Club Jade

Oh, Nathan Fillion, you should know better than to put something out there as tantalizing as a wish to buy the rights to Firefly.

Just a few days back, he made a comment to Entertainment Weekly that he’d happily buy the rights to Firefly and put new content on the internet if he won $300 milion in the lottery. Now that same wacky spirit that helped the Browncoats get a movie made out of a cancelled series is pulling together to raise the funds. (Smartly, no actual funds are being collected. They have learned from past Trek-related disasters.)

As Entertainment Weekly rightly points out, even if folks could raise the funds, it would be difficult to convince 20th Century Fox to let go of the rights. And then there’s the whole “gettin’ the band back together” problem.

But still. Nearly everyone in the cast and production team have a mighty love for the franchise. And it’s hard to tell a Browncoat something can’t be done. They might be just the people to figure out how to pull off a mass funding of a television/movie production. Ya just never know.

Wouldn’t that be shiny?

StarWars.com has the PDF of John Jackson Miller’s Lost Tribe of the Sith: Sentinel. It includes an excerpt of Allston’s Fate of the Jedi: Conviction, which is due out in hardcover on May 24.

Tomorrow brings Aaron Allston’s Backlash, the fourth Fate of the Jedi book, in paperback. Already read it? Check out Erika’s take or one of our other book reviews. We even did a book poll! (Remember those?)

Comic fans won’t go home empty-handed, either: Legacy: War #3 and Darth Vader and the Lost Command #2 will be waiting in the comic shops on Wednesday.

New stuff! We’ve got an announcement for a Star Wars Character Encyclopedia from DK. I hope this means we’re not getting a mean we’re not getting a new Essential Guide to Characters from Del Rey, since the DK version promises only “Star Wars live action movie saga” characters in the same style as The Clone Wars Character Encyclopedia. (Though I do expect this will be geared towards the younger fans than an Essential Guide, given the company it’s keeping.) It’s coming in June.

In less perplexing news the link also contains the news that a trade edition of Daniel Wallace’s The Jedi Path is coming in September.

Video. Early Darths Bane and Revan almost appeared in The Clone Wars, Dave Filoni reveals in his ‘Ghosts of Mortis’ commentary.

Press. Bonnie Burton’s Star Wars Craft Book is one of Library Journal’s spring picks. She’s the sixth one down.

Namesake corner. Nancy counts down her favorite Luke/Mara moments.

Alrighty then!

The New York Times reports that everyone’s favorite Wookiee will appear in The Clone Wars two-episode season finale on April 1. Peter Mayhew will be doing the voice honors:

To portray Chewbacca for “The Clone Wars,” Mr. Mayhew was not required to don the outfit at all. (“I was doing it in my own clothing,” he said.) However, he did record dialogue for the character, having learned over the years to emulate the blend of bear growls and other animal noises used to create Chewie’s voice.

It’s a small galaxy after all, I suppose.

Meanwhile, over at Entertainment Weekly, there’s new video of Tarkin.

StarWars.com has the cover for the eighth Fate of the Jedi book, Christie Golden’s Ascension. One question, though: What is Neville Longbottom doing there?

Forgive me for using this week’s discussion for selfish purposes, but spring is in the air (at least, it is here) and I’m finally getting down to business with a cosmetic refresh for the blog. I’m so sick of looking like 2007!

A few things that will almost certainly make the cut: Gravatars, threaded comments, some subtle social media sharing aids, an about page refresh with blogger bios (finally!) and a new look for the book release schedule. What will remain the same? Well, we’re sticking with WordPress, a white background and fairly minimalist design.

But what kind of things would you like to see? Any (technical, not content!) features you’ve seen on other blogs that you think would serve us well? Or are there any types of posts you’d like to see more (or less) of? Now’s your chance to weigh in.

So @nancipants, @Blankitout and I think the #SWEU need a Zahn (ex-)smuggler team-up novel. Lando, Mara, Han and Karrde. Who’s w/ us?

— Dunc (@clubjade) February 16, 2011

There’s been a lot of discussion lately about what’s wrong with the EU. That’s nothing new, but there’s only so much one can really take before you start wondering about alternatives instead of just pointless ranting. Luckily, a few of us on Twitter tonight have had… Some ideas. Well, one idea.

(more…)

One of the common criticisms of the prequel trilogy was that the movies were a bit too drunk on their own mythology.  The originals films, the argument goes, used Joseph Campbell to tell a story, while the prequels used a story to talk about Joseph Campbell.  It’s not a criticism that’s unique to the prequels (it was also leveled at Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, the Matrix sequels, and more recently, Tron: Legacy), and I don’t think it’s completely fair… but it’s hard to deny that Uncle George laid on the symbolism pretty thick.  That being said, the mythological overtones of the prequels were apparently just a warm-up for this Mortis storyline.  The result is an episode that’s beautiful to look at, fascinating to analyze, and otherwise pretty dull.

(more…)