Part one was really good.
Part two was not.
Continue reading “Random Review: Doctor Who, Spyfall Parts 1 & 2”
Chatty?
Things kinda went quiet around here between the halfway point of The Mandalorian Season 1 and the premiere of The Rise of Skywalker.
Hmph.
I thoroughly enjoyed both, but felt that The Mandalorian stuck the landing for it’s first season and was better than The Rise of Skywalker.
Heck, it was better than the Sequel AND Prequel trilogies, IMHO.
In fact, The Mandalorian ranks up in my top 5 Star Wars entities, in no particular order:
- Star Wars
- Rogue One
- Rebels
- The Mandalorian
- West End Games’ Star Wars The Role Playing Game
The Thrawn Trilogy, Dark Empire, Kenner’s Millennium Falcon playset, my Millennium Falcon keychain and Brian Daley’s Han Solo Trilogy are the next 5 in my list of favorites.
Funny how there’s only two movies in all of Star Wars on my top favorites list.
I’ll still watch them all whenever they play on TV, though.
Appreciation
On the night of the Rise of Skywalker premiere/Fan Event, after the credits stopped and the lights came back on, my niece Chloe suddenly exclaimed,
“OH MY GOD! THAT WAS SOOOOOOOO GOOD!”
Which for me, capped off two weeks of rediscovery and appreciation. Continue reading “Appreciation”
That scene
SPOILERS
NO REALLY SPOILERS
YOU’VE BEEN WARNED, DAMMIT
NOW GO AWAY OR I SHALL TAUNT YOU A SECOND TIME
Countdown?
The Rise of Skywalker
I actually saw it Tuesday night, thanks to a friend who works at ILM. Thanks, DC!
I got to see a crew screening, surrounded by ILM employees and their friends and family. DC was with his kids, and we bumped into DL and his VERY pregnant wife. They joked that there could be more excitement in the theatre, since the baby was due a few days ago.
We got free popcorn and sodas. There was nothing being sold except alcohol, so the kids and I didn’t get any candy. Bummer.
The theatre was sparsely filled, which was great, because I could hear EVERY. LINE. OF. DIALOGUE, unlike other openings where the crowd is rather boisterous.
These are my initial thoughts after coming home and mulling it about in my head.
I loved it. This movie had almost everything that I love about Star Wars.
I laughed, cried, cheered, not in that order, and repeatedly. There were a couple of ‘WTF?’ moments.
This is the first time that I left a theatre after a Star Wars movie totally happy.
My initial ranking puts it behind Rogue One and Star Wars in my personal list, which makes it my 3rd favorite.
So my revised top 10 Star Wars films list looks like this:
- Rogue One
- Star Wars
- The Rise of Skywalker
- The Last Jedi
- The Empire Strikes Back
- Solo
- The Force Awakens
- Return of the Jedi
- Revenge of the Sith
- The Phantom Menace
Admittedly, I felt that it was a bit slow at first, but things really picked up in the second half or even 2/3rds of the film.
Recommended (duh).
Go see it!
Chapter 5
The title of the episode made my jaw drop.
As I though about it later while driving to work, I teared up, because I know Dad would have liked this series, and this episode.
Anyways, The Mandalorian Chapter 5 is everything I’ve ever wanted from a Star Wars TV show. Familiar locales, a Mando bounty hunter, [redacted], and a plot that was familiar as well, but with a Star Wars flair to it.
Speaking of familiar locales, is it weird that I knew where he was before they confirmed it in the episode?
And as much as I love the little dude, I was glad that there was less Baby Yoda than in all 4 previous episodes.
That other character straight up looked like what I figure I would look like in that universe, right down to his profession. And fate.
In fact, my head canon now accepts that that WAS me in this episode. So there.
Thanks, Dave Filoni!
I love this series, probably more than anything else in Star Wars, except Star Wars.
Never Give Up…
“That was a hell of a thing.” – Fred Kwan
There were maybe 30+ folks in the theatre. The sound cut out during the pre movie thing by Screen Junkies, including an Honest Trailer for Galaxy Quest. It was restored a couple of minutes later after a customer went out to tell one of the workers.
The documentary was great, lots of stories of behind the scenes by cast and crew and commentary from celebrity fans like Greg Berlanti, Damon Lindelof and Wil Wheaton.
I teared up when they were talking about Alan Rickman.
This documentary reminded me of how much I love this movie.
Afterwards I picked up one of the souvenir Rise of Skywalker lightsaber cups from the snack bar.
I should have filled it up with blue Icee. Oh well.
Once I got home, I turned on the movie.
I highly recommend it if you’re a fan of the movie. Not sure where it will be shown again, to be honest.
Compartmentalization
In Fandom, we all ask who/what are favorites are:
- Favorite Show
- Favorite Movie
- Favorite Character
Each can further be quantified buy genre or specific show or movie, in the case of characters.
In the case of Star Trek, for example, my favorite characters are Spock, Data, and Odo in TOS, TNG, and DS9, respectively.
In Star Wars, my favorites are Han Solo, Boba Fett, Captain Rex, Kanan Jarrus, Jyn Erso, and The Mandalorian.
But if I had to chose an overall favorite in each?
Spock, obviously, for Star Trek.
In Star Wars, it’s trickier, for me, but if pressed on it, Boba Fett would be chosen over Han Solo.
That is, until now. 3 episodes in and The Mandalorian is fast becoming my overall favorite character. He’s what Boba Fett should have been, had the prequels never been made and his backstory changed from what had been written or speculated.
This comes from a comment/thread on a friend’s timeline on Facebook, where it was asked if Boba Fett was cool or just looked cool. I replied that some of the Expanded Universe stories with Fett were cool.
I still think Fett is cool, though. The Mandalorian is simply better.
This is the Way
Rarely has a show have me so engulfed that I have tears of joy by the third episode.
Those tears were for something specific in that episode, but still.
The Mandalorian is SO GOOD.
“I gotta get one of those.”
The one thing that annoys me three episodes in is that my Mandalorian action figure is now TOTALLY inaccurate.
Annoying, but I don’t care.
I have spoken.
This is the Way.