New Forces of Destiny arrives with Force Awakens cut scene, return of the Gorax

The latest set of Forces of Destiny episodes are live now on Youtube. The one with Rey and Finn begins with something very like a cut scene from The Force Awakens, but we’ve also got some offscreen The Last Jedi action with Chewbacca, Artoo and porgs. There’s also the long-awaited solo Padme adventure (set in The Phantom Menace era), and two post-Return of the Jedi Ewok adventures, including the return of the Gorax. Watch them all below.

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EUbits: Ewoks, excerpts, and bugs. Lots of bugs.

ewoks-comicAlready used up my yub yub quota this week, sorry. Heard some things here and there about an Ewoks comic through the recent cons, but not enough to go much on… But here’s a Newsarama interview with writer Zack Giallongo. The TPB is due in October; Start planning your celebratory buffet now. (via)

Officially… From the Del Rey folks, we have a Kenobi mini-excerpt, what other excerpts Razor’s Edge will contain, aand, on StarWars.com, Troy Denning writes about Crucible and his other Star Wars work. And bugs. Prefer not to think about any of that? Rich Handley and Abel G. Peña are exploring the Empire’s alien henchmen.

The blogside At Tosche Station, Nanci addresses the issues with the EU’s Jedi in recent years, but also takes the time to thank Del Rey for having so many women in the recent and upcoming lineup. And MTV has been doing a series on things that the new movies ‘need,’ most of which have been borderline ridiculous, but at least Jaina Solo and Lumiya made it.

Reference. The cover for Death Star: Owner’s Technical Manual

New blog. Check out Eleven-ThirtyEight, which focuses on EU-based meta and opinion pieces.

Return of the Jedi is 30 today!

rotj30-100Welcome to the real Star Wars day, the anniversaries of the release dates of Star Wars and Return of the Jedi. Star Wars is 36 today; ROTJ is 30.


StarWars.com has a lengthy interview with Industrial Light & Magic effects guru Dennis Muren about ROTJ.


ROTJ director Richard Marquand and Mark HamillHollywood.com shows us five new pics from Making of Return of the Jedi.


Wired has 30 things you didn’t know about Return of the Jedi – but knowing our audience, you probably already know most of them.


Businessweek reminds us that ROTJ made more money than ESB.


Noted parody hut The Onion has a commentary by ‘George Lucas:’ The Events Depicted In ‘Star Wars’ Actually Happened To Me.


MTV looks at Ewok hate. Aww, come on guys, don’t hate on the Ewoks… They’re delicious!


And Babble’s Pilar Clark has a tour of Skywalker Ranch and Lucasfilm and the Letterman Digital Arts Center.


Finally, beneath the cut, the Revenge of the Jedi trailer. Because I can.

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Pablo Hidalgo: The Expanded Universe will always be ‘part of the Star Wars experience’

Pablo HidalgoThe Star Wars Books Facebook page held a chat with Pablo Hidalgo today, one of Lucasfilm’s resident continuity experts and author of The Essential Reader’s Companion.

So his most popular answer, naturally, addressed the relationship between the movies and the rest…

I think the EU will always continue to be part of the Star Wars experience, in that there are stories that are best suited for books, comics, games. etc.. The relationship between cinematic content and expanded universe content will continue to be what it is today and has been in the past. What happens on screen is one thing. What happens in the books is another. How they connect and interact is something I’m really eager to see.

More answers below the cut!

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EUbits: Movies are not wikis, or why backstory doesn’t mean that book characters can’t be in Episode VII

Mara in 'Vector Prime' art by Darren Tan from the Essential Reader's CompanionThe blogside. Nanci at Tosche Station points out how backstory isn’t an impediment to Expanded Universe characters appearing in the sequel trilogy. (If you really want to make that point, there are plenty of more legitimate reasons!) Meanwhile, on the Star Wars blog, editor Jennifer Heddle talks a bit about editing the roleplaying books.

Upcoming. The Making of Star Wars: Return of the Jedi has a blurb now, and Kevin Hearn’s outline for his Rebels book – the Luke one – has been approved. Making of is due in October, while we’ve got a tentative January 2015 date for the Hearns. And while we’re on the topic, the first Rebels novel, the still-untitled Leia one by Martha Wells, has moved up a week to October 15. (via)

Excerpts. And on that note, the first chapter of Tim Lebbon’s Dawn of the Jedi: Into the Void has appeared in the Random House catalog. That one is out in May. (via)

Podcasts. Our own Jawajames guested on the second episode of Star Wars Bookworms.

Conventions. Dark Horse will be selling a limited edition cover variant of the new Legacy at WonderCon.

Translation. Abel Pena will be translating some vintage Droids and Ewoks comics from Spain into English.

Reviews. James gives Dawn of the Jedi: The Prisoner of Bogan #4 a big thumbs-up, while he’s ‘intrigued’ by the new Legacy #1.