Yesterday, the New York Times posted a story about a rare 1977 Harrison Ford video interview conducted by a Dallas-Fort Worth news channel reporter just as Star Wars (A New Hope) was making waves across the country during its initial release: Wearing lapels as wide as the Millennium Falcon itself, Mr. Ford actually seems gracious about the budding fantasy franchise and complimentary to its creator, George Lucas, telling his interviewer that though he doesn’t regard himself as the Buck Rogers or Flash Gordon type, the film works because “it’s finally about people and not finally about science, so the energy of the movie goes towards exploring these human relationships.” The interview, which apparently had first been posted to the original reporter’s website bobbiewygant.com back in July (and contains scores of other filmed interviews), presents a rare peek at the actor on the brink of super-stardom in 1977. Check out the…
Stuff
The Empire Skates Back
Fans who attended Celebration V this year were not only treated to a Star Wars Tattoo Contest, but also had the chance to check out skateboard decks painted by exceptional tattoo artists. The decks were auctioned off during the Make-A-Wish Auction The Force in the Flesh author Shane Turgeon, who organized the event called “The Empire Skates Back,” contacted some incredible talent to transform the decks into one-of-a-kind works of art for a good cause. Can you describe the gist of the Star Wars Tattoo Art show for fans who didn’t get a chance to see it? The show was called “The Empire Skates Back.” In celebration of the 30th anniversary of The Empire Strikes Back, 30 tattooers were each given a blank skateboard deck to paint, sculpt, or build their homage, rendition or interpretation of this amazing film. Unfortunately, only 22 decks arrived in time for the show, but they were all unbelievable works of art….
George Lucas joins other billonares in “Giving Pledge”
George Lucas is among the billionaires making a public pledge to give away at least half their wealth to charity. In a letter posted on The Giving Pledge website, Lucas writes: My pledge is to the process; as long as I have the resources at my disposal, I will seek to raise the bar for future generations of students of all ages. I am dedicating the majority of my wealth to improving education. It is the key to the survival of the human race. We have to plan for our collective future – and the first step begins with the social, emotional, and intellectual tools we provide to our children. As humans, our greatest tool for survival is our ability to think and to adapt – as educators, storytellers, and communicators our responsibility is to continue to do so. The “Giving Pledge,” spearheaded by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, is…
The starwars.com Forums Get A Facelift
Who better to tell you about the changes to the SW.com Forums then StarWars.com… “Fans who like to talk about everything Star Wars on our forums might noticed the brand-new redesign and features. If you haven’t been to the new Star Wars Forums, now’s a good time to start. The Forums are broken down into categories of interest such as the Movies, the Expanded Universe, Video Games, Roleplaying Games, Fan Activities and Events, and more. Collectors will enjoy our new extensive section dedicated to everything from vintage and modern toys, as well as other collectibles. Fans can chat to their hearts content about The Clone Wars in the new Star Wars on Television section. Don’t feel like talking about Star Wars? Have fun sharing comments in The Cantina section about everything from your favorite sports team to the TV shows you can’t stop raving about. Customize your forums experience with…
Revenge of the Robot Chicken: Star Wars
Great news for fans of Star Wars parody: Robot Chicken’s third Star Wars episode will premiere December 12, with pretty-boy Zac Efron voicing Anakin. They’re trying something new this time: From the SW.com announcement: Adult Swim’s Robot Chicken returns to that galaxy far, far away for a brand-new Star Wars-themed special premiering December 12 at 11:30 p.m. (ET/PT). This third installment in the Robot Chicken: Star Wars trilogy follows the two previous specials, which resulted in multiple Emmy nominations and numerous Annie Awards for both specials, the writers, Ahmed Best for voice actor and Seth Green for directing. Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode III, to be directed by Chris McKay, marries the satirical sensibilities of Green and Matthew Senreich’s (Stoopid Monkey Productions) Emmy-winning Robot Chicken with characters of the Star Wars universe. The specials and the Robot Chicken series, the highest-rated original program on Adult Swim, are created in conjunction…
Soccer Wars!
