In his Film Critic column, sci-fi author John Scalzi imagines what would have happened if George Lucas had never made Star Wars. No Jar-Jar, sure, but what about Indiana Jones? Harrison Ford’s career? Pixar? Battlestar Galactica?
Daniel Radcliffe: Potter created “appetite for reading”
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Like Shatner before him, Daniel Radcliffe also has some words about Star Wars in this clip, but he’s pretty classy about it, focusing on how Potter has inspired kids to read. Here’s the quote:
“I always think that that’s one of the wonderful things about ‘Potter’ and the ‘Potter’ fan base,” he continues. “If you think about the other big costume-wearing [franchises] that go with it, things like ‘Star Wars’ and ‘Star Trek,’ with ‘Potter,’ because it started off as a literary thing, has created a generation of the same kind of mentality … with an appetite for reading and literature, which is kind of amazing.”
Sure, Star Wars and Star Trek have their share of successful tie-ins, but I doubt they’ve gotten as many kids reading as Potter, where books are the cornerstone.
UPDATE: Radcliffe tells Moviefone that the only Star Wars movie he’s seen is The Phantom Menace. Oh, Danrad. Someone is already getting him the Blu-rays. But then:
What ‘Star Wars’ and ‘Potter’ have in common is a huge devoted fan base. Where they differ, I think there is a — and this is my perception, I may be completely wrong — I think there is a slightly more balanced split between the sexes in the fan base of ‘Potter.’ I associate ‘Star Wars’ as being a predominantly male thing. And I think ‘Potter’ is split more evenly.
Sigh.
EUbits: Zahn to talk Heir, Fry suits up
More Heir. The Star Wars Books Facebook chat will be hosting a live chat with Timothy Zahn next Wednesday, September 28th. And on that note, Suvudu has a brief interview with editor Betsy Mitchell.
Events. Author Jason Fry dresses as a stormtrooper for a baseball game and tells the tale in his Mets blog.
Trailers. There’s one for Darth Vader: A 3-D Reconstruction Log. Of course.
Theories. Anarchist William Gillis’s vision of what happens to the Star Wars galaxy after Return of the Jedi.
Photo finish. Del Rey’s collection of Star Wars books.
Out this week: Jedi: The Dark Side, Knight Errant
Nothing coming this week but a small pile of comics for Wednesday. Jedi: The Dark Side #5 wraps up the take of Qui-Gon and his apprentice Xanatos on Telos. John Jackson Miller continues Kerra Holt’s latest storyline with Knight Errant: Deluge #2. And the latest Omnibus — The Complete Saga — collects all six movie adaptions.
The Clone Wars goes Shark Week: ‘Water War’ and ‘Gungan Attack’
Did you catch last Friday’s season four premiere of Star Wars: The Clone Wars? If you didn’t, catch each half of the two-parter on the revamped StarWars.com: ‘Water War’ and ‘Gungan Attack’. Also, get a preview of this week’s continuation of the story, ‘Prisoners’. With the shark-faced Riff Tamson on the loose, will
the Mon Calamari be served up with cocktail sauce?
At the premiere, Wired got Dave Filoni to talk about animating underwater and reflect on Ackbar’s popularity, and hints that we might see more classic trilogy characters in this season.
Meanwhile, Katie Lucas tweeted how many episodes she wrote this season: “I have four episodes this season that will be airing later in the season! I’m so excited for you guys to see them!”
And NerdApproved.com tells us why you should be watching The Clone Wars, even though Dunc wants you to watch My Little Pony.
True confession: I love My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
While some Star Wars fans have eating up The Clone Wars with a spoon, I have been getting into other children’s shows. For the first couple seasons it was Avatar: The Last Airbender, but now I have (accidently) fallen into another children’s show, one even less excusable than the truly excellent Avatar.
It’s My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. Now, I grew up during the first flourishing of the My Little Pony toys in the 80’s, and I had a bunch of the things. Those ponies are long gone, and I only remember one of them (because I lost her while on vacation.) But somehow I ended sucked up into this show, and next thing I know I’m subscribing to fan blogs, registering on forums, and buying tiny plastic toys.
I’m not alone: Friendship is Magic has a flourishing adult fanbase, including a surprising number of male fans, who call themselves bronies. (They are, if nothing else, an interesting counterpoint to the case of Katie the Star Wars Girl.) It gets a little ridiculous, but it’s fun. (Plus, the second season of the show – which is easy to find on Youtube – began Saturday morning.)
And then there’s the pony generator. Starting with a Mara pony last night, I’ve created a few Star Wars ones, and I’ll post the codes in the comments if you want to tweak from there.
Really, this all could have been avoided if Legend of Korra hadn’t been delayed…
Video: Chill out with Yoda’s musical wisdom
Yoda gets a remix in this video from the Symphony of Science. (via)
Aaron Allston is blogging again
Author Aaron Allston announced today that he’s returning to blogging with a brand-new venue on his site. His first entry has updates on his health, convention appearances, and details some of his recent projects, including the upcoming X-Wing: Mercy Kill. Join us in welcoming him back to the blogging world!
Dinklage wins Emmy for Game of Thrones
The Emmys were fairly predictable tonight, at least as far as the lone genre entry went… Mad Men beat out Game of Thrones for Best Drama series, but the fantasy series did get one major award: Peter Dinklage for supporting actor in a drama! And he thanked his dog-sitter in the acceptance speech. Nice.
Game of Thrones did win a Creative Arts Emmy last week for Main Title Design.
(Also very touching: The Best Comedy Actresses.)
William Shatner: Star Wars is “derivative” of Trek
Apples and oranges? Pot calling the kettle black? Space western vs. space opera? TV budget vs. film budget? There’s no denying that Star Wars is derivative of many things, but Trek doesn’t even makes the top ten.
Still, you can’t really blame the guy for being partisan to his own franchise. (Or wanting Kirk to run off with Leia
)
EDIT: And speaking of derivative, Heilemann has something of a point about Trek and Forbidden Planet.