Club Jade

The graduating class of the Digital Animation and Visual Effects School created this in three months! The Clone Wars’ Yoda, Tom Kane, voices Threepio (via)

Turning to Star Wars for comedy value is nothing new – in the past few years, three Family Guy parodies and three Robot Chicken specials have mined the saga for laughs. But LEGO Star Wars: The Padawan Menace breaks some new ground for Star Wars entertainment: not only is it funny and full of jokes, it also tells a new adventure that builds on both the classic and prequel trilogies. It breaks from the style of the LEGO Star Wars video games by having the characters talk rather than just use gestures and non-word vocalizations, but it would be slow to tell a story if all the dialogue had to be pantomimed. The Padawan Menace in two words, stolen from one of the younglings: Totally Awesome! (more…)

Amazing impressions from The Clone Wars ‘Behind the Microphone’ panel.

Buns over Broadway. Carrie Fisher’s one-woman show ‘Wishful Drinking’ opened on Broadway this weekend, and the reviews are in. Not too shabby! Let’s not forget the woman herself is still blogging away… And not pulling any punches, either.

Why is the goofy news always from the U.K.? Two stories involving David Prowse… In the first, his car breaks down. Okay, maybe not so wacky, except the part where it used to belong to Kenny Baker, thus allowing all the ability to write a silly headline. In the second, a house where the actor was filming a drama was raided by police after neighbors reported the film crew as being there to shot a porn flick.

Behind the CGI. The New York Daily News has a nice piece profiling the Clone Wars voice talent.

In Concert. Naturally the tour is getting some (digital) ink; L.A. Times’ Hero Complex talked to several folks, including host Anthony Daniels; Pheonix New Times’ Benjamin Leatherman was not particularly impressed, though he did give the masses a say. (Ahh, Twitter. Removing the journalist’s need to actually talk to people for comment since 2006.) As for the places where it’s yet to come, Chicago Now’s Geek to Me and The Ottawa Citizen have taken notice.

StarWars.com has interviews with voice actors Tom Kane (Yoda) and James Arnold Taylor (Obi-Wan and Plo Koon,) as well as new databank entries on King Katuunko, Rugosa and the Twilight.

You also might want to check out this look behind-the-scenes from Animation World, plus additional reviews from Wired and Slate. (UPDATE: io9)

The first review is in, and Variety seems impressed – with reservations. (Exactly how ham-handed are we going to let the ‘clonetroopers are people, too’ thing get, Lucasfilm?)

• Press release: Director David Bullock and writer Steve Melching talk up ‘Ambush,’ the first episode. (Also on StarWars.com.)

• Interviews: Newsarama talks to Tom Kane, who voices cartoon Yoda. (via)
• Marketing: Limited commercials with premiere; Clonetroopers helping to sell the show.
• Event: TFN has a report from the mall tour in New York.
• Overseas: UK fans can catch the show October 25th on Sky Movies.

The Maker talks about his television endeavours and what to expect from the new series. Also at MTV, Dave Filoni on swapping the opening crawl for a newsreel style opener.

• The Skywalker Ranch press event report at Cinema Blend. (Poor George!)

• Filoni speaks to IFMagazine.
• Matthew Wood turns io9′s Annalee Newitz into a droid.
• KansasCity.com with Yoda voice actor Tom Kane.
• Design at the official site.