Mary Franklin in the news. Alaska Dispatch profiles our favorite Celebration organizer, with shoutouts to the Star Ladies, Bossk, and Sex with a Rodian.
The Force Awakens catchup: BB-8, livestream highlights and more
→ The New York Times had a great feature on BB-8 over Celebration weekend, revealing two things. First, that the version during filming was “a prop built on rollers” – not the fully functional one we saw on stage last week. As mentioned by Kathleen Kennedy onstage, Disney CEO Bob Iger connected the dots, bringing in Sphero to help produce a practical model. And secondly, that a mini toy version – about the size of an apple and controlled via smartphone – will be in stores this holiday season. Bigger versions will (naturally) show up at Disney Parks. Of course, if you can’t wait that long, you can always get a Sphero and make your own….
→ Also in the NYT, a nice look at the folks behind Celebration and Star Wars, including Mary Franklin and Matt Martin.
→ StarWars.com has posted many of the livestream bits (Day 1, 2, 3, 4) as standalone videos: Interviews with Bob Iger, Kathleen Kennedy, J.J. Abrams, Peter Mayhew and John Knoll and a very beardy teaser breakdown
→ Tosche Station were MVPs this Celebration. They have a thank you to Kathleen Kennedy and a nice roundup of what we learned about The Force Awakens. They also recorded several panels, including John Jackson Miller’s Writing in a Shared Universe, an interview with Ashley Eckstein, the (painful) canon panel, Star Wars Journalism, Del Rey, the Aaron Allston tribute and What Leia Means To Me
→ Mike Cooper at Eleven-ThirtyEight didn’t join us in Anaheim, but he did do some analysis of the teaser and other things we learned about TFA there.
→ An ode to Gary Fisher.
More penguins to squeeze: Mary Franklin on leaving Lucasfilm for ReedPOP
We learned yesterday that Lucasfilm event lead Mary Franklin is heading to ReedPOP. And while we’ll still see her at Celebration – they produce the con and are under contract at least through Anaheim – it’s still a little bittersweet. Mary herself wrote about it today.
In addition to Celebration, ReedPOP puts on NYCC, C2E2, Emerald City Comicon and a wide selection of international events.
Celebration Anaheim on track to be “the biggest one yet”
Celebration Anaheim (or, as known to us rebels, Celebration VII) now has a poster, revealed on Hero Complex. And it looks like sales are good:
“It’s going to be really interesting, because we are way ahead with ticket sales from where we usually are this far out,” said Mary Franklin, senior events and fan relations lead for Lucasfilm. “I feel safe saying this is going to be the biggest one yet.”
Mary goes on to play coy about The Force Awakens stuff at the con, but… We know, Mary. We know.
Video: Gareth Edwards accepts ALS ice bucket challenge
We’ve already seen J.J. Abrams and Mary Franklin (first at the Yoda fountain!) do the challenge, but what’s really interesting here is that it’s pretty much the first official Lucasfilm recognition (Star Wars uploaded the video) that Rian Johnson is on board. No one really doubts it at this point: Johnson’s rep has confirmed, he’s clearly had permission to be out there talking like it’s a done deal, but the lack of an official announcement has been puzzling.
Celebrities are doing the ice bucket challenge to raise money to fight Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.
First look at Lucasfilm’s SDCC pavilion
On StarWars.com this morning, Mary Franklin shares some pictures from the Lucasfilm Pavilion at San Diego Comic-Con. (Though not the one above – that’s from her Twitter.) The con officially begins tonight, with the Rebels panel on Thursday and three book panels on Friday.
Episode VII news is not expected, unless it comes via the grapevine (or Mary’s video wall, but that’s a long shot.) And while the rumor mill is saying we might get an announcement of a Princess Leia comic from Marvel, I’m not sure where that would happen: At the A New Dawn panel, which seems focused on Del Rey? None of Marvel’s own panels seem to fit the bill.
In any case, don’t forget about the Rebels screening and HitFix party!
Video: The life and times of the real Chopper
Our pal Mary Franklin has a strong supporting role in this video about the real-life Chopper and his travels! (There’s a new Rebels clip at the end as well.)
SDCC: Peek at Her Universe’s new booth, Lucasfilm’s Pavilion
With preview night at San Diego Comic-Con nigh, Her Universe posted a photo of their new mega-booth. And over at the StarWars.com blog, Mary Franklin shares a look at the Lucasfilm Pavilion. Galactic Hunter has pics from tonight as well.
And here are the Mara and Jaina shirts! For real!
Our first look at the finished Mara and Jaina shirts from @HerUniverse Saweet! #SDCC #SWEU pic.twitter.com/drkZz5HFox
— StarWarsBooks (@DelReyStarWars) July 18, 2013
May the 4th: Mary Franklin is Her Universe’s Fangirl of the Day!
Who’s an appropriate choice to be Her Universe’s Fangirl of the Day on May 4th? Lucasfilm’s Mary Franklin is not only Club Jade’s favorite bartending visionary, but she’s been responsible for almost every single Celebration and the Bantha Tracks newsletter. (Which, granted, may be the more impressive feat overall, but hey: We love our bar.)
You’ll want to check out Mary’s blog entries on the StarWars.com blog, particularly her series going behind the scenes at Celebration, which even features a few other Jaders here and there.
And of course you’ve been keeping up with the Fangirls of the Day, right?
Celebration VI schedule to be revealed in app first
Actual news in an email update? Refreshing! According to an email sent to CVI attendees about an hour ago, the program schedule will be coming to the Celebration mobile app first. No word on when the reveal will happen – early next week, perhaps? – but consider yourselves warned.
One thing we do know about the schedule: It’s 9 feet long. And it looks like this.
Extra credit if you can figure out what this means:
Math clue for 2 new CVI programs: Multiply me by 2, or remove the zero and add a D.
— Mary Franklin (@MaryLFL) July 27, 2012