What Celebration Taught Us About The Force Awakens

the force awakens panel

Photo from the OC Register

This post contains officially released information about The Force Awakens. If you want no spoilers whatsover, click away now. 

This past weekend at Celebration Anaheim, J.J. Abrams opened his mystery box ever so slightly and gave us a literal teaser of what we have to look forward to in The Force Awakens. Other than a few Force for Change videos, an 88-second teaser released in November, and eight trading cards, there’s been little officially announced information about the probable most anticipated movie of all time. Leading up to Celebration, everyone was speculating about what — if anything — Abrams would reveal and whether or not it would live up to the hype.

He didn’t reveal a lot.

But it was enough.

And it completely exceeded my expectations.

Continue reading

Thank You, Kathleen Kennedy

Kathleen Kennedy is my master now.

Before Celebration Anaheim, it was cool to be a fangirl. Last Thursday morning, Kathleen Kennedy made it respectable.

I was already super excited for The Force Awakens panel, which opened Celebration Anaheim in the most explosive manner possible. But I didn’t realize how excited I was about the future of the franchise until I saw Kennedy walk onstage in a Star Wars t-shirt. And not just any shirt, but the new Her Universe lightsaber shirt that debuted at Celebration, which she purchased with her own money because she wanted something to wear for the panel. She rocked it with a white blazer, and you’re stupid if you don’t think millions of women are going to copy that look.

This is a huge deal. Kennedy has been a fixture in Hollywood for decades, and George Lucas entrusted her ahead of lots and lots of qualified individuals to take over the reigns of Star Wars. One of her first actions as head of Lucasfilm was to decide that the franchise would move forward as one story while respecting its vast history. She’s a hugely respected producer and brings a ton of credibility as Lucas’s successor. I’m more confident than ever in her ability to help tell great stories and be a steward for this varied, diverse, wonderful fandom.

The most important thing isn’t that Kennedy herself is a woman, but rather the fact that she accepts this fandom is so diverse. She understands it, and embraces it. She insisted on purchasing a Her Universe shirt with her own money just so she could support the business. During The Force Awakens panel she specifically mentioned the lack of female representation in the franchise’s history, and assured everyone there would be lots more women characters going forward. I can’t overemphasize how important it is to have the panel host, director J.J. Abrams, and Kennedy discuss the negative reaction to the first cast photo and say they’ve heard those arguments and agree with them. And Kennedy isn’t someone merely looking to take advantage of an untapped demographic, or bow down to “the feminists”. She’s part of that demographic, and wants to rectify the lazy, incorrect assumption that women and girls don’t like Star Wars. (If you believe that, you obviously weren’t in attendance at Celebration Anaheim, because women and girls were everywhere.) As far as Kennedy is concerned, everyone likes Star Wars, and she wants to make sure they feel welcomed and represented in fandom and the franchise.

I’ve never felt more comfortable with the future of Star Wars than after that panel. You could feel the excitement in the air just watching from the overflow room, not to mention the unadulterated happiness at seeing BB-8, the new cast, the old cast, the new stormtroopers, and finally, the teaser trailer. The crowd was so enthusiastic they had to show the teaser twice. I laughed, I cried, I got goosebumps, I clutched hands with my neighbors, I kissed my husband. And in the back of my mind I was thinking thank you, Kathleen Kennedy. Thank you for understanding that Star Wars is for everyone. Thank you for making us so happy with the greatest teaser trailer I’ve ever seen in my entire life. Thank you for agreeing to be a part of the Star Wars family. Thank you for making it accepted and respected to be a fangirl. Thank you for being someone I can look up to.

Thank you for helping make Celebration Anaheim the best one yet.

Chewie, we’re home.

Tosche Station Radio #102: Where’s Hera?

Logo

Play in new window | Download

On this episode of Tosche Station Radio, Amy Ratcliffe and Bria join the hosts to answer a question that’s been bugging us all lately: Where’s Hera?

There’s only one thing New on the Blog this week: Brian did a live-tweet style review of Idiot’s Array.

In Fixer’s Flash, the hosts have been busy watching Agent Carter. Nanci’s been writing and working on a new novel. Meanwhile, Brian is obsessed with various sportsballs.

Deak’s Dirt starts on the interactive side. Like Star Wars games? You’re in luck! Good Old Games has released a crap ton of them. Meanwhile, Celebration will be screening the Navajo version of A New Hope, will also be bringing back Speed Dating and the Tattoo Pavilion. Strange Magic comes out this week, if that sort of thing is your bag.

Biggs’ Bull$#!^ has standalone casting rumors ahoy! Rooney Mara, Kate Mara, Felicity Jones, Tatiana Maslany. George says Disney went their own way with Episode VII.

