Cloud Cloud City, bith: The (last two) weeks best #StarWars and #SWEU tweets.

A look inside Mercy Kill? (Fair warning: The ARCs are out.)

Due to Origins and other stuff, this two-week Twitter roundup may be a bit thin. Alas, life (and cons!) happen. Continue reading “Cloud Cloud City, bith: The (last two) weeks best #StarWars and #SWEU tweets.”

Video: Behind the scenes of Return of the Jedi

This (soundless) documentary by Jeff Broz was shot on 8mm in Buttercup Valley during the filming of Return of the Jedi. It’s pretty nifty – you see most of the principal actors (and/or their stunt doubles?) at one point or another. (via)

Can you imagine anyone getting this close to a set on a huge movie like this today?

What’s up on the Tumblr: Alphabets, Rick McCallum, infographics and more

We had a bit of a Tumblr break last week as I vastly underestimated the time I would have to spend browsing for fresh content during the con, but we’re back now. With stuff! And things!

I’m also proud to report that sometime during Origins we passed the 100 follower mark. Victory! Or something. Here are the highlights:

An adorable Star Wars alphabet that features some Expanded Universe characters. It was created by Brandon and Emma Peat for the nursery of their son Tycho.


In a new interview, Rick McCallum addresses the tone of the Star Wars live-action series: “…like Deadwood in space.”


An infographic on Star Wars revenues, and how they break down through the movies and merchandise. No wonder half the fan sites are devoted to toys and games. (No, this does not mean I’m going to devote more energy to covering toys and games.)


So, apparently, the latest art of Jaina Solo has her looking a lot like Lady Gaga? That’s who came to my mind, anyway.


And the quickies: The greatest dancing Ewok GIF you will ever see; 1978 Mark Hamill interview; The Amazing Space-Opera; Jacen Solo and Ewok cosplay; An Ewok Sith.

Also, if you’re looking for the Twitter roundup, it’ll be back next week, covering last week and this one.

Sci-fi titan Ray Bradbury has died

Legendary science fiction (and fantasy and horror) author Ray Bradbury has died at the age of 91.

Bradbury is probably best known for Farenheit 451 (bane of many a high school English student) and The Martian Chronicles. But he was a prolific writer of so much more than can be listed here, so we’ll send you to his own chronology. You might be surprised at the titles you recognize there from his own printed works to the titles that eventually became television or movies.

So we’ll close out with some inspiration from the man himself:

Don’t think. Thinking is the enemy of creativity. It’s self-conscious, and anything self-conscious is lousy. You can’t try to do things. You simply must do things.

Out this week: Ewoks and Droids reprinted

It’s a particularly family-friendly Wednesday, with a new omnibus collecting Marvel’s Ewoks and Droids comics the only new Star Wars in town.

Our next book release, on the 26th, is the paperback of Timothy Zahn’s Choices of One, with a spiffy new cover. John Jackson Miller’s Lost Tribe of the Sith: The Collected Stories is due on July 24, with our next completely new book, Aaron Allston’s X-Wing: Mercy Kill, on August 7.

George Lucas is really retiring this time: Kathleen Kennedy named Lucasfilm co-chair

George Lucas has been talking about going off and making smaller movies for years now, but we’ve seen little concrete evidence to make up his statements. But earlier this week, he told Empire:

“I’m moving away from the company, I’m moving away from all my businesses, I’m finishing all my obligations and I’m going to retire to my garage with my saw and hammer and build hobby movies. I’ve always wanted to make movies that were more experimental in nature, and not have to worry about them showing in movie theatres.” Does he really mean it this time? Only time will tell.

But today, we have real some real evidence to back up his statements: Kathleen Kennedy, a producing partner of Steven Spielberg, will become co-chair of Lucasfilm. Lucas will remain as co-chair and CEO of the company.

The two worked together on Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Kennedy said she would like to look into “the possibility of [Lucasfilm] making more movies.”

Star Trek: The Next Generation launching Blu-ray with theater event

Star Trek: The Next Generation is coming out on a remastered Blu-ray in July.

To celebrate and show off the quality of the new transfer, Fathom Events is going to be showing “Where No One Has Gone Before” and “Datalore” in theaters on Monday, July 23rd.  Tickets go on sale June 8th.

In addition, Amazon has fired the first volley in what will hopefully become a price war by lowering the price to $78.86 from the suggested retail of $129.99. (Seriously, Paramount? Why you so pricey?)

Even though the first season is best described as iffy, this did kick off an amazing series that should look amazing on Blu-ray.