Lucasfilm and Cartoon Network announced this morning that the third season of Clone Wars will begin on September 17, 2010.  The season will have 22 episodes.

This excites me to no end.

More news about The Clone Wars is expected from Star Wars Celebration V.  More on that as it becomes available.

From the press release:

New Clone Wars Adventures™ Online Virtual World to Debut with Season PremiereSecrets Are Revealed In All-New Season of Star Wars™: The Clone Wars™Premiering on Cartoon Network, Friday, September 17, 9 p.m. (ET/PT)

Building on the huge ratings win from last spring’s second season finale of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Cartoon Network announced today it will premiere 22 all-new episodes for season three of the critically acclaimed CG-animated series from creator George Lucas and Lucasfilm Animation. The special, one-hour season three premiere event of Star Wars: The Clone Wars airs Friday, September 17, at 9 p.m. (et/pt).

The season two finale of Star Wars: The Clone Wars was the highest-rated telecast of the season among all key kid demos—2-11, 6-11, 9-14. The one-hour special also took the #1 spot as the most-watched telecast of the day (May 2) among boys 6-14, and #1 for its timeslot with kids 6-14 versus all television. Star Wars: The Clone Wars is a thrilling, weekly 30- minute “mini-movie” created by the talented artists at Lucasfilm Animation.

Mystery, intrigue and adventure await our heroes with all-new action-packed episodes of Star Wars: The Clone Wars. As war continues to rage throughout the galaxy, the dark side grows even stronger and the Jedi Knights are pushed to the breaking point. The lines between good and evil become blurred as secrets are revealed, truths are questioned and alliances are betrayed. Loyalties are tested as new enemies emerge and heroes rise – and fall.

In this transformative new season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, surprises wait at every turn, the fate of the galaxy hangs in the balance and the destiny of the “Chosen One” will at long last be uncovered. Thrilling, unpredictable and often humorous, the exciting new adventures of the Star Wars Saga will captivate fans of all ages.

Fans of the Star Wars: The Clone Wars animated television series on Cartoon Network can also look forward to the scheduled online release of LucasArts, a division of Lucasfilm Entertainment Company Ltd.’s and Sony Online Entertainment LLC’s (SOE) Star Wars®: Clone Wars Adventures™ video game on September 15. The ultimate virtual destination for a new generation of Star Wars fans, Clone Wars Adventures is an action-packed virtual world where players can go online to experience fun minigames, daily activities, events, rewards, lively social environments and competition. Clone Wars Adventures lets players duel iconic adversaries with their own custom lightsaber, speed through the galaxy in a custom starfighter, defeat enemies and take down starships.

Clone Wars Adventures is a free-to-play to game, but players who want to take the galactic action to the next level can purchase a monthly Membership subscription for $5.99, while a variety of epic items can also be purchased through Station Cash® micro-transactions. The Clone Wars Adventures Galactic Passport is scheduled to be available at thousands of retail locations in North America later this fall and will include a 90 day membership, 500 Station Cash, the ability to unlock the Togruta playable character, a Yoda monitor topper, and more.

I forgot that I don’t have cable and need to get it for Clone Wars.

Proliferating across the Internet at lightning speed is an image of Kilowog that ComicBookMovie.com posted earlier.  I don’t know how long it will last at any of the outlets, but we have it for the time being.

Here it is:

To be honest, I think his costume looks way cooler than Ryan Reynolds’.  And I think  it’s cool that they’re tackling Kilowog at all.  I wouldn’t have expected them to get into the Alien members of the corps too much.

What do you guys think?

We got to do a whole bunch of interviews with the cast and crew for Scott Pilgrim at Comic-Con and we’ll be presenting it slowly this week leading up to the film’s release on Friday.

For your viewing pleasure, we have two batches of interviews today.

First we have Satya Bhabha who plays Matthew Patel, Ramona’s first evil ex-boyfriend. We chatted about how he got the part and how he felt about the movie.

Then we have the creator/writer/artist of Scott Pilgrim and his universe, Bryan Lee O’Malley.  He did his interview with the co-screenwriter Michael Bacall (who you might recognize from Inglourious Basterds).

Coming up in the next few days are interviews with Kieran Culkin, Ellen Wong, Edgar Wright, and more!

This episode features: Zombietron, Kill-Tacular-Tron, Arse-Bot, Mexicus Prime, Proletaria-tron

In this edition of the Big Shiny Podcast we talk about Inception and how it’s super good for forth-coming comic book movies, all the Marvel movie casting that’s going on, discuss why Derek Hunter is a Fuck, debate Comic-Con and how it’s changed, and Arse-bot gets more liberal with the “F Word” than usual.

July Big Shiny Podcast

• iTunes – Be sure to subscribe, rate and comment!
• BSR mp3

UPDATED: Deadline New York broke the story a little while ago. This is confirmed.

