Tonight’s ‘Witches of the Mist‘ brings the Savage Opress/Nightsisters arc — if not the characters — to a close.
Be sure not to miss Wired’s new interview with Dave Filoni!
September 27 release date for Star Wars Blu-Rays
If Amazon is to be believed, the three Star Wars Blu-Ray sets will be out on September 27. Prepare yourself now for the inevitable media blitz!
Liam Neeson to voice Qui-Gon on The Clone Wars
Liam Neeson returns to the GFFA to voice Qui-Gon Jinn on upcoming episodes of The Clone Wars. The Jedi Master will appear in visions to Obi-Wan.
Neeson tells EW he wanted to return to Star Wars because he felt that “these characters resonate…even after all these years.” He adds, “Growing up, my heroes were cowboys; they were strong and mysterious, and it seemed like they always rode off into the sunset. For kids today, Star Wars has that same kind of magic. I really wanted to be a part of that.”
The episodes featuring Qui-Gon will air Jan. 28 and Feb. 11.
UPDATE 1/22: Dave Filoni has posted a note on Facebook about this development:
I understand that Qui-Gon’s appearance in The Clone Wars has many implications, and that some of you are asking “how can this be ” especially in light of the scene between Obi Wan and Yoda at the end of Revenge of the Sith where they speak about Qui-Gon. These upcoming episodes, more than any other to date, will spark curiosity and discussion. I only ask that you be patient and watch them. I look forward to hearing from you after they air. For now trust me when I say Christian Taylor (writer) and I, along with George Lucas, are very aware of the continuity surrounding Qui-Gon Jinn. George in particular, is especially conscious of it.
And the rest: Anne Hathaway is The Dark Knight Rises’ Selina Kyle; X-Men prequel blitz begins
And the catsuit goes to… Warner Bros. announced today that Anne Hathaway has been cast as Selina Kyle (aka Catwoman) in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises. Reaction has been mixed, but I’m willing to wait and see. (Remember when Heath Ledger was cast?) Earlier rumors claimed there’s a second female lead yet to be cast as well.
Also revealed is that Tom Hardy will play Bane, one of Batman’s newer (well, 1993) foes. Unlike Hathaway, whose performance is bound to be judged harshly against Michelle Pfeiffer’s take on the character (among others,) Hardy has much less baggage to overcome. Bane’s only film appearance thus far was in the much-derided Batman and Robin as a henchmen to Uma Thurman’s Poison Ivy.
X-Men: First Class. DC not your thing? Hero Complex visits the set of the X-Men prequel, which stars James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender as the young Professor X and Magneto. (Lingering question: Will January Jones actually convince us she’s not Betty Draper, budding supervillain?) There are another couple photos at /Film. And lastly, check out the teaser poster at AICN.
Buffy. Joss Whedon talks to Entertainment Weekly about the Season 8 comics. Warning: Massive spoilers. If you don’t risk them but still feel like getting depressive about something, Blastr has seven Whedon projects we’ll never see, almost all of which look better than Dollhouse.
Harry Potter. Another round of spoil-or-not: A pivotal death scene is being changed for Deathly Hallows: Part 2. Or, see Alexis Liddell’s concept art for ‘The Three Brothers’ sequence in Deathly Hallows: Part 1.
A Game of Thrones. There’s been so much news on the HBO adaption over the past few weeks that I can’t keep up, but one thing you don’t want to miss is the latest teaser.
Interview: John Jackson Miller on Knight Errant
With Knight Errant coming out next week, writer John Jackson Miller has crossed over to the dark side – or at least crossed from penning comics and short stories to his first novel. John took some time to talk with Club Jade about the new book, as well as the Knight Errant comics and Lost Tribe of the Sith series of e-books. Continue reading “Interview: John Jackson Miller on Knight Errant“
First look at Kemp’s Riptide
StarWars.com has released the cover and blurb for Paul S. Kemp’s Riptide, sequel to last year’s Crosscurrent.
