Club Jade

Bootleg time! Yoda and Anakin have a chat in this clip from the forthcoming bonus content from what would have been season 6 of The Clone Wars, as shown at Star Wars Weekends down in Orlando.

Last week, three different sources pointed me to Rod Hilton’s blog post from last fall on the Machete order for watching the films of the Star Wars saga (especially for newcomers). While his overall proposed order (start with IV – A New Hope and V – The Empire Strikes Back, then go with the prequels, then show VI – Return of the Jedi isn’t new — Last year, we covered Drew McWeendy’s Film Nerd 2.0 showings to his two sons), Machete goes a step further by cutting out The Phantom Menace. Not because Hilton feels it is a bad movie, but because he points out that it is mostly irrelevant to the saga. Either a point gets brought up again in the other prequels or it isn’t needed at all in the larger scheme of things (Darth Maul, Qui-Gon Jinn, Valorum, podracing). He points out how he thinks it makes the saga stronger, by preserving some of the big reveals, and relating whiny Anakin to whiny Luke as showing Luke on the same path to the dark side in Return of the Jedi as Anakin in Revenge of the Sith. He also points out some of the weaknesses of his ordering of the films, most notably about the Prophecy of the Chosen One, and Anakin’s return to rescue Shmi and pick up Threepio in Attack of the Clones. The Machete Order got me thinking, and also prompted a discussion among some Club Jaders, who looked at the notion of order and TPM‘s relevance from several angles.

(more…)

Darth Fairy strikes back. Booturtle created this striking Darth Fairy getup for her daughter to wear to Dragon*Con and for Halloween. It was, not surprisingly, a big hit! Be sure not to miss her Death Star cake, either. (Photo by ConventionFans)

Also in crafts… Make a stormtrooper helmet out of a milk jug. Just the thing for a Star Wars Halloween party. Not that you need the Halloween excuse to throw an awesome Star Wars party.

Original trilogy. Bryan Young has some interesting thoughts on releasing the OT in HD.

Listage. Chewbacca is the #1 sidekick for Hero Complex, while Anakin Skywalker is in suitably annoying company on io9′s list of the most obnoxious superpowered teenagers.

DBSW dug this up: A filk by Jeff & Maya Bohnhoff. Hey!

He has issues. Just not those. Psychology Today disagrees with the diagnosis of borderline personality disorder for the Sithling, saying “While Vader/Anakin seems to fit some of the criteria, a closer look shows the traits don’t add up to provide a cohesive portrait of a person with the disorder.”

Con of Cons. There’s no Spectacular at San Diego Comic Con, but since we weren’t expecting much news until August, I think we’ll manage. There is a Her Universe panel, though.

Ballot-stuffing for the win! Clone Wars fans beat out fans of Futurama, Family Guy and some show on FX I’ve never heard of to nab Best Animated Show in TV.com’s Now Awards. (Note to readers: Turn down your speakers before clicking. Note to TV.com: AUTOPLAY IS NEVER OKAY.)

Stop. Just stop. The leader of the Jedi Church has landed a “reality show,” except by “reality show” they mean he’s going to be filming himself and putting it on Youtube.

French psychiatrists and psychologists have determined that Anakin’s actions in Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith are likely the result of borderline personality disorder and the character is in need of psychiatric help. To which every Star Wars fan on the planet says: Duh.

Even putting the Ewoks aside, fanmade Star Wars and other sci-fi themed teddy bears are nothing new, as a quick search on Flickr (and CJ’s own Lissy) will tell you.

But now we have something from the official realm to make it easier to please kids and collectors: Star Wars costumes from Build-a-bear Workshop. Currently they only have Clone Wars-inspired Anakin, Jedi (totally Obi-Wan,) and Rex, plus a Darth Vader and a themed pajama set. Will we see more movie-inspired styles? I suspect the Christmas sales rates will tell us… Dressed bears cost $40-$35, and the costumes alone go for $15-12. The Vader outfit is currently one of their top 20 products! (via)

Get out your Hollywood fashion tape, Anakin and Padme fans: ‘Senate Spy’ is now streaming on StarWars.com.

I’m sure those crazy kids will make it work! (Seriously, how does that place not amplify sound like crazy?) In any case, it’s time to preview Friday’s ‘Senate Spy.’ And yes, there’s another clip:

(via)

Okay, so Grievous and the clonetrooper aren’t so bad, but Anakin and Obi-Wan are freaking me the hell out. If you disagree, or simply want to sent me the head of one in a box, they’re only $9.99 today at Kids.Woot.