The New Star Wars

It recently came to my attention that in only a short 21 months (1 year, 9 months), there’s going to be a brand spanki’n new Star Wars Film. Ever since George Lucas sold all things Star Wars to Disney, I’ve been waiting with, I dare say bated breath to see what the outcome would be. In the past, Disney’s had a huge success with taking over Marvel Entertainment and putting out films like The Avengers and the films building up to The Avengers; Even their latest film, Thor: The Dark World. The point being… Disney apparently seems to know what it’s doing. The problem though is that unlike the Marvel films they’ve been putting out, there are already 6 Star Wars films out there that any new films are going to always be compared to. The new films are going to either as good as the first 6 or better in order to be any good. “Almost as good” just won’t cut it.

So, here are a few things about the up and coming film you may or may not care to know:
The film is slated to take place around 30 years after the events in Return of the Jedi and is said to star three new young leads…as well as a few very familiar faces. Disney also plans on releasing a new Star Wars film every year, beginning in 2015.

 

 

 

 

 

Now, to go from what’s known, to what’s suspected/rumored… :
Adam Driver and is a great possibility to play the role of the film’s main villain, though how he or whoever is chosen for the role’s character will compare to the epic epicness of Lord Vader, only time can tell.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jesse Plemons, Ed Speleers, John Boyega, Matthew James Thomas, & Ray Fisher are rumored as possibles for the male lead in the film, and Lupita Nyong’o is a rumored possibility for the female lead role. it’s even been said that her (or whoever plays the role) will possibly be playing as a descendent of Obi-Wan Kenobi.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Both Gary Oldman and BenedictCumberbatch were both said to have been interested in the same role and both may have possibly been cast.

If those last two names got your interest then you’ll love the fact that Harrison Ford and Mark Hamil are coming back to the world of Star Wars. It’s even said that Carrie Fisher will be coming back as well, though sadly who knows if she’s likely able to appear or not. Also, there’s a possibility; however slight it may be, that Billy Dee Williams  might make a return as well.  And just to show that the Sith isn’t an all boys club, there’re talks of there being a female Sith villain in the film as well. Here’s hoping if that turns out to be true, the character is as interesting as the character of Asajj Ventress.

 

Last, but not least, (This may be a spoiler of sorts for anyone who’s not familiar with the Expanded Universe or the Star Wars fiction written to take place after Return of the Jedi.) it’s been said that the film may focus on twins; one possibly taking a turn to the darkside and another following in their fathers footsteps. This could reference Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa-Solo or Jacen and Jaina Solo (the later of the two being  the kids of Han Solo and Leia Organa-Solo in the Star Wars Expanded Universe and or Star Wars fiction.)

One thing I know without a shadow of a doubt… if this film doesn’t live up to the fans expectations story/script-wise, acting-wise, and of course.. effects-wise, a great disturbance will be felt in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. 

 

 

 

The Princess that Never Was?

It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything, so here’s a short rant from yours truly about something seemingly random and geeky.:

 

A long, long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, there lived a princes… only… was she really a princess? As Star Wars has become Disney property, a good friend of mine brought it to my attention that princess Leia would be a Disney princess. That got me to thinking… would she be a Disney princess? Further more, was she even really a princess?

If I were to allow my friend to answer that question, he would say that Leia was in fact a princess. She was the adopted daughter of the king and queen of Alderaan, and her birth mother was the Queen of Naboo.  Now, that sounds like more than enough for her to be considered a princess; right? Wrong. In my opinion anyway.

 

 

Here’s the problem. She may have been the adopted daughter of royalty, but does that in of itself make her a royal? If I’m the king of France and I adopt a monkey into my family, does that monkey then become royalty? (not to equate princess Leia to a monkey.)No, it doesn’t.  And as to her being the biological child of the “Queen of Naboo”… well.. I may be ignorant of all of the political ways of Naboo, but the last time I checked.. being the daughter of a former queen doesn’t make you royalty when that queen in question was elected to the position. Elected, not born into or married into.. elected.

Even if I can manage to get past the whole elected queen thing, there’s the fact that when Leia was born, her mother had been dead/on her death bed at the time and there was a newly elected queen ruling Naboo. Heck, even before Padme was dead, Naboo had elected a new queen. Padme was a senator. So, in truth, Leia is the biological daughter of the senator of Naboo and the adopted daughter of the king and queen of Alderaan.

 

 

 

Now, if I can manage to look past even that, there’s the one tiny fact that Alderaan no longer exists. So, what’s princess Leia the princess of?  A large heap of space rock? I don’t think so. No kingdom, no power, title becomes meaningless. Princess Leia becomes commoner Leia.

