Disection

I remember saving the actual file of the video teaser for Episode VIII on my computer when it first aired. In fact, probably before I even watched it- because I knew I would watch it more than 5 times and I would likely look to do so again.

So I did today. Some observations and questions and wonderings...

Rey looks to be fighting at least 3 people at once. Is there a big Knights of Ren standoff? Could Episode VIII have a dark ending where the good guys lose and need to regroup?

A very Naboo looking ship here. Could there be a return to this planet? There is lots of water there and seems to be at least one scene that's underwater...

Fynn waking up from his healing tank thingie?

Threepio gets his red arm fixed apparently.

Could be but not sure if this is the Falcon Chewie is piloting here...

Great look for Laura Dern. Meeting with Leia the General here?

 
Looks to be a throne room, Snoke's perhaps?

Checking out a very large creature or puppet...

Love this shot. Perhaps Chewie waiting for Rey to finish her training w/ Luke?

As fall approaches I'll get more and more excited about this new one. No doubt about it. It's funny how quickly it seems that these new films fall in line in my mind with the other ones. I see them and re-see them enough times that the stop becoming new and start just being Star Wars.

Love that.

R2 where are you??

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSNTeLP3qKY

Unsure if I can road trip all the way from Arizona to Virginia just see this in person.

But I kinda wanna...

The Last Awakening Thingie

Since I cannot be out-geeked and not feel threatened to my core, I've got some observations and thoughts from the first Star Wars: The Last Jedi teaser trailer.

May the Force be with us...

Poe Dameron's X-Wing. Or what's left of it. So what does he fly for the rest of the film? Another X-Wing? An A-Wing? I spotted some A-Wings in the brief space battle clips, so perhaps they're gonna be in this film. Don't think I saw a single one in The Force Awakens, though perhaps they were in there. And... there was an A-Wing parked next to his X-Wing when it explodes, so there's that.

Those cool looking maybe next-gen B-Wings... maybe? Slow, pondering ships, so maybe they're not B-Wings and something new. Seem to take a lot of punishment, ala: the B-Wings, but maybe they're new. I dunno. It's a teaser trailer, so shut up.

Books on a shelf. Burned edges... like maybe rescued from an attack on the Jedi Temple by the Knights of Ren? At first glance or two I thought this was actually a cavern being lit from light through an opening. See how much I know... The tree/roots in the background might lean towards some expanded universe type things, like the Force Trees, but it could just be a handy place to put books, too.

I see some Empire parallels here. I've heard many say this film is expected to be much darker than TFA; unsure if that is coming from knowledgeable sources or speculation, but it would seem to be true. Also, looks like Luke is training Rey, so there's that whole Yoda training Luke in Empire parallel.

(which is also super rad and gave me goosebumps).

Then there's the mask broken on the floor. At first viewing I took this to be Vader's mask, and still may be. But there are some hints of silver in there (and others have spotted this too) that suggest perhaps Kylo Ren ditches the mask for this film, either intentionally or otherwise. Thing is, too- Vader needed his mask to survive. Kylo does not. So therefore I always felt like it was a little contrived or "Made by Kenner" type decision to sell toys vs. being an integral part of his character. But perhaps this will take shape in something else and it will be a cool reason why he's not wearing the mask/helmet any longer. It's cool that it's still smoking plus all that broken glass, so maybe it was a really intense reason, too. If it is indeed his. (plus the music on this scene hints at the Kylo Ren theme from TFA...)

Moving on...


The icon for the Jedi Order is subtly emblazoned on the map looking image. Hmmm...

Definitely spotted the walkers in the distance. Duh.

Super cool looking ships and design. Totally unsure what the dragging the things along the ground is doing, though maybe they're churning up the soil as a camouflage thing to hide their numbers. It's been done before, people.

So, from Rey's vision in TFA and from TFA trailer and that clip of Luke reaching out to R2 (or his hand), and it's all smoky and fire in the air... now we see that same shot wider and see indeed it is Luke and R2 with a building in flames in the background. And the next shot here comes Captain Phasma. So looks like we'll be seeing more from her in this film. Which is awesome. And about time.

Though given she's w/ First Order troops, perhaps this is a flash back to when his new Jedi Temple place was attacked and destroyed by them.

Plus I suppose Rey gets to be the one to tell Luke that Han is dead. And that Kylo killed him. So maybe that has something to do with Luke deciding to train her...

