Club Jade

The second half of Doctor Who’s seventh season begins today with ‘The Bells of Saint John.’ (Naturally, there’s a prequel.) But we knew that, right?

The Who news today is that at least two of the show’s previous stars will be returning for the 50th Anniversary special. And there’s a new face for Who as well: John Hurt. The special begins filming this week

Need more Matt Smith and Jenna-Louise Coleman? The Nerdist has you covered! Season two of Chris Hardwick’s show begins tonight (after the premieres of Doctor Who and Orphan Black) with a full set of BBC guests. Not only do we have the Doctor and his new Companion, there’s Dominic Monaghan, and Orphan Black‘s Tatiana Maslany!

And you can tune in all day on BBC America for a Doctor Who marathon – my how things have changed since back then.

Course of the Force, the lightsaber relay to raise money for the Make-A-Wish Foundation, is coming back for its second year, and this time it’s going to be even bigger! Announced by Chris Hardwick of The Nerdist on Jimmy Fallon’s show, this year’s Course of the Force will start all the way at Skywalker Ranch on July 9, north of San Francisco and wind its way down to Comic Con San Diego on July 16.

Registration is now open, with participants carrying the Course of the Force lightsaber (often in costume) for a quarter mile. This year’s fee is $150, which is much lower than last year’s inaugural race fee, but 100% of the proceeds go to several California chapters of the Make-A-Wish Foundation: Bay Area, Greater Los Angeles, Orange County and the Inland Empire, and San Diego. In addition to the leg of the relay for that day, Course of the Force hosts a public ‘Conival’ in the afternoon and evening, with cool bands, giveaways, and more.

I ran in Course of the Force last year, which was like an Olympic torch dream and Star Wars dream mashed together to come true. It really was a fun experience that helped a good cause and brought fans of all kinds together. Last year, Her Universe’s Ashley Eckstein was a co-host of the event, providing daily video recaps after each day’s leg with Chris Hardwick from the Sail Barge, and Peter Mayhew was also a guest. So who knows who might show up this year!

If you can, come join the fun – either by being a relay runner/walker, coming to a Conival, or simply helping raise funds for Make-A-Wish through Course of the Force! The relay is sponsored by Nerdist Industries, Lucasfilm and Octagon Events. For more info, just visit CourseOfTheForce.Starwars.com.

The return of Star Wars is Wired’s latest cover, and the stories went online today, starting with a feature on how the movies revolutionized special effects and 74 things every great Star Wars movie needs. They also take a look at how the Kessel Run turns Han into a time-traveler (…okay) and a column by Chris Hardwick.

There are also looks at the Battle of Hoth, LEGOs as ‘photo fan fiction’.

The Nerdist Channel has the latest episode of their All-Star Celebrity Bowling show, and it’s the Wolfpack from Star Wars: The Clone Wars taking on Chris Hardwick and his team from Nerdist. Dave Filoni, Ashley Eckstein, Catherine Taber, and Dee Bradley Baker hope to strike back at host Chris Hardwick. There’s probably more bowling / Star Wars puns to be had here, but I’ll spare you.

Don’t forget that the new series of Doctor Who starts up this Saturday with “Asylum of the Daleks”. The Doctor, Amy and Rory are back, and this time they’re headed to a place that even regular Daleks fear. For those in the US, Doctor Who starts up on BBC America on Saturday at 9pm/8c. Helping get us back into the timey-wimey mood, BBC has been posting a series of fun shorts, called Pond Life, focusing on Mr. and Mrs. Pond since we last saw them.

• Pond Life – Part 1 – Voice mail from the Doctor
• Pond Life – Part 2 – A late night visitor
• Pond Life – Part 3 – A new houseguest
• Pond Life – Part 4 – Living with the houseguest
• Pond Life – Part 5 – Things take a turn

What does writer and producer Stephen Moffat have to say about writing his first Dalek episode? RadioTimes has his episode guide.

Also celebrating the start of series 7, Nerdist Channel has a few programs related for their Doctor Who-eekend: For wacky fun, the Doctor Who cast and crew takes on Chris Hardwick, Wil Wheaton and more in Chris Hardwick’s All Star Celebrity Bowling on Friday (preview here – “Bowling is cool”). On Saturday, check out the Doctor Who Premiere Q&A at 10pm/9c, with Chris Hardwick talking with Matt Smith, Karen Gillan and Executive Producer Caroline Skinner after the premiere.

EDIT: BBC America just put up a new Her Universe Doctor Who shirt for sale, combining the logo and the Amy Pond introduction. Go check it out / buy it!

So yesterday was Day 4 of Course of the Force, the lightsaber relay from Santa Monica to Comic-Con in San Diego to raise money for Make-A-Wish Foundation, and I was super excited to be able to participate in this fantastic experience as it came through San Diego. When they put out a call for local Star Wars fans to get involved, Caitlin and I signed up and went out on Tuesday morning for our afternoon segments. I was joined by all sorts of great fans, some of which are highlighted in my video above. This was my chance for an Olympic geek dream!

