Star Wars, Geek Culture, and Power Converters
Hat tip to John Jackson Miller for informing us that we’ll be able to get our hands on a sampler book previewing the upcoming Star Wars literature novels coming out later this year and through next year.
The sampler from Amazon will feature excerpts from Miller’s A New Dawn, Luceno’s Tarkin, and Kemp’s Lords of the Sith.
And from out of left field, another casting development for Episode VII. Announced on the official site, joining the fold are Pip Anderson and Crystal Clarke.
Having hunted high and low for young and undiscovered talent, the filmmakers are delighted to announce that two actors from the open call call have been cast.
Crystal Clarke is an American actress studying in Glasgow, UK, who has both stage and screen acting experience and is soon to be seen in her first feature, The Moon and the Sun (to be released in 2015). British actor Pip Andersen is a skilled practitioner of parkour, a discipline that involves propelling oneself through any given environment with incredible grace and agility. Pip recently demonstrated this remarkable skill in a Spider-Man ad for Sony.
“The Star Wars universe has always been about discovering and nurturing young talent and in casting Episode VII we wanted to remain absolutely faithful to this tradition. We are delighted that so many travelled to see us at the open casting calls and that we have been able to make Crystal and Pip a part of the film,” said producer and Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy.
Clarke and Anderson were pulled from the extensive multi-city and online talent search that contained over 37,000 attendees and 30,000 online applicants.
While there’s no indication on what the extent of the roles are, it is good to see the production crew going out of their way to cast another woman of color to appear in the film. While there is still room for improvement, slowly but surely the diversity ratio is improving in the Galaxy Far, Far Away.
It’s another Vader graphic novel as the collected edition of Darth Vader and the Cry of Shadows hits shelves today. Tim Siedell on script and Gabriel Guzman on art take us on another galactic adventure with the newly named Dark Lord of the Sith… or do they?
Darth Vader’s rampage across the galaxy after the fall of the Republic continues as he seeks out the remaining Jedi and rebels to destroy them. It’s through the eyes of a deserter clone trooper returned to the fold that we some of this as he comes to serve as one of Vader’s most trusted stormtroopers.
Star Wars Insider is teaming up with toy subscription site Nerd Block for a neat promotion this coming July that will net subscribers some special Star Wars swag:
The Force is strong with Nerd Block! A geek tested, nerd approved monthly mystery package that includes toys, collectibles and a limited edition shirt. Nerd Block and Star Wars Insider are teaming up to include 2 epic Star Wars items in July’s classic block!
Visit this link and save 10% of your first month with promo code WICKET!
Subscribers will also receive copies of Insider with their package. Head to the links above for more details.
Star Wars Weekends, conventions, and broken Harrison Ford appendages are on the docket for this all new Tosche Station Radio.
Kicking off the show, the hosts highlight What’s New on the Blog. Bria reviewed Darth Maul: Son of Dathomir #2, Legacy #16, and Rebel Heist #3. Emily reviewed Serenity: Leaves on the Wind #6. Conventions 101 by Bria. We didn’t make this, but we loved it so much we had to talk about it: Guardians of a Galaxy Far, Far Away.
In Fixer’s Flash, the hosts kept busy with Star Wars Weekends and a healthy dose of Steve Blum and Mark Hamill. They also went and saw X-Men: Days of Future Past and found some time to culture themselves with Into the Woods. Of course, it’s World Cup Mania so soccer has gotten into the mix as well.
Deak’s Dirt starts with Her Universe debuting a new Marvel line and Transformers products. Congrats to the Star Wars Insider on celebrating 150 issues! Congrats are also in order to Club Jade, which celebrated its 10 year blogoversary this month. George Lucas museum is heading to Chicago. ABattlefront trailer shown at E3. Shuffling release dates: Heir to the Jedi coming on February 17, Lords of the Sith coming on April 21. Josh Trank to direct second standalone film. Rian Johnson to direct Episode VIII, pen a treatment for Episode IX.
