Club Jade

In a clip from The People vs. George Lucas, which comes to DVD next week, A New Hope and Empire Strikes Back producer Gary Kurtz opines on the prequel trilogy. He’s not a fan, but you probably knew that.

Expanded Universe. Suvudu is offering up 50 pages of Paul S. Kemp’s Riptide. The book will be out Tuesday, but you can read a review at Lightsaber Rattling.

Live-action. I’ve been rolling my eyes at the inevitable wave of ‘what about the live-action show!?!’ whine that inevitably accompany any news of other TV projects, so those folks can feel free to take it to io9, where Charlie Jane Anders’ tells you what she wants from the live-action Star Wars and Star Trek TV shows.

Merchandise. Hallmark’s Star Wars exclusive ornaments are fast sellers at conventions, shocking… absolutely no one. Next year’s regular ornaments will be TIE Interceptor, Han on Taun taun, General Grievous, Darth Maul, and a Lego Stormtrooper.

People Mark Hamill says goodbye to the Joker. At least until they make another video game…

If you’re attending both or either of the big summer genre cons – San Diego Comic Con later this month, or Atlanta’s Dragon*Con in September – than you’re in luck today. SDCC has released their Thursday (July 21) schedule, and Dragon*Con’s Star Wars track has their own tentative listings up.

With no big Hall H Star Wars presentation planned, there are several events planned for Thursday: A Kinect Star Wars Panel for the gamers, Dark Horses’ fall publishing highlights, The Old Republic MMO, and a Clone Wars S4 preview with Dave Filoni and Pablo Hidalgo.

(I suspect we’ll see at least one dedicated Expanded Universe panel at some point – We do know that both Timothy Zahn and Del Rey’s Shelly Shapiro will be in attendance. However, the Clone Wars panel being on Thursday leads me to suspect there won’t an official Star Wars day this year. )

Among several panels focusing on female fandom is one sponsored by Her Universe, titled ‘What Women Want in Their Female Sci-Fi Heroes.’ Panelists include Ashley Eckstein, Dave Filoni, Betsy Mitchell and comic writer Gail Simone.

Bowing out the day are the ever-present Star Wars Fan Movie Awards. Mark Hamill will also be present, although for Thursday he’s sitting on a panel for Batman: Arkham City.

Meanwhile, the more fandom-oriented Star Wars track at Dragon*Con has a tentative schedule up. They’re not lacking in stars – Carrie Fisher, Gary Kurtz, Ashley Eckstein, and Temuera Morrison will be in attendance, as well as several authors.

Of special interest: A panel on Star Wars myth and philosophy with Timothy Zahn and Gary Kurtz, one dedicated to Heir to the Empire, and the ever-popular (and over-18 only) Adult Themes panel!

Not so fast… Michael Koehler wants to build a life-size, working AT-AT. His project quickly got (l)ink from Cnet and the New York Daily News. A mention on Attack of the Show certainly didn’t hurt his cause… But it looks like it’s not exactly kosher with Lucasfilm. At least Koehler can solace in techies saying the feat is not impossible.

Paint it black? Plants on worlds with double stars – like Tatooine – would probably evolve plants that would look black to us, says National Geographic.

Blast-offs and could-have-beens. Star Wars producer Gary Kurtz writes in The Guardian’s film blog talks about the devotion the film inspired. Elsewhere on the site, Danny Leigh wonders what if Star Wars never existed?

A sandcrawler for Singpore. Remember the sandcrawler building that Lucasfilm was planning for their folks in Singapore? They announced details of the project last week.

Science, defense division. The U.S. Navy has made a significant leap forward in testing offensive lasers. A “solid-state, high-energy laser beam” successfully disabled a small vessel off the coast of California. There’s video!

It was for all intents and purposes announced last month, but now everything is on the up and up, and the producer of A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back will be at Celebration V as a guest.

An item appeared briefly on Reed’s blog yesterday saying that Gary Kurtz, producer of A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back, will be at Celebration V. The post was removed (though it may linger in some RSS feeds) because the contract signing had to be postponed, but it is for real..

In other CV news, Charlie Ross is bringing his One Man Star Wars Trilogy to the con

I think I remember reading this back in 2005, but it’s worth a second look – Star Wars and Empire Strikes Back producer Gary Kurtz on another ending for Return of the Jedi – one that leads into another episode where Luke and Leia aren’t siblings.