Buzzfeed has a new clip from ‘The Secrets of The Force Awakens,’ the behind-the-scenes documentary on the upcoming Blu-Ray. This clip features a bit about casting Rey, including Daisy Ridley’s audition.
This Is Madness: Hondo picks the rest of Round Two
Hello once again! Hondo Ohnaka, Scourge of the Spacelanes, is back, and I have had a most profitable weekend. But you are not here to listen to me talk about it. You want me to give you orders for starwars.com’s ‘This Is Madness’ character tournament instead. But I will tell you about my weekend anyway, before I give you the picks.
Apparently, there was some festival with eggs and hoojibs, and to make a long story short, I ended up with a lot of confectionaries, and not that many unhappy younglings. Very successful weekend. Onto ‘This Is Madness’:
Monday: Light Side: Yoda against Ahsoka Tano. As you know, I am not a fan of most Jedi. And Yoda seems to be most Jedi. And he beat Finn. Ahsoka, on the other hand, she was smart enough to leave the Jedi Order. Plus, I consider her a friend. Or at least an ally I can trust. She did say she didn’t want to hurt me. So pick Ahsoka Tano!
On the dark side, we have Kylo Ren vs. Count Dooku. I did not want either of them to advance, yet here they are. Kylo Ren appears not to have any of the social graces that Dooku has. Even though he became my enemy after I captured him – it was only business, I tell you, Dooku, at least was polite. Perhaps less welcome once his Grievous and droid armies had captured my headquarters, but we lived to take it back, or at least wait until they left. Kylo Ren – he’s an angry fellow. Not good for business. Ha! Not good to deal with, at all! So Dooku. Maybe if I help him win, he’ll end his grudge against me.
Tuesday: Let’s talk about the dark side first: Boba Fett against Grievous. I do not like General Grievous. I think you know why. Boba Fett, though, he was a pretty good kid, for a bounty hunter. And I hear he became a good bounty hunter when he grew up. But then he fell into the Sarlacc Pit. But still better than that cyborg claw guy. So Boba Fett.
Light side: pick between Rey and Leia. Rey is a scavenger who survived in a hot wasteland alone, can fly anything, and might be a Jedi. Leia is a princess who survived her home planet blowing up, can lead anything, and might be a Jedi. This is a tough call. Both of them are worthy light side heroes. But I think I will pick Rey. I hear she’s really popular at the conventions these days. Rey, even though she beat my friend Ezra.
Star Wars out this week: Aftermath PB, Darth Vader #18
Out in paperback on Tuesday is Aftermath by Chuck Wendig, the first of the new canon novels to take place after Return of the Jedi. I gave it a B+ back when it first came out, and the sequel is out in July.
On Wednesday, comic fans will be able to get their hands on Darth Vader #18.
And Friday, of course, brings The Force Awakens in digital, with the Blu-Ray due out next Tuesday.
Unboxing Star Wars: Tales from a GFFA: Aliens Vol 1 & Rebels: ‘The Forgotten Droid’ & ‘The Mystery of Chopper Base’
We’ve got a new episode of Unboxing Star Wars! Yowie, Baby Jawa and I review the Star Wars Rebels episodes ‘The Forgotten Droid’ and ‘The Mystery of Chopper Base’ and then I give my take on: The Force Awakens: Tales from a Galaxy Far, Far Away: Aliens Volume I by Landry Q. Walker, from Disney-Lucasfilm Press. Meanwhile, Baby Jawa does baby things and we also look at some R2-D2 socks, a Millennium Falcon pocket watch from Japan, and the really nifty Vote Leia posters promoting the upcoming Claudia Gray novel, Bloodline.
Quick reviews
→ The Force Awakens: Tales from a Galaxy Far, Far Away: Aliens Volume I (release date: April 5, 2016) – Thumbs up! Six short stories about some minor TFA characters give us a variety of genres, all from one author, and all very enjoyable! Fun stuff!
→ ‘The Forgotten Droid’ – Loved it! Chopper has his own adventure and does the impossible: makes a friend. Great work by Stephen Stanton as AP-5!
