Star Wars 40th Anniversary

 
Well, I can’t believe it, it’s been 40 years to this day that Star Wars first arrived in theaters. That’s right, it’s the 40^th anniversary of one of the most iconic films of all time. This was a movie that changed so much. With today marking 40 years since it’s release, there will be many that will talk about how the movie came to be, there will be many that will talk about how the movie broke records, and how the movie has had an impact 40 years after it’s initial release. And since there are many that will take care of those areas more likely, I decided to focus on two things, how I got introduced to the Star Wars universe, and briefly go over a few Star Wars related items that had an impact on me. First, let me briefly describe my entry into the Star Wars universe.

I first discovered Star Wars back in the summer of 1994. What initiated the series for me was a video game for the Super Nintendo, called Super Empire Strikes Back, obviously based on the second chapter of the original trilogy. I don’t know what made me want to pick this game, but I saw it and rented it at my local video store, and played it, and got to explore many of the different worlds of the movie through the passwords that were written on the instruction booklet (this was before the internet, and before I figured I could find any passwords elsewhere, so thank you whoever you are that wrote those passwords on the instruction booklet). Before that I am sure I saw clips of the Star Wars movies beforehand, and I did ride the Star Tours ride at Disney World in 1992, but this game was the one that started my official journey into the Star Wars universe. From there, one week when I was at my Aunt’s house, I found out about The Empire Strikes Back, and watched it, that’s right, the first Star Wars movie I watched all the way through was not the first one, but the second one, and obviously after watching the second one, I needed to see how everything turned out at the end so I saw the third one the next day, and then shortly after (don’t remember when) I saw the first one. The summer of 1994 was when I first became a fan of Star Wars, and was captivated by the world. If anyone asked me what my favorite movie of the series was, I would say The Empire Strikes Back, yes the story is more complex, and has the greatest twist in history, but the worlds we get to check out were just incredible to me, especially as I was a 9 year old kid experiencing the Star Wars universe for the first time. We had the movies on VHS at the time at my home, the first one a store bought copy, and then the second and third that were taped off Showtime when they played. We later got the Star Wars Trilogy set on VHS when it got re-released in 1995 (in fact it was one of those Christmas presents we discovered under the tree after Christmas morning was officially over, so kind of a late Christmas present).

Throughout the years following my somewhat random introduction to the Star Wars universe, I got my hands on many awesome things (toys, collectibles, games) , and I want to share a few of them with you:

-Star Wars (Game Gear): The first movie was made into a Game Gear game, actually all of the Star Wars movies were made into a video game over many different formats. I got this game for my 9^th birthday, shortly after watching the movies for the first time. I would play this game a lot. I made it to the Death Star, but not much further than that.

 

-Super Star Wars Trilogy (SNES): I mentioned how Super Empire Strikes Back started my journey, but I did play the other two games as well. I only rented Super Star Wars once, but I rented Super Return of the Jedi quite a few times, I would say I played that game more than the other ones (mainly because that one was more available at my local store).

 

-Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire (N64): One of the first N64 games I played, and the best part was I got to explore some cool worlds in the Star Wars galaxy, and in 3D, so I got to explore a ton and it was so much fun to play. For those who don’t know about this game, it took place between Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, and involves you playing a guy by the name of Dash Rendar, who helps Luke and Leia out after Han is put into carbon freeze. There is a comic series as well for this story. This is one of those games, even though the graphics are very outdated, I can put the game in and still play a bit of it, that’s how much of an impact for me it had. In fact, I made a short movie with my family when I was a teenager, and this game played a huge role in the movie.

-Millenium Falcon (toy): For Christmas 1995, I got a big version of the Millenium Falcon. I don’t know if I could give the exact dimensions of it, but I had small action figures that could easily fit into it and play around in the falcon, that includes the area in the first movie where they played that chess game and Luke practiced with his lightsaber against that training ball.

 

-Star Wars Monopoly (board game): Today you can find a themed version of Monopoly for just about anything, Ghostbusters Monopoly, Back to the Future Monopoly, Nightmare Before Christmas Monopoly, and the list goes on and on. I would like to say that this version started it all, but I don’t know if that was true or not. I got this for Christmas in 1997, during the year of the 20^th anniversary of the first movie. It was fun to play, and to buy the great landscapes of the iconic films.

