Star Wars: Reclamation.

Could this be the title of an in-development Star Wars cartoon?

If you trust an anonymous user on IMDb with a doubly anonymous imgur account, this could be very real. If you’re skeptical, then it could be the name of anything in the world.

Personally, I think it sounds like a Seth Green Star Wars show revolving around Imperial Sanitation Workers.

But that’s neither here nor there.

What we have here are a number of pages of an alleged pitch for a new Star Wars show that, according to this anonymous leaker, was in development at Lucas Animation, got the greenlight in January, but was put on hold just before the layoffs.

Then the layoffs happen.

You can read the pages for yourself:

Is it possible they were planning on creating a show set between Return of the Jedi and Episode VII? Yes. Is it possible that it was this show? Yes.

Do I find it likely? No.

It has the hallmarks of being legit, or an incredibly well-researched fan effort. Personally, I like the idea of a Bonteri being involved. A descendant of Ahsoka and Lux perhaps? And a kid Calrissian, a female no-less, is something I’d love to see. But this Shade character seems too obvious… Many are saying Luke, but if this was really Filoni and crew, don’t you think Ahsoka might be more likely? Luke would be too busy re-establishing the Jedi order.

Who knows.

It’s fun to look at and think about in either case.

And besides, if it were real, it wouldn’t have been on the Internet as long as it has been. We’d have all received cease and desists by now. Or at least polite letters asking us to take it down.

Be sure to listen to Full of Sith on Monday for the panels speculation on the Reclamation issue.

Billy Dee Williams posted a notice to his Facebook page telling people that he’d still not yet been approached for Episode VII.

Everyone is still asking about the new Star Wars movie…. the best way to ensure that Billy Dee Williams will be in the new film is to FB, TWITTER, BLOG and tell Disney and Lucasfilm that you want to see LANDO again!

Hopefully JJ will read the wishes and write in LANDO! UNTIL then…. here is all that is known: “I am in the dark with the actual plans that Disney and Lucasfilm have for the future of the “Star Wars” universe. I have heard the same rumors that the fans heard, that a new trilogy is being made, that spin-offs may be made, that we all [Mark, Carrie, Harrison and myself] are going to be reprising our roles in these projects.

At this point in time, nothing has been confirmed about my participation and I have signed no contracts. I assure you that I would absolutely love to reprise my role of Lando Calrissian. He’s a character that I took great pride in creating on screen and have continued to be a part of when providing his voice for video games, the new “Star Wars Detours” cartoon and for various episodes of “Robot Chicken”, among other projects. It’s a lot of fun to keep Lando alive and I am eager to do it again, on film, when I get the call. I thank all the fans out there for their continued support and I hope to get the call from Disney and Lucasfilm real soon, until then, may the force be with us all!” ~ Billy Dee Williams

We discussed this on Full of Sith’s last Rumour Control episode with Bobby Roberts and came to the consensus that if Billy Dee Williams was going to be in the movie, he’d have been talked to by now. All the other major players had been approached prior to the Disney sale and announcement of the new film. Why leave Lando in the dark.

It’s not impossible that he’s still going to be in the movie and not have been talked to yet.

Do I want to see Lando in the film? Absolutely. Does it seem likely he’s going to make it? Not really.

But this is straight from the source: Billy Dee Williams still has not been approached.

[Hat tip to The Bearded Trio for bringing this to our attention.]

The man who created the Witches of Dathomir and married off Han Solo and Princess Leia, Dave Wolverton (now Farland), is in need of some help.

His teenage son, Ben Wolverton, got into a longboarding accident and is in a coma.

The family will need help with medical expenses and there are two ways you can help. The family has asked for a “book bomb” today.

On Wednesday, we will have the book bomb. If you haven’t yet purchased Nightingale or Million Dollar Outlines, please consider doing so on Wednesday. If you have already purchased them, you can donate money to Ben and his family here.

I purchased the outlining book and will most likely be making a direct donation as well.

