Category Archives: Star Wars

Kinberg and Kasdan Talk Episode VII, Standalone Films with IGN

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Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi writer Lawrence Kasdan as well as Simon Kinberg sat down with IGN over the weekend to discuss Episode VII and the subject of standalone spinoff films. The first question, of course, was how did Kasdan feel being asked to come back and do more Star Wars:

Kasdan: I was pleased that there would be new ones, that there was a chance to capture some of the spirit of the original trilogy that I’d worked on. I thought there’s an audience out there — my grandchildren, lots of original Star Wars people — and there always will be. It’s only good that we try to do some more great ones.

On what the new trilogy will be like:

GN: What can you tell fans about this new version that you’re working on? There are so many rumors going around.

Kasdan: They’re going to be fun. J.J. (Abrams)’s a great director for the first sequel. Perfect. We’re very happy to have him. The writers I’ve been working with — Michael Arndt, who’s going to write the sequel, and Simon Kinberg, who has, like me, been sort of consulting — they’re great. I’ve never really collaborated a lot, and I’ve never been a room with a bunch of writers thinking, “Well, what should this thing be?” It’s fun. It’s really fun. And J.J.’s a writer. Yeah, lovely guy. I’d met him but didn’t know him. But now I’m totally enamored by him. He’s really funny and so enthusiastic.

Simon Kinberg was also asked about whether the standalone movies would work with established characters or try something different:

IGN: Is there anything you can say in terms of working with established Star Wars characters, or are you coming from a whole new plot and characters for your standalone movie?

Kinberg: This is what I would say: as a fan, I wouldn’t want to know too much. I know that’s impossible because it’s not the ’70s or ’80s anymore, but part of what was so exciting about A New Hope for me was I was entering into a universe I didn’t know. Even in Empire, I was surprised by a twist I never would have seen coming. But it’s different nowadays. I understand the excitement, and I’m happy that people are interested, obviously. But I’d rather people have something left to discover when they go in.

For more, head to IGN to read the full interview.

Hasbro’s Mara Jade Figure Shifts to Black Series

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hasbro-jedi-mara-500x691The good news is the Mara Jade figured many feared was cancelled will be hitting store shelves after all. Yay! The bad news is that Mara is still wearing the catsuit. Boo.

The figure will be released as part of the second wave of Hasbro’s Black Series, a lineup that’s geared towards collectors. That, of course, means that this figure will be even harder to find than it would have been before. So if you’re hoping to get your hands on one, prepare to hit eBay and don’t hold your breath.

(via)

Tosche Station Radio #44: Spinoff

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On this episode of Tosche Station Radio, the hosts talk spinoffs and Star Wars!

Kicking off the show, Nanci highlights what’s new on the blog. Brian noted that one of his favorite baseball writers realized sports and geek fandom are the same thing. Meanwhile, the Waru Express visited Rogue Squadron and laid the smack down on Corran Horn.

In Fixer’s Flash, Nanci kept herself busy by reading Old Man’s War by John Scalzi. She also has been working on her current novel and planning out future writing projects. Of course, there was also the Puppy Bowl, the most important event of the last week. Brian, on the other hand, watched a whole lot of QI and is eagerly anticipating the return of Community to the airwaves.

Deak’s Dirt starts off with Ashley Eckstein revealing upcoming plans for Her Universe products. The Super Bowl happened and there were trailers for geeky films such as Iron Man, Star Trek Into Darkness, Oz the Great and Powerful, World War Z (via clubjade). Billy Dee Williams is attending Dragon*Con.Make-up artist Stuart Freeborn passed away at 98. In the big news, Bob Iger confirms standalone Star Wars films are in the works. Ain’t It Cool News reported a Yoda film while Entertainment Weekly reported Han Solo and Boba Fett films. Meanwhile author Timothy Zahn talked standalone films, along with writing Han Solo, with Hollywood.com.

This week’s Camie’s Concerns takes a look at the confirmation that Star Wars will be getting non-episodic spinoff films and perhaps other projects. Brian and Nanci discuss what they would (and wouldn’t) like to see as well as why this news is good for the fandom and doesn’t mean that Disney is ruining the franchise.

Tosche Station Radio is the official podcast of Tosche-Station.net and a part of the Solo Sound network. If you like what you hear, please leave a review on the iTunes Music Store or the Xbox Music Store. We can also be found on Facebook, Google+, and Twitter.

Nanci and Brian are the co-founders and writers of Tosche-Station.net. You can find Nanci on Twitter with the handle @Nancipants and you can find Brian with @LaneWinree.

