Happy Weekend my friends!
Last week, I wrote of my struggles to get through Ronin: A Star Wars Visions novel. I’m sad to report I haven’t made much progress on that book, but I still have hope I will finish it…someday.
In the meantime, I picked up Master & Apprentice, by Claudia Gray. It’s a re-read, but it’s one of my favorite SW canon books by one of my favorite SW authors. With the recent news that Hayden Christiansen will be in the Ahsoka series (OMG, yay!), it got me thinking about the upcoming Obi-Wan series, which naturally got me thinking about Obi-Wan himself, which led me to picking up this book. It’s a book about Padawan Obi-Wan and his relationship with Qui Gon Jinn, and an important mission, of course. I wrote about my thoughts on this book on my other blog The Star Wars Reader (which I’ve been shamefully neglecting lately), and you can read it here if you’d like.
On my Kindle, I’m still reading the middle-grade book Moving Target by Jason Fry and Cecil Castellucci, a story about Leia between Empire and Return of the Jedi. I’m enjoying it and will probably finish it this coming week and share more of my thoughts on it then.
In movies, continuing with the train of thought above with Obi-Wan, in reading Master & Apprentice I thought about The Phantom Menace, and so decided to watch it. Which naturally led to Attack of the Clones and then of course Revenge of the Sith. So there was an unplanned prequel marathon this week, and I keep thinking, How could I have not loved these back in the day? Lol. I was young and ignorant, prejudiced against anything new in Star Wars. I’m so glad I’ve seen the error of my ways. 🙂 I’ve learned, in my dotage, that I’m so happy with any kind of Star Wars that is offered, that they are gifts, and I am grateful, lol.
Anyway, in Marvel: I watched the 2015 version of Fantastic Four. I thought I’d check out this updated version, but I had a feeling I wouldn’t like it as much. And I was right. I guess this is supposed to be a more “woke” version, and Michael B. Jordan does add diversity to the group, while Sue Storm isn’t Reed’s romantic interest here, or as sexualized as Jessica Alba’s Sue was (yeah, I admit that was kind of cringy). But here’s the thing: the fun factor is absolute zero. There’s no chemistry whatsoever between the characters. And Dr. Doom’s madness stems more from a hatred of the world rather than a personal hatred of the F4, which makes him a bit…dull. The whole thing was dull, in fact, lol. I don’t see why it even had to be remade. I’m assuming it was kind of a flop, because there’s been no more movies with this crew, and I’m glad. I want a reunion with the original cast–now that would be fun!
That’s it this week. What’s been entertaining you lately? Let me know in the comments and we’ll talk about it!
Star Wars and Other Obsessions 
I think the sequels are very underrated. Are they as good as the original trilogy? Frack no. But on my 0-5 (with a 1-4 bell curve) scale, I’ve got the first two as 3ish and the third as 4+. In other words, they’re all good to excellent. People can be forgiven for actually liking them.
The sequels? Those went in reverse order. I’ve got Last Jedi and Wreck of Skywalker in the 2 range. They’re not as bad as the 1984 Dune… but they’re mediocre at best.
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My ratings are thus: the Original trilogy is perfect. The prequels often have silly dialogue, but the stories are great. Now, I understand why some don’t like the sequels, and I respect that. But I love them, lol. The Force Awakens is great. The Last Jedi is brilliant, though it took me a few viewings to come to that conclusion. And while The Rise of Skywalker is a hot mess, I liked it, and there are some great scenes that make up for its lack of cohesion. The prequels and sequels are not perfect, but I love them, because–Star Wars! Lol. Thanks for reading and weighing in.
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