Star Wars with occasional sarcasm
Next Thursday, July 11, Ashley Eckstein of Her Universe and The Clone Wars will join the folks at Star Wars Books for another chat.
Not sure what will come up this time, but last time she revealed that more EU designs are in the pipeline for Her Universe.
Fan art. Lucasfilm may not have revealed what (most) of the Rebels character design will look like yet, ENGELHA5T on DeviantArt has created several OT-era characters in the style of The Clone Wars. Of particular interest to us would be Mara Jade, but there’s also Han and Chewie, Thrawn and Pellaeon, a teen Leia and even a Luke, may of them with cardbacks as well. You can check out his full gallery, but be warned it does contain some more adult works, though they do seem to be hidden if you’re not logged in to DA.
Del Rey. We actually heard about it way back at Celebration, but now Del Rey has officially announced their Star Wars Action Team. It’s not quite up and running yet, but the general gist is that you “spread the word” and get points. Please don’t break down any doors. On that note, here’s some of the swag they’ll have at SDCC.
Comics. Newsarama has a first look at the next arc of Dark Times, A Spark Remains.
The blogside. At the official blog, Dan Brooks praises Matthew Stover’s Revenge of the Sith adaptation, while Jennifer Heddle talks about why Leia is awesome.
Reviews. Over at Big Shiny Robot, James reads Darth Vader and the Ninth Assassin #3,The Clone Wars: The Smuggler’s Code and Legacy #4, where Ania Solo learns sometimes shooting first isn’t the best solution.
After getting married last weekend at Skywalker Ranch, George Lucas and Mellody Hobson headed to her hometown of Chicago to celebrate.
Prince performed at the party on at lakeside Promontory Point, and the attendees included Mark Hamill, Robin Williams, singer Ne-Yo (who was in Red Tails,) Today’s Al Roker and Mayor Rahm Emanuel.
UPDATE: Hobson stopped by CBS This Morning Monday and talked a little about the wedding and reception.
Buzzfeed dug up in this clip from a 1986 TV special to promote Star Tours, A Vacation In Space. As for the tired ‘selling out’ commentary that always comes with this sort of thing, I have only one thing to say about that:
Dear everyone claiming that #StarWars is selling out: This is the franchise that INVENTED selling out. It laughs at your rage.
— Dunc (@clubjade) October 31, 2012
This new Pacific Rim trailer focuses a bit more on the people and internal tech than the giant robot/monster fighting. The Mary Sue points to an interesting quote from Legendary Entertainment’s Jon Jashni:
Jashni maintains that the “fanboy psychographic” isn’t limited to men anymore, and that character helps sell a movie to all audience segments. “There’s an emotional aspect to this movie, and there’s a bombastic aspect,” he says. “Some women will respond to the emotion inherent in the movie, some will respond to the spectacle. Same is true for men and adults. ”
Well, at least someone gets it.
Pretty slim pickings this week, but head below the cut for another Percy Jackson: Sea Of Monsters trailer. Continue reading “Trailer park: Pacific Rim, Percy Jackson”
With summer con season now formally ramping up, it’s as good a time as any to remind folks that harassment is not okay – and what to do about it.
Over at Scalzi’s Whatever today, writer Elise Matthesen shares how she reported her sexual harasser at recent convention. It’s a fantastic post with great advice about making sure things are formally on the record – the perpetrator in her case is not a first-time offender.
Inspired by Matthesen, Maria Dahvana Headley shares some of her own tales of being harassed at genre conventions. A former pirate negotiator, she has this chilling statement: “The pirates in the maritime industry were generally a great deal more polite than the creeps in the SFF world. They stuck to terms.”
It’s been a while since we’ve addressed this topic, and sorry to be a downer as we approach the weekend, but this is important stuff for everyone to know.
A bekilted Ewan McGregor was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire by Prince Charles today. He was appointed for services to drama and charity.
The Orlando Business Journal’s Richard Bilbao has a source who told him the the Star Wars expansions being planned will “dwarf any other Disney-related expansion in its recent history.” The investment may be “north of $200 million.” And it may all open up at once, instead of in drips and drabs, and even extend beyond Hollywood Studios.
No, it’s still not confirmed that Disney will be expanding their Star Wars offerings, but: Duh.
If this is the case, it seems pretty likely that what we’ve heard so far may only be the first of many Star Tours-adjacent expansions and additions.
Harrison Ford infamously made his San Diego Comic Con debut for Cowboys and Aliens back in 2010… And he’ll be returning this year to promote Ender’s Game.
I wouldn’t necessarily count on any Episode VII announcements regarding Ford and the other all-but-confirmed returning actors, as they may still be negotiating and we’ve heard nothing about any Star Wars panels yet… Plus Celebration Europe is the very next week, so Lucasfilm may chose to take advantage of the post-SDCC lull and reveal any big news in Germany instead.
Lucasfilm doesn’t show up in the SDCC exhibitor list, but the so-called Del Rey/Lucasbooks booth (#2913) looks a little too big to be just a single licensee on the map… Where it shows a giant Lucasfilm logo. Data entry mixup? In any case, hopefully they leave the snakes at home this year.
Fans at Celebration Europe will have the chance to see a special directors cut of the Darth Maul arc from season five of The Clone Wars, Reed annouced today. There’ll be Friday and Saturday screenings of the recut arc, which features the episodes “Revival,” “Eminence,” “Shades of Reason,” and “The Lawless.”
There will also be a ‘Secrets of Star Wars: The Clone Wars‘ panel with Dave Filoni held Friday on Pablo Hidalgo’s Behind-The-Scenes Stage.