‘The Mandalorian’ and ‘WandaVision’ Share the Same Killer Flaws

(Welcome to The Soapbox, the space where we get loud, feisty, political, and opinionated about anything and everything.) This post contains spoilers for The Mandalorian and the latest episode of WandaVision . For better or worse, the debuts of The Mandalorian and WandaVision on Disney+ within just 14 months of each other represent something of a game-changer in this Streaming Era. Amid so many different shows all competing for the same spotlight in a post- Game of Thrones vac...
Tags: Movies, Disney, Features, Fox, Jon Favreau, Wanda, Vision, Rian Johnson, Paul Bettany, Luke Skywalker, Boba Fett, Mando, Evan Peters, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Gideon, Borg

Let’s Talk About Alexsandr Kallus, One of the Most Underrated ‘Star Wars’ Characters Ever

With all the acclaim given to Star Wars: The  Clone Wars in recent years, it can be easy to overlook Dave Filoni’s other great animated Star Wars show, Star Wars Rebels . That makes some sense. For one, Rebels lacks the immediate proximity to a Star Wars property enjoyed by Clone Wars . While some familiar faces do appear, the show’s central cast is mostly populated with new characters. Many of the Rebels characters who are familiar originated in the earlier show, impl...
Tags: Movies, Features, Darth Vader, Lucasfilm, David Oyelowo, Star Wars Rebels, Imperial, Vader, Thrawn, Star-Wars, Dave Filoni, Ezra Kanan, Ezra Bridger, Kallus, Featured Stories Sidebar, The Galaxy-Wide Star Wars Character Guide

Diamond Select February Previews Include Deadpool, Star Wars & More!

BEGIN SLIDESHOW Diamond Select February previews include Deadpool, Star Wars & more! As the month of February approaches and fans look for more unique gifts for their significant others, Diamond Select and Gentle Giant Ltd. has unveiled their lineup of previews of collectibles set to hit shelves next month, including Deadpool and Star Wars busts, Avatar: The Last Airbender diorama and more! The figures can be viewed in the gallery below! RELATED: Hot Toys Unveils The Mandalorian’s Dark ...
Tags: Movies, Tim Burton, Earth, Death Star, Leia, Leia Organa, Hyde, Merc, Morales, Caesar, DIB, Thrawn, Zuko, Paul Harding, Gentle Giant Ltd, Curt Connors

Breaking Down the 10 Most Important Moments from ‘The Mandalorian’ Season 2

Holy smokes, what a season. We’re still only a few days from the finale of The Mandalorian season 2 and there are still a lot of strong feelings out there. It’s Star Wars , what do you expect?  But a lot more happened this year beyond just the events of last week’s episode. It was a big season in other ways as well, which we’ll get into below. Before we do, however, just a fair warning that this’ll be one of those spoilerly articles. If you haven’t seen the latest season yet, we highly ...
Tags: Television, Movies, Sci-fi, Disney, Eu, Features, Wings, Lucasfilm, Luke Skywalker, Boba Fett, Mando, Luke, Gideon, Hutt, Pedro Pascal, Thrawn

SF Book Review – Part 35: Network Effect and Moar

Between Halloween Season’s Readings and a bunch of non-fiction, I’ve been slacking a little on my SF reading. I’ve definitely not kept up writing about it, but that’s what we’re here for now. Let’s get to it… Network Effect by Martha Wells – The Muderbot Diaries series of novellas are great, and author Martha Wells has now made the leap to novel-sized tales. Murderbot is just minding her own business, catching up on her favorite television shows, when her human associates are attacked and...
Tags: Science Fiction, Movies, Christian, Sawyer, Wells, Timothy Zahn, Zahn, Brust, Egan, MOAR, Robert J Sawyer, Thrawn, Greg Egan, Hugos, Martha Wells, Steven Brust

CS Soapbox: Why Ahsoka Tano is Hunting Grand Admiral Thrawn

BEGIN SLIDESHOW CS Soapbox: Why The Mandalorian’s Ahsoka Tano Wants To Find Grand Admiral Thrawn Warning! Spoilers for The Mandalorian Chapter 13, “The Jedi”  Ahsoka Tano (AKA “Snips”), the Jedi apprentice of Anakin Skywalker during the Clone Wars, made her debut in the feature film  Star Wars: The Clone Wars  (2008). Created by George Lucas and Dave Filoni late in the game, Ahsoka’s presence as a pivotal character in the animations made sense (ish). However, her absence in both the...
Tags: Star Wars, TV, Television, Movies, Movie, Jon Favreau, George Lucas, Grant, Vanity Fair, Yoda, Din, Luke Skywalker, Anakin Skywalker, Gideon, Palpatine, Ashoka

