Star Wars Day - May the Fourth be with you

May the 4th marks the Star Wars Day, a celebration of everything Star Wars related. It was created by fans and went mostly unnoticed until 2011, when the first organized event took place in Toronto at the Toronto Underground Cinema, produced by Sean Ward and Alice Queen. It included activities like The Original Trilogy trivia game show, a costume contest with celebrity judges and presentation of numerous tribute films and mashups made by fans from around the world. The second edition took place a year later and was already a successful event making a name for itself.

Members of 501st Legion, a semi-professional group of Star Wars cosplayers.

 

Star Wars Day was becoming more and more popular, with famous politicians and celebrities participating in the events and sharing the love on social media. Since Disney's takeover in late 2012, the festivities also take place in Disneyland and Disneyworld, not to mention numerous other places. Organisers realised that it's something that fans want, which definitely helps with making money, as the VIP tickets cost a small fortune in some places. That doesn't mean they don't sell, because they go out of stock like crazy, even in a matter of seconds.

The last Star Wars day took place in 2016 and the next one will probably be the biggest one to date. The event expanded so much that you can see it happening everywhere in numerous places like movie theaters, sports stadiums and parks, which on this day are promoting Star Wars and offering interesting specials. Even the astronauts in the International Space Station took time off their busy schedules to celebrate and watch the original trilogy.

Star Wars Day also helped popularize another event, called Star Wars Celebration. The biggest one took place in Anaheim in 2015, during the craze of imminent release of The Force Awakens in the then near future. Most of the original cast held special talk shows and answered many questions, including Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher.

QUESTIONS:

1. What is the most popular Star Wars cosplay at themed events and Comic Cons?

2. Have you found any signs of Star Wars Day on the 4th of May in your home town?

Rogue One - the opportunity of "Star Wars Stories"

With the new Disney launch of the Star Wars cinematic universe, there was much speculation as to how they will handle production of the movies. Now it's clear that there will be a new trilogy every few years and in between there will be these "stories" interwoven into the narrative. It is pretty much a dream for a die hard Star Wars fan to see great storytelling not bound by the current trilogy's constraints. The first example of that is Rogue One, trying to tell the tale of those who have stolen the Death Star plans essential to the Episode IV's climax.

This movie had a lot to prove, as the anticipation was at very high levels. Would it ruin the Episode IV or complement it in a nice, gracious way? I think that it did neither - fans will definitely be thrilled, but some concepts and cameos can turn off the viewer. It did address a particular problem in the IV's script, but at the same time attacked with unnecessary quotes and characters that made no sense, in order to please long-time fans. But they did not want that! I myself were cringing through some of the scenes where characters reference something from the original trilogy and try to play it off as something normal. You could almost hear the stock sitcom laughs and that's a problem if you have the most serious Star Wars movie on your hands.

You can say that I'm bashing the movie, but in reality I really liked it. It's just that a movie you had a lot of fun watching doesn't have to be perfect and pointing out it's shortcomings is a sane thing to do. Let's talk about some of the positives - and there were many. This is Disney's peak achievement when it comes to technical execution of a movie. Numerous talented people from Lucas Films and other places, combined with never ending stream of cash resulted in a cinematic marvel and an eye candy. Special Effects nomination is a must here, as there were so many scenes and shots where I simply went still in awe. This is how you do space battles, not to mention terrific action scenes on the ground.

Look at that charming smile!

Recreating Grand Moff Tarkin required extensive computer
mapping and prosthetics on an actor with similar face structure and voice.

It features very good practical effects, which are blended with CGI to form a good looking and well balanced image. There are, however, some areas where the amount of money got someone on the decision-making chain drunk. Bringing back characters from the original trilogy is fine, but at what cost? Recreation of the Grand Moff Tarkin was the single most expensive CGI undertaking in the cinema history. To what effect? He looks acceptable, but still takes the viewer out of the experience. The same thing happens to Princess Leia and I cannot help it but think that it was a bad idea. Still, it was better than the crappy Tarkin we got at the end of Revenge of the Sith, so there's that.

This guy was funny. Alan Tudyk, who voiced him, is also known for a fan-favourite show Firefly.

So what's the future of Star Wars Stories? I must say that it looks bright, as there are a lot of great talents working on them, backed by enormous amounts of money. After several of them closely related to known characters and events from the trilogies (for example young Han Solo, which I'm not particularly looking for), there will come time for some crazy ideas and exactly those will expand the universe in the best way, at least in my opinion.

QUESTIONS:

1. What are the other Star Wars Stories projects in the works right now? Are you excited for any of them?

2. Do you like the idea of a new Star Wars movie coming out every year?

Star Wars books - creating a universe full of life

Books have always been the most significant part of the Star Wars universe, not counting the movies. They provide an opportunity to expand the world in ways not possible for a 2-3 hour film or a comic series. There are hundreds of them, which means that every genre has been present in this collection, and probaby in many forms and combinations too. This seamless fluidity between genres and maturity led to a whole array of books directed towards different people with various tastes and ages. Let's take a look at some of the more memorable ones - and there were many.

