Star Wars with occasional sarcasm
The VIP packages for Star Wars Celebration VI will go on sale Wednesday at 3:01 p.m Eastern, according to an email sent out today. The prices have increased since last time – the Jedi Master package is $850, while the Jedi Knight is $400. They’re both limited to the same numbers, though – 50 Masters and 250 Knights.
And this is merely the public sale – the packages will first be made available to VIPs from Celebration V for 5 hours, so who knows how many will be left by then…
Short stories. Del Rey editor David Pomerico broke the news on Facebook yesterday: Matthew Stover’s ‘The Tenebrous Way’ will be December’s addition to the ever-growing pile of shorts making the Star Wars Insider.
The story will tie into James Luceno’s Darth Plagueis, which is due out December 27.
Blurbs. Knights Archive was first to spot the synopsis for The Millennium Falcon Owner’s Workshop Manual.
Poll. Again on Facebook, the Del Rey folks want to know which of the remaining 2011 releases you’re looking most forward to. At the moment it’s pretty close between Heir to the Empire 20th Anniversary Edition and Darth Plagueis.
Random. Since the latest Fate of the Jedi is hanging out on the bestseller list with his new novel, The New York Times asked author Lev Grossman about Star Wars. (This belongs in a different roundup entirely, but: Grossman just won the Campbell.)
Qui-Gon deals with Xanatos’ angsting in Jedi: The Dark Side #4, our only release this week. It’ll be in comic stores on Wednesday.
Bill Hunt of Digital Bits got a look at the Star Wars Blu-rays last week, and he’s wrote up an extensive post with all those technical details folks have been wondering about. It includes this interesting bit:
Now, you’ll recall that a little bit ago, I said these should probably be best considered new 2011 versions of these films, and not the 2004 DVD versions. All the fixes and corrections alone justify this in my opinion, but there’s another reason too… and you can probably guess what it is: Once again, George has apparently added a few new “surprises” into these films. I don’t know what they are and didn’t get to see any of them on Friday, but I was assured that there will be “new things to notice” when we watch the films.
Though – again – nothing is confirmed, he goes on to mention the digital Phantom Menace Yoda that’s been knocking around in DVD extras for years.
But overall, his prognosis looks good, particularly for those disappointed by the last few releases.
UPDATE: Another report from Chris Chiarella at Big Picture, Big Sound. Adam Gregorich of Home Theater Forum was there too, and he has pictures of the inside movie page sleeves, which we have yet to see so clearly.
James Arnold Taylor’s one man show, as performed at Disney’s Star Wars Weekends this year.
Because it’s Monday and you need a pick-me-up, let this supercut inspire you. Or at least your lunch.
Following up with the announcement that Ridley Scott is returning to helm another Blade Runner film, producer Andrew Kosove is not interested in having Harrison Ford return to the Rick Deckard role. Kosove told the LA Times blog: “But if you’re asking me will this movie have anything to do with Harrison Ford, the answer is no. This is a total reinvention, and in my mind that means doing everything fresh, including casting.” Kosove, from Alcon Entertainment, also reports that the earliest that shooting could begin would be early 2013, meaning that the soonest that the film could be out would be 2014.
Following the Blade Runner buzz:
Star Wars Aficionado has a leaked list of scenes that may be making their debut on the Blu-rays.
UPDATE: TFN has a list of extras, which a Lucasfilm rep told them are “accurate but incomplete.”
Club Jade tends to keep it simple when we do piñatas (Death Star, Alderaan) so I can’t help but be charmed by these two far more complicated Star Wars ones – the Millennium Falcon and a TIE fighter – by Etsy seller Antonio Sanchez. (via)
The official Youtube account now has scenes from each movie in HD. I’m not embedding them because you have to go directly to Youtube to select the HD version (Example in the screenshout above.) Check them out: The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, Revenge of the Sith, A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.
There’s a new extra posted as well: A feature on the Acklay creature from Attack of the Clones. That’s available in HD as well, but there’s an embed under the cut. Continue reading “Preview the Star Wars Blu-ray’s HD”