Video: How Clone Wars and Rebels changed Star Wars

Pablo Hidalgo at Salt Lake Comic Con

Of the many great Star Wars panels at Salt Lake Comic Con a few weeks ago, one of the highlights was the “Clone Wars & Rebels: How Animation Changed Star Wars” panel. Moderated by Bryan Young, the panelists included Lucasfilm creative executive Pablo Hidalgo, veteran voice actor Dee Bradley Baker, and artist Scott Harben.


Bryan Young moderated another panel that would interest EU fans. He had authors R. A. Salvatore and Mike Stackpole discuss “Why We Killed Chewbacca” bringing in how the decision was made and the fallout from that event.

Video: Star Wars Rebels S2 Press Conference

dave-filoni

James was able to attend a Rebels season 2 screening and press conference last week, and here’s his video of the presser.

Among the reveals: Dave Filoni said that S2 will have two episodes that explore Hera’s backstory: One that ficuses on her piloting skills, and another having to do with her family. There’s also going to be a new trailer debuting this week that will give us a look at something new regarding Sabine. He also talks about the importance of having a wide range of roles for female characters.

There are a few minor spoilers for ‘The Lost Commanders’ in the video:


The show returns October 14th on Disney XD.

Lupita Nyong’o is on the cover of Vogue – again

lupita-nyongo-vogueThe cover of Vogue is a big deal, and Lupita Nyong’o has now scored her second in as many years. The October issue features the actress, who talks a little about The Force Awakens – and J.J. Abrams himself sheds a little light on what they were looking for in the role:

While we tuck into delicious platters of fish, sorbets, and cheeses, Lupita tells me that she has just spent four months filming a CGI character—a pirate named Maz Kanata—for J. J. Abrams’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens, opening this December. “We needed a powerful actress to play a powerful character,” the director explains to me later. “Lupita was someone I’d known a little and was enormously fond of. More important, her performance in 12 Years a Slave blew my mind, and I was vaguely desperate to work with her.”

Acting a motion-capture character was “really bizarre and lots of fun,” Lupita says. “I really enjoyed the fact that you’re not governed by your physical presence in that kind of work. You can be a dragon. You can be anything.”

Again, it’s very Vogue, but she also talks about her life in Kenya and America. She answers a few more Star Wars questions on video:


(Pineapple!)

Video: Star Wars authors Bray, Horton, Kogge and Castellucci at Mysterious Galaxy


Last Thursday, Mysterious Galaxy Bookstore in San Diego hosted a quartet of Star Wars authors as they counted down for the Force Friday midnight releases. Representing the first stop on DK’s Star Wars: Absolutely Everything You Need to Know book release tour were three of its authors: Adam Bray, Cole Horton, and Michael Kogge. Rounding out the team was author Cecil Castellucci, who wrote one of the new young adult books, Moving Target, with Jason Fry. Moderating the panel were Richard and Sarah Woloski of the Skywalking Through Neverland podcast.

Video is of the author panel and Q&A session. Revealed at the end of the evening was the announcement that Michael Kogge is the author of the junior novelization of The Force Awakens, coming out in 2016. And if you just want to see some photos of the event, including the induction of the podcast hosts into Rebel Legion, I’ve got a gallery here.

Looking for signed copies of the books? Mysterious Galaxy has you covered! The Absolutely Everything You Need to Know tour picks up again next weekend around the US.

Video: Force Friday Countdown: Force Thursday


Baby Jawa, Yowie and Jawajames complete their series of countdown to Force Friday videos with this entry for Force Thursday. They get into some Star Wars Mac n Cheese, check out Jeffrey Brown’s Darth Vader and Friends, and preview Tom Angleberger’s retelling of Return of the Jedi: Beware the Power of the Dark Side.

Video: Force Friday Countdown: Force Wednesday!


Jawajames, Yowie the Skunk and Baby Jawa are back at it again! They take unboxing Star Wars stuff very seriously in today’s video for Force Friday Countdown: Wednesday. This time, they review Star Wars fruit snacks; DK’s Ultimate Star Wars by Tricia Barr, Adam Bray, Dan Wallace, and Ryder Windham; and Adam Gidwitz’ retelling of The Empire Strikes Back: So You Want to be a Jedi?. Need more info on Ultimate Star Wars? James has a Q&A with Tricia and Adam and a follow-up interview with Adam from this past May.

And if you missed it, check out their first video from Tuesday.

Video: Countdown to Force Friday

Jawajames is back with a new Star Wars unboxing video. Undeterred that he wasn’t selected to be one of the official unboxing hosts for Force Friday, he’s rounded up some recent and upcoming Star Wars products to review with his co-hosts, Yowie the Skunk and Baby Jawa. Reviews include Star Wars cereal, Dark Disciple by Christie Golden, and the upcoming retelling of A New Hope: The Princess, The Scoundrel, and the Farm Boy by Alexandra Bracken.

Force Friday to be previewed with live unboxings of The Force Awakens toys on Youtube


tfa-merch-packagingYoutubers from Disney’s Maker Studios will be unboxing The Force Awakens toys live on Force Friday. The official Star Wars Youtube stream will host the events, which will begin with Bratayley in Australia on September 3 at 7:45 a.m. local time (5:45 p.m. EDT on September 2) and finish up with Chris Pirillo in San Francisco at 8 a.m. PDT (11 a.m. EDT) on Thursday.

You can see the full schedule on StarWars.com. Here’s hoping one of them is that working BB-8 toy