Dave Filoni Teases Ahsoka Tano’s Mandalorian Timeline

BEGIN SLIDESHOW Dave Filoni Teases Ahsoka Tano’s Mandalorian Timeline Ahsoka Tano made her live-action debut in the latest episode of Disney+’s The Mandalorian to roaring success after living in the animated small screen with The Clone Wars and Rebels and now animated showrunner and episode writer/director Dave Filoni has opened up about where in the Star Wars timeline her appearance may have been. RELATED: The Mandalorian Season 2 Episode 5 Recap: ‘The Jedi’ ...
Tags: Star Wars, TV, Movies, Disney, TV News, Vanity Fair, Nick Nolte, New Republic, Carl Weathers, Favreau, Giancarlo Esposito, Jango, Thrawn, ComingSoon, Dave Filoni, Ahsoka Tano

‘The Mandalorian’ May Take Place Before the Final Scene of ‘Star Wars Rebels’ – Here’s What That Means

Last weekend’s episode of The Mandalorian saw the debut of Rosario Dawson as Ahsoka Tano in the live-action Star Wars universe after becoming a fan favorite character from The Clone Wars. Ahsoka also had a hand in the plot of Star Wars Rebels as a Rebel informant under the codename “Fulcrum,” which resulted in an eventual face-off with her old master: Darth Vader. With Ahsoka Tano coming into the live-action Star Wars universe, fans have been wondering what that means for her past, including th...
Tags: Television, Movies, Sci-fi, Animation, Sequels, Lucasfilm, Vanity Fair, Star Wars Rebels, Imperial, Ezra, Thrawn, Rosario Dawson, Bridger, Star-Wars, Disney/Pixar, Dave Filoni

The Mandalorian Season 2 Episode 5 Recap: ‘The Jedi’

BEGIN SLIDESHOW The Mandalorian Season 2 Episode 5 Recap: ‘The Jedi’ After seeing the returns of Greef Karga and Cara Dune last week, Disney+’s hit Star Wars spin-off series The Mandalorian Season 2 has returned and this time has brought with it the highly-anticipated arrival of the live-action portrayal of a fan-favorite Clone Wars character! RELATED: The Mandalorian Season 2 Episode 4 Recap: ‘The Siege’ PB = PB || {}; PB.gptStandAlone = PB...
Tags: Star Wars, TV, Movies, Disney, TV News, Streaming, Magistrate, Force, TV Recap, Mando, LANG, Jedi Temple, Coruscant, Jedi Knight, Thrawn, ComingSoon

‘The Mandalorian’ Comes with Major Revelations and More Questions in “The Jedi”

Naturally, there are spoilers here. Dave Filoni, protege of George Lucas and a shepherd of the future of Star Wars, wrote and directed the thirteenth chapter of The Mandalorian. In this episode, Din Djarin finally makes his way to the forest planet of Corvus and the city of Calodan, and it’s there that we meet a familiar face. In the city of Calodan, former Jedi Ahsoka Tano (Rosario Dawson), has besieged a city controlled by an evil magistrate named Morgan Elsbeth (Diana Lee Inosanto), and he...
Tags: Star-Wars, Television, Movies, Sci-fi, Disney, Sequels, Akira Kurosawa, Darth Vader, Lucasfilm, George Lucas, Star Wars Rebels, Grey, Luke Skywalker, Dawn, Anakin Skywalker, Kurosawa

The Mandalorian Feels Like It’s Building to Something Much Bigger

Something is bubbling in a galaxy far, far away and it could be hinting at the future for a long time. A long time.Read more...
Tags: Star Wars, Science, Disney, Animation, Streaming, Lucasfilm, Star Wars Rebels, Thrawn, Dave Filoni, Star Wars The Clone Wars, Ahsoka Tano, Sabine Wren, Bo Katan Kryze, The Mandalorian, Disney Plus, Baby Yoda

Celebrate Grand Admiral Thrawn's 30th Birthday Next Year With New Books, Fancy Books, and Old Books (on T-Shirts!)

