Gearing up for the second season of The Clone Wars

Here’s some of the top picks out of the media build-up for Friday’s premiere of the second season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars (8 PM EST/PST on Cartoon Network – 1 hour):

Some of the reports coming from The Clone Wars press event held at LucasFilm Animation:

Meanwhile, Geekdad at Wired talks up what the new season means in his household, and mentions that Seth Green will be doing the voice of Cad Bane’s droid, Todo 360.

And of course, StarWars.com gets busy:

EUbits: This week in Mara, Filoni will speak, Rostoni schedules, Irvine hints, Bohnhoff on philosophy

Namesake corner. Mara Jade is one of Crave’s ten female characters that would kick your face in. Uhh, thanks? I think. Also, apparently the Galaxies trading card game has another Mara card, yet again with art that I don’t totally hate (fourth row here, in wallpaper size and everything. Despite smearing their first offering with an April Fools, I don’t dislike it. One just gets a bit tired of the leather jumpsuit T&A, though it does come in handy for mocking up a cover for the faux smut.)

The Clone Wars. Dave Filoni will be appearing on tonight’s ForceCast Live.

Upcoming. Sue Rostoni confirms that Kemp’s Crosscurrent sequel will get a June 2011 release, pushing the Reaves/Bohnhoff holostar novel up to March. And Alex Irvine drops a few hints about what to expect from his Nomi Sunrider novel. And some people say there are too many big 3 novels…

The blogside. Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff looks at Star Wars as philosophy. (Psst… Googling ‘Midichlorian Rhapsody’ brings up this, filk fans.)

Wait, what? At first I was just rolling my eyes at a visual dictionary for LEGO Star Wars, but now it’s getting the most extensive string of bookstore events yet. Boggling. Well, I guess the kids like it.

Video: More Clone Wars clips, interviews

The first two are straight-up clips, quality time with Jocasta Nu and another Bane bit. (Is there any part of the premiere that we haven’t seen a bit of yet?) The third is a peek at the animation with Dee Bradley Baker, Matt Lanter, Catherine Taber and Dave Filoni.

Prepping for S2 of The Clone Wars

There was a press junket for The Clone Wars season 2 in California today. They posted a new trailer yesterday, but StarWars.com was tweeting fast and furiously from the event, giving us a peek at some of the themed foodstuffs (Gungan salad, roast bantha) a costumed Cad Bane, and a preview or two. (More photos – and not the cell phone kind – here.) Oh, and a brand new interview with George Lucas and Dave Filoni.

Season 2 will debut with two episodes – ‘Holocron Heist’ and ‘Cargo of Doom’ – Friday, October 2 on Cartoon Network. Expect a lot more press coverage in the next couple of weeks… We’ll do our best to keep up. Meanwhile, you can answer our latest poll:

[poll id=”61″]

Continuing profiles of The Empire Muggs Back

Lady Muggs

StarWars.com has continued putting out profiles of the customized Mighty Muggs from SDCC, so here’s what’s gone up since I last blogged them: Dave Filoni, JAKe, Michael Possert, Nicole Falk, Spencer L. Brinkerhoff III, Chris Rabilwongse, Frank Duran, Camilla d’Errico, Kyle Newman and Jaime King.

The Muggs are are still on auction to raise funds for Make-A-Wish. The bids range from $900 (!!) to $60 tonight, and they’re only going to go up! (It ends Friday.)

SDCC ’09: Saturday morning Star Wars news roundup

G4 folks and the Filoniator, sans hat / Photo by Jawajames

James sent in these photos from the Spectacular. Note the hatless Filoni. We’ve got a few hours to go on the G4 broadcast, but from what we heard last night I’m recommending copious use of the DVR. Below, the return of the hat, plus The Clone Wars voice actors.

Star Wars Spectacular: TCW voice actors / Photo by Jawajames

And now, your morning news updates:

  • Sounds like the Fan Movie Challenge Awards were anything but a disappointment: My favorite, Star Wars Retold, was the George Lucas Selects! Other winners include Saber, Family Dysfunction, Star Sports Theatrical Trailer, Star Wars in a Notebook and Star Wars Cinemagic. Check them out at Atom.
  • The reports from The Clone Wars design and The Old Republic panels.
  • And for those of you who like to check out girls in Slave Leia getup, StarWars.com provides.

Still no Fate of the Jedi panel writeups from anyone… It also seems odd that The Clone Wars footage isn’t up yet, but I’m hopeful it’ll be there eventually. UPDATE: The teaser went up just after the G4 broadcast. Duh.

SDCC ’09 roundup: Star Wars Day in the afternoon

Fine, I cave: I’ll be updating this throughout the afternoon/evening, at least until the Spectacular… Unless something huge breaks!

The sun says hello. Afternoon for me, anyway: All this was morning for California, and you can tell because StarWars.com has snapshots from the Fan Club Breakfast, and more from TFN. (5:20e)

Jacen and Jaina Solo figures coming to Hasbro's Droid factory in 2010!All the wonderful toys. They also have Hasbro’s presentation. The Comic Packs are mostly things we’ve already seen, but I think the Exar Kun and Ulic Qel Droma are new. Walmart is getting an exclusive Corran Horn/Whistler and Rouge Squadron #1 two-pack (Dllr Nep and Plourr Ilo?) while Target will have a Wedge with X-Wing.

But the biggest news in here for us is that they’re adding Jacen and Jaina Solo to the Droid Factory line in 2010! Meanwhile, future Comic Packs will include Legacy’s Delia Blue/Darth Nihl and KOTOR’s Jarael/Rohlan Dyre. (5:20e)

Something something in 3-D. EU Cantina was tweeting live from The Clone Wars panel. Tidbits include S2 tone, comments on rogue Jedi and the unlikliness of a second movie. (5:20e)

Comic-Con Star Wars Spectacular: George Lucas answering questions?

As previously discussed and dissected for hints, this year’s Star Wars Spectacular panel at Comic-Con was going to be hosted by G4’s “Attack of the Show” crew: Kevin Pereira, Olivia Munn, and Blair Butler, and the panel will be broadcast live on G4 on Friday, July 24. The panel will include a live read of a new “The Clone Wars” script by the voice talent.

The announcement on starwars.com came with the opportunity for fans to submit videos to G4 to be shown during the presentation, either telling fan stories, or asking questions about The Clone Wars to the show’s creators, like Dave Filoni.

Word from someone working for G4 is that George Lucas may be answering some of the fans’ questions submitted by video – via pre-recorded video of his own.

So get those questions in, submitted through the G4 site. Key things to note for submitting videos: < 90 seconds long, < 150 MB, and use a white background!