The book that started it all was a simple novelization of the first Star Wars, which was released a year before the movie and named Star Wars: From The Adventures of Luke Skywalker. However, the first book that was free from the shackles of the movie was Splinter in the Mind's Eye (1978). Both were written by Alan Dean Foster, so you could say that he started the whole craze - after the success of the first movie, everyone was dying to get their hands on anything Star Wars related, and that second book was it. So apparently Luke fought Vader before Episode V and lost even more convincingly. Of course that was scrapped with the Disney expanded universe reboot, but in the new comic books this came up once again, meaning that the book had an influence on the Star Wars world even after so much time has passed.

Throughout the years, there were many interesting and well-built Star Wars books, but one trilogy stands out the most. Timothy Zahn's The Thrawn Trilogy was an instant success and met with praises from critics for its quality. It included Heir to the Empire, Dark Forces Rising and The Last Command. These books were for many years considered the true continuation of the three original movies and were rumored to be the basis of the Disney's new trilogy, starting with episode VII. Although it did not happen, many ideas regarding the world building were copied. Thrawn, the legendary villain, was recently aknowledged in the revised canon with new book coming out soon and an appearance in the season 3 of Rebels TV show.

Another great one, The Darth Bane Trilogy, focused on the ancient era of huge battles between the Sith and the Jedi. The titular character was a turning point in the battle scarred and constantly weakening order of the Sith. By creating The Rule of Two, he changed the course of the conflict by moving into shadows and employing secret machinations to grow in power undetected. This is my favourite Star Wars book series by far and is a testament to the kinds of crazy and imaginative stories the writers can create when not bound by the movies, as the events took place thousands of years before the Luke Skywalker's adventure.

There are many wonderful stories to be found in Star Wars books. They expand the reader's imagination and make you feel like this universe really existed in a galaxy far far away, somewhere, some time long ago.

QUESTIONS:

1. What Star Wars book do you see the most in book stores right now? 

2. How are the books from before year 2012 recognized in opposition to the official canonical ones?

Star Wars comic books - are they any good?

A big part of the Star War's expanded universe are comic books. They started for real when Dark Horse comics acquired the rights to the franchise, which lasted until early 2010's with the Disney's takeover. These early comics focused mostly on the events after Return of the Jedi, and actually have never been considered canonic. The same goes for everything from expanded universe, which got crazier and crazier with every year. You see, there were no "restarts" as in DC or Marvel, even though the number of comic books being pumped out was considerable. This led to numerous contradictions and silly ideas, altering the entire franchise by killing off major characters and so on. So, looking at the Dark Horse era, which ones are worth reading?

Dark Empire was an instant hit and perpetuated the Star Wars comic book industry. From then on, many more trailed its way of speculation about what could have happened after the original trilogy. It's important to remember, that prequel trilogy was not out yet and many ideas may seem out of touch now, while some of them are  indeed very wrong, for example assuming that Darth Vader wore his suit before being maimed. Even though, they are a very good read - just consider them as elseworld stories, a kind of "what if?" in an alternative universe. Especially interesting to me were comic books taking place in the ancient era, thousands of years before the events of the movies. How did the Sith came to be, powerful wars impacting entire galaxies can be found. Such a distant timeline gives authors more freedom, because they don't have to worry about trampling all over the established Star Wars canon.

Exar Kun, a powerful Jedi turned Sith

Naga Sadow, an ancient Sith leader

Darth Bane, the creator of The Rule of Two

This creative freedom led to birth of numerous memorable characters that etched their way into the timeless pantheon of Star Wars. It's hard to discern now, which ones were created in comic books first, as the Expanded Universe was being developed simultaneously in many forms. This created an environment full of interesting ideas, interweaving with each other in many situations. 

The best example that comes to my mind is Darth Bane, the most important Sith in the whole Star Wars expanded mythology. His story was mentioned in every Expanded Universe medium, which in turn led to his introduction to the TV series "The Clone Wars", making him a part of the new Disney canon. The same can be seen in the case of Grand Admiral Thrawn, but that I will discuss in the segment about the books of Star Wars. The bottom line is, that when you make something great, it will stand the test of time.

With the Disney takeover, Marvel Comics are in charge of Star Wars comic books. This means bigger budgets and better talent. The new canon direction is also overseed by one creative team to ensure that no inconsistencies occur. I fear that it may mean less frivolous use of the license and we will never see some more wild ideas and ancient eras. Right now, the best new series is definitely Darth Vader, which knocked it out of the park with its first six-issue story simply called "Vader". This in turn led to a crossover event "Vader Down", which did not disappoint.

 

The future is bright for any comic book fan interested in Star Wars. Marvel can definitely make its run worthwhile for all of us. It also means bigger distribution and, in turn, lower prices!

QUESTIONS:

1. When do the current Star Wars comic books take place in the universe? 

2. What is your favourite cover art of a Star Wars comic book? Search the internet for candidates if needed!

How to sabotage a franchise - the story of prequels

After 16 years of waiting, the hype was real. The anticipation for Episode I was the biggest in the history of cinema. And then this mess of a movie was shown. After the premiere, every die hard fan was trying to persuade himself that the movie was pretty good. To this day, if a hugely hyped movie turns out to be terrible and fans blindly defend it, it is called "The Episode One Syndrome". Of course, in time everyone realised how bad of a movie it really was. Its a shame, really, because many talented people were involved in this project, especially well done were the special effects. It was a tough battle with The Matrix for the special effects Academy Award. The marketing was also perfectly guided, promising something entirely different from the final product.

