The Clone Wars review: ‘Overlords’

“The longer we stay here, the stranger it gets,” says Ahsoka Tano in last week’s episode of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, ‘Overlords’. I think this applies to us as viewers as well as the show tackles one of the most important notions of Star Wars and takes it in a new direction, as well as bringing back some prequel characters (and their actors). And helping to show Anakin Skywalker’s slow slide toward the dark side, he confronts past guilt but in the end, chooses the path of selfishness. Continue readingThe Clone Wars review: ‘Overlords’”

Updates on Knight Errant, Lost Tribe of the Sith and more from John Jackson Miller

While it has been previously announced that John Jackson Miller’s ebook novella series, Lost Tribe of the Sith will be collected in a print anthology, more details emerged about the series in an author chat hosted by Del Rey’s Star Wars Books Facebook account. Both Miller and Del Rey reps confirmed the following schedule for the (free) digital releases:

  • Part Six: “Sentinel” – Februray 21, 2011
  • Part Seven: “Pantheon” – July 19, 2011
  • Part Eight: “Secrets” – March 8, 2012
  • Print collection – August 2012, and it will contain an additional “long” story.

The concept of the overall series is that the first four form the Founders tetralogy (how the lost tribe started from some stranded “middle-managers in the cause of evil”), and the second four fit into the Darker Times, while the new material will help show how the tribe evolved from to closer to what is encountered in the Fate of the Jedi series.

And in very early phases of Knight Errant, there might have been some sort of Twilighty romance between Kerra Holt and Lord Daiman, but scrapped as the characters developed – since Daiman’s really only in love with himself, and Kerra is just way too busy trying to stay alive and help those around her. Pitched from Dark Horse to Miller as a “lone female Jedi”, Miller envisioned Kerra traveling solo like the Lone Ranger, even without a sidekick or droid Tonto.

Going back to Miller’s work on the Knights of the Old Republic, he mentioned that the charming con artist Gryph was originally supposed to be an Ortolan, like Max Rebo, before being changed to a Snivvian. Zayne Carrick’s last name connects back to Miller’s college dorm room.

New Star Wars comic revealed: It’s Qui-Gon in Jedi – The Dark Side

MTV gets the exclusive scoop that the new Star Wars comic coming out from Dark Horse in May is called Star Wars: Jedi – The Dark Side and features Qui-Gon Jinn.

Written by Scott Allie with artwork by Mahmud Asrar, it features Qui-Gon going to prevent a civil war on the planet of one of his former padawans, Xanatos. Yep, they’re bringing in stuff from the Jedi Apprentice series. The article has a full interview with Allie on the series, which will start off with a five-issue arc, and may become ongoing.

The Clone Wars review roundup: Nightsisters trilogy

Now that Star Wars: The Clone Wars has aired all three parts of the Nightsisters trilogy introducing Savage Opress, let’s see what the reviewers have been saying about this story arc. We’ve got our reviews of ‘Nightsisters’ and ‘Monster’ already, and Stooge’s word on ‘Witches of the Mist’ is coming soon. Will the critics be savage? Continue readingThe Clone Wars review roundup: Nightsisters trilogy”

Legoland California to open Star Wars area in March

Photo thanks to Mianakenobi @ Flickr!

The LA Times reports that the Legoland theme park in Carlsbad, California is planning on opening a Star Wars themed area in Miniland within the park on March 31, 2011. The area will include 2,000 Lego models covering all six films and The Clone Wars. While the park already has a few life-size Lego characters, additional dioramas showcasing Naboo, Geonosis, Kashyyyk, Mustafar, Tatooine, Hoth, Endor and Christophsis will be constructed. Coming off of a top attendance record for last year, Legoland hopes to break that record with the new Star Wars area this year, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune, which also goes in depth on what the planetary dioramas will depict.

On hand for the official announcement at Legoland were costumed members from Rebel Legion and the 501st Legion. Legoland isn’t the only theme park with Star Wars attractions opening this year – Disneyland and Disney World will both be re-opening the revamped Star Tours: The Adventure Continues for the summer.

California a little too far to reach? Legoland Denmark and Germany will also be getting the Star Wars areas later in the year.

The Clone Wars review: ‘Pursuit of Peace’

‘Pursuit of Peace’ was the year’s final broadcast episode of The Clone Wars, and if this season started off with a bang, it ended more with a yawn. Padmé Amidala races to prevent a war appropriations bill from being passed else it destroy the Republic through bankruptcy, with her and Senators Bail Organa and Onaconda Farr getting roughed up in the process. If only senators like Amidala, target of countless assassination plots, ever learned to travel with a security team, half of the plot and all of the action could have been avoided. Continue readingThe Clone Wars review: ‘Pursuit of Peace’”

The Clone Wars review: ‘Hunt for Ziro’

‘Hunt for Ziro’, last week’s episode of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, brought together a lot of great elements that Star Wars does well: adventure, romance, dance numbers, and the occasional surprise, and wrapped it up in a Hutt-sized package for the viewers. The Clone Wars introduction of EU favorite Quinlan Vos was almost a side note to the whole story. Hopefully he’ll get another time to really shine, as this episode was more an ensemble act with Cad Bane, Sy Snootles, Obi-wan Kenobi and the Hutts. Continue reading “The Clone Wars review: ‘Hunt for Ziro’”

Something shiny for the Serenity fans out there

Not only did the fifty-six page Serenity: The Shepherd’s Tale hit comic book stores last week (and mine is on back order), delving into Book’s past, everyone in the ‘Verse get a small treat this week: Dark Horse and USA Today have an 8-page comic, Serenity: Downtime up – today just has the first four pages, but the story will continue tomorrow. Joss and Zack Whedon scripted the book on Shepherd Book, while Zack flies solo with the story for ‘Downtime’.