Category Archives: Star Wars

Disney to tease new Star Wars and Avatar attractions at D23

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Well this is interesting. According to Dave Fisher, show producer with the Walt Disney Parks and Resorts Pavillion, D23 might prove to be very interesting on a Star Wars and attractions front. It sounds like confirmation of some new Galaxy Far, Far Away themed additions.

We’re also going to be doing sneak peeks at upcoming projects – including Disney Springs, the reimagining of Downtown Disney at Walt Disney World Resort. There will be teasers for new attractions based on Avatar and Star Wars that we’re working on now for the Disney Parks.

No idea what this means as far as the scale and size of these new attractions, but it appears D23 is something we should be keeping our eyes on now.

Via Slashfilm

Review: Star Wars: Legacy #5

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If you weren’t already sold on the brand new Star Wars: Legacy comic, you almost definitely will be after this issue.  Legacy #5 by Corinna Bechko and Gabriel Hardman is out in stores today and draws the first story arc to a spectacular close.  If you haven’t been reading the book thus far, I would definitely suggest find yourself copies of the first 5 issues or preordering the trade.

As with before, this review contains mild spoilers for the issue.

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Catch Nanci and Brian on Dragon Con panels at the Star Wars track

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dragon conAre you going to be at Dragon Con this year? If you are, you can catch Brian and Nanci on a trio of panels on the Star Wars fan track.

  • Friday 1PM: Intro to the Expanded Universe. We’ll be discussing how and where to get into Star Wars literature and offer our recommendations on books/comics/games. Daniel Eisenhauer and Tom Hutchens will be on this panel with us.
  • Saturday 7PM: Blogs, Podcasting, Vidding, and FanFic. We’re joining Riley and Bethany Blanton of the Star Wars Report and Bryan Young of Big Shiny Robot (and Force knows how many other media outlets) for a grab bag discussion of blogging, podcasting, vidding, and fan fiction.
  • Sunday 11:30AM: Where are the Women and Minorities in Star Wars? In a surprise to absolutely no one, Nanci and I will be discussing the role of women and minorities in Star Wars and offer our thoughts onto how the Galaxy Far, Far Away can be a more diverse and inclusive franchise.

The dates and times above are subject to change, but these are definitely the panels that you can find us on. It’ll be like the podcast! Except in front of a live audience. What could go wrong?

The Monolithic Jedi

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Awhile back, I wrote a post on EUCantina about the prequelization of the post-Return of the Jedi era of the Expanded Universe. The article’s basic point was that in the early days of the EU, the authors had no official knowledge about the Jedi Order in the Old Republic. None of us did–all we had was our imaginations. We didn’t know that Jedi lived in a Temple on Coruscant, were taken from their families as babies, and trained from the time they were children. As such, Luke Skywalker’s Jedi Academy was full of adults from many different worlds, of different ages, and varying careers. Some of them even came from families of Jedi. Tionne was a historian, Corran was a pilot and a cop, Mara was a smuggler, Kirana Ti was a warrior, Streen was a hermit, etc. etc. No matter what your opinion of the Jedi Academy Trilogy, I have to give credit to Kevin J. Anderson for creating a diverse group of Jedi, personality and background wise (although in retrospect there could have been more non-humans and people of color). Even in other eras, like the Tales of the Jedi comics, being a Jedi seemed to be more “what you did” and less “who you were.”

Then the prequels came out, and everything changed.

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Rumor: J.J. Abrams leaving Episode VII?

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Update: Lucasfilm responds, says “Yeah, no.” Original post below:

I guess it’s been too long since there was a bombshell of an Episode VII rumor, so here we go. Badass Digest suggests that J.J. Abrams wants out of the film.

Why is it that I keep hearing tons of rumors that JJ Abrams is on the verge of dropping out of Star Wars? This has been something I’ve heard for a while now, and from multiple insiders. I know that he didn’t want to shoot the movie in England and was overruled, but that happened a while ago. This weekend at Comic Con I continued to hear these whispers. No director for Trek 3 has been found yet – might Abrams end up coming back after all, leaving Star Wars to someone else?