I dunno. There's probably more I've missed, and I look forward to seeing the first real trailer. It will, too, likely have some misleading things in it to confuse or confound and generally get all the geeks talking about it all and what it could mean.

Still, I always do like an excuse to talk geek with another.

Not a committee

I'm sitting here at my desk on a Thursday workday. Star Wars celebration is happening in Orlando and I've got the feed on another window open on my desktop. A touching tribute to Carrie Fisher by her daughter.

Then John Williams walks out and directs an orchestra to play "Princess Leia's theme"

Tears...

Where you get your delusions

With all the new Star Wars movies and all the new Star Wars toys and all the new droids and films and books and knick-knacks and all the rest- you could argue it's a good time to be a Star Wars fan.

You could also argue it's a good time to not have any kids growing up any more. That stuff's expensive.

The whole ILM 'let's bring people back to life thing' has some feeling a disturbance in the Force, thinking that those revered actors of lore should be left their position of glory and not messed with. So I was half and half of the opinion of their use in Rogue One.

Not the coffee cream thing, though.

And I'm not talking about Gold Leader, 'cause I think they could have used old footage from the actual A New Hope film and it would still have worked. I think they used some out takes and here and there and re-voiced him the original actor, too. But for me, I would have just made due with what was in the film and the point would have been made.

I think they could have actually just featured him in a montage of rebel pilots and that would have been cool all by itself.

The whole Red Five dying thing was a stroke of genius, I will admit.

So, there's principally two of them CGI peeps; Leia and Tarkin.

Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin first.

Now, Peter Cushing died many years ago and so, once the decision was made to make Tarkin a primary figure in Rogue One, they had to figure out how. And this could fall under the category of 'just because we can, should we?', because most times once someone gets their hands on a Mac crazy things start happening in the visual department.

Still, in my opinion, they did a great job with both the visual and the voice. They could have handled it by using a hologram type transmission and shot around him so that the obviousness of it being CGI wouldn't come into play so much. Because the things is, by those who know the reality of the actor being dead, you're judged not by the scene but how well you drew the dragon.

In other words, is Jurassic Park a great movie because it had believable dinosaurs in it, or because it was a great movie.

(I wonder if non-Star Wars fans seeing Rogue One even knew her was a CGI character?)

Still, in a strictly movie-going experience sense and from this Star Wars fan, I was admittedly very giddy when I first saw him. And I think they did have to address Tarkin, since he's the main Death Star driver in A New Hope. So, well done and hat's are off.

Princess Leia. This one I'm back and forth with a little more. Personally, even though it's really just one shot of her face and a single line (and the line I could have done without, too, since it's such a "in case you didn't realize I'm a comedian I'm going to tell you a joke now" kind of obvious marketing nod to the franchise.

I'll have to check on this as being an actual fact (vs. a pretend fact like most of what Trump says), but I would venture a strong guess that NONE of the Star Wars films have an actual line in them for another's movie title. So, THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK is not a line in A New Hope. THE RETURN OF THE JEDI is not a line in Empire. So, Rogue One has to have a line about "giving them hope".

So, ultimately it bugged me more what her line was than the fact that they made a CGI young Leia and threw her in there. Because Leia has class and character and personality; and she's a bad ass ... AND THEY'RE BEING SHOT AT AND ARE TRYING TO ESCAPE!

So she would yell someone like "punch it!" not smile and subtly look up and say something a marketing department or committee would tell her to say.

"Look at camera and say Vader is bad, but have a Coke and a smile"

Leis is NOT a committee people!

So, not only is she delivering a line from a movie franchise - get it? get it? She said 'Hope', because that's the name of the next movie- get it? get it? But the whole scene is out of sync with Vader just slaughtering a dozen rebel soldiers and trying to get those plans back. It's way too mellow.

Still, it's not utterly unwatchable like some JarJar stuff or Threepio as a constructed robot or Boss Nass spitting everywhere, and she's the coolest princess anyway, so I forgive.

Ultimately, I would say Star Wars is in good hands right now.

Imperial Scum

Had a funny realization today, while doing my lunch at the church's cafe and sitting in the sun reading Star Wars book.

(Man, I may need to get out and mix it up some more soon...)

It's just like those Imperials do to things like this.

They intentionally designed the Death Star trash compactors to be right under the detention blocks. Like, it's an additional level of torture for prisoners, to have to endure that garbage stench all day long.

What an incredible smell you've discovered, indeed.

