New Links

Look under Blogroll on the right side of the page…I’ve added Semper Neimoidiana and its affiliated sites plus an Anakin/Padmé-themed Tumblr called You Are In My Very Soul.

Neimodian Fans Unite

Do you fist pump with excitement whenever Lott Dodd and his pals appear onscreen? Can you say, “Is that leeeegal?” perfectly? Would you argue that Cad Bane is the galaxy’s greatest bounty hunter?

Then Semper Neimodiana is for you! There you can find pics of the webmiss’s Neimodian and Duros-themed collection. In addition, you can find her artwork on DeviantArt and lots of pics on her Tumblr. Hey, if there’s a Jar Jar June, maybe she can do Neimodian November!

Terrific Essay On Padmé

Via LiveJournal is this terrific essay from a series called “The Moral Landscape Of The Star Wars Saga.” This entry focuses on Padmé, making a lot of points seldom expressed elsewhere:

I also suspect that Padmé’s willingness to continue the lie about her marriage was a strong indication of the level of her attachment to Anakin. While many fans might disagree with me, I believe that Anakin’s embrace of the Sith Order and his actions at the Jedi Temple may have taken a terrible toll on Padmé’s psyche. Anakin had been her chance for some kind of personal life, following the fall of the Republic. But his fall from grace and his attack upon her on Mustafar seemed to be the straws that broke her heart and possibly her spirit. And Padmé’s tenacious attachment to her husband may have put her in a very vulnerable state – not only emotionally, but also physically.

Dear Pro-Prequel Sites…

Recently, I’ve been greatly annoyed by some pages on Facebook allegedly set up to defend or celebrate the prequels. Is it envy or some kind of rivalry? No. I don’t need to be the only show in town. In fact, the more of us out there standing up for this part of the saga, the better. I’m more than happy to see lots of kindred spirits spreading the love.

The problem I keep seeing is that some of these sites’ defense of the prequels is pretty shallow and weak. They let trolls run rampant all over the place, they attract people whose own love for the prequels is pretty weak too, and soon enough they slip up and say something like “TPM and AOTC might have been terrible movies…” (as one page did) or “I don’t like RLM but I like Patton Oswalt even if he is a basher too.” Huh? Maybe I’m the only nut who thinks that the point of a pro-PT site is to say GOOD things about the films instead of conceding to the haters.

A Couple Of Cool New Tumblrs

OpusRAW has forwarded links to these new Tumblr pages, one called Star Wars Prequelitis that uses visuals to show how the prequels have influenced subsequent films and another called Star Wars Verses that features visual echoes among the Star Wars films. Very cool, very interesting stuff.

Rant Of The Day

Actually it was Rant Of The Day on 3/2, but Din Yalonen posted this on Paul McDonald’s Facebook page that in many ways captures exactly how I feel about life, the universe, and everything. Hope they don’t mind if I repost it here because it’s just that good:

“The Wrong Jedi. Best ending since Return of the Jedi. Makes the penultimate statement about the whole Saga. This episode was the greatest thing to happen to Star Wars since I can remember.

I was maybe moved emotionally more by this episode than anything since Vader saving Luke. It’s even the whole reason Vader had to save Luke.

It shows why the Jedi failed and why Anakin failed. It shows why they had to move from following a Gospel of Law to a Gospel of Love.

If anyone can’t watch Revenge of the Sith now and not get it, not get why Anakin was so down, not get why he turned, not get why we had the Prequels, well, I dunno man.

Everyone needs to stop being so hard on this show and Kevin Kiner, as a matter of fact. Hearing Ahsoka’s theme at the end. It was so utterly moving. Genius. Bravo Kevin!

And everyone also needs to stop being so hard on the Prequels and it’s era. This was The Greatest Star Wars Thing Ever to me (Since Vader saved Luke.)

And another thing, I’m glad Mark Hamill has been told to pipe down. I don’t want to hear another quote from Hamill, Kasdan and whoever else, dumping on the prequels as if that’s a good reason to make the sequels. Correcting or getting away from the so-called flaws of the prequels is no good reason to make anything. I hope everyone learns that maybe it’s time to stop shedding so much darkness on the Prequels. I want to hear these Star Wars luminaries talk about how the Sequels will embrace the greatness of the Original, the Prequels and The Clone Wars – All At Once!

Everyone from Hamill to Kasdan to us needs to lighten up. This stuff is moving. This stuff is pure greatness.

We all need to just get over it, I wanna hear more talk about how awesome the Prequels and this show are. And how this Episode, The Wrong Jedi, is The Greatest Thing Ever!”

What Happens Next

Candy Wilder posted on her blog Force The Issue her feelings on the Clone Wars season finale. And while I’m at it, here’s Adam’s take on the show.

More Awesome Cosplay

Gotta love it when they take it to another level and actually travel to “Tatooine!” Here’s another cosplayer in Padmé-wear photographed in Tunisia:

There’s a little bit about her on this Tumblr.

Form Letter

Here’s a quick, pithy template you can use in your letter to save Clone Wars. Let me preface this by saying that your own letters are far more effective than a form letter. However, I know many people aren’t exactly confident of their writing skills and otherwise wouldn’t bother having their voices heard. So, as a public service, here is a handy dandy form letter you can paste, print, and send or tailor to whatever you want.

Date

Your name
Your address
City/state/Zip

Mr. Bob Iger
Disney Studios
500 S. Buena Vista St.
Burbank, CA 91521

Dear Mr. Iger:

I am writing in today to voice my support for the animated series “Star Wars: The Clone Wars.” The show is not only the best animated program on television today, it is probably among the best of any program on the air. I watch every week and I own past seasons on DVD/Blu-Ray. It is a program that has become very important to millions of Star Wars fans, especially since it has kept the fire of fandom alive for the past five years. It has introduced Star Wars to a new generation of fans; it’s very popular with kids. The show’s cast are among the very best ambassadors for the brand, as those who attend Star Wars Weekends at Walt Disney World and other events can attest. The mythology and characters have become part of the tapestry of the saga.

