Club Jade

TheForce.Net heard back from Lucasfilm on the post-Return of the Jedi animated series supposedly leaked by a laid-off LFL employee on the IMDB boards. “This is something we’ve never seen before,” Lucasfilm spokeswoman Tracy Cannobbio told TFN’s Eric Geller in an email.

The treatment, which sketched out an all-new post-movie galaxy, was picked up by several fansites and blogs over the weekend.

UPDATE: In a shocking (not) turn of events, Lucasfilm has denied this. But hey, we don’t mind fan fiction, so the original entry and pics remain below:

A TFN reader spotted this treatment for Star Wars: Reclamation today on the IMDB message boards. The poster claims to be an ex-Lucasfilm employee, but obviously nothing about this is in any way verifiable.

The Reclamation treatment lays out a Star Wars story set about 15 years after Return of the Jedi. It features mostly all-new characters, but the description of Leia Organa is, shall we say, very interesting:

A post-Emperor universe where Han and Leia aren’t even together? Where at least Leia’s ancestry is kept secret? Where there are Jedi who survived the purges but no mention of Luke Skywalker? Although at least one of the other character descriptions is rather curious…

As always, I am deeply skeptical about this whole thing, but it’s certainly food for thought – even if it does turn out to be nothing more than a rejected pitch, an attempt to troll gullible EU fans or just someone’s cleverly-presented fanfic.

Like I’ve said before, it’s time for Expanded Universe fans to get used to the idea that something like this – by which I mean a post-ROTJ that’s completely different from the one in the books and comics, not necessarily this specific setup – might actually be what happens in the sequels. Chances are that, yes, this instance is a big old fake. But the possibility that the sequels will give us a new post-ROTJ universe is very real.

Check out the full treatment below the cut.

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In a Rebel Force Radio interview that will go live tomorrow, Dave Filoni says he’s still with Lucasfilm Animation and touches on the next Star Wars series. IGN’s Eric Goldman has the report:

“At this point, I am involved in some early production discussions and exploration of what we’ll be doing with Star Wars animation in the future, which is really exciting for me and I have some friendly faces around me, of course, that are helping me on the project. So it’s a transition time, as I’ve said before, and I think it will lead to an exciting time and hopefully I’ll see things grow again.”

So no details, and clearly very early days yet, but at least it’s some further confirmation that a second show could eventually come into fruition.

Meanwhile, LucasArts, ILM and Lucasfilm Animation aren’t alone in suffering layoffs: Looks like Disney itself is facing a massive reorganization, according to Variety.

It’s been about a week since the DVD release of LEGO Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Out, and we’ve got a couple clips for you, as well as the highlights of several reviews of this 22-minute special. Above, Luke and Leia share an awkward moment in ‘Sister’, while below, Luke runs into trouble of a different sort: giggling groupies. Also, we’ll check in with what reviewers are saying about the DVD, which came out on March 26.

Here’s how The Empire Strikes Out is stacking up:

• The Morton Report calls it a breezily entertaining treat, but cautions that at 22 minutes and no special features, the only bonus is the LEGO mini-figure of Darth Vader with medal.
• Geeky Girl Reviews gives it 3/5 and says We love Lego Star Wars cartoons but this one I think young children will enjoy it more than adults, and was a little disappointed at the lack of bonus content.
• Cinema Deviant likewise bemoans the brevity of the disc, but points out “What’s more to say other than it’s the best of two things, Legos and Star Wars…This is so funny and the humor is the type that anyone could enjoy no matter what age.”
• Scifi Mafia gave it 5/5 stars with “The writing is awesome, and the comedy is the perfect amount of gag and poking fun at Star Wars and LEGO alike. We loved it. It’s great fun for the whole family.”

While LEGO Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Out is a lot of fun to watch and re-watch (I still have it on my DVR from when it first aired on Cartoon Network), the lack of any extras (besides the exclusive LEGO Vader mini-figure) makes me hesitant to trade up for the DVD, while first special, LEGO Star Wars: The Padawan Menace did have some additional material on its DVD/Blu-ray combo release. Still, if you haven’t checked it out, or you’re looking for something fun for the whole family with Star Wars, this will definitely entertain you!

And remember, there’s more LEGO Star Wars coming this year: three specials of The Yoda Chronicles, also by writer Michael Price, with the first coming May 29.

Out today on DVD is the second LEGO Star Wars special, The Empire Strikes Out. Full of humor and voiced by some of our favorite Star Wars stars, like Anthony Daniels, Sam Witwer, and Brian Blessed, the story is set post-A New Hope, with Luke dealing with his newfound fame as a Rebel hero, Darth Vader dealing with a new rival (hint: see picture), and the Rebels taking a side trip to Naboo.

