For those who live in the San Francisco Bay Area, this weekend is Fleetweek: a yearly event that features a parade of naval ships and aerial demonstrations highlighted by an aerobatics demonstration by the Navy's Blue Angels precision flight team. I grew up watching the Blue Angels every year back to when they flew A-4 Skyhawks at Moffett Field, about an hour south of SF. They've since upgraded to F-18 Hornets.

So what in the blazes do the Blue Angels have to do with Star Wars?

At some point during the formation of the Clone Wars EU program a few years ago, we determined that we needed a name for Anakin Skywalker's custom-built Jedi starfighter. To show his love for the ship, we had to come up with a name that also reflected his love for the one person he cherished more than life itself, Padmé. It then dawned on me - Angel. And since the colors of the ship were based off of the bluish colors of Anakin's Podracer, it was a given that it had to be a blue Angel, or something like it; my way of honoring the fond memories I had of watching the Blue Angels over all these years. I drew up a short list of blue Angel names - Cobalt Angel, Cerulean Angel, Teal Angel, but I finally settled on the alliteration of Azure Angel.

Problem. We just got the outline for the next chapters of the Clone Wars cartoon. Asajj Ventress blows up Anakin's starfighter - fouled up beyond all repair.

Alright then. The Azure Angel II it is.

And that's the Blue Angels/Star Wars connection.