Delos Alcatraz

Cabel Sasser went down a Disneyland rabbit hole to discover the code name for Disney’s Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge area and its crowning attraction Rise of the Resistance.

This is a very short post about a very short journey. It starts with a new (to me, as of today) theme park fact:
The code name for Disney’s Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge area was “Delos”, and the code name for its Rise of the Resistance attraction was “Alcatraz”.

The interesting part (if you’re into Disneyland minutiae) is the steps he took to discover this bit of trivia.

Lyrics for The Mandalorian Theme Song

I’ve had The Mandalorian on the back burner since it first came out and I’m very slowly working my way through the second season. It’s not that it’s a bad show, just that I find myself unable to suspend disbelief enough to ignore the plot manipulation. Maybe that makes it a bad show, I don’t know. Either way, I keep coming back to it.

If you’re familiar with the show then I think you will enjoy these mock lyrics which just happen to address some of the shows failings:

(via BoingBoing)

Star Wars: Underworld Test Footage

A long time ago, (circa 2010), way before The Mandalorian, LucasFilm began working on a TV series called “Star Wars: Underworld”. After the sale to Disney and due to the high cost of production, the series was put on indefinite hold and then cancelled. Here is some test footage from Stargate Studio that appeared online today (followed by the making-of footage).

Released test footage from 2010 of the cancelled Star Wars TV show “Underworld,” which was to take place in the lower levels of Coruscant. The series was set after the events of Order 66. The video game “1313” was to be a tie-in of this series. Due to the immense cost of shooting the series, as well as the selling of Lucasfilm to Disney, “Underworld” was delayed and eventually cancelled.

This footage was produced by Stargate Studios (whose VFX resume includes Doctor Who, The Walking Dead, The Orville) in partnership with Lucasfilm. The VFX technology displayed in the making-of portion is Stargate Studios’ impressive real-time rendering Virtual Backlot Live technology.

For more information about the concept art, stories, and development of “Underworld,” as well as “1313,” check out this Underworld archive.

(via Andy Farrell)

D23 Expo 2019 Highlights

D23 Logo - The ultimate Disney fan event

D23 Expo, the largest Disney fan event in the world, celebrates all the wonderful worlds of The Walt Disney Company under one roof, including the best of Disney, Marvel, Pixar, and Star Wars across film, television, theme parks, products, online, music, live entertainment, and more. D23 Expo 2019 marks the sixth biennial Expo held in Anaheim.

Highlights from the first day of D23 Expo 2019:

Probably a lot more interesting to me is the trailer that was released for the Disney+ exclusive show “Star Wars: The Mandalorian”.

From The Mandalorian entry on Wikipedia:

The Mandalorian is an upcoming American space-opera web television series scheduled to premiere on Disney+ on November 12, 2019. Set in the Star Wars universe, the series will take place a few years after the events of Return of the Jedi and follows a lone Mandalorian gunfighter beyond the reaches of the New Republic.

Here are Saturday and Sunday’s recaps:

Star Wars with Ron Howard

I’m really looking forward to the new Solo movie coming out later this month. Having Ron Howard as the director made the perfect opportunity for this Arrested Development Star Wars parody.