Hello friends, and happy weekend!
Still reading through Dark Force Rising in small increments. I’m finding it a bit dull, but maybe it’s because I’m reading it in fits and starts. Now that Luke has finally met the crazy clone Jedi Joruus C’Baoth, it’s a bit more interesting. I’m about halfway through the book, so maybe it will start to ramp up a little bit.
I’ve finished Queen’s Hope, and I really enjoyed it. It’s not just about Padme; it’s also about Sabe and Sache, two of her handmaidens from previous novels. It also mentions other women of Star Wars, like Shmi and Beru (who are working with Sabe on Tatooine to help free slaves with a group called the White Suns), and (briefly) Breha Organa. The plot is pretty thin, but it’s not the whole point, really. These books have always been an extended character study of Padme, and that suits me just fine.
Until Brotherhood comes out on May 10th, I’ve been dipping into the short stories from From A Certain Point of View. I bought this book a while ago, but had only read a couple of stories, being sidetracked by other books. Now was a good time to get back into it. I’m not reading it from beginning to end (the stories take place chronologically along with the events of A New Hope). Just skipping around, seeing what interests me. I’ve read some wonderful stories about Obi-Wan (Master and Apprentice by Claudia Gray, Time of Death by Cavan Scott) and one about Yoda on Dagobah (There Is Another by Gary D. Schmidt). Oh, and one about Bail and Breha Organa’s last moments on Alderaan before it’s destroyed (Eclipse by Madeline Roux). 😦 I’m now reading one about R5D4, who purposely malfunctioned so that R2D2 would end up sold to the Lars family, after a heartfelt plea from R2 (The Red One by Rae Carson). These are great stories, taking place in the cracks of the movie, and adding to the richness of the story and the characters. And there’s an Empire Strikes Back version, too! I’m going to follow the logic and assume there’s a ROTJ version coming soon, too.
I did finally finish my rewatch of Rebels. Now I can’t wait for the Ahsoka show; she and Sabine need to hurry up and find Ezra! But the show isn’t coming out until next year, and I’m guessing they won’t find him right away, at least not until the end of the season, if that. So a long wait for the missing Ezra. 😦
I was browsing around a local used bookshop the other day and found some treasures: The Art of The Force Awakens and The Art of the Last Jedi. Gorgeous hardcover books with the concept art of both movies, at a great deal. They usually retail for about $40 each, but I got them both for $30. I was fascinated to discover that originally Rey was going to be called Kira and Finn was going to be called Sam. I love that they recycled the name Kira into Q’ira for Solo: A Star Wars story. You learn something new everyday in the world of Star Wars!
There were also cover reveals for some Legends reissues:
I haven’t read any of these, and probably won’t in the near future, but I love how they’re handpicking particular Legends books (I’m guessing they’re fan favorites) and giving them new, gorgeous covers. If I ever do get to any of them, I’ll probably get the new covers.
In Marvel, Episode Four of Moon Knight (The Tomb) was probably my favorite one so far. It definitely had the Indiana Jones vibe going on, and then it got into some horror territory, and then it just went full-on trippy, lol. I am so loving this show and its weirdness; it’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen.
Finally, we got a Thor: Love and Thunder teaser trailer:
Besides the new Dr. Strange movie, I can’t wait for this one. It looks fun and funny, and seems to delve into the character of Thor a bit more–basically, where he’s going from here. And there’s my Starlord and the GotG crew, and oh, yeah, Jane as the Mighty Thor. Looks like a real fun trip, and I can’t wait. It releases July 22.
Phew! I think that’s it this week. What’s been entertaining you? Let me know in the comments and we’ll talk about it.
Star Wars and Other Obsessions 
Hi there, there is a lot of recycling in the Star Wars universe – from the actual scrap metal and items bought to create the props and scenery for A New Hope (including camera flashguns for a certain elegant weapon) all the way to recycled names such as Luke Starkiller! Even our favourite little bucket of grease droid, Artoo, sort of had a recycled name. George (Lucas) was in the production editing room one day checking the “dailies” – the test footage and shots taken before main shooting took place and whilst viewing one scene a droid appeared onscreen and the editing guy called across to George asking, “What’s the name of this droid? There’s no mention of a name in the script”. Lucas had a tendency to just make things up “on the fly” and didn’t have a name. He then just happened to glance around the production booth and saw a rack of shelves holding some big metal film cannisters and on one particular tin in the sound tapes was one marked “R2-D2” which George read as Artoo and Deetoo. In fact R2-D2 stood for “Reel 2 Dialogue 2” In old analogue filming when a scene was recorded you actually made two reels of film, one with the actual moving image on and a second audio track. These were later played back and synchronised to create the “film”. George quickly said “He’s called Artoo Detoo” simple as that. So that was how Artoo was named. I do know how Admiral Ackbar was named too but I’m not sure I can repeat the story as told to me by Tim Rose (Ackbar’s body actor)
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Hi FT, I did hear about the R2D2 story somewhere, but it was fairly recent. I love learning new things about these movies that have been around for so long!
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