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(Scroll down for recent and previous news stories)
9/03/08 Set those Tivo's If you're in the U.S., Friday, October 3d, will be the one-hour premier of the new Clone Wars TV show on Cartoon Network. "Ambush" will debut at 9 PM (eastern) to be followed by "Malevolence" at 9:30. The following week (October 10th) Cartoon Network will air a repeat at 8:30 PM (eastern) and a new episode at 9:00!
And if you haven't yet seen the trailer for the series: http://www.cartoonnetwork.com/clonewars/. Enjoy!
8/23/08 Hyperspace Unleashed Two new short stories have debuted on Hyperspace, Deader than an Triton Moon, by Jason Fry (author of The Clone Wars Visual Guide; co-author of the upcoming Star Wars Atlas), and Crossroads by Chris Cerasi (former Lucas Licensing editor and author of the upcoming Star Wars Fandex). Additionally, a comic book tie-in to the SoulCalibur IV videogame (in which Darth Vader, Yoda and the Secret Apprentice of The Force Unleashed play a role) called Visions of the Blade is available at Starwars.com. Click on any of the titles to check them out!
8/19/08 Force Unleashed Finally Debuts At least the novel and trade paperback portions... Head on over to your local bookstore. In the US, Borders has it discounted 40% for members (membership is free).
8/11/08 New Series! It's not been announced officially yet, but it looks as though Aaron Allston, Troy Denning and new to the SW-Universe-author Christie Golden will be writing a nine-part series called Fate of the Jedi. LFL has confirmed Allston and Golden's participation, but cannot yet divulge details. A German fan site revealed that it will take place after the upcoming Millennium Falcon book (itself set after the Legacy of the Force series), the first book will be called Outcast and involve Luke and his son Ben going on a journey together.
8/06/08 Millennium Falcon Revealed
The cover and plot synopsis of the upcoming book Millennium Falcon has been revealed on the official site today. The book is due out in October by James Luceno, and takes place two years after the Legacy of the Force series. "The Solo family then finds itself at a new turning point, about to set out on an odyssey into uncertain territory, untold adventure, and unexpected rewards." Check out the rest of the details here. (Note: there are spoilers for the end of the Legacy series)
New Essential Guide In other news, Karen Traviss will pen an as yet-untitled Essential Guide to ... military aspects of the SW universe, likely detailing aspects of the armies, navies and special forces of the Republic, Empire and Alliance. Should be interesting!
8/05/08 Live Action SW news... The as-yet untitled Star Wars live action TV series will likely shoot in Sydney, Australia, says George Lucas at a recent press conference. Two Australian screenwriters have already been hired to write scripts, and are currently writing it, while Lucas continues to get the technology worked out for the series. Projections point to shooting in 2010. According to Lucas, "It has nothing to do with the Skywalker saga... It is about the lower levels of life, the lower depths. They hear about the fact it is no longer a Republic and now it's an Empire, but they're from a world where none of that really means too much to them."
8/03/08 Weekly Online Comic! Here's some interesting news from from Comic-Con, the official site will be hosting a five-page weekly color comic, and here's the interesting part. Each story will tie-into (or at least be peripherally connected) to the Clone Wars episode that's airing that week! Four artists will be rotating on it (including Tom Hodges from the Reversal of Fortune webstrips) and Pablo Hidalgo will be writing! No official word yet as to whether this will be available to all or just Hyperspace members.
Pretty damn cool if you ask me!
8/01/08 The New Clone Wars Timeline For those of you wondering how the Clone Wars timeline *could* be rearranged with the new information that Anakin was knighted in the first year of the war (as opposed to the last), see my Website Updates page.
*Update: I've created an Original Clone Wars Timeline page to preserve the original conception of the timeline prior to the change as brought about the summer 2008 Clone Wars film and adaptations. This is solely for the sake of posterity so that in the future fans can see how things had been arranged. Both the History and Rise of the Empire pages will reflect the current timeline with the 'new' understanding that Anakin was knighted in the 1st year of the war.
7/30/08 Exclusive Shorts Target online is featuring exclusive short Star Wars stories! The Clone Wars: Outfoxed is the first story available to be downloaded for free! Apparently, the way it works is that after a certain amount of clones are created (by you), content is unlocked. No idea if there are any future stories ahead, but there's quite a bit left to be unlocked, so get cracking!
