Category: Star Wars

Star Wars Rebels: Stealth Strike

Star Wars: RebelsCable channel Disney XD premieres the 22nd episode of the series Star Wars: Rebels, a CGI animated storyline falling between the original and prequel trilogies of the Star Wars saga.

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Star Wars Rebels: Blood Sisters

Star Wars: RebelsCable channel Disney XD premieres the 21st episode of the series Star Wars: Rebels, a CGI animated storyline falling between the original and prequel trilogies of the Star Wars saga. Gina Torres (Firefly, Cleopatra 2525) guest stars.

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Star Wars Rebels: Wings Of The Master

Star Wars: RebelsCable channel Disney XD premieres the 20th episode of the series Star Wars: Rebels, a CGI animated storyline falling between the original and prequel trilogies of the Star Wars saga.

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Star Wars Rebels: Brothers Of The Broken Horn

Star Wars: RebelsCable channel Disney XD premieres the 19th episode of the series Star Wars: Rebels, a CGI animated storyline falling between the original and prequel trilogies of the Star Wars saga.

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Star Wars Rebels: Always Two There Are

Star Wars: RebelsCable channel Disney XD premieres the 18th episode of the series Star Wars: Rebels, a CGI animated storyline falling between the original and prequel trilogies of the Star Wars saga. Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy: The Vampire Slayer) makes her first appearance as Seventh Sister.

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Star Wars Rebels: Relics Of The Old Republic

Star Wars: RebelsCable channel Disney XD premieres the 17th episode of the series Star Wars: Rebels, a CGI animated storyline falling between the original and prequel trilogies of the Star Wars saga.

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Star Wars Rebels: The Lost Commanders

Star Wars: RebelsCable channel Disney XD premieres the 16th episode of the series Star Wars: Rebels, a CGI animated storyline falling between the original and prequel trilogies of the Star Wars saga. This episode picks up the second season and continues to build links between the Rebels animated series and its predecessor, The Clone Wars, by reintroducing the now-aged Clone Trooper nicknamed Rex (Dee Bradley Baker).

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Star Wars: Rebels: The Siege Of Lothal

Star Wars: RebelsCable channel Disney XD premieres the 15th episode of the series Star Wars: Rebels, a CGI animated storyline falling between the original and prequel trilogies of the Star Wars saga. This double-length episode opens the show’s second season, though the remainder of the second season won’t air for several more months. James Earl Jones guest stars as Darth Vader, and Billy Dee Williams guest stars as Lando Calrissian. Ashley Eckstein joins the cast, reprising her Clone Wars character, Ahsoka Tano.

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Star Wars: Rebels: Fire Across The Galaxy

Star Wars: RebelsCable channel Disney XD premieres the 14th episode of the series Star Wars: Rebels, a CGI animated storyline falling between the original and prequel trilogies of the Star Wars saga. This episode closes the first season, and cements the story connections between Rebels and the previous Clone Wars animated series.

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Star Wars: Rebels: Rebel Resolve

Star Wars: RebelsCable channel Disney XD premieres the 13th episode of the series Star Wars: Rebels, a CGI animated storyline falling between the original and prequel trilogies of the Star Wars saga.

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Star Wars: Rebels: Call To Action

Star Wars: RebelsCable channel Disney XD premieres the 12th episode of the series Star Wars: Rebels, a CGI animated storyline falling between the original and prequel trilogies of the Star Wars saga.

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Star Wars: Rebels: Vision Of Hope

Star Wars: RebelsCable channel Disney XD premieres the 11th episode of the series Star Wars: Rebels, a CGI animated storyline falling between the original and prequel trilogies of the Star Wars saga. Brent Spiner (Star Trek: The Next Generation) guest stars.

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Star Wars: Rebels: Idiot’s Array

Star Wars: RebelsCable channel Disney XD premieres the tenth episode of the series Star Wars: Rebels, a CGI animated storyline falling between the original and prequel trilogies of the Star Wars saga. Billy Dee Williams guest stars as Lando Calrissian.