In 1991, the Star Wars universe changed forever. After a few years of quiet, the Expanded Universe exploded in scope and reach, kicking off with a series of novels from Timothy Zahn that brought us the story of what happened after Return of the Jedi. With it came the rise of Grand Admiral Thrawn and 30 years later,…Read more...
Tags: Star Wars, Books, Science, Disney, Exclusive, Lucasfilm, Timothy Zahn, Del Rey, Drew Struzan, Thrawn, Out Of Print, Thrawn Ascendancy Chaos Rising, Thrawn Ascendancy Greater Good, Heir To The Empire

Your Guide to Chiss-tory: Everything We Know About Star Wars' Hidden Empire

Ever since Timothy Zahn introduced Grand Admiral Thrawn and his mysterious people in Heir to the Empire, the Chiss have remained one of Star Wars’ most fascinating factions. In a galaxy filled with beings and civilizations, their mystery has endured for years—and across two iterations of Star Wars canon. Now that …Read more...
Tags: Star Wars, Books, Science, Disney, Animation, Explainer, Lucasfilm, Timothy Zahn, Thrawn, Chiss, Chiss Ascendancy

Chaos Rising Is a Fascinating, Inscrutably Alien Look Into One of Star Wars' Most Mysterious Species

Star Wars races, by and large, aren’t really all that alien. The ones that are tend to be there more for background flavor, because the races we do spend time with are either humans, or just human-ish enough that what little we learn about their cultures already feels familiar. But the Chiss, the people of Thrawn…Read more...
Tags: Star Wars, Science, Disney, Book Review, Lucasfilm, Penguin Random House, Timothy Zahn, Del Rey, Thrawn, Thrawn Ascendancy Chaos Rising

Star Wars Bits: The British Force Behind Star Wars, Vader Immortal Comes to Playstation, Thrawn Ascendancy, The Lego Star Wars Holiday Special, and More!

In this edition of Star Wars Bits: Toy Empire: The British Force Behind Star Wars Toys on BBC Vader Immortal: A Star Wars Vr Series Is Coming to Playstation VR Star Wars: The Clone Wars – Stories of Light and Dark Audiobook Excerpt First Editions of Thrawn Ascendancy: Chaos Rising Pay Homage to the Grand Admiral The Lego Star Wars Holiday Special to Premiere on Disney+ Funko Reveals New the Child Pop! Bobblehead And More! Toy Empire: The British Force Behind Star Wars Toys on BBC Star Wars...
Tags: Star-Wars, UK, Movies, Disney, US, Bbc, Noah, Hasbro, Darth Vader, Harrison Ford, Lucasfilm, Rian Johnson, Sarah, Gamestop, Charlotte, Rey

Star Wars Ventures Deep Into Thrawn's Past in This Ascendancy: Chaos Rising Excerpt

In Star Wars’ current canon, we’ve seen Thrawn’s rise as one of the Empire’s most cunning Grand Admirals. Books have shown us how he left his homeworld and the unknown regions to explore “our” side of the Star Wars galaxy, but Timothy Zahn’s latest trilogy is delving back into that past, and io9 has a look inside.Read more...
Tags: Star Wars, Books, Science, Disney, Exclusive, Lucasfilm, Book Excerpt, Timothy Zahn, Del Rey, Thrawn, Thrawn Ascendancy Chaos Rising

Chiss Names Are Some of Star Wars' Coolest Bullshit

Star Wars is full of cool bullshit which is, in many ways, why we love such an absurd behemoth in the first place. Space wizards with laser swords? Extremely bullshit, and very cool (some of the time). Blaster pistols? They go pew pew, what’s not to love. Starfighters? They go pew pew and fly in space, what’s not to…Read more...
Tags: Star Wars, Books, Science, Disney, Language, Linguistics, Lucasfilm, Timothy Zahn, Del Rey, Thrawn, Chiss, Thrawn Ascendancy Chaos Rising

There's More Wild Star Wars Rumors About Another Rebels Star Heading to Live-Action

A former Marvel Mutant may have jumped ship to Wandavision. Chad Stahelski teases the wild action of The Matrix 4. Patty Jenkins says not to expect any romantic sparks to fly between Cheetah and Diana in Wonder Woman 1984. Plus, a summer Halloween comes to Stargirl, and what’s to come on The 100. To me, my spoilers!Read more...
Tags: Star Wars, Science, Diana, Creatures, Avatar 2, The 100, Roswell, Cheetah, Thrawn, Ballerina, Patty Jenkins, The Matrix 4, Creepshow, Avatar 2 5, StarGirl, Into the Dark