7/28/08 Future Series In an interview with Karen Traviss on the Random House/Del Rey website here, the prolific author mentions that there are plans to continue the Republic Commando series past the upcoming Order 66 with Imperial Commando. She also mentions there will be a standalone book about Boba Fett! Might this be the Fett/Fenn Shysa story that seems to have been set up in LOTF: Revelation (which offers tantalizing hints as to what the two Mandalorians went through in the past)? Time will tell... Either way, it'll be great to have old-school Marvel veteran Fenn Shysa take a major role in a novel (though if the rumor mill is correct, he may have an active part in Stover's upcoming Shadows of Mindor novel).
7/26/08 Timeline Changes It's just a start, but I've placed the new Clone Wars animated film on the timeline at 7 ABG (for the reasons for that specific month, see Website Updates). As with the other films, adaptations, novelizations, etc., I'll be breaking it down into sections in the days ahead.
* Update 7/29/08: The breakdown of the adaptations is done, and I've currently moved everything to month 6 ABY to allow room for potential sequel stories to take place in 22 BBY (if such is the case). I can always move it back if need be. I'll upload cover images tomorrow.
7/24/08 Got Your Checklist? Rebelscum.com was kind enough to prepare a checklist of books for this Saturday, July 26th, which will see in the US, the release of the various new Clone Wars tie-in books. Print your copy here!
7/13/08 Calendar of events Ok, I've finally updated the Upcoming page with a listing of all the relevant books coming up, in particular the plethora of Clone Wars titles serving to tie into the upcoming movie and TV series. I don't list the non-fiction sources as I don't think most of you guys care about the sticker books, coloring books, or activity books. I also don't list the single-issue comics as those dates are notoriously subject to change. Finally, I only list US dates and titles. Apologies to my non-US readers, but things start to get very cluttered very quickly when you start incorporating international dates and titles.
7/6/08 Patience! With the revamp of Starwars.com and Hyperspace, expect some of the links on this timeline to short fiction and vignettes to misdirect for the time being until all the former fiction is back online. More word on this over the next few weeks.
7/5/08 Back to War!
6/29/08 Expanding Encyclopedia Turns out reports on the upcoming Star Wars Encyclopedia were a bit smaller than the reality. According to TFN, the release date, page count and price are not yet determined, AND, it will be a THREE-Volume set (as opposed to the two-volume formerly reported) "containing over 1000 pages of information covering the entire Star Wars timeline and featuring entries from all 6 feature films, comic entries from Marvel to Dark Horse and will also include entries from the forthcoming Clone Wars animated movie/television show!"
That is certainly happy news! More information as it's revealed...
** Update: The new page count is now 1408! That's a lot more than the original 800 pages noted. The cost, of course, has also gone up to a MSRP of $125.00. Of course, that will discounted on Amazon and other sites. The new release date is November 18th.
6/24/08 Twilight Time Head out to your bookstores to pick up Michael Reaves' new potboiler: Coruscant Knights I: Jedi Twilight. In the aftermath of Order 66, former Jedi Jax Pavan roams the seamy underbelly of Coruscant eking out a living as a private investigator. But when reporter Den Dhur (Medstar duology) and the self-aware droid I-5YQ (Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter and Medstar duology) come with shocking news of his late father, Jax comes out of hiding to fulfill an old mission, and comes under the sights of the Emperor's new enforcer, Darth Vader!
6/17/08 Casting a Long Shadow
6/11/08 New Trailer! There's a brand new Clone Wars trailer available here! It's a great trailer and a nice surprise!
New Book! In other news, Randy Stradley of DH comics has listed the contents of the upcoming Luke Skywalker giant-size book (832 pages, 12-15 lbs!): Luke Skywalker: Last Hope for the Galaxy, here. You can preorder it at Amazon.com for $62.97.
6/10/08 Dooku Lives! Christopher Lee has lent his vocal talents to the voice of Count Dooku in the upcoming Clone Wars movie! This news was released by his personal website and comes on the heels of Sam Jackson's confirmation that he too will be reprising his role (via voice) as Mace Windu. No news yet as to what other actors might be returning to Star Wars this August, but Hayden Christianson has said he would love to do the voice of Anakin for the project, so who knows!?
5/22/08 Lando Sequel Debuts I'm proud to announce that my friend Rich Handley's short story Lando Calrissian: Idiot's Array has after 13 years at last been published on Star Wars Hyperspace! Click on the link to check it out! It's a great story, and an especially rewarding one for long-time readers of the EU (it also serves as a sequel to Tales #3's Lady Luck though you need not have read the latter to enjoy this). I've be waiting to see published since the first time I read it all those years ago. Congrats Rich!