→ ‘The Mystery of Chopper Base’ – Decent. We get some bug hunting action with the spiders, and some tension as the Ghost crew prepares to bid farewell to Kanan and Ezra.
Get more info on Wear Star Wars Every Day or make a donation at GoFundMe or sign up to make a per-day pledge.
Note: Disney-Lucasfilm Press provided a copy of The Force Awakens: Tales from a Galaxy Far, Far Away: Aliens Volume I for review.
Wear Star Wars Every Day: Week 12 & a Plea!
#WearStarWarsEveryDay completes Week 12! I get a bit goofy with another week full of shirts, all lent again by Brian! This update covers March 18 to March 24 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.
Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi, you’re my only hope! I would really love your help! Right now, the total of per-day pledges is a sad $3.95/per day. That seems like a silly number. It would be really nice to have a nice round dollar amount, like $4 or even $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 now, 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!
Rebels to explore the dark side in ‘Twilight of the Apprentice’
The second season of Rebels wraps up next Wednesday with the one-hour ‘Twilight of the Apprentice,’ bringing Darth Maul in, Darth Vader back, and all sorts of dark side shenanigans.
The show airs March 30 at 9:00 p.m. on Disney XD.
Today in VIII: Rumor check in
Making Star Wars has a description of a costume for Poe Dameron – and, more interestingly, they double down on the Laura Dern rumor from last week.
→ MSW also has a (possible) detail on what Pinewood interiors the Dubrovnik location shoot may connect to – something we haven’t seen in a Star Wars film before.
→ Meanwhile, work continues in Ceann Sibeal.
Video: The Force Awakens deleted scenes trailer
StarWars.com previews the deleted scenes from The Force Awakens Blu-ray.
Rebels’ ‘Old Master’ revealed ahead of next week’s finale
Entertainment Weekly has a clip from next week’s Rebels finale, unmasking the ‘Old Master’ we first saw in the trailer for the second half of S2 as Darth Maul. They also chat with Dave Filoni and Sam Witwer about bringing back (again) the villain, Malachor and Sith temples.
This Is Madness: Hondo Looks at Round 2
Good day! It’s your fantastic captain, Hondo Ohnaka, and now it is time to move onto phase two of our plan. In the “This Is Madness” character picking tournament on starwars.com, all those guys and ladies and droids and whatever that won in the first round have now moved onto face other guys and ladies and such who also won in the first round. So, let’s look at round two: Sixteen Strikes Back.
Thursday: Light: Obi-Wan Kenobi versus R2-D2. As you know, I don’t care much for the Jedi, but Kenobi is an all right guy. He at least doesn’t hold a grudge. R2-D2, I’ve heard, can hold a grudge, and he’s just a waddling bottle opener. But maybe he knows a lot of secrets, that could be worth money. Still, I choose Kenobi: He’s smart enough to never own a droid. Or at least claim to not remember owning one. On the Dark Side, Darth Vader against Jabba the Hutt. Jabba is a fair business-slug, but I would never pick him for anything, except maybe if I needed someone sat on. Or licking envelopes. Those are probably two things Jabba can do better than Vader. Those Sith lords are certainly more frightening, but the Empire put a crimp into my lifestyle, and I do not like that. But I hear Vader likes to choke his opponents while Jabba the Hutt got choked, so picking Vader seems the most profitable.
Friday: Going into weekend voting we have Emperor Palpatine vs Maul and Luke Skywalker vs Han Solo. And Batman vs Superman. While I don’t think much of politicians and old men, I do not like Maul at all. And I choose to stay alive by staying on his good side. or at least off of his list of targets. So I will pick Maul, although I’m pretty sure someone is pulling his strings. But I doubt it’s that old Emperor guy. So that Sith tattoo laser-sword monster. For the light side, we have a goody-Jedi and a smuggler. And what does that Jedi do when things get ugly? He runs away. I would never do that. Unless it was to stay alive. What does Solo do when the galaxy turns against him? He smuggles nasty rathtars! I like his spirit. Han Solo!