Star Wars with occasional sarcasm
The next two episodes of Star Wars Rebels, ‘Kindred’ and ‘Crawler Commandeers,’ will have two special guest stars. Warwick Davis is voicing Rukh, the show’s second big Legends transplant, while Seth Green is doing duty as Captain Seevor, a Trandoshan. Nerdist has a preview clip.
Davis is also doing a Reddit AMA today.
A clip from ‘Kindred’ and stills from both episodes under the cut.
Continue reading “Next block of new Rebels brings Warwick Davis’ Rukh, Seth Green”
Detours, the humor series from Lucasfilm Animation and Robot Chicken creators Seth Green and Matthew Senreich, could be released this coming spring, Jedi News says.
The show was in the works as early as 2010, but it was shelved following the Disney sale. Before that, a trailer and clips emerged from the last Celebration, to mostly mixed reviews.
Green said back in 2013 that 39 episodes were produced, with an additional 62 finished scripts. And certainly stranger things have happened – but if Disney is indeed building a digital Star Wars library, it certainly makes sense to include it.
In a Reddit AMA the other day, Seth Green talked a bit about Detours being held back, and why the show sitting on the shelf might not be a huge deal in the end:
So there’s actually been quite a bit of talk about this, but Detours is just on hold currently. We have 39 finished episodes and around 62 finished scripts. But that entire show was created before the decision to make more Star Wars movies, so our show (which was created by George Lucas) is an animated sitcom in the world of Star Wars, so we had a lot of conversations with Kathleen Kennedy about Star Wars in not just the next 3 years but the next 30 years, and when you’re in as privileged a position as we were to be able to work on Star Wars content with its creator, you get a great sense of responsibility to the whole. I was introduced to Star Wars as a child and it was without any ironic or comedic lens, so I saw Darth Vader as scary, and I saw all of those messages very very clearly. We didn’t think it made any sense, in anticipation of these new movies coming out, to spend the next 3 years with an animated sitcom as 3 generations’ of kids first introduction to the Star Wars universe.
I’ve had a lot of parents approach me in the last few years where they showed Robot Chicken or Family Guy Star Wars before they showed them regular Star Wars. The writers on Robot Chicken and I are seeing this a lot. The same way we were introduced to classic music through Bugs Bunny or Tom & Jerry, kids are taking our ironic interpretations of He-Man or other pop culture icons and never having the opportunity to meet them sincerely. It’s a really bizarre thing to wrap your head around, and because I’ve witnessed it firsthand, it made me more thoughtful about what we were putting it out.
I do feel that Detours is a timeless bit of entertainment. Media distribution is changing so quickly, so dramatically, that can you even imagine what distribution of content will look like in 5 years? In a day and age when Netflix series are nominated for the top accolades TV has to offer, what is to say what it will look like when the new Star Wars movie comes out? So Detours can sit on a shelf until the Star Wars movie comes out without losing any of its lustre, because what we’ve created is very funny, very smart and like I said before, timeless.
Once again, you have to keep in mind that Star Wars itself is also in a big period of flux right now, and that the vision of the franchise when Detours was conceived is not the one that’s playing out now. Patience isn’t just for Jedi: Fans have to calm their grabby hands as well.
There was plenty to behold for the 30th anniversary screening of Return of the Jedi at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood as part of Entertainment Weekly’s first CapeTown Film Festival. Held on Star Wars Day, May the Fourth, the set of four screenings of the no-longer-final installment of the Star Wars saga brought out fans and celebs alike. With Jedi being my favorite Star Wars film, I was stoked to see it again on the big screen – twice! While we’ve already covered the news of Mark Hamill’s appearance after the evening screenings, there’s plenty more to share, including a visit from The Clone Wars cast and more! (Also check out my full photo album on Flickr!)
Continue reading “Highlights from EW’s Return of the Jedi 30th Anniversary Screening”
I didn’t go to any panels this afternoon, but that’s not to say it was uneventful. I went back to the con floor intermittently, but perhaps the highlight was sitting down with fellow Jader Nancy Lutz to talk Club Jade and fandom with SiriusXM’s Dave Ziemer. And it was only yesterday that I did my first podcast… Celebration is truly a con of wonders!
But most of the afternoon was spent was spent wandering about the floor and halls, chatting with folks and getting pictures. For instance, Russ getting cuddly with some Ewoks. Meanwhile, James was able to catch a special showing of a new Clone Wars arc.
Some of the other things that went on yesterday: Amy Ratcliffe recapped the second Detours panel; Jennifer Landa attended the Smuggler’s Gambit radio drama. Amy Ratliffe attended to double bill of James Arnold Taylor and Carrie Fisher, which sounds like it was fabulous fun.
The Seth Green comedy show, ladies and gents. Two more clips under the cut.