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Star Wars: Rebels: Path Of The Jedi

Star Wars: RebelsCable channel Disney XD premieres the ninth episode of the series Star Wars: Rebels, a CGI animated storyline falling between the original and prequel trilogies of the Star Wars saga. Frank Oz (the voice of Yoda in the original Star Wars films) guest stars.

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Star Wars: Rebels: Gathering Forces

Star Wars: RebelsCable channel Disney XD premieres the eighth episode of the series Star Wars: Rebels, a CGI animated storyline falling between the original and prequel trilogies of the Star Wars saga. Peter MacNicol (Ghostbusters II) guest stars.

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Star Wars: Rebels: Empire Day

Star Wars: RebelsCable channel Disney XD premieres the seventh episode of the series Star Wars: Rebels, a CGI animated storyline falling between the original and prequel trilogies of the Star Wars saga. Brent Spiner (Star Trek: The Next Generation) and Peter MacNicol (Ghostbusters II) guest star.

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Star Wars: Rebels: Out Of Darkness

Star Wars: RebelsCable channel Disney XD premieres the sixth episode of the series Star Wars: Rebels, a CGI animated storyline falling between the original and prequel trilogies of the Star Wars saga.

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Star Wars: Rebels: Breaking Ranks

Star Wars: RebelsCable channel Disney XD premieres the fifth episode of the series Star Wars: Rebels, a CGI animated storyline falling between the original and prequel trilogies of the Star Wars saga.

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Star Wars: Rebels: Rise Of The Old Masters

Star Wars: RebelsCable channel Disney XD premieres the fourth episode of the series Star Wars: Rebels, a CGI animated storyline falling between the original and prequel trilogies of the Star Wars saga. Brent Spiner (Star Trek: The Next Generation) guest stars.

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Star Wars: Rebels: Fighter Flight

Star Wars: RebelsCable channel Disney XD premieres the third episode of the series Star Wars: Rebels, a CGI animated storyline falling between the original and prequel trilogies of the Star Wars saga.

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Star Wars: Rebels: Droids In Distress

Star Wars: RebelsCable channel Disney XD premieres the second episode of the series Star Wars: Rebels, a CGI animated storyline falling between the original and prequel trilogies of the Star Wars saga. Anthony Daniels (Star Wars) and Paul Reubens (Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure) guest star.

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Star Wars: Rebels: Spark Of Rebellion

Star Wars: RebelsCable channel Disney XD premieres the first full episode of the series Star Wars: Rebels, a CGI animated storyline falling between the original and prequel trilogies of the Star Wars saga, featuring a cell of rogue Rebels fighting the totalitarian Empire. Though technically in the same continuity as its predecessor, Star Wars: Clone Wars, Rebels is the first Disney-produced Star Wars project following the studio’s acquisition of Lucasfilm in 2012. The first episode is roughly 43 minutes in length, a typical length for hour-long US television drama, but most future episodes (except for select “event” stories) will run 22 minutes long.

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Star Wars “character” movies in works

Han SoloDisney announces that it has an entire empire of Star Wars movies in mind, including two movies built around the early days of specific fan-favorite characters, with Han Solo and Boba Fett being the first two characters to have movies centered around them. The Empire Strikes Back and Raiders Of The Lost Ark screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan – obviously no stranger to the exploits of Han Solo – is among those developing the storylines for these spinoff movies.

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Abrams to direct Star Wars Episode VII

Star WarsWord breaks across Hollywood that Disney has secured the services of J.J. Abrams, co-creator of Lost and director of the 2009 and 2013 movies set in a re-imagined Star Trek universe, to direct the much-anticipated Star Wars Episode VII, the first new movie in the series since Disney’s acquisition of Lucasfilm at the end of 2012. With a locked-in release date in 2015, Abrams is expected to start work on Episode VII as soon as post-production and promotion for Star Trek Into Darkness are complete for that movie’s May 2013 release.

