Dreaming Disney - Save the Clone Wars

Who Will Fall?

For the last few weeks, JimmyMac of RebelForce Radio has been warning us it could be Star Wars: The Clone Wars that could fall.

I was a big Star Wars fan before Disney bought LucasFilm.  Star Wars probably shaped my childhood just as much as Disney.

And I was super excited when the purchase was announced as it seemed a no brainer to put Star Wars: The Clone Wars alongside Ultimate Spider-Man and The Avengers: The Earth's Mightiest Heroes is a super action animated programming block.  And Star Wars: Detours would have been a fantastic fit next to Gravity Falls on the Disney Channel.  Honestly, with a voice cast that includes Dee Bradley Baker, Corey Burton, and Jim Cummings has Disney written all over it!  It just all seemed to be peanut butter and jelly, a prefect fit!  

But alas it does not seem to be.  New stories are starting to break that Star Wars: The Clone Wars has been canceled.  There could be official news soon!  And honestly while there are season 6 stories in the pipeline and even season 5 episodes that have not seen the light, season 5 did end at a point that some may seen as natural.

So here are our options.  One we can sit around and know we did nothing as this Mousey program was put to rest before it could even reach a Disney network.  Or we can politely let decision makers know that we value this Disney franchise and look forward to more.

Let's join JimmyMac in writing a polite letter to:

Disney Studios
500 S Buena Vista St
Burbank, CA 91521
Attn: Bob Iger

You can also write a letter to Kathleen Kennedy…
Lucasfilm
P.O. Box 29901
San Francisco, CA 94129-0901
Attn: Kathleen Kennedy

You can also call 708-320-1RFR and provide your words of support which will be compiled on a CD RebelForce Radio is sending to Disney leadership.

We have seen a lot of changed in the last six months, but let's save Star Wars: The Clone Wars!

Dreaming Disney - Smuggler's Gambit

When I was a teenager I volunteered at a library during the summer. This gave me unrestricted access to pretty much all the contents of the library. Did I mention that it was a library for the blind? So the Braille books were inaccessible to me since I did not read Braille. Of course, that also meant that a teenager could shelve Braille copies of Playboy with no fear, sorry kids there were not tactile representations of the pictures! And the books on record were honestly not very portable when working an 8 hour shift moving all day! But the books on tape were a joy. I could grab a book and throw it into the specialized tape player which we had plenty of laying around. And headphones were everywhere, which I really did not need since I often worked alone on deserted stacks. One day I realized that everything on tape was not a book, they also had radio plays!

What’s a radio play kids? Well before television you had to imagine the action in your mind! Radio dramas were the most popular from the 1930s to 1960s before television became a standard in most homes. The actors, played out the story dramatically with the assistance of in studio sound effects to help the listener imagine the action. When I made my discovery in the library stacks, I threw myself into the world of The Shadow and The Green Hornet. After a few summers I really came to appreciate how fun a radio show can be, especially when you need to pass some time.

Let me speed you up to 2012. In 2012 at Star Wars Celebration V, director Kyle Newman gathered together a group of Star Wars: The Clone Wars actors and Jimmy Mac from RebelForce Radio and put together a live Star Wars radio drama for the fans in attendance. StarWars.com has this radio drama, Smuggler’s Gambit: A Han Solo Adventure, available for free download.

There is also a Facebook page to keep you updated on future Radio productions from this group.   

You really should check it out if you are a Star Wars fan, or becoming one as you become familiar with this new Disney property. The voice acting is top notch and the production value is not what you would expect for a free presentation. It is fun adventure focusing around Han Solo, that almost everyone could enjoy on a slow day in Betweenland even if you are not an over the top fan.  And it will take you back to a time when there was not a promise of a future full of Star Wars and you had to rely on your imagination to create new images of Star Wars.  

Dreaming Disney - RebelForce Radio

After the Disney purchase of LucasFilm I suggested that you check out The ForceCast as a way to become more familiar with Star Wars and for the latest news and rumors as Disney begins to work their new franchises into their future plans.

Recently an announcement on The ForceCast website caught me by surprise:

Growing from the initial desire by Dustin, who manages content here at TheForce.net to have a podcast presence, the ForceCast has dominated Star Wars podcasting since its inception, and we are all very proud of it, from when it was Jason and Pete, to Jason and Jimmy, who stepped up and stepped out incredibly when the need arose, and of their fans, who are some of the biggest Star Wars fans in the world.

The guys are moving on though, to Rebel Force Radio, their own production. I'm sure there will be ample communication on this very soon.

Here at TheForce.net and Rebelscum.com, we wish them the very best of luck in the new endeavor.

Additionally, the content created to date will still be archived and available, and Jedi Journals from Jay and Chris, will continue to be produced and available.

After watching the trailer, I think that a lot of what I loved about The ForceCast will hold with Jason and Jimmy’s new production, RebelForce Radio.

They will both still be co-hosting and still sharing the chemistry which made their original collaboration enjoyable. Additionally, it sounds like they will continue with some of the segments they used on their old podcast, like “The Billy Dee Quote of the Week”. One concern that I had was would they have the same access to the Star Wars community they had previously? But the announced appearance of Dave Filoni on their first show January 19th shows me that the strong network of Star Wars personalities they have worked with in the past remains in place and we can expect a series of knowledgeable Star Wars guests.

I look forward to hearing Jimmy and Jason’s new production and wish them the best of luck with RebelForce Radio.  Now excuse me I have to go submit a question for Dave Filoni over on their Facebook page.  I wonder if he will spill the beans about the Disney partnership?