Club Jade

Welcome to the real Star Wars day, the anniversaries of the release dates of Star Wars and Return of the Jedi. Star Wars is 36 today; ROTJ is 30.

StarWars.com has a lengthy interview with Industrial Light & Magic effects guru Dennis Muren about ROTJ.

Hollywood.com shows us five new pics from Making of Return of the Jedi.

Wired has 30 things you didn’t know about Return of the Jedi – but knowing our audience, you probably already know most of them.

Businessweek reminds us that ROTJ made more money than ESB.

Noted parody hut The Onion has a commentary by ‘George Lucas:’ The Events Depicted In ‘Star Wars’ Actually Happened To Me.

MTV looks at Ewok hate. Aww, come on guys, don’t hate on the Ewoks… They’re delicious!

And Babble’s Pilar Clark has a tour of Skywalker Ranch and Lucasfilm and the Letterman Digital Arts Center.

Finally, beneath the cut, the Revenge of the Jedi trailer. Because I can.

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The Star Wars Books Facebook page held a chat with Pablo Hidalgo today, one of Lucasfilm’s resident continuity experts and author of The Essential Reader’s Companion.

So his most popular answer, naturally, addressed the relationship between the movies and the rest…

I think the EU will always continue to be part of the Star Wars experience, in that there are stories that are best suited for books, comics, games. etc.. The relationship between cinematic content and expanded universe content will continue to be what it is today and has been in the past. What happens on screen is one thing. What happens in the books is another. How they connect and interact is something I’m really eager to see.

More answers below the cut!

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The blogside. Nanci at Tosche Station points out how backstory isn’t an impediment to Expanded Universe characters appearing in the sequel trilogy. (If you really want to make that point, there are plenty of more legitimate reasons!) Meanwhile, on the Star Wars blog, editor Jennifer Heddle talks a bit about editing the roleplaying books.

Upcoming. The Making of Star Wars: Return of the Jedi has a blurb now, and Kevin Hearn’s outline for his Rebels book – the Luke one – has been approved. Making of is due in October, while we’ve got a tentative January 2015 date for the Hearns. And while we’re on the topic, the first Rebels novel, the still-untitled Leia one by Martha Wells, has moved up a week to October 15. (via)

Excerpts. And on that note, the first chapter of Tim Lebbon’s Dawn of the Jedi: Into the Void has appeared in the Random House catalog. That one is out in May. (via)

Podcasts. Our own Jawajames guested on the second episode of Star Wars Bookworms.

Conventions. Dark Horse will be selling a limited edition cover variant of the new Legacy at WonderCon.

Translation. Abel Pena will be translating some vintage Droids and Ewoks comics from Spain into English.

Reviews. James gives Dawn of the Jedi: The Prisoner of Bogan #4 a big thumbs-up, while he’s ‘intrigued’ by the new Legacy #1.

…Or not. (via)

Ready to take your furry fetish to the next level – but not quite ready to rock the full Wookiee suit? Hot Topic is now offering a fuzzy Chewbacca hoodie and Chewbacca fur hat. For those whose obsession may be more dimutive, the Ewok knit hat.

On last night’s episode of How I Met Your Mother Barney Stinson (Neil Patrick Harris) presented his theory on ‘The Ewok Line.’ Desire context? Try io9′s version

Eric Walker, who played Mace Towani in the made-for TV Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure and Ewoks: The Battle for Endor, is raising money to release Growing Up on Skywalker Ranch, a book documenting his “adventures in the Star Wars universe” and other behind-the-scenes tidbits. Interested? You can pledge funds at the link.

• The logo on the Celebration 6 teaser site is now gold. What does it mean? Sorry, but fool me once…

• On Etsy: Han and Leia wedding bands.
• Threepio, Chewbacca, Vader and a stormtrooper carved crayons.
• Death Star garbage masher cake and more from the blog Kitchen Fun With My Three Sons.
• The U.S. Army’s “walking truck” concept from the 60′s: a real-life AT-AT?
• On Tumblr? You’ll want to check out Lit and Star Wars and Texts from the Millennium Falcon.

I’ve been hanging around fandom a long time. But now, every year brings less and less Star Wars that actually appeals to me. The Old Republic? Not a gamer. The saga in 3-D? Meh. Novels focused on brand-new characters? That’s what the rest of the SF/F section is for. The Clone Wars? No thanks.

And there are so many news blogs out there right now, run by young, fresh names and faces. You don’t need us anymore.

So what’s left that really excites us about Star Wars? Why are we still here? What is the deep dark secret of Club Jade? (more…)

We’ll never forget you, Humpy.

Damn, Sideshow… Just damn. From the melodramatic title (‘Fall of the Empire’) to the crazed looks in their little glass eyes… This is hilarious.