Author: jawajames

San Diego-based Jawa.
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The Clone Wars: Sam Witwer to voice Darth Maul?

NukeTheFridge.com reports that Sam Witwer, who portrayed Starkiller in The Force Unleashed series and voiced Son in the Mortis arc of The Clone Wars, is returning to the show to voice Darth Maul. The first reports of the Being Human‘s star coming back to the show came from an interview at Dragon*Con by Star Wars Report, where Witwer confirmed that he will be doing a character new to him, and recounts:

Dave Filoni calls me up, gets me on the phone, and he says, “Listen, so we want you to come back to work and we need you to play…” and he tells me the character’s name. And I almost had a car accident. And he says, “Can you do it?” And I’m like yes. And then I worried about later whether I could do it or not. But I was like yes, yes, I will do that. So it is a tremendous opportunity and I can’t wait for you guys to find out about it.

Until we get official word, it’s just a rumor that he’ll play Darth Maul, (who was previously announced as returning next spring) – but an exciting one at that.

Meanwhile, Slate has done an article for parents on how to sound intelligent when you talk to your kids about The Clone Wars. Basically, it sorts out that everything you know about Star Wars from the original trilogy has been turned on its head: Clonetroopers and the Republic are good, while the rebellious Separatists are evil. Not a whole lot on knowing who the show’s original characters are – Ahsoka barely gets mentioned, and I think Rex doesn’t even get mentioned. If you’re reading this blog, you’re probably well ahead of the people who need to refer to the Slate article for help.

Always feel bummed about contests that are for US residents only? Well, here are two different chances to win Star Wars: The Clone Wars Season Three DVD and Blu-ray sets: SFX is giving away the Blu-rays and Entertainment Focus is giving away the DVDs – for people in the United Kingdom.

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NYCC: Back covers for Apocalypse, Plagueis, plus additional Fate of the Jedi teases

Jaina Solo, Jag Fel, and Darth Maul are spotlighted in the back cover art for Fate of the Jedi: Apocalypse and Darth Plagueis. The art was revealed at the Del Rey panel at New York Comic Con yesterday, and posted online today by editor Erich Schoeneweiss. The Darth Plagueis cover is by Torstein Nordstrand while the Fate of the Jedi: Apocalypse cover is by Ian Keltie.

Suvudu has more details from panel at NYCC. In addition to the announcements of two new novels, Drew Karpyshyn’s untitled The Old Republic tie-in for fall 2012, and Timothy Zahn’s untitled Han Solo novel, there was also this teaser from Fate of the Jedi: Apocalypse:

“Perhaps they feared Luke Skywalker just that much.

And that was a mistake.

Luke Skywalker was not the Sword of the Jedi. Jaina was, and now the Sith had trapped themselves inside a locked Temple with her.”

And for those waiting for a picture of Abeloth from Fate of the Jedi, Erich has mentioned that there will be a scene of her confronting “Luke, Ben, Vestara,” and the Sith in Allies in the Essential Guide to Warfare.

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NYCC: Del Rey announces new books by Zahn and Karpyshyn

Erich Schoeneweiss posted on Star Wars Books account on Facebook:

Just announced at our Del Rey Star Wars books panel: Drew Karpyshyn will write a fourth novel that will tie into The Old Republic for Fall 2012 and Tim Zahn will write a new novel starring Han Solo set in the classic films era. More details to come on both as they develop.

Dunc adds: I’m sad to see Zahn in the movie era again, but as Han has frequently been the highlight of his other works there, it has possibility. Some on Twitter are hopeful that this could tie into Han’s smuggling days (or at least, other smugglers) which could be interesting.

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Gaming news from NYCC: New trailer for The Old Republic, Ashley Eckstein talks games

A new trailer, ‘Signs of War’, for The Old Republic MMO was debuted at New York Comic Con. Darth Hater liveblogged two panels for The Old Republic: the official TOR panel and MMORPG.com’s Q & A session. Also announced was a bumping up of the European release date to coincide with the North American launch – December 20. In related news, the game may have cost about $300 million to develop, or more than double the cost of Revenge of the Sith.

Also at New York Comic Con, Her Universe founder and Star Wars: The Clone Wars voice actor Ashley Eckstein talked about female video gamers, her own favorite games, and hints at getting some video game licenses for the Her Universe lineup.

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NYCC: More info revealed about new Star Wars comics

Earlier we announced that Dark Horse Comics had unveiled several new Star Wars titles for 2012 at New York Comic-Con. Now that the official press releases have gone out, here’s some more info about each new story.