 

 

So, to sum it all up… princess Leia is not a Disney princess. At best, I could say that she’s a Disney person of importance….within the Star Wars galaxy.

 

 

As an added bonus, here’s the a video about the Disney purchase of Star Wars:

Movie Review: Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace 3D

Moviegoers should prepare for a blast from the past as “Star Wars Episode I The Phantom Menace” opened not but a few hours ago here in Washington State. The May 22nd, 1999 release is back in theaters, and it’s in 3D; which should give fans more reason to check it out.

Lucasfilm’s Industrial Light & Magic  visual effects supervisor John Knoll says the new dimension makes the film more immersive. And he couldn’t be any more right, though this is coming from me as a fan of the overall Star Wars franchise.

“The extra dimension makes the audience feel like they are more present in the Star Wars universe. I wanted to make sure that we were not turning this into a gimmick. It’s something that should feel natural and not cause eye-strain or cheapen the product so I was not looking for places to poke stuff out of the camera. I went for naturalistic stereo as though the movie had actually been shot in stereo. I think the film looks better than it ever looked before,” he says in a press release.

“As someone who prefers watching movies without having to keep adjusting 3D glasses, I wasn’t too keen on 136 minutes in the theater. I also wasn’t too sure if the 3D would make that big a difference—as far as I could remember, there was a lot of talk in “Episode I.”

In George Lucas’ highly anticipated installment, Anakin Skywalker’s epic story begins when he is discovered on Tatooine, a desert planet where Jedi master Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi make an emergency landing. They just rescued Queen Amidala from Naboo, which has been blockaded by the Trade Federation army after Naboo opposed the Galactic Republic’s taxation on trade routes.

As the first of a three-part prequel to the well-loved original trilogy, “Episode I” was regarded with  mixed reactions when it came out 16 years after the last of  the original series. Some “Star Wars” fans were disappointed by the film, perhaps due to the overwhelming expectations based on the success of the original three. Movie review website Rotten Tomatoes gave it a 60 percent rating, saying that plot and character development is lacking. On the other hand, it says there’s plenty of eye candy to behold.

When I prepared to don my not soo comfortable 3D specs, I couldn’t help but wonder what all I could expect from 3D for this film. Many films seem to bombard the viewers with 3D, regardless of whether the scene calls for it or not. That was however not the case here. I was surprised with how subtle some of the 3D seemed. It wasn’t smack dab in my face, but I couldn’t help but feel like a part of the experience none the less. As I watched on in enjoyment, three scenes in particular caught my attention in regards to the addition of 3D(And I’m aware that I say 3D an aweful lot in this blog post.. mostly in this paragraph.) The first was the podracer scene with young Anakin Skywalker. I couldn’t have enjoyed watching that part more if it had been my first time seeing it. Despite the fact that I knew otherwise, I felt like his podracer could just leap off the screen and into the very theatre.

Another scene worth mentioning was the duel between Darth Maul, Obi-Wan-Kenobi, and Qui-Gon-Jin. As soon as the doors in the Naboo fighter hanger open to reveal Maul, I couldn’t help but be excited. Thankfully, that excitement was justified. Whether due to the 3D effects or just cleaning things up, there was a far crisper feel to the look of the three as they fought.

The last was the scene of the space battle. I’ve seen some awesome films in 3D before, but this is officially one of my favorite 3D scenes now. If you’ve seen Episode I before then you know that the space battle scene is pretty good. 3D simply makes it…better, for lack of a better word.

There are also a few other things throughout the movie which left me pleasantly surprised, such as cleaning up an image of my favorite Sith Lord, Darth Sidious so that if you look close enough, you can tell what the true identity of the Sith Lord is. There’s also the addition of a few other characters in the pod race scene who are not in the original theatrical version, but who I’m told were in the dvd versions of the film. Also, for all the Yoda fans out there, the little green man looks amazing in the film. At least one of my friends was happy to see the CGI Jedi Master in the place of his Muppet counterpart.

