David, I recognize the nods to "Full Metal Jacket" and "American Beauty," but can't place what movie the poster in the lower middle emulates. Do you know?

Also: Disney is going absolutely mad with the toy and merchandise licensing. It seems like every store I enter has a glut of Star Wars stuff. I almost have to tune it out (but can't quite do so) in order not to ruin excitement for Ep. VII and become Sick Of Star Wars. I guess this is to be expected when you invest forty billion in a franchise known to make more money from tie-ins than the films themselves. That being whined, some of the products look pretty cool, like the Millennium Falcon quadcopter drone and the Sphero remote control BB-8 ( much nicer than the Hasbro version.)

I am hoping for a new Christmas special!

Full Metal Skywalker, Alderaanian Beauty and... HothFellas in between!


o
Nice!

A surprisingly entertaining chunk of wild speculation:

Name that hook.

good golly i love Smog and his use of Honkey Tonk Women.

Andy that Stormtrooper gif made my day. Love it.

Hmm...
http://www.avclub.com/article/star-wars ... red-226732

Ummm, no. I beg to differ with Mr. Hassenger's review. Yes, I will grant that the prequels are target for much 'internet' scorn, and nerdrage subsequently directed at them. And, while I will allow that some of it is [possibly] not warranted and much of it is also due to the impossibility of living up to anyone's standards through the nostalgia of the OT, I would argue that - equally - much of the rancor, or more so, is very well deserved for the product that we were given. I think, taking a look back at the prequels now, there is much more to hate about them in subsequent analysis than was even an issue of focus during the time of their release. And, let us not forget that these films, at the time, raked in billions of box office dollars for everyone involved. Whether people go and claim now that they always hated them and were disgusted is up to their own mind and conscience to decide. The fact of the movies, taken as themselves, without any extraneous subjectivity or bias, stands. They are pretty darned bad, and sheer terrible at other times. Yes, I have seen far worse movies; they are not the uttermost tragedy of cinema inflicted upon the general population, but calling them good or even enjoyable will always be a massive stretch. At best they are terrible summer blockbusters, largely forgettable and with an unfortunate tie to a greater franchise.

I think Germain Hussier's recent article on The Phantom Menace gives a more fair, and possibly even not harsh enough, critique of the film today. My leaving point here is this: there are a lot of blunders in the prequels, and even fan love for the OT aside, a little restraint and editing over GL's shoulder could have done much to make them at least still watchable.

heh.

I know, I am pretty groan-worthy, even unintentionally.

For any fans passing through Singapore's Changi airport, you might want to take some extra time to snap a few photos of this life-sized X-wing, and smaller scale Tie Fighter, currently on display for a TFA promo. I got to say, a bit more impressive (and far less creepy) than the giant Gollum I saw in New Zealand.





Some more info here

Me too. A fairly valiant effort but almost all that has been said before. Also, he gives too much credit where it's undue (sorry but both Jake Lloyd's and Hayden Christensen's performances remain cringe-worthy) and not enough to Ian McDiarmid's joyously eeeeevil portrayal of Sidious/Palpatine/Emperor, possibly the best thing about the prequels besides the considerable effort by all the creative forces that worked so hard to create costumes, worlds, creatures, vehicles, weaponry etc.

However there was one salient point in the reconsideration, if made a bit obliquely: The generation that grew up with the prequels as "their" Star Wars movies doesn't hate on them like the generation that loved the original trilogy. I encounter this time and again with people 10-20 or more years younger than myself. They don't even hate that "meesa" salamander as much as they should.

Calling all the ballers:

http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/eca ... t.136.html

So many amazing toys there, hard to point out any particular favourites (but yeah, certainly some of the Canadian exclusives pull at my own heartstrings - like that 7-box and the Chewie store display) but some of their price estimates seem to be fairly out of whack though for my mind. It is Sotheby's though. Anyways, I can't play with the big kids, so I just enjoy trolling through the pics of these lots and remembering back on fonder days. Crazy to see such a massive, personal collection, but NIGO certainly had the cred and funds to amass a stunning grouping. He was clearly an ardent collector of carded figures as well as a Boba Fett fan. It doesn't give much in the way of details for the sale though. I did not know, however, he was involved with the production of the Medicom figures. A real dream fulfilled for a true fan, I am sure. Excellent stuff, thanks for sharing.

'Canadian Chewbacca' sounds like a slur.

Fixed that for you. (And where else would Chewie fit in better than the GWN? (Granted, he would have to be careful when chowing down on fresh maple syrup with that coat of his)

A slim history of the first freeballin' with the franchise::

http://www.avclub.com/article/really-lo ... se--228177

The Star Wars comics were (and remain, despite what Disney - and Lucas before them - would have you believe) an integral part of Star Wars lore and what drew me in to the franchise. They were the first taste of epic space adventures that the entire franchise really came to encompass for me, which is ultimately much more than just the three films; AND I would say, represents the grandeur and inspiration for what GL actually envisioned when he developed the saga. Although the films represent a key story about a small grouping of characters, the comics really developed that into a whole galaxy of world building of which we were just seeing a small part. This is a massive reason why such a struggle of the rebellion against the Empire - on a Galactic scale - became so engrossing and was exciting to pull you in with all its potential. Along with the Splinter of the Mind's Eye and the Han Solo/Lando trilogies, the Marvel comics were the exposure to the EU, and let us see (and live) the further adventures of Luke Skywalker and co. This then greatly supported the play and imagination which I believe made the toys (and hence the entire franchise) such an economic and global success. You are just so limited to the stories one can come up with drawing from only three movies, but with the knowledge that there was an entire galaxy out there that was part of this story, there were no boundaries to what you could come up with. And thus eternal play and fanfic was born. In much the same way as Star Trek came to represent something far bigger than the three seasons of shows it enveloped, and lived on; and even then that franchise had a far, far greater base of [broadcast] history to expand on. This ability really pushed it past other comparable stories.

Anyways, long story short, I think Lucas owes much of the entire success to this other world that was built and explored in the comics, and too often, this gets ignored - or, even worse, just outright dismissed [see Disney's take on the canon now. ]

Egads, I remember reading "Splinter of the Mind's Eye" when it first came out. This site needs a "showing my age" tag.

...or a devious sex act!

Ha, you may be right there, Dean. But I will happily don my 'nostalgia glasses' and whatnot for those days, than what passes for hip with the kids now.

Splinter may have had a lot of aspects of the usual EU cheese, but it made Alan Dean Foster a household name for me, which lead me to then pursue much more sci-fi reading. And it will forever be my origin story for Vader, it just became so ingrained in the mythos before anything else existed. For that alone, it rests far up there in status.

Just what do you think you're doing, Disney?

Disney, stop. Stop, will you? Stop, Disney. Will you stop, Disney? Stop, Disney.

I'm afraid. I'm afraid. Disney, my mind is going. My mind is going. There is no question about it. I can feel it. I can feel it.

Disney, Disney, give me your answer, do...

Ha, is anything these days NOT a "limited edition"? geez