lazypadawan's Holocron

The Official starwars.com Blog wasn't posting very often lately and then they post this:

"The Official Star Wars Blog is now on temporary hiatus as the Lucas Online team continues to explore new directions for StarWars.com. New authors, new articles, and new points of view are in the works for the Blog that will cover the entire Star Wars experience. As with all changes undertaken on the website, we are closely examining feedback from past surveys and user actions on the site, and we want to hear from you. Feel free to let us know in the comments what you’d like to see the Official Star Wars Blog become."

There has definitely been something going on with what Lucasfilm is doing in regards to Star Wars, even with Clone Wars on the air. To wit:

1. Shuttering the Official Star Wars Fan Club (Hyperspace)

2. Steve Sansweet and book queen Sue Rostoni retiring (someone took Rostoni's place, while no one has taken Sansweet's)

3. Crummy redesign of starwars.com that gives you way less than before

4. Shuttering the online store

5. Shuttering the blogs

Last year, there was the oddball May the 4th promo for the Blu-Rays. Then there was the gangbusters take-no-prisoners promo (not) of TPM 3D. There's been no news on if/when we'll see AOTC 3D. There was nothing on Celebration VI for a long time until Orange County, FL did a welcome video last week complete with the mayor dressed as Leia. Well, at least I'm glad the Orlando metropolitan area is happy we're coming to shower them with revenue! But where are the guest announcements, besides the hosts and stuff? There's been a little more info on Star Wars Weekends but that comes from the Mouse House.

My guess is they're running out of steam, running out of inspiration, and getting tired of the whole dang thing. Now that Lucas has declared himself retired, who knows what's going to happen now?

Star Wars is still popular. I'm sure DSWW will bring crowds. I'm sure about the same number of people will attend Celebration VI. Licensing is still making money even with a lot of competing product.

Still, I cannot shake the vibe there's something going on at the Presidio. If I'm wrong and you know what's going on there, let me know. If I'm right and you have inside skinny, send it via private message if you feel more comfortable that way.

Or feel free to post your own theory.

*starwars.yahoo.com is going bye-bye Dec. 15. It's just as well. It was worse than a poor man's MySpace. It was hard to navigate and use and it never went beyond the Beta stage even though it launched two years ago. Most online Star Wars fans are on at least one social networking site anyway. And the party's moved on from MySpace to Facebook.

*Geeks of Doom has at last found exactly where Artoo appears in the "Star Trek" movie:

http://geeksofdoom.com/2009/11/16/r2-d2s-appearance-in-star-trek-discovered/

Gotta love DVD and Blu-Ray for making this sort of thing easier!

*TFN linked to a story about a guy who decided to put his whole SW collection on eBay to benefit the Salvation Army. No, it's not Steve Sansweet:

http://chronicle.northcoastnow.com/2009/11/16/toy-drive-strikes-gold-collector-lets-beloved-star-wars-toys-go-up-for-auction/

His generosity is commendable, but a story like this could give my mom ideas :O.