The LA Times has an article talking with George Lucas about the the making of the Young Indiana Jones Chronicles and their restoration and release on DVD as the Adventures of Young Indiana Jones. Rick McCallum recounts working with Elizabeth Hurley and they name-drop many of the other celebrities who appeared on the series. Also, they have a little photo album showing scenes, stills, and a few background photos from the show. So what does George Lucas think of the Young Indiana Jones project? The article’s tagline should give it away: The Indiana Jones adventure George Lucas is most proud of is a short-lived TV series from the early ’90s.
Live-action TV show ‘news’
The L.A. Times interviews George, but it’s nothing we haven’t heard before:
The Skywalkers aren’t in it, and it’s about minor characters,” Lucas said in an interview. “It has nothing to do with Luke Skywalker or Darth Vader or any of those people. It’s completely different. But it’s a good idea, and it’s going to be a lot of fun to do.”
Lucas joked that the series would be about “the life of robots” but wouldn’t let any details slip about the true premise. The “extended universe” of “Star Wars” has come to life already in Lucas-sanctioned novels, comics and games that chronicle the history of the Jedi and tell the tales of bit players in the films, such as the bounty hunters from “The Empire Strikes Back.”
There’s that damn ‘extended universe’ thing again. Grr.
Friday morning reading list
Could Obi-Wan bring peace to Iraq? Okay, that’s a little beyond the scope of this blog, but Ewan McGregor was in Basra to present an award to Staff Sgt Michelle Cunningham, a British bomb disposal expert.
Elsewhere…
- SWTV news! George Lucas interviewing writers in Los Angeles next week.
- Darth Vader hot air balloon comes to America.
- Father shows his daughter Star Wars for the first time.
- Behind the scenes with George in Chicago.
- Lynn Cheney brought John Stewart a Darth Vader figure on The Daily Show Wednesday night.
For charity: George-signed X-Wing
Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry, the latest host of the Science Meets Imagination exhibit, is auctioning off an X-Wing miniature autographed by George Lucas.
Lucas excited about Indy IV
George talks up Kingdom of the Crystal Skull to MTV, claims new McGuffin is “up there with the Ark of the Covenant.”
The Catchup: And the kitchen sink
Trivia masters rejoice: Jeopardy! added a Star Wars category today. It’s already aired here (curses!) so I have to ask: just how obsessed does one have to be to make the $1000 question laughable?
In the News
- Add David Cronenberg to the list of directors who could have made Return of the Jedi. (via)
- TFN reports that Christine Hewett, who played one of the Tonnika sisters in ANH, has past away.
- Jake Lloyd as Anakin Skywalker tops New York Magazine’s list of ten annoying child actors they’d love to send to Kid Nation. I must object – one film, no matter how disapointing, simply isn’t enough to justify putting Lloyd above any prepubescent cast member of Full House. That show terrorized American airwaves for eight years, not counting syndication.
- AFI is sponsering 11 screenings in Hollywood to celebrate its 40th anniversary, including George Lucas presenting A New Hope. Alas, tickets “sold out faster than the Falcon made the Kessel Run,” as Stooge pointed out on Wednesday.
- IGN’s featured Dead Ewok (colloquially known to fandom as Corpsey) as their Obscure Character of the Day for (again) Wednesday.
- The Jedi Assembly celebrates fifth anniversary.
On the TOS
- The runup to Family Guy: Blue Harvest continues with an interview with writer/producer Alec Sulkin and giclée prints on Star Wars Shop.
- Pete Vilmur takes a look at the ‘pointy W’ logo.
- Hyperspace: Bantha Tracks covers Dragon*Con, while the Source Archive explored the insignia of Rogue Squadron and The New Republic as well as two more NewsNet articles: Ralltiir Uprising Quelled and Imperial Senate Suspended.
Lucas talks TV shows
In part two (part one linked here) of his interview with Tv Guide, George Lucas talks about Clone Wars and the live-action series. Also: He likes Rome! (via TOSblog)
Star Wars roundup: Yippie ki-yay
George Lucas attends Salesforce.com user conference and gives keynote, talking about education and technology. The company has registered force.com. Forget Lucas – what does Philip Wise think?
- The BBC returns to ILM.
- Poll: BloggingStocks pits George Lucas against Steven Spielberg.
- You’ve just been dying to know Natalie Portman’s prequel makeup secrets, right? (via)
Fandom
- Vic and Lisa’s Star Wars home theatre gets some love from Gizmodo. Famous on the internets!
- The 501st has put troopers on all seven continents this year. Next up: The moon!
Expanded Universe
- Wired’s Geekdad blog gets an early look at A Pop Up Guide to the Galaxy. (via)
- Timothy Zahn will be at Nashville’s Southern Festival of Books next month.
George and J. J. geek out
The TOSblog posted a picture of George Lucas and J.J. Abrams conversing over dinner. Anyone not want to be a fly on the wall?
Video du jour: An hour with George
An hour interview with the Maker on The Charlie Rose Show – looks to be from around the time of the THX-1138 DVD release in fall 2004. (Thanks, Stooge!)