Joey Fatone, host of My Family Recipe Rocks and former member *NSYNC, takes a visit to Rancho Obi-Wan and cooks up a Star Wars breakfast with Steve Sansweet and Anne Neumann. The episode will be broadcast normally on August 18 on the Live Well Network at 8:30 pm ET/PT, but will premiere on Disney XD tonight at August 1st at 8pm ET/PT as part of a three day Disney Fandom programming event showcasing Disney, Marvel and Star Wars.
Another year, another Celebration… And now we can rest. For a few weeks, anyway. For those of you who weren’t in Germany, who didn’t wake up before dawn to catch news out of Germany, or who maybe just had other stuff to do this weekend, here are the headlines.
“Real locations and special FX” Kathleen Kennedy inferred that we’ll be seeing more of a mix of effects – not just the digital stuff, which is pretty much inevitable, but also some more traditional model-based effects and such as well. HitFix’s Drew McWeeny addresses this – and the staggering pressure that Episode VII has to live up to:
I love that much of what I’ve been hearing seems to match what Kennedy is saying. I’ve heard that Lawrence Kasdan is considered by everyone else in the process a pretty great resource, and a really lovely collaborator. And I’ve heard that ILM is building a lot of actual models for this film, that they plan to shoot the models and digitally composite on a much larger scale than the last trilogy. It’s an aesthetic choice, evidently, and I find it very exciting to imagine big ILM model units working to build out the world.
Kennedy knows the gig, she’s clearly taken the time to understand what’s going on with fandom – and I don’t think she’s the only one. This is, as McWeeny said, a fragmented fandom. There are a lot of voices, and the stakes for this movie, for the whole franchise, are high. Will they manage to please everyone? Probably not: There are fans who will love or hate Episode VII no matter what. But I think it’s a good sign that they’re willing to try, and that shows in what little they’re willing to tell us so far. What’s behind closed doors? Hopefully something even better.
John Williams Of course this was the big ticket news out of the con, and while I understand being disappointed that we didn’t get more, it’s still rather reassuring to have Williams back on board.
There’s been some confusion about whether he’s back for just one movie – the official site says just Episode VII, but apparently onstage, Kennedy said he was coming back for all three. And maybe that’s the plan, but just not on paper yet. In any case, it’s good news.
Rebels We may not have the whole enchilada yet, but Dave Filoni did give fans enough to sate their appetites, it seems. He made it clear that the style is very much based on Ralph McQuarrie, that the stories will be told in order and showed off some concept art… One of which may be Alderaan.
And the Wookiee Gunner points out that we’ve actually been seeing new ship The Ghost all along! Tricky, tricky.
Celebration VII
And we have our next convention! In all honesty, I welcome the gap: We could all use a little time and space to save, as much as Lucasfilm will need the time to prepare. Let’s not forget, the Celebrations started as a way to get fans excited about the new movies… And think how much they’ll have to show us a month or so before the thing even comes out!
The venue change isn’t much of a surprise… But I really doubt we’ve seen the last of Orlando. After all, Disney does have two theme parks.
Alas, Celebration announcements always bring a round of disappointment: We all want it close to us, but there are a lot of people to please and no matter where the thing is, some folks aren’t going to be able to come. The convention center may not be as cavernous, the plane tickets may not be as cheap, etc. It’s sad but there’s no pleasing everyone, ever. We all just have to deal, one way or another, and wait to see how the experts surprise us.
But still, I’m hopeful about California and very happy with the return to the original pre-movie schedule. Hell, I might even go to the theme park for once. Might.
And remember, news hounds: Patience. They’re not going to give us everything at once. They’re going to dribble it out slowly, they’re going to deny things, the rumors will keep flying. (All this has happened before… All this will happen again.) It’s our lot to wait it out and see what emerges.
As one Celebration ends, another is announced… Celebration VII (which may not be the official name, but we’re going to call it that, damnit!) is set for Anaheim, California in April 2015. Star Wars Celebration Anaheim (the official name, apparently?) will be held at the Disneyland-adjacent Anaheim Convention Center from April 16-19, reverting us back to schedules of the original Celebrations. Does this guarantee us a May release date for Episode VII? Let’s hope so. Tickets will be on sale August 7th.
What else went on in Essen today? Well, Mark Hamill spoke, and while it didn’t make the official recap, apparently he did do a voice on The Clone Wars – a Darth. But he’s also open to voicing a villain on Rebels.
