Star Wars Bits: 'Disney Infinity', 'Once Upon A Time', The White House, Samuel L. Jackson

The White House's statement regarding the Death Star petition was nothing if not good-humored, but it seems the administration would prefer not to waste their time on such frivolous requests going forward. (Imagine that!) Whereas the Death Star proposal needed only 25,000 signatures to merit a response, the threshold for getting an official White House response has now been raised to 100,000 signatures.

As of right now, only one active petition — to recognize the Westboro Baptist Church as a hate group — is past that mark. If we know the Internet, though, even the 100K line should be no problem for the next geek who wants to, say, raise funds for Hoth exploration. [Mediaite]

After the jump, read about Once Upon a Time's Star Wars not-quite-crossover, Disney Infinity's potential plans for Star Wars and Marvel, and how much Samuel L. Jackson still really wants to return for Episode VII.

In Sunday evening's episode, the Star Wars theme was heard as the cell phone ring of a mysterious stranger who'd arrived in Storybrooke. At this point, that detail just seems to be the series having a bit of fun and not an indication of a full-fledged crossover — but if Once Upon a Time stays on the air long enough, who knows? If you saw the episode, what do you think? [Deadline]

Last week, Disney announced the launch of Disney Infinity, a new toy and game system that allows players to control characters from various Disney and Pixar properties. The first play sets will be based on Monsters University, Pirates of the Caribbean, and The Incredibles, but naturally, video game fans have wondered whether the universe might eventually expand to include Marvel and Star Wars as well.

There's still no official confirmation at this point, but game developer Avalanche Software has now vaguely alluded to the possibility of bringing in those popular franchises at some point. "I hope so!" CEO John Blackburn said. "As a developer, I so want that. When Disney bought Lucasfilm, I was like, 'Holy crap! This is awesome!' But at this point in time, there's been some discussions about that, there's just been no decisions made."

In the end, these decisions may come down to "what kind of properties are most game-able," he explained. "If there's a gameplay mechanic that adds significantly to that mashup experience in the Toy Box, we love those properties, and will bring that into the game." [Polygon via Cubed 3]

Another day, another comment from Samuel L. Jackson about how much he wants to return to the Star Wars franchise. In the actor's defense, I don't think he's making these statements unprovoked, but rather responding to the same questions over and over. And through all this repetition he's never changed his tune.

"Yeah, I'd love to be a part of that," he replied when asked yet again about Star Wars Episode VII. "I think it'd help people come back to the franchise, to have some familiar characters before they start introducing all the new ones."

While Jackson's said in the past that he would be willing to play Mace Windu as a ghost, he points out that that's not necessarily the only way the character could return. "I don't know why I'd have to be a ghost. I'm a Jedi! I fell out of a window and they took my hand off. I could show up as a one-handed Jedi — alive!" [Northern Star]