Star Wars with occasional sarcasm
Fellow fansite EUCantina launched their Summer for Children’s Literacy yesterday. The program, which runs through September 12th, is focused on raising awareness of the issue, and money for Reading Is Fundamental, a charity that Club Jade has long supported.
The site will be hosting several contests, with prizes donated by Del Rey, and is also selling t-shirts featuring the program’s logo. Head over to EUC to donate and get more details on what’s to come.
Well, lo and behold, Nickelodeon has ordered more Legend of Korra! The 26 episodes, which Entertainment Weekly is calling a second season, are in addition to the 14 episodes (Book 2, presumably?) that will air early next year.
Book 1, which concluded last month, averaged 3.8 million viewers an episode, occasionally beating such fare as Game of Thrones.
UPDATE: Co-creator Bryan Konietzko explains seasons and books.
So yesterday was Day 4 of Course of the Force, the lightsaber relay from Santa Monica to Comic-Con in San Diego to raise money for Make-A-Wish Foundation, and I was super excited to be able to participate in this fantastic experience as it came through San Diego. When they put out a call for local Star Wars fans to get involved, Caitlin and I signed up and went out on Tuesday morning for our afternoon segments. I was joined by all sorts of great fans, some of which are highlighted in my video above. This was my chance for an Olympic geek dream!
Casual cosplaying is about to get a whole lot easier – at least if you want to dress up as a Jedi. Museum Replicas is launching the “Become Your Own Jedi” costume line at SDCC today.
For the first time, fans can design and create their own complete and totally unique Jedi ensemble, utilizing replica costume pieces from the Star Wars films. All of the costume pieces in this collection were designed directly from the screen-used clothing, housed at the Lucasfilm Archives. Months of study and research have gone into making these costumes as close to the on-screen counterparts.
There’ll also be an “online Jedi Interactive Design Lab” to expediite the process for curious would-ve Jedi. The clothing can be purchased at MuseumReplicas.com.
SDCC kicks off tonight with Preview Night, while those of us at home hang on Twitter and our RSS feeds for tidbits from the floor (and brace for the floods that’ll be unleashed tomorrow.) Until then, here’s what Star Wars fans need to know. (Besides the panel schedule!)
Home base. On the Star Wars Blog, Mary Franklin made her debut and then dropped some hints about what we can expect to see from Lucasfilm at the con. Here’s a hint: Snakes. Here’s a closer look.
UPDATE: Mary has also made her debut on Twitter as, fittingly, @MaryLFL! To find other Star Wars luminaries, check out our Twitter guide.
Pregaming. Course of the Force coverage marches on from San Diego – and we had a few of our own on the course yesterday.
Expanded Universe. We’ve already got the basics on Dark Horse’s Star Wars, so we’re on the edge of our seats for Del Rey’s contribution at the The Future of Star Wars Publishing panel on Friday. In the meantime, check out the Del Rey booth, with a Scoundrels photo opportunity. (That’ll also be at CVI!)
Merchandise. Here’s a handy list of all the Star Wars exclusives and debuts at the con. I hope that Chewy Messenger Bag makes it to CVI! Apparently Kotobukiya’s Jaina Solo statue will be there?
On that note, Bleeding Cool’s Kate Kotler talked to Ashley Eckstein about what we’ll be seeing from Her Universe this week, and details on the new Doctor Who and Star Trek lines. Plus a look at their new Artoo charm!
So last week contained a holiday, which means I spent less time trolling for tweets, which means this week’s roundup is a little thin. Oh well. (Yes, you may have seen this – briefly – yesterday. Many thanks to Storify, who raised it from the dead!)
Continue reading “Binding the universe together: Last week’s best #StarWars and #SWEU tweets”
It’s long been rumored that Lionsgate would follow in the footsteps of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and Twilight: Breaking Dawn, but now it’s official: The adaption of the third Hunger Games book will be two movies, Deadline reports.
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 will debut on November 21, 2014, with The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 on November 20, 2015. The second adaption, Catching Fire, is slated for November 22, 2013 and due to begin filming early next year.
Does Mockingjay need two movies? Well, it’s not a huge book, ala Deathly Hallows, but there is quite a bit going on that could be expanded on… As we saw in The Hunger Games, opening the story up beyond Katniss’ immediate point of view gives a more detailed version of the story, and of all the books, Mockingjay may have the most spaces to fill. So while, yes, it’s an obvious money-grubbing, franchise expanding move, it could work out very well.
In other Hunger Games news, Lionsgate yesterday confirmed the first casting for Catching Fire: Oscar-winner Philip Seymour Hoffman (Capote) will play Plutarch Heavensbee, the new Head Gamemaker. It’s been reported that Jena Malone (Donnie Darko, Sucker Punch) has been offered the role of Johanna Mason.
There’s been a lot of eyerolling and giggling about the fans who started lining up for Thursday’s Twilight panel on Monday – but it was all (mostly) in good fun. But things took a dark turn today. The San Diego Union-Tribune reports that, in a rush to secure her place in line, the woman was crossing Harbor Drive against the light and hit by a SUV.
The Hollywood Reporter identified her as Twitter user @Mad4Hugh, who gives her name as Gisela G. UPDATE: Twilight fandom has set up a fund to help Gisela’s family with funeral expenses.
Comic-Con may very well be amazing – any con can be – but please remember to be safe! Nothing at SDCC, not even your place in line, is worth your life.
Yes, this is actual news. Well, here’s one Star Wars debut due at SDCC: A comic called just Star Wars by “prolific author” Brian Wood. Wood’s name doesn’t ring any bells for me, but you may recognize some of his previous titles: DMZ, Channel Zero, Northlanders and The Massive. And the cover artist should be familiar: Comic legend Alex Ross.
The series represents a refocusing on “the core characters of the Original Trilogy.” (Fan reaction should be interesting, as it seems a lot of the love Dark Horse gets in EU fandom is for not doing that.) Randy Stradley tells io9:
It’s back-to-basics in the sense that we’re going back to the beginning, but Brian Wood is exploring aspects of the characters and their relationships that have, in many ways, been glossed over in the past, or shoved aside in favor of big action set pieces. Don’t get me wrong, this series has plenty of action, but all of it is informed by, or springs out of, the characters’ reactions to events in A New Hope.
Well, I’m intrigued, though I’m not sure of how this will go over. Still, Dark Horse is clearly going for a wider audience here, one not bogged down in the minutiae of “impenetrable continuity,” and I for one can’t blame them for aiming higher than their usual audience of ultra-concentrated fanboys. Should be interesting, even if the title is going to make it a bit of a nightmare for categorizing.
The book is due to start shipping in January.
The Course of the Force kicked off in San Diego County on Monday with an early morning filming trip to Legoland California in Carlsbad, then an afternoon conival at the Oceanside Pier, topped off with a concert by the Spazmatics. With Monday being the midpoint of the event, there was no lightsaber relay along the coast, but the crew geared up for the start of the final two legs of the lightsaber torch relay – Tuesday has the Course of the Force lightsaber traveling from Oceanside through the northern coastal cities of San Diego County to the neighborhood of Pacific Beach, while the final run on Wednesday will take the lightsaber from PB to downtown San Diego and Comic-Con.