Star Wars, Geek Culture, and Power Converters
Reader Robert sent in another art entry for our Replace Mara’s Catsuit contest. This time around we get to see Mara in combat armor, something that I daresay is quite a bit more appropriate in the field than a leather catsuit.
Robert submitted several sketches in this PDF, so download it and take a look!
In an e-mail sent out to Celebration VI attendees earlier today, it was disclosed that the event program schedule will be released first on the Celebration mobile app. If you have a smartphone or a tablet, you may want to go download it now if you haven’t already.
Mary Franklin also teased this. Get to it, cryptologists.
Math clue for 2 new CVI programs: Multiply me by 2, or remove the zero and add a D.
— Mary Franklin (@MaryLFL) July 27, 2012
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While this isn’t exactly news (Dave Filoni said this was going to happen during San Diego Comic Con), the Celebration VI staff made things super official today by announcing that season five of The Clone Wars will debut at the event this year.
Attendees of Star Wars Celebration VI will be the first in the world to see the action-packed premiere of Season Five of Star Wars: The Clone Wars at a big screen red carpet event featuring stars of the hit series from Lucasfilm Animation.
On Friday, August 24th at 5 pm, the Digital Stage at Celebration VI – the venue optimized for high-definition digital theatrical exhibition with state-of-the-art surround sound – will present an evening of Star Wars: The Clone Wars entertainment beginning with a special presentation of the Season Four finale, the episodes “Brothers” and “Revenge.” These are followed by “Revival,” the long-awaited Season Premiere, on Cartoon Network this fall, that continues the story of the resurrected Darth Maul.
Get ready to queue, because you’re going to be in line for a long time for this event.
Kicking off the show, the hosts highlight what’s new on the blog. We ask just what’s in a Power Converter. Nanci asks EU fans to give Crucible and Troy Denning a chance. Brian looked back at Solo Command. On this week’s Cosplay Monday, the blog featured a magnificent Heimdall costume.
Fixer’s Flash is somewhat light this week. Both the hosts have Icarus Hunt tales to share. Nanci finished the first draft of her book and Brian finally put academia behind him.
In Deak’s Dirt, there’s a host of Celebration VI news including announcements of a Rancho Obi-Wan exhibit and the return of the Bounty Hunt game. Mary Franklin claims that the CVI schedule currently stands at nine feet long in the physical printout. Leland Chee discussed the Holocron on the official blog. Jena Malone was officially confirmed to play Johanna Mason in Catching Fire. In some bizarre (but awesome) rumors, will Mary Poppins duel a gigantic Lord Voldemort at the Olympic Games? Finally, we bid farewell to pioneer and trailblazer Sally Ride, the first American woman in space.
Camie’s Concerns this week brings us back to the X-Wing retrospective. This time around, the hosts dig into the Wraith Squadron arc and talk the plots and characters as well as examining the impact Aaron Allston’s novels have had on the Expanded Universe. It’s far more than just dogfights and blaster skirmishes.
For Wormie’s Works this week, Nanci highlights Star Wars Yoga and Brian links to an Indiana Jones vocal cover.
Rounding out the show, the hosts answer questions from listeners. Remember, if you’ve got a question you want to ask us, e-mail and tweet them to us, or leave us a message on Facebook.
Tosche Station Radio is the official podcast of Tosche-Station.net and a part of the Solo Sound network. If you like what you hear, please leave a review on the iTunes Music Store or the Zune Marketplace. 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.
Modern film trailers: making a movie look like something its not. Also, dubstep.
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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.
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!
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.
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.
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.