Club Jade

Three comics out in a holiday week? Stranger things have happened, I suppose… Yes comic fans, you get three on Wednesday: Legacy #43, Knights of the Old Republic #48 and The Clone Wars: The Colossus of Destiny TPB.

Oh, and there’s some Family Guy DVD as well.

Now that season one of The Clone Wars has been released for a week on DVD and Blu-Ray, here’s what they’re saying:

• Wired’s GeekDad likes the featurettes looking at the artwork, and says it is “definitely worth picking up.”
• HD Room reviews the Blu-Ray, gives it 8.5 out of 10 with great video and replayability, thinking that this show has the best prequel-era stories.
• iF Magazine selects it as DVD pick of the week, with the characters that you love, and new characters that are as fascinating as the familiar faces.
• Blu-Ray.com gives it a 4 out of 5, with near-perfect video transfer, awesome featurettes, and says “the series itself has proven to be far more captivating, inventive, and entertaining than the feature film that bears its name.”
• Den of Geek doesn’t review it, but shows off some exclusive concept art.

Looks like the release of season one is getting a good thumbs-up!

Just a reminder of tonight’s special showing of the new Star Wars: The Clone Wars episode, ‘Landing at Point Rain’ – the first of a four episode arc – debuting a few days early on Cartoon Network tonight at 8 PM (ET/PT). DVR users: My DVR didn’t have the updated scheduling from Cartoon Network, so be prepared to record whatever your schedule says is in that time slot (possibly “Destroy Build Destroy”). Or, if you’re patient, it’ll rerun on the regular time Friday.

StarWars.com sheds some light on this opening chapter in a larger story arc, hoping that the action to retake Geonosis is “intense as any live-action movie about the assault on Omaha Beach.” Leading into this story is a prelude script set before ‘Landing at Point Rain’, read at the Fan Days in Dallas and now available online. In addition to setting the stage for ‘Landing’, it wraps up the events of ‘Senate Spy’ with some wry banter.

Starwars.com also has put up the conclusion of the S1 box set tour. (Grant Imahara fed his box set to the rancor!)

Or, you can just say screw it all, stay on the computer, and become a fan of Dave Filoni on Facebook.

Look for The Clone Wars season one on DVD and Blu Ray tomorrow. James has already run down the particulars for us, but I’m sure there will be more coming. Also keep an eye out for the latest Star Wars Insider. Uh, it has a whole page on Thrawn?

Meanwhile, Wednesday means Invasion #5, which will be the last for a while. (It alternates with Dark Times, or at least that was the plan.)

The box set containing the complete first season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars comes out on DVD and Blu-Ray this Tuesday. StarWars.com starts a tour of the box set, looking at the contents of disc 1 – and showcasing the full cinematic aspect ratio used on this release, versus the broadcast version. There’s more picture to these moving pictures! The four disc set contains all 22 episodes of season 1, as well as seven extended director’s cuts, and a concept art book. The Blu-Ray version also comes with the Jedi Temple Archives bonus feature.

• CinemaBlend has got some clips, including a trailer and some episode clips.
• Monsters and Critics also takes a look, with a clip of their own.
• BigPictureBigSound gives the Blu-Ray version 3.5 out of 4 stars, and says about some of the extended director’s cuts: “I was surprised more than once by the level of intensity… It’s not the Star Wars I grew up on, but taken on its own, The Clone Wars is a captivating long-term adventure.

So add it to the holiday list, folks!

Yesterday marked the release of the direct-to-DVD Battlestar Galactica: The Plan, directed by Edward James Olmos. Remember when the Cylons had a plan? Now you can see the events of BSG (especially seasons one and two), from the Cylon point of view. Here’s what the reviewers are saying:

• Wired says not to put too much hope in this mediocre coda, which would more aptly be titled A Tale of Two Cavils.
• Geeks of Doom loves the inner struggles among the Cylons, but feels that the flow is a bit off. However, they totally agree with Olmos’ proclamation that after seeing “The Plan”, you’ll want to re-watch BSG again to see how it all fits in. They also have a giveaway contest for “The Plan” DVDs.
• Ellen Gray at philly.com likes when the Cylons try to be human… but wishes there was more of that.
• Alan Sepinwall of the NJ Star-Ledger likes Dean Stockwell’s and Grace Park’s performances, but overall says, “As one small bit of bonus material tied to a classic series, it’s fun, but it doesn’t really stand on its own.”
• FilmThreat calls it “a mess” that ends up with epic fail, but also closure for Boxy.
• The Salt Lake Tribune gives it a brief C+, saying that diehard fans will enjoy it, and that’s about it.

Hyping “The Plan”, PopStar gets a few questions with Dean Stockwell about playing against himself and his views on a Quantum Leap reunion. UGO has a contest where you can win dinner with Admiral Adama, Edward James Olmos.

Overall, most reviews feel like “The Plan” is more like a series of deleted scenes than a coherent story.

Battlestar Galactica: The Plan is released today on DVD and Blu-Ray. Several reviewers note that it is unrated and contains sex and nudity, which will most likely be cut for the Syfy broadcast of it next year.

I’m not generally an early adopter when it comes to this sort of technology, so the recent focus on Blu-Ray has kind of thrown me for a loop. DVDs were certainly a vast improvement over VHS, but what’s so wonderful about Blu-Ray? (My TV is okay, but mere DVDs still look fantastic on my parent’s giant flat-screen.) And while I prefer to watch TV from my couch, I can’t deny that I’ll head to the internet if it has the shows I really want to see. (Though only if I really want them… I still haven’t watched any classic Star Trek.) So I was wondering about you guys… What are your preferred formats? Vote for as many that apply on the sidebar or beneath the cut. (more…)

I’ve been hearing some rumors (I think they were rumors…) about this, and now we have it from the source: Family Guy will debut their long-awaited Empire Strikes Back spoof not on TV, but on DVD and two-disc Blu-ray. They’ll both be out December 22.

StarWars.com has posted all the video shown at the Spectacular: Star Wars: In Concert, the Fan Stories Project, TFU Sith Edition, The Clone Wars S2 teaser and The Clone Wars box set trailer that was shown during the G4 commercial break.

Today is the day for Robot Chicken: Star Wars – Episode II DVDs! Hooray! Nothing out Wednesday but the Menace Revealed omnibus. Or..?

See, while StarWars.com and the various bookseller sites are telling me The Art of Star Wars: The Clone Wars won’t be out until fall, Diamond has it listed for Wednesday (twice: both versions?) under merchandise which means, presumably, coming to a comic store near you (if they ordered it.) Just for Comic-Con? Perhaps…