It is my understanding that the show’s status for its sixth season is still undetermined. I urge you to ensure that the show continues whether it remains on Cartoon Network, transfers to a new network, or is exhibited in some other way. As it stands, The Clone Wars has yet to seal the fates of several characters and it would be heartbreaking if those fates are forever unresolved. Please do not get off on the wrong foot with millions of devoted Star Wars fans by abruptly pulling the plug before it’s time. Do not disappoint us. Keep “The Clone Wars” alive.

Sincerely,

Your Name

There’s a pretty good sample here.

Homework Assignment: Time To Act

I was trying to see what people were writing about the Clone Wars Season Five finale screening last Friday to see if there was anything to the rumors of Clone Wars being in trouble.

Here’s the relevant snippet from Jawa James’s recap of the event on Club Jade:

Before the Q&A started, Pablo answered two important questions that might have been on people’s minds: No, they weren’t going to take any questions on Episode VII or other non-TCW topics, and there is no official announcement yet on if/when/how Season Six (and later seasons) will be broadcast or otherwise enjoyed by the public.

Meanwhile, Bryan Young posts this on his non-spoiler review at Big Shiny Robot:

At the Q and A afterward, Pablo Hidalgo mentioned that there has been no official announcement about if and when the sixth season (or future seasons) will be airing or available for our consumption. I did ask questions about the future of the show, but was greeted with many no comments. One person close to Lucasfilm did tell me, though, that now is the time to raise a ruckus about the future of the show. I’d been waiting until the Disney schedule announcement in March to start causing a stink, but I think that might be too late.

This show is too good to let slip away. And after the unanswered questions raised by these last two arcs, it would be a disservice to fans to let episodes that are already in various stages of production never see the light of day.

And trust me, after this last episode, you’ll have twice as many questions than you did after that business with Darth Maul.

He also posted this today on SWPAS’s Facebook page:

There’s totally reason to panic. Trust me.

Now, I’m skeptical if one guy is saying something about Clone Wars on Death Row. I’m less skeptical if it’s two guys. Nobody can say who their sources are but I know who are some of their associates are or might be, and those folks would be close to the show’s production.

“Why would they consider dumping this terrific show?” you may ask. Good question. I don’t know why Disney just axed “Tron: Uprising.” It’s not a show I watched. I do know they axed “Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes” because Disney wanted to do its own version. Here’s my guess as to this situation: it’s not a cancellation per se that’s at issue, rather it’s a question of “who’s going to broadcast the show?” My theory is that Disney doesn’t want Cartoon Network, owned by rival Time Warner, to broadcast Clone Wars after this season. They don’t want somebody else to get the ad revenue from the Star Wars brand. Which is fine. The problem, so goes my theory, is that there’s no one under the Disney umbrella of broadcasters who really wants the show. For one thing, Clone Wars doesn’t fit many of their formats. Only Fox shows animation in prime time and no other regular network succeeds at it outside of the odd Charlie Brown special. Disney Junior skews much younger than Clone Wars. The Disney Channel is mostly live action fare aimed at tweens. The only way Clone Wars would end up on ABC Family is if Ahsoka becomes a fashionista boarding school student who regularly gets into bitch-slapping matches with other girls who annoy her and steal her boyfriends. (“Stay away from Lux, you slut!” *Slap!*) There is Disney XD. The thing is, does Disney XD want it?

We have to remember, we are dealing not with a small band of Rebels in San Francisco anymore. We are dealing with Hollywood now. And things run very differently there than they would in the rest of corporate America. It’s very political. Everything is built on favors, relationships, and getting the right people to back your projects. I’m sure the decision makers at Disney XD have their pet projects they’re backing and maybe they don’t want to make room for something that they never developed themselves. You gotta remember, they’re not the ones who ran out and bought Lucasfilm. Somebody way above them did. Clone Wars becomes the rock band suddenly dropped from a label and their last album is left unreleased because their A&R guy was laid off after a bigger company bought the label (I’m a music fan, I see this happen all of the time). An independent Lucasfilm could have just gone to another network or found a distributor to put Clone Wars out in another format. A Lucasfilm that’s part of a big conglomerate can’t make that decision for itself anymore.

Personally, I would be okay with it if they ran Clone Wars online from here on out or if episodes were released directly to streaming/DVD/Blu-Ray. But we have to make sure that at the very least those options are available instead of just leaving Clone Wars up in the air for all eternity. Don’t buy any shizola about needing all resources to make Episode VII. My gut feeling is that if Clone Wars’s future is in doubt it is NOT because of new films.

So, what do we do? There is this guy running a petition. But I think Jimmy Mac is right…it’s probably most effective to write Bob Iger himself. Again, no death threats or profanity. In fact, I’ll be super nice and post a short, sweet, pithy form letter those of you who don’t write well can just copy, paste, and send. Add a little flair to it if you want. The tone of letters at this point is to emphasize how much Clone Wars means to us and that we really want it to come back.

Disney Studios
500 S Buena Vista St
Burbank, CA 91521
Attn: Bob Iger

Also CC or write separate letter to Lucasfilm:

Lucasfilm
P.O. Box 29901
San Francisco, CA 94129-0901
Attn: Kathleen Kennedy

But we as fans must also ask ourselves, “What ARE we willing to do to save the show?” This is just step one. If Disney decides it’s just going to let Clone Wars wither on the vine, then it goes to step two. Stay tuned. But if you are a Clone Wars fan, make it your goal to send a letter this week.