Yoda And Friends

That's Yoda. Seen him before? The image popped up on Collecting HQ having been gathered at the New York toy fair. What you're looking at is the CG design for the wee Jedi Master as he'll appear in the upcoming animated Star Wars TV show.

Despite being animated in 3D, the show is going to be based, visually at least, on the model sheets and styles of the old 2D-animated Clone Wars series.

This is a big year for the Star Wars cash cow, and a lot of the efforts seem to be aimed at setting up a new, young audience for the films - the old audience is growing up, finally, and their loyalty to new Lucas product has been on the wane since the prequels, anyway. Not all new Star Wars items are shooting for the young ones, though: there's a special 30th Anniversary DVD on the cards for later in the year, and that's aimed squarely at the aging geek market.

Speculation has been rife that this DVD will somehow be a new part of the Star Wars fictional canon, most likely as another re-edit of one of the first film. All the evidence I can muster (don't ask - I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you) suggests that this new, 30th Anniversary DVD is nothing of the sort, and is simply a 'Special Features' type project, centring round a documentary but with plenty of bolt-on little parts. There's a number of shots and short sequences still on the shelf from the first film, even after all of the tinkering, and with a bit of spit and polish from ILM they could make a very nice set of 'Deleted and Extended Scenes'.

We'll find out soon enough as the announcement can't that be far away - though it is worth noting that the DVD release appears to be timed for a 'Just In Time For Christmas' launch, not at all marking the actual anniversary date. Interpret that how you will.