#the last jedi is the best star wars film since empire

[sjbattleangel]

Me whenever hacks like Lily Orchard go after Steven Universe, She-Ra, The Owl House, The Legend Of Korra, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Sailor Moon, Revolutionary Girl Utena, Moon Girl, Star Wars, Dungeon Meshi, ect.

(P.S: I am a massive fan of the media mentioned above) (P.S: Yes. I will fight to the end defending Steven Universe, She-Ra, The Owl House, Utena, Evangelion, Sailor Moon and The Last Jedi.)

[ladystoneboobs]

i present: small and non-verbal but very funny star wars moments:

ep. V: the empire strikes back--the millenium falcon achieves hyperspeed again, despite the imperials' best plans to the contrary. admiral piett and his men are terrified of vader's reaction, all trying to stay out of his path. but he's still too busy brooding on his loss of luke to even force-choke anyone. that's how thrown off he was by his newly-mutilated son running away from him!

the sole exception to this collective terror being this guy, so intent on his own important work, that he doesn't even notice his scary boss until darth vader has walked right past him.

ep. III: revenge of the sith--padme's droids somehow getting her unconscious body back on her ship.

in the novelisation, r2-d2 just drags her up the ramp with his gadgetry, but in the script it's c-3po who carried her up bridal style. which would be impossible to film when 3po could barely manage to move around under his own weight. what makes it really funny for me is that there was no need for any of this. why not just have obi-wan pick her up as he's hurrying outta there after failing to kill her husband? i mean, it's surely not good to be lying out in the open on a volcanic world with poisonous gases, but it wouldn't be good for obi-wan running around out there either, and this lady was about to have broken heart as her only known cause of death. when has science ever held back star wars? and i can't imagine that being dragged by wires from artoo or dropped every few steps by threepio could've been too good for her body either. just makes for an absurd little (offscreen) background detail amid the tragedy of the end of padme's life, imho.

ep. IV: a new hope--obi-wan vanishing into thin air when struck down and vader's (very understandable) bafflement afterward.

by this point in the second screencap, luke is shooting at him in retaliation and the stormtroopers are all shooting back at luke, but anakin is still dealing with this unprecendented vanishing and busy searching for any corporeal remains of obi-wan kenobi with his boot. "where did you go, my old master? how could this happen? i wasn't done fighting with you yet."

ep. V: the empire strikes back--vader inviting lando calrissian, chewbacca, han solo, and princess leia to share a meal with him and boba fett, before taking chewie, han, and leia prisoner and torturing han.

i think a lot of people must assume there was no actual meal, but it's not like vader had to go to all that trouble in the first place of setting out an entire banquet table with proper containers and utensils. just because that was lando's pretext to bring them to vader does not necessitate actually having a table set. darth vader could have had them led into any other room with boba fett and stormtroopers waiting to just arrest them right away. instead, as we can see in the second screencap, (over lando's shoulder and leia's bun), vader did sit down at the head of the table, waiting for his prey to join him. and i swear, in one of the earlier drafts of empire's screenplay there is actually a scene showing their awkward meal together. or rather, han and leia being served food and drinks while darth vader just sits there, watching evilly, explaining his great villainous plan to use them to trap luke. it's like dr. evil making austin and vanessa sit down at his table in the first austin powers movie. darth vader really did always live for drama

ep. VI: return of the jedi--leia telling han that she loves luke, but not that way. he's her brother, silly! as if this is something they all knew all along, with zero follow-up explanation. you can just see han wordlessly processing this bombshell of brand new information through his facial expressions alone. (this lasts so long that i wouldn't even count it were it not likely overshadowed by everything else in the ending of rotj.)

wh-what did you say? your brother? since when?

wait-wait-wait. i've seen you mouth kissing luke right in front of me before. i'm so confused now.

just what kind of weirdo family have i gotten myself mixed up with here?

oh, well, she's only kissing me now. that's good enough, i guess. maybe?

hey, as long as you do love me and luke in different ways ...

i don't know much about families, but i've heard they all have their weird traditions. so who am i to judge you, babe? as long as we're together now, that's all that matters.

[skeletons-eat]

I watched 'the last Jedi' for the first time (for real not only clips n stuff) and here are my thoughts.