Speaking of… Here’s Dave Filoni and Warwick Davis.
This isn’t the end of coverage – we expect the usual flood of nightly additions as folks wind down, plus more as people return home and get a chance to think, upload pictures and etc – so check back!
Rebelforce Radio says they’ve heard that neither of The Clone Wars DVD and Blu-ray sets that were spotted on French Amazon earlier this month will not contain the much-anticipated ‘bonus content.’ The sets, expected out in mid-October, include both S5 and a complete series box set. RFR also says that the complete series set comes with a book, Obi-wan will be featured on the cover of S5, and that we’ll be getting a formal announcement on Friday.
But RFR goes on to say that there won’t be an announcement regarding the bonus content anytime soon. One can hope this means that the stuff will eventually get a much more significant play than as mere special features. But given that near-rabid interest in it from some corners of fandom, the state of the bonus content is sure to come up sometime this weekend at one of Celebration Europe’s Clone Wars panels… I’d be very surprised if hint or two isn’t dropped at some point.
In a one-hour special, Disney’s Phineas and Ferb will be heading to the galaxy far, far away next year, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
I’ve never seen the show, but I’ve heard of it as one of Disney’s more popular cartoons… And it’s not like there’s a particularly high bar set for these things (thanks, Family Guy.)
The show is already airing a Marvel crossover on August 16.
Jedi News spotted a post by French fansite Hoth Bricks, who noticed that preorders for The Clone Wars Season 5 Blu-ray and DVD sets are currently live on Amazon France with a release date of October 16. It seems likely that they would be out that same week here in the U.S… I’d say the chances of us getting a release date announcement at Celebration Europe – along with any other The Clone Wars information – is more likely than ever.
There’s also a complete series set (Blu-ray/DVD) scheduled for the same date.
Not only is the show about the formation of the Rebel Alliance, taking place in the narrative space between Episodes III and IV, the title also riffs on the main characters. I’ve learned that most of them are teenagers. Rebellious teenagers? Well, that’s the reference, at least.
Does this mean we’ll see Leia in the Senate? A young Wedge Antilles? It’ll probably be an all-new slate, but who knows who might show up?
JoBlo has a source who told them that the first two spin-offs will feature popular rumor subjects Han Solo and Boba Fett. No details on Boba, but the Han film “will focus on Han and Chewy’s [sic] relationship, potentially on how they met and became partners on the Millennium Falcon.”
Both movies have been rumored for a while now, though JoBlo also says that the idea for a Yoda film has been dropped due to LEGO’s The Yoda Chronicles.
A Boba Fett movie is, of course, inevitable, and either Daniel Logan or Temuera Morrison could return for the role, depending on where in the timeline the story falls. Casting a young Han Solo would be significantly more of a challenge… But no doubt there are plenty of actors willing to try.
Their source also claims that the Rebels cartoon will “focus on how the rebel alliance was formed,” which doesn’t give us too much of a hint of where it fits in the intertrilogy timeline. Sure, we saw the political roots of the Rebellion begin in the cut scenes of Revenge of the Sith, but parts of the Expanded Universe imply that the Rebellion we meet in A New Hope was formed by coalition of groups working against the Empire. Not that the EU material guarantees anything, but it’s an idea with plenty of story potential to be mined.
Producer Rick McCallum, who worked on the Star Wars prequels and Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, has revealed his next project to The Hollywood Reporter: R’Ha, a “high-concept sci-fi feature.” The film’s script is being written by Life on Mars co-creator Matthew Graham, who THR says was one of the lead writers on the shelved Star Wars live action series. (He was reported as working on the show in 2011, but it was never, to my knowledge, confirmed.)
R’Ha was created by Kaleb Lechowski, who will be directing the film based on his short of the same name.
Of course this was the big ticket news out of the con, and while I understand being disappointed that we didn’t get more, it’s still rather reassuring to have 
We may not have the whole enchilada yet, but 
Alas, Celebration announcements always bring a round of disappointment: We all want it close to us, but there are a lot of people to please and no matter where the thing is, some folks aren’t going to be able to come. The convention center may not be as cavernous, the plane tickets may not be as cheap, etc. It’s sad but there’s no pleasing everyone, ever. We all just have to deal, one way or another, and wait to see how the experts surprise us. 
In a one-hour special, Disney’s Phineas and Ferb will be heading to the galaxy far, far away next year, according to 
Producer Rick McCallum, who worked on the Star Wars prequels and Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, has revealed his next project to