Star Wars, Geek Culture, and Power Converters
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As someone who was looking for a neat Valentine’s Day gift, I’m glad to see that Her Universe has a new set of Valentine’s Day themed quote shirts for the Star Wars, Star Trek, and Doctor Who fandoms.
The Star Wars shirt’s quote can be seen on the left and features a bevy of lovely in-universe references.
The new shirts are available in the store right now so head on over to Her Universe to pick one up for the geek in your life.
The new guard and old guard.
When Lucasfilm was sold to Disney, long-time film industry veteran Kathleen Kennedy was given the reigns of the company and one of the most valuable intellectual properties in Hollywood. Today, The Hollywood Reporter sat down with Kennedy to talk about how she got J.J. Abrams to sign on, how she met her husband, and her relationship with some of the biggest names in the film business.
On getting J.J. Abrams to work on a different Star franchise:
Abrams agreed to meet with Kennedy on Dec. 14 at his Bad Robot offices in Santa Monica. Famously plain-spoken, she summarizes her pitch like this: “Please do Star Wars.” And she had cards to play. Not only was Oscar winnerMichael Arndt (Little Miss Sunshine, Toy Story 3) writing the script, but Lawrence Kasdan, who wrote 1980’s The Empire Strikes Back and 1983’s Return of the Jedi, was on board to consult. Abrams “was flipping out when he found out that Michael and Larry were on the movie already,” says Kennedy.
Abrams tells THR, “I learned firsthand how incredible and persuasive she is.” Some — but not all — of his reservations were dispelled. “The thing about any pre-existing franchise — I’d sort of done that,” he says. “But when I met with Kathy, it was suddenly very tantalizing.”
For more, read THR’s full profile of Kathleen Kennedy.
The Waru Express is moving once more! Did you miss my weekly descent into madness? I return to my journey through the Star Wars universe with the two books that take place right after the Battle of Endor. The Empire defeated just because the Death Star blew up again and some people tore down some statues? Hardly!
The Truce at Bakura
It may not make my Top Ten list but I definitely enjoy reading Truce at Bakura every time I pick it up. It’s a fun read that could work quite well as a starting point for a new reader to the Expanded Universe. Even though the Rebels and the Empire have a very tentative truce against a common enemy, it still has a very Star Wars feel to it. It feels like the logical next part of our heroes’ adventures. The more I think about it, the more I like that Kathy Tyers chose to write an immediate sequel but had them facing a different enemy while simultaneously having to keep an eye on the Empire.
I also really enjoy getting to see Leia handle the startling revelations that she and Luke are twins and that she too is the child of Darth Vader. Obviously news of that magnitude isn’t going to be accepted calmly and without question. Can anyone really blame her for having less than warm and fuzzy feelings for the man who tortured her? On a similar note, I like that Kathy Tyers also shows us that Luke did have some medical issues from being electrocuted with Force Lighting a lot. Actions and their consequences are the best, folks.
Also, if you don’t love Eppie Belden when you read this book then you’re probably reading this book wrong. There is undoubtedly some trope pertaining to sassy old ladies who put up with nobody’s crap and kick some butt along the way. Whatever that trope is, I adore it and also adore Eppie who really is having none of that rotten Imperial Governor’s $#@!. I also like the character of Gaeriel Captison. In a way, she’s what Leia might have been like if Alderaan had been a more remote planet with leaders who didn’t stand up to the Empire. Gaeriel gets to go through a nice character arc in the books and then she and Luke decide to break each others’ hearts and not try out being together because they have too many responsibilities. It’s kinda sweet in a way.
At the end of the day, this is another book that I’d recommend you check out if you skipped it in the past and it’s also one that I recommend if you’re looking to ease your way into the Expanded Universe.
Lucasfilm announced today that they will be postponing this fall’s releases of Episode II and Episode III in 3D. In the press release, they stated that the change was due to a focus all of their time and efforts on Episode VII. New release dates for the 3D-ified films will be announced at some point in the future.
Warning: the links in this post contain spoilers for the movie.
Now that we’ve all enjoyed The Avengers, it’s time for Phase Two of Marvel’s grand plan to take over the world comic book movie-verse, and Yahoo! weighed in this morning with news from the sequel to Thor. Rather than sticking with elite Shakespearean director Kenneth Branagh, who directed the first movie, Marvel has chosen to go with Game of Thrones director Alan Taylor.
