If you are like me and are eager to read anything from Timothy Zahn’s upcoming Han Solo novel, you’ll be happy to read this brief excerpt from Scoundrels. Oh Han. You’re always in over your head, you scruffy looking nerf herder, you.
Category Archives: Star Wars
Mike Stackpole On This Week’s Tosche Station Radio
Yes, you read that right. Author Mike Stackpole will be on this week’s podcast! Because of that, we’re looking for your questions for him. Tweet them to us, leave them on our Facebook page, or leave a comment on this post.
We will be recording on Wednesday at 5PM Pacific, so get your questions in before then.
What Attractions Would You Like To See In A Star Wars Theme Park?
Well, Disneyland Paris might be getting a big Star Wars themed expansion. Of course, that’s got us wondering. What kind of rides and attractions would be neat in a Star Wars theme park? We asked on Twitter, and a few people chimed in with some rather fun answers.
If you’ve got an idea, reply to this tweet and we’ll add it to the list. Head to the jump to see what kinds of rides and attractions readers and listeners would love to see at a hypothetical park.
Disneyland Paris to get Star Wars Land?
If true, color me insanely jealous. Disney Paris might not be getting just the Star Tours update, they might be getting a whole Star Wars-themed section put into the park.
The plan is not only to bring Star Tours 2 at DLP Discoveryland but also to transform what is now the Captain EO theatre, the Star Traders shop as well as the Pizza Planet restaurant to create a “Star Wars land” and as you will see on the Google Earth screen capture below they not only have plenty of room backstage to do it but probably will even have enough room in the future to add new rides if necessary. The back of Discoveryland already don’t have the same architecture than the front, so this Star Wars land shouldn’t be a problem, esthetically speaking.
While Nanci is Tosche Station’s resident theme park expert and enthusiast, I know I’d love something like this in the American market. Disney World in Orlando is looking for something to compete against the wildly popular Wizarding World of Harry Potter over at Universal Studios. They’re giving James Cameron’s Avatar a shot at biting into that tie-in market, but I don’t think anyone expects that to be nearly the success Universal’s Hogwarts and Hogsmeade themed area is.
What’s the one thing Disney could throw out there to actually go toe-to-toe with Potter? Star Wars. It certainly would be neat to see Disney’s Hollywood Studios expand a bit to include a larger Galaxy Far, Far Away theme.
Trope Tuesday: Fate Worse than Death
It’s Tuesday! Which means it’s time to dive back into that wonderful time sink full of literary themes and devices, TV Tropes. On the docket this week: Fate Worse than Death
Think death is the cruelest fate? Think again. There are several things much worse: torture, taxes, and tofu, to name but a few. And more often than not, some unlucky soul will experience it. Originally, this phrase meant rape; that’s still one possible meaning. And now there’seven worse than that.
This phrase is usually used in a Just Between You and Me moment by the Evil Overlord as he boasts about the agony-inducing Death Trap that awaits the hero for delaying his plans. It’s also fairly commonly used as a warning to the hero against seeking forbidden power or knowledge, and consequently to foreshadow the particular Karmic Death the villain will suffer because of meddling with the universe’s Cosmic Keystone.
The Galaxy Far, Far Away is practically filled with fates infinitely worse than death. I mean, there’s being digested over the course of a thousand years by a Sarlacc. Forcing to merge and become one with some sort of Eldritch Abomination. Getting frozen alive. Carnal relations with giant bugs. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather take a blaster bolt between the eyes than face down the other horrors the Galaxy seems to have in store for people.
Jason Fry Releases Fifth Batch of ‘EG to Warfare’ Endnotes
Ask any fic writer who has dabbled in Star Wars military fiction and they’ll tell you they have pulled their hair out trying to find out just how the rank system works between various military factions. Thankfully for all of us, Jason Fry and Paul Urquhart managed to answer some of those questions definitively in EG to Warfare.
Paul writes: “This section had to combine the basic four-color rank stripes from Attack of the Clones with the more complex grade system from ‘Guide to the Grand Army of the Republic’ in Star Wars Insider #84, as well as stray references to additional ranks in various novels, and it had to make them all work with the unit structure. I’d have liked to have done something with the unit formations, which real soldiers tell me are unrealistic, but I subtly hinted that the Kaminoans are a bit unrealistic and childlike in their liking for neat, obedient ranks of expendable troops. More on that when we get to the Empire….”
For more information, check out the fifth batch of endnotes on Jason Fry’s Tumblr.
More from the Coruscant Craft Fair
It’s the end of the semester over here, and that means one thing–my immune system has given up and decided that I need a couple of days to recuperate from running non-stop. Naturally, that means I spent far too much time on Pinterest this week.
So, remember those shoes I posted last time? Check out Geek with Curves for instructions on how to make your own Star Wars shoes using old magazines and Mod Podge. Don’t feel like doing it on your own? Fashionably Geek has a link to an etsy store where you can buy handpainted R2-D2 Toms.
If you’re more into cooking, how about a set of these for the kids: Chewbacca cupcakes.
If you’re making them for the adult crowd, I might suggest using this recipe which adds to the chocolate-y goodness by including Guinness. (No, there is no redeeming nutritional value to these at all. But they’re Chewie cupcakes! Who wants there to be?)
If you’re more into needlework instead, take a look here at these crocheted Granny Square TIE fighters from Craftzine. Each fighter has a different granny square as its foundation. Unfortunately, there aren’t any instructions. But if you’re looking for Star Wars-themed crochet, you can buy a pattern for a mini Yoda amigurumi over at Etsy.
In fact, you can get more than just Yoda. The seller features 12 different Star Wars amigurumi patterns at her Etsy store. Aren’t they cute?
Watch this early in the day if you want to sleep.
Cracked.com has a recut trailer for Star Wars that is pretty entertaining, but you will never look at that little blue trash can the same.
Things that happen when you accidentally text a member of the 501st….
It’s NSFW due to some language at the end. I didn’t realize Darth Vader had an iPhone, though.
(By the way, check the dates on this…our Vader stand-in had this guy going for a month.)
New Mystery Star Wars Project Announcement Incoming
Hit it, John Jackson Miller!
And there should be news out about the Secret Project at last in the next week and a half, I am told. Not long now…
— John Jackson Miller (@jjmfaraway) April 27, 2012
Could this be the original trilogy project Dark Horse hinted at during C2E2? We’ll have to wait for the actual announcement to know for certain, but that won’t stop any of us from stooping to rampant speculation.
I, for one, am hoping we’ll finally get a book or comic filled with Bren Derlin Facts.