Zahn Talks Writing Han Solo and Standalone Films He’d Like to See

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With the barrage of rumors surrounding standalone films in the Star Wars, Hollywood.com decided to catch up with Expanded Universe author Timothy Zahn to discuss what it takes to write Han Solo and the kinds of standalone films and spinoff projects he’d like to see in the Disney Star Wars era.

On the topic of new projects beyond regular episodic installments:

Hollywood.com:First of all, none of this has been confirmed by Disney or Lucasfilm, and I’m not looking to you at all to confirm it. I’m just interested in your perspective as a Star Wars author, and even more importantly, as a Star Wars fan, on the rumor today that the first two standalone Star Wars movies will be about Young Han Solo and Boba Fett respectively.

Timothy Zahn: All of this is at the rumor stage of course, but, the fact is, I would like to see more Star Warsbeyond the core saga. I’d like more Star Wars TV, and certainly more Star Wars books. We’ll just have to wait and see what happens. The Galaxy Far, Far Away is impossibly huge with story ideas and possibilities.

On writing Han:

HW: Is there a difference between the way you wrote Han in Scoundrels as opposed to the way you wrote him in the Thrawn Trilogy or Hand of Thrawn Duology?
TZ: Oh yeah, he’s much more mature in the later books. He’s taken on more responsibility. He still chafes at it at times. But he does the jobs that need to be done. He’s more aware of what’s at stake, what the consequences could be if he succeeds or fails. And that’s because he has a family at that point, which brings a whole new set of responsibilities with it. In Scoundrels on the other hand, since that’s set right after A New Hope, he’s much more footloose and fancy free. But even then you can see that once he’s assembled the team he’s working with, he’s not going to abandon them. The seeds of “Responsible Han” are already there. But he would deny it probably.

On spinoff Star Wars projects he’d like to see:

HW: What other characters from the movies would you like to see get the movie spinoff treatment?
TZ: Lando is an obvious one. You could do a lot with Lando during the time leading up to The Empire Strikes Back. If we’re going post-Jedi era I would frankly like to see Wedge put together Rogue Squadron. I think you could have a whole series of Rogue Squadron movies that would be great. Wedge is peripheral, but he is verypopular and rightfully so. Who else helps take out two Death Stars? You could even do an X-Wing TV show focused on Rogue Squadron that, just like the books, would be peripheral to the main Skywalker-Solo saga. That means you could introduce a lot of new characters anchored by Wedge. You could make wonderful stuff out of the X-Wing books.

See, I’m not the only one who thinks a Wedge-centric film and an X-Wing television series would be absolutely fantastic viewing.

The whole interview is fantastic and there’s a lot more to read. Head to Hollywood.com’s interview for more with Timothy Zahn.

Rumor: Entertainment Weekly Reports Solo, Fett Potentially Getting Standalones

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Yesterday Disney’s Bob Iger confirmed that, yes, there will be standalone films coming to the Star Wars universe. Today, Entertainment Weekly suggests that two of those films may center around a young Han Solo and Boba Fett.

Sources close to the projects confirmed this was the direction the development was taking, although they cautioned it’s still very early in the process and, well, the deal could always be altered futher. Lucasfilm and Disney declined to comment on the information.

The Han Solo story would take place in the time period between Revenge of the Sith and the first Star Wars (now known as A New Hope), so although it’s possible Harrison Ford could appear as a framing device, the movie would require a new actor for the lead — one presumably much younger than even the 35-year-old Ford when he appeared in the 1977 original.

The Boba Fett film would take place either between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back, or between Empire and Jedi, where the bounty hunter was last seen plunging unceremoniously into a sarlacc pit. Exactly who would play him isn’t much of a complication – in the original trilogy, he never took off his helmet. And in the prequels, we learned he was the son of the original stormtrooper clone, played by Temuera Morrison, who’s still the right age for the part if his services were required.

Keep in mind that this rumor kind of flies in the face of Iger saying yesterday that the standalone films would focus on characters not involved with the Saga.

You can probably guess that I’m very meh oh the possibility of a Fett movie (must he be in everything?) and intrigued by the possibility of a young Han Solo movie, even if it will likely wipe out years of established Expanded Universe canon. Seriously folks, embrace the multiverse. It’ll make your head hurt less in the long run.

As for why I’m meh on Fett? Come on. Dude is terrible at his job. 

Stuart Freeborn Passes Away at 98

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Original trilogy makeup supervisor Stuart Freeborn has passed away at age 98.

Freeborn’s accomplishments in the film industry were remarkable, having worked on notable films such as 2001: A Space Oddysey and Superman. Perhaps most notably were his contributions to the original Star Wars trilogy. Many of the alien character designs you saw in places like the Mos Eisley cantina in A New Hope as well as Chewbacca were his creation.

