Just in time for today’s annual celebration of Star Wars, May the Fourth, Star Wars Day 2021, Disney+ is streaming the new animated series, Star Wars:The Bad Batch, beginning with a 72-minute premiere, starting today. Viewers will only need to wait until Friday for episode 2, with new episodes airing weekly. You met the clone troopers who star in the series last year in the final season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars. The new series features 16 episodes, taking off after The Clone Wars and featuring appearances by Fennic Shand, voiced by Ming-Na Wen, with the return of Grand Moff Tarkin, voiced by Stephen Stanton, along with Saw Gerrera, voiced by Andrew Kishino. While you’re at it, Lucasfilm has created a downloadable Bingo game for the show.
The Clones Wars have ended. You can either adapt and survive, or die with the past.
Star Wars: The Bad Batchis a new animated series spinning out of characters featured in last year’s seventh season of The Clone Wars. It’s about that motley band of clone troopers we discussed in our review here at borg. This week we have a new trailer, and it reveals the return of Grand Moff Tarkin, now merely Admiral Tarkin, the villain played by Peter Cushing who saw his end in the original Star Wars, resurrected thanks to CGI for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. His backstory was fleshed out in recent tie-in novels, and now we’ll see him early on just after the Clone Wars. Get ready to meet “again for the first time” Ming-Na Wen’s Fennec Shand (The Mandalorian) and the return of Saw Gerrera (The Clone Wars, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story), too.
Check out the new trailer for Lucasfilm’s Star Wars: The Bad Batch, an original animated series launching exclusively on Disney+ in May:
Last year it seemed like the idea of a graphic novel adaptation of the ninth and final Skywalker saga movie, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, may not actually make it to print because of ongoing industry delays. But IDW Publishing got it done and is winding up its complete run of adaptations of the Star Wars franchise movies this week, which has already included the adaptations of The Prequels,A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, The Force Awakens, Rogue One, The Last Jedi, and Solo, all in continuity with a consistent look and approach. IDW’s take on the last movie lands with Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Graphic Novel Adaptation, arriving in comic shops today. The result continues the IDW series’ more animated look at the films, reminiscent of the cartoon artwork of the original Clone Wars episodes.
You may have thought Age of Resistance was only the subtitle of The Dark Crystal television series, but no. It’s a new identifier for the third Star Wars trilogy, and those films are part of a new behind-the-scenes book arriving in two weeks. Star Wars: Age of Resistance–The Official Collector’s Edition, available in hardcover and trade paperback editions, the book for the first time chronicles all three films in the final Star Wars trilogy: The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi, and The Rise of Skywalker. Beginning with a 17-page timeline of the entire nine-film Star Wars Skywalker saga, the book showcases photographs and behind the scenes concept artwork, schematics, costume designs, and close-up images of props. Executive producer and director J.J. Abrams, key production personnel, art and effects department creators, and stars Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, and Joonas Suotamo–and more–dig into their characters, discussing key scenes, and the importance of each film to the entire Skywalker family story.
Here’s a first look inside the book, plus three variant edition covers, courtesy of publisher Titan:
It’s the nature of the new Star Wars brand to bounce back and forth in the galaxy stories–a lot. Where the idea of looking back in 2021 to Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens may not sound like an obvious choice, once you realize the context, the characters, and the setting, anyone can get onboard the new two-part Star Wars Adventures tale Smuggler’s Run. If you don’t know Star Wars Adventures, it’s the cartoonier side of Star Wars in the pages of Marvel Comics, targeted at kids. So you can always rely on some good fun in an issue of the series. This tale spins out of the monthly series with a story about Han Solo and Chewie after the destruction of the first Death Star, and their plan to spend their reward money.
Once a year at borg we ask: What makes a great screen heroine? It’s time for borg′s annual look at the Best Kick-Ass Genre Heroines in film and television. Despite delays in releases due to the covid pandemic, nothing kept Hollywood from including great female characters on the screen, even if that meant moving movies to the small screen for a while. We’re highlighting the very best from a slate of fantastic heroines, with characteristics to learn from and root for. Determined, decisive, loyal, brave, smart, fierce, strong, you’ll find no one here timid or weepy, but all rely on their individual skills to beat the odds and overcome any obstacle that comes their way. Over the years we have expanded the list to include any tough, savvy, gritty character played by a woman, so villains are welcome here, too. (Want to see previous years’ kickass genre heroines to see how 2020 compares? Here are 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, and 2015). Some may be frazzled, put-upon, war-weary, or human, but all have fought, some against difficult circumstances, others against personal demons (literally, figuratively, or both), and some against gun and laser fire. And they all showed what a tough, kick-ass, and often badass, character is about.
