Temuera Morrison, best known as Jango Fett in the Star Wars saga, appeared on the “Ask the Stars of Star Wars” panel today and was asked about a few different things pertaining to his roles in the saga. I was able to ask him what he felt about hearing his voice in the classic trilogy and how he felt about Dee Bradley Baker’s take on his voice in The Clone Wars.

At first, he seemed a bit crestfallen, saying he wished he’d have gotten a call to do The Clone Wars and that he’d have been happy to do it, but was surprised how much it sounds like him sometime. He explained that he really loved doing voice-overs and his first job that brought him to Hollywood was a voice over. He was the voice of New Zealand air and he asked them to pay him not in cash but a flight to Hollywood instead. And that’s how the Boba Fett voice in the classic trilogy came about. It was half a day in a studio and he enjoyed doing it. Morrison didn’t seem phased by the gravitas of being a part of the classic trilogy now, but he did take that moment to make an announcement.

When asked about upcoming projects, he mentioned a couple of movies in New Zealand he was working on (one called “Fresh Meat” is shooting in November), but he stood up and said he wanted to hunt down Joe Johnston about the Boba Fett movie. “I’d love to do that. Sure, they might want a younger guy, but that’s something I’m very interested in.”

The more I think about a Boba Fett film, the more I love the idea. I think there’s room for Temuera Morrison and Daniel Logan to both play parts and I’d love to see Joe Johnston’s take on it.

But that’s just one more player pushing for the project. Hopefully we can convince the powers that be that it would be a good idea.

Stay tuned for more reports from Dragon*Con.

Bryan Young is the author of Lost at the Con.

This Month’s Podcast Features:

Zombietron, Mexicus Prime, Kill-tacular-tron, Vagatron and Arse-bot

This month we bring you an edition of the Big Shiny Podcast that kicks off with “Jokin’ Off With Jimmy”! Unfortunately, Jimmy (Mexicus Prime) takes his “joke” to a level so far beyond even our line of decency it’s now in orbit around Jupiter. Needless to say, there was some editing that needed to be done but you should still get the idea. Let’s just say the Big Shiny Podcasters will never look at toboggons or chili the same way again. Ever.

After stomachs had settled in the aftermath of JOWJ a bunch of August Geekery is discussed. Zombietron professes his love for Ghost Rider pissing fire in the trailer for Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, the ‘casters admit that for them it’s not always “In Nolan We Trust” with regards to The Dark Knight Rises, and talk about what it could mean for The Punisher and Blade now that Marvel has reacquired their movie rights. Vagatron brings his entire comic book hold to talk about, but we limit him to a few titles including Ultimate Comics: The Ultimates. In the second half of the podcast, Kill-tacular-tron talks about all the collectibles he spent his entire all but $12 of his paycheck on which includes a giant Stay Puft figure that no one is allowed to touch and a Hot Toys Spider-Man figure that Arse-bot politely states loudly interrupts he isn’t terribly impressed with. Everything is wrapped up with Arse-bot, Zombietron and Kill-tacular-tron discussing “Pre-orderpalooza 2011” in which they talk about all the big video game titles coming out at the end of the year and which ones they’ve already dropped cash on and why.

So hit us up on iTunes (and leave a review while you’re there!) or snag the mp3, plug in your headphones and geek out with us as you sit at work pretending to be busy!

Listen:

iTunes

MP3

If you’ve been following the lovely Nintendo hoopla you’ve been in one of three categories: disgruntled without your 3DS, excited for your free games (with a slight touch of sour grapes towards the additional price you paid.), or a bit sad that you’ll have to pay for the dandy NES releases over the next little while. I find myself in the second category and the bitter feeling of early adopter tax wore off for me after 6 or so minutes. I’ve checked the eShop everyday hoping that those titles would be here even though my senses told me it wouldn’t be til after the first, and to my amazement! They were waiting for me this morning!!! Here is how you download them as long as you’re registered as an ambassador, also be sure to grab your ambassador token so that they may be downloaded again for free through the eShop.

• Step 1: Open the eShop Channel
• Step 2: Go all the way left to settings/other
• Step 3: Select your downloads
• Step 4: Scroll down to view the titles listed, and simply select Redownload on your NES games, and voila!! You’re set!

Hopefully the GBA stuff will be up and ready in the coming months, but for now I’ll have to while away my hours with DK Jr., Zelda, and Metroid. Enjoy, and feel free to share your celebrations or lamentations below.

