Entertainment Weekly has a preview of the fight between the ‘resurrected’ Sith and Obi-wan Kenobi in Friday’s episode, ‘Revenge”. Plus a poll. Of course.
EW will have Sam Witwer (Maul) and James Arnold Taylor (Obi-wan) for Friday’s live chat.
In the news: Jake Lloyd denies negative article
Untruths! An article about Jake Lloyd has been floating around in which claims he called his post-Star War childhood a “living hell.” Lloyd took to Facebook on Sunday to deny it: “The quotes in the article do not accurately reflect my feelings for the time I spent on Star Wars or the time I spent in high school.” The article says the quotes came from “a magazine” and also attributes comments from his mother to a (defunct) domain similar to Sci Fi Channel Australia, which did do an interview with Lloyd (though not his mother) in 2009.
Culture. In The New York Times, Matt Richtel takes a look at how Star Wars is still captivating kids. (Did no one tell him about The Clone Wars, which doesn’t get a single mention?) Last week in the NYT: The New York Jedi. Pity about the headline fail. (Jedi is the plural. Tell your copy editors.)
Interview. George Lucas chatted with Sen. Bill Bradley on his “American Voices” radio program last week. Topics included filmmaking technology,Red Tails, good and evil in Star Wars and education.’
Randomly… Actor Topher Grace (That 70’s Show) edited all three prequels into one 85-minute film. The cut was shown only to “a private gathering of Topher’s industry friends.” There are no plans to show or release it publicly – Grace refuses to do so without permission, which seems unlikely.
Also: Play The Old Republic for free this weekend | Amanda Lucas on ESPN | What Star Wars teaches us about creativity.
New blurb for Allston’s X-Wing: Mercy Kill
Knights Archive spotted that Random House has posted an longer, extended blurb for Aaron Allston’s X-Wing: Mercy Kill that includes a few specifics the first version didn’t.
Note: The new portion does contain some spoilers for the Fate of the Jedi series. They’ve been black-barred: Highlight to read.
The intrepid spies, pilots, and sharpshooters of Wraith Squadron are back in an all-new Star Wars adventure, which transpires just after the events of the Fate of the Jedi series!
Three decades have passed since Wraith Squadron carried out its last mission. Taking on the most dangerous and daring operations, the rogues and misfits of the elite X-Wing unit became legends of the Rebellion and the Second Galactic Civil War, before breaking up and going their separate ways. Now their singular skills are back in vital demand—for a tailor-made Wraith Squadron mission.
A powerful general in the Galactic Alliance Army, once renowned for his valor, is suspected of participating in the infamous Lecersen Conspiracy, which nearly toppled the Alliance back into the merciless hands of the Empire. With orders to expose and apprehend the traitor—and license to do so by any and all means—the Wraiths will become thieves, pirates, impostors, forgers . . . and targets, as they put their guts, their guns, and their riskiest game plan to the test against the most lethal of adversaries.
Mercy Kill is currently due out in hardcover in August.
The StarWars.com Blogs have 60 days to live
Almost a year ago, the StarWars.com forums were closed for good. And now, the other shoe has fallen: Blogs.StarWars.com will be no more. I, and presumably other Ex-Hyperspace subscribers, received an email to that effect this evening. The relevant portion:
We show that you maintain or have maintained an official blog on StarWars.com as a feature of your Hyperspace membership. As Hyperspace services officially ended as of December 31, 2011, we wanted to give you the opportunity to retrieve whatever content you have posted to your official StarWars.com Blog before they are completely retired in 60 days.
A last vestige of the site’s Hyperspace subscription service/fan club, the Blog area of the site was introduced in 2005, spiking with the Revenge of the Sith hype, and has been increasingly abandoned since.
It was, nonetheless, a venue that introduced many fans to blogging – and without it, would fandom have The Stooge? A terrifying concept.
I’ve saved many of my entries (including an embryonic version of the civility post that I’d half-forgotten existed.) I urge you to do the same now, if you haven’t already.