Okay can we please talk about the last jedi????? Because!???? I just watched it and I absolutely loved it ngl. I am huge fan of the force awakens but hadn't watched the last two of the sequel films due to the hate n stuff but I adored this film, especially the end.

So let's start at the last scene of SW:TLJ.

That kid telling his friends about what we had just scene beforehand (or perhaps another part of Luke's life as a reference to this moment?), then grabbing the broom with the force and then afterward showing him in a 'Jedi pose' with the resistance-symbol-ring ? Amazing. Especially with the Context of Luke saying beforehand that kylo was wrong when he stated that there will be no more rebellion and jedi.

We as the audience think in that moment of our protagonists i. e. Finn, rey, Poe, etc, but what I believe is more significant is that there will always be people out there who wish to do good and who will rebel in the face of oppression. Neither the Empire nor the first order or any sith in the galaxy can destroy all hope there is because that's something that will never die!

And hope is in star wars synonominous with the light and the Jedi, thus making it the major statement that comes with this movie.

This is also underlined with Luke's final ending in that movie.

When we were I triduced to him in the sequels he was supposed to mirror Obi-Wan from the OT, which we dont think makes much sense at first because we still know Luke as our Luke. The one who redeemed Vader. The one who beet Palpatine. Our chosen one who helped rebalanced the Galaxy and who rebuild the Galaxy.

What we as an audience begin to understand is that even paragons of light like Luke are able to fail. Are able to make mistakes and hurt others in a persute to do the right thing. That even they will be affected by traumas and fears no matter what.

And I believe that that was the right thing to do. We saw Luke in his prime so it was good to see him at his lowest simply because he was able to heal from that. And only because someone believed in him. Someone he had never met but had a undeniable connection to. Which again reflects what he did for Vader in RotJ.

I also loved Finn and Rose in this movie they were amazing and funny and cool and no I dont take criticism.

I also really liked Poe's character development from what one would consider overconfident soldier to true leader that we saw in the movie especially since it manifests to us that these characters are actively growing.

And I can't leave before mentioning rey simply because I love her for her character and hate how the made her pretty dependant to kylo as a character. I am a person who dislikes kylo/Ben and this whole ship since I'd find it better to have more of her alone and less of him but anyway.

Rey was figureing out a lot of stuff in this movie, though I enjoyed her actually verbally beating the shit out of Luke since she has no social etiquette which is AMAZING.

Her whole development with the force training and stuff was also really cool and I simply loved her screen time (except for Kyle).

Getting to my least favourite part (though I kept to the major points here);Kyle Ron/Ben.

I personally greatly dislike him as a Person. The idea behind his Character though is quite good if you think about it. The whole point of the ST is to mirror the OT and twist it up weirdly in the which comes off as 'history rhymes but is ever changing', but in this case it twists it in a way which makes the first order seem rediculous and pathetic.

Which makes sense since eveil generally is.

I like how they made the bad guys actually unlikable and weird and only out to do what is best for themself and don't understand how horrible they come off as, because evil isn't smart ( at Keats not in most cases) .

And it mirrors the Empire in way which worsens that very image because this empire is this big machine of terror and power and the first order just...tries to be that even though they can't. It's truly as easy as that and I love how they redicule evil and make it seem stupid. Because that's what it is simply put.

[an-aussie-button-masher]

2023 Gaming Wrap-Up

   Welcome back to what is apparently a yearly tradition on this blog: the Gaming Wrap-Up! As we drag ourselves to the end of 2023, it’s always good to take a look back at the last 12 months and try to figure out just what was going on there. And well, this year…kinda sucked. It had a lot going on - it was stressful and exhausting at best for so many of us, but there’s always a bit of good within the bad (for example, on a more personal note, this was the year where I actually got a few of my articles purchased by publishers! Now I can, by definition, call myself a professional writer! Go me!), and video games are always an excellent escape from reality.   2023 had loads of great game releases, including some highly-anticipated sequels and remakes, while the business side of the gaming world had a fair few blunders and foot-shooting (Unity, anyone?). Before the end of the year, let’s all take a moment to remember all the highlights of the gaming world of 2023 - enjoy!

