Tosche Station Radio #54: International Class

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On this episode of Tosche Station Radio, the hosts are joined by Mark Newbold of JediNewsUK to discuss all things Star Wars!

Kicking off the show, the hosts highlight what’s New on the Blog. The Waru Express continues on the journey through the New Jedi Order. We also did a bit of Mythbusting: Did George Lucas order Anakin Solo’s death?

In Fixer’s Flash this week, Nanci’s kept herself busy by writing another story and reading through Part 1 of Dragonpocalypse by Matthew Bowers. Brian’s been off watching baseball and soccer, but also has been reading through science fiction thriller Season of Passage by Christopher Pike.

Deak’s Dirt starts with some news out of The Hunger Games fandom: Catching Fire’s teaser trailer was released on MTV. Meanwhile, a new (and final?) Star Trek Into Darkness trailer also hit the web. In other Star franchise news, Michael Giacchino says John Williams should score Episode VII. Martha Wells’ Leia novel gets a title. On the rumor front, someone claiming to have worked at Lucasfilm said that the next Star Wars animated project would be Star Wars: Reclamation. Don’t hold your breath, it was a fake. Tor.com looked at the Star Wars fandom with a piece they called You Take Your Star Wars, I’ll Take Mine. In Episode VII rumors, Harrison Ford chats with Letterman, Anthony Daniels says he’s not sitting by phone waiting for call. In actual news, Disney announced alternating episodes and standalones would be the plan to have a Star Wars film in theaters every year. Finally in sad news, Richard LeParmentier has passed away.

This week’s installment of Camie’s Concerns features a general Star Wars chat with friend of the show and JediNewsUK blogger Mark Newbold.

Tosche Station Radio is the official podcast of Tosche-Station.net and a part of Majestic Giraffe Productions. If you like what you hear, please leave a review on the iTunes Music Store. We can also be found on Facebook 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.

This podcast has been brought to you in part by Her Universe and Audible.com.

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New Star Wars Films to Be Released Every Summer Starting in 2015

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You get a Star Wars film! And you get a Star Wars film! And you…well, you get the point.

Today at CinemaCon in Las Vegas, Disney and Lucasfilm announced that a new Star Wars film will be released each summer starting in 2015.

Episode VII will come first, followed by a standalone film in 2016. This alternating “episode-standalone” schedule will continue until, presumably, Episode IX is released (it felt really really really weird to type Episode IX as an actual thing that will happen, by the way). Bob Iger confirmed upcoming standalone films back in February, but this is the first we’ve heard of this aggressive release schedule. No note of how many standalone films will be produced, or if they will continue after the Sequel Trilogy ends.

We’re recording a new episode of Tosche Station tonight, so be sure to look out for a new episode with all of our thinky thoughts.

(via IGN and /film)

The Martha Wells “Leia novel” Gets Official Title

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Martha Wells announced on her Live Journal that her new Star Wars novel, the first in the “Rebels” series, now has an official name: Empire and Rebellion: Razor’s Edge. Sounds like we might finally get into the nitty-gritty of Leia’s character in this book, which is awesome.

I’m very excited for this book, and I’m also really excited for potential implications of the new series name, Empire and Rebellion. Does this mean we might get stories from an Imperial point of view, say with fan favorite characters like Baron Fel and Tycho Celchu? Just imagine how awesome a Tycho defecting from the Empire novel would be.

Razor’s Edge is scheduled for release on October 15. Other upcoming novels in the Empire and Rebellion series include a Han-centric novel from James S.A. Corey and a Luke-centric novel from Kevin Hearne.

Del Rey also confirmed the titles on Twitter and Facebook:

More layoffs at Lucasfilm targeting licensing and marketing

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By all indications, there’s been another round of layoffs at Lucasfilm. This time it also affects the Lucasfilm Licensing division.

These layoffs are reportedly impacting individuals within licensing, marketing, and publishing. The first two make a certain amount of sense since Disney has huge licensing and marketing arms, but publishing would be a bit more out of left field as they do not have much in the way of in-house options on that front. Possibly the layoffs within that arm are confined to children and reference materials, which Disney can probably replicate. Adult fiction would be tougher.

Via Club Jade

UPDATE: Publishing not impacted

Sounds like the initial report was wrong on the publishing front. LFL’s Jen Heddle got in contact with Club Jade to clear things up:

This makes quite a bit more sense. If Disney can do anything internally, it’s licensing products and marketing everything under their umbrella. Publishing is still something that they in theory have the framework to do entirely internally, but isn’t what I would call a strong suit. For now (and I suspect for a long, long while), the setup remains the same for Star Wars literature.

Mythbusting: Did George Lucas order Anakin Solo’s death?

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The myth: George Lucas feels that there would be marketing and brand confusion to have two heroes named Anakin at the same time, one in the Prequel Trilogy and one in the Expanded Universe. Because of this, he orders Anakin Solo to be killed in the New Jedi Order books. Troy Denning is given the instructions from Lucasfilm itself to kill off Anakin.

Murdered by George Lucas!?

The investigation: To get to the answer, Nanci went to the Twittersphere and all-around-awesome Lucasfilm person Pablo Hidalgo dug into his notes to get to the bottom of the issue.

The reality: It turns out that George Lucas and Lucasfilm itself didn’t order that Anakin Solo be killed. Rather, they stated that he couldn’t be a prophetic hero and that role should be changed up to someone else. Hello, Jacen.

It appears that the decision to kill Anakin was made somewhere lower on the chain, perhaps the editors and/or authors working with Del Rey at the time. Whoever made the call, what’s clear is that there wasn’t a directive from on high to off Anakin Solo. The decision to kill him rather than change his role or put him on a bus appears to have been made by the people actually producing the books. 

Busted

Michael Giacchino Says John Williams Should Score Episode VII

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michael giacchinoThese days, there are seemingly two constants in the film universe. First, if there’s a Star Wars movie, John Williams is scoring it. Second, if there’s a J.J. Abrams movie, Michael Giacchino is scoring it.

Uh oh.

Given these two virtual certainties, a number of fans are wondering exactly who is going to score the next episodic installment of the Star Wars saga. Will it by franchise legacy composer Williams, or will J.J. Abrams bring in Giacchino? There’s no telling for sure yet, but Giacchino himself seems to think it should be Williams back at the conductor’s stand.

“He has been a great inspiration to me over the years,” he continued. “He has been a great teacher to me and good friend and I would love nothing more than to hear more of his music from that universe.”

“If it were up to me I would say ‘John, you must do it.’”

For whatever it’s worth, I do agree with Giacchino. If Williams is able and willing, he should be the one that scores Episode VII. If nothing else, maintaining a constant presence on the film score side of things will go a long ways in linking these three distinct eras of Star Wars together.

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.

Cosplay Monday: Tiny Thor and Hawkeye

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We’re back with another edition of Cosplay Monday where we try and help start your work week with some fabulous costumes!  Get your ‘awwww’s ready because Cosplay Monday has taken another detour into the realm of cute.  Check out this adorable tiny Thor and this adorable tiny Hawkeye that Brian and Nanci spotted at Megacon!  Honestly, is there anything cuter than cosplaying children?  Especially when they pose so seriously.  Epic win right here.

Hawkeye and Thor