This year we add masked superheroines, a CDC epidemiologist, aliens, assassins, martial artists, warriors, cyborgs, a telephone operator, an engineer, a bounty hunter, and a frog and a pig–with a roster evenly split between television and movie characters. Credit goes to both the writers, costumers, and other creators of the characters and the actors and performers that brought them all to life.
These are the Best Kick-Ass Genre Heroines of 2020:
Bo-Katan Kryze(The Mandalorian, Star Wars: The Clone Wars). In the animated series she would let nothing stand in her way. In a galaxy with villains like Grand Admiral Thrawn and Grand Moff Gideon, we’re lucky to have Bo-Katan on our side. Leading a team to find the Darksaber and restore Mandalore, she’s also willing to enlist a lone straggler, and help him for his efforts. With Katee Sackhoff, the actress behind Starbuck, in the armor, the coolness factor goes up by a factor of 100. Great heroines are great leaders, and, like Bo-Katan, they wield an incredible arsenal of skills. (Disney/Lucasfilm)
Sheriff Nicole Haught (Wynonna Earp). Katherine Barrell’s tough, savvy, and friendly sheriff is one of the best reasons to watch Wynonna Earp, now four seasons running. She’s the girlfriend of Wynonna’s sister Waverly, she is plugged into the local supernatural happenings, and she’s always available to lend a hand, when she’s not carrying out her sheriff duties. She’s an investigator who is loyal, driven, and smart. She’s also fun and friendly, making her the heart of the series. In a show about supernatural people, she holds her own as law enforcer simply by her own human wits. (Syfy)
Seven of Nine (Star Trek Picard). More than forty years of Star Trek have revealed some exceptional women leaders. This year we were lucky to see the re-appearance of one of the best, a character who was captured as a child and trapped in what amounts to a technological cult. With the help of a strong captain, Seven was able to break free, and re-learn what it means to be human. This year that meant helping a legendary former admiral, avenge the death of her closest friend, and fight for good long after her call to duty. (CBS All Access)
The last time genre fans had a news release as big as this week’s Marvel and Star Wars news was from Disney about the ten Phase IV Marvel projects announced at San Diego Comic-Con 2019. In addition to yesterday’s Marvel news, Disney previewed eleven major Star Warsprojects in the pipeline. Not a surprise so much as a wish fulfilled for millions of Star Wars fans is a spin-off live-action TV series called Ahsoka, featuring the return of Rosario Dawson as the Force- and lightsaber-wielding Ahsoka Tano. An actor returns on the franchise, a preview for a series that started filming last month, Disney reveals the title of the next Star Wars movie, plus news on new movies for Willowand Indiana Jones. And Lucasfilm CEO Kathleen Kennedy had more surprises.
With the second season opener “The Marshall,” I thought the new season would be more of the same (see my review here). A bit light on plot, and so similar to a few episodes from the first season, I figured Jon Favreau, Dave Filoni, & Co. were going to deliver some more good entertainment, but not take too many risks. Not one week later I had to take that back, as the episode “The Passenger” delivered a spectacular single-story episode reminiscent of Alien and The Thing. The fourth episode of the season, “The Siege,” was a return of characters from season one and more of the single most important, far-reaching draw for any age group or other demographic, Baby Yoda, given the name Grogu in last week’s episode. But if you take a look at this season, especially episodes 11, 13, and 14, what you may find is the third greatest Star Wars movie. Or at least your third favorite. I’ll avoid spoilers for yesterday’s new episode “The Tragedy” below except to mention the director and that the episode blew me away, but let’s dig into this season so far.
One of the oldest sayings of actors is never take a role with an animal or a child, because you’ll always get upstaged. That’s where the Disney+ series is currently stuck–they created a character in The Child (aka Baby Yoda) that we’d all probably rather see more than Pedro Pascal’s title character. Yes, The Mandalorian is back this weekend with the first episode of Season Two, more than welcome fun in the year of COVID-19 and real-life, high-stakes politics. The series is full of Easter eggs and good throwbacks to the original trilogy, the prequels, bits and pieces of the entire franchise. But the plot for the season opener is a retread of themes and scenes from last year, light on our favorite young green-eared friend.
Disney+ shared a new trailer for The Mandalorian late Monday, adding more great clips and images from the coming season, tying viewers back to the original 1977 Star Wars. The Mandalorian (Pedro Pascal), who we now know as Din Djarin, flying around with his backpack? Check. Cara Dune (Gina Carano) and Greef Karga (Carl Weathers) putting an Imperial troop transport through its paces? Check. Someone found Yondu’s Yaka Arrow? Check. The Abyssin cyclops from the Mos Eisley cantina? Check. More of The Child (we know, you know him as Baby Yoda)? Check.
