Club Jade

Her Universe is offering three variations on the quote theme for Star Wars, Star Trek and Doctor Who fans.

The USO has posted their highlight clips from last week’s visit by the cast and crew of Star Wars: The Clone Wars to MCAS Miramar in San Diego. Ashley Eckstein has posted her experience from the USO tour to the official Star Wars blog. I’ve already posted the transcript of the part I: the first question and answer session with Dave Filoni and the voice actors at Big Shiny Robot! earlier this week, along with my report on the event, and interview with James Arnold Taylor. Now it’s time to present the second Q&A session, the one that happened after the US premiere screening of ‘Eminence’.

(more…)

Pre Vizsla and the Mandalorians of Death Watch encounter some new potential allies when they come across Darth Maul and Savage Opress in ‘Eminence’, this week’s episode of Star Wars: The Clone Wars. While they have a common enemy in Obi-Wan Kenobi, the Sith and Death Watch first team up to take on some crime lords on Nal Hutta, in order to start building up Maul’s criminal empire so he can challenge the Jedi for his vengeance. In the clip above, Vizsla and Bo-Katan encounter the injured Sith brothers, and decide to keep them alive. In the second clip, below, Maul wakes up and has to answer some questions. On Saturday, watch for the appearance of a Falleen and listen for the Huttese!

(more…)

Start planning your vacation time, now. Disney has announced the dates for Star Wars Weekends 2013.

Each weekend from May 17th through June 9th in Orlando, Florida, you’ll get to meet a rotating array of Star Wars guests and enjoy other Star Wars shows and events at Disney Hollywood Studios. And you can usually count on The 501st and The Rebel Legion to be making appearances, as well.

Returning as hosts will be James Arnold Taylor (Obi-Wan) and Ashley Eckstein (Ahsoka) from The Clone Wars. Both will be continuing the shows they hosted last year. And both are the perfect fit to blend Star Wars and Disney, as both have professed their love of the two franchises. (Which are now one franchise. Maybe?)

Guest announcements and schedules will probably start going out in early 2013 so you can start planning which weekend you’d like to attend.

Start stocking up on your sunscreen!

Clone Wars heavy-hitters Dave Filoni and Ashley Eckstein both have blog entries about Disney and Star Wars on the official site today.

Filoni writes about his history with Disney – he worked on Kim Possible, among others – Star WArs Weekends, and

When Revenge of the Sith was over, I found myself in the incredible position of carrying the torch forward. Now I can see the incredibly bright light that is the future of Star Wars. For those of you who are fans of The Clone Wars, do not worry. We have many stories left to tell, and every one of them came directly from George himself. Right down to the last one, where that thing with Ahsoka happens…

As the daughter of a Disney “cast member,” Ashley Eckstein has never made a secret of her Disney love, and she writes at length about the effects of “being immersed in the Disney culture at such a young age.”

I wanted to work for Disney SO badly that I turned in my application on my 16th birthday. After several auditions, I finally got my big break and I was cast as a cheerleader in the Hercules Parade. I got to dance down Hollywood Blvd. Thanks to Disney, I was able to perform in front of thousands of people on the weekends and it made my dream, again, feel tangible.

With New York Comic Con upon us, it’s of course rather apt that Ashley Exckstein and Her Universe are profiled in the New York Times. Newswise, we learn the company “is expected to reach $1 million in sales this year and turn its first profit.”

Her Universe doesn’t have a booth at NYCC this year, but Ashley will be livestreaming with MTV Geek.

The action on Onderon continues tomorrow morning with ‘Front Runners’. Look back on last week’s ‘A War on Two Fronts’ as EUCantina’s Andy points out what the episode owes to the Expanded Universe, such as Onderon’s origins in the pages of Tales of the Jedi.

Craving more video? Check out Ashley Eckstein on the evolution of Ahsoka

Star Wars Reads Day was a roaring success at Little Shop of Stories in Decatur, Georgia. This was the big event for the Atlanta metro area, featuring Ashley Eckstein (aka Ahsoka Tano) as the main guest.

The crowds had formed by about 9:30 with excited kids in Jedi and Ewok costumes. The street musician who always hangs around the square was working his way through Star Wars pieces. Vader came out not long after with the best reaction ever: the kids all yelled out “Yay!” while simultaneously backing up.

Once inside, the 501st and Rebel Legion worked their magic greeting the kids. The display of Star Wars books quickly got picked through. (Which was the whole point, right?)

(more…)

The Clone Wars actress and Her Universe founder Ashley Eckstein was a guest on Tosche Station Radio last night, where she answered fan questions and revealed a few upcoming products, including a new Halloween bag from Katie Cook (pictured, last year’s,) more Star Wars pajamas, a Spock costume top, and extended sizes for the Ahsoka Tano costume top. They’ll also be coming out with a Tardis dress exclusively for Hot Topic.

Counting down for the first episode of The Clone Wars season five, ‘Revival’ coming out Saturday morning on Cartoon Network (9:30 am on PT/ET, 8:30 am Central). The official site has a preview of Darth Maul exerting his alpha dog status over his brother Savage Opress. But Savage isn’t happy about being relegated to apprentice again. After last week’s fan screening of the first two episodes at Lucasfilm, a Q&A with Dave Filoni, Joel Aron, and Ashley Eckstein focused on Ahsoka’s journey and the return of Darth Maul.

The Daily.com has an exclusive preview clip for the entire season, with Dave Filoni describing how this season is a great place to jump in and get caught up with the Star Wars adventure, and how far they’ve come since they started the show.

Here’s more to get you psyched for ‘Revival’ and the kickoff of the fifth season:

• Bryan Young at Big Shiny Robot uses some preview clips to show that it’s ok for adults to enjoy the cartoon
• Eric Goldman at IGN interviews Sam Witwer on playing Darth Maul, the Sith Lord’s relationship with his brother, and being typecast as a bad-ass.
• Newsarama has a handful of video interviews with cast and crew:
  Dave Filoni, on working with George Lucas, and his hat, Ashley Eckstein, on this season and James Arnold Taylor, on being Obi-Wan Kenobi in season five.
• Dave Filoni gets interviewed by TIME for Kids about the new season.
• And if you don’t know where to start in watching Clone Wars before Season five, Star Wars Report picks out the essential episodes to get you ready for this season, paring down 4 seasons of the show into just 17 that you should be familiar with. Get the background on the characters and relationships hinted in the preview trailers.