Ahmed Best Bets He Knows What You Got

Most times this Wendy's commercial is shown in my neck of the woods they cut off the very real beat boxing skills of Ahmed Best. We don't see a whole lot of the Jar Jar Binks actor on the national stage so it's pretty cool to see him pop up here.

Horror Beyond Imagination (from the other George)

Today's Nowherebad.com shirt of the day mixes popular bedfellows Star Wars with Zombies in the form of Tauntaun of the Dead. 

The artist, Blair J. Campbell, has some other interesting mash-ups including this nifty Super Mario Bros. mix.  

Clone Wars Screening at Lucasfilm

Tonight I had an opportunity that most fans from the East never get. I got to attend a screening of episodes of The Clone Wars in one of the best theaters in San Francisco. Lucasfilm, in their Letterman Digital Arts Center at The Presidio, presented the final four episode arc that completed season five of the show. Several strokes of luck got me in this happy crowd of attendees. That and some freeway sitting mixed with Bullitt-style driving through the crowded Friday rush hour traffic. A visit to the facility last week, in a story to be told soon, informed me of the screening and some schedule juggling allowed my wife and I to attend while we're on holiday in California.

Since we were some of the last people to arrive it was a great fortune to see my friend James Floyd of ClubJade.net. After a brief photo none other than Dave Filoni opened the door for us to join the crowd already in the theater. The place was nearly full and possibly held 200 people. We lucked into the center seats of the second row and were treated to an introduction of the show by Supervising Director Dave Filoni and Producer Cary Silver.

About this time a new member was inducted into Filoni's exclusive Wolfpack. Former Lucasfilm blogger and craft mistress Bonnie Burton joined the ranks that include Jason and Jimmy of Rebel Force Radio. She was given a plaque to commemorate the event and high praise from the man in the hat.

 Filoni and Silver explained that we were about to see a slightly modified cut of the most recent pair of episodes along with tomorrow and next Saturday's season finale episodes. The exclusive opening also included a treat not shown on TV, the traditional Star Wars John Williams opening theme over the receding The Clone Wars logo. It would make an excellent bookend to the last moments of the movie which featured Kevin Kiner's full orchestral spin on classic themes.

The arc was brilliant and will be shown on Cartoon Network and StarWars.com soon enough but I can tell you that there are some large surprises and revelations along with more tense action than they usually have time to include in average episodes. I also saw some of the finest animation in all five seasons and had a couple of questions answered. There's even a casting coup that has not been announced yet, but makes season 6 even more enticing. And remember the upcoming Star Wars video game 1313? Well, we get to see some of those lower Coruscant environments as well. 

After the screening we were treated to an hour of Q&A moderated by Pablo Hidalgo featuring Filoni, Ashley (Ahsoka) Eckstein, and Matt (Anakin) Lanter. Their comraderie was clear and Lanter was actually seeing these episodes for the first time. Many crew members were in attendance including Writer Charles Murray and CG Lighting and Effects Supervisor Joel Aron. 

Questions about the future of The Clone Wars and other Lucasfilm projects were steered around but they also took a number of questions from the audience. 

That this was one of my favorite arcs made this a wonderful night and reignited my love of The Clone Wars. Seeing it in a Lucasfilm screening room and then being present for the intimate discussion afterwards made this a night I'll never forget. I look forward to when everyone has seen these episodes so we can actually discuss the ramifications of these new plot twists and information.

And as luck would have it, the final episode will air on March 2nd- the day of our next SWGFA gathering at Heroes Landing. I promise it will be interesting...

Curto Burns covers the UK Toy Fair

 The Collector Cast is back. Check out this month's episode for coverage of the UK Toy Fair. It's a good one with lots of news and a fair amount of instantly out-of-date information about the now-postponed 3D Star Wars Prequels and their toy release strategies.

Sabacc to The Future

The blog's getting an overhaul. After years of directing the Orlando System and co-founding the Star Wars Grand Florida Alliance I'm changing gears a bit and going to focus on my own projects and try to get my collection under control. Periodically, I'll be posting things I've found, things I've collected, events, and notes.

If you were a subscriber when this was the SWGFA blog I hope you'll consider sticking around. Star Wars is headed for a major decade with announcements of the Disney acquisition and new movies so there should be plenty to talk about.

Today's TeeFury Shirt of the Day

The Limited Edition Cheap T-Shirt, Gone in 24hours! | TeeFury

by verrrso:

'Role' Credits

After a decade of helping to organize Star Wars fans in Central Florida and around the state I've decided to devote myself to other projects and focus on my family. I'm especially happy to have led the Orlando System and that we joined forces with Chris Wyman's Tampa Star Wars Club to create the Star Wars Grand Florida Alliance.