Imperials...

I found them. Repeat, I found them.

Rogue One is almost out on DVD. Or BlueRay or yellow box or whatever digital format or avenue you choose. Geesh, so many to chose from these days. Though I am tempted to check out some of the other non DirecTV TV viewing options that are around, since all I watch are motorsports and football (soccer) and the occasional HBO or AMC show.

And given those channels, I usually get stuck with the ginormous packages that DirecTV has in order to get them... then I'm back to 150 bucks a month.

Anyway, I digress. I noticed that Rogue One is being released tomorrow on Amazon Video as a rental. So even though I pay them 12 bucks a month to have Amazon Video, I will still likely have to pay 20 bucks to rent RogueOne. And though I have the ability to make a DVD copy of it and edit away..., I doubt I'll have this option, as Amazon is unlikely to allow me to actually download the film as a file format.

If I found out otherwise, this will likely be the path I travel. Regardless, I have the ability to make a file of the film I can edit once it's released on DVD, so this is a moot point save I could do a week sooner. Though I already have enough things to keep me away from working harder at my day job as it is.

(though as I'm typing this I realize, I do have a program that will copy a movie purchased on iTunes, so I could look into that... Hmmm)

Of course, this will be the initial sale of the movie for home viewing, and try as they may to make it sound and look so content heavy, it will undoubtedly be lacking a commentary track or two, or some how-they-did-it special or alt endings or deleted scenes- some content so they can of course, re-release again in 6 months in stupid 3D or 4D and add some of that stuff back in.

I, of course bought the Force Awakens when it was first released, only to find it doesn't have a director's commentary track, which I would have really enjoyed. But I'm not sure if I'm up for another 20 bucks just to have that right now, and could probably just YouTube it or something and find it there.

The funny thing is, I've of course bought the original trilogy so many times my head would spin. The thing with those though, it went from VHS, then VHS letterbox, then laserdisc, then all those again w/ Special Edition versions, then DVD. Then came the prequel episodes and another DVD set, then Blu-ray (though I don't think I own those in Blu-ray). But the technology was improving each time, so there was (arguably) a reason to keep buying them. Though my household and my son and I while he was younger especially watched them constantly, so that part was a no brainer. These are not movies to be seen one time and put away.

In a way though, this home market will suffer a bit for me, because unlike 20+ years ago where we were hungry for anything Star Wars that was new and improved or different or whatever, with these new Star Wars films coming out every year for probably a decade, the craving for something new and Star Wars isn't so strong as it once was.

And the viewing technology isn't either.

I mean come on, how much better do we need to make TV monitors? The resolution is so tight now that it doesn't even look like film anymore. More than that- it looks fake, it's so video-like. I hate them. I honestly do. Those 4D resolution monitors have gone too far. Maybe it's just my 49 year old eyes, but to me it's so sharp and detailed that it looks fake. If the real world outside my windows doesn't look like that, then my TV shouldn't either.

There is also the side benefit of the fact that my old man eyes can't really take advantage of such technology anyway, so I'm OK with my 7 yr old 55" 1080 monitor.

Though it could be bigger...

Kids are awesome

And better late than never too.

My Christmas gift from Chicago Cub loving daughter. So good.

The force made me do it.

Two of the best movies. Ever.

Not the Jedi way

I pre-ordered Timothy Zahn's new book Thrawn today.

This may be the first time in my life I have ever pre-ordered anything. 'Cause you know, my rock solid memory is all I need to get things when they become available. I don't need any 'pre-ordering' thank you very much.

But yeah, I pre-ordered it.

I've mentioned in the pages before that I'm a fan of Zahn's Star Wars books. His original trilogy I continue to read. In fact, tonight is gonna be a nice fire pit in the backyard and a nice sipping Tullamore Dew and my dog Murphy to join me, while I finish up book 2 of 3 once again.

(though she's less of a really loves fire kind of a dog, so she sits just inside the sliding glass door and stares at me, like I'm playing in the rain without permission).

I love how Star Wars Rebels is not only closing some gaps but it's connecting some dots. And I love that some of Zahn's characters are becoming canon and the real deal. They're getting into connected into the Star Wars universe that we know of from the silver screen.

And with the short excerpt out now about this latest book, and the conversation and introduction Thrawn has with the Emperor, and the revelation that Thrawn has experience dealing with Anakin Skywalker. Now that's kinda cool...

