Note: The following live coverage took place between December 6 and December 10, as Star Wars fans in several U.S. cities attended special screenings of TCW episodes before they aired on television.
It's Savage Week in many major U.S. cities right now, and Darth Maul's secrets are being revealed to audiences across the country in the form of a three-episode TCW story. Although the episodes will air separately, they are being shown as one long movie at these events. We're going to be compiling some highlights from web coverage of the screenings right here.
December 6: Los Angeles
Katie Lucas, writer of the Savage Opress story arc, at the L.A. screening. (Photo by Bonnie Burton)
Monday kicked things off with a screening at the Egyptian Theater in Los Angeles. Katie Lucas, who wrote the Savage Opress arc, was in attendance, along with Dave Filoni and various members of The Clone Wars cast. Bonnie Burton attended as well and tweeted a bunch of photos last night, which you can find here.
For a recap of the screening, check out this summary by blogger Amy Ratcliffe.
Here's an excerpt:
James Arnold Taylor, voice of Obi-Wan Kenobi and Plo Koon, set the mood for the audience by queuing up Star Wars music on his phone and placing it next to a microphone. Then he and fellow Clone Wars actors Catherine Taber, Ashley Eckstein, and Dee Bradley Baker asked trivia questions and gave away prizes. Padawans of all ages won the Star Wars Clone Wars Character Encyclopedia or the new General Grievous Spinning Lightsaber. One lucky fan won an R2-D2 edition Droid phone. Taylor spoke for a few minutes on how enjoyable it has been to be a part of the Clone Wars and watch all these new stories unfold. He then introduced Dave Filoni.
It was also reported that Dave Filoni promised an end to political episodes for the remainder of Season 3. Ratcliffe writes, "[Filoni] promised that we'll see why [they did so many political episodes] and that we've been deceived." Sounds interesting! Click through to Ratcliffe's excellent recap for more spoiler-free information about the L.A. screening.
IGN TV's Eric Goldman posted his thoughts from the L.A. screening and says he liked what he saw. He writes, "For those waiting for a lot more action again on The Clone Wars, let me say that these are the episodes you've been looking for."
UPDATE: Bonnie Burton posted a comprehensive recap on the Official Star Wars Blog with photos and interviews from the Los Angeles event.
UPDATE #2: The 501st's charity representative reported that "just over 100 toys" were donated at the L.A. screening.
December 7: Chicago and NYC
On Tuesday, The ForceCast's Jimmy Mac was at the Chicago screening and invited ForceCast fans to come up to him in the lobby afterward with their thoughts on the episodes. Jimmy also ran into Yoda voice actor Tom Kane at the screening. Photosposted on Twitter confirmed that "Katie the Star Wars Girl" was also at the Chicago event.
UPDATE: After the movie ended, audiences saw a brief trailer for the conclusion of Season 3. Not surprisingly, this trailer was reportedly packed with excitement. One ForceCast listener called the trailer "dark" and said that "there is a chilling twist at the end." In other news, Dan Curto over at Rebelscum posted some reader photos from Tuesday's screening in New York City.
UPDATE #2: Check out the Rebelscum story above for a recap of the New York screening from IndyCast correspondent Mitchell Hallock.
UPDATE #3: Rebelscum reader Justin LaSalata also wrote in with a report from the New York screening.
UPDATE #4: Dan Curto has posted Jimmy Mac's photo gallery from the Chicago screening right here on Rebelscum.
Screenings took place on Wednesday in Boston, Dallas, and Washington, D.C. Washington-area resident Doug Maulden-Locke tweeted a series of photos from the D.C. screening, where turnout was reportedly around 100 people with lots of empty seats.
Episode names revealed:According to a Rebelscum forum member, the names of the three Savage Opress episodes are Nightsisters, Monster, and Witches of the Mist.
UPDATE: Photos came in late Wednesday night from the screenings in Boston and Dallas. Click here, here, and here for some Boston photos. One Dallas screening attendee tweeted photos here.
December 9: Atlanta, Philadelphia, Phoenix, and Seattle
Four more screenings took place on Thursday night, two in the Eastern time zone, a third in the Mountain time zone (two hours behind ET), and a fourth in the Western time zone (three hours behind ET).
UPDATE #2: Bonnie Burton has compiled another screening report on The Official Star Wars Blog, this time with photos from Seattle, New York City, Philadelphia, Dallas, and Chicago. Bonnie's complete photo gallery can be found here on Flickr.
December 10: San Francisco
The Savage Opress screenings wrapped up on Friday night with an event at Lucasfilm's Presidio campus in San Francisco, CA. At the beginning of the evening, Boba Fett actor Daniel Logan tweeted this picture of the line for the screening. Based on a photo from @MasterDevwi, Dave Filoni was roaming around greeting fans at the event. Filoni also spoke before the screening began, as seen in this photo from @TheKrankster. Even The Maker himself was present at the event.
UPDATE: Bonnie Burton once again tweeted photos throughout the evening, which you can see here. As usual at public Lucasfilm events, the 501st stepped up to the task of on-site security.
UPDATE #2: Friend of TFN Chris Cady took a picture of his wife with Katie Lucas at the screening. He also posted this photo of himself with Dave Filoni inside the Lucasfilm theater. Chris was lucky enough to run into George during the evening. In fact, Chris said that "the entire Lucas family" was at the screening.
UPDATE #3: Bonnie shared this photo of Daniel Logan striking a pose at the screening.
UPDATE #4:TCW Visual Effects Supervisor Joel Aron attended the screening, and Matthew Wood and David Acord from Skywalker Sound stopped by as well.
UPDATE #5: Courtesy of @TheKrankster, we have a photo of George and Katie Lucas at the screening.
***************************************
Well, that's it for TFN's live coverage of the Savage Opress screenings. We'll be posting more reactions and reviews in separate stories going forward. I'd like to leave you with two of the best photos from last night's San Francisco screening at Lucasfilm.
Dave Filoni, Matthew Wood, and Joel Aron goofing around. (Photo by Bonnie Burton)
A group of lucky Star Wars fans got a picture with George Lucas! (Photo by Michael Kierulf)
Rebelscum Breast Cancer Awareness Charity Patch Posted By Philip on November 25, 2014: Thanks to everybody that ordered patches. I sent a check for $1,600.00 to the National Breast Cancer Foundation on Monday. While it's not as much as I hoped for, it's still very much appreciated. They will remain for sale in the store for anybody that still wishes to purchase them. Details after the jump.