Disney’s Bob Iger Confirms Standalone Films in the Works

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So here’s what we know now. First and foremost, Star Wars spinoff movies are in the works and that is indeed why Kinberg and Kasdan were brought into the fold. Furthermore, these films are not going to center around characters involved in The Saga.

Episode VII is still slated for 2015 and hasn’t been officially pushed back a year or moved up as the AP erroneously reported a few weeks back. Iger also mentioned “concurrent” releases, which may mean that there will be films released between major episodes.

There are some other details in the interview with CNBC that may interest you, but the confirmation above was the big bit of news.

Update: StarWars.com adds that Kinberg and Kasdan will be working on separate movies.

One of the standalone films will be written by Lawrence Kasdan, screenwriter of The Empire Strikes Back, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and co-writer ofReturn of the Jedi while the other will be penned by Simon Kinberg, writer of Sherlock Holmes and Mr. and Mrs. Smith. The movies will be separate from the upcoming Episodes VII, VIII, and IX, on which Kasdan and Kinberg are also consulting, and are expected to be released sometime after Episode VII. Each standalone film will focus on a specific character, and two spinoff films are currently confirmed.

In a call to investors, Bob Iger, chairman and CEO of The Walt Disney Company, revealed while the original focus was on the highly-anticipated sequel trilogy, the idea of spinoff films was bandied about early and the additional films are now becoming a reality. “We are in development of a few standalone films,” he said, “that are not part of the Star Wars saga…there are now creative entities working on developing scripts for what would be those standalone films.”

(via)

EU Retrospective: Rogue Squadron

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I’ve finally reached the first batch of X-Wing books and there was much rejoicing!  Obviously we here at Tosche Station are very pro-X-Wing books and I always enjoy getting to read them again.  So sit back and enjoy me gushing about the first four books focused on the flyboys and flygirls of Rogue Squadron as they do the impossible which is absolutely what they do best.

Rogue Squadron
I love these books.  I really do.  But WOW IS CORRAN HORN AN ARROGANT PAIN IN THE BUTT in this book.  I do like him as a character especially with some of the character development he’s gotten over the years but he is infuriating to read about in this book.  The arrogance and the monologing do get a bit old after awhile.  At least I know he gets better.  Corran will always have some of that arrogance because that’s just who he is and I appreciate that but it’s at an all time high here.

I do enjoy reading this book though because it’s a solid read that offers both a good story and some great characters.  It simultaneously tells the story of the squadron’s reassembly and also sets up the overarching plot for the next three books.

With the exception of certain arrogant Corellian and a certain Bacta Queen-who-was-clearly-a-traitor-the-whole-time-in-retrospect, the characters are rather enjoyable!  (Okay, maybe I was a little harsh grouping Corran with Erisi there.  That was mean, I’m sorry, Corran.)  I always love getting a chance to look into Wedge Antilles’s head and Stackpole does such a good job of it.  I also enjoyed getting to meet such great characters like Tycho Celchu, Mirax Terrik, and Gavin Darklighter.  Poor Tycho though.  Like his backstory wasn’t already tragic enough without adding in the ‘he might be a traitor’ thing.  At least Mirax gets to balance it out by being sassy.

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Rumor: First Star Wars Standalone a Yoda Film

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Yes as per usual, this is a rumor. Take it with the biggest grain of salt humanly imaginable. Ain’t it Cool News is reporting that the first standalone film in the new Disney-owned Star Wars era will be a Yoda feature.

The first Stand Alone film is going to center upon YODA. At this stage specifics are sparse, but Kathleen Kennedy is putting together a STAR WARS slate… I’m wildly curious for more details on the YODA film – would this be a young or old YODA tale?

I’m rather hesitant on posting this, but a number of other (and larger) fansites have picked up on this rumor. If I’m being honest, I highly doubt that this film ever gets made, if for no other reason than two hours of Yoda-speak wouldn’t be the easiest thing to sit through. Don’t get me wrong, Yoda is an interesting character! But he’s interesting because he’s a character shrouded in mystery. Whenever the backstory of a character like this is explained, fans are rarely happy with the result.

Cosplay Monday: Gamorrean Warrior

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We’re back with another edition of Cosplay Monday: the weekly post where we try and awe you with an awesome costume and distract you from your case of the Mondays.  This week, we’re spotlighting an incredible looking Gamorrean costume spotted at Dragon*Con 2010 by photographer Insane-Pencil.  (If you know who the costumer is, please let us know and we’ll add in credit!)  Everything about this costume looks great and super impressive.  Well done!  (Who thinks this costumer should tackle a certain Wraith Squadron pilot next?)

Gamorrean_by_insane_pencil