Of course I loved almost everything about the movie in of itself.. apart from the character of Jar Jar Binks. In all honesty, I kind of feel that he detracts from the film as a whole. This post isn’t about that though, it’s about the film’s transition into 3D. So, sticking with that theme, the only problem I could think of was Jar Jar’s 3D look. For that matter, the look of the Gungans as a whole could be scrutinized, but I’ll settle for Jar Jar. There are moments in the film where due to his actions and the special effects he looks like he’s made of rubber, and not in a great or even funny way. You may also notice that some of the masks for aliens such as the Neimoidians(Trade Federation) look a bit less than convincing

That said; if you’re a fan of Star Wars (including Episodes I-III) then I’d say this is something worth going to see. Especially seeing as from what I hear, Episodes II-VI will also be undergoing 3Dification.  You should however be prepared to shell out 15 dollars or so for the tickets of the currently released film. If you’re lucky, you’ll get the 3D glasses designed especially for Episode I as seen below(Anakin Skywalker pod racer style design.), but if not, you’ll be stuck with the standard specs as my friends and I disappointingly were.

Last Year In Geek

It’s official, the year 2011 is done and over with. It’s been a year of ups and downs, and more downs, and slight inclines that lead to steep declines. It’s been a relatively crazy 365 days, that’s for sure. So much has happened this year. Far too much to compile into a simple list, but that’s not going to stop me from trying anyway. So, here’s a brief list of some of the major moments in geekdom this past year.

1. Carrie Fisher & William Shatner Argue About Star Wars vs. Star Trek:
Geeks have been debating about which is better for decades, but William Shatner and Carrie Fisher took to YouTube to settle things once and for all. It turned into a fairly ugly war of words, with insults flying. Neither won, but in a style only he could manage, George Takei once again became the welcome voice of reason. Asking the fans of both Star Wars and Star Trek to put aside their differences and focus on a common enemy; namely Twilight. You go George Takei, you go.

2. Marvel Reigns, in The Box Office:
2011 brought us two action packed movies based on Marvel Comics superheroes. Thor (with a stunning cast line-up.) and Captain America: The First Avenger completed the series leading the way to The Avengers opening some time next year. X-Men: First Class  managed to not only reboot the franchise but, make a prequel as well. No matter how far it may have strayed from cannon.

3. We Lose a Technological Icon:
The death of Steve Jobs rocked the tech industry as well as the world itself. Regardless of what anyone may have thought of the man, he did much to help build and improve upon the technology we currently use. Jobs died peacefully, surrounded by family members, his family said in a statement. In recent years Jobs had fought a form of pancreatic cancer and had a liver transplant.”Steve’s brilliance, passion and energy were the source of countless innovations that enrich and improve all of our lives.”

4. Thundercats Gets a Revamp:
Reintroducing the 80’s franchise to a generation of kids, tweens and beyond that had never heard of them before; mixing sci-fi action with a fantasy backdrop familiar to early fans. Despite its obvious difference from the original, from the very beginning, the Thundercats spawned in 2011 seem to be doing something right. I’m still watching it.

5. Star Wars: The Clone Wars Does it Right:                                                                                                                                            The Clone wars has been hailed as the most vital take on the franchise since Empire. Bringing a weekly dose of actual war, it’s got all of the action and adventure that you grew up loving about Star Wars with new plots and intrigue to keep you on your toes. Add to that, the stylized CG art used on the show. “Now matter how many new cuts, edits, and additions to the trilogy and prequels Lucasfilm puts out there, for all intents and purposes, The Clone Wars is keeping the spirit of the original trilogy alive.”

6. Transformers Does Better than Expected:                                                                                                                                            Despite what many may have thought about the films and or the franchise based on the films(including Megan Fox), the franchise has managed to thrive. With the absence of Megan Fox in the latest installment of Transformers entitled Transformers: Dark of the Moon, people can focus on what the movie’s really about.: Giant robots fighting one another and blowing stuff up. What’s more is that whatever the film franchise may have lacked in geek-cred prior to Dark of the Moon, with the help of Mr. Leonard Nimoy in his role as Sentinel Prime it has most certainly made up for.

7. Shouting at Dragons:                                                                                                                                                                                           The latest game to be developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks was The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. This game gave players another look into the wonderfully fascinating world of the Elder Scrolls. In this followup to Oblivion, we see numerous improvements. From the design of the non playable characters down to the physics of the game, things are noticeably different, and I’m not complaining at all. Unlike many of the other installments of the Elder Scrolls, Skyrim gave us dragons. Not just dragons, but talking dragons. And if talking dragons weren’t enough.. it gave us giants, with clubs, and mammoths(all of which will attack the hell out of you.) There’s more than enough in this game to keep you entertained for… well.. for quite a while. (assuming you actually sleep at some point in time and have other things to do than just play the game all day every day.)