Howard Roffman, speaking at a European licensing conference, says that we’ll be seeing the Seth Green comedy project (which may or may not be named Star Wars: Detours) “within the next two years.” From a press released found by Jedi News:
[Roffman] said that Lucas has always found Star Wars parodies extremely funny, citing a brutally frank French & Saunders parody as an example, and is thrilled to be exploring opportunities in a new area of the brand.
It’s not much – or anything all that surprising – but things have been quiet on the comedy front lately. (Yes, of course George has a sense of humor.)
I believe he’s referring to a Phantom Menace skit French & Saunders did in 1999 – unless they did another – which I’ve embedded below the cut. Continue reading “Roffman says Star Wars comedy TV series is coming “within the next two years””
Friday is traditionally Star Wars day at Comic-Con, and we had a full slate of Star Wars-related panels, and Seth Green returned to crash another one of them. While there was no Star Wars Spectacular, attendees in San Diego got their fill from different Star Wars licensees.
Del Rey’s Star Wars book panel was minimally staffed this year – only editor Shelly Shapiro and Choices of One author Timothy Zahn were up on stage. Shapiro gave a quick overview of upcoming titles (both novels and reference guides) and release dates from Del Rey, with no new title announcements. She did mention that in X-Wing: Mercy Kill there will be two Wraith Squadrons, and neither knows about the other. The original novella being written for Lost Tribe of the Sith print edition was described as a “big chunk” by John Jackson Miller, lurking in the audience.
Tim answered questions about Thrawn’s characteristics. Shelly responded that the canceled Blood Oath is essentially erased and overwritten in the timeline, while Imperial Commando 2 isn’t being pursued for the near future, though they do want to finish the series. Tim talked about having his bits of his EU works overwritten by George Lucas by using Bill Slavicsek’s analogy of working in Star Wars: playing on George Lucas’ driveway when he could back up the truck at any moment. He also gave his views of how the Force works: for power or guidance, with Yoda focusing more on listening to the Force for guidance over using it for power. More questions focused on Tim’s response to Mara Jade’s death (and how Tim would have written Serenity), Shelley’s views on character death and the anecdotal revelation that George Lucas gave the approval to kill off Han Solo when they were developing Vector Prime for NJO (only Luke and Leia were declared no-kill). And, of course, some of the usual questions about continuity and such.
You can check out the Del Rey panel for yourself: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7.
Randy Stradley, in his Imperial officer uniform, started off Dark Horse’s Star Wars panel with some minor announcements (apparently New York Comic Con will get the official announcements): Star Wars comics being finally available digitally (some even for free), a new John Ostrander and Jan Duursema project, a new John Jackson Miller project, and a new Tom Taylor project. He then got all the panelists to reveal their favorite Star Wars comics moments, which led to hoojibs. Some further announcements include the opportunity for The Clone Wars comic story between seasons 4 and 5, and that one The Clone Wars comic story will be adapted an story arc for the show, and a new Vader project by Haden Blackman. Most of the Q&A was directed at Holocron keeper, Leland Chee, but then later went to hoojib zombies, constantly making the galaxy bigger, and another new series – Agent of the Empire, with a focus away from the Jedi or Sith. And Seth Green took the podium in this panel to relate his favorite Star Wars comics: Tag and Bink, and mentioned that his upcoming animated Star Wars comedy series may “smell like Robot Chicken”.
Watch the Dark Horse panel: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.
The LEGO Star Wars panel started off Friday morning as a one-stop shop for all things LEGO Star Wars: a little look at the most recent LEGO Star Wars video games, some of the upcoming LEGO Star Wars building sets, including a new TIE Fighter set, and the new Queen Amidala figure, and ending with a few clips of the LEGO Star Wars animated special, The Padawan Menace, which aired last night on Cartoon Network (and will be running a few more times over the weekend). My recommendation: watch this hilarious animated special. While it takes place in the Clone Wars and focuses on C-3PO (voiced by Anthony Daniels) as he manages a group of unruly padawans, while Yoda and a youngling named Ian (or is it really someone else we know that’s just one letter off?) try to keep Asajj Ventress from stealing some plans. Written by Michael Price (from The Simpsons), there is a lot of fun and comedy here for all Star Wars fans. It was revealed after the panel that The Padawan Menace will be released on DVD and Blu-ray on September 16, to coincide with Blu-ray release of the Star Wars saga.
Robot Chicken Star Wars III is on tonight! The past two are some of the best professional parodies around, and this one is one of the year’s most highly anticipated events. (For this fan, anyway.) Get yourself hyped up:
Green makes the Robot Chicken Star Wars III rounds out to TBS to talk about his wife, his childhood acting career and his trip with ‘Conan’ to New York and Robot Chicken toys. (There are Robot Chicken toys?) There’s an actual clip in there somewhere!
He’s also getting ink over at Hero Complex, where he reveals that a Mara Jade joke was cut out of the show. Now what will I laugh wildly at? NOW WHAT?!?
UPDATE: And again (with Matthew Senreich) at Big Shiny Robot.
