Club Jade

Lots of good information has come out at Celebration V on what Season 3 has in store for Star Wars: The Clone Wars. We’ve already touched on a few things previously, but here’s a little more in-depth view, opening up some questions for speculation.

• Delta Squad. Who didn’t get chills when the Republic Commando helmets popped up in the Thursday sneak peek clip showcasing rain effects (and also for a split second in the extended trailer shown on Saturday)? Dave Filoni has confirmed that it’s the Delts, and that there shouldn’t be any major continuity issues with their appearance on the show (avoiding Mandalorian-level changes.)
• Ahsoka Tano’s character development: Anakin’s padawan is going to start getting visions (similar to Anakin’s visions in Episode III) and this is going to make her life a bit more complicated. Ashley Eckstein has hinted that Season 3 will really bring a lot more to Ahsoka’s character.
• Kamino: In the Season 3 panel, Dave Filoni talked up the new technology in animation that will allow them to use Kamino – water and reflections and such. And from the clips, we learn that Kamino is a big deal: the clones will be fighting for the closest thing to a home they have… and for all their younger brothers. Expect some giant robo-tentacular action as Asajj Ventress and the Separatists launch an underwater assault.
• Baron Papanoida and family: In the Main Event, George Lucas previewed a clip showcasing a cantina firefight between some thugs and Baron Papanoida (as played by George Lucas in Episode III) and his fellow Pantoran family members. George remarked that his son, Jett, was jealous that Jett’s character only gets one blaster to George’s two. This episode and a few others were penned by Katie Lucas, who also wrote the season 1 episode ‘Jedi Crash.’ Does George return to voice his character?
• Aurra Sing: Someone asked if Aurra’s established background as a Jedi washout with mad lightsaber skills would eventually be shown in the show, but Dave Filoni explained that Aurra in the show would simply just be a butt-kicking bounty hunter – besides there’s already a bald pasty lightsaber-wielding villainess. Which bring us to:
• Asajj Ventress: She’s going to be getting some major storyline action as she somehow finally loses Dooku’s (and Sidious’) favor and is forced on the run. In clips, we’ve seen her arrive wounded on Dathomir, where she is challenged by Nightsisters, until Mother Talzin vouches that Ventress is no stranger. Filoni also pointed out that one of the Nightsister weapons, a kind of energy bow, is an homage to Hank’s bow from the 80′s Dungeons & Dragons cartoon. Expect Asajj’s story to go from bad to worse to ???, while someone else might take her place…
• Savage Opress: According to George, he’s Darth Maul’s brother – but that might just be from a certain point of view. He’s certainly fear-inspiring. While Maul had the lethal look of a martial artist, Savage Opress (who’s clearly trying to have a name even sillier than Kit Fisto) has the hulking horror of an Oakland Raiders fan – except that he’s in Steelers’ colors, thanks to Filoni’s hometown love. The Nightsisters of Dathomir are making a play by bringing Dooku this Zabrak version of Brock Samson as a new apprentice. But then again, they also turn invisible and attack Dooku in his pajamas, and the Count is no slouch when fighting in his Sitharoos.
• C-3PO: He’s getting droid-napped… and tortured (a la EV-9D9′s chamber in Jabba’s palace.) After Artoo getting some dangerous adventures in Season 2, it’s time for Goldenrod to get some action. Will Padme or Jar Jar be the one to rescue him?
• The future of the show: They’re already scripting season five, and with the advances in animation technology, the show’s look now to what the future holds was compared to an Atari video game with XBox 360.
• And in short: Shaak Ti. Saesee Tiin. more Cad Bane. and some sense made out of “There are heroes on both sides.”

Can’t wait for Season 3? Clone Wars Adventures online experience is now in beta, filled with lots of fun mini-games for the whole family. (Although if you want to play as a female character, you can only be a human or Twi’lek Jedi, while male characters also include clonetroopers.)

The Clone Wars was everywhere at the con, and with good reason: As we heard just before Celebration started, Season 3 will start September 17. So naturally we got a lot of bombshells at the con.

The most buzzworthy was the announcement of a new character, Savage Opress. Is he really Darth Maul’s brother? George Lucas said it outright (4:45 here) when talking about the cartoon at the Main Event, but Filoni hedged around it, so we’ll see what the series actually brings.

But! “There will be some connections to the original trilogy in Season 3,” Filoni said (on video!) Looks like I’m going to be increasing my TCW count.

Also making waves was the appearance of Kamino, Dathomir and even some Republic Commandos. But fan or not, I have to admit that just sitting around and watching Pablo and Dave talk was worth the price of admittance.

