Club Jade

Russell T. Davies, who revived Doctor Who for the BBC, turned down George’s offer to talk about the Star Wars live-action series, according to SFX’s review of his new book, The Writer’s Tale. Given that every female Who fan I know is not that fond of the guy I’m not shedding any tears… (via)

Rumorville: Perth Now is reporting that the music for a Star Wars TV series filmed in Sydney that “could have 400 half-hour episodes” (umm…) will be recorded in Perth by Malcolm Luker. Okay then! Of course, George Lucas (or a good impersonator) was spotted down under last week. I guess we’ll get the full story (or not) in November.

• But seriously… George is part of Vanity Fair’s New Establishment.

• Good luck with that: British comedian/TV personality Justin Lee Collins is attempting to reunite the Star Wars cast on a show airing this Sunday. (Warning: The Sun.)
• Fans of note: Underwire has a short profile of Slave Leia belly dancer Amira Sa’id. And video of her routines, natch.
• Licensees: The Clone Wars Happy Meals (and the Olympics) helped boost McDonald’s sales. We’re so proud.
• People: Word on the street is that Mark Hamill will reprise the Joker for the Batman: Arkham Asylum game.

With all The Clone Wars hype lately, it’s easy to forget that it’s only the tip of the Star Wars TV iceberg – but Australia’s The Herald Sun talks to George about the upcoming live-action series. It’ll probably be filmed in Sydney (not much of a surprise) and they’re in the process of writing scripts now. Most intereting, a tidbit of new insight:

“… It is about the lower levels of life, the lower depths.

“They hear about the fact it is no longer a republic and now it’s an empire, but they are from a world where none of that really means too much to them.”

Also: Simon Pegg wants in?

The new show will reveal the greasy, seamy underbelly of Star Wars,” Steve Sansweet told MTV at New York Comic Con yesterday. That lends a little more weight to the “Deadwood meets The Sopranos” rumors… Also, a bit on the production schedule:

Sansweet said the initial writers of the show have been selected and “they’ve had their first couple sessions working with George and [producer] Rick [McCallum].” So when can we expect all of this? “We’ll see it in production probably sometime in 2009. Hopefully the series will be on by 2010,” said Sansweet.

I’m just on my way out the door, but I’ll be updating our live-action roundup post later tonight.

There are scans of a Total Film interview with George Lucas over at MillenniumFalcon.com. They hit all the standards, including Indy IV, The Clone Wars and the live action series. At one point, George says “People live in the Empire, but you don’t see Stormtroopers.” A departure indeed… There’s also an interesting bit about the EU, George’s “three pillars of Star Wars.” Nothing terribly surprising, but we’re still at the point where any crumb is thrilling.

• Media: Harrison Ford is in the latest Reader’s Digest.

• Video: Jeremy Bulloch gifted with Boba Fett costume by fan groups at the Dallas Comic Con. (Thanks, Denise!)
• Fandom: Another Star Wars class; io9 snarks.
• Crew:CNN profiles Robert Elswit, who won the cinematography Oscar for There Will Be Blood. He also worked on The Empire Strikes Back and E.T.

Our latest sidebar poll, which asks what HBO show’s influence you’d like to see on the live-action series, expires this weekend. Get your vote in now if you haven’t already!

The New York Post got wind of the “Deadwood meets The Sopranos” rumor, and they also report that Lucas met with cable channel executives, including HBO, last year… Though that could easily have been for The Clone Wars.

On that note, Entertainment Weekly’s Dalton Ross ponders Star Wars cartoons.

• Space: Ion thrusters propel real spacecraft.

• Fans: Georgia collector Pete Eckroat profiled by the Rome News-Tribune.
• Books: Matthew Wilhelm Kapell, an anthropologist and historian from my neck of the woods, explores the Star Wars phenomenon in his book Finding the Force of the Star Wars Franchise: Fans, Merchandise, and Critics. He’s doing a signing in Modesto today.

Jim Marquand, son of Return of the Jedi director Richard Marquand, was asked by George to direct some episodes of the live-action TV show, says the Liverpool Daily Post. (via)

Although previous Star Wars MMO rumors involved KOTOR and Bioware, there are now stirrings of a MMO connected with the live-action TV show. What’s going on? Who knows? Maybe there’s two of them! (via)

Now that Rick has confirmed the presence of Boba Fett, IGN lists ten established characters they’d like to see on the live-action TV show. Several EU characters are on it – including the top two. Who do you want to see make an appearance?