When a ship full of Sith warriors arrived in Galactic Alliance space, the fight to destroy it accidentally uncovered a deadly menace: a long-hidden group of clones, secretly created as insidious weapons capable of wielding the Force and heedless of the differences between light side and dark side. Now the clones have escaped — and evidence suggests they are flawed by genetic disease and violent madness.
Jedi Knight Jaden Korr pursues the clones, hoping to heal them but prepared to destroy them. What he doesn’t know is that Sith agents are hot on his heels, determined not only to recover the clones for their Master but to capture Jaden for their own dark-side purposes. In a life-or-death battle, Jaden will confront a shocking reality that will rock him to his core and bring him face-to-face with the question of what makes a man… and a Jedi.
This book is very much Not For Me, and the cover reflects that, but I must admit it’s pretty striking and the tight crop and yellow lightsaber will stand out on the shelves. It’s a (hopefully) happy medium between the look-at-me-n00bs Fate of the Jedi covers and the painted covers that please many hardcore fans.
Riptide is scheduled for a July 26 release.
Star Tours returns to Disney World in May
The relaunched ride – which features C-3PO in the driver’s seat – will reopen at Florida’s Walt Disney World on May 20, 2011. Learn more about the “reimagined” attraction at the official Disney Parks blog.
I’m hearing that the Disneyland (California) version will reopen May 17, but that’s yet to be officially confirmed.
UPDATE 2/27: The DisneyParks blog says that the Disneyland Star Tours will reopen on June 3.
Seth Rogan says George Lucas thinks the world is going to end in 2012; LFL snarks back
The actor told the Toronto Sun about a recent encounter he had with the director… About the end of the world.
“George Lucas sits down and seriously proceeds to talk for around 25 minutes about how he thinks the world is gonna end in the year 2012, like, for real. He thinks it.
“He’s going on about the tectonic plates and all the time Spielberg is, like, rolling his eyes, like, ’My nerdy friend won’t shut up, I’m sorry…’
“I first thought he (Lucas) was joking… and then I totally realized he was serious and then I started thinking, ’If you’re George Lucas and you actually think the world is gonna end in a year, there’s no way you haven’t built a spaceship for yourself… So I asked him… ’Can I have a seat on it?’
Oh, George.
Counterpoint: Here’s what Katie Lucas has to say about it:
I have no idea if the conversation actually happened. But he would TOTALLY say that. As a joke, obviously. Geez people, its funny. Get over it!
UPDATE: Word from LFL themselves! Beware of snark.
“I spoke with George,” said Lucasfilm rep Lynne Hale in an e-mail to Wired.com about this issue of obvious intergalactic importance.
“He was not serious when he talked about the end of the world in 2012 but he is an adamant believer that the world is flat, that Stonehenge was built by aliens, and that the sun revolves around the Earth,” Hale said. “These are among the many subjects he commonly discusses at length with Elvis, who he’s going to digitally insert into Indy 5 along with a roster of famous dead actors.”
So dare I say this means that George trolled Seth Rogan? So many LULZ.
UPDATE #2: Further your LOL with the snark-deficient.
Want to know how Traviss would have wrapped up Imperial/Republic Commando? Here you go.
So. It’s over. There will be no more Imperial Commando or Republic Commando books. (Or short stories.) The author has left the building, and no one else seems particularly interested in filling her shoes. (We get more Allston instead.) They join a long line of canceled projects.
But if you’re really, truly interested in how the series would finish (or continue,) Traviss wrote a bit about it a year or so back.
Yes, it’s an older item. I know I’ve seen it around, but I don’t seem to have actually blogged it, and we get an ungodly amount of Googlers looking for info about the series. I can’t help you any more than that, kids. (And, quite frankly, I’ve run out of ways to say no.) Sorry.
Out this week: Marvel omnibus
It’s another week of slim picking for releases – unless you happen to be on the prowl for Marvel reprints. Arriving in comic shops on Wednesday is the third A Long Time Ago… omnibus, collecting issues #50–#67 of Marvel’s Star Wars series from the 80’s.