 

-Star Wars Galactic Battle (board game): Remember Battleship? Well, then you basically know what Star Wars Galactic Battle is. I got this during Christmas of 1998. It was an electronic game, so there would be voice commands given, so I didn’t have to play against an actual person, but I could play against the computer.

 

-R2-D2 remote control robot (toy): I got this during Christmas of 1997. It was a robot I could control and it would make the little noises. You could turn it or you could let it go forward.

 

-Death Star Waffle Iron: This is a more recent thing I got. I got for Christmas of 2015, but it was seriously cool. I love waffles, so having waffles is a big thing for me, so I was glad to receive this appliance.

 

-Darth Vader/Princess Leia Christmas ornament: I got this ornament for my Christmas tree this past Christmas. It was the scene when Darth Vader first encounters Princess Leia in the first Star Wars movie, and it even has an audio clip of that scene. The reason I include this because it was a day after learning of Carrie Fisher’s heart attack, and while I was hopeful that she would make it, I was still concerned for her health, as was many, and to learn that a few days later we would lose her was a sad shock. That ornament has more meaning now because of the events that happened, and also with Rogue One coming out a week before, which added a new dimension to the Star Wars universe.

 

These are the ones that stood out to me the most, there were many other cool Star Wars things I got over the years. I could share so many other Star Wars related things, whether they come through video or books or music or whatever, but this is what I decided to narrow down on for this post. If you want me to do another Star Wars related post and go more into other things that have impacted me in the Star Wars universe, I am willing to do another one. Star Wars has had a huge impact on my life, as it has had on many in the world. And I am so excited for Star Wars The Last Jedi, and most importantly, I am excited to see what it gets us talking about, like Rey’s lineage, who President Snoke is, etc. Until then, may the force be with you. 

The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance coming to Netflix

Yesterday, I came across some really excellent news, news that I became cynical that I would ever hear, or see any real development out of. That is to see anything continuation of The Dark Crystal on the big or little screen.

I was first introduced to the world of The Dark Crystal back in 2000 when I decided to rent the movie from my local video store (back in the days when there were actual video rental places). I was captivated by the world that I was introduced to, it was incredible to see. What also really caught my attention was how much went into creating this world.

I first heard of the possibility of a Dark Crystal sequel being worked on back in 2007, and for the next 4 years I watched earnestly for any more news on the subject, just to see any possibility get shut down. I was really disappointed that it was shut down after years of hoping, but while I was somewhat cynical towards anything happening, I still held on to hope that something would come forth one day.

Over the years after hearing the sequel was cancelled, we started to get a lot of great Dark Crystal material. We got a prequel novel series, the first book being Shadows of the Dark Crystal, which came out last year, with the sequel called Song of the Dark Crystal coming out in two months. There was a couple of Manga style books that came out in 2007 which also gave us a story before the events of the movie. Comic books called Dark Crystal Creation Myths have also come out. All this material coming out proved that there was a deep appreciation for this world we have been introduced to, and how many are finding new stories to help expand and enrich this world that we have come to love.

And earlier this year, a comic book series came out for the proposed sequel I had been waiting for, The Power of the Dark Crystal, I have read the first two issues that have come out and the illustrations are incredible, they are just gorgeous to look at, plus the story is very intriguing. While I would have preferred to have it released as a motion picture, I was excited for it because I would get to see the story we were hoping for a decade ago, and maybe, just maybe, we will see some kind of film of The Dark Crystal in the future.