Welcome back to ”The Guild”! This week I’ll be paying attention to some ideas, well one idea mainly, brought to my attention by Danny Jarzebowski, a reader who contacted me. (Okay I admit it, what you are about to read is something I completely stole from DJ!) Now I know that when you read about the idea, it might seem a bit, well, insane at first, but actually it might be doable and that with success. This is basically what I talked with DJ about. (remarks in () are by the oppressor Peter) “Hey I got an intresting idea! I’d love to play soccer in SWToR, you know like battlegrounds and stuff like that but you get skills like Sprint or Pass and play with your character in game!” “I think a lot of people would enjoy that, I sure would!” At first I thought- Dude, we’re still playing the…
Corellian Run Potcast #1
The girls over at Corellian Run Radio had their first podcast up yesterday. It’s a pretty interesting listen that I recommender you all to check out. Our first podcast is done and submitted for your perusal! It’s been a long haul from the first glorious days of let’s-do-a-show innocence to the in-the-trenches reality of forgetting to push the button when you record. It was great fun putting it together – we hope you enjoy it too. Check it out here
Star Wars: The Old Republic Maquette
Just announced on www.swtor.com, Gentle Giant Studios has created a beautiful 7″ statue of the fearsome Bounty Hunter Shae Vizla! Be sure to use coupon code TORDEAL for 15% off the regular price of $79.99. Click here to order.
adidas Originals – Star Wars Cantina 2010
This made our day! So cool. Daft Punk, Snoop Dogg, Noel Gallagher, Ian Brown, Ciara, DJ Neil Armstrong and others in the world of Star Wars for the “adidas Originals” campaign. Brilliantly done. Enjoy.
Ben Balistreri’s Top 30 Star Wars characters
Ben Balistreri is a storyboard artist and character designer for Dreamworks, where he’s worked on How to Train Your Dragon. He’s also — like everyone — a Star Wars fan. So when he tuned his unique design sensibilities to represent his 30 favorite Star Wars characters, we had to take a look. Here they are: Check out his blog.
R2-D2 Builders at Maker Faire
Every year robot builders, inventors, MythBusters and craftsters gather for a giant celebration of science geekery called Maker Faire. And you can’t have a robot gathering without our friends the Bay Area R2 Builders Group showing up to inspire Star Wars fans of all ages to make their own astromech sidekick. The astromechs were out in full force spinning, whirring and beeping at the crowd that constantly followed the R2 units or came to visit them in the robot area of the fair. Even amongst the other iconic robots from Lost in Space and The Forbidden Planet, and the impressive Tesla Coils, the R2 Builders were the real stars of the fair. Every time I follow around R2 and his makers around Comic-Con, WonderCon, Celebration, and Maker Faire, I love to see kids pose with, hug, kiss, pet and even have full conversations with R2-D2. He might just be the…
AT-AT Wedding Cake!
Just when you thought that infamous Dead Tauntaun Cake was the best bit of Star Wars fandom to ever invade a wedding, here comes the toppled AT-AT wedding cake with Ewok cupcakes! This toppled AT-AT is one of my favorite cakes to date. I love the mini Admiral Ackbar and Mon Mothma but I think maybe the topper are the Ewok cupcakes that accompany this masterpiece. The bride, Rebecca Dudeiros, says that this cake wasn’t even made in a bakery. She had her buddy (a pastry chef herself though) Teresa Ulrich do it custom for her. Read more about this awesome cake here: Awesome Star Wars Wedding Cake (via BridePop.com)
R2D2 Be Mixin’ Dem Phat Beatz
Robots are built to beep, but who knew they could be remixed into one heck of a dance song? Thanks to the mixing Jedi known as Eclectic Method, we’ll never look at R2-D2 again without wishing he’d DJ our next party.
Dead Tauntaun Wedding Cake!
