Ian McDiarmid on Palpatine’s past and (possible) future

George Lucas and Ian McDiarmid on set, chillin' like a Time Lord

SciFiNow talked to Ian McDiarmid on his Star Wars character. He talks about Palpatine’s spinoff potential and even calls the Darth Palgueis novel ‘fascinating.’

But the highlight is perhaps his own thoughts on the character, and the possibilities going forward:

“I thought Sith were just somehow born evil, that’s what they were. But I’ve… with reference to a few things that George has said, I realised that that’s not true. He might well have a tragic arc too, but I don’t know. And even if he does I’m not sure we’ll ever see it. But obviously, if we did and if it happened it would be something that would be completely fascinating to do and it would be like building a Shakespearean character.

“Also the great thing about these movies is that George doesn’t give much away in advance to anybody,” McDiarmid continues, “which is good because that’s what a good storyteller should do, you should really want to know what’s going to happen next or how it all started.”

“And that’s all there in George’s head, and he’s released it, I suppose, in one way or another over the last few years. And although, of course, Disney now owns the franchise, George is there very much as a creative consultant and I’m sure they’ll be very grateful for that. And those storylines will still continue to emerge from that sort of databank, that extraordinary databank which is his brain.

For all the squee over Plagueis, I never really felt that it revealed much about Palpatine’s own motivation: The character himself is still very much a mystery, and I can how exploring that could be more fruitful with all the EU’s restraints removed. But somehow, I doubt that spinoff is very high on the list…

The Clone Wars: Tim Curry is the new voice of Palpatine

TCW-520-PalpatineChancellor Palpatine returns to The Clone Wars in the final episode of the season with Tim Curry taking the role over after the passing of Ian Abercrombie. Bryan at Big Shiny Robot has the scoop on how Dave Filoni selected Tim Curry and has an exclusive preview clip that has Palpatine presiding over the trial of Ahsoka Tano, with Admiral Tarkin as prosecutor, and Padme as defense counsel. Apparently, there aren’t any trial lawyers in The Clone Wars.

Tim Curry is probably known best for his role of Dr. Frank-N-Furter from The Rocky Horror Picture Show, but has been doing a lot of voice work in the past twenty years, including on The Wild Thornberrys and Young Justice.

The info was first revealed at the Lucasfilm screening of the season five finale last Friday, but was one of those secrets asked to be kept. We’ll have more tidbits from the screening Q&A after ‘The Wrong Jedi’ airs on Saturday, wrapping up the finale story arc.

Hallmark’s 2010 Star Wars ornaments feature Clone Wars, Empire Strikes Back

May is still showering, but in the land of Hallmark, spring means only one thing: The 2010 Dreambook is out. There are several Star Wars selections: One set of Yoda and Captain Rex (page 56) and several Empire Strikes Back-themed ornaments (pages 60-61) that you can check out below the cut. Luke in flight gear, a snowspeeder, and Vader chatting with holo Palpy are full size, while the mini set is Boba Fett and Han in Carbonite. Continue reading “Hallmark’s 2010 Star Wars ornaments feature Clone Wars, Empire Strikes Back

The fandom minute: L/M on Etsy, Star Wars car culture, 70’s school stuff, Palpy’s plummet, and cake!

Luke/Mara wedding cake topper by Hildoom @ EtsyThere really is something for everyone on Etsy. I’m prepping a few posts for next week, and I ran across a Luke and Mara Wedding cake topper. (What a post-ROTJ EU pairing has to do with The Clone Wars I have no idea.) The seller, Hildoom, also has a Yoda Birthday Cake topper for sale.

Cars. Jalopnik is on something of a streak, exploring the hot rod culture of Star Wars and likening the ABT Audi R8 V10 to something that “Anakin’s coke dealer” would drive.

Back to school. StarWars.com takes a look back at the 70’s with retro class cear from Helix.

Lists. Palpatine makes #1 on Sci-Fi Squad’s top ten sci-fi deaths.

Cakes. A neat Millenium Falcon by Da Bombe Desserts.

If only… io9 suggests swapping the writing staffs of The Clone Wars and the The Venture Brothers, which may be the only way to get me to cheerfully watch the former.

Check out Hallmark’s Star Wars ornaments for 2008

Hallmark\'s Luke & Vader ornament

The Hallmark Keepsake Dream Book ’08 is out, and their Star Wars offerings this year have a Return of the Jedi theme, with an Imperial shuttle, Luke and Vader’s final duel, and Emperor Palpatine. The miniatures set is a Star Destroyer and the incomplete Death Star. Check them all out for yourself on page 64 (page 65 has Star Trek and Indiana Jones) or via the screencap beneath the cut. Continue reading “Check out Hallmark’s Star Wars ornaments for 2008″