Modern film trailers: making a movie look like something its not. Also, dubstep.
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Mercy Kill and Scoundrels Aims to Bring Back Lapsed Expanded Universe Readers
Perhaps you were once a devoted Expended Universe reader, but fell away at some point. It could have been the killing off of a young and useful character in Star by Star or dropping a moon on Chewie in Vector Prime. Maybe you had enough when Mara Jade was killed off in confounding, out-of-character fashion in Sacrifice. Perhaps you just haven’t picked up a book since Vision of the Future.
Well, lapsed readers, Del Rey and LFL want you back. Pop Culture Shock writer (and all around awesome person) Bria lays it out.
If you thought that the Star Wars universe was limited to six films and the Clone Wars cartoon, you’ve been missing out on a vast number of books, comics, and video games that comprise what is known as the Star Wars Expanded Universe. Ever since a little novel called Heir to the Empire was published by author Timothy Zahn and Bantam Spectra about twenty years ago, the Expanded Universe has grown and expanded to the point where it could take a new reader years to catch up on all the novels alone, never mind the countless comics and video games.
However, some readers have drifted away from the books over the past few years, often because of mega-series fatigue. Originally, story arcs were kept to standalone novels or trilogies. The one exception to this was the X-Wing series, which could more accurately be described as a four book arc, followed by a three book arc, followed by two standalone novels. Everything changed with the New Jedi Order series, a 19 book epic written by multiple authors and published over the span of five years. Since then, the major storytelling in the continuing timeline has been contained in one trilogy and two nine book series, the latest of which was published entirely in hardcover. The first of these series, Legacy of the Force, saw the controversial deaths of two major characters and the second, Fate of the Jedi, stirred the Internet into a flurry of anger and debate every other book. In short, the Expanded Universe has not been easily accessible to new or more casual fans as of late.
2012 is the perfect year to either delve into the Expanded Universe for the first time or to return to it from a self-imposed hiatus. In August and December, Del Ray will be publishing two stand-alone novels by well-respected Expanded Universe authors: Aaron Allston and the aforementioned Timothy Zahn.
Be sure to read the rest of the article, especially if you’re someone that needs more convincing that 2012 is the year you get back into the Star Wars Expanded Universe.
Last Day to Register For Celebration VI Costume Pageant
Are you heading to Celebration VI? Planning on bringing a costume or two? If you are, you’ve got a chance to show off your creative skills at the Celebration VI Costume Pageant.
Celebrations are a showcase for amazing fan-made Star Warscostumes, and the Celebration VI Costume Pageants are your chance to show off your creation, or watch incredible costumers strut their stuff. Registration is currently open!
The Costume Pageants are currently scheduled for the afternoons of Friday, August 24 and Saturday, August 25, planned for the Celebration Stage with celebrity host James Arnold Taylor. Costumes will draw inspiration from across the galaxy of Star Wars, from movies and television to books and comics to the fertile imaginations of creative costumers.
For rules, guidelines, and to enter, head to the event page on the CVI site. Hurry, though. Today’s the last day to register!
Countless Mary Poppins Clones to Duel a Gigantic Lord Voldemort in Olympics Opener?
Initial reaction: What? Secondary reaction: Oh that’s just frakking awesome. From Yahoo Sports:
The Sunday Times reports (subscription only) that a sequence featuring some of the best-loved literary characters in British history will climax when a 40-foot Voldemort, the notorious villain from the Harry Potter books, rises out of a bed in the center of Olympic Stadium and scares away representations of Alice from “Alice in Wonderland,” Captain Hook and Cruella De Vil. (Oliver Twist will presumably be waiting in a line at a concession stand.)
Instead of being done in by Harry Potter, Voldemort will meet his match in a British nanny with an umbrella and a penchant for melody.
To quote Dunc over at Club Jade, If this is true, “it’s going to be completely batshit” (in the greatest way imaginable). I agree, but I do hope they take it one step further.
You know you want this to be true, admit it.
Potent Potables: What’s In A Power Converter?
It’s a slow day. Which means we’re liable to turn to our readers to crowd-source.
The Hoth Ice Bar needs to have a drink called “Power Converter,” so we can all pick one up. #StarWarsCVI
— Nancipants (@nancipants) July 18, 2012
So we’re in agreement there needs to be a drink called a Power Converter at #StarWarsCVI we can pick up. Question is, what’s in one?
— Brian (@LaneWinree) July 24, 2012
Okay folks, here’s where you come in. Just what should go into a drink called a Power Converter? We’ve collected some ideas below and we’re taking more.