  • Knights of the Old Republic: War – Zayne Carrick has been drafted in war between Revan and the Republic against the Mandalorians. Starting in January, this story written by John Jackson Miller will continue the adventures from his Knights of the Old Republic series, but Dark Horse assures us that it is also a great entry point into Star Wars comics. Rebelscum.com has a sample page.
  • Darth Vader and the Ghost Prison – Haden Blackman returns to write this five issue story about Darth Vader, starting in May. As Vader gets used to his role in serving the Emperor, there’s an assassination plot afoot! Blackman talked with Newsarama about the story involving the Dark Lord of the Sith and Moff Trachta, as well as getting into Vader’s head.
  • Blood Ties: Boba Fett is Dead – Tom Taylor describes this new Blood Ties story (coming in April) with: “Boba Fett is dead. The most infamous hunter in the galaxy has been hunted. He’s lying, broken, on the desert floor. He’s more blaster-holes than man. It’s the ultimate ending. However, this is just the start of our story. With the fall of Fett broadcast across the galaxy, someone rises to avenge him. But who would care about the death of a man like Fett? Bounty hunters aren’t exactly known for their enduring, close friendships but even a man like Boba Fett has family… and now a Blood Tie demands blood.”
  • Dawn of the Jedi – John Ostrander and Jan Duursema delve into the origins of the Jedi in this brand new series, set 25,000 years before the movies. We’ve already heard a bit about it from interviews, but here’s the official blurb. Issue #0 and Issue #1 (Starting the Force Storm arc) both come out in February.
  • Knight Errant: Escape – The next story arc in the adventures of Kerra Holt, one-woman Jedi wrecking crew in Sith space starts up in June for a five-issue run. Although with a title like Escape, I wonder if John Jackson Miller will have Kerra fighting for her life more than fighting to liberate worlds from the Sith warlords.

Looks like we are going to have a very cool 2012 for Star Wars comics!

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The Clone Wars: ‘Nomad Droids’ takes Threepio and Artoo on an excellent adventure

Tonight’s episode of Star Wars: The Clone Wars sends C-3PO and R2-D2 from one crazy adventure into another with ‘Nomad Droids’. Does the Force favor these two as they survive an assault by General Grievous on their craft, only to escape from the attack and end up on their own fantastic voyage — or is it Gulliver’s Travels? Check out the clip above for Threepio and Artoo passing through the battle around them (homage to the opening of A New Hope,) and the clip below for their own lesson in “Size matters not.”

Continue reading “The Clone Wars: ‘Nomad Droids’ takes Threepio and Artoo on an excellent adventure”

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Exclusive interview: Daniel Wallace on Book of Sith and The Jedi Path

When it comes to increasing our knowledge of topics in the Star Wars universe in entertaining ways, Daniel Wallace is a master. His works include several of the most well-regarded reference books, including The Essential Atlas, The New Essential Guide to Characters, and The New Essential Chronology. His articles and stories have appeared in the full gamut of magazines, from the Adventure Journal to Star Wars Gamer and the Star Wars Insider.

Last year, we were blown away by The Jedi Path, which he wrote as an in-universe guidebook for Jedi students. With the The Jedi Path being re-released this September, and his new work, Book of Sith: Secrets from the Dark Side coming out in February 2012 in a deluxe vault edition, Daniel took the time to answer some questions for Club Jade about the upcoming Book of Sith, which was first announced at Comic-Con this year and had major details released today, and the new version of The Jedi Path.

Continue reading “Exclusive interview: Daniel Wallace on Book of Sith and The Jedi Path“

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Going behind the scenes on Red Tails

This past week, the Red Tails facebook page brought up an album of new photos showing the cast and crew on location. Also, they released the clip above of the actors on the set talking about how they’ve bonded on the set.

Last week, two of the stars of Red Tails, Cuba Gooding, Jr. and Terrence Howard, were at a screening of the companion documentary, Double Victory to the Congressional Black Caucus and talked about the Tuskegee Airmen, blacks in Hollywood, and George Lucas’ role in the films. Two of the original Tuskegee Airmen also took the stage at the screening, sharing their viewpoint on being heroes. Watch for screenings of Double Victory in select cities around Veterans Day.

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Go on a ‘Mercy Mission’ with The Clone Wars

“Welcome to our disaster!” Tonight’s episode of Star Wars: The Clone Wars features C-3PO and R2-D2 as they accompany Clone Commander Wolffe’s battalion of clones on a relief mission on quake-hit Aleen. Judging from the preview clip of ‘Mercy Mission’, it looks like Threepio and Artoo have their work cut out for them.

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The Clone Wars review round-up: shadowing ‘Shadow Warrior’

If someone tries to kill you, kill them right back.

Time to see what the rest of the galaxy thought of last week’s episode of Star Wars: The Clone Wars: ‘Shadow Warrior’. You probably already know how much I liked it from my review here on Club Jade. But what did other people think of the Grievous-skewering, Gungan-possessing, Anakin-zapping, something-spoilery-happens episode? Continue reading “The Clone Wars review round-up: shadowing ‘Shadow Warrior’”