It's a bummer that I enjoy Anakin Skywalker as a character so much more in the books than the films, but that's not entirely Hayden Christensen's fault. Some, but not all.

The script he was given to work with was almost atrocious but not quite. So with that drivel to act to, it's no wonder it was abysmal to watch.

Just my opinion of course.

April 11th I think is the release date for the book. A week before my travels to see my kids in Chicago and Dallas.

Solo couldn't have timed that one better.

It's the Mouse, I seek.

Funny how sometimes seeing a small glimpse of the past can take over your consciousness.  A moment. A place. A smell. Seeing a girl.

Then there's Disneyland. And Star Wars.

Was a regular visitor when I lived near there, and a regular one as well, when I didn't. Growing up in Arizona for a time meant that road trips and California bound was the rule of the day. I used to create these Disneyland or Bust signs hand drawn in Star Wars fonts and stick them in the window of our family vehicle en route to the Magic Kingdom.

Then, once I was a teenager, there was the discovery about how great the It's a Small World ride can be for affections.

Just sayin'.

I haven''t been back since my son was 4. He's 21 now. Need to go again.

I get a lot of my news, or the what's happenings in my circle of things I enjoy, from Facebook. Like a lot do, I'm sure. So, I get those Star Wars updates and feeds and tidbits, and this week's Lucasfilm's Star Wars Show was partly at Disneyland. They turned Space Mountain into Star Wars Mountain, and I wanna go see. Dunno how long it'll be set up like that, but it sounds cool to get immersed into Star Wars at Disney right now.

It's probably a thousand dollars for those E Tickets these days.

[yeah I know those have been long gone. Just sayin']

So Star Wars and Disney. Word has it that there's a lot more Star Wars Land type stuff coming up, so perhaps my visit to DisneyLand would be slightly premature to do it right now. Perhaps not.

Thing is, I can't do Disneyland as a 49 yr old single man. That's just vaguely creepy and wrong. Sounding and looking. Would have no idea what I would do for the entire day- stand in line with all these kids and families everywhere like some loner grandpa who's lost his kid and doesn't care.

So what I do need is a day companion. Perhaps I'll accidentally run into an old friend and be able to cruise around for the day and be merry and silly. And be Star Wars peeps.

That would be cool.

But I dunno where I get my delusions, laser brain. Not likely to happen, that would be.

Maybe if I promised to stay clear of the It's a Small World ride...

My wayward droid

So, one too many TSA or airline agents stopping me at check-ins with the "that's not official carry-on size" crap in the last year or so of travels, and given my new-found 'go see places' firmly in play, I figured I need to get a new carry-on suitcase. Since I usually don't check a bag unless I'm going somewhere for, I dunno, a month or something.

My search criteria for a new consisted of one thing: be one inch within the limit in all directions. No excuses and no more getting stopped. Just not worth for me to stretch the limits of the law as it were.

Least not for this one anyway. I still speed. Take that, The Man!

Anyway, my search uncovered these gems, and had to share:

And no doubts there are more in this collection. Disney will stop at little or nothing to make a buck.

I won't say I was tempted for any stretch of time, but I did find the wookiee one particular intriguing. I actually think if they would make some that were a lot less obvious and a little more subtle I might be interested.

Sort of like- a TIE fighter isn't wallpapered with an image of a TIE fighter- it just IS a TIE fighter.

So, if the Empire made luggage, it wouldn't have Vader's image plastered all over it. it would be jet black and have a small Imperial insignia on it.

So call me when you make those, 'cause I'll buy it.

In the meantime, I think I'll just keep my Star Wars travel items limited to a teeshirt.

And probably whatever Star Wars book I'm reading at the time...

The Force will guide us

So good. So good, these Thrawn Trilogy books.

I know I've recommended them highly to some other fans of the galaxy far far way, though I'm not sure everyone feels the same as I about them.

Thing is, the characters are so true to their origins and movies. The places and planets all seem to fit in with the Star Wars look and feel. Though it is a book, so perhaps that's just how I visualize it.

Probably. Maybe. But Star Wars is Star Wars, characters, places, ships, all of that. It's its own thing, for sure.

I remember when I saw Rogue One for the first time- and that one outpost planet / asteroid belt (can't remember the name) that looked like a planet had exploded and what was left was two halves that were still connected... and so what a perfect place to build a city!

Cool factor aside, I found myself upon seeing this for the first time, feeling like I don't really know if this planet fits into Star Wars or not.

