Star Wars with occasional sarcasm
The Star Wars Fan Film Awards have returned! Fan filmmakers can submit theirs through January 16, and they’ll go up on StarWars.com sometime in March for fans to vote on. The winners will be announced at Celebration Anaheim in April.
In the meantime, you can check out The Empire Strikes Back Uncut on StarWars.com now.
Star Wars and the Super Bowl. Stuart Elliot on the New York Times’ Media Decoder blog has some details of this year’s Volkswagen Star Wars commercial. The kid isn’t returning (guess I need to change the name of our tag) but it does involve a dog named Bolt and a Beetle. The Star Wars bit? Looks like a cantina alien or two may show up. On that note, the Washington Post Style Blog has an interview with Jeff Elmassian, who helped created ‘The Bark Side’ teaser.
One MILLION. The director’s cut of Star Wars Uncut has already seen more than a million views on Youtube, says the BBC.
Gaming. Ben Fritz and Alex Pham take a look at The Old Republic for the L.A. Times‘ Hero Complex.
People (and puns.) Carrie Fisher subbed for Kathie Lee on Today this morning. Luke Perry happened to be the guest, and he revealed that Mark Hamill was the only celebrity he ever asked for a photo with.
At random. Behold the Indiana Jones engagement ring.
Ringing in at 2 hours and change, the Director’s Cut contains “hand-picked scenes from the entire StarWarsUncut.com collection.”
The Emmys are tonight, but in this corner of the internet the biggest winner has already been announced: Star Wars: Uncut was named the Emmy winner for Interactive Fiction at last weekend’s Creative Arts awards. (A story even made the front of the Arts section of the New York Times.) Even Lucasfilm is down with the fan film’s success:
Lucasfilm said in a statement Friday that “we are really pleased that they won an Emmy for their efforts” and that its long-time partner for fan productions, Atom Films, is in talks with the producers. Atom holds an annual Star Wars Fan Movie Challenge, which culminates in screenings of winning films on the Spike channel, and “we hope that some day ‘Star Wars Uncut’ can air on Spike,” Lucasfilm said.
Also winning last week was Robot Chicken, which took home the Emmy for Short Form Animated Program.
Casey Pugh’s brainchild of collaborative fandom love is up against against network-producted fare for Glee and Dexter for Outstanding Creative Achievement in Interactive Media – Fiction. Big congratulations to Casey and all who participated!
The Emmys are rarely a big deal for genre shows, but Lost is one of the few that have gotten plenty of love – and that adds up to twelve nominations for their final season, including Outstanding Drama Series. (Along with True Blood.) Matthew Fox, Terry O’Quinn, Michael Emerson and Elizabeth Mitchell are all up for acting.
Robot Chicken got two nominations, one for their ‘Full-Assed Christmas Special’ and another for Seth Green’s voiceovers.
As for the other genre nods, Ian McKellen got one for being the only part of The Prisoner remake that anyone liked, while Caprica, Stargate Universe, and V will duke it out with original flavor CSI for special effects.
Woe be unto you, Club Jade fans. Dunc is having a real life this week and has left me to round up the news for you. So, sorry. She’ll be back soon! So let’s round up some bits and bobs in the world of Star Wars, shall we?
Dunc will be back soon. Promise!
Casey Pugh, the mastermind behind the fan project that’s remaking A New Hope scene-by-scene, met with Lucasfilm folks this week. Exciting!
Mainstream recognition So the tauntaun sleeping bag got in the New York Times, but Star Wars Uncut made it to ABC News.
And here we thought his heart was two sizes too small… The Missouri Salvation Army has a unique approach to getting folks to drop a dollar or two into the kettle: Darth Vader. (via)
To be a copyright attorney takes the most serious mind, the deepest commitment. Law.com profiles “Jedi Lawyer” David Anderman – he heads Lucasfilm’s legal team and has been with the company for 11 years. His specialty? Intellectual property, naturally. (via)
Fame game. Lest we forget, George Lucas is being inducted into the California Hall of Fame today.
Final word. PopMatter’s Monte Williams takes on the popular assumptions about Star Wars. It’s an interesting enough read that I’m willing to forgive the extremely groanworthy headline.
Doesn’t that just want to make you go videotape yourself doing something silly? Okay, maybe not. But it does make you want to watch other folks do it.
Han Solo Adventures is a freeware “interactive fan fiction” game currently under development by Stacy Davidson. The video above doubles as a trailer and contribution the the Star Wars Uncut project. (via)