Category Archives: Star Wars

Richard LeParmentier Passes Away

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Motti-anhEarly this morning, word broke that Richard LeParmentier had passed away at 67. LeParmentier was best known for playing Admiral Motti in Episode IV.

Over at Big Shiny Robot, Bryan Young and Janine Spendlove shared their heartfelt thoughts on LeParmentier.

The first time I met Richard in person was at Celebration III in Indianapolis at a 501st dinner, where I offered to buy him a beer. I’ll never forget his response, “I’m too old to have that much carbonated liquid in my bladder. I’ll take a glass of wine, though.”

Richard was a very nice guy. I kept up with him on facebook. He mentored me for a time as a writer, as we were workshopping the script for Motti Now and breaking it down for production. Aside from being instrumental in my favorite scene in A New Hope, Richard left an indelible mark on my life and I’m very sorry to hear that he’s passed away. I was hoping to get him on Full of Sith these days, and join him drinking a bottle of wine again at some point.

For more, head to the above link.

EU Retrospective: The New Jedi Order Part 2

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Things might be going really downhill for the galaxy but boy are they going uphill for me as a reader!  I actually find the middle chunk of New Jedi Order books to be incredibly solid reads and rather enjoy all of them despite the emotions they might provoke from me.

Balance Point:
It’s a marvel I stuck with the New Jedi Order because Balance Point is the third book in a row that just doesn’t impress me. It’s not that it’s necessarily bad, it’s just meh and I find it to be boring.

Again, the bits with Mara and Anakin working together are definitely a highlight. Actually, everything with Mara in this book is a high point. And that’s about it.

The entire point of the book seems to be an excuse for the Solo family to continue to have its issues and to resolve most of them by the end. The other point seems to be for Jacen Solo to continue to have his philosophical issues with using the Force and I still don’t buy any of that reasoning. By this point, the war’s been going on for a year and the Vong are clearly an issue. I don’t believe for a minute that Jacen Solo would sit back and not give his all to defend the galaxy. It just doesn’t fit with this character. With Tsavong Lah declaring that he wants all the Jedi dead and singling out Jacen, this feels like it was almost tacked on editorial meddling when they realized that he wouldn’t be the Solo kid dying.

I’m sure there are other people out there who liked this book but not I.  I’m going to stick with my resounding ‘meh’ for my review.

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DVR watch: Mark Hamill will guest-star on Criminal Minds

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TV Guide at Yahoo! is reporting that Mark Hamill will be guest-starring in the two-part season 8 finale of CBS’ procedural drama Criminal Minds. While there’s no word yet on exactly who Hamill will play, TV Guide speculates that he may be following more in the footsteps of the Joker than Luke Skywalker:

Details about Hamill’s role are being kept under wraps, but could he be the BAU’s season-long unsub/stalker The Replicator? In the two-hour episode, the team’s pursuit of The Replicator will come to a head when one of them becomes a victim. Executive producer Erica Messer also previously told TVGuide.com that the BAU won’t come face-to-face with The Replicator until the season’s final two episodes.

The Criminal Minds two-part season finale airs May 22nd, 9e/8c.

More Entertainment Industry Layoffs: Disney Eliminates Studio Jobs

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Not even the Mouse House is immune, unfortunately. According to Variety, Disney has begun the process of laying off at least 150 workers at Walt Disney Studios. Some of the affected employees are part of the animation division, marking yet another company that has been forced to downsize their entertainment arms.

At this point, it appears to be an industry-wide thing. The powerhouse Tippett Studios underwent layoffs a few weeks ago. Last week noted game developer and publisher Square Enix announced that they were eliminating a number of jobs from their Los Angeles studio as part of a corporate re-organization. This is just a sample of the hard times the entertainment industry has found themselves in lately.

While it’s easy for many fans to get angry with Disney for they layoffs at both Lucasfilm Animation and LucasArts, we have to understand that there simply wasn’t any malice involved with those decisions. The entertainment industry is in a state of upheaval right now and that’s forcing these studios to make some uncomfortable choices that lead to re-orgs and layoffs. Given the state of the industry right now, some of this restructuring could have happened even if George Lucas still owned the company.

EU Retrospective: The New Jedi Order Part 1

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Welcome back to the Waru Express, dear readers, after a bit of a break.  We’re diving right into the New Jedi Order which requires an entire shelf all on its own.  19 books?  Let’s go!  Before we dive into the book reviews, I figured I’d let you all in on a secret: I don’t hate the NJO.  In fact, I like a fair bit of it.  There are certainly some books and occurrences that I strongly dislike and I think it could’ve been shorter but I enjoy the vast majority of it.  Spoiler Alert: I love the Stackpole, Allston, and Stover books but does that surprise any of you?  My point is that I’m not a hater when it comes to these books but neither do I blindly love them so while my thoughts are on these books are likely to be a fair bit more positive than most of the blogosphere, you’re still going to get a decent dose of snark.  Starting with this post.

With that out of the way, let’s dive into the first lengthy review post as I discuss the books from Vector Prime to Jedi Eclipse.

Vector Prime
Ah yes.  The infamous “Chewbacca is Dead!” book.  I feel nothing but pity for R.A. Salvatore having to be the one to pull the trigger on this given how the fandom can be at times.  Let’s get the giant wookiee in the corner out of the way.  Yeah, Chewbacca dying sucks.  Reading through the book knowing what was coming made all the scenes with Chewie that much more painful.  He’s a big part of our group of heroes and it is sad that he dies.  HOWEVER.  His death certainly does signify to the readers that this oncoming threat isn’t going to be easily defeated and that no one will escape unscathed.  Also?  If you’re going to go out, this is certainly one of the more badass ways to do it.  Chewbacca rejects your notion of death by blasterfire and goes down shaking his fist at a freaking moon.