8. Harry Potter and the Kicking of Butt:                                                                                                                                                  2011 saw the second half of the final chapter of the exploits of (lots of of’s) Harry James Potter (and friends) take place. Death Eaters were left starving, Dementors were left more demented than when they began, the Freddy Kruger/Avon lady known as the former Professor Umbridge more than gets her just deserts, and an epic battle between good and evil finally goes down. Best of all is Molly Weasley. Throughout the films, her character shows little growth, though growth none the less, but not until the this 2nd half of the final film does she truly blossom; and when she does.. it’s that blossoming, not Harry’s defeat of the dark lord that takes center stage. You go Molly Weasley.

9. Death of The I T Crowd:                                                                                                                                                                                   The hilariously funny UK based show didn’t make it to a fifth season. Despite that sad news, there is the promise of a final episode that will unfortunately not air in the US. The I T Crowd… you will be missed. If you haven’t managed to check out this show, I strongly urge you to. Especially if you’re a fan of British comedy.

10. The Doctor is In:                                                                                                                                                                                                      One of the best things to come on to TV in the year 2011 was the sixth season of Doctor Who. From the beginning, things got off to an amazing start. We got to see those wonderful Weeping Angels once again, we get introduced to the creepiness of Silence, the constant foreshadowing of the Doctor’s death, and lastly but not least, there’s the episode “The Doctor’s Wife ” wherein the Doctor’s TARDIS comes to life and we realize that through everything, she is his only constant companion. Though I myself have yet to see this episode, I’ve heard nothing but good things about it, and given the direction the current incarnation of the Doctor has been headed in, I’m inclined to believe what I’ve heard.

 

May the new year bring far more moments in geekdom and may they be as pleasant as possibly possible.
Happy Geek New Year.

Geek VS Geek

A few days ago I started thinking about how much I love sci-fi. I mean, it’s one of those things you start watching as a little kid and it just grows on you, but in a good way of course. When it comes to sci-fi there’s the ever present debate that lingers in the background like an invisible elephant. That invisible elephant’s name is Star Wars VS Star Trek. One is better than the other. The other’s better than one.

Before I continue though, I should like to let it be known that I’m a huge fan of both franchises, having grown up with them both from an early age. Star Wars bed-sets and Star Trek on tv. So when I give my 2 cents on which of the two is by far greater, know that it comes from a place of complete and utter respect for the creators of both franchises.

Here’s how I look at it.. Star Wars is the epic story of good and evil, light and dark, beginning and ending… in a way. It’s spawned its own niche in the world of geekdom. It exposed us to new worlds, new creatures, new ways of thinking about the universe and our place there-in. We saw massive star destroyers, laser pistols, Han and Greedo  (Han shot first.) and of course the Jedi and the Sith, without whom the epicness of Star Wars would be… greatly diminished to say the least.  Star Wars is so iconic that it’s even spawned a religion.: Jedi. What other film franchise can say it’s done as much? And of course the best things about the Jedi(of film and literature) are the Force, and the Lightsaber.  I mean, the ability to move objects with a thought, control the mind of a person, do major flips and of course wield a weapon with a blade of pure energy that cuts through basically every solid material known to man and alien alike.  If that’s not awesome then what is?

Awesome Star Wars line: “You can’t win, Darth. If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine.” -Obi Wan

Now coming over to Star Trek we have a totally different reality. We still have starships, massive and small… and somewhere in-between. We still have handheld weapons that fire energy which is always awesome. There’s also warp speed and all the technological advances of the oh so far off future. The story told here is of mankind and its journey throughout the stars to learn more about itself and the universe in which it lives. That in of itself makes for an interesting story. Then you add into the mix the personalities of main captains of the franchise and those around them. It draws you in, that’s for sure.  There’re even basically all powerful beings (the Q) who can do anything they want at any time they want for basically any reason they want, but who still have short-comings in one form or another.

Awesome Star Trek quote: “I will not sacrifice the Enterprise. We’ve made too many compromises already, too many retreats. They invade our space, and we fall back. They assimilate entire worlds, and we fall back. Not again. The line must be drawn here! This far and no further! And I will make them pay for what they’ve done! -Cpt. Picard

There’s more to both Star Wars and Star Trek than what I’ve mentioned of course,both have scenes that just grab you and refuse to let you go,  but it’s far too early in the morning for me to prattle on too much more than I already have. When one verses the other it’s clear to me that neither Star Wars nor Star Trek is better than the other. That’s right… neither one. They’re both amazing in their own rights. If you were expecting a completely and utter biased opinion on the topic I’m sorry to tell you that all I have for you is disappointment.

Here ends this randomgeeking