Star Wars with occasional sarcasm
Lots of Mandalore knowledge dropped in ‘Legacy of Mandalore,’ and even more in Recon. Andi talks to Tiya Sircar, Pablo Hidalgo, Henry Gilroy and Dave Filoni about the episode.
The episode also featured the return of a very specific title… Which seems to have been given a new meaning. It’s not mentioned in Recon, but more on that in a few days.
Timothy Zahn’s Thrawn novel will look a little different if you buy it at Barnes & Noble. The U.S.’s largest book chain will have a cover with a black background, while other retailers will get a white cover. It also comes with an exclusive poster.
B&N exclusives are nothing new for Star Wars, as several recent releases have also featured posters, including next week’s Aftermath: Empire’s End. But Thrawn will be the first novel to feature a different cover.
Thrawn is Zahn’s first novel in the new canon and his tenth overall. It’s due out in hardcover and eBook on April 11.
Several foreign translations for The Last Jedi title came through today, and it’s noteworthy because every single one of them – French, Spanish, German and Italian) – implies that the term ‘Jedi’ is a plural. (The term Jedi itself is both singular and plural, so it depends entirely upon context.)
I’m no linguist, but I do tend to side-eye most pre-release fan theories in any context, so take it as you will. In any case, as The Mary Sue’s Dan Van Winkle reminds us: “we don’t know who made these decisions,” and after almost 34 years it’s still possible to debate whether the Jedi in Return of the Jedi (singular, in translation) is Luke or Anakin. I may not be inclined to set any flags down just yet, but you can’t deny that it’s a nice piece of evidence for those who do.
The Star Wars book schedule is rounding out with a new post-Rogue One/A New Hope novel from Christie Golden. Inferno Squad features an elite Imperial squad that’s tasked to take on what remains of Saw Gerrera’s Partisans. Here’s the blurb:
The Rebellion may have heroes like Jyn Erso and Luke Skywalker. But the Empire has Inferno Squad. After the humiliating theft of the Death Star plans and the resulting destruction of the battle station, the Empire is on the defensive. In response to this stunning defeat, the Imperial Navy has authorized the formation of an elite team of soldiers, known as Inferno Squad. Their mission: infiltrate and eliminate the remnants of Saw Gerrera’s Partisans. Following the death of their leader, the Partisans have carried on his extremist legacy, determined to thwart the Empire — no matter what the cost. Now, Inferno Squad must prove their status as the best of the best and take down the Partisans from within. But as the danger intensifies and the threat of discovery grows, how far will Inferno Squad go to ensure the safety of the Empire?
The book will be out in hardcover and eBook on July 25. I can’t say this one appeals to me, and Golden seems like an odd choice for it – we last heard from her with 2015’s Dark Disciple – but seems like this is a continuation of the new EU’s tendency to focus on brand-new characters.
StarWars.com has officially annouced that Force Friday II is set for September 1, but more importantly (for our purposes) they’ve also given us our first look at Rey, Finn and Poe in The Last Jedi. Rey is not only front and center with a lightsaber, but she’s sporting a new hairstyle! Finn has a new shirt! Poe looks… Pretty much the same!
Head below the cut for the full packaging. Continue reading “Force Friday annoucement, reveal gives us our first look at Rey in The Last Jedi”
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:
Making Star Wars is back today with a description and sketch of Finn’s new look – or one of them – and how it ties into a new mission. It includes another new location, which may be related to yesterday’s rumor.
StarWars.com has our second excerpt from Chuck Wendig’s Aftermath: Empire’s End, featuring Han and a very pregnant Leia. (The first was our check-in with Lando.)
Empire’s End will be out next Tuesday (February 21) in hardcover and eBook.
In today’s rumor, Making Star Wars reports on a new planet it seems we’ll see in The Last Jedi and who likely resides there. (It might be connected to another recent rumor.)
→ Some areas of the fandom ::coughReylocough:: have noted that the certain StarWars.com Databank entries for have been updated to reference a “mysterious” and “strange” connection between Kylo Ren and Rey. Is it love? Is it their genes? Is it the Force? All three? Take it as you will.
→ It’s official: Jimmy Vee is playing R2-D2 in The Last Jedi, per both his agency, Oh So Small and Lucasfilm themselves, via Mashable. He takes over from Kenny Baker, who died last year.
→ And to round things out, here’s a quick reminder that any rumor sourced from Reddit or 4chan should be considered extremely dubious. (Which is why I don’t bother to report them myself anymore.) That’s one reason why it’s important to note the original source of an item! Also be on watch for the term ‘speculation.’ There’s a lot of fan speculation out there, but that doesn’t make it news.
It’s time for a family reunion on the next episode of Rebels, ‘Legacy of Mandalore.’
It airs Saturday, February 18 at 8:30 p.m. on Disney XD. More images under the cut.
Continue reading “It’s back to Mandalore on Saturday’s new Rebels”