Club Jade

USA Today has done a handful of stories celebrating May the 4th and previewing the 30th anniversary of Return of the Jedi on the 25th. They talked to Ian McDiarmid, Anthony Daniels, Jeremy Bulloch and blogger Whitney Matheson got a visit from Chewbacca. And on that note, they want your best Chewbacca impression.

Back to ROTJ, Jalopnik has a peice on how they filmed the speeder chase.

Need to convert a friend? Amazon has the Original and Prequel trilogy box sets (but not the saga?) slightly more on sale than usual. And hey, you can alleviate at least some of your Episode VII fears with a discount on J.J.’s Star Trek, too!

And you can save 50% on a subscription to the Star Wars Insider tomorrow as well by using the promo code MAY4TW.

Events. In addition to Entertainment Weekly’s ROTJ screening and the Toledo Mud Hens, Disney’s Hollywood Studios in Orlando will be celebrating, and Change.org is hosting a Star Wars screening in San Francisco.

Still not sure what you’re doing? Find a local May the 4th event on StarWars.com.

SciFiNow talked to Ian McDiarmid on his Star Wars character. He talks about Palpatine’s spinoff potential and even calls the Darth Palgueis novel ‘fascinating.’

But the highlight is perhaps his own thoughts on the character, and the possibilities going forward:

“I thought Sith were just somehow born evil, that’s what they were. But I’ve… with reference to a few things that George has said, I realised that that’s not true. He might well have a tragic arc too, but I don’t know. And even if he does I’m not sure we’ll ever see it. But obviously, if we did and if it happened it would be something that would be completely fascinating to do and it would be like building a Shakespearean character.

“Also the great thing about these movies is that George doesn’t give much away in advance to anybody,” McDiarmid continues, “which is good because that’s what a good storyteller should do, you should really want to know what’s going to happen next or how it all started.”

“And that’s all there in George’s head, and he’s released it, I suppose, in one way or another over the last few years. And although, of course, Disney now owns the franchise, George is there very much as a creative consultant and I’m sure they’ll be very grateful for that. And those storylines will still continue to emerge from that sort of databank, that extraordinary databank which is his brain.

For all the squee over Plagueis, I never really felt that it revealed much about Palpatine’s own motivation: The character himself is still very much a mystery, and I can how exploring that could be more fruitful with all the EU’s restraints removed. But somehow, I doubt that spinoff is very high on the list…

Guests Today’s addition to the guest list is the Emperor himself, Ian McDiarmid. It’ll be his third Celebration; His first was the original Celebration Europe in 2007.

Attractions. Steve Sansweet, is another high profile guest, and he’s bringing the Rancho Obi-Wan Experience to Germany. The Experience was extremely popular at Celebration VI; We hope they get a bigger space at CE!

Panels. And, naturally, the collecting track is back!

Ian McDiarmid, aka Emperor Palpatine, will be making his first appearance at a U.S. Celebration in Orlando this August. He’ll appear on stage and, yes, in the autograph farm.

In other recent Celebration news, there will be a special focus on the Mos Eisley Cantina with professional sculptor and effects artist Tom Spina, who will join Pablo Hidalgo for a panel. Also: Star Tours’ Visual Effects Supervisor Bill George, a Collector’s Showcase, and, apparently, maybe, kids birthday parties? Alrighty then.

Representatives of the play Six Characters in Search of an Author deny reports that the actor suffered a heart attack on opening night. (He did return to the stage a week later.) McDiarmid himself isn’t commenting, but of course we wish him the best.

• Mark Hamill introduces Ian McDiamid, or rather some clips of McDiarmid; the the Emperor himself introduces A New Hope.

• Fans reenact the Mustafar duel.
• Keep an eye on Youtube for more!

Ian McDiarmid will make an appearance at Celebration Europe. He’ll be a special guest at the Opening Ceremonies – certainly a better reason to go than cake!

Ian McDiarmid won a Tony Award yesterday for Best Featured Actor in a Play.

In less positive news, Tim Hildebrandt has passed away. Along with his twin brother Greg, he created some of the most iconic Star Wars art.

ETA: Posterwire on the Hildebrandt’s A New Hope poster.

Trying to keep up, but my internet is still fond of taking long vacations and I have to go to work tomorrow. Work? In the middle of this? What was I thinking?

On starwars.com: another new commercial, and a blogging service for Hyperspace members.

ROTS is up and off at Cannes, and they loved it. Although possibly for political reasons, but you take what you can get. ( Lucas says differently.) TFN has more Cannes stuff, if you have an overwhelming urge to see what Natalie Portman looks like bald.

The movie is still riding high with 81% fresh at Rotten Tomatoes, bless their review-gathering hearts.

However, any review that starts with a paragraph about things coming out of nostrils is probably not going to be positive. Sure enough, The New Yorker was unimpressed with ROTS. I also have to wonder if the reviewer has ever seen A New Hope or his eyes ever registered the Millenium Falcon, with him going on about how ‘sterilized’ the GFFA is. And, horror of horrors, he quotes some Anakin/Padme dialouge that might make me retch more than the “angel” line from TPM. That’s about when I stopped reading. (Via kottke)

Luckily, I got to cleanse my brain with an article on Ian McDiarmid, a slideshow from Forbes on Star Wars flops , and for extra bitterness, IGN’s list of the lamest characters, half of which, if you’re anything like me, you’ve probably forgotten existed. If that’s a little too much bitterness, they also have a 10 best background character list. Corpsey the Ewok. Hehe.

Must stop doing these things at midnight…

The Reader’s Digest article starring our Supreme Chancellor and featuring quotes from the fearsome PG is now online. You will read it.

The New York Sun says Star Wars fans may have a “psychological disorder” and “don’t really have a clear sense of self”. No one’s going to deny that the fandom doesn’t have a few wackos, but you don’t have to generalize. Maybe they need to take a look at Reader’s Digest.

My hometown paper The Detroit News has a 1A article today on the films and the fans. I strongly advise you to answer the Cybersurvey. The Free Press and their Knight Ridder cohorts have a wealth of coverage as well.

Finally, CNN covers the charity premieres, featuring the shocking news that Kelsey Grammer, of all people, auditioned for the Han Solo role.