While Dave might not be the most prolific of the Star Wars authors, his contribution to the Expanded Universe was significant. And I must say, on a personal note, I’ve sat side-by-side with him at book signings (he’s also in Utah) and spending hours with him signing books I can attest that he’s one of the nicest people I’ve ever met.

This is a terrible thing that happened and the least the Star Wars community can do is rally around him and buy a book.

This review will contain spoilers, anything going beyond the scope of the episode will be done in white text and will be preceded by *Spoiler*, episode spoilers will not be prefaced.

• Robb lying to his mother about the fate of “Bran” and “Rickon” with the immediate cut to Theon on something that looks very much like Lord Bolton’s flayed man sigil. That scene made me cringe.
• The return of Jamie and Brienne! “It’s a shame the throne isn’t made out of cocks, they’d of never got him off it” *Spoiler* Super excited for the way this goes and the bear and maiden fair*
• The Tyrell girls making Sansa not hate her life, particularly Lady Olena. She’s not taking any bullshit. They’ve taken a lot of her dialogue straight from the books.
• Cat telling Talisa about how bad she feels about how she treated Jon Snow was pretty great. *Spoiler*
• The Warg, Orell. 
• Dolorous Edd.
• Pretty much everything in the North.
• Lots of love for the direwolf this episode.
• *Spoiler* Jojen motherfuckin Reed waltzing up without a fear in the world. Today is not the day he dies.
• Arya and The Brotherhood Without Banners! Walking up singing Rains of Castamere. 
• *Spoiler* Hello Ramsay.
• Jojen explaining Warging and other weird stuff to Bran and us.
• Return of The Hound!
• Jamie and Brienne fighting.

In what many of us have assumed to be the case, Dave Filoni revealed on Rebel Force Radio in his first interview since the cancellation of The Clone Wars that he is working to develop a new show in the Star Wars universe.

The interview, slated to go live tomorrow, was given to Eric Goldman of IGN who reports Filoni as saying:

“At this point, I am involved in some early production discussions and exploration of what we’ll be doing with Star Wars animation in the future, which is really exciting for me and I have some friendly faces around me, of course, that are helping me on the project. So it’s a transition time, as I’ve said before, and I think it will lead to an exciting time and hopefully I’ll see things grow again.”

Rumours have been swirling that this has been the case and it’s nice to get an official confirmation, and for that I’m grateful to the guys at Rebel Force Radio.

There’s no word if Filoni mentioned much about the upcoming bonus content we’ve been teased with for the end of the The Clone Wars series.

Having interviewed Filoni many times myself (you can listen to one of my conversations with him on Full of Sith), you can tell that he exudes a love of Star Wars and the fact that he’s still involved is the most promising silver lining we’ve had in these days of cancellations and layoffs.

Today has been a really rough day for visionaries.

Carmine Infantino, one of the biggest architects of the Silver Age of comic books, has passed away today at age 87.

In the mid-1950’s comics were on a down turn, superhero comics especially so. Thanks to the end of WWII and the onset of the Comics Code Authority, comics just weren’t as big as they were during wartime. In comes the dynamic art of Infantino. In Showcase #4 (1956), came the debut of the sultan of speed, Barry Allen, better known as the Silver Age Flash!

Not only that, but during his career as an artist at DC, Infantino helped co-create Deadman, the Barbara Gordon Batgirl, and was the driving force behind the 60’s redesign of Batman & Robin, which was subsequently used for the famous TV show. Art wasn’t his only contribution to the world of comics. He was made DC’s editorial director in the mid-60’s, where he was responsible for some of the most famous comics work ever. Not only did he bring Neal Adams and Denny O’Neil to the comics audience, but he also was responsible for the masterwork that was bringing Jack Kirby over to DC from Marvel.  If not for Mr. Infantino, we’d never have had the likes of Darkseid, Kamandi, Etrigan, or Mister Miracle. After his editorial stint, Infantino was promoted to DC’s publisher where he helped usher in one of the most famous inter-company crossovers ever with Superman Vs. The Amazing Spider-Man.

