Month: June 2008

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Rest in Peace – Don S. Davis

It is with great sadness that I report that one of the true gentleman of sci-fi passed away yesterday.

Don S. Davis was known to most of us as General Hammond of Stargate SG1, but he also had roles in The X-Files as Scully’s father, the role of Major Briggs in Twin Peaks, and even a few spots in MacGyver that ultimately brought him to the Stargate universe. He was also a talented artist; a passion he decided to indulge in recent years.

Mostly, he was known as a good, kind man who was truly a “Papa Bear” to everyone he encountered; always ready with a hug, a raunchy joke, or to stand up to anyone at a convention who would dare to treat a fan poorly.

I don’t think I will ever forget how emotional he got at Dragon*Con two years ago when he tried to describe what the show and its fans meant to him.

He will be missed.

Instead of flowers, the family is requesting that donations be made to the American Heart Association.

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More from Steve on the Force-Cast: Complete Encyclopedia, The Clone Wars, and a future project

I try to only listen to about one podcast a year – life, or rather, the amount of it I allot to blogging, is far too short – but I couldn’t avoid the latest Force-Cast since it’s basically an extended interview with Lucasfilm’s Head of Fan Relations, Steve Sansweet. (Yes, it was worth it, though the intro… I need to paraphrase Lorelei Gilmore: Shorten it, decute it.) Anyway, here’s what I learned:

  • A bit about about Celebration Japan – and C5. (Listen for yourself, or see previous entry.)
  • The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia is a project of not just Steve and Pablo, but an entire team – containing such luminaries as Dan Wallace, Bob Vitas, Mary Franklin and… Chris Cassidy!
  • The Encyclopedia will contain “close to a million words” and their intention is not to create new canon (at least not on purpose) but to “take advantage of what’s out there.”
  • Steve has another collecting book in the pipeline… Not a price guide, there’s one of those coming from Gus Lopez and Duncan Jenkins.
  • There’s no Grievous in The Clone Wars movie – his presence in the trailer is due to tv show footage.
  • Host Jimmy Mac sings Steve a song. It’s mildly amusing.

The podcast on the whole is a manageable 23 minutes, so I would recommend you listen to it yourself – at least if you want to hear more about Celebration Japan or the Encyclopedia.

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Celebration Japan: Fisher bows out, Sansweet speaks

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Role-playing games: WOTC to take on Legacy era?

Eddie of Star Wars Chronology spotted a Legacy Era Campaign Guide on Amazon. It has a release date of March 2009 and lists Star Wars RPG regulars Rodney Thompson, Sterling Hershey, and Gary Astleford as authors. (Perusing their listings also turns up campaign guides for The Clone Wars and The Force Unleashed.)

Remember, Amazon is not exactly a reliable news source, so we can’t be 100% sure of this… But seeing as they’re doing a KOTOR guide I don’t doubt they’re up for detailing other EU eras.