Star Wars with occasional sarcasm
There’s a lot this week, first and foremost The Force Awakens on Blu-ray Tuesday. There’s also a number of book for young readers, namely Pablo Hidalgo’s Star Wars Character Encyclopedia, Landry Q. Walker’s Tales From A Galaxy Far, Far Away: Aliens and Elizabeth Schaefer’s The Force Awakens Storybook.
Comic fans will have reasons to shop as well, as Marvel drops Poe Dameron #1 on Wednesday.
While everyone spent the weekend watching the movie, except those of us actually bothering to wait for the Blu-ray… (WHY.) Here’s another clip from ‘Secrets of The Force Awakens featuring Adam Driver and J.J. Abrams on Kylo Ren and his relationship with his parents.
→ There’s now an official 3D video of the Millennium Falcon cockpit.
→ Neal Scanlan talks creatures (and Maz Kanata) with IGN.
→ io9 lists “new” things learned from The Force Awakens extras.
→ Rebelscum has a picture of a rather impressive display for Tuesday’s Blu-ray display at a Toys R Us Walmart.
Jordan Maison at Cinelinx says he’s heard that the next season of Star Wars Rebels will be the show’s last., and that it will be succeeded by a new cartoon. This does make a certain amount of sense, and cartoons do tend to have short lifespans.
There have been similar rumors in the past, saying the next cartoon may be set in the sequel era. Personally I find that unlikely until (at least) after Episode VIII, but it’s certainly not impossible.
This is just me speculating, but there’s also the possibility of a new series that takes some of the Rebels characters forward in a sort of rebranding, thus a ‘new’ show. Maybe Rebels becomes Rebellion?
In any case, stay tuned. We already know (officially) that Rogue One is going to come into play, and that certainly could play a role in the series endgame. I also expect, if this turns out to be true, we’ll heard sooner rather than later.
For the record, here’s what Pablo has to say. (He also apparently flat-out called it BS at one point.)
The end of March is a successful week for #WearStarWarsEveryDay, and we are one-quarter of the way through 2016! We had two one-time donations this week (Anonymous & Chris) and two people answered my call for per-day pledges (Maliha & Anonymous) so we are up to $4.15 per day! Plus, this week most of the clothes I wore were lent or donated by three people: Patty, PG, and Brian. Thank you so much for this boost at the end of the quarter! This update for Week 13 covers March 25 to March 31 of my wearathon, and an update on fundraising for Collateral Repair Project, a non-profit organization that provides emergency assistance, education, and community support to urban refugees.
One hell of a pilot! Donate and you could win a copy of the subscriber-exclusive version of Star Wars Insider #164, with Poe Dameron on the cover. An anonymous friend has offered this magazine to one lucky random person who donates to the GoFundMe from April 1 to April 15. So make a donation today!
I’m also still looking to increase the per-day total pledge. With your help, it has risen to $4.15/day but I’d still like to get it up to $5. So help me out, and make a per-day pledge! If you can spare a dime each day or a quarter each day or even more, I would really appreciate it, and I bet Collateral Repair Project and the refugees they provide assistance to would also appreciate it. And if you sign up for a pledge before April 15, I will let you start your donation at April 1, instead of going all the way back to January 1, when I started this effort. So please, please, please, help Collateral Repair Project out! If I continue to the end of the year, a dime a day for the last 9 months will only be $27.70.
Get more info on what Wear Star Wars Every Day is all about, or make a donation or a per-day pledge!
I have returned, once again, to guide you with my wisdom. Yes, your fearless captain, Hondo Ohnaka, is back to tell you who to pick in the starwars.com ‘This Is Madness’ character tournament in the penulti… pe… second to last round. This round will decide which light side character and which dark side character will face off to see who the champion is.
On both sides, we have a bunch of those laser-sword wielding Jedi and Sith. For the light side, it’s Luke Skywalker against Rey. And right now, Luke has the lead against Rey. Both grew up on the Outer Rim without their parents, only to be shown a larger galaxy by a mentor who was killed by a Sith in a mask, and then started to learn about their Jedi skills. Also, both are good pilots. But I think I will pick Rey, because she had a tougher lot – Luke had his uncle and aunt and got to live on a farm. Rey had no one and lived in a crashed walker. That can’t be good for your back. Plus she can fly the Falcon, which I hear is a pretty good ship. Not as good as one of my ships, but perhaps close. So Rey.