And OK, maybe it's 'cause I'm old'ish- leaving the 40's in a few months - but there's since sensitivity I have to what I call the "Mac Factor". It started about when the movie Twister came out, which was great and entertaining and the wow factor for that one was pretty brilliant. But what soon followed were many 'disaster movies' that anyone with a Mac could churn out. And churn out they did. Suddenly we're using our computing skills for special effects and not using it for actually writing a script worth it's ones and zeros.

And a better movie, that does not make.

I'm a sucker enough for some of the popcorn-ness of these movies and their titles have been earned. Good fun, good laughs, lots of wow type special effects, etc. The good popcorn movies have both though, the script along with the wows. Go figure. So movies like Independence Day (the first one, missed the second), Armageddon (makes me cry, the scenes with the boy and the 'salesman'- I'm such a wimp), Godzilla, etc... And trust me, I love getting the home theater fired up and making a huge bowl of popcorn and both turning off the lights and turning up the sound, curl up on the couch with someone fun and watch that stuff. Great way to kill some hours, for sure.

So anyway, this planet in Rogue One made me immediately go to that 'Mac factor' place... like it didn't need to look like that. So, was that design adding to the story of those characters there, or was it a vague distraction to what was taking place? A fine line, perhaps juggling those two objectives.

In the end, I'm accepting of these things, and the more times I see the film, the more I accept. But I trust those initial reactionsI have as maybe a more pure "Star Wars" rule of thumb than as they grow on me.

But like I said, I do love a good Mac movie.

There is another. This Star Wars fan I know. We go way back, she and me. And she gets the nostalgia parts of all this, and it's always a good time discussing these Star Wars moments that happen again. Rogue One, A Force Awakens, and the rest. It's a geek fest. All that's missing is the couch.

So, here we are. The Thrawn books are over 20 years old now, like the original trilogy is. Characters and ships and planets- they all need to be Star Wars true. Thrawn has made an appearance in Star Wars Rebels, so he's now canon. Maybe we'll see Mara Jade, Talon Karrde, Jorus C'Baoath, and a few others?

A new generation, Guardians of the Republic, these newer, younger people with Macs are doing it all now. Let's hope they stay on target.

Stay on target.

Be the Han

One of my biggest 'complaints' if I were to say so, was the rebel Cassian Andor shooting in cold blood at the beginning of Rogue One. To me, it's just not the Rebellion way of things. They are fighting against oppression of the Empire. They do that, we don't. We're not like them.

Now, I'm simplifying it a bit here, and it's not the first time I'll assume an X so I can argue a Y, but regardless, it was a scene that I see it could have been something more. Something added to it, to make more of a character statement about Andor.

(though maybe him killing in cold blood actually was the point they were trying to make about his character. Could be. Could be...)

Just felt to me like they could have done something else. Ask themselves. what would Luke have done in that situation. Or maybe more than that-

- what would Han do?

See, Han Solo would have found a way. He would have found a way out, devised a plan, winged it, figured it out on the fly. Whatever. Han would have found a way for himself and the informant to get away. Somehow.

(Yes, I know about the whole Han shot first thing and that was in cold blood (sort of) and all that, so maybe that flies in the face of this theory somewhat).

Truthfully, some of this Han Solo character flavor is carried over so well in the Thrawn Trilogy books I so fondly reference here. Solo's character is the same as he is in Return of the Jedi. Confident and sure, but with a swagger still and a sense of humor and dread all at the same time. He doesn't ever give up, never surrenders, yet does it all with that figure it out make it up as I go mentality. That smirk and smart ass comment as he's surrounded by stormtroopers.

Even in A Force Awakens he says something like "I dunno, I never ask that question until I've done it" thing.

So, Cassian could have been more like Han in this scene. He could have found a way out. Would have been more likable, and maybe would have added some depth to his character, and his struggles with "those things we've done we're not proud of fighting the Empire" part of his past. He's a good guy that's done bad things.

Not that Cassian Andor wasn't one of my favorite characters anyway. I loved him. So to say it's a 'complaint'... thats a little bit stretching things.

And maybe ultimately there's only one Han Solo.

What's going on... buddy.

Blogs. YouTube. Definitely YouTube. Probably a lot more than blogs. It's likely easier, or more fun, to make videos about fan theories and insights of stuff.

