Ready Player One
Nerf, Mandalorian Style
One of the items that came out when Star Wars Battlefront II was released was a Nerf Rival Apollo XV-700 Star Wars Battlefront II Mandalorian Edition Blaster with Face Mask, exclusive to GameStop. It retailed for $90.
I picked one up today for $40.
Cinemark Movie Club
Something I didn’t know it did: while buying advanced tickets for Ready Player One, I ended up paying the add-on ticket price of $8.99 per ticket instead of $11.50 per ticket. And without a convenience fee.
So a pair of tickets from Fandango that would have been $26 came out to $17.98.
MoviePass wouldn’t have allowed purchase from that screening, since it’s in the recliner seat theatre, and even if I could, it would be for one ticket, bought that day.
Krypton S01E01 – Pilot
This may or may not become a regular thing.
I enjoyed it.
It’s a pilot episode, so I wasn’t expecting to get blown away by anything.
But hearing the iconic John Williams theme brought out the fanboy in me.
Funny thing is, the word ‘prequel’ usually gives me concern, due to the Star Wars prequels and Star Trek Enterprise/Discovery.
I’ve always been interested in the fictional history of Krypton. In the past I’ve answered odd trivia questions about the planet itself, like where a “highly developed black race” of Kryptonians existed (Vathlo Island, though I had to look it up now). I used to know where major cities and landmarks were on Krypton, from the location of Kandor to the Jewel Mountains.
It looks an feels like a futuristic sci-fi show with an interesting premise, aside from the Superman link.
Plus, it’s got Adam Strange.
He alone is the primary reason I’m tuning in, because he’s a space adventurer, in the same vein as Flash Gordon or Buck Rogers or even Luke Skywalker and Han Solo. He’s battled evil aliens and saved his adopted homeworld of Rann on a regular basis. I think he’s an honorary member of the Justice League, too.
In Krypton, he shows up in a hoodie and a baseball cap.
In short, my kinda hero.
The pilot served it’s purpose, introducing us to the characters, setting, and dynamics of the series. Here’s hoping this show goes on as long as it has an interesting story to tell. Which, sad to say, some of the other DC TV series have stopped doing.
Depending on this ‘strength of story’ I may do a weekly review of this series.
We’ll see.
Colonel Austin
The first television show that was ‘appointment TV’ for me was The Six Million Dollar Man.
To this day, it still has the best opening credits sequence, even better than Star Trek.
Martha’s Mix Tape
Every morning at 7:30 AM, on the local 80s station (I Heart the 80s), Martha Quinn plays a ‘mix tape’ of 3 songs linked by a theme, like 3 songs with the word ‘love’ in the title, or something similar. Sometimes she’ll say ahead of time what the theme is, sometimes she’ll give a hint.
This morning before she played it, she asked, “What would link Information Society and the Bangles?”
Geek-that-is-me thought that the obvious answer was Leonard Nimoy.
She then revealed that it was indeed 3 songs associated with Leonard Nimoy, or Spock. The songs were:
Spock sound clip
Artist is the name of a famous Vulcan diplomat who officiated at Spock’s wedding in “Amok TIme”
Hey, look who’s in this video!
And I was not aware that Leonard Nimoy was a family friend of Susanna Hoffs.
The 50s
March 8, 1968: premiere date of Star Trek episode ‘The Ultimate Computer’
A new computer system causes havoc while being tested aboard the Enterprise.
This episode is one of the few that greatly benefited from the HD remaster process from a few years back.
I love that they utilized a similar starbase design from the Star Trek: Vanguard novel series.
Original:
Remastered:
The camera rotated around the war games task force as the got into formation for the attack.
“Hit on the Excalibur.”
In FASA’s Star Trek The Role Playing Game, my ‘ego’ character (Commodore Christopher Saguisag) was aboard Excalibur (as a lieutenant or ensign) when the M-5 attacked and destroyed her. Salvage parties found my character in auxiliary control, wearing an experimental ‘life support belt’ which saved his life. Years later that character would serve aboard the rebuilt/refitted U.S.S. Excalibur (NCC-1788) as her commanding officer until the Battle of Wolf 359.
This one is certainly in my top 5 all-time favorite episodes list.
Say goodnight, Dr. Daystrom…
Flashback: 1978
7 (ABC) STAR WARS – Drama
R2 is re-captured by the Jawas. Luke and the gang plot to rescue him.
When I was 11 years old, I imagined that instead of another Star Wars movie, we would get a Star Wars television series. This was around the time that we had had both a Logan’s Run TV series, and a Planet of the Apes TV series, so it made perfect sense, to me. I even came up with possible TV Guide listings, like the one above.
I was more than excited when we got a second movie, a couple of years later.
More time passed, and we got more movies, and finally some animated TV series.
But I had always hoped that a live-action series would happen one day.
And now it looks like it’s happening.
I know a lot of folks, including some friends, and of course the toxic fanbois, are decrying this, claiming that Disney is milking the franchise.
Fair enough.
But when George Lucas stated that he was leaving Lucasfilm in the best hands when he sold his company to Disney, what the hell did you think was going to happen? More periods of no movies? More books and comics that not everyone reads?
Movies and television are the most accessible form of entertainment. Lucas himself was too busy running the rest of his company to focus on Star Wars or even Indiana Jones, for that matter. So why not hand the reins over to a company that could commit the time and resources to create new Star Wars?
And for those who claim that Star Wars isn’t special anymore because of this ‘over exposure’: it was never special to you in the first place. Not in the way you think it should be.
All those years of nothing but the Expanded Universe, which was consumed by the most diehard fans, but not to the average MOVIEGOER, made for great discussion at conventions or the comic shop or online, but not over casual parties or dinner gatherings. And if you did find folks talking about Star Wars outside of ‘typical’ venues, they were sometimes in hushed tones, and possibly mocked by others present.
Disney has made Star Wars accessible to everyone. The jocks who would tease me back in the day are now sporting First Order t-shirts. The girls who would point and giggle at me and my friends when we were younger are sporting BB-8 purses and Rebel infinity scarves.
This is progress. Progress that I never thought I would see.
This is my own ‘It Gets Better’ moment.
So when the announcement came this morning that Jon Freaking Favreau was signed on to produce and write a live-action Star Wars TV series, I cried.
Cried because another dream from childhood was coming alive. And this one is a doozy.
I can’t make anyone change how they feel about anything, particularly Star Wars in this case, but I can sure as hell bask in the joy of this.
STAR WARS TV IS HAPPENING
I had to double check to see if I typed that right. Damn these tears in my eyes.
