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Celebration Vegas? Reed asks Celebration VI attendees about other cities

If you attended Celebration VI, check your inbox: Reed has sent out a survey about the con! Most of it is fairly standard postgame stuff, but one thing that caught my eye was a list of city options which they ask you to rate. In addition to Orlando, they listed Las Vegas, Kansas City, Anaheim, Dallas, Cleveland and my beloved Indianapolis.

Now, the rumor mill has us back in Orlando in 2014, and I’m not inclined to disbelieve that at the moment, but that is an interesting spread of options. (Cleveland?!?) I have to wonder what Anaheim’s convention center is like, as that brings many of the same advantages (ahem, Disney-driven tourism trap) as Orlando, with better weather.

Thoughts?

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J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek 2 is now Star Trek Into Darkness

The sequel to J. J. Abrams’ 2009 Star Trek now has an officially announced title: Star Trek Into Darkness. Shouldn’t there be a colon or something there?

The title popped up as a rumor before the weekend, but now Paramount has confirmed it. First Showing is willing to give the lack of a punctuation mark the benefit of the doubt, while Hollywood.com examines the trend of “dark” movie titles recently.

Star Trek Into Darkness is scheduled to come out on May 17, 2013, adding Benedict Cumberbatch to the cast as a villain. Still no word if Lens Flare gets a higher billing than the Sherlock star.

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Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark debuts in IMAX, and more

Raiders of the Lost Ark - IMAX posterThe IMAX version of Raiders of the Lost Ark opened in theaters this past weekend, grossing about $1.73 million over the three days. Playing in 267 IMAX theaters nationwide, the first Indiana Jones film will continue to run until this Thursday as part of the hype for the upcoming release of the entire Indy film series in a Blu-ray box set on September 18. Can’t make it to an IMAX screening? AMC theaters will be hosting marathon screenings of all four films on Saturday, September 15.

Also helping to herald the Blu-ray release:

With the Blu-ray box set, Indiana Jones: The Complete Adventures, coming out next week, you might wonder if there’s a special collector’s edition of the set? And there is…. not in the US. Amazon UK has a Limited Collector’s Edition, which comes with the five disc Blu-ray box set and a huge pile of goodies, including a 144-page replica of the Grail Diary from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, a film cell, other replica prop items. Meanwhile, versions of the set in steelbook collector cases will be available in Germany and France, with the German version also having an optional Zippo lighter.

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46 years of boldly going: Happy Birthday, Star Trek!

Star Trek is 46 today: ‘The Man Trap,’ debuted September 8, 1966 on NBC. We here at CJ have a lot of love for Trek – in fact, being raised by casual sci-fi fans, I hazard to say it was more a part of my childhood than Star Wars was, by virtue of actually being on TV.

Google celebrated the series by debuting an interactive Google Doodle yesterday. Tor.com has an interesting look back at turning points in the franchise’s history, while Hero Complex talks to Michael Dorn about The Next Generation, which turns 25 this month. And, from earlier in the week, io9 has 8 ways judges have cited Trek from the bench.

Looking forward, Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto have been dropping hints about the franchise’s next installment, the still-untitled (or is it?) sequel to 2009’s Star Trek.

What’s your favorite Trek memory or moment? I remain partial to the one with the whales, myself.

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Star Wars and Cupcake Wars collide this Sunday!

“How you get so big eating food of this kind?”

Food Network’s Cupcake Wars goes Star Wars this Sunday, with Ashley Eckstein as a guest judge. Ashley blogs about her experience as a judge, and urges those who were at the VIP party to keep mum about the winners. Cupcake Wars‘ Star Wars episode airs on Sunday, Sep 9, 2012 at 8:00 PM ET/PT on Food Network. (More broadcast times found here.)

Those who attended the VIP party at Celebration VI (or followed our coverage and on Twitter) know that I am a big fan of cupcakes. Mmmm…. cupcakes. I’ll go wipe the icing from my fingers and set my DVR.

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Darth Maul Returns to Target-exclusive DVD in Director’s Cut of The Clone Wars

Need to catch up on Star Wars: The Clone Wars before the start of season five? Catch the last four episodes of season four in a Target-exclusive Director’s Cut DVD set, Star Wars: The Clone Wars – Darth Maul Returns coming out on Tuesday, September 11. This Director’s Cut version is currently $10 online and has been turned into a single eighty-eight minute long feature from the story arc that culminated in the return of Darth Maul: ‘Massacre’ / ‘Bounty’ / ‘Brothers’ / ‘Revenge’. The first two parts focus more on Asajj Ventress, while the last two involve Savage Opress teaming up with his long-lost half-brother, err.. all brother, half-man: Darth Maul.

Can’t settle for just the episodes of Darth Maul Returns? Don’t worry, the DVD and Blu-ray box sets for the complete season four of The Clone Wars (all 22 episodes) will be released on October 23. This isn’t the first time that The Clone Wars has given us some story arc DVDs before the complete season was released in a box set. Before season one came out on DVD, there were two 4-episode DVD products from the first season in 2009:

  • A Galaxy Divided contained the first four episodes: ‘Ambush’ and the three-part ‘Malevolence’ arc
  • Clone Commandos contained the clone-centric stories of ‘Rookies’ and the three-part Ryloth arc

Thanks to William at EUCantina for the video.

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UPDATED: Miami TV station producer apologizes for mean-spirited Celebration gallery

Screenshot taken from cached version: See more screenshots.

A Local 10 producer, only identified as such by tweet, apologizes:

The slideshow was by no means an attempt to belittle or embarrass anyone. The intent was for it to be a fun and lighthearted look inside my experience at the Star Wars Celebration VI and the people who devote a great deal of their lives to the films we all love. Obviously, I missed the mark.

Well, I said the apology would have to be sincere… Do you think this is enough?

UPDATE: The 501st also got a direct apology.

Original post and background on the situation below the cut.

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