I know the New York Times has been reporting it, but I’ve finally gotten word from Lucasfilm. It’s true. All the changes we’ve been obsessing over all day and night.

Yes, the updates are confirmed. We hope fans will wait to see for themselves how they fit into the Saga before making any judgments.

I’ll say, over all, I’m not unhappy about most of the changes (just like the special edition). Ewoks with blinking eyes? Awesome. More creatures in Jabba’s Palace? Sweet. An update on the Krayyt scream? Bring it on. Digital Yoda in Phantom Menace? Perfect.

This is the definitive version of the films on Blu-ray. I’ll wait and see it before I get angry about any specific change. I’ll calm down.

BUT: Though it’s the way it is moving forward, Darth Vader screaming, “Noooooooo!” as he tosses the Emperor into the reactor shaft of the Death Star is incorrect. It’s simply not a good change. It’s on the level of Han firing first. No, I think it’s worse. No, I know it’s worse. There was never a moment more heartbreaking or poignant than putting the audience in Vader’s shoes and forcing us to think about what’s running through his mind. Giving him something to say somehow undermines every sweeping bit of emotion that scene had. It interrupts it. Will I feel differently about it when I see it in context? Maybe. But right now I feel pretty hurt by it.

I don’t think I need to explain to any of you how much I LOVE Star Wars, and this will not diminish my love for it in anyway. I just hate seeing people better than me make mistakes like this.

Having said that, I’m still gladly buying these sets on Blu-ray. I’m still going to watch every minute of the films and every minute of bonus features. And I’m going to see the films in 3D when they happen as well.

Vader screaming no will simply be added to a list of flaws I don’t like about the updates of the film. It stands next to Greedo firing first, Jedi Rocks, and Jabba’s CGI work in A New Hope. Sure, it might be more major than those, but it’s a small list of things that simply won’t–can’t–outweigh my love of the world that’s been created.

No matter how upset anyone might get about any of these changes, it’s important to remember this is George Lucas’ world. He can (and does) do anything he wants with it. If you don’t like what he does with subsequent releases, don’t buy them. But don’t attack him or diminish the role he played in bringing us these stories in the first place. He deserves our respect for that. To that end, I’ll be deleting any comments below that aren’t constructive or are attacks on me as the messenger, or anyone involved in making these changes.

Read the article, then click here for the update.

There are videos lighting the Internet ablaze right now, purporting to be alterations to the Star Wars films made by George Lucas for the Blu-ray releases.

My first question is this: Why do you believe these? The official Star Wars Youtube has released a mountain of video material and none of it shows any significant changes, but does look gorgeous in the HD format. Over the last couple of days, we’ve seen these videos flood out of the gates. Allegedly, some Chinese worker recorded all of this audio of alterations and people have been taking the time to sync it with Hi-Def clips of their own.

Here’s the “Noooooo” that has everyone up in arms:

The audio team from Skywalker Sound is much better than this.  This is clearly chopped up bits of audio from other parts in the saga with really bad echo effects on them.  Give Matt Wood and Ben Burtt and those guys the benefit of the doubt, really.  Even if they had made this change, it would sound a lot better.  Some places are “confirming” it, but no one has seen or heard it first hand and Lucasfilm has neither confirmed nor denied it.  And review copies have NOT gone out yet, at least from the Lucasfilm side of things.

(Side note on this: CinemaBlend reported on this and the writer there got on his high horse about how Lucas has no right tinkering with Empire and Jedi because he didn’t direct them.  Wrong, buster.  As the producer and creator, he HIRED the director, essentially creating a work for hire.  Get your head on straight, man.  You’re just riling people up for no reason.)

The next clip is something we have confirmation they changed.  Matt Wood from ILM spoke about this on the Forcecast and confirmed it in July of last year. Does that mean the sound has changed and there’s a good reason for it?  Yes.  Does that mean the following clip is actually what we’re going to hear?  No.  Again, at its best, this is a bootleg of some crappily recorded audio synced up to some good looking footage.  Whatever the sound eventually ends up being will undoubtedly be better than this:

And let’s be honest here, we don’t even have a confirmation of changes we’re relatively sure have been made, like the digital Yoda in Phantom Menace.  (Would that bring us a digital Yaddle, too?)

Another thing to consider about all of these changes:  The videos going around have ALL been uploaded by a youtube account called WideAsleepFilms.  If you go back and look at their history of uploaded videos, they’ve made a habit of updating effects and doing tests in After Effects using the Star Wars universe.  This could all be a hoax perpetrated by them.

