Two Things...

1.  I think am more excited to see this than I was to see The Force Awakens.  I mean, Wow! This looks amazing.  I hope it lives up to the hype because the Episode VII gave me reason to be hopeful again for Star Wars movies.  Don't burn me, Disney.

2.  To millennials distraught over Donald Trump's election, please, please, PLEASE, in the name of Jesus, do not make Rogue One political.  As I watched this trailer in light of Tuesday and the aftermath, it almost immediately occurred to me the film's theme - the struggle of the rebellion against impossible odds against the overwhelming might of the evil Galactic Empire - could easily be co-opted as a metaphor for the heroic opposition to the sinister Donald Trump.  Given the highly diverse cast of heroes that appears absent of white men (which I'm not criticizing), pitted against the new villain, an old white guy, it's not a stretch to see how this could seized upon and embraced on social media, and become a thing.  That would suck.

Star Wars is for everybody.  It's not political.  And it would be a crime to make it a source of division, so please don't make it one.  Star Wars was my first love, and I am genuinely gratified that Rogue One (like Ep. VII) by virtue of its international cast, has the potential to allow more different kinds of people, especially children, to feel what I felt for Star Wars as a child, which was magical.

Maybe I'm being ridiculous.  Maybe I'm too cynical.  I hope so.  Perhaps the apparent themes of unity in Rogue One will have the opposite effect and bring people together in these uncertain times. That would be cool.  Here's to me being wrong.  There's been a lot of that lately.

Star Wars Anime

More proof that nearly anyone with talent can do Star Wars better than George Lucas. I'm not a fan of anime, and I certainly didn't think I would want it anywhere near Star Wars, but I gotta admit, this is pretty darn cool.

Ralph McQuarrie (1929-2012)

The great concept artist Ralph McQuarrie, whose pioneering work created the look of Star Wars, passed away yesterday at the age of 82.  I can't think of any artist who has had bigger impact on pop culture.  The ideas may have come from George Lucas, but what we see on the screen came from the pen of McQuarrie.  Some of my favorite books to thumb through to this day are The Illustrated Star Wars Universe, and the three volumes of The Art of Star Wars, full of the worlds, machines, creatures and characters created by McQuarrie.

Without his designs, Star Wars may not have even been made.  When Lucas was struggling to sell his project to the studios, he used some of McQuarrie's early concept art to convince executives to green-light the film.   It's easy to see why.  His visuals have such scope, detail and imagination you really want to visit those worlds.  He won an Oscar for his design work in 1985, not for Star Wars (amazingly), but for Cocoon. He was also the conceptual artist for Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T. the Extra Terrestrial,  and the Battlestar Galactica TV series.

Han Solo, P.I.

OK,  I admit it. I would have watched this.  Watch side by side with original here.

Revenge of the Fanboy!

You have to hand it to George Lucas. After virtually ruining the Star Wars mythology and tainting the greatness of the original trilogy with his pathetic prequels, he at least is willing to give other creative people at shot at reparing the damage he's done to the Star Wars legacy.

The first non-Lucas project was handled by emmy award winning animator Genndy Tartakovsky, creator of Samurai Jack. He created two 1/2 hour Star Wars cartoons called the Clone Wars that tell the story between Episodes II and III. I was amazed by how much I enjoyed them. They were more exciting and more inspired than their big screen counterparts. It seemed laughable that a cartoon done by a bunch of fanboy animators could be better executed, with better writing and acting than a movie created by professional producers, directors, and actors. And yet there it is.

Well now it looks like Lucas is about to be outdone again. A new CGI animated movie called Star Wars: The Clone Wars is scheduled to be released in theaters August 15 of this year. It will be the first chapter in an ongoing television series that will follow. This series also takes place between Episodes II and III. Here are the trailers:



sneak peek

trailer #1

trailer #2

I don't know about you, but this looks pretty dang cool. It looks like everything I hoped the prequels would be, but weren't. So thanks George Lucas, for realizing that you suck, and letting other people tell the story of Anakin Skywalker the way it should have been told in the first place.