Preview The New Yoda Chronicles with mini movies

UPDATE: Per writer Michael Price, The New Yoda Chronicles will debut May 3rd at 9:00 p.m. on Disney Channel before moving to DisneyXD for the 4th.

Getting us ready for May the 4th’s release of The New Yoda Chronicles on DisneyXD, LEGO has released a set of mini movies written by Michael Price. Helping transition viewers from the prequel trilogy to the original trilogy timeframe, these four shorts star Yoda, Vader, and the younglings. See Episode 4: Fall of the Republic above and watch the rest below the cut.

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The Clone Wars gets 2 Annie nominations

The Clone Wars Season Five

While we are eagerly awaiting news of how the bonus content for The Clone Wars will take shape, the show picked up nominations for the 41st Annie Awards, given out for the best in animation. Announced by ASIFA-Hollywood, nominations for The Clone Wars included two individual achievement categories: Keith Kellogg for Character Animation in an Animated Television/Broadcast Production and Jason W.A. Tucker for Editorial in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production. The nominations were released today, and the award winners will be announced in February.

Our frequent interviewee Michael Price, writer of the LEGO Star Wars specials earned a nomination for Writing in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production for his work on The Simpsons. Juried awards have already been announced, including the Winsor McCay Awards to Steven Spielberg and Phil Tippett.

ILM also continued its streak of Annie award nominations, with four nominations, three of them in a single category of Animated Effects in a Live Action Production (two different teams for Star Trek Into Darkness and one for Pacific Rim). Another Pacific Rim ILM team got a nomination for Character Animation in a Live Action Production.

The Yoda Chronicles: Menace of the Sith airs tonight!

‘Menace of the Sith’, the second episode of LEGO Star Wars: The Yoda Chronicles, will broadcast tonight on Cartoon Network at 8 PM (ET/PT). In addition to our interview with writer Michael Price yesterday, you can get more behind-the-scenes info with another interview with Michael Price over at ToonBarn. Get caught up on the full story of The Yoda Chronicles so far with a rerun showing of the first episode, ‘The Phantom Clone’, at 7:30 PMTheYodaChronicles-MenaceOfTheSith_Dooku-boombox

Interview: Michael Price on The Yoda Chronicles: Menace of the Sith

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With the second episode of LEGO Star Wars: The Yoda Chronicles coming up on Cartoon Network on Wednesday, I had a chance to chat with Michael Price, the writer of the fun LEGO Star Wars specials, and see what’s in store for the audience this time. Mike’s a great guy, always willing to talk Star Wars and comedy, and this time, we’ve got some secrets for latest installment of LEGO Star Wars: The Yoda Chronicles: “Menace of the Sith”. As announced in August, the new episode premieres on Cartoon Network on Wednesday, September 4 at 8 PM (ET/PT). Continue reading “Interview: Michael Price on The Yoda Chronicles: Menace of the Sith”

Second episode of LEGO Star Wars: The Yoda Chronicles announced!

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The name and air date of Episode II of The Yoda Chronicles, the trilogy of LEGO Star Wars specials focusing on the comic adventures of Yoda and a special dark-side clone, has been released: ‘Menace of the Sith’ coming out on Wednesday, September 4 at 8:00 pm (ET/PT) on Cartoon Network.

From the official site synopsis of ‘Menace of the Sith’:

Darth Sidious shows off the new Sith clone, JEK 14, an extremely powerful weapon of the dark side. However, JEK has a mind of his own and wants to be his own master. It’s up to Yoda and the Jedi to stop the Sith — and to try and bring JEK 14 to the side of good.

Yoda-Chronicles-LogoThe first episode, ‘The Phantom Clone’, aired at the end of May, and we interviewed show writer Michael Price back then about the series. With Billy Dee Williams providing a special guest voice in the first episode, i wonder who might be doing a guest appearance this time around. If you missed the first episode, I’m sure that Cartoon Network will re-air it, as well as the other LEGO Star Wars specials, in the lead-up to ‘Menace of the Sith’.

LEGO Star Wars: The Yoda Chronicles airs tonight at 8 PM!

LEGO Star Wars The Yoda Chronicles

Don’t forget: the first episode of LEGO Star Wars: The Yoda Chronicles airs tonight (Wednesday, May 29) on Cartoon Network at 8 PM ET/PT. Entitled ‘The Phantom Clone’, it stars Jedi Master Yoda and a group of padawans taking on the latest dangers from Count Dooku and Darth Sidious. James interviewed The Yoda Chronicles writer Michael Price last week, and we know the show is going big – after all, they unveiled the world’s largest LEGO construction, a full-size X-Wing fighter to Times Square last week to celebrate the launch!