While his work tapered off, he was still working up through the 1990’s, and even after his official retirement, he could be seen often at conventions, and even helped contibute to not one but two books about his life and career, The Amazing World of Carmine Infantino and Carmine Infantino: Penciller, Publisher, Provocateur. I definitely recommend them both if you’re interested in learning more about one of the industry’s true greats. I can think of no better way to honor Mr. Infantino’s memory than sharing with you all some of my favorites pieces of his art. Rest in peace, sir.

I am having a hard time believing I’m writing this.

Roger Ebert was an icon of film reviewing and the Chicago Sun-Times, the newspaper where he reviewed films for almost 50 years, is reporting that he has succumbed in his long battle with cancer and poor health.

For me, a filmmaker and film lover, Ebert was a teacher and a barometer for films and filmmaking. His commentaries on movies like Dark City, Casablanca, and Citizen Kane are essential viewing for anyone learning how to make movies.

More than anything, he was a fantastic writer who loved movies. Even when I disagreed with a review he’d written, vehemently even, I could not argue with the care and mastery of craft he infused with every piece.  And let’s be honest, his review of The Phantom Menace is a masterpiece of film criticism.

Perhaps my favorite personal moment that involved Roger Ebert was while my friend and filmmaking colleague, Ryan Williams, was in the midst of making his film Abby Singer. The entire conceit of the film was that it was ad-libbed and the actors would interact with celebrities to secure their cameo in the film, hopefully making it more salable. Being based in Utah made Sundance an easy target for these cameos and Ryan had been up there gathering cameos in his guerilla fashion.

I got a call one night from Ryan, who knew I was a fan of Ebert. Ryan and I had watched many of his commentaries repeatedly together, discussing technique and filmmaking. “I got Roger Ebert in the can,” he said.

“What? Roger Ebert? That’s amazing. What did he do?”

“The White Parasol monologue from Kane.”

Ryan had bumped into Ebert, explained what he was doing, asked the legendary critic to participate and participate he did. He didn’t just relay the White Parasol monologue once or twice, he allowed Ryan to film it many times, with his actor, in the middle of the Sundance bustle, to get it right.

I’m still looking for a version of Ebert doing it to show to you, but it was incredible. (Here’s the “>trailer for the film with a snippet from the Ebert scene in the meantime.)

We’ve lost truly one of the great writers and newspapermen of our time. Neither journalism nor the world of film will be the same after the passing of Roger Ebert. And we’re all poorer for it.

Hell, I’ve been holding back tears the entire time I wrote this. I’ve watched his show so much and listened to his commentaries and read his books so often that I can still hear his voice quite clearly whenever I read anything associated with him. I hope I never forget.

And so we can be sure to end on a happier note, here’s his cameo on The Critic:

I know I’ll be listening to one of his commentaries tonight. It’s the least I can do.

One of our favorite authors, Michael Stackpole, whom you might know for his work in the Star Wars universe, was kind enough to provide us with his review of Highland Park’s new Loki.

I’m privileged to be able to call Mike a friend, and he is to, because who else would call you up and say, “Can I have some lovely, expensive Scotch sent to your door?”

You really need to visit Mike’s website and buy his books. In particular, check out In Hero Years… I’m Dead. It’s the book you’d get if Dashiell Hammett wrote Watchmen.

Without further ado, here’s Mike:

Highland Park has just released the second of its Valhalla Collection: Loki. This is a limited edition, 15 year old, single malt scotch whisky of a complexity that I’ve never experienced before. Loki was aged in both Spanish sherry casks as well as heavily peated casks. That alone is appropriate for a god that is the embodiment of Chaos (and for whom I have great affection, having written a story from his point of view). This really is an outstanding scotch.

Starting with the nose, Loki is not what you’d expect. Given the casks used, I expected either sherry sweetness or a deep peat scent. What I got instead was something strong and clean, with a lot of citrus. I smiled instantly. Sherry and peat swirled through there later, but not overwhelmingly. They made themselves apparent like notes in music played at a whisper. Adding a little water did open things up, revealing a hint of licorice, but very subtle.

