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    Dave Filoni Talks About Working On The New Star Wars Animated Series

    April 4, 2013
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    Over at IGN, Eric Goldman has posted an article today that’s definitely some encouraging news regarding the next animated Star Wars series. In an interview with Rebel Force Radio, which will be posted tomorrow, Dave Filoni reveals he’s in the early stages of development for a new Star Wars animated series. Here’s a quote from the interview regarding the development of the new series.

    [blockquote cite=]“At this point, I am involved in some early production discussions and exploration of what we’ll be doing with Star Wars animation in the future, which is really exciting for me and I have some friendly faces around me, of course, that are helping me on the project. So it’s a transition time, as I’ve said before, and I think it will lead to an exciting time and hopefully I’ll see things grow again.”[/blockquote]

    After a few months of disappointing news, it’s nice to finally get some good and encouraging news about a future Star Wars project, and it’s definitely great to know that Dave Filoni will still be involved with Star Wars after Clone Wars.

    You can check out the full article of this story in the link below, and make sure you check out Rebel Force Radio tomorrow to listen to the full interview with Dave Filoni.

    IGN

    Rebel Force Radio

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    LucasArts Announces Layoffs, Now Becomes Licensing Studio

    April 3, 2013
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    After lots of speculation about the status of Star Wars 1313 and of LucasArts in general, it has been announced today that the company will be shifting from a development studio, into a new licensing studio, and has announced layoffs throughout the company. Below is the official statement from LucasArts:

    [blockquote cite=]“After evaluating our position in the games market, we’ve decided to shift LucasArts from an internal development to a licensing model, minimizing the company’s risk while achieving a broader portfolio of quality Star Wars games. As a result of this change, we’ve had layoffs across the organization. We are incredibly appreciative and proud of the talented teams who have been developing our new titles.”[/blockquote]

    While Star Wars 1313 was not mentioned in the statement, videogame website Kotaku is reporting that the game has now been cancelled, along with the planned downloadable game Star Wars: First Assault, and that Disney will just use the LucasArts name to license games now.

    This is of course some really disappointing news, as LucasArts has created some great games over the years, and Star Wars 1313 looked like something that was going to be really cool. But hopefully this will be the last of the disappointing news we seem to be getting lately surrounding Star Wars, and we start to hear some more positive announcements about the future of the franchise soon.

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    Dark Horse Announces “The Star Wars”

    April 1, 2013
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    Over the weekend at Wondercon, Dark Horse made the very cool announcement that they will be releasing a new eight-issue comic series titled “The Star Wars,” which will be based off of George Lucas’ original screenplay of Star Wars! Here is the official press releases about the new series:

    [blockquote cite=]

    LUCASFILM AND DARK HORSE ANNOUNCE
    THE BIGGEST EVENT IN THE HISTORY OF
    STAR WARS COMICS!
    George Lucas’s original-draft screenplay for The Star Wars to be adapted by J. W. Rinzler and Mike Mayhew!

    APRIL 1, MILWAUKIE, OR–It’s no April Fools’ prank! Dark Horse is honored to announce a dream project: working with J.W. Rinzler, executive editor at LucasBooks, and artist Mike Mayhew (Avengers) to adapt the rough-draft original screenplay which spawned the biggest franchise in film history!

    Three years before his 1977 film, George Lucas put down on paper his first story set in a galaxy far, far away—a tale of fantastic adventures, daring escapes, “lazer swords,” romance, and monsters. A story of Jedi Annikin Starkiller and General Luke Skywalker, an alien named Han Solo, and evil Sith Knights. The screenplay was titled The Star Wars!

    “I’m not sure where I first read about The Star Wars—it was years and years ago—but the idea of Luke Skywalker being an older Jedi General, and Han Solo being a six-foot-tall lizard, turned my Star Wars fan brain on its side,” said longtime Star Wars editor Randy Stradley. “I always assumed this would be one of those stories that would be ‘lost to history,’ so getting to work on bringing it to life is kinda like a dream come true.”

    “While researching in the Lucasfilm Archives I’ve found many treasures—but one which truly astounded me was George’s rough draft for The Star Wars. His first complete imaginings were hallucinating to read—mind blowing,” said writer J.W. Rinzler. “While working with George on another book project, I once asked if we could adapt his rough draft. He was hesitant. Years later, with Dark Horse’s invaluable help, we showed him a few drawn and colored pages of what it might look like. He gave us the okay.”

    Originally conceived in 1974, The Star Wars has been the subject of rumor and legend in the fan community throughout the history of the galaxy far, far away. Now, Lucas has seen fit to grant Dark Horse the right to adapt this fabled story into an eight-issue comic series launching in September! [/blockquote]

    SWTHE1PG2_02thestarwarsfront_ff

    This looks to be a really cool series that will give us a great look as to what Lucas originally had planed for Star Wars, which I’m sure most Star Wars fans will be anxious to read! “The Star Wars” is set to be released in September.