It seems as though some major website or another got scooped by Bleeding Cool and they ran a story pretty confidently asserting that Tony Scott will be directing Nemesis, the comic book about a millionaire, playboy super-villain who decides to kill America’s best cop.  (Think about Batman if he were a criminal and deciding to match wits against Jim Gordon instead of working with him.)

You can read the whole article here, but here’s the meat and potatoes.

I’m told that the announcement is definitely Nemesis being optioned and a director to be named.

The name most mentioned is that it is Tony Scott, director of movies such as Top Gun and Beverley Hills Cop II, is to direct the movie based on his comic book with Steve McNiven, Nemesis, currently on its second issue.

Tony Scott, younger brother of Ridley Scott is also known for directing Crimson Tide , The Last Boy Scout,True Romance,  Enemy of the State, Man on Fire and Déjà Vu.

Of all of Mark Millar’s properties, I think this one is the best suited for a director like Tony Scott.  It doesn’t have the most complex story for him to mangle and it has some of the stupid sort of action that the lesser Scott brother does best.  (Like all that business in issue two with Air Force One?)

If this pans out, expect this movie to be a lot of dumb, cool fun.

As you all probably know by now, Big Shiny Robot! has a regular weekly column in Salt Lake City’s Alt-weekly IN Magazine.  We try to bring comics to a different audience, one that isn’t as steeped in the culture like we are.

To that end, we try to highlight comics and comic events that would appeal to the mainstream.  If you live in the greater Salt Lake area, you can pick it up on newsstands.  If you’re outside of Salt Lake, you can read it online.  This week, we have two articles.

The first (you can read online here) is a sum up of the Comic-Con experience for a general audience.

The second (which you can read online here) is plea to the mainstream for them to pick up one of the best books in comics today, Scott Snyder and Rafael Albuquerque’s American Vampire.

Both are laid out in the magazine on the same page and we present the laid out version of the book here, click to enlarge:

Comingsoon.net got a hold of a very good looking copy of the video they played at Comic-Con just before the real life Avengers took the stage.

It’s a very, very brief clip, it’s narrated by Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury and shows… well… you’ll just have to see.

Pretty soon, you won’t have to leave your house to go to Comic-Con. They’ll just have a television station dedicated to Comic-Con content… (I wonder if they record the panels for posterity… Hell, I’d love to watch old Comic-Con panels on TV)…

But I bet you want the teaser:

The Avengers is going to be directed by Joss Whedon, comes out May 4th, 2012, and stars Chris Evans, Robert Downey, Jr., Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Jeremy Renner, and Samuel L. Jackson.

Last month, there was a small blip on the Deadpool movie radar when a little rumor popped up that Robert Rodriguez would be helming the film starring the Merc With a Mouth. I saw it, but couldn’t find much truth behind it as both Rodriguez’s “people” and FOX were denying the reports, only confirming that Rodriguez had the script.

Well, now it looks like this might have a little something behind it. The LA Times is reporting that FOX and Rodriguez are now in the negotiation phase to try to work out a deal that will put him in the director’s chair.

There’s no deal yet, and the sides need to agree on a number of key points, but it’s moved beyond the casual discussion stage and into the more substantive realm of deal points.

As a big Deadpool fan (yes, I know he is just everywhere these days) I think Rodriguez would be a great fit. He has proven he can bring the funny and the action simultaneously and a good Deadpool movie is going to need lots of both. For the time being though, Rodriguez is promoting his upcoming film, Machete, and is currently working on Spy Kids 4: Armageddon (I know. . . I know), and Deadpool himself, Ryan Reynolds, is wrapping up filming this week on Green Lantern and then I believe moving on to a film called The Change Up. So, Deadpool is most likely still a few years out, but this is an exciting prospect to hopefully getting a good Deadpool film from FOX of all studios!

Share your thoughts on the Deadpool movie over in the BSR! Forums!

The second week of January in 1987 was perhaps one of the most formative weeks of fandom in my entire life.  It was the opening weekend of Star Tours at Disneyland, Anaheim and the year that marked the 10th anniversary of the beginning of the Star Wars saga.  I was 6 years old, but my parents saw fit to bring me to Disneyland to be one of the first in the world to experience Star Tours.  The line was hours and hours long and my parents and Uncle took turns taking me on the other attractions in Tomorrow Land until the queue entered the building.  I went on the Rockets, Space Mountain and the People Mover three times before that point.

And then I entered the building and was transported magically into the Star Wars universe.  This was the first time I can remember being happy to wait in a line for an amusement park ride.  It would train me quite well for my wait in line 12 and a half years later for The Phantom Menace, which consumed much, much more time than a morning.  But once inside, I really thought I was in a space port in the Star Wars Universe.  And for the first time in my life, there they were, R2-D2 and C-3P0, talking back and forth to one another in the most hilarious ways, just like in the films.  They were larger than life and the moment I saw R2 duck into the Star Speeder 3000 and damage something and smoke came flying out I might have been in heaven.  

But I didn’t know anything about the ride, and the video screen kept giving us options of destination…  I remember telling my mother, “I want to go to Endor!”