(501st Great Lakes Garrison troopers – Jon Leopold and Craig Provine guard the Tauntaun cake!) Look at that detail! This is so gross, yet so damn cool. If I ever get married again, I would only do it to get a frikkin’ freakierer cake than this. Like, instead of a tauntaun, it would be a giant hairless albino monkey with Ringo Starr’s face, and… and his guts would be snakes with the faces of Yoko Ono and Margaret Thatcher and Sarah Palin and Madonna, and instead of Luke it would be David Bowie wearing Princess Leia’s metal bikini. Julie and I had Courtney Clark from Cake Nouveau of Food Network Challenge (and TLC Ultimate Cake-Off) fame do our wedding cakes including a special cake request from me — Luke Skywalker stuffed inside a dead Tauntaun! It was certainly one of the talks of the wedding evening. Older relatives were a…
Star Wars Afghanistan Stability Chart
The military encapsulates the solution to all of our problems in Afghanistan with one simple PowerPoint slide. So leave it to Jon Stewart to explain the highly confusing Afghanistan Stability Chart by dropping in a few Star Wars references. The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c Afghanistan Stability Chart www.thedailyshow.com
May the schwartz be with you: Baroque Star Wars
Sweden-based artist Mattias Adolfsson creates Baroque–style portraits (think wigs and Steampunk gears with a cartoony twist) of Darth Vader, Chewbacca, Princess Leia, Luke Sylkwalker, C-3PO and R2-D2, a stormtrooper, and even the Death Star and the AT-AT! The Death Star Also known as the deadly croissant Han Solo being harassed by the puritan police Darth Vader A timeless fashion statement (you just can’t go wrong with black) Stormtrooper Fighting in style Imperial walker Bobba Fett Chewbacca Contrary to beliefs Chewbacca uses his own hair not a wig Princess Leia C-3PO and R2 D2 R2 D2 is not as sophisticated as to warrant a wig the Emperor Jabba the powdered Yoda and Introducing as Luke Skywalker: Linnaeus the botanist supreme
SW:TOR not planned for fiscal year 2011
During EA’s fourth-quarter earnings conference call, CEO John Riccitiello made a reference to a “major new massively multiplayer online game” — probably Star Wars: The Old Republic. “”EA is incurring significant development costs for a major new massively multiplayer online game,” he said. “”However, this game is not expected to ship in fiscal ’11.” Later, CFO Eric Brown responded directly to a question about The Old Republic, saying that “It’s not included in our FY11 release slate.”” This all but confirms that Star Wars: The Old Republic is the game referred to by Riccitiello during a similar call in January, when he gave a “major MMO” a release date of spring 2011. If it’s in the spring, but not in EA’s fiscal 2011 (which ends March 31), that means we can look forward to some Jedi fellowship sometime between April and June of next year.
Darth Vader officially comes to TomTom
After a week of teasers and rumours, TomTom has finally announced its tie-in (or should that be Tie-fighter) with Lucasfilm, voiceskins.com and Star Wars. The satnav company has been sending unannounced Star Wars merchandise, including a natty Darth Vader lightsaber torch, to journalists along with emails from Vader himself in the build-up to its major unveiling: the officially-licensed voices of Darth Vader, Yoda, C3PO and Han Solo are coming to its range of navigation devices. The first to be available, Darth Vader, has been launched today for £7.95, with the others to follow shortly (one a month until August). And, not only are directions delivered by his surly tones, but a stack-load of Star Wars sound effects are included. Customers can also download, for free, official warning alert sounds voiced by Darth Vader, along with start up screen wallpaper and Lord Vader map icon. It’s enough to make a Star…
What does Alganon and SWTOR have in common ?
The fine people over at Kill Ten Rats alerts us of press release for the upcoming fantasy MMORPG Alganon, that copies one of the first BioWare press releases almost word by word. Here you got Alganon press release. Note it is dated Wednesday, April 28, 2010. Traditionally, massively multiplier online games have been about three basic gameplay pillars – combat, exploration and character progression,” Derek Smart continued. “In Alganon, in addition to these we’ve added the fourth pillar to the equation; a story. We delivered a fun, immersive adventure that gamers expect in a top quality massively multiplayer online game. To top it all off, we’re not done yet. A whole new adventure with new updates will follow soon, starting with a consignment house, new classes, PvP and much more. Read this before somewhere? That’s probably because it was posted a while back on The Old Republic’s official site – October 21, 2008 “Traditionally, massively multiplayer online games have been about three…
No Sarlacc Enforcer Class!
