Sci-Fi Storm

Entertainment Weekly had an interview with Star Wars: The Clone Wars supervising director Dave Filoni, and he gave look forward to what might be expected in the 4th season – and also said that Battlestar Galactica‘s Katee Sackhoff will be voicing a “memorable” character! “Everybody here loved Battlestar Galactica. It was such a great, inspirational series, and I think fans will be very pleased with the character she portrays,” Filoni said. “Let me say this, it will be a memorable character, that is for sure.” BSG fans may have noticed some classic BSG references in the show already.

Some of the other things he mentioned: More three-episode story arcs, multiple Oscar winning sound editor Walter Murch will work on an episode, and bigger epic battles. And we may not have seen the last of Chewbacca either…

With his upcoming appearance on the upcoming one hour season finale of Star Wars: The Clone Wars (Friday, April 1st, 8pm ET), Chewbacca stopped off at Skywalker Ranch to answer some emails…

And from what I’ve been hearing, if you were hoping to see a young Han Solo make an appearance at some point…don’t plan on it.

The Cartoon Network announced at its upfront presentations today that they have renewed Star Wars: The Clone Wars for a fourth season, along with forming a new partnership with DC Comics and Warner Brothers to create a programming block to be titled DC Nation. In addition Jeffrey Katzenberg, Co-founder and CEO of DreamWorks Animation, appeared to announce that CN and DreamWorks will develop a half-hour cartoon based on the hugely successful How To Train Your Dragon feature.

DC Nation will begin in 2012 as a multi-platform franchise, and the exclusive home for DC properties. Although no specific programming is mentioned, it will include an on-air and online programming block populated with event programming, interstitials, exclusive behind-the-scenes of theatrical production and an insider look into the world of all things DC. “DC Nation on Cartoon Network will be the first-ever dedicated broadcast destination to showcase the depth and breadth of the DC Universe,” said Diane Nelson, President of DC Entertainment. “We and our partners at WBTV are thrilled that fans will be able to immerse themselves in DC’s phenomenal stories, experience a wide spectrum of amazing characters and stay up-to-date on the latest happenings of the world’s greatest superheroes and their creators, both on-air and online.”

“DreamWorks Animation recognizes the importance of building brands around great franchises, so you can imagine how thrilled we are to be joining forces with Cartoon Network to bring our newest franchise – How to Train Your Dragon – to television audiences around the world,” said Katzenberg. Dragon has grossed over $500 million worldwide so far.

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Just what I always wanted – Jar Jar’s tongue lashing out in 3D…according to Deadline, a joint press release has been put out by Lucasfilm and Twentieth Century Fox that a 3D release of The Phantom Menace will hit theaters on February 10th, 2012. No word on whether there will be further revisions to the movie…

Always dreamed of traveling to Tatooine and taking in the sites, like Mos Eisley, Toshi Station, and of course the place that Luke Skywalker grew up, the Lars Homestead? Well, you can (turmoil in Tunisia notwithstanding). However, some of the locations have fallen into disrepair, including the homestead exterior, and a group would like to fix that. They estimate they need about $10,000 to fix up the exterior, and they are almost 79% of the way there. They have some great photos as well so you can see the various locations, not just of Tatooine, but the Cairo of Raiders Of The Lost Ark and others.

What of the Lars interior, you ask? It’s still there, and in decent condition – it just happens to be about 150 miles away from the exterior, and is actively used as a hotel – one without power, apparently…

Did you like that Super Bowl ad from Volkswagen, featuring the luckless young Darth Vader attempting to use his force powers around the house? Then you might like this spoof of that ad, featuring a more successful Vader – and his rebellious parents…

Peter Mayhew, the 7+ foot talk actor to provide life to Chewbacca in 4 Star Wars films, will reprise the role in a different way for the animated Star Wars: The Clone Wars. While Mr. Mayhew played the physical role in the movies, the “voice” was a mixed recording of animal sounds. For the animated show, no physical actor is necessary – but Mayhew has learned to recreated the “Wookiee growls” and will do so for the upcoming two part season finale. In the episodes “Padawan Lost” and “Wookiee Hunt”, Chewbacca will cross paths with Anakin’s apprentice Ahsoka Tano. The finale is scheduled for April 1st.

EW has an exclusive trailer for the upcoming Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars video game, the latest in the popular Lego video game franchise. I’ve liked the [asin=B000R39GGE]Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga[/asin] above the rest (except perhaps for the more recent [asin=B002BRZ712]Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4[/asin] – undecided between the two right now), and with a Clone Wars fan kid and the Clone Wars voice artists providing their voices – or at least their grunts – to the game, this could be real fun! The game will be released on March 22nd for the [asin=B0037UCT0O]Nintendo Wii[/asin], [asin=B0037UCTCW]XBox 360[/asin], [asin=B0037UCT7C]Sony Playstation 3[/asin], [asin=B0037UCSJG]PC DVD-ROM[/asin], [asin=B0037UCSUU]Sony PSP[/asin] and [asin=B0037UCSQ4]Nintendo DS[/asin].

Star Wars Weekends, an annual four-weekend-long event at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, will start May 20th this year – coinciding with the relaunch of Star Tours. The announcement was rather late this year, perhaps due to the Star Tours updates and wanting to make sure it would open in time.

More details about guests are yet to be revealed, but Anthony Daniels will appear for the first two weekends, and Ashley Eckstein (the voice of Ahsoka Tano in Star Wars: The Clone Wars and founder of Her Universe, and former DHS parade cast member) once again returns for all 4 weeks and will host the “Clone Wars: Behind The Force” sessions. Feel free to message me on Twitter (@scifistorm) for more details as information is released.

Star Wars Weekends is a fun time for fans…there are plenty of meet and greets with the characters in costume, some of which also float around (the bounty hunters can be especially menacing) and the shows are entertaining. Read our 2009 SWW report for a quick idea of what it is like.

The update to Star Tours is very significant as well. A new projection system is being used (reportedly 3D but this hasn’t been 100% confirmed), and feature a “variable” ride experience – that is, there will be a number of scenes that will randomly be selected for each ride, with a reported 54 possible variations. George Lucas recently got a preview, and reportedly gave it a thumbs up.

Sometimes more interesting than the actual Super Bowl is the commercials that will air during it. This year, Volkswagen will introduce a new commercial called “The Force”, with an obvious Star Wars theme…but you don’t have to wait until Sunday to see it – you can see it right here now!
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