Camie’s Concerns this week looks into the stunning lack of Hera in Rebels and Star Wars merchandise. She’s the captain of the ship, so where is she in the marketing and merch? Amy and Bria join in to discuss articles they’ve written on the subject (Amy’s here and Bria’s here) and tackle why it’s deeply problematic to exclude her. After the break, Nanci and Brian discuss a more recent revelation that the Episode VII target toy market excludes girls.

Amy Ratcliffe can be found online at numerous sites, but her personal blog is here at Geek with Curves. You can also find her on Twitter with the handle @amy_geek.

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!

George Lucas: Disney went their own way for Episode VII

The Force Awakens LogoCertainly this won’t generate any sort of controversy. In an interview with Cinemablend to promote Strange Magic, Nick Rimando asked the Maker himself what details he could reveal about The Force Awakens. The answer, unsurprisingly, was nothing. As for why Lucas couldn’t say anything, well:

The ones that I sold to Disney, they came up to the decision that they didn’t really want to do those. So they made up their own. So it’s not the ones that I originally wrote [on screen in Star Wars: The Force Awakens].

There’s no doubt those two sentences are going to cause all sorts of reactions, all of which will follow the usual post-Disney sale outrage scripts from all sides. It’s important to keep in mind that story treatments often get tossed aside or are heavily modified by the time the final scripts are being put in front of cameras.

The reasoning for Disney going their own path is likely simple. It’s better to start fresh with a new braintrust in place from the beginning than to try and not fumble a handoff of someone else’s plan meant to stretch nearly a decade of development.

Andy Serkis Answers 10 Questions About The Force Awakens

"The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" New York PremiereWhile none of the actors are able to tell us much about The Force Awakens yet, in an interview with Entertainment Weekly Andy Serkis shared a few things that he can tell us about the movie and his work on it. His answers to EW’s questions, unsurprisingly, don’t give us a lot of detail about the story or characters, but he does reveal that he plays only one character in the film and that his voice in the teaser is unaltered.

One question that he’s not able to give an answer to is whether or not his character is performance capture, which is unsurprising, given the amount of information one could likely draw from the answer.

Maisie Richardson-Sellers Confirms She’s in The Force Awakens

It was one of the first casting rumors out there, but it turns out it may be true. Oxford educated actress Maisie Richardson-Sellers tells Refinery29 that she has a role in The Force Awakens. What role is she playing? Well, don’t expect her to reveal that anytime soon.

I had to sign many, many contracts. It’s very, very secret. But, everyone who’s working on it loves and respects the franchise so much, they all want to keep it a secret. We wanted to hold it tight, so it wasn’t hard for anyone. It wasn’t a forced thing; it’s our little child which we’re going to present to the world in a year.

Another woman, and another woman of color. The Galaxy Far, Far Away is getting a bit more diverse, and that’s awesome.

Tosche Station Radio #100: Century Mark

Logo

Play in new window | Download

This week on Tosche Station Radio, we recap and review the first half of Rebels season one!

Kicking off the show, the hosts highlight what’s New on the Blog. Nanci posted a Go/No-go for The Jupiter Pirates: The Curse of the Iris. She also continued on her Thrawn Trilogy Retrospective and finished Heir to the Empire! Shoshana discussed why she doesn’t like the Dr. Strange casting news. Nanci discussed why unlearning what you’ve learned about the sequel trilogy era is impossible when we know nothing. Bria reviewed Gathering Forces. We discussed our reactions to The Force Awakens teaser trailer in blog and podcast form.

In Fixer’s Flash, Nanci’s been busy finishing her manuscript and reading a new novel by Timothy Zahn. Brian’s been playing a whole bunch of Dragon Age: Inquisition. Bria’s been costuming (surprise!) and reading a new novel. Sho watched Jurassic Park for the first time (WHAT!?) and watched a ton of Legend of Korra.

Deak’s Dirt starts with Rebels Season 2 premiering at Celebration Anaheim. Dark Disciple gets a cover and a release date – July 7, 2015. Finally, Yoda’s voice will be in Rebels.

In Biggs’ Bull#*$&, there was something about a teaser trailer. Also, names! Names! We have names!

This week on Camie’s Concerns, we recap the first half of Rebels Season One. The highs, the lows, and what we absolutely loved.

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!

Tosche Station Radio #99: Teaser

Logo

Play in new window | Download

You’ve seen the Teaser Trailer. Sho and Bria join the hosts to wrangle an entire podcast episode out of 88 seconds of footage from The Force Awakens! What did we like? What do we need to know more of? Tune in to find out.

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!