Author: jawajames

San Diego-based Jawa.
Posted on

LEGO Star Wars returns to Cartoon Network with The Empire Strikes Out on 9/26

According to writer Michael Price on Twitter, there’s a new LEGO Star Wars cartoon coming out: The Empire Strikes Out. From the same crew that brought us LEGO Star Wars: The Padawan Menace in 2011, which was one of the top Star Wars on screen in 2011 for me, the story is not a sequel to The Padawan Menace, but instead is a new adventure in the original trilogy era. Contributing voices are Anthony Daniels and Sam Witwer among others (likely to include Tom Kane, who also lent his Yoda voice to the first LEGO Star Wars outing).

Coming up before the season 5 premiere of Star Wars: The Clone Wars on September 29, LEGO Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Out will be premiering on Cartoon Network on Wednesday, September 26, and re-running over Thursday and Friday. Zap2It has the brief synopsis: “Shortly after the Death Star explodes, the rebels learn of a new Imperial threat.” And if you missed The Padawan Menace the first time around, it will also be airing again on Thursday and Friday.

With the first LEGO Star Wars special being such a marvelously entertaining show, I am very excited for LEGO Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Out. Setting the DVR now!

Posted on

J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek 2 is now Star Trek Into Darkness

The sequel to J. J. Abrams’ 2009 Star Trek now has an officially announced title: Star Trek Into Darkness. Shouldn’t there be a colon or something there?

The title popped up as a rumor before the weekend, but now Paramount has confirmed it. First Showing is willing to give the lack of a punctuation mark the benefit of the doubt, while Hollywood.com examines the trend of “dark” movie titles recently.

Star Trek Into Darkness is scheduled to come out on May 17, 2013, adding Benedict Cumberbatch to the cast as a villain. Still no word if Lens Flare gets a higher billing than the Sherlock star.

Posted on

Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark debuts in IMAX, and more

Raiders of the Lost Ark - IMAX posterThe IMAX version of Raiders of the Lost Ark opened in theaters this past weekend, grossing about $1.73 million over the three days. Playing in 267 IMAX theaters nationwide, the first Indiana Jones film will continue to run until this Thursday as part of the hype for the upcoming release of the entire Indy film series in a Blu-ray box set on September 18. Can’t make it to an IMAX screening? AMC theaters will be hosting marathon screenings of all four films on Saturday, September 15.

Also helping to herald the Blu-ray release:

With the Blu-ray box set, Indiana Jones: The Complete Adventures, coming out next week, you might wonder if there’s a special collector’s edition of the set? And there is…. not in the US. Amazon UK has a Limited Collector’s Edition, which comes with the five disc Blu-ray box set and a huge pile of goodies, including a 144-page replica of the Grail Diary from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, a film cell, other replica prop items. Meanwhile, versions of the set in steelbook collector cases will be available in Germany and France, with the German version also having an optional Zippo lighter.

Posted on

Star Wars and Cupcake Wars collide this Sunday!

“How you get so big eating food of this kind?”

Food Network’s Cupcake Wars goes Star Wars this Sunday, with Ashley Eckstein as a guest judge. Ashley blogs about her experience as a judge, and urges those who were at the VIP party to keep mum about the winners. Cupcake Wars‘ Star Wars episode airs on Sunday, Sep 9, 2012 at 8:00 PM ET/PT on Food Network. (More broadcast times found here.)

Those who attended the VIP party at Celebration VI (or followed our coverage and on Twitter) know that I am a big fan of cupcakes. Mmmm…. cupcakes. I’ll go wipe the icing from my fingers and set my DVR.

Posted on

Darth Maul Returns to Target-exclusive DVD in Director’s Cut of The Clone Wars

Need to catch up on Star Wars: The Clone Wars before the start of season five? Catch the last four episodes of season four in a Target-exclusive Director’s Cut DVD set, Star Wars: The Clone Wars – Darth Maul Returns coming out on Tuesday, September 11. This Director’s Cut version is currently $10 online and has been turned into a single eighty-eight minute long feature from the story arc that culminated in the return of Darth Maul: ‘Massacre’ / ‘Bounty’ / ‘Brothers’ / ‘Revenge’. The first two parts focus more on Asajj Ventress, while the last two involve Savage Opress teaming up with his long-lost half-brother, err.. all brother, half-man: Darth Maul.