The next rumour going around is that Ewoks blink and there will be a Dug in Jabba’s palace.  Now, neither of these changes really bug me, IF THEY’RE REAL, but I really doubt it.  Rich Johnston from Bleeding Cool has a report from ILM where they pretty bluntly state, “We didn’t do anything to the Blu-ray.”

From Bleeding Cool:

When I was at Big Screen a week and a half ago, I got to sit down with ILM’s John Goodson and Bill George. While it’s possible that they were mistaken and not properly briefed, both Goodson and George told me that, actually, no new material had created for the Blu-ray incarnations of the films.

I specifically asked precisely this, and they specifically told me that, no, George had not been making more changes of this fashion. I asked clearly, and they gave me a clear – and apparently definitive – answer.

So, I’ll be more than happy to admit that I was too optimistic if my take on this isn’t true, but this seems like the exact sort of skullduggery the legions of “Lucas-haters” would perpetrate to Strike Back at the man and company who brought us all of these wonderful stories in the first place.  If they’re true, then I’ll just have to see them in context.

I’ve requested an official quote from Lucasfilm, but haven’t gotten one yet.  I’ll update if and when I get one.

UPDATE: I got one. It’s true. All of it.

In the meantime, just relax.  We’re not in trouble yet.

Today marks the first day of the brand new DC comics relaunch. For months now you’ve most likely heard or seen the barrage of publicity surrounding this whole thing, but here’s the “cliffs notes” for those of you that haven’t. Back in may DC started their big summer event Flashpoint which saw an alternate DC universe due to someone changing the time stream. In this world the only person who remembered things the way they were was Barry Allen, The Flash. Also Aquaman and Wonder Woman are at war, which threatens the whole world, Hal Jordan never became a Green Lantern, Cyborg is Americas greatest hero, and Batman isn’t Bruce Wayine. Throughout Flashpoint we see Barry trying to work with “alternate” versions of the heroes we know and love to fix the timestream. In June DC had announced that everything in the DC universe will change as a result of the end of Flashpoint. Not all of the continuity will be wiped, however it will be compressed into about 5 years worth of time. Also the characters will be slightly de-aged and some of the history will be toyed with, I’ll come back to that later.  Before I get into Flashpoint #5 and Justice League #1 let me warn you that I will try to stay as spoiler free and vague as possible, but I will be talking about what happens in the books so there are bound to be some spoilers. This is your warning to not read anymore if you don’t want anything potentially spoiled!

Flashpoint #5:

The finale of Flashpoint begins with Barry Allen confronting Professor Zoom, who has been portrayed as the one who caused the alternate universe. However very quickly we find out who the real “villain” of the story is. There is a big fight, a heartfelt moment, and then the world is changed into the new DC universe. This issue flowed very nicely between all of those ups and downs and wraps the series up in a nice way. There are two scenes that really stole this book for me. One is between Barry Allen and his Mother. His mother is alive in the Flashpoint world and dead in the regular world and its basically him saying his goodbyes. The other is a scene between Barry and Batman after everything is back to “normal.” Geoff Johns wrote the hell out of these two scenes and even got this big softy to  choke up a little. As far as the art goes I’m a little torn. There are some moments when Andy Kubert’s pencils really shine. However there are a few panels here and there that look a little rushed.

The big part of this book is the transition into the new status quo. Its not too sciency and I don’t think that it will go over anyone’s head. There is a double page spread that shows how we get from the Flashpoint universe to the relaunch. It answers how the Vertigo and Wildstorm characters end up in the DCnU. There are some questions raised in this, and I have a few theories that I will explore in more detail in a future post.

All in all I enjoyed Flashpoint #5 and think it is a proper sendoff the old DC Universe!

Story – 4 out of 5 / Art – 3.5 out of 5

Justice League #1

This first arc of Justice League shows us how they first came together.  Its’No longer is Starro the reason Batman, Superman, and the rest join forces. There is a darker threat that brings everyone together. Issue 1 is kind of a buddy cop story. It is the first meeting between Batman and Hal Jordan, both early in their time as super-heroes. Hal is very arrogant and Batman is very pissy. This makes for a great combination and some awesome back and forth dialogue between the two. There is a mystery to be solved that involves alien technology so the two track down the only alien that they know of, yet neither have met, Superman. It seemed to me that Geoff Johns was just having fun writing this, which in turn caused me to have a blast reading it.

