Chuggnutt!

Tag: Star Wars

  • Star Wars + Disney

    Obviously it’s not news anymore that Disney bought the Star Wars franchise—or more specifically, Lucasfilm—but all the speculation about the announced new Star Wars movies (starting in 2015) is interesting, if amusing. I’m not particularly worried either way about this new trilogy of Episodes VII, VIII and IX, but I do wonder a bit at what tack they are going to take with them. After all, it’s been nigh on 30 years since the original cast were last on screen together, and while we would all love to see such an official reunion, it could be painful to watch.

    Plus, it’s not like there hasn’t already been stories told that take place after Return of the Jedi—that’s what the Star Wars Expanded Universe is all about, really—and much of it is already considered pretty official. Two post-ROTJ series of stories that post immediately to mind—starring the characters from the Original Trilogy—are Dark Horse Comics’ Dark Empire series and Timothy Zahn’s novels. In a lot of ways either one could be considered Episodes 7-9.

    And then on a completely irrelevant tangent, consider the possibilities of blending Star Wars with the other Disney properties. The Avengers vs. the Empire anyone?

  • Revenge of the Sith

    I went and saw Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith yesterday, and… wow. It was by far the best of the three prequel films, and the first one of the three that actually felt, I don’t know, epic in the sense that it’s carrying the weight of Star Wars history that fleshed out the first three movies. It was good, I’d go see it again, if I get the chance.

    This is going to turn into a larger review, and some general observations on Star Wars in general, and there will be spoilers, so only click through if you’ve already seen it (or don’t mind reading spoilers).

    (more…)

  • Our local Jedi

    It was inevitable, I guess: Bend has its local Star Wars superfans who dressed up in costumes and lined up outside the theater for the premier of “Revenge of the Sith” last night. I know this not because I was there, but because Z21‘s Christian Boris (one of the weather guys) did a live broadcast from the theater to cover the event. However, Christian did more than just cover the event…

    He was dressed up as Darth Vader.

    Thus began the funniest, most surreal Z21 broadcast I’ve seen in a long time, maybe ever. And it was such a short clip! First there was the shock and awe of the Darth Vader costume… on the guy reporting the news… whose helmet looked too small… I honestly couldn’t tell if he was dressed up because he was doing a piece for the news, or if he’s really into Star Wars. Either way, it was gutsy, but just seemed so, so wrong.

    And, when you think it really couldn’t get any better—aside from just showing some of the various costumes people put together for the big night—Christian wisely decided not to interview any particular people and opted instead to just let the camera do the talking.

    To my utter amazement, these two guys dressed up as Jedi start lightsaber dueling in the parking lot. I mean, full-on theatrics, and the taller guy with the more elaborate costume was really, really into it—leaping in the air, spinning around, the works. It was a bonafide jaw-dropping moment… followed by laughing uncontrollably and utter disbelief.

    Back in the studio, both Nina Mehlhaf and Jason Carr were laughing, too… I got the sense that Nina was this close from losing it and descending into maniacal laughter, but she reigned it in in time.

    You know what’s even better? When the moment was selected for the Bulletin‘s photo of the day:

    Christopher Deattrod, dressed as a Star Wars character he made up (Jedi Knight Rod-Wan Deattrod), defends himself with a model lightsaber on Wednesday afternoon while waiting for the midnight showing of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith.
    Photo courtesy of The Bulletin

  • Clone Wars

    This is a total geek-out post. You’ve been warned.

    The kids and I have been watching the Clone Wars mini-series that was on Cartoon Network (we’re watching them on the computer, a few episodes at a time… it’s much more convenient that way), and enjoying it quite a bit. Hell of a clever idea, too, the way they put it together, with 3 minute segments/episodes.

    Anyway, I have to say that by far the best episode is Chapter 13, the “Mace Windu kicks ass” episode. This one little episode alone basically makes all this whole Star Wars prequel stuff worthwhile.

  • Fun With Images

    Master KermitAs you can see from the image to the right, I have been playing around with Paint Shop Pro and doing some fun image editing. I don’t know why, but this seemed like an extraordinarily funny thing to do, and the results turned out pretty good. Better than the Darth Maul/Boba Fett image I did yesterday.

  • Boba Maul?

    I finally saw Attack of the Clones last Friday (the 5th), and it was pretty good. Better than The Phantom Menace, at any rate. And I’ve been thinking of the odd, cult-like popularity that has arisen out of two Star Wars characters, Boba Fett and Darth Maul.

    Yep, utterly geeky.

    My best theory as to their popularity is that they are visually interesting, bad-ass characters who were not overused. (Although, with Jango Fett in AOTC, they may be trodding down the overused path with clan Fett.) You know, less is more.

    So, I decided to merge the two characters into one, ultra-cool, ultra-bad-ass creation:

    Darth Fett.

    Here’s the image I whipped up to illustrate.

    Nuff said.