TV
Star Wars Rebels
Over the years I’ve had to remind myself that for the most part, Star Wars Rebels is a kid’s show. Time and time again I’d get sucked into the story of the series only to get pulled out when there’d be an episode that was all-action, or one where the characters break into some location they realistically shouldn’t be able to or do some otherwise fantastical thing that didn’t fit with the “sci-fi realism” other episodes. Then I’d have to remember, Star Wars Rebels is a kid’s show on a kid’s network, Disney XD, and all the episodes with the complex stories and character relationships that I’ve dug so much over the last four seasons but came to an end last week; those were the anomalies that didn’t fit with the standard kid’s show episodes.
But beautiful anomalies they were.
Star Wars Rebels was one of the first Star Wars “things” to debut after Disney bought the franchise from George Lucas a few years ago. Taking place sometime before the events of Episode IV, in Star Wars Rebels it’s dark days for the nascent rebellion who, at that point, literally have no hope of defeating the Empire. Enter the crew of the ship the Ghost lead by one of the only Jedi left alive after Episode III Kanan Jarrus (Freddie Prinze Jr.) and ace-pilot Hera Syndulla (Vanessa Marshall) who, along with their crew, try and stop the Empire’s expanse anyway they can while also teaching young Ezra Bridger (Taylor Gray) the ways of the Jedi. Along the way the likes of Darth Maul and even Darth Vader (voiced by James Earl Jones himself!!!) shows up to try and put an end to the rebellion.
The creators of Star Wars Rebels did a great job of not upsetting hard-core fans of Star Wars like me while at the same time telling new and interesting stories from a period that, up until then, wasn’t mined very well for its potential in previous media. Anyone who knows Star Wars knows that the Empire is at its height in Episode IV and because Star Wars Rebels takes place immediately before the start of that movie, we as the audience knows the characters on the show aren’t going to be the ones to defeat the Empire. But playing on this, in Star Wars Rebels many of the victories are minor ones, and because the focus of the show is of the crew of the Ghost, even these small victories can feel like big ones.
Over the course of four seasons there’s been a few ups and downs with Star Wars Rebels, which is to be expected. Some episodes worked better than others and some seasons worked better than others too. But it’s the fact that any of the episodes worked at all on a level other than simple kid’s action series that I think Star Wars Rebels was one of those hidden animation gems that fans of the genera flock to but most others ignore because, “I don’t watch cartoons.”
I suppose even if Star Wars Rebels is done I should be happy that the creators of the series got to tell their whole story without the show being cancelled before the end of the story as so many animated series are.
Legion TV spot
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ypdctnhssdw
Lost in Space TV spot
Comics
New Mutants Epic Collection: Curse of the Valkyries Paperback
I have a feeling that this collected edition of New Mutants was originally meant to coincide with the release of the New Mutants movie that was originally due out this spring. Except that movie was pushed back til next year while this collected edition is still being published on its original release date. This edition is kind’a interesting in that it marks the end of the original New Mutants story run right before Rob Liefeld took over the book up until issue #100 when New Mutants would come to an end and be transitioned over to X-Force.
From the horror of Limbo to the glory of Asgard! As the fires of Inferno burn, the New Mutants must escape Magik’s dark domain – but that leaves the way open for S’ym and his demons to invade Earth! Luckily, X-Factor’s former wards, the X-Terminators, are on the scene! Can Rusty, Skids, Boom-Boom, Rictor, Artie, Leech and Wiz Kid help the New Mutants repel an army of demons and save Magik’s soul? Then, when Hela’s evil spell corrupts Mirage’s Valkyrie side, Doctor Strange lends a magical hand! But to cure Mirage completely, the New Mutants must travel to Asgard, home of the mighty Norse gods! The trouble is, Hela is scheming to murder Odin and conquer Asgard! Will a handful of mortal mutants be enough to defeat the Goddess of Death?
Star Wars: The Classic Newspaper Comics, Vol. 2
The second collected edition of the Star Wars newspaper strips is out this week. If the first edition was somewhat unique in that all they had to go on was the first movie, then this edition had the first and second movie, the Marvel comic book stories and a few novels for the creators of the newspaper strips to draw from.
The epic seven-days-a-week sagas begin with “Han Solo at Stars’ End,” based on the novel by Brian Daley, adapted by Archie Goodwin and Alfredo Alcala, followed by seven complete adventures by the storied team of Archie Goodwin and artist Al Williamson. The pair had previously worked together on Creepy, Eerie, and Blazing Combat comics magazines, the Flash Gordon comic book, and 13 years on the Secret Agent Corrigan newspaper strip. They seamlessly shifted gears to take over, at George Lucas’s request, the Star Wars newspaper strip. Included are all strips from October 6, 1980 to February 8, 1981.
Movies
The Movie Chain: #10: The Martian (2015)
Last week: Sunshine
The Movie Chain is a weekly, micro-movie review where each week’s film is related to the previous week’s movie in some way.
I thought the film The Martian was okay when I first saw it. This movie about an astronaut (Matt Damon) marooned on Mars when he’s left behind after a natural disaster and has to survive without any realistic hope of rescue, then having to wait years for rescue to arrive wasn’t my favorite movie of the year. But over the last few years I’ve found myself watching it again, and again. In fact, I’ve probably watched parts of The Martian at least ten times.
I think part of the appeal of the movie for me is the theme of never giving in to desperation. I’m pretty much just the opposite — I’m the guy who would have stayed in the CDC building at the end of the first season of The Walking Dead along with Dr. Jenner. But to see a movie where the message is fight ‘em til you can’t and then fight some more really resonated with me like with the movie Dunkirk did a few weeks back.
I liked The Martian so much that I recently had to put a moratorium on watching it whenever it comes on TV. Sometimes I’ll get so infatuated with certain movies I’ll watch them so many times that I’ll start to dislike them because of over exposure and I don’t want that happening with The Martian.
Next week: No memories? No worries, solve your problems by kicking people in their heads and punching them in their faces.
Cool TV Posters of the Week
I think it was partly because when it was released A Christmas Story didn’t do well at the box office and therefor showed up a lot in the mid–1980s during movie Christmas marathons when, I’m assuming, the movie was cheap to air so it played all the time. My parents and grandparents might have been into It’s a Wonderful Life or White Christmas, but for me and my brother the only reason to sit through those yawn factories was that eventually A Christmas Story would air.
And that may be why the new FOX The Exorcist TV series caught with me — I really don’t have anything else to compare it to.
The premiere of the new show The Good Place debuted last week on NBC. It was billed as a comedy but after having watched the first three episodes that all ran last week I don’t think that The Good Place had many laughs — I think I chuckled a few times during the episodes. But what the show really is, is one of the darkest and most disturbing things on TV in the guise of a comedy which is actually kind’a interesting.
This new FOX series based on the 1987 Lethal Weapon film is basically Lethal Weapon-lite by way of the movie Last Action Hero where every police chase is a HIGH-OCTANE chase and every police shootout is a HIGH-OCTANE shootout. And, if a good character is going to be shot it’s going to be in their shoulder so they’ll be able to be up and around that same day. The bright shining spot of the mostly “we’ve seen this all before” Lethal Weapon is Damon Wayans as Roger Murtaugh who plays the role with just enough cheese to make the first episode at least watchable. Clayne Crawford as Martin Riggs, on the other hand, starts off the episode with a thick southern accent which he somehow looses after the first ten minutes. His version of the Riggs character seems to prowl the depths of depression one minute, pining over a dead wife and child while drinking shots and almost playing Russian Roulette, and almost joyous the next.