The art in this issue was nothing short of perfection. Jim Lee KILLED it on this book! There is so much detail in every panel. However, I don’t think Jim should get all the credit. I think the reason the art in this issue is so good is that it is the perfect blend of pencils from Jim Lee, inks from Scott Williams, and beautiful vivrant  colors from Alex Sinclair.

Justice League #1 is a great jumping on point for those of you that have stayed away because of the intimidation of years of continuity. Guess what? This is a brand new beginning, this is the DC Universe from the beginning. You can tell a lot of love and care has been put into this book, and it should! This is Justice League! It’s supposed to be the flagship book of the entire DC line and for too long has been a mediocre to awful book. Geoff Johns and Jim Lee have breathed new life into the Justice League and it’s already got me begging for more. For those of you that were on the fence I’d definitely say this is worth getting. And if the rest of the books in the “New 52” have the same energy and excitement as this, then I think DC has grand slam on their hands!

Story – 4 out of 5 / Art – 5 out of 5

I will continue to review all of the first issues of the new 52 through the rest of September. Here are the books coming out next week.

Action Comics #1

Animal Man #1

Batgirl #1

Batwing #1

Detective Comics #1

Green Arrow #1

Hawk and Dove #1

Justice League International #1

Men of War #1

O.M.A.C. #1

Static Shock #1

Stormwatch #1

Swamp Thing #1

Bleeding Cool is reporting that a Serbian musician had been offered to write the opening tune for the new film and accidentally spilled the beans on the title.

Here’s the piece from Bilc Online:

At one of the many concerts the musician held in France during the Cannes Film Festival, the producers and the director of the next Bond film were in the audience, who were staggered by what they had heard and on the spot offered Jelena a chance to write the opening score for the new James Bond film, entitled Carte Blanche.

Doing some research on Wikipedia, you find that Carte Blanche is the latest James Bond novel written by Jefferey Deaver that came out in May (on the 25th, 2011).

The synopsis and plot breakdown for the novel feels reminiscent of Goldfinger, though the Bond villain is obsessed with death, not gold.  It starts with a train derailment and leads Bond across the world from England to Dubai and then South Africa.  Severan Hydt seems to have plans to kill lots of people, possibly inside the UK and he does so under the cover of his waste disposal company.

Miss Moneypenny is in the book, as well as as a new character of Indian descent taking over the role of Q.

Felix Leiter (played in this latest Bond iteration by Jeffrey Wright) also makes an appearance in the book.

The story sounds as though it has a lot of twists and turns, but will it be the next Bond film?  It’s anyone’s guess.  Though, this is the first time they’ve “rebooted” the character in the novelizations.  Bond in this book was born in 1979 and was a veteran of Afghanistan.

One interesting connection to the film and the story in the book:  The latest James Bond installment is being directed by Sam Mendes.  Mary Goodnight, a character in the novel and a secretary to the 00 section is described in the book as a 21 year old Kate Winslet look alike.  Kate Winslet is Sam Mendes’ ex-wife.

It’s interesting speculation. According to IMDb, Ralph Fiennes and Javier Bardem are signed to the movie (though I’ve heard such reports elsewhere in the news, too).  Ralph Fiennes would be a great choice for a character in the book named Percy Osborne-Smith.  According to Wikipedia:

Percy Osborne-Smith: An agent with Division Three, an offshoot of MI5. Osborne-Smith likes to be the one leading investigations so that he may take the credit for a successful operation. His ambitions lead him to shut down central London at the height of a security conference, ignoring intelligence from Bond that suggests the attack will take place in York.

And let’s face it, Javier Bardem would make a great villain for James Bond no matter how he’s described in the book.

I think most of us know that the prequels aren’t as hated as some groups of individuals would have you believe. Casually strolling through the land of the Internet will yield you dissertation after dissertation on how hated the prequels are, but I’m of a minority on the Internet that believes the love for the Star Wars movies is much more even than a lot of those people would care to admit.

I have three bits of evidence that support my theory, and I think each of them is pretty compelling.

1. When I post links to Amazon, I see who’s buying what.  From my links, more than a hundred people have ordered the complete saga, all 6 films.  A total of 1 person has pre-ordered only the prequels and 1 other person has pre-ordered only the classic saga.  Sure, the people who read my material and click my likes might tend to skew more towards the sort of fan who’s a completist, but that’s neither here nor there.