Bryan Young over at Big Shiny Robot talked about why this doesn’t make much sense and I’m right there with him. I’m going with fan paranoia on this one and I just won’t put stock into this particular rumor until after Celebration Europe at the earliest.

SWEU News From Comic Con!

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The intrepid James Floyd from Club Jade is at Comic Con this weekend, and he oh so generously livetweeted both SWEU panels.

From the Dark Horse panel, notable announcements included a new arc of Dark Times, the introduction of a new villain into Dawn of the Jedi, an Ewoks comic set in the arrival of the Empire era, Tom Taylor working on a secret project, and an upcoming Vader and clone story. For more, see Club Jade’s Storify feed from the event.

James also attended the Del Rey panel. Right at the beginning, moderator Leland Chee stated that the SWEU is in transition as a result of the Disney buyout and Episode VII. Therefore they’re unlikely to announce a new title…but we can dream, right?

Kenobi began as a graphic novel, but got so long it became a novel. Jen Heddle praised the novel, and John Jackson Miller compared Obi-Wan to a well-known superhero, saying he has to learn to be Clark Kent as opposed to Superman. Frank Parisi also praised the upcoming Empire and Rebellion: Razor’s Edge by Martha Wells, and Heddle added that there’s a good focus on the Big Three.

J.W. Rinzler, author of The Making of Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, said the book took two years to write and extensive digging into the archives. In a really cool feature, the enhanced e-book will have 30 minutes of audio and 30 minutes of video. Some clips were shown during the panel.

Other items of note:

  • There will be a Death Star Tech Manual.
  • Darth Maul: Lockdown will tie into Darth Plagueis. Apparently Sidious and Plagueis have different plans for Maul in this prison version of Oz and Scarface.
  • Star Wars: Jedi Academy by Jeffrey Brown, coming in August, will tell the story of middle school by a new character writing and doodling.
  • As to the future of the EU, it’s still in flux, but even before, Lucasbooks and Del Rey did their own EU without concern for films and television. Whether it’s used in those mediums is up to the writers and directors.
  • Regarding The Clone Wars, Chee said the possibility of tying up loose ends is a possibility. As to making a definitive timeline of the era, that’s not happening any time soon.

Notable announcements include the cover reveal to Empire and Rebellion: Honor Among Thieves, the Han-centric novel by James S.A. Corey, published March 4, 2014. Heddle compared the novel to Brian Daley’s Han Solo Adventures.

Han Solo Cover

A notable exception: no mention of Christie Golden’s Sword of the Jedi trilogy, scheduled for release next year. Is this good or bad news? We shall see…

Club Jade collected all of James’ tweets on another Storify, which you can find here. Thanks to James for his great reporting!

Hamill discusses SDCC and Episode VII

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markhamill39309Yesterday, Mark Hamill sat down with the Hollywood Reporter to discuss all things Star Wars and San Diego Comic Con. As per usual, he was asked about his involvement and interest with the upcoming Episode VII. His response:

Hamill’s hopes are high for the Star Wars: Episode VII reunion: “We want this to happen. How could I not take this ride? They’re making all the right moves, like Michael Arndt as the writer. Little Miss Sunshine, Toy Story 3 — he writes humor and he writes heart. I’m not someone who looks to recapture the glory of when I was in my 20s. I think it’ll probably be about the next generation. We’ll be the link to the past, but the kids will be doing the heavy lifting. And the Wookiee will have a walker.”

It’s pretty clear at this point that Hamill is keen to do more Star Wars. You get the feeling that something’s going to be confirmed on this front sooner rather than later.

Her Universe gets a site redesign, Jaina and Mara shirts available online

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Jaina Mara shirts

If you haven’t been over to Her Universe today, you may have missed that the site got an overhaul!

You may also have missed that today, the limited time Jaina and Mara shirts debuting at San Diego Comic Con are also available on the site. The Jaina shirt is currently online and available for purchase, and according to Her Universe, the Mara shirt should also be available shortly. Plus, brand new Doctor Who and The Walking Dead items are now online too including a super awesome looking zombie hoodie. So head over and take a look!