In Biggs’ Bull$#!%, there are more rumors about plot. Most importantly, it’s the ongoing Saga of Harrison Ford’s Broken Appendage. First he broke his ankle. Lucasfilm confirmed and said shooting will continue while he recuperates. Then his publicist said he broke his leg and had surgery. Despite previous reports, the accident involved a door, not the Millennium Falcon ramp. Lucasfilm is still staying mum on the story. The latest rumor is that Ford’s recovery will take 6 months, shooting is being rescheduled, and the Episode VII release date will be moved. Lucasfilm has told TFN that there will be no delay, but rumors persist that Abrams and Kennedy want to move the release date to May 4, 2016, while Bob Iger says “no way”
Camie’s Concerns kicks off convention season with a look at three of the big ones coming up this summer. The hosts also take time to discuss Bria’s blog post offering convention advice for first-timers. Be sure to tune back in two weeks from now when we have Brandy from the Star Wars track at Dragon Con to discuss the track and the convention.
Wrapping up the show, the hosts field a question in Ask us Anything.
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.
This podcast has been brought to you in part by Her Universe and Audible.com.
It’s New Comic Book Day, and Dark Horse seems to release everything at once, so naturally, all our reviews come out at once. Today, the last installment of Serenity: Leaves on the Wind releases and keeping things spoiler-free, here’s what I have to say:
Aw, comic, no.
I’m not going into the substandard art again, but if there’s been one thing I have enjoyed about this series, it’s been the writing–until now. And I understand that this comic is setting up for whatever the next Serenity comic mini-series is going to be, but the end of this comic very, very quickly took a turn for both 1) a (second) rehash of an old plotline and 2) a WTF spin on the level of Buffy Season Eight.
If you’ve bought the other five comics in the mini-series, buy this one to complete the set. But if the next mini-series continues off this arc, rather than telling stories like The Shepherd’s Tale or Better Days, I’d be just a little bit wary of investing money in it.
Another issue of Rebel Heist, another one of our heroes takes the spotlight. Rebel Heist #3 by Matt Kindt and Marco Castiello arrives in comic stores today as Chewbacca gets to pick up almost literally where Leia let off and get the trooper to his destination.
This go-round, it’s the stormtrooper with a code hidden in his DNA who’s narrating our hero’s adventure. Unfortunately for him, he’s stuck with Chewbacca as his guide when he doesn’t think much of wookiees or understand of a lick of shyriiwook. This is clearly not a partnership made in heaven but it’s the only way they’re going to get to this galaxy drive in time to help Han.
The last arc of Star Wars: Legacy kicks off today as Legacy #16 hits comic store shelves. Don’t worry though: Corinna Bechko and Gabriel Hardman are hardly going to just coast through these final few issues and there are always some surprises awaiting readers in Legacy…
This review contains some spoilers.
When last we saw our heroes, Ania Solo had been rescued from her mysterious hunter and also exonerated during her trial. As is the nature of the galaxy though, Jao Assam was arrested for deserting the Knights. Clearly Ania will be having none of that so she sets out to try and have him freed only for Jao to seemingly escape. Nothing’s quite what it seems though from Jao’s escape to the Empress Fel herself.
Due to some schedule changes with the publisher, two novels slated for next year are getting slightly modified release dates.
HEIR TO THE JEDI by @KevinHearne new on sale is Feb 17, 2015. Just publisher shuffling dates. We’re all fine here. How are you? @starwars
— StarWarsBooks (@DelReyStarWars) June 23, 2014
LORDS OF THE SITH by @Paulskemp new on sale is April 21, 2015. Just our publisher shuffling dates. No need to send a squad up. @starwars
— StarWarsBooks (@DelReyStarWars) June 23, 2014
Normally I don’t post YouTube videos on the blog just for the sake of posting YouTube videos, but you’ll see why I made an exception for this one.