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Saturday was the first day of the inaugural Course of the Force lightsaber relay, helping to raise funds for the Make-A-Wish Foundation while celebrating geekery on its way from Santa Monica to San Diego and Comic-Con. Ready for your “Awww..” moment? Skip to 11:45 in the video above to see the last runner of the day – the king of fast, in his adorable Artoo costume!

The kick-off conival had its moments of fun, with Peter Mayhew and members of the 501st Legion and Rebel Legion helping to provide atmosphere at the Santa Monica Pier. Leading off the relay was host Chris Hardwick and a group of Make-A-Wish kids. Check out more costumed fun in the Southern California gray, thanks to Lesley Farquhar / Equinox Photography for sharing her photos.

Sunday will continue the relay from Redondo Beach to Huntington Beach, where there will be another Course of the Force conival at the HB pier (4pm to 9pm), including free performances by The Spazmatics at 6pm, and Dan Finnerty & The Dan Band at 8pm. The relay journey continues on Tuesday and Wednesday, going from Oceanside to Pacific Beach to downtown San Diego and Comic-Con!

Chris Hardwick’s ‘epic journey’ to bring the Course of the Force lightsaber from San Francisco to the Santa Monica Pier. Watch out for Ewoks.

With the Course of the Force lightsaber torch relay starting on Saturday in Santa Monica, there’s going to be a Endor-class celebration to kick it off at the Santa Monica Pier from 10 am to 2 pm. Enjoy live music by the Spazmatics, appearances and autographs by Star Wars characters including actor Peter Mayhew who played Chewbacca. At 1:00 p.m. Chris Hardwick and a crew of kids from Make-A-Wish will run the first segment of the inaugural Course of the Force from the Santa Monica Pier. Get the full Course of the Force schedule for both the relays and conivals at the Course of the Force site.

Here’s the rundown on more Course of the Force news:

• Leading the way for Course of the Force will be a mobile re-creation of Jabba’s Sail Barge, where crimelord Jabba the Hutt relay hosts Chris Hardwick, Ashley Eckstein, and Alison Haislip will be following the action. Being custom built at twenty-five feet long, it’s still being assembled, but I’m sure that it will be fully operational once the hostly trio arrives!
• Course of the Force has brought on some new sponsors, including frozen treat maker Otter Pops and SHOEBACCA.com. The online shoe store will be bringing Peter Mayhew to sign autographs at the Saturday and Sunday “conival” events in Santa Monica and Huntington Beach. They will also be having a Galactic Giveaway sweepstakes from July 7 to August 31 on www.shoebacca.com.
• Capping off the relay will be a concert by The Dan Band at the San Diego’s Balboa Theatre on Wednesday, July 11 live at 12:30 p.m. Tickets are available online at sandiegotheatres.org. “Truthfully, our first choice to conclude Course of the Force was Sy Snootles and the Max Rebo Band, but they’re not currently touring in this system,” Course of the Force host Chris Hardwick admitted, “But I sincerely can’t think of a better SECOND choice than The Dan Band! Everything is automatically more awesome when you add The Dan Band. True Story.”
• For those who want to help Make-a-Wish, but aren’t in Southern California, Course of the Force will have some ebay auctions for some unique prizes and swag.
• Celebrities who will be participating in Course of the Force include: Drew Carey, Zachary Levi, Paul Scheer, Vanessa Lengies, Neil Everett, Kal Penn, Team Unicorn (Rileah, Clare, Milynn and Michele), Adrianne Curry, and more.

Look for more special Course of the Force updates next week!

This summer’s inaugural Course of the Force, the five-day lightsaber relay from Santa Monica to Comic-Con to raise money for Make-a-Wish, just announced that The Clone Wars star and Her Universe founder Ashley Eckstein will be joining as co-host, joining veteran TV nerd Chris Hardwick. Not only will she be co-hosting the event, she’ll also be running one leg of the relay.

Hardwick says of Eckstein:

“Ashley is a glorious addition to the Course of the Force. She is not just an important character on Star Wars: The Clone Wars, she is also a true follower of the Saga. I am but a mere Padawan in comparison to her Jedi mastery,” states Nerdist Industries founder and Course of the Force host Chris Hardwick.

Now there are two of them! There is still room to register for a quarter-mile leg of the lightsaber torch relay, as it winds its way down the coast from Santa Monica to downtown San Diego, with nightly parties in cities along the route from July 7 to July 11.

The ‘Nerdist’ host will be joining us in Orlando as a “special guest host,” whatever that means. He’s known within the geek community for his podcast and being the host of G4′s Web Soup. (Hopefully he’ll be less obnoxious than the last Star Wars ‘hosting’ job G4′s Kevin Pereira and Olivia Munn did at SDCC ’09.) He’s also the host of AMC’s Talking Dead.

He’ll also be hosting Course of the Force, a charity run, at San Diego Comic Con.

This is our first major news on the con since the stage hosts, though there have been announcements on standard Celebration fare like the artist lineup, a collecting track, costume pageant, autograph farm and speed dating.

UPDATE. In other shocking news, The Clone Wars’ Supervising Director Dave Filoni will be at the con.