2. When news broke that the Yoda puppet in The Phantom Menace might be replaced with a CGI construct, the response was overwhelming.  “How could he do this?” some asked.  “He’s claimed another casualty in his war on puppets,” others opined.  “Why can’t he just leave these films alone?” others lamented.  There was a significant amount of noise being made about it…  About a film that is allegedly hated by everyone.  It’s hated so much that people care whether or not the original Yoda is in place or not.

3. Finally, we have our piece de resistance.  The Star Wars Moments leader board. In honor of the upcoming Blu-ray release, the official Star Wars website put up a mini-site that lets you rate your favorite moments in the Star Wars saga.  You’re given two different scenes and asked, “Which is the better moment?”  There are 300 or so moments, spread equally across the six films.  And it stands to reason that if the prequels are so universally hated that they wouldn’t rate a single moment in the top five, right?  Well, you’d be wrong.  As I write this, three of the top five moments in the Star Wars saga, as voted by Internet users of all ages across the world, are from the Prequels.  Two of them are from The Phantom Menace.  The only classic film represented is The Empire Strikes Back.  Of the top five moments as voted for just today, two of the five are from the Prequels. I suggest you go take a look for yourself. And go vote for some of your favorite moments, too.  [Hat tip to Pablo Hidalgo for bringing this to my attention]

But who is it that hates the prequels?  My kids and the vast majority of their friends prefer the Prequels to the Classic trilogy.  Sure, they’re interested, but it’s part of their generation.  And I think they’ll love them the same way I love Return of the Jedi and those daffy (carnivorous, man-eating) Ewoks.

Ronald Reagan was a big fan of Star Wars (so what if it’s a different kind, this metaphor is apt) and he talked about how he represented a silent majority.  Well, I think the Star Wars Reagan was really speaking of (15 years early) was the prequel trilogy, beloved by a silent majority of fans who are content to love the Star Wars Saga in its entirety and it doesn’t matter what anyone else has to say about it.

I think it’s safe to say that the Leader Board is proof positive that the Prequels are MUCH more popular than a lot of people give them credit for.

You can vote for your favorite moments in the Star Wars saga here, though I warn you, there’s a lot to love in the Prequels and you might find yourself voting for it a lot more often than you think.  And be sure to sound off below.

The Blu-ray set comes out September 16th.  You can preorder it on Amazon.

At FanExpo over the weekend, Dan Didio confirmed to a crowd that Stephanie Brown DOES have a place in the new DC Universe.

He was sparse on details about where she fit exactly, but she would be resuming the mantle of the Spoiler. Is this a regression for the character? Is this sucking her back into continuity before she took on the mantle of Batgirl? We don’t know.

But this is good news across the board for fans of the character like myself. I’m seriously overjoyed. I really thought they’d simply scrub the character from the continuity.

From ComicVine:

Dan Didio also informed the audience that Stephanie Brown would be re-assuming the mantle of Spoiler in the new 52; this came after a question about the different Batgirls, and what would happen to them in the new continuity. Sadly, there was nothing specific mentioned about Cassandra Cain.

For those of you who couldn’t care less, Stephanie Brown is the daughter of Arthur Brown, the Cluemaster. She took on the Spoiler persona in Tim Drake’s Robin book, took over the mantle of Robin for a while, briefly returned as Spoiler and has since been cruising Gotham as Batgirl under the tutelage of Barbara Gordon. She’s one of my favorite characters in the Bat Family and you HAVE to read Bryan Q. Miller’s run on her book.

A sequel to Captain America was a foregone conclusion. But who do you get to be the villain? Red Skull was obviously the most iconic villain unique to Cap, but who else is there?

There is a whole stable of Marvel Villains that would be suitable (I’d love to see the US go to war with Latveria and have Cap face off against a badass Dr. Doom, but Fox holds his rights).

But the co-writer of Captain America, Christopher Markus knows what he wants.

MODOK. And he wants Peter Dinklage to play him.

I cannot argue with this.

According to the LA Times:

“I love MODOK and I think you could make a terrifying movie with MODOK but nobody seems to be on my side at the momentum,” Markus said, referring to wonderfully weird villain whose name is an acronym for Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing.

Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, MODOK first appeared in Tales of Suspense #93. It would make perfect sense as his origin revolves around the cosmic cube which has already featured so prominently in the movie lore. They harnessed the power of the cube to create a MODOC (Mechanized Organism Designed Only for Computing) but the little fellow becomes to ambitious and changes that Computing to Killing, eventually taking over AIM.

It could be fun. It could be lame. You never know.