If you want to catch up on the previous LEGO Star Wars specials, you’re in luck, Cartoon Network is airing The Empire Strikes Out at 7 PM, and The Padawan Menace at 7:30 PM. Michael Price has gone on the interview circuit in the past week:

And there’s a new trailer:
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Interview: Michael Price on LEGO Star Wars: The Yoda Chronicles

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With the first episode of LEGO Star Wars: The Yoda Chronicles debuting later this month, I was able to chat with the show’s writer, Michael Price, about the upcoming episode ‘The Phantom Clone’ and see what sorts of fun adventures await us and Master Yoda. In addition to writing the previous two standalone LEGO Star Wars specials, Michael Price has been a long time writer and executive producer on The Simpsons, having won several Emmys for his work on the show.

Yoda-Chronicles-Logo‘The Phantom Clone’ is the first of three specials that comprise The Yoda Chronicles, and will premiere on Cartoon Network on May 29th at 8 PM (ET/PT). Price takes us behind the scenes of the show in this exclusive interview:
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More details on the first LEGO Star Wars: The Yoda Chronicles special: ‘The Phantom Clone’

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While we’ve known that the first LEGO Star Wars: The Yoda Chronicles special has been coming out in May for several months, StarWars.com finally has announced the series, and revealed the first special’s name: ‘The Phantom Clone’, airing May 29 at 8 PM (PT/ET) on Cartoon Network.

The official site points out that while we’ve had LEGO Star Wars specials in the past, The Yoda Chronicles is first to really introduce new main characters just for the shows, in this case: a clone, Jek 14, who has been “enhanced” by the Force. ‘The Phantom Clone’ and the other two future The Yoda Chronicles specials are produced by Wil Film ApS and written by Michael Price, who wrote the hilarious previous LEGO Star Wars specials, The Padawan Menace and The Empire Strikes Out.

The Yoda Chronicles looks like it will be a full LEGO Star Wars franchise, with guide books coming out from DK, and LEGO building sets coming out in August, and this past May the 4th saw the release of the associated iPad/iPhone game. Check out the show’s trailer below.
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Highlights from EW’s Return of the Jedi 30th Anniversary Screening

ROTJ screening 30th anniversary may-4-2013

There was plenty to behold for the 30th anniversary screening of Return of the Jedi at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood as part of Entertainment Weekly’s first CapeTown Film Festival. Held on Star Wars Day, May the Fourth, the set of four screenings of the no-longer-final installment of the Star Wars saga brought out fans and celebs alike. With Jedi being my favorite Star Wars film, I was stoked to see it again on the big screen – twice! While we’ve already covered the news of Mark Hamill’s appearance after the evening screenings, there’s plenty more to share, including a visit from The Clone Wars cast and more! (Also check out my full photo album on Flickr!)

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Out on DVD today: LEGO Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Out

LEGO-SW-The Empire Strikes Out - promoOut today on DVD is the second LEGO Star Wars special, The Empire Strikes Out. Full of humor and voiced by some of our favorite Star Wars stars, like Anthony Daniels, Sam Witwer, and Brian Blessed, the story is set post-A New Hope, with Luke dealing with his newfound fame as a Rebel hero, Darth Vader dealing with a new rival (hint: see picture), and the Rebels taking a side trip to Naboo.

CraveOnline has a exclusive clip to help promote the release, Comingsoon.net has another exclusive clip, while From Bricks to Bothans has more of the marketing memes, and there’s a set of UK promotional shots of LEGO Vader out and about in London.

The program was originally aired on Cartoon Network last September, when we got a chance to chat with writer Michael Price about it and the first special, The Padawan Menace, and was nominated for an Annie Award for Best Animated Television Production for Children.

If you’re looking forward to more LEGO Star Wars animation, you’re in luck: three specials of The Yoda Chronicles, also by Michael Price, will be part of Cartoon Network’s 2013-2014 season. Recently on Twitter, Mike Price revealed the release date of the first special: May 29, as well as a guest star voice actor: Billy Dee Williams.

The DVD of The Empire Strikes Out comes with an exclusive Darth Vader with medal mini-figure. While the first special, The Padawan Menace, was released in a Blu-ray/DVD combo pack, this release is DVD only. Huh? Maybe combo packs are too confusing for some consumers.