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.Verily A New Hope 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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Too Much Rovio? Angry Birds goes Grand Theft Auto?

Eventually there will come to be a time where the Angry Birds will no longer be popular.

AngryBirdsGOThe Angry Birds is to Rovio much like the Mario Brothers are to Nintendo. Without a flagship product, neither company can be widely successful. Nintendo can survive because it has a huge product line which is not limited to Mario, Zelda or Donkey Kong. They have many other video games and products to carry this company forward but what about Rovio?

With no surprise, Rovio is copying Nintendo. They are taking these flightless birds and making them mobile with Angry Birds Go! (due out on December 11). Last month had this company release a new iteration of Angry Birds Star Wars II which hardly looked all that exciting.

In what looks like a Mario Cart clone, the next iteration will get these pigs and birds racing. In this case, it’s a downhill racing game and a few unique features will keep this concept fresh. Hasbro’s Telepods toys will allow players to “teleport” new karts into the game. But not everyone will be waving the flag in the end.

Some fans want to see Rovio develop new ideas than to see rehashes of old ideas. They should let the birds take flight and develop a brand new idea.

This company does have other properties that they created games for, but those titles may be one hit wonders. The Croods and Amazing Alex are the only two licensed items featured on Rovio’s website, and there is no sign of any other ideas being offered or listed as in development. To have a company bank on only one property to continue its success is dangerous. Eventually there will come to be a time where the Angry Birds will no longer be popular.

The Weird and Wonderful Ebay: Life Size Scout Walker

starwarsSo how much will approximately £10,000 buy you in the UK? Well if you’re a geek with big dreams, you can buy yourself one heck of a conversation piece.

If fixing up your flat to look like Pee Wee’s Playhouse (or perhaps you like Rainbow) is out of the question then look no further at 16ft in height of the Star Wars AT-ST Scout Walker. This is definitely one toy that won’t fit into your display case at home. But if you have an available car park space, it can act as the beacon for Star Wars fans within your neighbourhood.

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Wind Up Geek’s Top Ten Takedown – Fan Films/Series

I already knew what my favourite fan films were but I needed to broaden my horizon.

In the past decade I’ve come to love fan films for what they are: shoe string budget movies made by people with big hearts for pop/geek culture. Gone are the days where our projects created from scratch (Hardware Wars) or joke dubbed (Ranma⅓) were distributed via VHS/Beta tape. With the  Internet era, it has brought to millions of us who speak Geekese, or if you will in Geekidiom, a whole new stage to show something cool to the world. Now we have places like Youtube and Vimeo to reach a much larger audience.
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Al Pacino as Han Solo?

Perhaps with Pacino in the role of the famous smuggler there wouldn’t be a reimagining by George Lucas on Greedo’s death scene in the Mos Eisley Cantina.

Scarface Now this is something entirely out of left field, Al Pacino as Han Solo. Who would’ve thought that instead of Harrison Ford, who made famous the role of the likeable rogue in the 1977 film Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope, we would’ve been given an entirely different interpretation by the man known for The Godfather’s Michael Corleone.

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