI voice-modeling tool called Respeecher, which comes from a company in Ukraine. It can use deep learning to model and replicate human voices in a way that's almost indistinguishable from the real thing. 

This isn't the first time Lucasfilm has used Respeecher, though. They've done it with Mark Hamill's voice in The Mandalorian. So, they thought it might work with Darth Vader, too. Jones has voiced the iconic Star Wars villain for 45 years. And now at 91, he was ready to retire the character. Respeecher used archival recordings of Jones to create a voice model another actor could use to "perform" vocally using its speech-to-speech technology.

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You can build a 6,187-piece Lego of Mando's Razor Crest soon

Source: Lego

If you've ever thought of building The Mandalorian's iconic ship, you'll get the chance to do that with Lego. The company just launched a 6,187-piece construction set of the Razer Crest for US$600 (around CA$819). Of course, the ship will come with minifigures of Grogu (a.k.a. Baby Yoda), Mando, Kuiil, Mythrol, and a buildable Blurrg.

This rather expensive model is large at 72 cm long, 50 cm wide, and 24 cm high. You get removable engines and cockpit, an escape pod, and a mini figure-size carbon-freezing chamber. It also comes with a stand and information plaque you can display after it's built. Yes, there is also the shift knob that's fascinated Baby Yoda. If you're willing to drop the big bucks, LEGO VIP members get first dibs starting October 3, with everyone else getting the chance to buy one starting October 7 online and through LEGO stores.

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HBO drops first trailer of 'The Last of Us' adaptation

HBO is finally ready to show a bit more of its adaptation of the Naughty Dog video game, The Last of Us. The series stars The Mandalorian's Pedro Pascal as Joel and Game of Thrones's Bella Ramsey as Ellie. Similar to the games, the show tells the story of Joel and Ellie, two people living in a world devastated by the outbreak of a deadly fungus that mutates the infected into terrifying monsters. 

If this first full-length trailer is any indication, the story understandably focuses on Joel and Ellie instead of the monsters themselves. The trailer is leaving us intrigued, and we can't wait to see it when HBO debuts the show in 2023. 

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iOS 16 bug reportedly breaks support for Cinematic videos in iMovie, Final Cut Pro

While Apple recently fixed some bugs caused by iOS 16, a new one has reportedly popped up. Some iPhone users are finding that iMovie and Final Cut Pro aren't supporting videos recorded in Cinematic Mode if the device it was recorded on runs on iOS 16. It's unclear what's causing the issue, but the reports seem to be consistent in pointing out these apps show an error when trying to edit Cinematic videos.

Apple hasn't acknowledged the bug yet, so you can't expect a software fix for now. A workaround 9to5Mac suggested editing the video on the iPhone and then sharing these to the Mac via AirDrop.