The actor was returning to England from Chicago when an “apparent asthma attack struck.” He was rushed to the hospital when the plane landed. His son told reporters that the attack was ‘nothing serious.’ He’s already awake and talking, so hopefully things will be okay!
Expanded Universe newsbits: Art, comics, e-books!
- Art: Katie Cook drew a Luke and Mara sketch card. Also check out her stormtrooper baby shower.
- Comics: Legacy scribe John Ostrander is O in Comics Should Be Good’s Alphabet of Cool.
- Previews: Legacy #22, Dark Times #10, Rebellion #13.
- E-books: The folks over at NJOE spotted a listing on Random House for the first eight Legacy of the Force books due out April 29th. At only $40, it’ll save you more than $20 than if you were buying them all in paperback, so if you haven’t started LOTF yet, this is a great deal. (Sacrifice sees PB release the same day.) The last book, Invincible, comes out May 13th. (via)
Delusional grad student blames George Lucas
I realize I just did a media roundup, but this one is a doozy: A University of Utah grad student was escorted out of a campus building after arguing with her advisor and “claiming that George Lucas had control of her thoughts and ideas.”
I think I argued with someone like that on a message board once.
In the news: George, Harrison, Jeremy
There are scans of a Total Film interview with George Lucas over at MillenniumFalcon.com. They hit all the standards, including Indy IV, The Clone Wars and the live action series. At one point, George says “People live in the Empire, but you don’t see Stormtroopers.” A departure indeed… There’s also an interesting bit about the EU, George’s “three pillars of Star Wars.” Nothing terribly surprising, but we’re still at the point where any crumb is thrilling.
- Media: Harrison Ford is in the latest Reader’s Digest.
- Video: Jeremy Bulloch gifted with Boba Fett costume by fan groups at the Dallas Comic Con. (Thanks, Denise!)
- Fandom: Another Star Wars class; io9 snarks.
- Crew:CNN profiles Robert Elswit, who won the cinematography Oscar for There Will Be Blood. He also worked on The Empire Strikes Back and E.T.
Lightsabre talks to the legendary John Mollo
Lightsabre interviews costume designer John Mollo, who worked on A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back, among many others you might recognize.
Expanded Universe newsbits: Zahn, KOTOR, TFU
- Conventions: Timothy Zahn is Guest of Honor at UberCon X in New Jersey later this month. Among his events are a Q&A and a panel on writing in someone else’s universe with Star Trek author Josepha Sherman. There will also be a charity RPG game where he’ll play one of his most famous SW characters, Grand Admiral Thrawn. (Also among the guests: our old pal Peter Schweighofer!)
- Comics: The preview for Knights of the Old Republic #27, aka the third part of Vector; A new Omnibus appears on Amazon.
- Gaming: The Force Unleashed site has had a bit of a makeover. Check out the fan toolkit (in the media gallery, under downloads) for wallpapers, screenshots, icons and more.
Mr. Jones and me staring at the video…
Professor Jones, actually.
Spielberg and Ford grow close on the set of Indy IV? So sayeth Digital Spy! Well, sometimes it takes a long time to become friends with a co-worker.
MBC will be airing the original three Indiana Jones films in May, as a lead-up to the release of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Yup. MBC – check your local Middle Eastern satellite service provider for showtimes.
IndianaJonesShop.com has some new art for sale, in a variety of styles – art-deco, toon, etc. Check it out at the online shop, opened this week! and look.. the Indiana Jones Handbook ships tomorrow!
The StarWars.com tour of Volume 3 of the DVD set for The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones (release date 4/29/08) brings Indy back to the States:
- Disc 4 – Winds of Change – Indy translates at the Versailles Peace Conference and witnesses the creation of a new world order, that might just collapse into global warfare in the future. Then he returns home to Princeton, and deals with his dad – and ends up separated.
- Disc 5 – Companion Documentaries for Winds of Change covers The Treaty of Versailles, Woodrow Wilson, Gertrude Bell, Ho Chi Minh, Paul Robeson, and Robert Goddard
- Disc 6 – The Mystery of the Blues – In 1920, Indy learns how to play jazz under Sidney Bechet while working at Jim Colosimo’s restaurant and witnesses speakeasies and racial segregation in Chicago. When his boss is murdered, Indy teams up with his roommate Eliot Ness and Ernie Hemingway to solve the case – was it Al Capone? Will Indy be left singing the blues? Harrison Ford provides the bookend material in this episode.
Want to win a copy of Volume 3? There’s a contest at dailygame.net – and you can enter it once per day!
Helping out Michael Reaves
Thanks to John Scalzi, I just found out that author Michael Reaves is dealing with some serious health issues related to Parkinson’s. So, Subterranean Press is selling a special edition of Interworld, the YA novel Reaves wrote with Neil Gaiman. All profits will go to helping with his medical and living costs.
Reave’s Star Wars work includes the two Medstar novels, Death Star with Steve Perry, and the upcoming Coruscant Nights trilogy.
More changes afoot at Dark Horse
Associate editor Jeremy Barlow is stepping down to concentrate on writing full-time. In his tenure at Dark Horse he’s written several comics and edited Tales, Clone Wars Adventures, Knights of the Old Republic and was helming the Indiana Jones comics. (Dave Land will be taking over Indy.)
Ryan Phillippe: Almost Anakin
Ryan Phillippe talks to MTV about trying out for the role of Anakin Skywalker. I just watched half of Cruel Intentions (Shut up!) the other day, and I swear he and Christensen could be brothers… (And Sarah Michelle Gellar in bitch mode would make a hell of a Sith.)