News
September 2008

September 30, 2008

Toys R Us 2008 Holiday Hot Toy List Cuts Across The Star Wars Universe

In anticipation of the rapidly approaching holiday season, Toys R Us has released its hot-list of 36 toy items in various age catagories that it predicts will be the must-haves for 2008. Also, it names "The Fabulous 15" among those which represents their top picks overall. In a year which has seen so many summer movie franchises with accompanying toy lines, hardly any of them survived to make the list at all. But the perennial favorite, Star Wars, landed in the top 15 as well as two other spots in the list.

The hefty 862-piece LEGO® building set of the Star Wars:Clone Wars ship, The Twilght made the Fabulous 15 just in time for the launch of the animated series on Cartoon Network this Friday, 10/3/08.

LucasArts' newly released hit videogame, The Force Unleashed landed on the list.

And the mighty vehicle playset, the giant new version of the Millenium Falcon, redone by Hasbro for their basic 3'3/4" figure line for the first time in over 20 years took another spot. This item is certain to be on the wishlists of many kids of all ages. But between the substantial price point and the amount of space it takes up, it'll be tough for Santa to leave this under every single wishful kid's tree this year.

All told, it's an impressive showing for Star Wars in general, with items spanning all age ranges and types of toys, as well as representing various parts of the saga past, present, and Expanded Universe.

To read the entire press release, click here

September 28, 2008

MC Chris Appears at NY Anime Festival

MC Chris was back in NYC last night, laying down his nerdcore raps at the NY Anime Festival at the Jacob Javitz Convention Center in NYC. Despite some peculiar sound system issues at the venue, the little guy managed to crank it out. Some new material was debuted alongside favorites like the perennial Fettsvette.

MC Chris will be his booth throughout the weekend and will be doing various signings as well. Check out www.nyanimefestival.com for full info about the con.

He'll be back in NYC, appearing in the area Thanksgiving weekend. Check his Myspace page for details as they become available.

September 26, 2008

Star Wars: The Clone Wars Breaks the Blu-Ray Barrier

Warner Home Video and the official Star Wars site have announced the release of this summer's Star Wars: The Clone Wars on home video November 11, 2008. The animated feature stake new territory for the Star Wars franchise on home video, being the first Star Wars title to be released in High Definition on Blu-Ray. The film will also be available in standard definition DVD, in various editions. There will be a standard single disc edition, a special two-disc edition, both of which will include the widescreen movie with Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround EX sound, and with feature-length audio commentary. Click on through for full info on the special features.

September 25, 2008

Harry Potter and the Opening Night of Equus on Broadway

Potter fans have had it rough lately, having to shelve their all anticipation for the sixth Harry Potter film, thanks to Warner Brothers' much bemoaned decision to push the release until summer of 2009. So tonight's opening of Equus, on Broadway may take some fans' minds off the corporate greed standing between them and their Harry by offering the Potter actor up nude for their gleeful appraisal.

The revival of the 1974 play has benefited fully from Potter-peeping since its London run two years ago. Radcliffe's Equus character appears briefly nude onstage in one scene, and that's been worth its weight in publicity gold since the get-go for an otherwise high quality yet dated bit of dramatic live theater. But despite all the giggly adolescent and possibly creepy attention from die-hards helping to fill the seats, the play actually stands up quite well and has made its way from London to Broadway for a limited run currently scheduled through February 8th, 2009.

September 24, 2008

Lucasfilm Announces Record Sales for The Force Unleashed

September 23, 2008

LEGO Batman: The Videogame

September 18, 2008

Entertainment Weekly Calls For An End To The Clone Wars-Bashing Insanity

In this week's issue of Entertainment Weekly (9/19/08, #1012), Jeff Jensen wonders what we've been wondering for the past month. Why did everyone rip the Star Wars animated feature, "The Clone Wars" to complete shreds? I mean, bad reviews are not surprising, unfortunately. Especially when it comes to Star Wars, reviewers have almost made it a sport to denigrate each of the Star Wars prequels when they were released. Mainstream critics have been so sour over the years that most Star Wars fans not only expect negative reviews, but put them aside entirely as irrelevant. But the bad reviews for this animated film took the bloodletting to a whole new level.

It was as if now that the Prequel Trilogy is complete, the animated feature gave sourpusses nationwide a final opportunity to grind an axe they were carrying since childood. Even Harry Knowles of aintitcoolnews.com went ape over it, swearing off buying the giant new Millenium Falcon toy in protest in his review. Now Harry, if ever anyone could ever do anything to model to be made into Comic Book Guy from the Simpsons, that was it. The original generation of fans from 1977 may be hovering around 40 now, so many of them have infiltrated the media from the inside by now, and become the establishment. But, come on guys. Put aside your sour grapes over Han shooting first and Obi-Wan Kenobi being transformed into the Bill Clinton of the Star Wars universe by being made to fib throughout by prequels. There's a whole new generation of younger fans that grew up on the new films and genuinely love them.

Read the full article in Entertainment Weekly this week.