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    Carrie Fisher To Attend Celebration Europe!

    March 26, 2013
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    Another big Star Wars guest will be making their way to Celebration Europe this summer, as it has been announced that Carrie Fisher will be a guest at the event! Here is the official announcement:

    [blockquote cite=]The original princess with an attitude, Carrie Fisher, is slated to appear at Celebration Europe this July 26-28 in Essen, Germany. Princess Leia Organa in the original Star Wars trilogy, Fisher will be greeting fans and signing autographs in the Celebration Autograph Hall organized by Official Pix, and is scheduled to appear on stage for an interview and a question and answer session.

    “I’m always excited to do anything that has to do with Star Wars,” said Fisher. “It’s an opportunity to travel with my metal bikini and not take the opportunity to wear my metal bikini. Especially for Germans, the last group of people I’d want to offend, metal-bikini-wise.”

    Fans at Celebration Europe can look forward to entertaining straight talk from Fisher on a number of topics, when she takes to the Celebration Stage with host Warwick Davis.

    Fisher was 19 years old when she became a cultural icon as Princess Leia in Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope. Her film career started when she was even younger, playing opposite Warren Beatty in Shampoo in 1975. In addition to A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi, Fisher has performed in numerous movies and television series, including memorable appearances in The Blues Brothers, The Man with One Red Shoe, Hannah and Her Sisters, The Burbs, When Harry Met Sally, Austin Powers, Heartbreakers, Fanboys, Sorority Row, Angela as Mon Mothma in Family Guy, and in her own television specials, including the autobiographical Wishful Drinking.

    Visit www.starwarscelebration.eu today to buy tickets and for more information on Celebration Europe. Be sure to keep an eye on the Star Wars Blog for an inside look at the planning and development of this highly-anticipated event.[/blockquote]

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    Special Screening Of Return Of The Jedi To Take Place On May 4th

    March 22, 2013
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    To celebrate the 30th anniversary of Return of the Jedi, as well as May the 4th, Entertainment Weekly’s CapeTown Film Festival at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood will be holding a special screening of Return of the Jedi on May the 4th! Here is the official announcement:

    [blockquote cite=]A highlight of the festival, which runs from Tuesday, April 30 through Sunday, May 5, will be a very special “May the Fourth Be with You” screening of Return of the Jedi on Saturday, May 4. The screening celebrates the film’s 30th anniversary and will be one of the few times since 1997 that moviegoers can experience it on the big screen. “We’re thrilled to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Return of the Jedi with a screening at the Egyptian — the very same theater where it premiered in May, 1983,” said Bill Gannon, managing editor of EW.com.

    Stay tuned to StarWars.com and ew.com/capetown for more news on this special event.[/blockquote]

    This is something fans in the Hollywood area should definitely check out!

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    James Arnold Taylor Talks Future Clone Wars Episodes & The Series Ending In A New Interview

    March 18, 2013
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    IGN’s Eric Goldman recently had a chance to talk to James Arnold Taylor about his thoughts on “The Clone Wars” ending, what he thought of season 5 and the finale, as well as what we can expect to see in the upcoming episodes.

    [blockquote cite=]IGN: I saw your statement, but now that a couple of more days have passed, how are you feeling about the show coming to an end?

    James Arnold Taylor: You know, it’s one of those things that I’d love it to not be the case. I’d love to finish it the way we all imagined it would be done, and I think that’s probably the biggest bummer for all of us on the show or anybody working on it is we envisioned it would go a certain way. And any time something doesn’t, you just have to kind of deal with the consequences of that emotionally. I think it’s more so that other really than the thought that there isn’t any Clone Wars; just that it isn’t going to be the way that we thought. I really liked your piece as well. I thought it was a nice, positive look at that, for fans of Clone Wars, in that it shows everybody that there is more to come.

    IGN: Is there anything you can say or tease that you’re particularly intrigued or excited for the audience to see as far as what we’ll get in these other episodes?

    James Arnold Taylor: Wow, you know, there’s more Obi-Wan and Anakin to be discovered and in ways that we possibly haven’t seen before… But it’s still like what we get to by the beginning of Sith, that friendship and brotherhood. You see a lot more of that, and those were the ones that I was very excited about. I don’t think I’ll get in trouble for saying that; I hope not! At the same time, yeah, I think for fans that were saying, “More Obi-Wan, more Anakin,” there was and is more of them in the stuff that we’ve recorded.[/blockquote]

    Be sure to check out the full interview with James Arnold Taylor in the link below.