CraveOnline has a exclusive clip to help promote the release, Comingsoon.net has another exclusive clip, while From Bricks to Bothans has more of the marketing memes, and there’s a set of UK promotional shots of LEGO Vader out and about in London.

The program was originally aired on Cartoon Network last September, when we got a chance to chat with writer Michael Price about it and the first special, The Padawan Menace, and was nominated for an Annie Award for Best Animated Television Production for Children.

If you’re looking forward to more LEGO Star Wars animation, you’re in luck: three specials of The Yoda Chronicles, also by Michael Price, will be part of Cartoon Network’s 2013-2014 season. Recently on Twitter, Mike Price revealed the release date of the first special: May 29, as well as a guest star voice actor: Billy Dee Williams.

The DVD of The Empire Strikes Out comes with an exclusive Darth Vader with medal mini-figure. While the first special, The Padawan Menace, was released in a Blu-ray/DVD combo pack, this release is DVD only. Huh? Maybe combo packs are too confusing for some consumers.

Monday’s announcement that Lucasfilm was taking its animation division in a new direction, focusing on exploring a new series while bringing a graceful end for Star Wars: The Clone Wars and a hard stop for Detours, brought out a lot of mixed feelings from fans. Many, like Stooge and me, were sad and angry to see The Clone Wars get shut down at its peak. I’ve rounded up reactions from the voice cast of the show, as well as from bloggers and entertainment reporters.

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ABC entertainment president Paul Lee tells Entertainment Weekly that the network isn’t going to be ignoring the live-action series.

“We’d love to do something with Lucasfilm, we’re not sure what yet,” Lee exclusively told EW. “We haven’t even sat down with them. We’re going to look at [the live-action series], we’re going to look at all of them, and see what’s right. We weren’t able to discuss this with them until [the acquisition] closed and it just closed. It’s definitely going to be part of the conversation.”

Some of the financial concerns that Lucasfilm faced producing the series on their own are moot under the Disney deal, the article points out. Lee compares it to the Joss Whedon’s S.H.I.E.L.D. show that ABC is also working on.

They also have what might be the most detailed summary we have yet to see… From ‘sources,’ mind:

Sources say the live-action series centers on the story of rival families struggling over the control of the seedy underside of the Star Wars universe and the people who live within the subterranean level and air shafts of the metropolis planet Coruscant (the Empire’s urban-sprawl-covered home planet). A bounty hunter may be the main character.

And apparently some of the concept and character designs are being used in 1313…

They also, I think, are the first to reveal that Ron Moore (Battlestar Galactica) may be involved…

With LEGO Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Out premiering this Wednesday night on Cartoon Network, I checked in with the show’s writer, Michael Price, who also wrote last year’s LEGO Star Wars special, The Padawan Menace. That first animated show (reviewed last year), which had Yoda, C-3PO and a young Han Solo, ranks up as the best Star Wars based comedy I had seen in years, and one of my top Star Wars on screen for 2011. In this interview, Michael talks about the comedy of The Empire Strikes Out, and the challenges of solo writing Luke and Vader. (more…)

According to writer Michael Price on Twitter, there’s a new LEGO Star Wars cartoon coming out: The Empire Strikes Out. From the same crew that brought us LEGO Star Wars: The Padawan Menace in 2011, which was one of the top Star Wars on screen in 2011 for me, the story is not a sequel to The Padawan Menace, but instead is a new adventure in the original trilogy era. Contributing voices are Anthony Daniels and Sam Witwer among others (likely to include Tom Kane, who also lent his Yoda voice to the first LEGO Star Wars outing).

Coming up before the season 5 premiere of Star Wars: The Clone Wars on September 29, LEGO Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Out will be premiering on Cartoon Network on Wednesday, September 26, and re-running over Thursday and Friday. Zap2It has the brief synopsis: “Shortly after the Death Star explodes, the rebels learn of a new Imperial threat.” And if you missed The Padawan Menace the first time around, it will also be airing again on Thursday and Friday.

With the first LEGO Star Wars special being such a marvelously entertaining show, I am very excited for LEGO Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Out. Setting the DVR now!

“How you get so big eating food of this kind?”

Food Network’s Cupcake Wars goes Star Wars this Sunday, with Ashley Eckstein as a guest judge. Ashley blogs about her experience as a judge, and urges those who were at the VIP party to keep mum about the winners. Cupcake Wars‘ Star Wars episode airs on Sunday, Sep 9, 2012 at 8:00 PM ET/PT on Food Network. (More broadcast times found here.)

Those who attended the VIP party at Celebration VI (or followed our coverage and on Twitter) know that I am a big fan of cupcakes. Mmmm…. cupcakes. I’ll go wipe the icing from my fingers and set my DVR.