Gotta love the official site: They have a play by play of Saturday’s Main Event with George Lucas, Jon Stewart and a couple of special guest stars!

The big news? The Blu-Rays are scheduled for Fall 2011. I guess this means I need to buy a Blu-Ray player.

UPDATE: Watch the whole thing on Youtube before the copyright police attack, or check out StarWars.com’s highlights.

Jawajames has been out and about in his Bounty Hunt duties, and caught George Lucas walking the con floor before it opened Friday morning. With the Big Event nearly upon us (reports are that it’s already “insane,”) we all have early call times so I’m trying to make this quick.

(Volunteering and blogging is not a good combo. Though if you stop by the StarWars.com booth and talk to one of the orange shirts there this weekend, there’s a good chance it’ll be Eliz or I, and we have bracelets. Or just come to Fandom in 140 on Sunday, hint hint.)

• StarWars.com has some day one stuff, including the 2010 Fan Movie Challenge Winners, Dark Horse (guess I need to believe the Crimson Empire 3 thing now,) Hasbro and the ever-popular video highlights. Their blog has some costume shots, with more coming in on Flickr.

• EU Cantina was at today’s Clone Wars and Old Republic panel, not to mention their own on the Atlas.
• Seth Green is Team Jacob. Thanks for that.

Good luck to everyone tomorrow! And remember: Twitter is the place to be for on-the-moment news!

This is actually old news, but it’s something that didn’t really get any headlines back when it broke – though it has been trickling down through fandom. (Yes, I’m at as much fault as anyone here.) Turns out, the biggest news we’ve had so far on the live-action series was actually… In May. And it’s not good. Here’s what George said at the Q&A at The Empire Strikes Back 30th Anniversary Screening, courtesy of Rebelscum:

Answer: The live action TV show is kind of on hold because we have scripts, but we don’t know how to do ‘em. Because, they literally are Star Wars, only we’re going to have to try to do them…[at] tenth the cost. And, it’s a huge challenge…lot bigger than what we thought it was gonna be.

Thanks to Techland for digging this up.

George Lucas is among the billionaires making a public pledge to give away at least half their wealth to charity. In a letter posted on The Giving Pledge website, Lucas writes:

My pledge is to the process; as long as I have the resources at my disposal, I will seek to raise the bar for future generations of students of all ages.

I am dedicating the majority of my wealth to improving education. It is the key to the survival of the human race. We have to plan for our collective future – and the first step begins with the social, emotional, and intellectual tools we provide to our children. As humans, our greatest tool for survival is our ability to think and to adapt – as educators, storytellers, and communicators our responsibility is to continue to do so.

The “Giving Pledge,” spearheaded by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, is intended to set an example of the importance of philanthropy.

Check out the badges! I like them a lot, though it appears I will be getting at least one Clone Wars character. Oh well, what can you do? Nice stuff from Grant Gould all-round.

• The George and Jon Main Event has been scheduled for Saturday at 11am. We’re going to need more box coffee for that line!

• More artists. No, Matt Busch did not put himself in his image this time. (I was shocked, too.) But seriously, some nice stuff. My picks: Malcolm Tween’s Millennium Falcon and Clark Mitchell’s Boba Fett. Yes, I picked a Fett. Hey, it’s very nice.
• A pair of new cereal box images! These are actually so adorable they kind of make me want to sit through collecting panels. (Note the ‘kind of.’)

And he’s interviewing George Lucas! My snarky news-junkie heart is all aflutter!

In their conversation, dubbed The Main Event, Stewart and Lucas will discuss the history of the Star Wars saga and delve into the arcana of the multi-billion-dollar series. Stewart is a huge Star Wars fan — Lucas appeared on Stewart’s show back in January when the filmmaker was promoting his book, George Lucas’s Blockbusting, and the two had great banter with each other — but fans who may be worried that Stewart won’t ask their hottest burning questions can submit their own at www.starwarscelebration.com.

(You can watch George’s Daily Show appearance here.) I may actually be squeeing. In a silent, dignified manner.

UPDATE: The StarWars.com write-up, which has a few more new events.

The Maker himself will make an appearance in Orlando – only his second ever at a Celebration event. Time and date are still to be determined, but you can expect one thing: Very long lines.

Quotables. Alice in Wonderland producer Richard D. Zanuck calls George Lucas “the Thomas Edison of our time.”

Weequay Thranta Fambaa. A girl on German game show can ID Lego action figures with her mouth. That’s a skill that’ll take her far. (via)

Under the stars. Take a peek at this Star Wars nursery.

Well, it is kind of true. Yoda is one of Cracked’s 6 famous movie wisemen who were totally full of shit.