Tosche Station Radio #48: Boba Fett Fan Outreach

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On this episode of Tosche Station Rado, the hosts are joined by Aaron and Teresa of the Star Wars Bookworms podcast to chat Star Wars, the Sequel Trilogy, and the Expanded Universe!

Kicking things off, Nanci highlights what’s New on the Blog. Bria, as usual, has been very busy. The Waru Express went to the Jedi Academy, finally visited its namesake, wore horrible Adumari clothes, and stopped at the Corellian Trilogy. Hello Tendra, good-bye Gaeriel. Meanwhile, the blog staff riffed off io9’s piece and discussed our own list of the 12 Worst Things in the Expanded Universe.

In Fixer’s Flash this week, Nanci has kept herself busy writing and both hosts got caught up with The Clone Wars just in time for the season (series?) finale. What did they think? Tune in to find out. Brian’s been idly watching Adventure Time and is pretty sure that’s as close as he will ever get to an acid trip. He also read the latest issue of Matt Fraction’s brilliant Hawkeye comics.

Deak’s Dirt starts with news of what Uncle George has been up to since retiring from Lucasfilm. Get your Indiana Jones jokes ready, because he’s thinking of founding an art museum. In great news for Expanded Universe and Her Universe fans, HU has secured EU merchandising rights from Lucasfim. Sounds like there’s Rogue Squadron gear coming and Mara and Jaina merchandise in the future! In television news, Tim Curry joins the cast of Clone Wars as Palpatine. Over on the video game side of things, Star Wars 1313 is in limbo. As far as Expanded Universe news goes, Crucible gets a new blurb. Finally as always, we’ve got the latest in Episode VII rumors. The latest rumblings (which require a shipload of salt) indicate that Episode VII will focus on Solo spawn and Disney wants three Zahn books. Finally, Carrie Fisher says she’s back to play Leia. But it’s not confirmed until Lucasfilm says it is!

This week on Camie’s Concerns, the hosts are joined by Aaron and Teresa of the Star Wars Bookworms podcast for a grab-bag Star Wars chat. On the agenda is a general Expanded Universe discussion, thoughts on The Clone Wars, and hopes for the Sequel Trilogy films. You can find their podcast here on the web, Twitter and on iTunes.

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.

Her Universe - Flaunt Your World - www.heruniverseshop.com Listen to a bestseller for $7.49 at audible.com!

Carrie Fisher Says She’s Back to Play Leia

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FisherC-Photo(HighResHEADSHOT2012)In a chat with Palm Beach Illustrated, Carrie Fisher says she’s back to play Leia. When asked point blank by the publication, Fisher responded with a simple “Yes.” Then Palm Beach Illustrated opened the proverbial can of works by asking Fisher what she thinks Leia’s up to these days:

What do you think Princess Leia is like today?

Elderly. She’s in an intergalactic old folks’ home [laughs].

I just think she would be just like she was before, only slower and less inclined to be up for the big battle.

And still wearing the bagel buns?

The bagel buns and the bikini, because probably she has sundowners syndrome. At sundown, she thinks that she’s 20-something. And she puts it on and gets institutionalized.

It’s smart to remember that this is not official confirmation. Given that this is Carrie Fisher and you can never quite be sure when she’s being serious or pulling a fast one on the interviewer, take this with a smaller grain of salt than usual. In this case, there’s probably more legs to this rumor than usual, but until Lucasfilm or Disney says something, it’s not fully confirmed.

EU Retrospective: The Corellian Trilogy

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If you were to ask me what I remembered about the Corellian Trilogy before I started this read through, I could’ve told you three things: Thracken Sal-Solo is a slimy git, Centerpoint Station is bad, and the Solo children should not try to build droids.  In other words, I went into these books with a relatively clean slate which was actually a rather nice change.  Even better?  It turns out that I do rather enjoy reading these books.  And also that I’d really like to steal Roger Macbride Allen’s career and be a Foreign Service Officer AND a Star Wars author.

Ambush at Corellia
If nothing else, you have to appreciate how self-aware and very Star Wars this book is in the very first chapter.  Han and Chewie are working on the Falcon and its plethora of mechanical issues and oh did anyone mention that the Solo children are a bunch of little troublemakers and have a reputation for it throughout the galaxy?

Also, because I am an Alderaan diehard, I will point out my objection to Leia saying that she was only the Organa’s foster daughter because I am 99% sure that she was adopted and raised completely as Bail and Breha’s own.  If anyone is going to be referred to as the Organa’s foster daughter, it’s probably Winter.

That one quibble aside, Roger MacBride Allen seems to understand the Skywalker twins better than a heck of a lot of the Star Wars authors.  One of the complaints that’s been brought up on the podcast lately is that there is no reason why Leia cannot be both a politician and a Jedi.  The first six chapters of this book show her striving to do exactly that.  On the flip side, they also show Mon Mothma urging Luke to embrace the political talents that he might have to better help the Jedi Order.  Although this trilogy was written well before the Prequel Trilogy was released, I do think that there is a good chance Mon Mothma knew or at least strongly suspected who Luke and Leia’s mother was and therefore thought that maybe some of Padme’s political talents had gone to both twins.  In short, the book’s start is a lovely reminder that people do not need to be defined by one job or one skill set alone and that there is no reason why Leia cannot be both politician and Jedi.

