Club Jade

Star Wars Weekends began down in Orlando today, and you know what that means: Dance-Off With the Star Wars Stars! Here are the first videos from this year, courtesy Inside the Magic.

Caution: Gangnam Style, Harlem Shake and Taylor Swift below the cut.

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It looks like Warehouse 13 is getting renewed and canceled at the same time: the Syfy show will be getting a fifth and final season for 2014, but that season will be severely abbreviated: six episodes to wrap everything up.

Entertainment Weekly calls it a cancel but The Wrap calls it a renewal. Sci Fi Stream goes a bit further in depth and examines the viewership, and the previous hopes that the series would be the one to break the five-season curse of the Syfy channel (No original scripted show has lasted more than five seasons on the network). Currently, the show just recently started the second half of season four.

I’ve been a fan of Warehouse 13 from the start – it’s a fantastic show with great characters and a cool world, and it doesn’t take itself too seriously. It’s also one of the few shows I’ve found recently that not only casts women in a majority of the main character roles (Myka, Claudia, Leena, Mrs. Frederick to Pete, Artie, and Jinx) but also shows all the characters as positive and competent but still human. While it started off as fairly light and it still maintains that bit of comedy, it also has gotten a bit more serious in the past season or two, with some major character drama. In the more recent seasons, they’ve brought on a cavalcade of well known sci-fi actors as guest stars (like Kate Mulgrew, James Marsters, and Lindsay Wagner), but the core of the show is “snag it, bag it and tag it” with wacky artifacts that wreak havoc (and sometimes global destruction) when in the wrong hands.

It’s sad that Warehouse 13 will be coming to an end, but at least it won’t be coming to an abrupt end – that the show’s creators will have a chance to give a somewhat proper ending for the enjoyable characters and the mythology of the show. Having Syfy produce six episodes to wrap it up is certainly better than say, unspecified (and not likely to be aired) ‘bonus content’ for Star Wars: The Clone Wars.

The Wrap reports that the Paramount/CBS scuffle over Star Trek merchandising rights prevented J.J. Abrams and Bad Robot from doing quite as much as they would have liked to with the franchise off-screen – and that struggle could have had a part in him signing on with Lucasfilm. His Star Wars contract may allow Abrams a hand in the Star Wars “television properties, theme park rides and spin-off films” that will emerge in the new era his Episode VII is spearheading.

As successful as “Star Trek” has been, few franchises match the profitability and cultural prominence of George Lucas’ space opera, which would be difficult for any director to pass up.

“Disney has always been oriented to multi-platform revenue stream situations,” Seth Willenson, a film library valuations expert, told TheWrap.

Moreover, Willenson notes that Abrams, who has a deal that is believed to include creative and profit participation in “Star Wars” inspired merchandise and spin-offs, will have more control in shaping the legacy of the Skywalker clan than he would have had with developing side projects for the “Star Trek” crew.

Granted, while Lucasfilm, and thus Disney, does own most of Star Wars free and clear, the franchise isn’t totally free of hurtles. 20th Century Fox has distribution rights to the first Star Wars “in perpetuity,” while the other 5 will revert to LFL in 2020. This could complicate things like box sets in the future, but for Abrams, that’s not going to be an immediate issue, or stop him from exploring multi-platform options.

Meanwhile, it’s Bryan Burk’s turn to talk about Episode VII and secrecy with /Film.

Well, here’s a factoid for you: Only 30% of the speaking characters in last year’s 100 top-grossing films of 2012 were women. (Here’s those 100 films – how many of them were led by women? By my count, 12, the top one being The Hunger Games.) And that’s only the beginning of the facepalm-worthy figures.

And that’s just in front of the camera. Behind the camera? Well.

An early internet favorite for the job of directing Episode VII, Brad Bird, tells The Hollywood Reporter that he was indeed approached to helm the film:

I’ve known Kathy [Kennedy] for a while and I know George. And they did come to me. But the problem was, the schedule they had in mind made it impossible to do…unless I dropped Tomorrowland. And I was just really deeply into this film at that point. It’s easy to say, “Just put it on hold.” But you’re moving now; you don’t know if you’re going to be able to move later. Maybe it’s true of filmmakers like Cameron or Spielberg, but I have to act on momentum. We had reached a critical mass where it would’ve thrown the furniture around from the train stopping. I really want to see this movie. I love the Star Wars films, and I can’t wait to see what J.J. does, but it meant I’d have to shut down one dream to participate in another. I feel like [with Tomorrowland] we’re making something that’s really special and unique.

Tomorrowland was first known under the name 1952, which also figured into some early EPVII speculation.

He also talks about the possibility of a sequel to The Incredibles.

He takes audience suggestions… Including some from folks you’ll certainly recognize.

First part of the interview is below the cut.

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More interviews with J.J. Abrams as we near the release of Star Trek Into Darkness. Collider presents an interview from Brazilian site Omelete who ask Abrams about Han shooting first, the prequels and his favorite Star Wars film.

And from the Associated Press, Abrams points out the ridiculousness of all the Episode VII questions he’s been getting:

“What the approach is going to be remains to be discussed, because it’s in process,” he said. “So it’s a weird thing to be talking about. If I’m charging down the court dribbling the ball, it’s hard to comment on the layup that’s about to take place.

“I feel like the ball is just getting passed to me now, to complete the annoying metaphor.”

Meanwhile, there’s a nice interview with Abrams’ sometime collaborator Damon Lindelof from The Hollywood Reporter, where he talks about getting into writing, Lost, George Lucas, Star Wars and more.

In this very short video clip posted by @StarWars, Dave Filoni shows off a vintage TIE fighter toy. It’s for research! We do know he’s been playing with TIEs lately..

Yakface offers up a theory:

@starwars Hmmm… What if the new @dave_filoni animated series was based of off the vintage toy sculpts/molds #headexplodes

— Yakface.com (@yak_face) May 15, 2013

Well, it’s better than Thunderbirds, anyway!

The president of Lucasfilm, Kathleen Kennedy, will be heading to Germany for her first Celebration in July, Reed revealed today.

“When I joined Lucasfilm, I immediately saw the true passion shared by Star Wars fans around the world,” Kennedy says. “I’m thrilled to attend my first Star Wars Celebration and see in person that energy that makes the Star Wars experience so special.”

Kennedy is executive producing Episode VII, so there’s a chance we might actually get some movie information…

Advice for the ages and other greatest hits of last week’s Star Wars tweets lurk below the cut.

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