Even for the most die-hard Star Wars fans, it's fair to say that beyond Lego Star Wars the recent media outings particularly the Films have not been brilliant (hell, one achievement in The Complete Saga is to kill Jar-Jar a number of times!).

But it seems that this Summer things could be looking up.  Firstly The Force Unleashed is released or unleashed in September (barring any delays!) but also there's another movie or sorts...

It is with a little trepidation, (and maybe a new hope - ha!! sorry) that there's to be a new animation extending the Star Wars Universe around the time of episodes 2 and 3 - Star Wars: the Clone Wars as it is titled is to be released this August in the US and if IMDB is to be believed in the UK on the same date (and then on the Cartoon Network in the Autumn).

There's an official trailer up at the Star Wars site (and below) as well as some shorts about development and production (not below!).  Some pointers then...

Good Point:

• No Hayden Christensen
• Samuel L. Jackson and Anthony Daniels provide voices for their characters
• If the trailer is to be believed, no Jar Jar :-)

Hopefully these will bring some credibility back to the franchise and once again mean I can geek out in the wonderful world that is Star Wars... man I can't wait to my kids are old enough for this stuff!

Here's a few more links...

Official Site: http://www.starwars.com/video/view/000639.html

Wookiepedia (man I love that name!!) http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Star_Wars:_The_Clone_Wars_%28film%29

The Force Unleashed Site: http://www.lucasarts.com/games/theforceunleashed/

So getting my weekly fix of Mark Kermode on Five Live (Podcast available here) and his now infamous (probably) Kermodian Rants I was was pointed towards Mark's daily reports from the Cannes film festival from last week.  In one of these he discusses funding drives that budding film makers go through - and one in particular. The crew are creating a film called Iron Sky - a film which sees a Nazi invasion of the World... from the Moon - the tag line being "in 1945 the Nazis went to the Moon... In 2018 They are coming back.  The teaser trailer looks brilliant - check it out below.

Please go and have a look at the site and support them - if the Teaser is anything to go by then this could be very good!  Have a look at their site at: www.ironsky.net