the rise of skywalker

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GeekTyrant, one of my favorite websites, reminds us that this week is the tenth anniversary of the release of the trailer for Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens.  I will never forget that night.  I was reloading YouTube every ten seconds, waiting for the trailer to publish.  And when it finally dropped…

I guarantee you that I watched that thing at least a dozen times before going to bed.  Oh sure, there had been the teaser earlier that April, but this was the full-blown serious look at what the first chapter of Star Wars’s “sequel trilogy” was offering.  And it was glorious!  Everything about that trailer was spot-on perfect: the glimpses, the dialogue, the music… just completely epic.

Here it is if you haven’t watched it in awhile (or if you’ve never had the pleasure of seeing it at all until now):

It had been seven ...

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There is a rumor… rumor mind ya so take this with an industrial sized salt lick… that somewhere in the Disney Vault there rests a cut of Star War Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker that is drastically different and better than what was released theatrically last Christmas.  This cut was allegedly assembled by George Lucas: the Maker himself.  This edit supposedly adds new material, removes several elements we saw in The Rise of Skywalker‘s theater version and perhaps even has a new ending.  The result is a film that is at least forty percent altered from the original cinematic release.

It is supposed to fix the problems that The Rise of Skywalker has, as well as many of the problems that the entire sequel trilogy is rife with.

It is the hope of many fans that “the George Lucas Cut” – IF it exists at all – will ...

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Many of you  by now are hearing the rumors: that Kathleen Kennedy is on the way out as matriarch of the Star Wars franchise.  That the operation will soon be run by either Jon Favreau or Dave Filoni.  That the entire sequel trilogy is going to be scrapped and “re-made”.

Personally, I doubt that last one is going to happen.  Because I can’t but think of all the little girls I’ve seen dressed as Rey for the premiere of the past few Star Wars movies.  Rey is a true heroine to them.  Heck, she is for me too.  But especially to young girls who look to Rey as a role model.  Not I or anyone else should take that away from them.  Besides, Star Wars was ripe for a female character on par with Luke Skywalker and young Obi-Wan Kenobi.  Rey fits the role perfectly.

But I won’t deny that ...

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A few days ago I became an uncle.  Yaaaay me!  Okay, she was born to my best friend from college but the two of us are “brothers from other mothers” if there ever is such a thing.  I’m still going to be “Uncle Chris” and I plan on playing the eccentric relative bit to the hilt where the little lady is concerned.  What more could a kid possibly want?

Anyway, while Weird Ed and his lovely wife and their freshly-decanted spawn were basking in the first hours of being a beautiful family together, Yours Truly felt that  some measure of celebration was in order.  And what better way to mark the occasion than by seeing Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker for the fourth time?

The dovetailing of all that has come before, the symmetry, the complementing… it’s a beautiful thing to behold.  Despite initial impressions that the ...

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WARNING:  This post deals with matters pertaining to Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker, which hit theaters less than 48 hours ago.  There WILL be spoilers openly discussed so if you aren’t one to have the experience of seeing the movie for yourself ruined for you (take the hint: go see it, now now now!) don’t read what I’m about to write.  It is ONLY for those who have already seen The Rise of Skywalker and want to discuss a fairly major element of that movie and the entire “sequel” trilogy as a whole.

No, seriously.  I mean it.  Stop reading if you don’t want The Rise of Skywalker spoiled for you.

Still here?

Okay, let it be on your own head.  Here we go…

Let’s talk about Snoke.  The late Supreme Leader of the First Order who was infamously bisected by his main boy ...

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Now look, I waited decades… decades… to be able to say that I have seen “Episode Nine”.  It became like a lifelong hope that someday, as the Plaid One promised in that Reader’s Digest article in 1982, there would be nine of the Star Wars movies and I wanted to see all of them.  ‘Course, Lucas was referring to the core “Skywalker Saga” at the heartmeat of the saga, and had no idea about the other works that would come (like Rogue One, or The Mandalorian which gets better and better with each new episode).

So yeah.  I haven’t been saying “The Rise of Skywalker” these last several months.  Almost every time I’ve mentioned seeing “Episode Nine”.  And wanna know a cold hard truth?  There are a lot of Star Wars fans, better than I’ll ever be, who didn’t make it this far.  Life in this world can ...

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So let’s get the obvious out of the way first:

YOWZA!!!!  Maybe the greatest Star Wars trailer in all of history.  But ahhhh… will the movie deliver the goods come next month?  No other way to be honest about it: some days I find myself loving The Last Jedi and others, I find it sorely lacking.  There’s just more that could have been done with the sense of pacing and time.  And spending that much time looking for one guy in a casino on the other side of the galaxy (which makes NO sense given the Resistance fleet’s situation) should have been excised completely from the script.  But, it is what it is.  And this far along in the game I’ve gotta be loyal to the end.  The tickets for opening night of The Rise Of Skywalker were already in virtual hand two hours before the trailer premiered.  Bought
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Look, it’s NOT like this blog has become a red-headed stepchild to me.  Naw naw naw, far from it!  Hey, this site has now transpired across fully one-third of my entire lifespan (and hoping it will keep going on for many more thirds, or halfs, or 99.44% and that’s without using cryonics).  And Lord knows, there’s been plenty to muse about in the past few months.

So, what’s gone on that kept all two of my faithful readers on tenterhooks waiting for their friend and humble narrator to return?  In a word: “life”.

See, I was involved in one very hectic task for six months.  One that I’m going to be thankful for having for a very long time to come.  And right on the heels of that came something that has already become the most fulfilling and rewarding career that I have ever had and one that I could ...

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