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STAR WARS NEWS AND RUMOUR ROUNDUP 13/11/2014

September 13th, 2014 by Dave Bowling 1 Comment

Depending on your viewpoint, it’s either the best sort of time to be a Star Wars fan or the worst.

We’ve got so much news appearing right now that we have barely time to post it all… so we’re keeping it all together in bunches. Here’s your second roundup in as many days…

OBI-WAN STANDALONE MOVIE?

MakingStarWars.net have apparently heard from a source that Obi-Wan Kenobi will be getting his own stand-alone film. According to the source:

“I’ve heard from quite a few people now that an Obi-Wan Kenobi movie is in the works. For the spin-off movies they were initially going to stay away from any Jedi or Sith characters. But I’m hearing now that because of the popularity of Obi-Wan (fans recently voting for him on the official website etc) that an art team is now working with a writer on concepts for an Obi-Wan movie.”

Although enticing, this is of course just a rumour until confirmed by Lucasfilm or Disney. We’ll keep you posted.

STORY RUMOURS

MakingStarWars.net have been tempting the world with more Episode VII from one of their ‘sources’. While these are just rumors for the time being, and could turn out to be false, you may still want to be wary.

Firstly, Luke Skywalker has been missing, but only for ten years (not the full thirty year between Jedi and VII, as some sites reported).

Yesterday some set pics featuring Rebel/Republic soldiers leaked. According to MakingStarWars.net, these soldiers are also flanking Leia in a piece of concept art that features Leia talking to a group of Hutts.

Less substantiated rumours include one the main characters from Episode VII being a descendant of Count Dooku. MakingStarWars’s source didn’t know whether it was Gwendoline Christie’s character or Adam Driver’s character but they do say, “Details and characters might have changed but the idea of an aristocratic villain with a heritage going back to the Clone Wars has been there from pre-production and as far as I know it’s still a major part of the story.”

There is also talk that the Sith capital planet of Moraband will be in Episode VII: “The Sith homeworld is in the movie. It’s been there throughout production with various names attached to it. I had it confirmed to me by someone working in England that there are sets for the ‘Sith world’.”

Lastly, there’s the name of Daisy Ridley’s character. According to the source, “Her character was referred to as Kira during pre-production but also at times, Kera, Sera and Fawn.” Glad they’ve cleared that up then…

As always, more news as and when we hear it.

GRUNBERG CONFIRMS STAR WARS ROLE

Actor Greg Gunberg (Heroes) announced via Twitter yesterday that he has a role in Episode VII. Gunberg tweeted:

“Yes @smgulz it IS safe to assume I have a role in #StarWarsEpisodeVII – If I say more than that, JJ will have me killed.”

Gunberg is a long-time friend of director JJ Abrams, so it is unlikely he will feature in a substantial role, more likely a cameo along the lines of Bruce Campbell in just about every Sam Raimi movie.

HASBRO WILL BE MAKING EPVII TOYS – SHOCKER

Although it’s no surprise that Hasbro will be releasing a truckload of new Star Wars toys on the build up to Episode VII, it’s cool to know that the confirmation is here – The guys at The Star Wars Underworld write about the pic and video below: “The eagle-eyed team over at the Star Wars collecting fansite Yak Face spotted a great little Easter egg in the video Lucasfilm and Hasbro released promoting the new 6 inch Black Series Biker Scout and speeder bike figure (below too). At the 2:16 mark in the video you see, Hasbro’s Senior product design manager, David Vennemeyer’s computer screen and on his screen you can see the names of several files pertaining to Episode VII products.”

More figures and vehicles for the collection? Yes please…

EXTRAS CAUGHT ON FILM AND PICS…

Earlier this week the internet exploded after a light aircraft pilot accidentally discovered that filming is taking place at the former RAF Greenham Common. Anyone with an internet connection will have seen aerial shots of the Millennium Falcon and various X-Wings.

A man by the name of Rick Lawrence has been snooping around the disused US Air Force missile base and has got several photos of extras in costume. Enjoy:


OH AND HERE’S SESAME STREET’S TAKE ON THE WARS TO FINISH EVERYTHING OFF…

Boy, Seth Macfarlane has a lot to answer for.

Following eagerly on the tails of Family Guy’s ‘Laugh It Up, Fuzzball’ trilogy of Star Wars parodies (Blue Harvest, Something, Something, Something, Dark Side and It’s A Trap!) and Disney’s own Phineas & Ferb: Star Wars, today Sesame Street released Star S’Mores, which features Cookie Monster as “Flan Solo” struggling to keep from eating his co-pilot “Chewie” the Cookie. He seeks advice on how to control himself from “Only-One Canoli” and “Groda” on his way to rescue “Princess Parfaita”.

Of course, Frank Oz, the voice of Yoda, was also the voice of Grover for longer than the human mind can comfortably encompass. You can see the video here:

Dave was born at an early age to parents of both sexes. He has been a self-confessed geek for as long as he can remember, having been raised through the 80s on a steady diet of Doctor Who, Star Trek, Red Dwarf and (sigh) Knight Rider. Throw the usual assortment of Saturday morning cartoons into the mix and we have something quite exceptional: someone with an encyclopaedic knowledge of utter tosh; a love of giant robots and spaceships fighting; and the strange desire to leap tall buildings in a single bound while wearing his underpants over his trousers. The death ray is currently in the works and one day you shall all bow to him, his giant space station and fleet of funky orange space shuttles...