"We are going to sell so many toys!"

The main problem with the prequels was that George Lucas had a status of a god among filmmakers and could not have been said "no" to. He was surrounded by people, who didn't dare to confront him and call him out on any bad ideas. The results could have been anticipated. George decided to write the entire script by himself, dialogues and all - for all three movies. As I mentioned in my previous post, he's not a good writer and it shows here so much. Bad dialogues, contradictions and bad pacing were all problems that marked every prequel Star Wars movie. Does anyone ever forget Anakin's obsession with sand in episode II? Exemplary bad writing is what it is.

Everyone's most hated movie character in full glory.

Do you remember this guy up here? Yes, he really happened. Why make a movie that interests kids through enchanting and adventurous storytelling if we can simply create an offendingly stupid character that would feed off slapstick comedy of the worst sort? You see, George knew that the real money lies in merchandise, not the ticket sales. What he didn't anticipate however, was that such characters are annoying to everyone above the age of 5. Where is Jar Jar now? No one wants to buy him. But don't feel too bad about George, Star Wars made tons upon tons of money on everything Star Wars related, it was practically shoved up everyone's throat - actually very much like it is now, but at least we don't need to see his stupid face on every coffee mug in the store.

 

QUESTIONS:

1. Can you find any Jar-Jar Binks related merchandise in stores?

2. What actor was met with the most praise when it comes to the prequels?

Star Wars was supposed to be a flop - why did it not become one?

 

We have come to believe that Star Wars was some kind of prodigious project, a focused effort of numerous talented people who firmly believed in its success. The reality was somewhat different and we can trace the humble beginnings of this massive franchise to the early years of George Lucas's career. This is not going to be a post about the whole history of how Star Wars came to be, but more of a reminder that great things often happen through connection of multiple coincidences that don't seem to be working out until they really do.

George Lucas, the man responsible for the success of Star Wars?

After making American Graffiti, George Lucas was a very seeked-out director and his plans involved creating a remake of the old school 1930s film "Flash Gordon", but he got scooped by the 20th Century Fox in order to create the next movie. Since the license for Flash Gordon wasn't available, he moved towards other ideas, which finally led him to Star Wars.You can definitely see Flash Gordon influences in the story, for example in the fight against an evil empire.

Evil Emperor on a throne was also derived from Flash Gordon

Although Lucas is often considered a brilliant ideaman, someone with powerful imagination and creativity, he lacks sober judgement and is prone to making bad decisions. We can see that now clearly through his numerous idiotic additions in re-releases of the original trilogy, but back in the day he was just considered a mediocre screenwriter. His first draft was very rudimental and had to be reworked by people passionate about the project to the point of usability. So was the case with many elements of the movie, including the art direction, which undergone a serious change for the better from campy to epic thanks to Ralph Mcquarrie, whose concept images still make for an amazing viewing.

One of Ralph Mcquarrie's concept arts for Star Wars

Even the main cast was making fun of the movie, not believing in its success. Since most of them were young, time spent on set consisted mostly of laughing, joking and pranking each other. Sir Alec Guinness, a prominent british actor portraying Obi-Wan Kenobi, could not believe what he got himself into.

The set often looked like a college campus

All in all, it worked out fine. Star Wars became what it is today, because of conjuction of multiple coincidences that happened to form into something of great value. Hard work of everyone passionate about and involved in this project should not be forgotten!

QUESTIONS:

1. How did the main three actors ended up playing their roles?

2. What was the movie that was coming out around the same time and was expected to rule the movie theaters?

Intro to Star Wars culture and what it all means

In 1977, Star Wars tapped into an unknown territory of fandom never seen before except maybe with Star Trek. There must be something about stars and exploration that holds our attention and captures our imagination in a grand scale of the whole galaxy. Our problems seem insignificant and when zoomed out, the world seems very beautiful. That is what the first installment of the series did to people - it gave them hope to look forward into the future and appreciate the universe, and our little planet within it even more.

Children are being introduced to Star Wars by their parents, creating a new generation of fans.

In this series, I will be talking about everything connected to Star Wars culture, including movies, tv shows, books, comic books, special holidays and impact of the franchise on these categories of American pop culture, which underwent a big change when Star Wars became a success. I definitely believe it to be a change for good as it was very fragmented before, and in 1977 everyone got together under the notion of loving a great franchise being born and it actually was not considered your traditional "nerdy" that drove girls away from young men involved in it.

In the wake of the new movie coming out in five weeks and the whole rejuvenation of the movie sphere of Star Wars as of late, it is fitting to start this series off with going over every movie that has come out chronologically. That will be the focus of upcoming installments of this little blog series - see you again soon and may the force be with you!

 QUESTIONS:

1. When did Star Wars started being produced?

2. How long has it been screened in movie theaters?