I actually found the book to be a decent enough read.  On its own, it doesn’t really stand up as its own story since much of what happens is clearly just all the set up for the next two books.  The Solo Family arrives on Corellia, Lando drags Luke off on his great ‘find a wife’ tour, and trouble really kicks off in the Corellian system.  The story pay off is going to have to happen in books 2 and 3.

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Tosche Station’s 12 Worst Things in the Expanded Universe

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Waru loves you.

Yesterday, io9 posted a list that covered the 12 Worst Things about the Expanded Universe. We really couldn’t disagree with any of it, but we did notice that it seemed to only run through the 90s. In the spirit of being all-inclusive, we decided to take a stab at the worst the Expanded Universe has to offer through the present day.

Emily rounded up myself, Bria, and Nanci to shamelessly rip off io9’s post and put together our own list of terrible things the Expanded Universe has featured over the years. While we do love the EU, we do recognize that it’s definitely not sacred and there’s a lot of silly stuff that’s made it to print and other tie-in media over the years.

To the jump for 12 things about the Expanded Universe we’ve been trying for years to repress!

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Crucible Gets New Blurb

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Random House posted a new blurb for Troy Denning’s Crucible, the next and perhaps last grand adventure for Luke, Han, and Leia in the Post-Return of the Jedi Expanded Universe.

Han Solo, Leia Organa Solo, and Luke Skywalker return in an all-new Star Wars adventure, which will challenge them in ways they never expected—and forever alter their understanding of life and the Force.

When Han and Leia Solo arrive at Lando Calrissian’s Outer Rim mining operation to help him thwart a hostile takeover, their aim is just to even up the odds and lay down the law. Then monstrous aliens arrive with a message, and mere threats escalate into violent sabotage with mass fatalities. When the dust settles, what began as corporate warfare becomes a battle with much higher stakes—and far deadlier consequences.

Now Han, Leia, and Luke team up once again in a quest to defeat a dangerous adversary bent on galaxy-wide domination. Only this time, the Empire is not the enemy. It is a  pair of ruthless geniuses with a lethal ally and a lifelong vendetta against Han Solo. They will stop at nothing to control the lucrative Outer Rim mining trade—and ultimately the entire galactic economy. And when the murderous duo gets the drop on Han, he finds himself outgunned in the fight of his life. To save him, and the galaxy, Luke and Leia must brave a gauntlet of treachery, terrorism, and the untold power of an enigmatic artifact capable of bending space, time, and even the Force itself into an apocalyptic nightmare.

Crucible is due out on bookshelves on July 9.

Via Club Jade

Cosplay Monday: Annabeth Chase

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We’re back with another Cosplay Monday where we try and distract you from the start of a dreary work week with some great costumes.  This week’s costume is another that I spotted at Katsucon last month.  While books are nothing short of wonderful, they do often make it more difficult to costume for since they aren’t a visual medium.  Therefore, you’re less likely to see your favorite book character wondering around a convention but when you do… well, you do something like I did at Katsucon and yell “ANNABETH CHASE!” and run after them.  So check out this awesome Annabeth Chase cosplayer from the Percy Jackson and the Olympians books!

Annabeth Chase

Rumors: Episode VII focusing on Solo spawn, Disney wants Three Zahn Books

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grain of salt

A grain of sodium chloride as seen through a microscope

And it’s time for the rumor mill to sputter to life one more time.

An insider with Nerdvana claims that the Sequel Trilogy will be focusing on a Solo child and grandchild, adding to other rumors and reports that the new films would place a premium on a younger generation of heroes rather than putting Han, Luke, and Leia back in the saddle.

The insider supposedly also had information covering the extent of J.J. Abrams involvement with Lucasfilm and Disney:

JJ’s contract has a clause for all three movies and an additional three of Lucas/Disney choosing if everyone melds well on the first one. This is typical of these types of contracts; gives everyone an out if needed.

So perhaps he’ll be around for more than just Episode VII. Stay tuned? On a final note, there was also a note about Timothy Zahn. If this insider is to be believed, Disney and Lucasfilm are keen on getting Zahn to pen three additional novels. Would these be film novelizations? I wouldn’t think so, but you never know.

Via Club Jade

Star Wars: 1313 In Limbo

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1313_spike_previewAt E3 last year, attendees were given a glimpse at the next AAA title LucasArts was working on. Titled Star Wars: 1313, the game was billed as an inter-trilogy action adventure that might be able to revive the struggling development studio. A cinematic trailer was shown and then … little was said about the project.

There’s no telling how much development had gone into the product beyond the pre-rendered video they had shown. Fans began to get concerned as the months after E3 passed without any additional word. One theory was that LucasArts was being quiet because the title was going to be a launch game on a Next Generation platform, but when Sony’s Playstation 4 press conference came and went without any additional word on the game’s status, Kotaku began to investigate. According to their sources, things are not looking good for 1313.

For weeks we’ve heard from multiple sources that the Disney purchase of LucasFilm (which includes LucasArts) has reoriented the company’s gaming division. The focus is on the new trilogy, not on material that is unrelated to the planned JJ Abrams-directed Star Wars: Episode VII. 1313‘s developers may still be fervently plugging away, for all we know. As LucasArts says, the game “continues production.” But it sounds from our sources like it’s not currently moving forward in any official capacity.

The game’s future is very much in doubt at this point. For more, read the entire article over at Kotaku.