To the jump for the suggestions! Don’t forget, tweet us your own ideas.
Shane will be back after these brief messages….
Given the prospect of full-time employment (for which we are very thankful), Shane will not be about for the next few months as he treks across parts of the Western United States. When he returns from working 50-60 hour weeks, he’ll be back to his normal antics. And who knows, he might pop in from time to time anyway.
Trope Tuesday: Xanatos Gambit
I just plotted six ways to take over the world in the last five minutes.
After a week off (unintentional, mind), we’re back with another edition of Trope Tuesday, our weekly sojourn into the great timesink in the cloud that is TV Tropes. We’ve got another trope lined up that’s relevant to our ongoing X-Wing retrospective: The Xanatos Gambit.
A Xanatos Gambit is a plan whose multiple foreseen outcomes all benefit its creator. It’s a win-win situation for whoever plots it.
At its most basic, the Xanatos Gambit assumes two possible outcomes for the one manipulated — success or failure. The plan is designed in such a way that either outcome will ultimately further the plotter’s goals.
Since the Xanatos Gambit can involve an obvious goal’s apparent failure, this is a convenient device on an ongoing series to let the villain occasionally win (preventing Villain Decay) while still giving the heroes a climactic pseudo-victory. The only way to escape a Xanatos Gambit once you’re caught up in one is by somehow foiling both presented options and leaving the organizer thoroughly beaten.
One of my favorite examples of this trope takes place in The Krytos Trap. You would think that the Rogues capturing Coruscant would be a bad thing for Ysanne Isard, but no, you would be mistaken. That was just one way she could prove to be victorious, because on her way out she infected the planet’s alien species with a disease intended to create an unwinnable political disaster for the New Republic. That was just one of her contingency plans to ensure her victory. Unfortunately, she didn’t quite account for the Rogues knack for beating insurmountable odds.
Give Crucible (and Troy Denning) a Chance
The Big Three, Together Again in Crucible
At San Diego Comic Con, the Star Wars Expanded Universe editors and authors announced several new projects, including Crucible, the first post-Fate of the Jedi novel to feature Luke, Han, and Leia. It should not have come to a surprise that Troy Denning received the contract for this novel. Denning has been involved in the SWEU for a very long time, and has become a staple among post-Return of the Jedi authors. This is not to say that all of his contributions have been welcomed with open arms; many fans credit Denning for the increasingly dark and gritty tone of Dark Nest, Legacy of the Force, and FotJ.
Reaction to Crucible has been, in a word, audible. Fans on message boards, the Star Wars Books Facebook page, and on Twitter expressed dismay that Crucible would focus on the Big Three and be written by Troy Denning. I understand those concerns, of course. Del Rey and LucasBooks have assured fans that the megaseries format is going away, and that they’ve heard fans complaints about the direction of the post-RotJ novels. The announcement of Crucible, which many fans see as “more of the same,” doesn’t demonstrate any sort of major changes in that storyline. For so long, fans have endured galaxy-spanning wars, character derailment and death, and not enough focus on developing new characters. Trust me, I understand all of this. If you listen to the podcast, you’ll know that I often make the same complaints.
And yet, strangely, I find myself cautiously optmistic, dare I say excited, about Crucible. Yes, I’m looking forward to a Troy Denning book; I know, I can hardly believe it myself. While I also want future novels to focus on the next generation as well as characters who’ve been shoved to the side in the megaseries, I still want to read about the Big Three. I love them all, especially Luke, and I want to see them interact in their own storyline. They’re a family, and after all that’s happened in their lives they deserve to be together. I can’t remember the last time they were involved in an A plot together – maybe for a few pages in Backlash? The chemistry of the Big Three is what drew me into Star Wars, and I’m excited to see them go off on an adventure again. Do I expect this to be a “last hurrah” of the Big Three? It would be nice, but probably not. And that’s fine if it’s not.
Because now that the megaseries format is going away, Del Rey can publish lots of different novels taking place in the post-RotJ time period. We can have novels featuring the Big Three; we can have novels featuring Jaina, Jag, and the rest of that generation; we can have novels featuring Ben and other Jedi his age; we can have an Allana and Chance team-up series (you know that would be fun); we can have novels about side characters in the vein of the X-Wing series. We can have all of these at the same time, just like it was in the Bantam era. The existence of a novel like Crucible does not mean we won’t also be getting all the novels we’ve been asking for. This was just one round of announcements; Pablo Hidalgo clarified that there will be more at Celebration VI.