But I really had no idea what was in store for me.

The line wound around, past some maintenance droids (who I thought were the funniest droids I’d ever seen in person) and there we were.

Flight attendants from Star Tours placed us in line for our Star Speeder and we watched our boarding procedures and before I knew what was happening I was buckled in and ready for my first flight.  And when the pilot, Rex, said it was his first flight too I began to worry, doubly so when we took that first wrong turn and I almost dropped out of my chair.  And when I experienced the kick of hyperspace I nearly began to cry.  Hell, maybe I did.

In any case, this was one of the most magical experiences of my childhood.  When we left the ride, I had to work to catch my breath, but it was impossible.  The line let right out into the Star Trader, the gift shop that had all of the Star Wars merchandise I could ask for.  Most of all were the Don Post masks on display.  The next two Christmas’ were wonderful, my parents got me a rubber Yoda mask (which has since disintegrated) and a Darth Vader Helmet that I have on display in my house to this day.

As a teenager there were a couple of years I had an annual pass to Disneyland and there were entire days I would spend going on Star Tours over and over and over again.

After that, years passed.  I moved away from California, got married, had a pair of kids and the news came out last year that Star Tours would be re-imagined.  The original attraction that caused me so much joy and escapism as a child was closing and new 3D version of the ride will be opening in 2011.

I didn’t think much of it, but then I realized my children hadn’t been to Disneyland and had never experienced the glory of Star Tours.  Anakin was two years older than I was my first time, and Scout was just a year older than I was.  It was the perfect time.  I didn’t have a choice.  And so we went to Disneyland on July 26, 2010, the last day that Star Tours was open.

As opposed to Star Wars on its first weekend, the line on its last day was barely 20 minutes long.  We entered the park, whisked through Main Street and got immediately in line for Star Tours.  The queue was every bit as magical leading up to the ride.  The kids were excited, not knowing what to expect.  We teased them, “Where do you want to go?  Endor or Tatooine?” to which Anakin replied, “Hoth!”

They were enthralled with R2 and 3P0, laughed out loud at the maintenance droid and were captivated by the severely dated boarding procedure video.  I couldn’t contain my smile, reliving it again for the first time through them.  And during the ride it almost brought a tear to my eye to see their jaws drop and enjoy it almost as much as I did the first time.

It was a special time, and sure, we dropped some money at the gift shop which had changed over the years.  We spent most of the rest of the day exploring the other offerings of Disneyland (hitting the Indiana Jones ride twice) and came back at the end of the night, to ride Star Tours again for the last few times.

Those in line at this point were all hardcore Star Wars fans.  Members of the 501st were everywhere (with nametags, not armour) and most people (myself included) were in Star Wars shirts.  The feeling in the air was bittersweet.  Pictures and video were taken by everyone around.  The news was there taking video, and we all kept getting back in line until the clock struck midnight and the Star Tours attendants closed the glass doors for the last time and we were officially the last group in line for the original Star Tours experience.

No one seemed to want to advance beyond the first room with 3P0 and R2.  As long as we were still in line, we weren’t on our way out.

There were cheers and tears, of course.  And finally we had to do it.

Once more, for the final time, we boarded Rex’s Star Speeder and he made his final first flight.

The thing I noticed most about the ride was that it was far too short, and it was never shorter than that last time.  Sure it was a bit dated, and the mechanics of it were a little silly (really?  easing off on your main thrusters gets you out of tractor beams?), but it was a hell of a ride and it provided a magical experience for probably millions of little kids like me and my children for more than 20 years.

And for that, I was very sad to see it go.

I will get one last chance to go on the ride.  I have tickets to “The Last Tour to Endor” in Florida during the Star Wars Celebration, but it won’t be the same.  I’ve never been to Florida, and no matter how similar the ride is, it won’t have that magic and nostalgia.  But it’s still Star Wars, and that will always count for something.

I’m sure there is a decent amount of people out there who have seen, or have heard about the movie and what is and is not in it. Taking six books and cramming them into a movie is hard so of course some stuff just doesnt make it in. Well Adult Swim got together with Bryan Lee O’Malley and Edgar Wright to take the high school flashback from book 2 and turn it into an animated short. Slashfilm has all the details and 2 clips, here’s a little bit from them and click here to check out the full story.

We were approached by Universal to do something cool around the release of Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World. Being huge fans of the comic, and very excited about the film, we asked if we could produce an animated short in the style of the comic. The filmmakers and Bryan Lee O’Malley were into the idea, so we actually made it! Edgar Wright was kind enough to secure some of the talent from the film for us, so we have Michael Cera as Scott, Allison Pill as Kim, Mae Whitman as Lisa and Jason Schwartzman as Simon Lee doing voices in the short.

UPDATE: Scott Pilgrim vs the Animation airs Thursday August 12th in two parts between 12 and 12:30 am, inside commercial breaks on [adult swim]. It will also be available in full on adultswim.com, and on the [adult swim] and Scott Pilgrim FaceBook pages the day after it airs.