Star Wars with occasional sarcasm
Billie Lourd wrote a sweet/sad piece for Time on her mom, Carrie Fisher, and being the “keeper” of Princess Leia. Meanwhile, Carrie’s brother Todd is sharing details from the original version of the film.
Continue reading “Billie Lourd on being the “keeper” of Princess Leia, and more Rise of Skywalker news”
Debuting only moments after The Mandalorian casting was confirmed on Wednesday, the Star Wars Fan Award winners got a little lost in the shuffle. The winners (including, above, Best Custom Costume winner, Michaela M.’s Enfys Nest) were announced on a special episode of The Star Wars Show. Check them out below, or skip straight to the interviews.
Youtuber Jenny Nicholson has a smart, measured (and sometimes hilarious) take on the Forces of Destiny line, how it’s failing the intended audience of young girls, and how it could be improved. As someone who was a girl pre-Bratz (let alone Monster High, a doll line I was only barely aware of), it’s a pretty intriguing look at a lot of things that wouldn’t even have occured to me – and here’s one real-life example from a dad.
(And yes, if you’re keeping track, there is a brief Mara Jade mention.)
Her Universe and Disney are expanding their merchandise partnership, the companies announced today. The new deal includes an athleisure line for kids and tweens called “Our Universe.” It debuts with Black Panther and Disney Princess products, with Star Wars additions coming soon. The products will be avaliable exclusively through shopDisney.com and at Disney Store locations.
There’s also a book by Her Universe founder Ashley Eckstein, It’s Your Universe: You Have the Power to Make It Happen. It’s available for preorder now, and you can read an excerpt at Entertainment Weekly.
Hot toy alert: Radio Flyer is making a landspeeder! It’s drivable, seats two, has an interactive dashboard (with sound!) and will cost you a cool $499.99. (Maybe the price will go down when the XP-38 comes out?) Continue reading “Kids these days to get to ride around in a mini landspeeder, because life is unfair”
It may be no surprise that The Force Awakens is nabbing a bunch of key nominations for the Nickelodeon 2016 Kids’ Choice Awards, but a Star Wars book has also earned a nomination, competing against both Harry Potter and The Hunger Games. DK’s Star Wars: Absolutely Everything You Need to Know, by Adam Bray, Cole Horton, Michael Kogge, and Kerrie Dougherty, is one of six choices to be voted on in the Favorite Book category. Will it stand up to the likes of Diary of a Wimpy Kid and The Maze Runner? Anyone can vote as much as they want for the Kids’ Choice Awards at nick.com/KCA. Sadly, you can’t skip a category, like Favorite (Music) Collaboration.
In other categories, The Force Awakens has earned nominations for Favorite Movie, Favorite Actor (John Boyega) & Favorite Actress (Daisy Ridley). In the video games category, Disney Infinity 3.0 (which added Star Wars content) is a nominee. The Kids’ Choice Awards will air live on March 12, hosted by Blake Shelton.
Friday, December 4 is the sixth annual Wear Star Wars Share Star Wars Day. Started as a way to rally support for Katie Goldman, who was bullied in school because she was a girl who liked Star Wars, the movement is a way to show geek pride, take a stand against bullying and state that Star Wars is for everyone.
So here’s how you can mark the day:
Get more information about Wear Star Wars Share Star Wars 2015 on their Facebook event.
The folks at Jedi Bibliothek have discovered listings for our first Epiosde VII tie-in books for kids. The first batch is still fairly generic, but the second at least tells us that there will be four novels focusing on the era between the original and sequel trilogy:
Journey to Episode VII: Princess Leia Middle Grade Novel (September 2015, Hardcover, Disney-Lucasfilm Press, $12,99 USD, 9781484724972)
Journey to Episode VII: Han Solo Middle Grade Novel (September 2015, Hardcover, Disney-Lucasfilm Press, $12,99 USD, 9781484724958)
Journey to Episode VII: Luke Skywalker Middle Grade Novel (September 2015, Hardcover, Disney-Lucasfilm Press, $12,99 USD, 9781484724965)
Journey to Episode VII: The Fall of the Empire/The Rise of the Rebellio (September 2015, Hardcover, Disney-Lucasfilm Press, $17,99 USD, 9781484724989)
Plus a Star Wars Episode VII Character Novel for December. (Daisy Ridley? John Boyega?)
No, it’s not anything from Del Rey that we’re hoping to hear about soon – like the film’s adult novelization – but it is a sign that we’ll at least know something of the state of the galaxy going into Episode VII as soon as next fall.
Star Wars Journeys: The Phantom Menace is available on Apple’s App Store now, with the rest of the saga to follow.
Disney Publishing, which we already knew was handling the Rebels books, now announces new original-trilogy books for young readers. They’ve tapped bestselling children’s authors Tom Angleberger (The Strange Case of Origami Yoda,) Tony DiTerlizzi (The Spiderwick Chronicles,) Adam Gidwitz (A Tale Dark and Grimm,) and R.J. Palacio (Wonder.)
DiTerlizzi will handle The Adventures of Luke Skywalker, which is being illustrated with Ralph McQuarrie’s concept paintings. Palacio will adapt A New Hope, Gidwitz has The Empire Strikes Back, and Star Wars vet Angleberger takes on Return of the Jedi. All three will be illustrated by prequel and Episode VII concept artist Ian McCaig. (via)
The books will start hitting the shelves in October.
So yes, things are still up in the air as regards the adult novels. Though I did recently learn that Hachette does have an adult sci-fi imprint – Orbit (which yes, I knew of before – just not that it was linked to Hachette. Ugh, stupid me.) But they don’t seem to handle licensed work – could that change if Hachette gets Star Wars after the Del Rey contract expires? Or will Disney Press expand beyond kids’ and art books? Time will tell.