So that's the thing lately I've seen a lot of. Fan videos about theories of where Rey came from or how Emperor Palpatine didn't know that Vader was secretly gay or whatever. And there's some interesting and thought provoking ones in the mix, to be sure.  Some of them I even agree with, to a point.

And it's all good fun, of course. Some of them can be seen as taking it a little too far or perhaps it is more eloquently stated to say they're taking it too seriously. Still, those are just as entertaining to watch (sometimes) and maybe that's part of their point, too.

The __ side of me, of course, can sometimes see those types as mere attempts to get more viewership, since that is actually a way some people make a living. Getting 'followers' and 'subscribers' and making online entertainment that people flock to see the latest from. Where people gather, advertisers will not be far behind.

But, this isn't about that part of it, so we'll leave that for now.

Some of the them though, I have a hard time taking seriously without actually looking at the facts of timing and technology. Episode 4, 5 and 6 were made when we have little in the way of computer graphics capabilities. Namely none. Then the Special Editions came around because someone figured out how to make and add and change scenes and add digital crap.

[ side note on this one. Even though I'm largely a putter-downer of the 'Special Editions' and I HATE the whole changing of characters things, I will admit to attending the National Air and Space Museum IMAX theater in Chicago twice just to catch a glimpse of the new Dewbacks that were being added to Star Wars. Sick. ]

Anyway, I digress. So, some of the films were made in a time when technology was very limited. Some might argue their popularity is due is large part to how it made everyone feel when we saw it's never-been-done-before sights and sounds. Maybe. Regardless, their moment in time was many years ago. Then, a decade later, they made more movies. And then, a decade later, made some more still.

So what do I find so funny? All these arguments about things like "why didn't Vader recognize R2 in the Cloud City?" "Why didn't he say hi to Threepio there?" "Why didn't he help fix Threepio there?" He wasn't doing any constructive at the time anyway.

I'm being a little facetious obviously, but these kind of statements, to me, are harder to accept as real. Yes, there are many inter-twinings in these films and lots of under the surface kind of things going on. It's one of the things that make Star Wars so appealing. And obviously the interweb has given mere mortals like you and me and them to give chase to these ideas in our heads and make them a real point of view and something to talk about or make a video about. I'm doing that very thing right now.

It's funny talking to a 12 yr old about all this. When he says to me that "Snoke is Mace Windu" because he watched some fan video on YouTube and believed it. Still, all good fun and all, but really?? Some theories are a bit out there...

The facts remain though, that even George Lucas was pondering whether or not to go through with making Vader Luke's father. He will say those Episodes were all written already, and maybe they were outlined in his head in some way, but when the originator himself speaks of 'not going through with it' that should be a good indicator that some of this we're making up as we go. I think if it were indeed so worked out as a three-part series and Luke as this and Vader was that, I sort of doubt he would have had Princess Leia kissing on her brother so often.

Maybe.

So anyway, I'm not trying to poo poo on anyones's 15 minutes or argue that we shouldn't argue about who so and so's father is or why didn't this do that. I love that people do that sort of thing. I have my own opinions and theories, too, some of which will likely show up here in my own galaxy far, far away.

I just prefer the ones that are a little more based in what could possibly and realistically be true or correct. 'Cause I hate making R2 fly; that's just dumb.

Did you hear that?

Tomorrow night I'm attending the Music at Star Wars with the Phoenix Symphony. Very excited. Truly. I've gotta make a special trip to the dry cleaners today and get that not oft' worn black sports coat all sorted, too. Must dress the part. Must.

And by part, I mean dress for a symphony, not break out the stormtrooper helmet on display and wear that. Tempted... No, not really.

I've actually seen photos and video of the string sections using a lightsaber bow which would be cool for one song but I fear distracting for the rest of them.

It's always interesting to see the attendees to such things as this. Usually you'll only find appreciators of symphony and orchestral music very prim and proper and, well, old. So, since I'm old, I may as well be prim, too. At least for a night. In hindsight, I should have asked a friend to accompany me, since she plays cello in the Chandler Symphony and occasionally fills in with the Phoenix Symphony. Get the insider scoop, which might have been fun. I think I was at the time I bought my ticket in a me, myself and I frame of mind, and Star Wars is a thing, and great music is a thing... so I'm all good with going Han Solo for this one.