On another note, the mainstream TV world makes another nod to the EU, this time out of the mouth of one of the doctors on the show Grey's Anatomy! A patient, locked in cement (a stunt he pulled to impress a girl who apparently could care less about him) jokes that he's like Han Solo in carbonite. The doctors don't respond until later when he begins to despair that he's going to die (a very real possibility considering his situation) and that he's a loser because of what he did. One of the doctors says that 'Han Solo is not a loser,' and goes on to recount Han's exploits and the fact that he helped save the universe, and then married Leia and had twins who also went on to save the universe! It's not every day Jacen and Jaina get a reference on a mainstream TV show! (Although it seems the doctor hasn't gotten to the Legacy of the Force series yet!) Kudos to the writers of Grey's Anatomy!
5/12/08 LA Times Top Ten of the Expanded Universe Hey, finally the Expanded Universe gets some love and attention in a major media source. This 'essential' list of about eight works (odd choice; why not 10?) includes not only the standard clichés (Zahn's Thrawn Trilogy and KOTOR), but the oldies, like the Marvel series and Splinter of the Mind's Eye! Anyone who knows me or this site knows how how strongly I feel those are essential stories. Kudos to authors Patrick Kevin Day and Geoff Boucher for remembering the expanded universe began in 1978 not 1991. Admittedly, the authors makes a small gaffe claiming that fans were outraged over the cloned Emperor in Dark Empire (which was hardly true across the board), but it's a minor point in an otherwise nice nod to Star Wars stories outside the movies. Check out the article here!
5/7/08 Clone Wars trailer tomorrow
Keep your eyes open tomorrow for the Clone Wars trailer, which should be debuting online (likely on the official site). Chances are the this is the same trailer that leaked a few weeks ago in Polish, but we'll see. To the left is the new Clone Wars poster. Not bad. It'll be nice to have a Star Wars movie back in theaters, and just a little over three months away (August 15)! And on July 26th, we can expect most of the tie-in material to the film to be released as well. And for those who've seen the leaked trailer and were wondering, that is Sam Jackson's voice for Mace Windu! That was confirmed by an article in the recent LA Times.
5/6/08 Giant Falcon Spotted I don't usually report on toys, but this is a particularly cool one. Come July 26, Hasbro will release a new giant-sized Millennium Falcon ship for your 3 3/4" figures. If this is your kind of thing, start saving your pennies. Interestingly, there will be a new hardcover novel by James Luceno called Millennium Falcon that will take place after the Legacy of the Force series. This likely confirms that Del Rey will continue as Lucas' book publishing partner. December 30th is the release date.
I forgot to list the latest Hyperspace exclusive: "Precipice". This short story deals with Obi-Wan's emotional struggle while he's imprisoned on Geonosis. Check it out here.
5/3/08 Clone News Dark Horse will be having a quarterly Clone Wars digest coming out in September, the first one, The Shipyards of Doom is written by Henry Gilroy (who's one of the writers on the upcoming Clone Wars TV series) and illustrated by the Fillbach Brothers (who illustrated the well-received Clone Wars Digests -- no word on whether they'll be updating their style to that of the movie and TV series), and a regular monthly Clone Wars series with back-up features by the writers of the series. Karen Traviss (Republic Commando series, Sacrifice) will be penning the novelization of the upcoming Clone Wars movie. As reported on 4/8, there should be some nice tie-ins. More on this as it develops.
4/24/08 It's Officially Official... ...as in the contracts are signed. Guillermo del Toro is moving to New Zealand for the next four years, from which will emerge a two-picture film adaptation of The Hobbit! Happy news indeed! And in a bit of serendipity, April 25 is the day Gandalf knocked on Bilbo's front door, the very opening scene of the Hobbit! Check out www.theonering.net for more info.
Now, as regards the Tolkien's Estate's lawsuit against New Line Cinemas, word has it that they're in talks and are not preempting the making of these films during this period. Hopefully, a deal will be worked out, and everyone comes away a winner.
4/12/08 Hot New Trailer... ...for the upcoming Clone Wars film is up on Youtube! It looks pretty amazing!! August 15th can't come soon enough. Check it out here! * Update: It appears LFL has had the trailer removed. No doubt we'll see it again in the coming weeks, and in much nicer quality.
