aka Blog v4.0
The fallen Jedi didn’t communicate with Rey at the beginning of The Rise of Skywalker because they all knew that she was a Palpatine. They were not sure if she could be ‘trusted’.
Once they saw her save Ben and fight off the Emperor’s minions, they deemed her worthy of their help.
Thank you for attending my TED Talk.
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:
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.
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”
SPOILERS
NO REALLY SPOILERS
YOU’VE BEEN WARNED, DAMMIT
NOW GO AWAY OR I SHALL TAUNT YOU A SECOND TIME
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:
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!
The quote that stuck with me the most from the trailer?
“Confronting fear is the destiny of the Jedi.”
Because I’ve faced my greatest fear, finding my Dad’s lifeless body at home.
The image that made me gasp?
Similar to the first image of a Star Destroyer in the original film, which had the same effect, more or less, on 10-year old me.
The bit of music that hit me in the feels?
Tie between Yoda’s theme during Threepio’s line:
“Taking one last look sir… at my friends.”
And the overly-triumphant Star Wars main theme during the latter half of the trailer.
A friend said that I have 2 months to get ready for this film, after I stated that I wasn’t ready.
After watching the trailer more than a dozen times, sleeping on it, letting it permeate my dreams, and waking up on Dad’s birthday, I think I may actually be ready for this.
I got a bit emotional when I first watched this trailer earlier today.
Because it IS the end.
Not the end of Star Wars.
It’s the end of a story that I had first been aware of when I was 10 years old, and I’ve followed for 42 years.
The end of the Saga.
The end of the Skywalker story.
The end of a huge chunk of my childhood, since Star Wars has been an integral part of my life since 1977.
At least this story has been.
I said earlier that I don’t like the title, but the more I think about it, the more I suspect that it isn’t what I think it means.
There will be plenty of fan theories, and some may even be right, but as I learned from The Last Jedi, whatever happens happens, and no amount of whining and complaining will change that.
We shall see, come December.