Unsure what pieces and films they will select from but I really do have my favorites. I remember listening to the vinyl of Star Wars (still have it) when I was in 6th grade. Since I wasn't allowed to see movies when I was growing up (crazy Nazarene thing, right up there with losing salvation... but that's another blog for sure) I enveloped myself fin as much Star Wars things I could outside of the film itself. Read the book many times, read Splinter of the Mind's Eye, comics, Starlog magazine, posters, toys, and of course the music itself. Riveting.

Some of my favorites:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtkuZbcZORE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qEtn4dw7y8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfjvIDi-wl0


Joel McNeeley's score for the Shadows of the Empire book. Yes, there's music scored for a book. True. It's a pretty good book, too. And the music is in some parts epic. Very John Williams in the 80's style. Doubtful they will find themselves playing from it, but who knows. Some bites:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_deMfDs9jY&index=10&list=PL000B1B12BE123A36

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vuXdSLirnM&list=PL000B1B12BE123A36&index=2
(catch this one at the 5 minute mark for sure...)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekEUCI_9L2A&index=3&list=PL000B1B12BE123A36


I would expect some sort of acknowledgment to the passing of Carrie Fisher, so hoping the Princess theme makes in the mix. It's a great one.

I'm really not entirely sure what the evening will be. While I've heard of other John Williams Symphony evenings, this one is billed as Star Wars, so while I enjoy much of JW's scoring I do hope this one is strictly Star Wars. I've been in that frame of mind for a few weeks now.

I saw a John Williams Symphony in Chicago years ago, and the conductor was escorted to the podium by storm troopers. Epic. So I may have a sighting or two of some coplayers around, which will be fun to see. Still, who knows.

I usually spend much of a symphony evening listening and just closing my eyes, and my uber-cheap balcony tickets on the aisle likely won't reveal the best view anyway. Besides, your eyes can deceive you.

Don't trust them.

Before the dark times

Continuing my reading of Timothy Zahn's excellent trilogy today while eating lunch at the office, I was reflecting on when they were actually written. A long time ago, indeed. 1991. I was just starting my career, had moved to Michigan for a short year and half, was learning or trying to learn how to accept my new wive's subtleties...

Yeah, I'll just leave that one there.

But I remember specifically seeing the book cover in a Target store. And I went WOW!. See, I just discovered a few months prior that I would enjoy reading books if I liked what the books are about. Weird that such right in front of your face common sense has a way of slowly seeping into my psyche until I actually get it. There's probably a drug for that, too...

So I dug into these books and loved them. For me, they contained everything Star Wars is supposed to be and nothing it's not. Han Solo attitude and feistiness, Leia strong despite being pregnant, Luke powerful and still imperfect, R2, Chewie, Lando, plus some great new characters that really feel right. And evil commander, great plots, and lots of different planets. They really move.

I still to this day (obviously) read them like I watch the movies; they are real Star Wars moments for me.

But maybe it's that 1991 part that gets it right. This is only 8 years after Return of the Jedi was released. There's no Special Editions, there's no Prequels, there's no Episode I... no Ani.  It's still pure, un-cluttered Star Wars. Just as it should be.

Rogue One, for me, was very close to that initial magic, and was a great modern execution of that era and that simple idea. Characters. That's all.

I've mentioned before about what seems like it fits in Star Wars and something that don't. I'm trying to remember some I've noticed lately, but at the moment they elude me. There is one that I've mentioned to a friend during our occasional Star Wars banters; the 'shield gate' thing in Rogue One.

I know studios think they need to spell everything out for audiences, and often they actually do need to. But it's their own fault, since most of what Hollywood creates these days is so simple minded drivel of superhero nonsense, each trying to outdo the other in the lunacy that are special effects these days. So the shield gate, although a plot line, didn't have to be. We didn't have to see the shield to know it's there. To me, it was more Star Trek and Star Wars, which is always about showing that tech. Star Wars has a more subtle way or eluding to it without actually showing it.

In many ways, it was a genius move by George and Irvin and others to actually build some of this world around the fact that since we don't have the technology to create that for you, we're gonna shoot around it or show you a small piece of it, or even better elude to it being there and not show you at all.

The imagination is a powerful thing, after all. And watching A New Hope way back when, when it was just called Star Wars... we all had our imaginations at full speed ahead, point five past light speed. Even without seeing a shield over Hoth we knew it was there. Vader knew it was there; why can't we?

My new hope for the next movies? (yes, see what I did there?)... I hope there's no more super weapons, I hope there's no tech that can suddenly Star Trek our bodies around without needing a ship that's a hunk of bolts. And above all else, it's about the characters, not the tech.

