Star Wars with occasional sarcasm
Well, since our “unaltered” original trilogy rumor, there’s been a bit of news… Or not, depending on how plugged in you are on the issue. For those of us who shrug at the rigmarole, there’s a new Rumor Control from Bobby at Full of Sith that lays it all out.
In short, maybe George Lucas will show up at Celebration. Who knows? Not any of us, that’s for sure.
After yesterday’s announcement of a 40th Anniversary panel on the first day of Celebration and a “surprise,”, naturally fan speculation ramped into overdrive. With The Last Jedi panel set for the second day of the con, fans focused on two things: A George Lucas appearance, or the announcement of the long-awaited and perennially rumored “unaltered” Original Trilogy. Today, Making Star Wars is saying that they’ve been hearing things that lead them to believe it will indeed be pre-Special Edition OT.
If the rumor does pan out this time, it will at least be something worth building up for hype. (I can’t really see George showing up, even if this turns up to be false – he seemed uncomfortable at Celebration even when he owned the company. That said, I’ve been wrong before.)
Almost all home releases of the original trilogy since the early ’90s have been built on the restored and digitally tweaked Special Edition versions that were released in 1997. Transfers of the 1993 Laserdisc versions of the film appeared as extras on some 2006 DVDs, but many fans have been hoping for better quality ports for years now. I’m not particularly obsessive about it, and I own those DVDS, but as a member of the VHS generation I’d buy better versions in a heartbeat.
But, as always, Star Wars fans love to speculate, and anything to do with this issue is hotly debated, so keep your pants on. For now, anyway.
In the meantime, here’s fuzzy Youtube version of ‘Lapti Nek’ for the younglings who only know ‘Jedi Rocks.’ It’s ’80s-sleaze-a-riffic!
Announced on today’s Star Wars Show are the release dates for Rogue One on Blu-ray, DVD and Digital HD. Like The Force Awakens, it’ll launch on Digital HD a week before (March 24) the Blu-ray and DVD options (April 4.) This also gets it’s own promo:
The other big news is that a 40th Anniversary tribute panel will kick off Celebration Orlando. Hosted by Warwick Davis and featuring Kathleen Kennedy and “the saga’s brightest stars.” They’re also laying it on a bit heavy about “surprises,” so keep that in mind.
To the surprise of no one, Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy and director Rian Johnson will be on a Celebration Orlando panel on Friday, April 14. The Last Jedi panel is expected debut the film’s first trailer, or at the very least a behind-the-scenes feature, as the con is expected to launch the movie’s first wave of publicity. Expect some other “special guests” to appear as well.
For the past few Celebrations, the first big movie panel has featured the upcoming release, while a second on Sunday focuses on the other upcoming films.
The new Star Wars Show also features more Rogue One behind-the-scenes and a visit to Sideshow.
UPDATE: Johnson took the occasion to post a new behind-the-scenes shot on Tumblr:
Going to Celebration in Orlando? Looking for a Thursday night event? Check out Drowning in Moonlight, a memorial benefit gala for Carrie Fisher and benefiting The Midnight Misson. It’s hosted by Tosche Station and the Star Wars Podcast Alliance.
Tickets start at $40 and are on sale now. The gala is being held at the Rosen Centre Hotel, which is right next door to the Orange County Convention Center.
Celebration 2017 is only months away, and StarWars.com our first look at the badge art. We also learn who’s hosting the three major stages, and it’s returnees Warwick Davis, David Collins and our pal Amy Ratcliffe, who made her debut on the Behind-The-Scenes Stage at Celebration Europe.
Meanwhile, per an email sent out to attendees, 4-day passes to the con are almost sold out. Celebration 2017, the con’s third outing to Orlando, takes place April 13 to 16.
Ahsoka by E.K. Johnston comes out today from Disney-Lucasfilm Press in hardcover, eBook and audio. It tells a great story that helps fill in some of the critical gaps between her departure from the Jedi Order in The Clone Wars and her appearance as the Rebel agent, Fulcrum, in Rebels.
In early September, author E.K. Johnston was a guest panelist at Salt Lake Comic Con, where she discussed her novel on two panels: “The Life and Times of Ahsoka Tano” (alongside Pablo Hidalgo, Amy Ratcliffe, and moderated by Bryan Young; panel available from Full of Sith) and “Star Wars Books: Writing the Force” (alongside Christie Golden, Cecil Castellucci, Matt Martin, and moderated by yours truly). Here is an abridged transcript of the panel, focusing on Johnston’s responses to the moderator prompts and panelist discussion as relating to writing the newest chapter in the story of Ahsoka Tano.
Here’s what Johnston had to say (trying to stay spoiler free) on the behind-the-scenes of writing Ahsoka: Continue reading “Behind the scenes with E.K. Johnston on writing Ahsoka”
Details on the Rogue One book tie-ins and 40th Anniversary publishing program for 2017 were revealed at New York Comic Con Friday morning.
In addition to James Luceno’s Catalyst, the Rogue One fiction lineup will include a young adult novel about Jyn Erso from Star Wars newcomer Beth Revis (Across the Universe.) Greg Rucka (Before the Awakening) will return for a middle grade novel featuring Baze Malbus and Chirrut Îmwe. The preliminary versions of the covers above were spotted earlier by Jedi Bibliotek. They’ll both be out on May 2.
Catalyst will be the first of the Rogue One books to hit the shelves, on November 15th. The second wave will drop with the film on December 16, and includes The Art of Rogue One, Pablo Hidalgo’s Rogue One Ultimate Visual Guide and ebook versions of the two novelizations: Alexander Freed’s from Del Rey and the junior version by Matt Forbeck from Disney-Lucasfilm Press. Freed’s will be in hardcover on January 3, while it looks like Forbeck’s won’t be in print until March 28.
We’ll learn more about the 40th Anniversary publishing plans in the coming months, although the official site says “legendary Star Wars talent such as Louise Simonson, Walter Simonson, and Tom Palmer would be reuniting” for an anniversary book from Disney-Lucasfilm Press. One component of the program would seem to be a new collection of the newspaper strips, also spotted by – you guessed it – Jedi Bibliotek.
Ashley Eckstein guests on The Star Wars Show today, talking a bit about next week’s Ahsoka novel, which she’s narrating for the audiobook.
The Ahsoka book tour, with Eckstein and author E.K. Johnston, kicks off at New York Comic Con on October 8 and then hits bookstores in New York, Florida and California throughout the month.
Time for a new colossal-sized episode of Star Wars Story Talk as Yowie the Skunk, Baby Jawa, and I cover the latest in Star Wars stories, and we have a lot to talk about: a few recent Star Wars events and check out not one, not two, but three Star Wars books! I give a recap of all the Star Wars goings-on at Salt Lake Comic Con, held at the beginning of September, plus talk a bit on Star Wars Day at the San Diego Padres, and dive into three books: the newest Star Wars Little Golden Book: I Am a Princess, and Star Wars: Aliens of the Galaxy by Jason Fry and the newly released Star Wars Year by Year: A Visual History, Updated and Expanded Edition by Pablo Hidalgo. Plus an update on Wear Star Wars Every Day and a triple dose of Baby Jawa fun time! Continue reading “Star Wars Story Talk: Salt Lake Comic Con, Aliens of the Galaxy, & Year by Year”