To address the other concerns, this about Troy Denning personally: his sole standalone contribution to the SWEU is Tatooine Ghost, a novel I greatly enjoy and that was not merely another “apocalypse of the week.” As for the characters, there’s no doubt that Denning can write a good Han and Leia (especially when Allana isn’t around for them to be the worst parents in the galaxy). And while I’ve read concerns about the way Denning writes Luke (and have shared in those concerns many times), I think the tendency to write Luke as dark is steadily fading away – at least I hope it is.
Judging from the Comic Con announcements, are there reasons to expect that the status quo will change? Probably not. But, like Luke, I’m willing to be optimistic in this case, and wait for the Celebration VI announcements to really pass judgment. Expecting the worst never does any good, and there’s been enough doom and gloom in the EU of late that right now I just want to look for the positive in whatever we’re given. (Case in point: I loved that the Horn family was given such a prominent role in Apocalypse, even if I didn’t like the book as a whole.) Now, that’s not to say that I won’t be disappointed if we keep getting more of the same types of novels, and all the wonderful characters who’ve been shoved to the side and marginalized for so many years don’t get their time to shine. But I can’t deny that the idea of a Big Three novel gets me excited, no matter what the time frame. (My only complaint about Crucible, well, besides wishing it was being written by Matthew Stover? I wish Mara was still alive to join them. Cue one lone tear.)
I never thought I would ever write a blog post encouraging people to be optimistic in regards to yet another Troy Denning book, but here I am. I’m not saying you have to like the book, or even that you have to read it. You’ll definitely be hearing my complaints if the novel is typical of Denning’s recent works. But outside the megaseries format, and focusing on just a few characters who I love – well, I’m willing to give him – and Crucible – a chance.
Rest in Peace, Dr. Sally Ride
When I was a little girl, I wanted to be an astronaut. Not long after moving to Florida, I became fascinated with space exploration and decided that was my future career, no questions asked. To seven-year-old me, it didn’t matter that I got motion sickness or that space travel was dangerous (the Challenger had just exploded two years prior, and I endured many questions of “doesn’t that scare you?” from classmates). All I knew was that I wanted to fly to the stars.
Nobody said to me, however, that I couldn’t be an astronaut. And when I went to Space Camp (four times, mind you), I wasn’t the only girl on my team: there were always a handful of others. Dr. Sally Kristen Ride is part of the reason for that.
Ride became an astronaut in 1978, the first class to include women. (The others were Anna Fisher, Shannon Lucid, Judy Resnik, Rhea Seddon, and Kathryn Sullivan.) She earned four degrees from Stanford University, including a doctorate in physics in 1978. Needless to say, she was quite qualified for her position as a mission specialist, and was the lucky woman chosen to be the first American woman in space. Her first flight was aboard STS-7, Challenger, in 1983. She also flew on another shuttle mission, STS-41G, in 1984.
I could go on and list all of Ride’s numerous awards and accomplishments, but that’s not what’s really important. What’s important is the inspiration Sally Ride gave to numerous girls and young women over the years. I never once thought “I can’t be an astronaut,” because women like her were brave enough to trailblaze new fields when they were being told they couldn’t. She continued to be an inspiration even after leaving the astronaut corps, founding Sally Ride Science, where she helped to encourage girls to pursue careers in science and mathematics. I know how important that is: I did my master’s thesis on female workers at Kennedy Space Center, and as part of my research I interviewed many female engineers who were told they couldn’t study science because that was a “man’s” subject.
I didn’t become an astronaut, obviously – I eventually realized that the motion sickness, and my lack of ability in science and math would be a hindrance to that career – but my interest in space exploration never waned. During graduate school I worked in the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex education department, and it was the funnest job I’ve ever had. I loved teaching little kids about space and hoping that they, like me, would be inspired by their time at KSC. And even though I never flew into space myself, I thank that ambition for my lifelong interest in science fiction.
To say I was saddened to hear the news of Sally Ride’s passing is an understatement. Not only was she an accomplished individual who inspired a generation of young girls – and boys – but 61 is far too young to die. I never got the chance to meet her or listen to her speak in person, but I will always be grateful for her contributions to science. Even more so, I thank her for the fact that she didn’t listen whenever someone said “girls can’t do that.”
Thank you, Dr. Sally Ride, and rest in peace.
Jena Malone Joins the Catching Fire Cast
It’s official: Lionsgate announced this morning that Jena Malone, known for her roles in Saved! and Sucker Punch, has joined the cast of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, the second part trilogy, as Johanna Mason. Some of you may know Malone from her role as young Ellie Arroway in Contact, one of my favorite movies ever.
(spoilers after the jump)