Star Wars was one of the dominating forces at this year’s San Diego Comic-con with members of the original cast in attendance including Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher and even Harrison Ford made a rare convention appearance to celebrate the Saga and the upcoming Episode VII – The Force Awakens.
Among the Star Wars highlights at SDCC were discussion panels with the veteran actors and the new-comers as well as the film-makers behind TFA, a bounty of new products were announced including toys and comics and there was a goose-bump inducing behind the scenes video which gave us a look into the practical effects in the new movie.
The reel featured over three-and-a-half minutes of unseen production footage which would delight any fan (soothing the burns still left by The Phantom Menace) and it also confirmed Simon Pegg’s involvement in the JJ Abrams directed episode as a fully costumed alien. The creator of cult TV show Spaced, which regularly referenced Star Wars, had never looked happier.
First up, the official Star War app has been relaunched for Android and iOS devices. The app is totally refreshed with a slick new interface, heralding the arrival of The Force Awakens. It offers a countdown timer to the film’s December 18th release date and a virtual look into all happenings from “A Galaxy Far, Far Away” with new trailers, interviews and movie news updated regularly. You can also receive notifications whenever new content and blogs are added so you’ll never miss a trick.
As well as keeping up with all the new stuff, the app offers information and fun and games relating to the Star Wars original trilogy and the prequel trilogy and fans can place a selfie of themselves in various themed costumes from the saga’s history, read facts about the films in a daily This Day in Star Wars History feature and also register for a Star Wars ID to enjoy app exclusives – as well as much more.
A notable omission is the vast database of knowledge that was previously available about the Star Wars Expanded Universe. To streamline the Star Wars mythos, LucasFilm and Disney decided it best to sacrifice all reference to these books, video games and comics and all other non-movie media has been ruled as non-canon since the announcement of The Force Awakens.
Over on Twitter, social-networking micro-bloggers get to enjoy yet another Star Wars themed emoji! This time it’s a tweetable icon shaped liked the cross lightsaber wielded by new Sith baddie Kylo Ren in The Force Awakens. To get the emoji to appear just add the hashtag #SABER and you’re on your way to the Dark-side!
160 days until this sick #lightsaber hits the big screen! But for now, unleash it on small screens everywhere. #SDCC pic.twitter.com/FvC1L2jPZt
— Star Wars (@starwars) July 10, 2015
Remember you can still also add #C3PO #STORMTROOPER #BB8 emojis to your tweets too! These were introduced as part of the Star Wars Celebration back in April.
Source: StarWars.com, Google Play, iTunes, Twitter