Category: Star Wars

The Vintage Tempest’s Toy & Tech Wish-List for Santa

ed and zelda
By Ed Sum
(The Vintage Tempest)

Dear Santa,

I’ve been good. Really, I have. I hope it’s in your willingness to consider putting one of these wish list items under my Christmas tree. I want stuff to satisfy my love for toys or tech. I’ve boiled down my list down to five items.

Unlike my best-friend James, I have satisfied my anime craving a long time ago. There really is not much that I want (on video or otherwise) from Japan … well unless you can send me a full size operational Gundam for me to pilot so I can travel anywhere I want (around the world or in space). Or can you please give me an all expense paid trip to visit the Ghibli Museum at Mitaka Park and Fuji-Q Highland Park (I want the ability to spend a full day at each venue). That would be on top of what I really want.

I was there before, but those memories are over a decade old.

Alternatively, if you can find it in your heart to park an AT-AT at my home, well, my grin will be wider than the Grinch and the Cat Bus (from My Neighbour Totoro) combined. But in terms of being realistic, the following items are far more doable:

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A Force of Evil To Do A Power of Good

May the 5th is Children’s Day and the 501st Legion were at the Make-A-Wish in Kobe 2013 to help raise funds for children with life-threatening illnesses.

Make a WishRevenge of the 5th (May 5th) struck hard in North America giving Star Wars fans yet another reason to wear elaborate costumes and attend hobby and toy fairs. But in Japan this day has more meaning than just a celebration of one of the coolest creations in geekdom. May the 5th is Children’s Day and the 501st Legion were at the Make-A-Wish in Kobe 2013 to help raise funds for children with life-threatening illnesses.

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Mark Your Calendars for Star Wars VII! (confirmed) & Thoughts

By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)

star_wars_logo_640_large_verge_medium_landscape

December 18th is the day on the Calendar Year of 2015, Anno Domini for one of this galaxy’s greatest galactic battles to return. With the next chapter of Star Wars now set, the thrills are going to be great for some, but for others, its going to be a mad rush to get this done in time, and hopefully without some hiccups along the way. Budget movies can be done in under a year, but for Star Wars, is the three year development cycle going to be enough?

Filming is scheduled to begin Spring 2014 at Pinewood Studios, and casting calls are already out looking for new hopefuls to fill in some really big shoes. At least the people involved — J.J. Abrams (Super 8, Lost, Star Trek), Lawrence Kasdan (Raiders of the Lost Ark, Empire Strikes Back) and John Williams (with a resume too huge to list) — should get it right. The world will be according to what J.J. Abrams and Kasdan are wanting, instead of what Michael Arndt is intending. In a report by Slashfilm, “The script Michael Arndt was writing (likely based on George Lucas‘ original outline) is no longer in play.”

Whatever the plot will be, fans will no doubt flock to whatever is presented up. At least this time, Star Wars will not look like a tribute to lens flare-ology — one of J.J. Abrams trademark styles, which is thankfully being retired. Mercifully, the galaxy is not looking too bright; just like the film, it should be tailored to look just right.

Source: Slashfilm, theVerge 

The Force Wasn’t Strong in this One

By James Robert Shaw (The Wind up Geek)

Like any film, television series or Broadway production, props don’t work the way actors expect them to. And actors don’t always work either. Like all human beings they make mistakes. Actors can slip, trip, stumble or occasionally flub their lines. The difference between being an actor on George Lucas’ original Star Wars or being a star on the stage is the star on stage is under more pressure not to screw-up.

Where a production company might share some gaffes and giggles, with LucasFilm there was silence…until now. Editor and author J. W. Rinzler was trawling through the Lucas archives, looking for material for his making of books on the original three Star Wars films, when what was caught in his net was a Star Wars blooper reel, it was too big to throw back. And like any normal fisherman he had to show off his monster of a catch. This catch though, he displayed at the 2013 San Diego Comic-Con.

Rinzler’s find is now available on YouTube but it wasn’t made available by Rinzler himself. And readers take note, there is no sound until 49 seconds into the reel. According to fans, this is the way the reel was shown at Comic-Con.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgLl0_mqLtc&w=420&h=315]

Source(s): Neil Bowyer, Mashable.

Evaluating The Yoda Chronicles Trilogy, DVD Review & More

lego-star-wars-yoda-chronicles-dvdWhen news of Star Wars: The Yoda Chronicles (TYC) was first announced, some fans of this licensed property were particularly excited. Details were scant about whether or not this will become a TV series or a series of original video animations. After the release of “The Phantom Clone,” its direction has become all too clear. Only a handful of episodes will get made.

Sadly, after the airing of “Menace of the Sith,” the studios dispassionately released the DVDYoda Chronicles on October 15 and did not take into account when the final episode would get aired. Only two of the three videos are included and that can leave fans disappointed, hoping for a compilation release. The third episode, “Attack of the Jedi” aired on October 7th on Cartoon Network. Hopefully the next video release will include “The Padawan Menace” (TPM) and “The Empire Strikes Out” (TESO) to restore fans’ faith in the Force (i.e. studio planning). These shorts were far more brilliant and witty than TYC. Even the cut scenes from TT Games products had a beautiful tongue in cheek attitude that more or less started this craze.

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Shakespeare & Star Wars Doth Not Necessarily Mix & Sequel News

With better dialogue in this film, maybe the Shakespearean treatment Verily A New Hope will not be as bad.

Verily A New HopeJust how easy is it to rewrite Star Wars into a Shakespearean play? To read the dialogue in iambic pentameter is one thing but to hear it is another. Until Disney (and George Lucas) authorizes Adam Long, one of the founding members of the Reduced Shakespeare Company, to release a DVD of his stage production of Star Wars Shortened, fans will have to make do with Ian Doescher’s take of William Shakespeare’s Star Wars: Verily A New Hope.Yoda Chronicles At least the performance is super fun to watch and the other an undistinguished read.

The idea of getting Luke, Obi-Wan or Vader speaking in old Elizabethan English is more of a novelty than compelling reading. Most of the dialogue is required to stay in canon within the screenplay Lucas wrote for A New Hope. When possible, Doescher makes use of a few lines better known from Shakespere’s other plays and includes them in his book. Bits of familiar dialogue from the tragedy Hamlet and the romance Romeo & Juliet will be recognized.

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