Can’t settle for just the episodes of Darth Maul Returns? Don’t worry, the DVD and Blu-ray box sets for the complete season four of The Clone Wars (all 22 episodes) will be released on October 23. This isn’t the first time that The Clone Wars has given us some story arc DVDs before the complete season was released in a box set. Before season one came out on DVD, there were two 4-episode DVD products from the first season in 2009:

  • A Galaxy Divided contained the first four episodes: ‘Ambush’ and the three-part ‘Malevolence’ arc
  • Clone Commandos contained the clone-centric stories of ‘Rookies’ and the three-part Ryloth arc

Thanks to William at EUCantina for the video.

Posted on

Syndicated The Clone Wars airing in chronological order

Last week, we reported that the first two seasons of Star Wars: The Clone Wars was headed into syndication. Today, Holocron keeper Leland Chee tweeted that the syndicated version will be aired in chronological order:

At least on the Holocron’s local TV station. A check of the my local TV listings also show my local station starting with the same two episodes, both of which happen just before the events of The Clone Wars film. Check your local listings, most likely for the weekend of September 15 and 16.

Will this be a soft way to introduce the proper timeline for the first two seasons (which did skip around a bit as the show was getting its bearings)? But since a good chunk of the first half of season three was also forming prequels and sequel to existing episodes, it seems that the syndication airing timeline is only a piece of the puzzle to a final chronological order.

Posted on

Celebration VI: Audio books panel highlights

Random House Audio continued their convention tour, bringing some of their audio book production team to Star Wars Celebration VI as well as having a show floor presence. I caught the Star Wars University: Audio Books panel with staff from Random House Audio, producer Aaron Blank, narrator Marc Thompson (check out my interview with Marc), and director Kevin Thomsen. Crashing the panel was Leland Chee, keeper of the Holocron. Key points from the panel: Continue reading “Celebration VI: Audio books panel highlights”

Posted on

Doctor Who is back this Saturday!

Don’t forget that the new series of Doctor Who starts up this Saturday with “Asylum of the Daleks”. The Doctor, Amy and Rory are back, and this time they’re headed to a place that even regular Daleks fear. For those in the US, Doctor Who starts up on BBC America on Saturday at 9pm/8c. Helping get us back into the timey-wimey mood, BBC has been posting a series of fun shorts, called Pond Life, focusing on Mr. and Mrs. Pond since we last saw them.

  • Pond Life – Part 1 – Voice mail from the Doctor
  • Pond Life – Part 2 – A late night visitor
  • Pond Life – Part 3 – A new houseguest
  • Pond Life – Part 4 – Living with the houseguest
  • Pond Life – Part 5 – Things take a turn

What does writer and producer Stephen Moffat have to say about writing his first Dalek episode? RadioTimes has his episode guide.

Also celebrating the start of series 7, Nerdist Channel has a few programs related for their Doctor Who-eekend: For wacky fun, the Doctor Who cast and crew takes on Chris Hardwick, Wil Wheaton and more in Chris Hardwick’s All Star Celebrity Bowling on Friday (preview here – “Bowling is cool”). On Saturday, check out the Doctor Who Premiere Q&A at 10pm/9c, with Chris Hardwick talking with Matt Smith, Karen Gillan and Executive Producer Caroline Skinner after the premiere.

EDIT: BBC America just put up a new Her Universe Doctor Who shirt for sale, combining the logo and the Amy Pond introduction. Go check it out / buy it!

Posted on

Celebration VI: Interview with PIGGY

I had some time to catch up with PIGGY, the well-traveled Gamorrean Guard, at Star Wars Celebration VI. Thanks to PIGGY’s handler, Jon Leopold, for his assistance. It’s amazing how much PIGGY likes the same things I do in Star Wars.