On the dark side, there’s Darth Vader and his grandson Kylo Ren. And Vader has a big lead right now. So I’m going to go with that. I think Kylo will probably get mad though, and smash up some stuff. Or punch his side to get him pumped up to smash some stuff. But Vader – I hear he just fought off his apprentice, Ahsoka Tano, and she is a serious Jedi. or serious former Jedi. And my friend. So I don’t like Vader at all, but I do respect him from a distance. Vader.
And for the finals. I’m going to assume that Darth Vader wins the dark side. If he goes against Luke Skywalker, I say vote Luke, because as you know, Luke beat his father at Endor, and that counts. If he goes against Rey, I say vote Rey, because I don’t want Vader to win. Yes, just vote for the light side, since they are more likely to not put me out of business.
April Fools was not particularly fruitful for Star Wars fans this year, but there were a few highlights. The champion’s crown goes to Mark Hamill, who led fans on about an Episode VIII “plot point” in his quest for a “#HAMILLION followers.” Whatever, it was dad joke adorable. See the collected tweets.
Also on Twitter, Charles de Lauzirika faked up a shockingly on-brand cover for a big J.W. Rinzler The Making of the Star Wars Holiday Special, which we all almost wish was real.
Then there’s Tor.com, which played it almost straight with a nice Han Solo obituary.
I can’t say I’m particularly enthralled with it, but IGN got a lot of play for their fanboy-baiting trailer for Star Wars: Fury of Maul.
And yes, Club Hux was indeed a joke. (It started on Twitter, and was so well-received I took it to Tumblr and Facebook as well. Sorry about anyone who saw it on all three.) So yes, we will remain Club Jade, and the fic archive won’t be reopening for Kylux. Anyone who fell for it can expect a visit from Millicent.
It’s been almost 21 years of Club Jade, but all things must pass. In accordance with Star Wars canon, Club Jade is being renamed after a more worthy ginger. Behold Club Hux!
With The Force Awakens releasing on digital tonight, we got a couple of new things today, not least of all two new still, above. (via.)
USA Today has an interview with and new video clip featuring John Boyega. He talks about training for the lightsaber fight on Starkiller Base and the hardest secret to keep. (Bonus: Sleeveless Adam Driver.)
At Fandango, Matthew Wood on the effect they were going for with the voice modulation on Kylo Rens helmet.
Expect plenty more to come, as the Blu-ray is out Tuesday the 5th. The Star Wars Facebook page is planning a live Q&A with Daisy Ridley for Monday, and you can submit questions now.
Announced this morning via an exclusive with Nerdist is a new novel, Ahsoka, from Disney Lucasfilm Press. Written by E.K. Johnston, the novel will follow Ahsoka Tano after the events of Order 66. Here’s how they describe it:
Ahsoka Tano, fan favorite character from Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels, will be the star of her own young adult novel from Disney Lucasfilm Press this October 11, 2016! Fans have long wondered what happened to Ahsoka after she left the Jedi Order near the end of the Clone Wars, and before she re-appeared as the mysterious Rebel operative Fulcrum in Rebels. Finally, her story will begin to be told. Following her experiences with the Jedi and the devastation of Order 66, Ahsoka is unsure she can be part of a larger whole ever again. But her desire to fight the evils of the Empire and protect those who need it will lead her right to Bail Organa, and the Rebel Alliance….
Ahsoka will be out on October 11, 2016.
The usual suspects discuss the season-ending ‘Twilight of the Apprentice’ in a super-sized Rebels Recon.
There’s more questions answered with Dave Filoni over at io9, IGN and /Film. Plus, don’t miss the Q&A that James taped!
Her Universe has a new Ahsoka tee, featuring art by Dave Filoni.
io9 also learned that S3 will feature a lot more Sabine.