Hidalgo, Taylor to host stages at Celebration VI
We got the first of what is likely to be several Celebration VI announcements over the next few months: The hosts of the three main stages. The Clone Wars’ Obi-Wan, James Arnold Taylor, will be commanding the Main Stage. LucasArts’ David Collins will handle the Digital Stage, while author and Internet Rockstar Pablo Hidalgo will be hosting the Behind-the-Scenes Stage. We’ll be seeing a lot of Pablo, I expect.
And the Apocalypse just keeps coming
Well, it’s the final Fate of the Jedi release day, and thus comes a few more links – and one discount offer. I’m not really a fan of how Barnes & Noble only offers coupons on certain books, but today they’ve included Apocalypse for 40% off, which puts them on equal ground with Amazon. The online coupon code is C8M3R4E, but I believe it will only work if you have a membership with them. (It’s 33% off cover for non-members.)
And yes, there are more reviews, and they do contain spoilers. Roqoo Depot has two more: One from Lane Winree and another in round-robin form. NJOE’s Chris Carey has also reviewed.
Roqoo Depot is on a roll: They have an interview with Troy Denning, too.
Meanwhile, here’s a brief profile of Keltie Cochrane, the firm that designed all the Fate of the Jedi covers.
Out this week: Fate of the Jedi’s Apocalypse arrives
What more is there to say about Apocalypse at this point? Troy Denning’s finale of the Fate of the Jedi series drops tomorrow, and I think all of us – fans and cynics alike – are more than ready to put this series (and maybe even the format) to bed.
Fans: Don’t forget about Troy Denning’s book tour.
Cynics: Remember, this book contains our first look at Aaron Allston’s X-Wing: Mercy Kill.
By the by, the spoilers for Apocalypse are insane. And that’s all I’m going to say. For now. (Assuming this book doesn’t start off with six straight chapters of Sith ala Ascension, in which case it may take me another 7 months to force myself to read it…)
As for the comic readers, Wednesday brings Agent of The Empire – Iron Eclipse #4 and Knights of The Old Republic: War #3
Wacky merchandise: Artoo can cooler
I feel quite safe in saying that Santa Maul would not approve of the R2-D2 Can Cooler. Bubba Fett, however, will love it. (via)
Star Wars Identities exhibition unveils some spiffy new images
With the Star Wars Identities museum exhibition opening in Montreal in April, the exhibition’s ad agency, Bleublancrouge released some additional promotional images by Louis Hébert for the show: a series of six character mosaic portraits highlighting the factors that build up identity. Zoom in or check out the full set of images on geek-art.net: Darth Vader, Yoda, C-3PO, Queen Amidala, Boba Fett and a stormtrooper.
Put on by X3 Productions, Star Wars Identities opens at the Montreal Science Centre on April 19 and continues through September 16, then moves onto Edmonton’s Telus World of Science in October. The exhibition, which will showcase a large archive of original props and costumes while focusing on the science of identity, will then move onto Europe, Asia and the Pacific Rim over the course of 6 years.
McGregor on the prequels: “I was happy to be in them.”
Ewan McGregor spoke to /Film about his latest movie, Salmon Fishing in Yemen, his Oscar-winning Beginners co-star Christopher Plummer, the upcoming Jack the Giant Killer and, of course, the prequels:
Well I like them. I mean I saw them when they came out and I haven’t seen them since, but I was happy to be in them. I felt that it was great to be part of that huge legend of STAR WARS and you know I never involve myself in the discussion about it or the criticism of them or not. They are what they are and fortunately to the moment they’ve re-released the first one and there’s a whole generation of kids now who weren’t around when we released them before. Children love them, regardless of what the die hard STAR WARS fans from the 70’s think, kids love them to bits and I’ve always really enjoyed that with my discussions with them, you know when people’s kids who I haven’t met before come up and they see Obi Wan Kenobi. They’ve always got nice questions to ask and stuff.
He hasn’t seen The Phantom Menace 3D due to filming on The Corrections, but he hopes to go soon – and “take my kids along.”