I’d really like to know what the heck happened to Jacen Solo between the end of Crisis of Crystal Reef and the start of this book.  It feels like I’m reading about two completely different characters and I’m not even counting the lack of bad jokes because that’s something a person could reasonably grow out of.

Overall, I actually think the book functions quite well in its role.  It sets up the Vong invasion, lets us get to see our favorite characters again, and tells us that this isn’t going to be an easy ride.  I also find it to be an enjoyable book on its own.  It’s nice getting to see the Solo kids have some fun before the galaxy goes to hell even if it’s only for the first half of the book.

The final line of the book sums it up the best: “But to Han Solo, the galaxy suddenly seemed a more dangerous place by far.”

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Dave Filoni Involved With New Star Wars Cartoon

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FiloniIGN has a recap from Dave Filoni’s sit down with Rebel Forces Radio yesterday. Among the highlights? He’s apparently involved in the early processes of a new Star Wars cartoon.

“At this point, I am involved in some early production discussions and exploration of what we’ll be doing with Star Wars animation in the future, which is really exciting for me and I have some friendly faces around me, of course, that are helping me on the project. So it’s a transition time, as I’ve said before, and I think it will lead to an exciting time and hopefully I’ll see things grow again.”

What is this new cartoon? New idea yet, but I kind of figured this would happen. Lucasfilm Animation was somewhat of a redundant department after the Disney acquisition, because if Disney has anything, it’s a world-class animation shop. That said, even if Lucasfilm Animation were to shut down or downsize, Disney is smart enough to pick off that talent and retain them for future projects. Don’t be surprised if not only Dave Filoni but the bulk of his creative crew find their way to this new project.

It’s also worth noting that Lucasfilm isn’t the only company experiencing downsizing in their visual effects and animation departments. Over in the comments at Club Jade, Pablo Hidalgo pointed out that Tippett Studios and numerous other VFX shops were experiencing layoffs. The downsizing at Lucasfilm Animation might have less to do with Disney and more to do with a changing entertainment landscape.

The Fate of LucasArts was a Decade in the Making

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To say fan reaction to the closure of long-time game developer and publisher LucasArts was strong would be an understatement. Emotions ranged from sadness to outright anger at new parent company Disney for shuttering the studio responsible for critically acclaimed titles like TIE Fighter, The Dig, and Escape from Monkey Island. Through the years, this division of the Lucasfilm brand had been responsible for numerous well received games that became benchmarks for the industry as a whole. It’s understandable, then, that fans of the company are bewildered as to why Disney would close down such a prolific studio and monument to gaming history.

While a glance through their catalog reveals a studio that has had more success than the vast majority of their competitors, a deeper look reveals that LucasArts set themselves on a risky path nearly a decade ago.

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Lucasarts Shuttered, Employees Laid Off

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LucasartsKotaku is reporting that Disney has officially shut down Lucasarts and laid off all employees.

Given the lingering hard feelings over Lucasfilm Animation and the cancellation of The Clone Wars, it’s easy to get upset at Disney. I would caution against it, however. Lucasarts was a development studio that was in trouble years before Disney even came into the picture. The number of titles they released plummeted around 2006-2007 and the marquee titles they did release were not well received critically. The Force Unleashed and its sequel were regarded as middling titles and The Old Republic was a huge expenditure that failed to put a dent in the MMO market.

There’s also this to consider:

Lucasarts has been a development studio in trouble for years. This studio getting shut down doesn’t mean the end of Star Wars games. If anything, I view it as a hopeful thing. For whatever reason, they have been unable to produce quality products internally for a number of years and they probably could have and should have been closed down sooner to redistribute that valuable IP.

If Disney is licensing the Star Wars IP now to other studios, that could be great news for fans.

Edit: Official statement from Lucasfilm

GameInformer received a statement from Lucasfilm discussing the closure of the studio.

“After evaluating our position in the games market, we’ve decided to shift LucasArts from an internal development to a licensing model, minimizing the company’s risk while achieving a broader portfolio of quality Star Wars games. As a result of this change, we’ve had layoffs across the organization. We are incredibly appreciative and proud of the talented teams who have been developing our new titles.”

In addition, Kotaku is now reporting that Star Wars 1313 and First Assault have been canceled

Staff were informed of the shutdown this morning, according to a reliable Kotaku source. Some 150 people were laid off, and both of the studio’s current projects—Star Wars: First Assault and Star Wars 1313—were cancelled. Disney will still use the LucasArts name to license games, but the studio is no more.

Geeky Clothing Item of the Day: Rogue Squadron Hockey Jersey

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We’ve all got geeky t-shirts. Maybe even geeky jackets. But do you have a geeky hockey jersey? I didn’t think so. Over on Twitter Nanci and I were alerted to this item that I need in my closet yesterday.

Yes that is a Rogue Squadron hockey jersey and good heavens I want it so much. It even features the Rogue Squadron insignia on the shoulders! If you head over to the product page and you have $95 on hand, you can order yourself up a custom jersey that lets you supply your own name and number. Maybe instead of a Skywalker 77 you want an Antilles 77?