More like 1991.

Evil is as evil does

One of the things I really like about the Zahn books- especially the ones that have become to be known as the Thrawn Trilogy,  is that there's no giant orb death machine. There's no big end all game changer super weapon that will single-handedly threaten all of species everywhere if you don't do what we say. Nothing.

There's strategy, there's conniving, there's evil, there's plans, there's motives, there's battles... but none of it is around the evil guys building a uber weapon and the good guys finding out about it and trying to figure out how to stop it.

I actually think that's a major bummer about The Force Awakens. Never mind that it's a slightly retread albiet much more energetically shot version of A New Hope (maybe 70% worth... more on that percentage in a future post). It could have been more about Kylo Ren, more about Rey, more about the First Order becoming evil and having star destroyers and the will to use them... instead of this already gigantically impractical another planet killer type weapon. Oh, and this one is actually a real planet, too.

The cool parts of Star Wars is that things are worn, things break, it's not a perfect future. It's not even the future, but that's another angle. The point is that it is a worn world. It's dirty, it's harsh, etc. So, in a sort of way, it's realistic. Yes, yes, I know... But still, in this fashion, it's realistic.

So, building a super weapon would be expensive. Really, really expensive. So there's that. And then there comes Starkiller base, which is honed out of an actual planet. So it's big. really really really big. And it's also very shiny and pretty and works great, etc.

But it's also impractical. Dare I say it but I will anyway- it's not 'realistic' in a Star Wars way. Like in a 'that wouldn't happen' kind of way. Yes, I know none of this is actually real, but you have to design for the parameters you've established for yourself and this world. As soon as we've got the ability to 'beam' ourselves to a planet without having to climb on board a ship to take us there, we've gotten out of Star Wars and into something else. So, for me, Starkiller base was really pushing the limits of what is a Star Wars thing.

I may be getting off topic a little here, but I guess my point is a super weapon is sort of unnecessary. That, an evil empire with Star Destroyers- that opening flyby in the beginning of all these movies- that was HUGE! So, the scary bits about the Empire are there already. The cool bits, too. Star Destroyers. TIE fighters, AT-AT walkers, stormtroopers... it's all so cool already. They have lots of scary stuff. Plus, they are scary all by themselves. It's enough.

Then a new movie comes out, like Rogue One fore instance, and we MUST SELL more toys! I know George made a killing off the merchandise rights for the original trilogy and kudos to him for that, but I'm not sure that profit model is still viable. (duh, of course it is, and now it's Disney...). So, even though we have movies that harken back to the early Star Wars days (and they did do a great job with that aspect) we still have to have new Empire and Rebellion ships and walkers and other things that we've never seen before... just because we need to sell toys.

So, personally, I hope the next few Star Wars movies, especially the 'episodes' won't have any more uber weapons. Let the Jedi's, the characters, the good vs. evil be the story. The ships and weapons can be just that- the things that carry the story and the people along.

One of the best things about Empire Strike Back?

There is no Death Star.

A certain point of view

Greetings.

I'm a Star Wars fan. Sometimes, maybe too much of one, though not as much as some. Perhaps that's a little bit of confusing Threepio speak, but it's doubtful that you don't know what I mean by that.

I was sitting in my favorite local coffee shop this morning, reading (again) one of my favorite Star Wars trilogy books, and since I've been blogging about other things in my life of late, it occurred to me that it was slightly surprising that I've not started a blog about things from that galaxy far, far away. Maybe it's cause I've been writing more about things that are happening now vs. a long time ago, I'm not sure. Regardless, here we are. Or at least here I am.

There are many sides and opinions about this galaxy. I have my own, of course, and since this is my voice, this will be the sound you hear as well. Though I think for this blog I may open up comments and engage in some banter, should that prove a good idea. One can never tell what's gonna be a good idea sometimes until it happens or doesn't, but I'm always up a challenge. I'll try anything twice.

So, I'll likely have some silly point to make in a very serious manner about something that doesn't truly and actually exist, but yet, here I am writing about it as if it does, and you may be here with that same, of course it's real point of view, too. That's what makes it all kinda cool, from a certain point of view.

I would, of course, be remiss to not mention the passing of the greatest Princess. I will doubtfully have more on her in future posts. She will be missed.

So, let's dispense with the pleasantries and get back on schedule.

For your sake, commander.

[Ohhh, I've forgotten how much I hate space travel]