Club Jade

The official site has a new look – “the biggest re-haul since Star Wars’ official online presence began.” It appears the news portion of the site is now driven by the official blog.

Among the changes is a scaled back version of the Databank – now called the Encyclopedia – which now only seem to features characters from the movies and The Clone Wars. (Sigh.) Entries are very brief, and link directly to the Wookieepedia, however. That’s pretty inclusive for an official site.

On that note, there’s also a page for fan sites and organizations – we seem to have made the cut, which is nice.

And no doubt we’ve only scratched the surface tonight… I’ll be interested to see where this goes.

One thing I will say – this site design is very simple, and very basic. Since there is a tendency in Star Wars design to go completely over the top and throw everything that applies, I’m glad to see at least one aspect is keeping it simple. (Even if I still do wince at that Blu-ray cover art.)

Nonfiction corner. StarWars.com talks to Ryder Windham and Pete Vilmur about The Complete Vader. On a related note, take a peek at Draw Star Wars: The Clone Wars.

Death Troopers. Did you catch all the Purge letters? No? Well, here are the direct links: DeathTroopers.com, StarWars.com, Star Wars Action News, NJOE, RebelScum, TheForce.net, and ours.

Podcasts. Jason Fry and Daniel Wallace are on the latest Fictional Frontiers with Sohaib. (Warning: auto-pla.)

Blogsided. Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff on the pool of knowledge and Star Wars as part of the vernacular.

Ye Olde Databank. New or expanded entries for Jocasta Nu, Cad Bane, and Cato Parasitti. And hey – Ben Skywalker is in there now. That’s new! Newish. Wait, don’t tell me: They added him with the Backlash cover, didn’t they?

Sweet mockery. Checked in with We Hav to Take a Trip with Jacen Solo lately? Havac is currently working his way through Legacy of the Force.

Friday’s Trespass reunited Obi-Wan and Anakin for some snowy shenanigans with blue people and Talz. Fun, no?

• Reviews: io9′s Graeme McMillan thought this one played out “like an old Star Trek episode,” while IGN’s Eric Goldman called it “the most striking installment” yet.

• Databank: New entries for Chairman Chi Cho, Senator Riyo Chuchi, Freeco bike (CK-6 swoop,) narglatch, Orto Plutonia, Pantoran, Talz, Thi-Sen.
• Next up: There’s a traitor in the ranks in ‘The Hidden Enemy.’

(Hattip to EUC’s Mandy for the post title.)

Friday’s ‘Jedi Crash’ brings the Jedi to Maridun, home of a colony of Irish-accented Lurmen. In the video commentary, Dave Filoni talks about the comic book influences in the episode.

• Next week: The story continues in “Defenders of the Peace.”

• People: George Takei crosses fandom lines to voice General Lok Durd in next week’s episode. I hope the character survives, if only because that name demands at least one buddy episode with Dooku.
• Reviews: Waiting until Tuesday nets all the regulars: The review blog, IGN, io9 and Den of Geek.
• Comics: UK fans can pick up Clone Wars comics.

The third episode has aired, and StarWars.com has a video commentary. What did you think? Post your opinions in the comments.

• Interviews: StarWars.com has Matt Lanter (Anakin,) while EUC talks to Ashley Eckstein (Ashoka.)

• Databank: New entries on Kaliida Shoals Med Center and the Y-wing starfighter.

The third episode of The Clone Wars, ‘Shadow of Malevolence,’ is on tonight. (We won’t be throwing a poll this time.) UPDATE: Writer Steve Melching talks about it.

• Watch online: Last week’s episodes, ‘Ambush’ and ‘Rising Malevolence‘ are now up on StarWars.com.

• Games: Get a peek at the lovely ladies of The Clone Wars: Jedi Alliance, the Nightsisters. There’s a trailer at LucasArts.com for those of you enamored of ‘stylus-driven action.’ (Least sexy game term, or least sexy game term ever?)
• Databank: New entries on Rys, Jek, Thire and Toydarian. (Is that last one new, or just updated?)

StarWars.com has interviews with voice actors Tom Kane (Yoda) and James Arnold Taylor (Obi-Wan and Plo Koon,) as well as new databank entries on King Katuunko, Rugosa and the Twilight.

You also might want to check out this look behind-the-scenes from Animation World, plus additional reviews from Wired and Slate. (UPDATE: io9)

Wow. Are they going to do yearly updates, like the World Book? I’m actually expecting some sort of online (Hyperspace?) component/Databank revamp. Watch your back, Wookieepedia!

Whatever the case, Random House currently lists them as hardcover, with a release date as November 4, and the price at $75.

UPDATE: TFN has someone who got a few more details from Del Rey, namely that there will be ” full-color artwork.”

StarWars.com’s 100 most popular databank entries for 2007 is an interesting (and snarky!) read. EU fans will particularly love Kyle Katarn’s blurb.

And because I’m clearly behind on the ‘mention the namesake’ quota, I’ll note that Mara is the highest ranked EU entity, coming in at #21… And the third-highest female (behind Leia and Padme, natch.) Even if her entry is a tad behind on the timeline.