The Clone Wars review: ‘Prisoners’

First, a bit of housekeeping: in the past, I’ve tried to keep these reviews mostly spoiler-free, so that a positive review might encourage new viewers to hop aboard.  But let’s face it… we’re in the fourth season already.  Either you’re watching the show or you’re not.  And certain episodes – like, say, this one – are such mixed bags that the only way to properly discuss them is by tackling the major plot points.  So, here we go.  Spoilers abound. Continue readingThe Clone Wars review: ‘Prisoners’”

EUbits: Scourge cover, Mitchell leaves Del Rey

First look. Suvudu revealed the cover for Jeff Grubb’s Scourge today. Yet another generic musclebound dude with a lightsaber, ho-hum. But given it’s a book featuring an all-new character and Hutts, I’m clearly not the target market here. Still, let’s hope it looks better on the actual book.

Staffing. Editor Betsy Mitchell, who’s been with the Star Wars novels since their rebirth in the early 90’s at Bantam, is leaving Del Rey. New hire Frank Parisi is taking over Star Wars and other tie-ins.

Hey! We know that guy! Dan Wallace in the St. Petersburg Times.

Casting games. Suvudu has the ‘winners’ of their attempts to cast Heir to the Empire. The less I say the better.

Excerpts. A new one for Riptide.

Reviews. James reviews Jedi: The Dark Side #5 and Knight Errant: Deluge #2 at Big Shiny Robot.

Namesake corner. Still no Mara Jade tee from Her Universe, but at least you can grab a fan-made one.

Review: Pottermore needs more… servers

The interactive Harry Potter website Pottermore, announced in June, has finished enrolling its last beta testers.

I somehow lucked out on hitting the site when one of the Magical Quill qualifying rounds opened. This method involved having the hopeful answer a trivia question and then head to another webpage to find the magical quill. Click on it in time and you’re in! Continue reading “Review: Pottermore needs more… servers”

Video: My Little Pony’s tribute to A New Hope

This morning’s new episode of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic featured a fairly blatant take on the throne room scene from Star Wars. I admit to generally being more of the jaded eye-rolling type when it comes to this sort of thing, but this one took me completely off guard. (There’s something delightfully ironic about it ending a story featuring a villain voiced by a Star Trek guy.) I’m totally taking this as a personal shoutout, reality of production schedules be damned.

Thanks to Dan Wallace, for finding this comparison!

Star Wars saga Blu-ray has made $84M – so far

Even the latest controvery over changes to the original trilogy couldn’t keep the Blu-rays down. Star Wars: The Complete Saga is Blu-ray’s biggest launch yet. The nine-disc set has made more than $84 million – 515,000 sets and $38 million in the U.S. and Canada, Variety reports.

Are sales of Blu-ray players and HDTVs seeing a notable increase, too? I’d lay even money on it.

UPDATe: Check out a great ad stunt for the Blu-rays in Tokyo.

The Clone Wars review: ‘Water War’

Riff Tamsin attack!

“It’s an attack!” Captain Ackbar shouts when the Quarren and their Separatist allies assault the Mon Cal city. Not quite a trap, but Ackbar steals the show in the first half of the season four opener of Star Wars: The Clone Wars. ‘Water War’ sets the stage for this multi-part story with lots of exciting action as things deteriorate rapidly for Prince Lee-Char, the Jedi and Mon Calamari people.
Continue readingThe Clone Wars review: ‘Water War’”