The Best Star Wars Reads of the Disney Era

One of the biggest joys—well, beyond “More Star Wars than any reasonable person would know what to do with, for better or worse”—since Disney’s acquisition of Star Wars has been watching Lucasfilm’s publishing initiatives thrive in a rebooted world of interconnected stories. Some of the best Star Wars in years is…
Tags: Star Wars, Books, Comics, Science, Marvel, Disney, Princess Leia, Darth Vader, Lucasfilm, Marvel Comics, Clone Wars, Obi Wan Kenobi, Del Rey, Padmé Amidala, Thrawn, Count Dooku

Star Wars Universe

A bit quiet here, so I thought I might bring up a subject that cropped up recently. With the start of Disney +, the Star Wars Universe is being expanded. In addition to The Mandalorian (I've enjoyed the first two episodes, a review described it as Clint Eastwood's Man with no Name meets Star Wars), the various movies and a number of new series and movies are planned over the next several years. One note that I noticed this morning is that the Disney president in charge of the Star Wars franch...
Tags: Star Wars, Books, Disney, Clint Eastwood, General Discussions, Lucas, Alan Dean Foster, Perry Mason, Zahn, Thrawn, David Gerrold, Brian Dailey, Zahn Thrawn

The Star Wars News Roundup for October 11, 2019

Star Wars news for the week of October 11, 2019 The purpose of this roundup is to put all the Star Wars news from the week of October 11, 2019 in one location. If you read this each week, you should be able to converse fluently with any Star Wars fan on everything from the latest Star Wars developments to the latest toys. And maybe you’ll even share with them something that they might have missed. Let’s get to it! Rise of Skywalker News and Rumors Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Trailer ...
Tags: Star Wars, Comics, Games, TV, New York, Movies, Earth, Article, Fox, Reddit, Lucasfilm, Serena Williams, Steve, Luke Skywalker, Kylo Ren, Billy Dee Williams

A Humble Star Wars Wishlist

In the leadup to Episode IX (amongst general saturation of other Star Wars related ephemera), I thought it was time for some entitled fanboy wanking. Which is to say that I don't actually expect any of this to really happen and am not making demands or anything, but I thought it might be fun to list out some things that would be nice. Interestingly, this doesn't have much to do with the current Star Wars film regime, but there are some thoughts on where they could go after the supposed break tha...
Tags: Movies, Disney, Darth Vader, Pixar, George Lucas, Blu Ray, Timothy Zahn, Zahn, Marvel Disney, Thrawn

Review & New Footage: Disneyland’s ‘Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge’ is Incredible – and the Closest We’ll Come to Being in ‘Star Wars’

(Disneyland’s Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge opens this week and it’s too big and too immersive to be contained in a single review. Our extensive coverage will be collected here.) When you are in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, it really does feel like you are being transported to a planet somewhere in the Star Wars galaxy. I had a chance to visit Disneyland’s newest expansion and I was blown away. Here’s everything you need to know about visiting a galaxy far, far away. Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge Review ...
Tags: Movies, Sci-fi, Disney, Features, Sequels, Theme Parks, Resistance, Disneyland, Lucasfilm, John Williams, Rian Johnson, Kylo Ren, Anakin Skywalker, Leia Organa, Dolby Atmos, Vi

‘Star Wars Rebels’ Cast and Crew Reflect on the Series Finale, the Epilogue, and Why a Certain Character Had to Die

Creator/executive producer Dave Filoni joined Vanessa Marshall, Taylor Gray, and Tiya Sircar to discuss Star Wars Rebels during Star Wars Celebration. Naturally, major spoilers were discussed. When Star Wars Rebels ended in March 2018, Ezra Bridger and Grand Admiral Thrawn vanished without a trace.  While fans have speculated as to what might have happened, Filoni was tight-lipped during Saturday afternoon’s panel.  While there was less dancing around other elements of the conclusion, what happ...
Tags: Television, Movies, Sci-fi, Los Angeles, Features, Dave, Animation, Lucasfilm, Star Wars Rebels, Wolf, Don, Vanessa, Ezra, Freddie, Hera, Freddie Prinze Jr

Timothy Zahn is Planning More Star Wars Books, Teases Thrawn Tetralogy at Star Wars Celebration

During Star Wars Celebration, author Timothy Zahn sat down on the Fan Stage to address his 30 years writing for Star Wars. Star Wars Celebration celebrates everything about Star Wars from the films to the books to the droid builders and beyond.  Timothy Zahn is a beloved author in the Star Wars universe.  The Chicago native has authored 13 books, including this summer’s Thrawn: Treason. Bria LaVorgna, a writer for StarWars.com, moderated the panel with the beloved Star Wars author.  Zahn has si...
Tags: Movies, Disney, Bbc, Chicago, Treason, Thanos, Lucasfilm, Avengers, Lex, Falcon, Lando, Bria, Ronan, Timothy Zahn, Anakin, Zahn

‘Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker’: How Could Emperor Palpatine Be Back?