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Disney buys Lucasfilm, Episode VII in works

LucasfilmDisney announces the purchase of Lucasfilm Ltd. for $4,000,000,000, simultaneously announcing that work will commence on Star Wars Episode VII for a 2015 release. George Lucas, having already stepped down as Lucasfilm chairman earlier in the year, is suddenly even more of a billionaire than he already was, and Disney gets the keys to the Star Wars franchise with plans for new movies “every 2-3 years.”

Ralph McQuarrie, Star Wars illustrator, dies

Star Wars, as envisioned by Ralph McQuarrieRalph McQuarrie, the artist who envisioned key scenes and settings of the Star Wars universe, before sets or models were built and before filming began, dies at the age of 82. As the production artist for Star Wars, McQuarrie got his licks in early on how the “universe” should look, from costumes to spacecraft to weaponry. George Lucas credited McQuarrie’s artwork with keeping the movies’ “look” on track, as well as selling 20th Century Fox on the idea of financing the first movie in the absence of any kind of test footage. McQuarrie also provided concepts for a redesigned U.S.S. Enterprise for an early ‘70s Star Trek movie project, Star Trek: Planet Of The Titans, that ultimately went unfilmed. He also contributed early concept art to Battlestar Galactica, E.T., Cocoon, Batteries Not Included, and many others, and had also worked on the animated artists’ conceptions of the Apollo moon missions played during CBS’ coverage of those flights.

2004 Robot Hall Of Fame inductees

C-3PORobbyCarnie Mellon University inducts five new members to its Robot Hall Of Fame at a press event promoting the movie adaptation of Isaac Asimov’s I, Robot. The 2004 inductees, again split almost evenly between fictional and real robots, are:

  1. Astro Boy (1951, manga/anime character)
  2. Robby The Robot (1956, from Forbidden Planet)
  3. Shakey (1966, Stanford Research Institute – first robot capable of autonomous tasks)
  4. C-3PO (1977, from Star Wars)
  5. ASIMO (2000, Honda – humanoid robot capable of navigating uneven terrain)

Judges for the 2004 Hall include SimCity creator Wil Wright, roboticist Ruzena Bajcsy and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak.

2003 Robot Hall Of Fame inductees

R2-D2SojournerThe first four inductees – two real and two fictional – are inducted into the Robot Hall Of Fame created by Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Computer Science.

  1. Unimate (1961, General Motors) – the first robotic arm used in car assembly
  2. HAL-9000 (1968, from 2001: a space odyssey)
  3. R2-D2 (1977, from Star Wars)
  4. Sojourner (1996, NASA) – the first successful Mars rover

The panel of judges in future years will pare down the number of nominations awarded to fictional creations. R2-D2 actor Kenny Baker and Douglas Rains, the voice actor behind HAL, are in attendance.

Hear about it on the Sci-Fi 5 podcast

Sir Alec Guinness, Star Wars actor, dies

Sir Alec GuinnessSir Alec Guinness, best known to SF fans as Obi-Wan Kenobi, dies at the age of 86. He was a working actor for over six decades, though directors had to beg him into participating in his two best-known outings – Star Wars and The Bridge Over The River Kwai; indeed, in recent years, he has made his disdain for the former project very well known to any fans who dared to ask. Reports around the time of his death indicated that Sir Alec Guinness has been suffering from liver cancer. He is survived by his wife and son.

Episode II pre-production underway

Star WarsBefore Episode I‘s theatrical premiere, the pre-production phase of Star Wars Episode II has already begun, with principal photography to commence toward the end of 1999. Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Ian McDiamid, Ahmed Best, and Anthony Daniels are all slated to reprise their roles, though it will be necessary to recast Anakin Skywalker, since the second film will take place at least a decade after the events of The Phantom Menace.

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