The European Commission, the European Union’s antitrust regulator, has approved Disney’s $4.05 billon deal to purchase Lucasfilm Ltd. from George Lucas.
The U.S. feds OK’d the deal earlier this month.
Discussion: Your favorite Star Wars reads of 2012?
No, the year isn’t over yet, but for the purposes of books, everything has been out for a while. More or less.
So what was the best Star Wars thing you read this year? Book, comic, or other, it doesn’t matter, as long as you read it.
If you need a refresher, Wookieepedia has a massive list of everything released this year, but your answer doesn’t have to go by that, just something you read this year… No matter when it was originally released.
Hell, if the best thing you read was a fanfic, go for it… Just be sure to include a link, and any warnings if they apply.
Fantasy Flight releases Star Wars: The Card Game
After more than a year of tweaking, Fantasy Flight Games has finally released Star Wars: The Card Game. First announced and demoed at Gencon 2011 as a cooperative game, it has apparently been revamped to be a competitive two-player game, where players use strategy to battle for galactic supremacy in the original trilogy era.
Unlike the previous constructed deck Star Wars card games (such as from Decipher, Wizards of the Coast, and WizKids) that were sold in packs, this game comes as a single box set, and from the box contents, it seems that there’s a lot of tokens for this Living Card Game.
But is it any good? Designer Nate French does have a good track record – three of his other Living Card Games are in the top 20 in the Customizable category on BoardGameGeek, while Fantasy Flight has a few other titles in the top twenty (including their Star Wars: X-Wing Miniatures Game).
While the main set (retails for $40) may be coming out a little late for the holiday season, Fantasy Flight does have its eye on future expansion, with two Hoth-themed supplemental sets due in early 2013. Meanwhile, check out the rules of the game online or listen to a fan-produced podcast.
EUbits: Timothy Zahn on tour for Scoundrels
Scoundrels. Timothy Zahn is going on tour! West coast only, alas. For the rest of us, there’s a lengthy new interview on Hollywood.com.
The blogside. Bria over at Tosche Station has been doing a massive re-read of the Expanded Universe – chronologically! She made it to the Revenge of the Sith novelization yesterday and had many feels, as the kids on Tumblr say.
Interviews. Fandom rockstar Pablo Hidalgo talked to EUCantina, while Dark Horse’s Randy Stradley is over at Fangirl.
Reviews. James is back with looks at Purge: The Tyrant’s Fist #1, Lost Tribe of the Sith: Spiral #5 and Agent of the Empire: Hard Targets #3.
Report: Marvel to replace Dark Horse as Star Wars comic publisher in 2014?
Blue Sky Disney reports that it’s all but certain that Disney won’t be renewing Dark Horse’s contract to publish Star Wars comics, and that the Star Wars comics will return to their original home: Fellow Disney brand Marvel. Honor Hunter writes:
The Suits in the know have determined that no new contracts will be given to Dark Horse after the current ones expire. So all new projects after 2013 will be handled internally by Marvel.
A blog report is anything but confirmation, but there’s absolutely nothing surprising about this – it was predicted by most of us the very first day of the Disney sale.
Comment from Dark Horse? Randy Stradley posted “don’t believe everything you read on the Internet” on their boards today.
Bechko and Hardman talk up Ania Solo, new Legacy
In an interview with CBR, new Legacy writers Corinna Bechko and Gabriel Hardman reveal the most information we’ve had about the comic’s revival yet.
It’s business as usual for how exactly she’s related to Han and Leia – it’ll be “a little bit of a mystery and we’re not going to be paying off anytime soon,” Hardman says. He does reveal that she’s not royalty, though:
A lot of the “Legacy” era has been about these larger-than-life Emperors and royalty — we’re taking this down to much more of a ground level. Ania Solo is somebody that is not a part of that world, and she doesn’t have a personal connection to it. She may have even turned her back on it.
“She’s living in a backwater, Outer Rim system. She runs a junkyard and she doesn’t have that many prospects, and that’s where we start things. Our story takes off there,” Bechko adds. And here’s one that may make some folks happy: “She’s not overly Force-sensitive.”
There’s more, of course, including who the two other characters on the cover are and what drew them to the comic.
Rumor control: Episode VII returning to Yavin 4? Probably not
A recent Reuters story on Guatemala, their Mayan temples, and Star Wars contains this paragraph:
Yavin 4 and the rebel base return to the Star Wars plot in the forthcoming Episode VII, announced in October by the Walt Disney Co, in which Skywalker comes back to the planet to build a Jedi Knight academy. However, fans said that Disney will likely film those scenes in a studio rather than return to Tikal.
First of all, as Big Shiny Robot’s Bryan Young points out, there’s absolutely no source for this. Yes, Yavin 4 does reappear as the site of the Jedi Academy in the Expanded Universe – but that certainly doesn’t mean it’ll show up in the movies.
But unlike Bryan, I don’t think I would call this anything as as sinister as “rumour-mongering.” Yes, I’m cynical about the EU and doubtful that it will play a large role in the new movies, but if I had to bet, I would say this is probably just the result of basic fan enthusiasm (“I know some EU!”) paired with ignorance. After all, we can’t expect everyone is going to be up on the half-dozen different levels of “canon” and all that jazz.
The EU’s first Jedi Academy is eventually destroyed in the New Jedi Order series, and at the end of the most recent series, Legacy of the Force, the Academy is moving to it’s third – third! – location. So even if they do follow the books, Yavin 4? Probably not.
Could they bring it back anyway? Of course. But I wouldn’t count on it. And I certainly wouldn’t give this report much weight.
UPDATE: Eric at TFN reached out to the article’s writer, Michael McDonald, who confirmed that he did not receive any inside information from Lucasfilm.
Will Episode VII take Star Wars back to England?
A little tidbit came in to me today: It looks like there are some people being called to work on Episode VII early next year… In England, where shooting will start “in April.” (Which fits with what Kathleen Kennedy said last week.)
The original trilogy was primarily filmed at Elstree Studios , while The Phantom Menace (as well as many of the Harry Potter films) were filmed at Warner Bros.’ Leavesden Studios. Fox Studios in Sydney, Australia was the main filming location used for the last two prequels, although some pickup shots were done at Elstree.
Dude, where’s my dianoga? Best #StarWars and #SWEU tweets for Dec 10-16
Last week, Twitter got even more in a holiday mood with Dave Filoni’s grumpy Santa, annual viewings of the Holiday Special and the rest. Continue reading “Dude, where’s my dianoga? Best #StarWars and #SWEU tweets for Dec 10-16”
UChicago’s Indiana Jones package mystery solved!
Last week, I reported on a mysterious package that ended up at the University of Chicago for Indiana Jones – it turns out that the mystery of the Lost Ark’s journal has been solved! UChicago’s Admissions Tumblr reports that the package was indeed a replica prop from eBay being sent from Guam to Italy, when it fell out of its packaging in Hawaii – and since the interior “package” appeared to be legitimate with an address, it made its way to the university.
The University has been allowed to keep the replica prop, while the journal’s maker will create a replacement for the original intended recipient. Most likely, the postal service opened up the package because it was leaving a red line around the globe as it traveled.