4/9/08 Exclusive Fiction Hyperspace has published its first piece of exclusive Star Wars short fiction: "Labor Pains" is by John Jackson Miller and takes place in between Knights of the Old Republic #12 and 13. An additional treat is that it's illustrated by Pablo Hidalgo himself! If you're a Hyperspace member of the Official Site, you can check it out here.
Lucas Interviewed Total Film's May 08 issue has a good interview with George Lucas talking about Indiana Jones, Clone Wars and the upcoming live-action series. Highlights:
Lots of good stuff in this interview, including a refinement of his statement about the three pillars of Star Wars. Noting he'll likely get in trouble for saying it, he likens the three pillars to the Trinity, with him as the father, Howard Roffman (in charge of Lucas Licensing) as the Son, and the holy spirit as the nebulous world of fans inventing stories in their heads. He says that his world (the films and TV series) are consistent with themselves. Roffman tries to keep his world (the EU) consistent with his, but occasionally goes off on tangents. "They created this whole amazing universe that goes on for millions of years!" He does say there will be no Episodes VII-IX, and that the novels have gone there, although they aren't necessarily what he would have done (Luke getting married, the Emperor being cloned). He admits, however, that he never thought of any story for that period. "The Star Wars story is really the tragedy of Darth Vader." Of course, what's interesting about that statement is that the upcoming live-action Star Wars series "is not about the Skywalkers or any of that stuff... It's a completely different kind of idea." Check it out here!
4/8/08 Clone Wars Still Raging With the upcoming Star Wars animated film in theaters on August 15th in the US and an animated series to follow on the Cartoon Network and TNT, there will be some interesting tie-in books for young and adult readers. Here's the scoop: Mark July 26th on your calendars for a trip to the bookstore. If you've got 'em, bring the younglings because there will be a more concerted effort to provide titles for them. Aside from movie tie-ins (such as from Grosset and Dunlap), there'll be sticker books, activity books, coloring books and read-along books. But adults need not feel left out either. NY Times Bestselling author Karen Traviss will pen the film's novelization from Del Rey, along with some additional TV show adaptations from her and her friend and sci-fi/fantasy author Karen Miller. Dark Horse will produce a graphic novel tie-in. We may also see an Art of Star Wars saga book covering all six films.
Speaking of Dark Horse, keep your eyes on Amazon and other bookstores for the next Omnibus collection, called Early Victories. This will cover some never before collected mini-series and single-issues:
4/2/08 Sansweet at LA Wizard World Con Head of fan relations, Steve Sansweet discusses plans for the upcoming Star Wars Saga box set. He says they've "always been looking at a deluxe box set with all six movies." He goes on to say that they look at the market, what fans are asking for, and he's sure that will be coming up at some point, but they have "no specific plans for that right now." When asked about a Blu-Ray release, he's far cagier, saying "we're always looking at all of our options." Click here to see the video.
2/26/08 Book of Revelation In this case, the Star Wars book, Legacy of the Force: Revelation comes out today! I'm off to grab mine!
Rumors of this book have been circulating for some time, but Amazon.com just listed this item for a November 4th release date. The original Star Wars Encyclopedia came out in 1998, 10 years ago when the Star Wars Universe was much smaller than it is today. This new version is double in size, coming in at a whopping 800 pages! Should be fun! Update: Steve Sansweet confirmed that Pablo Hidalgo has been co-updating the book with him, and that Amazon's date might be off.
2/04/08 New Star Wars film in Theaters! The recent UK Toy Fair is lending further fuel to the fire of the theatrical debut of the Clone Wars series in theaters (see the 12/5/07 news). According to the latest information, the first three episodes will be presented as a theatrical feature in the US and UK in August/September, and will feature... (potential spoilers)... a story involving the kidnapping of Rotta the Hutt (Jabba's nephew or son). Head over to www.theforce.net for the full story.
**Update: It's confirmed: August 15th in the States will see the 7th Star Wars film to hit theaters. The 100 or so minute feature length presentation will be followed in the Fall by a half-hour series on the Cartoon Network. TNT will then rebroadcast them. And it really looks good! Check out the web documentary on the Official Site for scenes from the upcoming Clone Wars animated theatrical film and subsequent TV series. And TV Guide has provided an article answering some questions as well.
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The highly
anticipated Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor by Matt Stover has
switched release dates with James Luceno's intriguing Millennium Falcon
book (the latter now coming out in October, Shadows in December). To tide
us over, the official blog has released the back cover, which is just as
fantastic as the front! Illustrator Dave Seeley tells the interesting story of
how it all came about