At the start of April BioWare announced that they were including a ninth class in Star Wars: The Old Republic, namely the Sarlacc Enforcer. And I’m sure that many of you were looking forward to playing the stealthy lurker. But now BioWare dashes all of your hopes and dreams by announcing that the Enforcer won’t be a class after all. As per Sean Dahlberg’s post: Hey everyone, We hope that you have enjoyed the Sarlacc Enforcer class reveal we made on April 1st. We just wanted to confirm that the Sarlacc Enforcer is not going to be a class and that it was just some fun we were having for April Fool’s day this year. We’ve had quite a bit of fun reading all the posts and threads that were created and we sure do hope you’ve had as much fun as we’ve had! While you can no longer post…
May The 4th Be With You
Happy Star Wars Day everyone! May the 4th, and the force, be with us all today. May 4 is called Star Wars Day (also sometimes known as Luke Skywalker Day) because of a pun on the similarity between “May the 4th be with you” and “May the Force be with you”, a phrase often spoken in the Star Wars movies. Despite efforts to start a Jedi Church with 4 May as its Star Wars Day, as of 4 May 2009 there is no religion-supporting organization that promotes 4 May as Star Wars Day. In 2005 German news TV channel N24 interviewed George Lucas and asked him to say his famous sentence, “May the Force be with you.” The translator simultaneously translated to German: “Am 4. Mai sind wir bei Ihnen”. (We are with you on May 4). This was captured by comedy show TV Total and aired on May 18, 2005….
How Much Money Will Converting the Star Wars Films to 3D Make?
div class=”separator” style=”clear: both; text-align: center;”></div Apparently, LucasFilm has decided to covert the Star Wars Trilogies into 3D. This is not exactly a surprise, as Hollywood is an a rush to make every movie 3D. But how big of a money maker will it be for the franchise? The cost to convert a traditional 2-D movie into 3D can range between $50,000 and $100,000 per minute. If you split the difference, and say the cost would be $75,000 per minute, then the total price tag to convert all six films would be around $59 million. In 1997, George Lucas released the special editions of Episode IV, V and VI into theatres. Star Wars opened in January and sold $138 million worth of tickets. The Empire Strikes Back opened a month later, but only had $67.6 million in tickets sales. Finally, Return of the Jedi. Now, if you assume that the…
Couldn’t finish A New Hope because of your ADD? Never fear! A 4-minute teaser for Star Wars: Uncut is here!
Put on your best Star Wars costume and get ready for a spectacular remake, as PIX becomes the first festival in the world to show ‘Star Wars Uncut. Since August 2009, thousands of Star Wars fans have united in the project Star Wars Uncut in order to recreate George Lucas’s classic ‘Star Wars’ from 1977, which laid the solid foundation for the Star Wars universe. The film has been divided into 473 scenes lasting 15 seconds each, which the fans have re-shot themselves, after which all 15-second clips have been combined to form one big remake of the film. The clips range from home-made remakes via stop motion to professional 3D animation, and the result is a highly innovative reinterpretation, with John Williams’s original score mixed in. We are talking about a true bombardment of creativity, which is sure to take all Star Wars fans by surprise. The film is…
Sarlacc Enforcer, Devourer of Injustice
It’s april fools day, and Bioware has a great one for us – Sarlacc Enforcer, Devourer of Injustice Think you’ve seen all the playable classes in Star Wars™: The Old Republic™? Think again! We’ve saved the best for last! Now you can realize your fantasy of playing as a Sarlacc Enforcer in Star Wars: The Old Republic! For thousands of years, the brave souls who answer to the name Sarlacc have been the ultimate authority on final judgment in the galaxy. A perfect combination of ruthless efficiency and calculated precision, the Sarlacc Enforcers make sure the galaxy’s trash doesn’t have a chance to pile up. Access the latest HoloNet entry now to see a full profile of the deadly Sarlacc Enforcer, including combat footage of the Sarlaccs in action! From the holonet I can read that this is my type of class 😉 Patient, Calculating, & Elusive The galaxy is…