Investigating the Yahoo post shows that this is old news, according to Collider’s official synopsis. Still, with an even more incredible cast than the previous incarnation and Taylor directing, Thor: The Dark World looks like it’s going to be an incredible movie.
Thor: The Dark World will be released November 8, 2013.
It’s time for another Costume Monday where we try to make easing back into the work week more bearable with some cool costumes. We’re going back to a Tosche Station favorite this week and highlighting an amazing costume from Avatar: The Last Airbender. Check out this great Toph Bei Fong costume by melonl0rd. Not only does her costume look great but she definitely has the Toph attitude down pat.
Now that the official confirmation has come down from on high, Bria and I have made an executive decision: Brian and Nanci are never allowed to go on vacation again. We are simply not equipped to deal with breaking news.
That said, this analysis probably would have been my responsibility anyway. Being one of the resident Trekkies on staff, I’m in the position to pick apart how J.J. Abrams performs when given an existing sci-fi franchise, and personally, I feel rather optimistic about this turn of events.
After a day of speculation, we finally have official confirmation that J.J. Abrams will be directing Star Wars: Episode VII.
From the official press release:
After a bevy of emails and phone calls, the formalities have been wrapped up, and at long last everyone can exhale and properly share the word with an excited Internet. Yes, J.J. Abrams will direct Star Wars: Episode VII, the first of a new series of Star Wars films to come from Lucasfilm under the leadership of Kathleen Kennedy. Abrams will be directing and Academy Award-winning writer Michael Arndt will write the screenplay.
“It’s very exciting to have J.J. aboard leading the charge as we set off to make a new Star Wars movie,” said Kennedy. “J.J. is the perfect director to helm this. Beyond having such great instincts as a filmmaker, he has an intuitive understanding of this franchise. He understands the essence of the Star Wars experience, and will bring that talent to create an unforgettable motion picture.”
George Lucas went on to say “I’ve consistently been impressed with J.J. as a filmmaker and storyteller.” He’s an ideal choice to direct the new Star Wars film and the legacy couldn’t be in better hands.”
“To be a part of the next chapter of the Star Wars saga, to collaborate with Kathy Kennedy and this remarkable group of people, is an absolute honor,” J.J. Abrams said. “I may be even more grateful to George Lucas now than I was as a kid.”
J.J., his longtime producing partner Bryan Burk, and Bad Robot are on board to produce along with Kathleen Kennedy under the Disney | Lucasfilm banner.”
While we continue to wait for confirmation one way or another on directorial news for Episode VII, something else was going on yesterday via Twitter: the first Star Wars Fansite Seminar, where Star Wars fansite creators, writers and readers came together to offer advice on running fansites. The official Star Wars blog put together a list of ten of the best tips here that you can check out. (Yes, I am totally and completely geeking out at the fact that one of them is from me. DUDES.)
Want to see more than just some of the tips? Fear not: Club Jade comes to the rescue with a Storify of the tweets made with the #SWFS hashtag yesterday here.
Club Jade has also reported that Drew Struzan has not been officially approached to do the poster artwork for Episode VII and that any chats to the contrary have simply been with friends at Disney and not with the company itself. Still, I think fans would love to see Struzan come out of retirement to work his magic once again.
It’s time for another round of Episode VII director rumors. The Wrap is reporting that JJ Abrams has been tapped to direct Episode VII despite saying last year that he would not be. The source for this information has not been named although the source does say that Ben Affleck was in the running for the job/
The Hollywood Reporter is also saying that Abrams will be at the directing helm of the new film as is Variety.
As a reminder, nothing is confirmed UNTIL we hear it from the Official Star Wars website announces and therefore confirms the news.
Update 6pm EST: George Lucas’s son just tweeted saying that “J. J. Abrams will do wonders!”
Update 6:21pm EST: Entertainment Weekly and Yahoo also reporting this as are numerous other websites. There is still no source for the news and EW cites the original Wrap article in their piece.
Update 8:51pm EST: Rolling Stone has also picked up the story but has also cited the Wrap article. Still nothing from Lucasfilm.