EUbits: Visions, crafts, blogs and more

Visions. The cat is officially out of the bag on the upcoming art book, and the previews keep on coming. I’m rather taken with the classical styles of the Daniel E. Greene and Will Wilson pieces.

First look. Bonnie Burton’s craft book!

The blogside:Ben Kuchera of Ars Technica draws a parallel between Grand Admiral Thrawn, Exar Kun, and the Sith of The Old Republic; Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff on making up planets.

Interviews: NJOE talks to Invasion’s Tom Taylor.

Lists. Topless Robot’s Adam Pawlus counts down his list of the ten best stories in the Expanded Universe. The vast majority of these are at best unnoteworthy to this EU fan, and I certainly can’t condone anyone who puts a Boba Fett comic above the Thrawn trology. (Zahn may not be perfect… But Boba Fett? How uncivilized.)

Namesake corner. Sideshow says Mara Jade will make “an appearance in one of our lines by 2011.”

Quotable quotables: Ackbar rules

It really was a trap, you know? LT sometimes likes to harsh on Admiral Ackbar for so theatrically pointing that out, quite a while after the fact, but I always tell him fuck you. Ackbar rules. He had the balls (figuratively, at least; anatomically, it’s unclear) to say so out loud! Plus, so dashing in the white uniform.

– Mimi Smartypants, ‘as discriminating as a goat’

Gate Geek: Give us another chance with SGU

Stargate Universe producer Brad Wright speaks with Show Patrol about Season 1.5 starting this Friday on SyFy.

He admits to a few mistakes, but also asks everyone to give them the chance to show what SGU can do.  Apparently we’ll be seeing a lot more of what “old time” fans loved about SG1 and SGA; including some aliens, some action and more focus on the women characters.

It would be nice to find more peace amongst the fans with a pulled-together show.  Although I’ll always think “Stargate University” when I see SGU.  (See Dragon*Con’s Stargate track for more on how my strange mind contributed to this year’s programming.)

Browncoats: Redemption is a fanfilm with a cause

Star Wars fans are familiar with the sad time of little official activity.  (Remember the Dark Times?)

So Bart tells us that some Browncoats, not ones to sit around and wait for the occasional awesome comic, are making their own story to bide the time called Browncoats:  Redemption.  In order to avoid painful imitations of beloved characters, they’re creating an all new crew.

And to keep this in the spirit of Browncoats, they’re going to be collecting for charity, including:  Equality Now, Kids Need to Read, Dyslexia Foundation, the Al Wooten Jr. Heritage Center, and the Marine Corps – Law Enforcement Foundation.

Good luck to them!