Two thousand and one began with the surprising end of Sith War VII. Surprising because there actually was an ending to many of the plots. Shortly after, Sal declared the JTFC disbanded, adding fuel to the fire that would be Sith War 8.1. The previous Sith War, 8, lasted about a week.
In what was best described as an odd moment in RASSM history, Omar, one of the more unusual posters, was arrested for stalking Jeri Ryan and banned from using computers ever again.
The topic that kept coming up every now and then throughout the year was Episode II. There were pictures, online documentaries and in November, three trailers that brought posters new and old to RASSM to share their opinions.
Possibly the biggest Star Wars related event of the year took place in August, with the announcement that the title to Episode II would be Attack of the Clones. It spawned what would become known as Titlegate.
During the summer there were RASSM weddings, Craig "Muuurgh" Stelle and Renee Eland were married in July and in August the leaders of two opposing fan clubs, Sal, and James Trory cemented an alliance.
October saw the long-awaited release of the Episode I DVD. While some people felt that polished crap is still crap, many agreed it was an extremely well put together DVD, were happy to see the deleted scenes and were left longing for the original trilogy to be released on DVD as well.
The days of the RASSM webring came to an end, the new RASSM picture page was born, Jill Marie created her own humorous and brutally honest FAQ. Poop wars, pointless polls and poetry by the Tortured Artist mingled with reviews of the latest novels. RASSMers were encouraged to share their views on a different character from the Star Wars Saga each week, the Balance Point thread continued into its second year and Jade gave us weekly reviews of RASSMs highs and lows.
And in the end, Steve Tilson Won.
2002*
*Revised April 2008