The first sip is just as chaotic as the nose. The peat comes through easily, but just slides off the tongue as lighter and sweeter tastes come through. It’s a fantastic balancing act, making Loki a puzzle to be solved. The second you identify one flavor, it just melds into another. A couple drops of water smoothes everything out, slowing the transition, which gives you a chance at picking up apple and anise, as well as tart citrus flavors.

The finish is clean and soft, spicy and warm. The peat comes back just to remind you that you are drinking scotch, but doesn’t leave you foundering in a peat bog. The sherry’s legacy returns for a sweet goodbye kiss, and Loki slides away without any harsh burn.

In Norse mythology, Loki was a trickster, and this whisky lives up to that sense of him. It provides a myriad of scents, flavors and sensations in each sip. It’s an experience that will intrigue drinkers just trying out scotch; and it’s a challenge for the connoisseur. It’s a worthy successor to THOR (see the review HERE). At $249 for a bottle, it is an indulgence, but definitely one worth saving up for. Loki is a scotch you’ll remember for a long time, and one that will invoke a smile every time you think on it.

Here’s the Highland Park website for their Loki.

And here, again, is Mike’s website.

I received the following statement from a Lucasfilm spokesperson:

“After evaluating our position in the games market, we’ve decided to shift LucasArts from an internal development to a licensing model, minimizing the company’s risk while achieving a broader portfolio of quality Star Wars games. As a result of this change, we’ve had layoffs across the organization. We are incredibly appreciative and proud of the talented teams who have been developing our new titles.”

Before the statement, news broke that 150 employees at LucasArts had been laid off this morning. Rumours about the future of 1313 have been swirling all day as well.

It’s another sad day, but not an unexpected move from the new corporate owners at Disney. The world of publicly traded companies is one of acquisition, layoffs, improving bottom lines. Disney for a long time has been outsourcing their games to other companies, why wouldn’t they do the same for LucasArts?

Over the years, LucasArts has created some of my absolute favorite games and I had hoped they would continue to do so, but the Mouse has been quite unforgiving to the current landscape of Star Wars fandom. The only reason I’m currently not worried about the books and comics since they’re not operated in house, they’re already licensed and licensing means money to the company no matter what.

We’ll see.

It’s no secret that Coulson lives in the upcoming S.H.I.E.L.D. television series, but what is a secret is exactly how that’s possible given the fact that he died at the hands of Loki in The Avengers.

Gregg spoke to Collider recently at WonderCon about Coulson’s return, the television series, and if he will appear in any of the Marvel Phase 2 big-screen productions coming up. He has this to say about the beloved S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent’s return:

“Even though my friends at Marvel said, ‘You know, we spent a lot of time talking about how Coulson lives, and we know that there’s a movement out there, and there are t-shirts and people paint on bridges ‘Coulson Lives,’ we’re going to bring you back,’ and it’s one of the many things people tell you that never ever happens. And then I get this call from Joss [Whedon] saying, ‘Well… there’s a script… and it’s after The Avengers.’ By the time Joss finished telling me, I was in.”

For me, though, the most interesting bit from this interview about Coulson’s “resurrection”:

“After people see the show, they’ll have some clue as to why I’m still there, still breathing, but I don’t think they’ll know everything…”

Most likely, I am reading too much into it, but Gregg notes that he’s “still there, still breathing”. Does this throw a wrench in the Vision and Deathlok theories/rumors? Has he actually somehow been resurrected? I really think while everyone is looking forward to a hopefully quality Marvel television series, a lot of the anticipation is stemming from the question of “How the hell is Agent Coulson still alive?!”

You can check out the full interview with Clark Gregg, including his thoughts on if Agent Coulson will make it back to the big screen, over at Collider.

Marvel’s S.H.I.E.L.D will (hopefully) be premiering on ABC this Fall.

You can follow Arse-bot and all the pointless thoughts he puts out into the interwebs on Twitter @Arse_bot