By hosting numerous events and representing the SWGFA at Celebration V and VI as well as other conventions, I can say with confidence that I've helped to create a place where fans can share their love of the Galaxy Far, Far Away. I will remain available as a consultant and for the immediate future will maintain the finances (such as they are) and the forums. Chris is devoted to building the club and will soon announce a new way for fans to become a charter member of the SWGFA in 2013. Disney's acquisition of Lucasfilm and the promise of new movies guarantees new lifeblood into the franchise so there's no better time than now to connnect with fellow fans. While I'm reducing my role in the club's guidance my enthusiasm for Star Wars remains and I see a bright future for the SWGFA.

Disney Star Wars

I consider myself one of the biggest fans of Star Wars that most people are likely to meet, but I have to admit that I have misgivings about the Disney acquisition of Lucasfilm. I think I've been waiting for my 1985, a time where Star Wars would eventually fade and I could take stock of all the experiences and collectibles I've amassed since Star Wars roared back with the Thrawn novels and later the Special Editions and Prequels. Knowing that the brand is as strong as ever is exciting, but I'm also reminded that many people consider us to be getting further and further from the core of Star Wars, the trilogy that moved a generation. A decade ago, when a Trekker might say that their franchise had at least half a dozen television series and ten movies. I took some pride that my favorite property only needed about ten hours (Revenge of the Sith was in production). Yeah, I glossed over the mid-80s cartoons, the Ewoks movies and the Holiday Special, but the actual story of Star Wars used to be far meatier. Star Trek, which I love in its own way, was watered down and I feel like Star Wars is getting that characteristic too. I love many things about the Prequels, but push comes to shove, I'm an Original Trilogy fan, and the further we get from that point, the more I wonder if I can maintain my enthusiasm for the new.


Will I be at the opening nights of all the new Star Wars films? It's extremely likely. And a positive spin on the movies is that Episode III, the last theatrical outing for a live action Star Wars movie, is the best prequel by a good margin. Rumors that spin-off movies could replace the live action TV show model may really refresh the brand and Disney has the resources and the crowd-pleasing drive to really make some wonderful movies. I'm excited, but I'm cautious with my hopes.

I do look forward to seeing how Disney brings Star Wars further into the theme parks, and I've already fantasized about a Star Wars cruise aboard one of their magnificent ships. Disney certainly gives Star Wars the legs to be around for generations to come, and in a multitude of incarnations. I should probably look at it like I looked at collecting in the 1990s. Prior to 1995 we bought Bend-ems and toys from other brands just to get that fix of childhood like when we got action figures and school supplies and trading cards. Once Kenner began producing new toys and various other vendors made a plethora of new products no one could collect it all. You had to make choices and you got what you really cared about and had to pass the less interesting. Maybe that's what's happening with all sorts of fans at this point. There are certainly divisions of passionate OT fans, a generation that prefer the prequels, and some Clone Wars kids that ask, "There are movies?" Maybe this enormous selection will be good for all of us because we get to pick and choose those elements of the galaxy far, far away that mean the most to us. It certainly appears that there will be no shortage of choices.

Star Wars Spin-offs?

It would have been unthinkable a few weeks ago, but rumors now point to the possibility of spin-off movies in the Star Wars universe. With the success of Marvel's superhero movies, Disney could be positioning the Star Wars franchise in a very different direction than Lucas, who has often said that television was the future for Star Wars. Company shake-ups like this week's announcement that Rick McCallum had left Lucasfilm points to a bold new direction under Kathleen Kennedy's leadership.

from ScreenCrush.com:
Star Wars has entered a brave new world since its acquisition by Disney last month; it appears as though every day sheds a little more light on the fast-tracked remodeling of the Lucasfilm property. Most recently we learned that ‘Empire Strikes Back’ scribe Lawrence Kasdan is allegedly making a long-awaited return to the franchise; joining the cause as well is ‘X-Men: The Last Stand’ writer Simon Kinberg. The thinking at the time of that news was that Disney and Lucasfilm had hired the screenwriters to commence work on Star Wars: Episodes 8 and 9, but a new report suggests something a bit more ambitious may be at play…

According to a new article in the Hollywood Reporter, Kasdan and Kinberg have indeed been hired to work on the ‘Star Wars’ franchise, but not necessarily the eventual follow-ups to ‘Star Wars: Episode 7′. Their scripts could end up being spin-off films, focusing on side characters not directly linked to the Skywalker saga. In other words, Disney might be giving several different characters in the ‘Star Wars’ universe their own movies, potentially leading to, one would think, the ‘Star Wars’ equivalent of ‘The Avengers’.

This is simply speculation right now, and naturally neither Disney nor Lucasfilm is commenting on the rumor. (They haven’t even officially confirmed Kasdan and Kinberg yet.) But knowing that Disney is focused on releasing a new ‘Star Wars’ movie every two-three years, it makes sense that they wouldn’t necessarily be tied to the just three new ‘Episodes’, but a vast tapestry of fresh storylines and characters. After all, it’s working out pretty well with those little Marvel flicks.

What do you think? Would you be up for ‘Star Wars’ spin-off films?

Happy Birthday, Carrie Fisher

The galaxy's favorite Princess, Carrie Fisher, was born this date in 1956.