Star Wars vs. Star Trek, the state-by-state analysis. This is a bit silly, as these sorts of things always tend to be, but whatever.
Disney CFO: Star Wars franchise to follow in Marvel’s footsteps
Disney CFO Jay Rasulo said today that the Star Wars franchise will be “mirroring” Marvel by broadening the appeal to women and families. Gotta wonder: Has anyone told merchandising that yet?
In other things floating around…
→ Adam Driver tells the Wall Street Journal that Episode VII is “very human” and “not taking a back seat” to the spectacle.
→ How Simon Pegg’s daughter became the girl who “saved Star Wars.”
→ Daisy Ridley is one of Empire’s 20 stars of the future.
Rumor: Is this Daisy Ridley’s costume?
Is this Daisy Ridley’s costume? Want an (alleged) peek at something new? Making Star Wars’ Jason Ward got a look at the concept art for Ridley’s costume, which he’s recreated.
Falcon, X-wing spotted on location?
A simulations engineer spotted what looks to be part of the Millennium Falcon and a ‘disguised’ X-wing while flying over a former Royal Air Force station in Berkshire. (The BBC spoke to the photographer, Matthew Myatt.) This may be where that earlier report of sod comes in… (via)
It looks like the X-wing may be parked in front of what used to be a missile silo. Scroll down to the second set of pictures on the Greenham Common page at bunkertours.co.uk to see something that looks likely, as well as some more information on the site.
UPDATE: And it seems there’s more than one X-wing.
I spy: J.J. Abrams hinting from the Episode VII set again
A new hint from J.J… Or an Apple advertisement? In any case, something is very shiny. Could this be the new ‘planet’ Boyega was hinting at yesterday? (Or is that – bwah – turf. Imperial golf course?)
Well, at least he spared us puns.
John Boyega: Episode VII is filming a new planet today
John Boyega: Episode VII is filming a new planet today at Pinewood. That’s it. That’s all we know. Man, it’s slow.
Qui-Gon Jinn not likely to dispense advice from beyond the grave anytime soon
Liam Neeson hasn’t been asked to return as Qui-Gon Jinn. How utterly shocking.
The first image of Padme and Anakin… From 1993?
Here’s a little oddity from the past: Brian Ashmore’s painting of Anakin Skywalker, his wife and baby Luke from 1993. Originally painted for Topps’ Star Wars Galaxy 2 card set, it may very well be the earliest depiction of the couple, for all it was pulled from the set by George Lucas himself. Here’s what Ashmore himself had to say about it back in 2008:
There are a couple things that I find interesting about the image. First, my depiction of Padme (I had no idea of her name at the time…this was 6 years before Episode 1) looks a bit like Natalie Portman. Second, Anakin’s shadow on the wall is in the shape of Darth Vader. I’ve always wondered if this image might have influenced Lucas even just a little tiny bit in his casting of Natalie Portman or even the decision to have little Anakin’s shadow be in the shape of Darth Vader in an early Episode 1 promo poster. Probably not, but I can dream. Can’t I?
I don’t know about the casting choice – Iain McCaig seems to be the culprit there – but the shadow? Stranger things have happened… In any case, the painting eventually saw the light as ‘The Skywalker Flame’ in the Star Wars Galaxy 5 set.
On that note, the Skywalker family is our current Tumblr theme – queued through Friday and including a reblog of the original post that reminded me of this.
Episode VII not likely to return to Skellig Michael
Contrary to what Latino Review reported last week, it seems that Episode VII is unlikely to return to Skellig Michael to shoot further scenes, per the Irish Examiner. “No filming has been scheduled for Skellig Michael in the coming months,” they were told by Louise Ryan of the Irish Film Board. (via)
I seem to recall there was some scuttlebut floating about during the first shoot that it was originally scheduled for the fall, and moved up due to Harrison Ford’s injury, so perhaps that’s where the second date comes in.
Out this week: A New Dawn
Chances are you don’t need this reminder, given that Del Rey Fancorps members woke up at least 8 emails in their inbox about the release of A New Dawn. It is, of course, the first of the new canon novels, a prequel to Rebels and our first new Star Wars novel since Honor Among Thieves back in March.
In addition the emails, there are the reviews. We have James’, of course, but you can also catch opinions from the usual suspects: Tosche Station (who also did a Go/No-Go) Jedi News (twice,) EU Cantina, Roqoo Depot, Lightsaber Rattling and Making Star Wars (twice.)
We’re also just about a month away from the official premiere of Rebels itself, on October 3rd. The next novel, James Luceno’s Tarkin, is due out on November 4.