Holonet Blast #51

To defeat an enemy, you must know him. You must share a novel with him and journey to the Unknown Regions. – Grand Admiral Thrawn*

*Ok, not actually, but the biggest piece of Star Wars news this week was the first excerpt released from the upcoming novel Thrawn: Alliances, by Timothy Zahn. While the excerpt doesn’t contain much in the way of plot spoilers, it does appear to confirm that the novel takes place before Thrawn’s disappearance in the tentacled grasp of the purgill in the series finale of Star Wars Rebels. Still, it certainly seems like we can all get ready for a fun journey to Batuu with our favorite Imperial villains.

A bit closer to home, we got to see some technological developments that make the galaxy far, far away feel just a bit less distant. Epic games, in collaboration with NVIDIA and ILMxLAB, released a gorgeous new short demoing their advanced CG tech – could we be seeing an “animated” Star Wars story in the future that looks true to life?

Music fans also got some exciting news this week, as Lucasfilm announced that on May the 4th (be with you), they’ll be releasing remastered versions of the soundtracks from all six original Star Wars films, including a collectible mini-poster for buyers.

Speaking of movies, departed Solo: A Star Wars Story directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller announced this week that they’ve accepted Executive Producer credit on the upcoming film in light of their contributions before “creative differences” drove them from the project. This news is definitely not awkward at all and totally won’t provoke snickering from in-the-know fans upon seeing the former directors’ names in the credits.

And finally, let’s all keep our dear Nanci in our thoughts as she may or may not be dead after being tweeted at by Master Skywalker himself.

And that’s a wrap! Until next week, may the Force be with you, friends.

Holonet Blast #47

Remember the past two weeks, when there was just SO MUCH STAR WARS NEWS that it  was hard to keep up with?

Yeah, well, it’s feast or famine with Star Wars, and this week, we went a little hungry.

But, there’s always something happening in the galaxy far, far away, and the biggest piece of news we got from Lucasfilm this week was the official trailer and announcement of the Star Wars: The Last Jedi Blu-ray, including 14(!) deleted scenes. No word on whether Chewie eats the porg.

Meanwhile, there was Star Wars news in our own galaxy as well, with the announcement that Mark Hamill, Oscar Isaac, and Kelly Marie Tran will be presenting at the 2018 Academy Awards. Hamill had an even bigger week when it was revealed that he will receive his own star (wars) on the Hollywood Walk of Fame next month.

And finally, we got a fresh look at the new Star Wars resort planned for the Walt Disney World Resort, and the odds of TS writers shelling out a small fortune to go there are high. They’re very high.

That’s it – at least until the next round of books/tv shows/movies is announced and SW Twitter loses its collective mind again. Until that time, may the Force be with you.