    IGN

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    Dave Filoni Talks About The Legacy of Ahsoka In A New Interview

    March 15, 2013
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    While its already been two weeks since the season 5 finale of “The Clone Wars” aired on television, there’s still plenty to talk about with what happened in that episode, as well as for what happened during the entire season. Well Geoff Boucher, from EW.com, recently had a chance to talk with Dave Filoni about season 5, as well as his thoughts about what kind of legacy Ahsoka will have in the Star Wars universe.

    [blockquote cite=]ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: There must be a jumble of emotions these days on a number of fronts but talk a bit about the character of Ahsoka and how the finale and her fate resonate for you.

    DAVE FILONI: As we kept writing the character of Ahsoka we knew it would be — well, I don’t want to say an uphill struggle — but we knew it would be a challenge to place a character like her in the midst of the Anakins and Obi-Wans of the Star Wars universe. It was a spot we would definitely have to earn for her and judging by the reaction to last Saturday’s episode it seems that everybody here, and especially Ashley [Eckstein], was able to make it happen. It was a situation where at first [fans were] like “Why is this kid here?” And now, five years later, people are like, “Wait – why is she leaving?” They were sad about it. So that was kind of good for us to see in the reaction.[/blockquote]

    You can check out the full interview with Dave Filoni in the link below

    EW.com

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    This Is Madness: The Star Wars Character Tournament Announced

    March 15, 2013
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    Taking a page from the March Madness tournament, StarWars.com has announced that they will be holding their own tournament this month, where fans will get to vote on who is the most popular Star Wars character! The first round begins on Monday, March 18, where you will then be able to vote on a new match up every day, and goes through Tuesday, April 9th, when the winner of the contest will be named. Here is the official announcement:

    image001

    [blockquote cite=]It’s a showdown between the Light Side and Dark Side in the first “This Is Madness” tournament! Vote for your favorite Jedi, Sith, scoundrel, rebel, or bounty hunter and help decide who is, once and for all, the galaxy’s most popular Star Wars character.

    The first round begins on Monday, March 18! Cast your votes and come back every day for new matchups and results, and be sure to visit us on Tuesday, April 9, to see who will be named winner of “This Is Madness!”[/blockquote]

    Darth Vader makes his case why you should vote for him in the video above, but in case you want to vote for a different character, you can check out where you can vote in the link below, as well as seeing the full bracket that shows which characters you will be able to vote on.

    This Is Madness: The Star Wars Character Tournament

    Madness_BRACKETS

     

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    Frontlines: Episode 122

    March 11, 2013
    / Episodes, Frontlines: The Clone Wars Podcast /
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    For over a thousand generations, the Jedi Knights were the guardians of peace and justice in the Old Republic. Before the dark times… before this all-new episode of Frontlines: The Clone Wars Podcast! Sad news has hit us this week, so Mike, Matt, Kyle and Tim are here to brighten up your day with their Google Hangout discussing the Season Five Finale of Star Wars: The Clone Wars! Plus, a special message from Mike about the fate of The Clone Wars and Frontlines. All that and more on this week’s Frontlines: The Clone Wars Podcast!

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    James Arnold Taylor Responds To Today’s News About “Star Wars: The Clone Wars”

    March 11, 2013
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    After today’s announcement that “The Clone Wars” will be wrapping up, James Arnold Taylor has posted a great response to this news, where he shares his thoughts on his time getting to play Obi Wan for the last decade, as well as giving a heartfelt thanks to all the cast and crew members he’s gotten to work with on the show, as well as to all us fans.

    [blockquote cite=]For those that watched and followed the show you know how much it means to the overall picture of Star Wars and it’s universe.  It bridged a gap between the first three films and the second three (and I’m sure will affect the upcoming trilogy), it gave us back story on characters that were sometimes only seen and not heard, it had the essence and romance of episodes 4, 5 and 6 and the fast paced intricate story lines and action of the prequels, without going over the top or playing to any one age group or audience.  It brought families together on Friday nights from everyday folks to big name celebrities that told me they watched religiously with their kids, it gave the first generation of Star Wars fans the chance to share their love of the franchise with their children, making new generations of fans, it regenerated past characters we’d thought we’d never see again (sometimes to this Jedi’s displeasure) and it even brought us new characters and new depths of understanding to our favorite ones. It was and is a crucial piece of the Star Wars universe and it will be greatly missed by myself and thousands upon thousands of fans across our galaxy.[/blockquote]

    Make sure you check out the rest of this great statement made by James Arnold Taylor in the link below.

    A Message from JAT About TCW

    James Arnold Taylor is truly one of the best voice actors in the business. I had the honor of meeting him back in 2010 at the Los Angeles Savage Opress screening, and it couldn’t have been a better experience for me, as he’s one of the nicest guys you could meet. His portrayal as Obi Wan Kenobi and his presence in the Star Wars community are things that will be remembered forever by Star Wars fans.

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