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker  speculation, and therefore possible spoilers, lie ahead. In the newly released trailer for The Rise of Skywalker , we hear a familiar laugh. Sheev Palpatine.  And was that the second Death Star?  How could something like this happen? How is this even possible? Well, we’ve compiled all the scenarios, from least likely to most likely, just so you have the analysis you need. A Clone on the Second Death Star There’s every chance that this laughin...
Tags: Movies, Sci-fi, Disney, Features, Jj Abrams, Sequels, Darth Vader, Lucasfilm, George Lucas, Rian Johnson, Force, Kylo Ren, Luke, Palpatine, Skywalker, Jedi

'Star Wars: Thrawn Alliances' describes Disney's Star Wars-land 'Batuu'

Learn all about Batuu, the Black Spire Outpost, and some of the things you should fear in the Unknown Regions in Star Wars Thrawn: Alliances. Disneyland's new theme land is set on the planet of Batuu. Timothy Zahn's second update to the Grand Admiral Thrawn story COINCIDENTALLY spends a lot of time describing this planet and the Unknown Regions it acts as a gateway to. The Thrawn story is fantastic on its own. Adding in that I get to learn a bit about the new Star Wars land's backstory it a h...
Tags: News, Review, Disney, Darth Vader, Disneyland, Skywalker, Timothy Zahn, Thrawn, Outer Rim, Batuu, Black Spire Outpost, Welcome To Batuu, Batuu Timothy Zahn

Star Wars origin story for Grand Admiral Thrawn is as wonderful as I hoped

Thrawn begins the backstory of Grand Admiral Thrawn, perhaps the most fearsome non-Force user in the Empire. Timothy Zahn's Heir the the Empire series introduced Grand Admiral Thrawn. The blue-skinned, red-eyed, master of strategy and tactics inspired decades of speculation and debate. Then Star Wars Rebels re-introduced Grand Admiral Thrawn as the super villain intended to crush the nascent Rebellion. I was thrilled. Sadly, Thrawn was kind of a doofus and not nearly as tough for the Rebels to...
Tags: Star Wars, News, Review, Darth Vader, Timothy Zahn, Coruscant, Thrawn, Grand Admirals I have known and loved, Imperial Troopers

SF Book Review: Part 31

Vintage SF Month has ended, but it appears that I'm still way behind on doing even cursory reviews of recent reads. Let's get to it: The Quantum Magician by Derek Künsken - Meet Belisarius, a genetically engineered human that was part of a failed experiment to help humans better understand quantum physics. In theory, Belisarius should be able to enter a trance-like state to channel all his brainpower into understanding various quantum phenomena, amongst other things. In practice, these trance...
Tags: Science Fiction, Movies, Ocean, Darth Vader, Peter Watts, Anakin Skywalker, Watts, Wells, Timothy Zahn, Anakin, Zahn, Imperial Academy, Thrawn, Mensah, Imperial Navy, Kaedrin

Star Wars Bits: Oscar Isaac Talks Episode IX, Ewan McGregor Talks Obi-Wan and Richard E Grant Talks Thrawn

In this edition of Star Wars Bits: Oscar Isaac talks about how much he loves shooting Episode IX We get a lot of new details about Solo: A Star Wars Story Jon Favreau’s Star Wars show starts to take shape Ewan McGregor reveals whether an Obi-Wan film is happening… and much much more Lovely Oscar Isaac has been on the press trip for his newest film, Operation Finale, and during an interview with the LA Times he opened up about about his experience shooting Episode IX. “It’s a job, it’s diff...
Tags: Movies, Sci-fi, Disney, US, Zynga, Sequels, Jon Favreau, Lucasfilm, Oscar Isaac, Grant, Ewan McGregor, Emilia Clarke, Alec Guinness, Variety, Beckett, LA Times