Sci-Fi Storm

On the last day of Star Wars Celebration, Star Wars: Rogue One director Gareth Edwards joined Lucasfilm’s Kathleen Kennedy, Kiri Hart, and Pablo Hidalgo in a panel to discuss the “interstitial” Star Wars movies which are taking place outside the main saga stories and will be released in the years in between the saga releases. Kennedy announced that they are calling these movies the Star Wars Anthology Series.

Previous thoughts on Rogue One following the adventures of the Rebels’ Rogue Squadron were squashed as Edwards gave the basic premise, which takes place between Episode III and IV, and will “revolve around a rogue band of resistance fighters who unite for a daring mission to steal the Death Star plans and bring new hope to the galaxy.” Possibly the ones who got the plans to Princess Leia?

A sizzle real was shown (and well received from reports), but is not available online yet. The film will star Oscar winner Felicity Jones (The Theory of Everything), but other cast members still have not been named.

At Star Wars Celebration in Anaheim this weekend (no, I’m not there…really wish I was…) they released a trailer for the upcoming Season 2 of Star Wars Rebels – and in it we can see some familiar faces returning…of course Ahsoka is back from Star Wars: The Clone Wars after her appearance at the end of Season 1 (and still voiced by our Jedi friend Ashley Eckstein), but we also see the return of Rex, Anakin’s clone trooper captain, voiced by Dee Bradley Baker (who also has done a few voices in Rebels).

We do also see the arrival of Darth Vader in the storyline after his cameo appearance in the special first episode, and it appears he will be voiced by James Earl Jones.

And one other thing I recently learned – Sam Witwer (Being Human), who voiced Darth Maul in The Clone Wars, will return as well – but this time as Emperor Palpatine/Darth Sidious.

Star Wars Rebels Season Two Trailer on Disney Video

OH MY!!! Just released! New Stormtroopers! New scenes! New…Skywalker?

“Chewie…we’re home.”

It seems odd, but it was also a latecomer to the Blu-ray market…but finally Star Wars will enter the Digital universe, with its first ever Digital HD release this Friday, April 10th! All six episodes will be released.

Each episode lists at $20, with all six available for $100 ($89.99 right now on [asin=B00VJ04TH0]Amazon[/asin].)

It may have happened a long time ago, but it’s finally reached the 21st Century… 🙂

Disney had their shareholders meeting today, and Disney CEO Bob Iger gave some interesting info about the plans for Star Wars…

First up, we now know the title of the first “interstitial” movie to be released in 2016, between Episodes VII and VIII, and it will be Star Wars: Rogue One. That alone may not mean much (it is described as “the first film in a unique series of big-screen adventures that explores the characters and events beyond the core Star Wars saga”), but Rogue Squadron has a fairly extensive presence in the expanded universe, having started with the survivors of Red Squadron who took on the name “Rogue” while on Hoth, and carried through to three games and several books. Filming will start this summer, with a planned December 16th, 2016 release. Gareth Edwards (Godzilla) will helm, and Oscar winner Felicity Jones (The Theory of Everything) is the first confirmed star. And from the description, it may not be a standalone movie…

Iger also confirmed that Rian Johnson (Looper) will direct Episode VIII, and the release date is set for May 26th, 2017.

A small single-engine two-seater vintage trainer plane being piloted by actor Harrison Ford crashed on a golf course near the Santa Monica airport after he reported engine trouble and was attempting to perform an emergency landing.

Ford reportedly walked away from the crash after being helped by a couple of physicians that were at the scene, and later by paramedics. It appears that he sustained some serious injuries but is apparently OK. His son Ben later tweeted, Dad is ok. Battered, but ok! He is every bit the man you would think he is. He is an incredibly strong man.”

Ford is an experienced aviator, and has crashed before without serious injury.

We don’t know what they are about…but we might know who will star in the first “interstitial” Star Wars movies that will release in between the main saga movies.

Deadline has confirmed that The Theory Of Everything star and Oscar nominee Felicity Jones is in talks to take the female lead for one of the movies. LucasFilm/Disney is still looking for a male lead.

Jones will next appear with Jonah Hill and James Franco in True Story.

The droid BB-8 (or as I call him, “soccer ball”) that rolled around in the teaser for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, seemed almost certainly CGI…we’ve never seen anything real like it.

But it turns out, as part of J.J. Abrams return to practical effects and models, this little ball was real – at least in the sense that it was a physical model that actually DID roll around.

According to this article, Mark Hamill saw in it action, and even got to play with it. “And when they were demonstrating how they did this thing, live on set — because it’s not CGI, that’s a live prop — I was just amazed,” he said. “They let me play around with it. I was running it all around at the creature shop up in Pinewood. I’m telling you, it’s an absolute delight.”

And now I will be seriously disappointed if I can’t buy this thing for Christmas next year.

It’s here! It’s here!!!!

And yes, this is the OFFICIAL trailer, not the so-called “leaked international trailer” which was just a fan mashup of various pieces of media…

In case you were worried that you couldn’t get to one of the only 30 U.S. theaters that will be showing the upcoming trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens on Friday, fret not – the Force is with you still. The trailer will be launched on iTunes Trailers as well, according to this official tweet:

The Force is with you on #BlackFriday when #TheForceAwakens teaser hits @iTunesTrailers.

— Star Wars (@starwars) November 26, 2014