Weekly ForceCast: October 19, 2012

Clone Wars actress Ashley Eckstein joins us to discuss Ahsoka Tano, TCW Season 5, Halloween and breakfast cereal. And, we go In The Cantina with Star Wars artist Randy Martinez to talk about his contributions to the new book Star Wars Art: Illustration. Plus, The Billy Dee Quote of the Week, listener feedback, and an update from The Kitster Movement.
==Guests==
*Ashley Eckstein
*Randy Martinez
==Topics==
*Jason and Jimmy discuss their upcoming trip to Irving, Texas for Fan Days. They plan to watch The Clone Wars together on Saturday morning. Jason promises to bring Golden Grahams, Jimmy's favorite cereal.
*Jason and Jimmy bring in Ashley Eckstein to discuss her latest product offerings at Her Universe and her plans for Halloween. (Apropos of the previous discussion, she first says that her favorite cereal is Lucky Charms. This then prompts Jason to ask her what she would put in an Ahsoka-themed cereal.)
**Ashley describes her idea to make Her Universe apparel into "everyday cosplay."
**Ashley was at New York Comic-Con, where she co-hosted MTV Geek's live-streaming coverage. During the convention, she both wore a TARDIS dress and received a zombie makeover. She also participated in the 501st's Shoot-A-Trooper game.
**Ashley also discusses her experiences at San Diego Comic-Con, the Course of the Force summer charity relay, and Celebration VI (from Smuggler's Gambit to her video diary).
**Jason asks Ashley about Ahsoka's role in the Onderon story arc of The Clone Wars Season 5. "We see her with these vulnerable feelings that remind us that she's only this sixteen-year-old girl," Ashley says. "It's funny how divided the fan base is over [Ahsoka's relationship with Lux]."
**Ashley goes on to say more generally that "It's a big season for her and big decisions have to be made. You're going to have a lot more questions than answers. Some characters do meet their demise and there's going to be some surprises."
*Jason reminds listeners of his plan to test the soothing effects of the Star Wars Main Theme on his infant son. Unfortunately for this project, and against all odds, his son has not cried much since the last show. Jason promises to redouble his efforts and report back with his findings.
*Jason and Jimmy discuss the fact that a brief example of James Earl Jones' natural breathing between voice-over dialog can be heard in the Death Star conference room scene in A New Hope.
*Fan Days Update
**Jason promises to announce when they will be doing a live show from Fan Days as soon as he and Jimmy nail down an exact time.
**The two co-hosts discuss Ian McDiarmid's scheduled appearance at the show. McDiarmid will be signing along with two other film Darths, Vader (Dave Prowse) and Maul (Ray Park), in what is being called his final U.S. signing opportunity.
*Billy Dee Quote of the Week
**Billy Dee played a hitman known only as "Hamberger" in the 1987 film Deadly Illusion.
*Jason announces that he, Jimmy, and Star Wars Insider editor Jonathan Wilkins will be launching a new monthly podcast called BondCast next month. The launch will coincide with the release of the next Bond film, Skyfall. They plan to review and analyze each of the Bond movies on the new show. "We have really nice chemistry with Jonathan," Jimmy says. He encourages ForceCast listeners to check out the show's Facebook page.
*Jason and Jimmy talk to Randy Martinez about his art work, his upcoming convention appearances, and his inclusion in the new book Star Wars Art: Illustration.
*Headline News
**Dave Filoni sat down for an interview with TIME For Kids and discussed The Clone Wars Season 5. Filoni promised kid reporter Julia Horbacewicz that this season would have "consequences," something that Jason is happy to hear.
***Jason points out that he has been calling for more significant story "threads," as Jimmy describes them, for years on the Roundtable.
***Jimmy adds, "Know your Clone Wars at this point ... you'll get so much more gratification ... if you understand what these seeds are and where they're planted."
***Jason speculates -- and Jimmy agrees -- that TCW was never intended to get as dark or complex as it has become. He says he started looking for darkness, shades of grey, and complexity right at the beginning, but that it took a few years for the show to catch up with those expectations. "I know for a fact that [the cast and crew] have listened to our Roundtables ... it's great that they have an ear to what the fans are looking for," Jason says. "This notion of consequences ... is very, very important. It's about payoff."
***Jimmy points out that the series has a storyteller handicap in that fans know how things play out after the series ends. He says that the show successfully builds up drama and tension around new characters to avoid focusing too heavily on characters whose fates have already been resolved in the movies.
***Connections between episodes, Jason says, "make the universe larger" in the series. "It becomes one big universe, so it's not just these isolated standalone stories."
**Jimmy says that even though they attended Celebration VI, they still missed a number of interesting panels. One of the ones they missed was the "Why We Love The Prequels" panel, which featured, among others, TFN's Eric Geller. Geller posted a recording of the entire panel on YouTube. Jimmy plays a clip of Lucasfilm's Pablo Hidalgo saying that George Lucas "was seeking to create fairy tales for a generation that was growing up without them."
**Speaking of Pablo Hidalgo, Jimmy praises Hidalgo's recently-published book Star Wars: The Essential Reader's Companion, which he calls "the Bible of the Expanded Universe."
***Jason says, "It's phenomenal. I feel like he made this book for me, or people like me, that have an interest in the potential effect that a particular novel ... might have had on the saga, but don't necessarily want to commit to reading the entire thing."
***Jimmy noticed that one of the new pieces of artwork in the ERC features an adult Kitster. The illustration accompanies the entry for Tatooine Ghost, the only EU novel in which Kitster appears. Jimmy received a tip about Kitster's inclusion in the book from Jeff Carlisle, the artist who did the illustration. Jimmy says that Carlisle used a current photo of Dhruv Chanchani, the actor who played Kitster, for his illustration.
****With the "Where's Kitster?" movement gaining steam, Jimmy promotes The ForceCast's new #WheresKitster Twitter hashtag.
**A ForceCast fan sent in audio from Celebration VI of Dave Filoni mentioning an Easter egg in Season 5 footage that he was about to preview. He told the audience to watch for something in the background of the scene, which took place in Anakin's bedroom. "For those of you who have an obsession with certain characters," Filoni said, "keep your eyes peeled." In the scene, Anakin had a Boonta Eve Classic poster featuring Ben Quadinaros on his wall. When Filoni teased the appearance of a certain fan-favorite character in the background, someone in the audience shouted out "Kitster!" and Filoni quickly denied that it was him. Filoni then asked how so many people in the audience got that joke, and, upon hearing "ForceCast!", joked that the show had become "too powerful."
==Significant quotes==
*Quotes go here.
==Audible.com Sponsorship==
*Visit AudiblePodcast.com/TFN for a free audiobook download.