Well, yesterday, we were greeted by a trailer that announced a 10 episode series produced by Netflix and The Jim Henson Company entitled The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, which will be a prequel series before the events of the movie. This preview gave us a glimpse to the world that is being created, and what was interesting was that they seemed to blend very well, meaning that they used old footage from the making of the original and then making of the series, and there were  moments I had a hard time telling which is which, and that tells me that the world will be identical to the one we were introduced to 35 years ago. Also, being released by Netflix, which gives me high hopes that this will be treated well, we got a series called Stranger Things last year and that was a very entertaining series. As far as a release date, I have none, all I do know is that it will begin shooting in the Fall (again no set date), but the wait will be extremely hard. But whatever that date is, I will make sure to get my Netflix device and everything ready for it’s release when it happens.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 Review

Three years ago, a lesser known property of the Marvel Universe graced the screens, with many wondering if it would catch the attention of the world. Not only did it catch the attention of the world, but became one of the favorites in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This was one of the first movies that showed that Marvel could be successful outside of Iron Man, Thor, and Captain America, and that the Marvel Cinematic Universe could truly expand beyond what was initially anticipated. This property caught my attention way before it’s release, and no I am not talking about comic book form, I found out that they were doing it, I believe sometime in early 2012, and that’s when it first caught my attention, and then it stood out more when I saw some concept art in 2013, and just how cool this movie could look. It was a nice little surprise when it came out in 2014, and just proved what the Marvel Cinematic Universe was capable of.

Needless to say, anticipation for a sequel was high. Probably just as high as the sequel to The Avengers back in 2015. I am happy to say that the sequel is totally worth your time in seeing. While I am going to admit this right off the back, I think the first one is just a little better. Now keep in mind, I said a little, because the first one was a surprise. The first one had a bunch of us laughing so hard throughout the movie, even moments to the point that I thought I was turning blue, like Yondu. The second had plenty of laughs, and even some moments where I was laughing really hard, but I don’t think I was laughing as much as the first one. Now before you say to yourself, “that’s it, I am not seeing this anymore,” I was totally fine with the idea that they turned the humor notch down just a little bit, because that paved the way for some really good emotion from the characters. I honestly felt that this movie explored a lot of the characters from the first one in ways that I was left just as surprised as the first one. The first one, I enjoyed watching the characters work off one another, but this one, I felt more connected to the characters, and they were more than fun characters to be around, you really cared more about them, even characters like Yondu and Nebula, who I didn’t think much of in the first one, I really cared about their characters this time around.

 

Now let’s get into the spectacle of the movie. There was plenty of action, and lots of eye candy to go around. This movie took us to a lot of awesome places to explore, including Ego’s planet, which was probably one of the most colorful places I have ever seen, seriously it was just incredible to look at. I saw this on IMAX, and it was really awesome to see it this way, as it made all the places feel more massive. I missed out on seeing the first one in IMAX, but it was great to see this one that way. Let’s get into the music for a bit, does it beat out Awesome Mix Volume 1? That’s hard to say at this time. The soundtrack for the first one was a big surprise, I was not anticipating them to using music from the 70s/80s during the first one in such an amazing way. The music is used very good here as well. It’s hard to say if I like this soundtrack more or not, I may need to rethink this in a few months before giving an official answer, but there are great songs on Awesome Mix Volume 2.

 

How does Baby Groot turn out? He was adorable, simply no other way to put it. The opening credits with him dancing was one of the most fun opening credit sequences that I have seen in a long time. I will personally admit this, I think I like that sequence more than the opening credits to the first movie. Many can disagree, but that’s how I felt. There were other moments that were fun when they used him, including when two of main characters are in prison and they need to get out, and they have Baby Groot grab something that will help them escape, and being little, obviously didn’t know what was needed exactly, so he kept coming back with many different things, one of them that really shocked and surprised me, I didn’t know how to process it, but it was really funny, while I kind of spoiled this sequence, I won’t spoil what that thing is here.

 

The characters is really what made this movie a blast to watch, and seeing the characters develop even further made this movie so much more worth it. I felt all of the main heroes got a really good amount of screen time, no one felt  overshadowed by another, especially Baby Groot didn’t take over the whole show, while I would have been alright with it, the movie wouldn’t have had the same impact that it does here. That idea of family really sticks out here. There is a line that Nebula says “You aren’t friends. All you do is fight and yell at each other.” And Drax responds back, “You’re right, we aren’t friends. We’re family.” While they drove each other nuts, they still cared for one another, and that can be seen throughout the movie, and it works great.

This movie was a blast from start to finish with an emotional core that makes the journey more worth it. I strongly recommend that you check this one out.