JANUARY-MARCH    Let’s get started with a bit of the old and a bit of the new - a pair of high-quality remakes of some classic survival horror games, Dead Space and Resident Evil 4, set a new bar for gaming remakes, with RE4 even being nominated for GOTY! Meanwhile, Pizza Tower took the indie genre by storm with its deranged animations and surprisingly catchy music, and Hi-Fi Rush ambushed us with a sneaky release and some toe-tapping rhythmic combat.   Fans of classic Nintendo games had a bit of a sad start to the year however, with the announcement that Nintendo would be completely shutting down all online services for the 3DS and Wii U, basically pulling the life support plug on the two platforms for good. Additionally, the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) continues its streak of rough years; with X-Box, Sony and Nintendo all foregoing attendance, this years’ E3 was announced to be cancelled. With a rise in developers and publishers preferring digital and social media announcements over live shows thanks to the impact of COVID, could this be signalling the end of live gaming conventions like E3?

APRIL-JUNE    Moving on, 2023 also saw the release of some particularly exciting sequels - Dead Island 2 finally released after 9 years in development hell while The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom blew its GOTY-winning predecessor out of the water. Street Fighter 6 brought in Metro City veterans and newcomers alike, and Star Wars: Jedi Survivor continued the tale of Cal Kestis in his battle against the Empire in a galaxy far, far away.   From the small screen to the big screen, The Super Mario Bros. Movie joined the small-but-growing ranks of video game movie adaptations that are actually good, thanks to staying true to the games’ actual identity instead of trying to turn it into something else like so many other game-to-film adaptations. E3’s cancellation also wasn’t enough to stop the Summer Games Fest from being held, featuring a mix of live and digital shows and announcements. Also, this year was quite the mixed bag for game publishing companies - Embracer Group, a publisher for major development teams such as Gearbox Entertainment and Crystal Dynamics, went under some massive structural changes due to a major deal falling through, and was just one of many publishers that underwent huge changes in 2023.

JULY-SEPTEMBER    The latter half of the year didn’t see quite as many major game releases, but it was certainly a case of quality over quantity - Baldur’s Gate 3, an absolute narrative feat, practically overtook the entire second half of the year for both those familiar with the series or D&D and players entering the Forgotten Realms for the first time. Oh, and Starfield was released too.   Meanwhile, a cornerstone of video game voice acting, Charles Martinet, retired from voicing the Mario bros. Having provided the iconic voices of Mario, Luigi, Wario and Waluigi since 1994, Charles still works as a global ambassador for Nintendo in conventions across the world, while the superstar voice role would be taken over by Kevin Afghani later in the year.   Back in the business side of the gaming world, Unity - the group behind one of the most prominent game development engines in the industry - completely shot themselves in the foot this year as they announced an incredibly oppressive retroactive licensing fee to begin next year. This new fee would mean that every single developer that had ever used their engine would need to pay Unity for every copy of their game that has ever sold, even from before the fee took effect. Naturally, everyone disliked this, especially within the indie game community. The sheer amount of backlash caused Unity to rework the agreement to be “less aggressive”, but their reputation is beyond saving now.

OCTOBER-DECEMBER    2023 looks to be closing off with a bang - in yet another major simultaneous release, October 20th saw Spider-Man 2 expand the urban playground of everyone’s favourite web-slinging duo while Super Mario Bros. Wonder brought Nintendo’s flagship franchise in a fresh new direction. Meanwhile, another highly anticipated sequel, Alan Wake II, spun a terrifying new narrative just in time for Hallowe’en.   Of course, the biggest talking point for the end of the year was the Game Awards! Baldur’s Gate 3 beat out some incredibly tough competition for Game of the Year and swept the rest of the awards alongside Alan Wake II; a handful of exciting new games were announced, including a sequel to the classic World of Goo and a vampire-hunting action adventure starring Marvel’s Blade; and we learned that the Call of Duty developers can’t take a joke. However, the biggest announcement arrived just before the awards, bringing the entire gaming community together for one of the most anticipated sequels in video game history (besides Half-Life 3): Grand Theft Auto VI. Set for a 2025 release, 12 years after its predecessor, GTA6 returns to the sunburnt beaches of Vice City, introducing a modern Bonnie & Clyde as its’ pair of playable protagonists Lucia and Jason. 

LOOKING FORWARD    So, aside from the GTA fans that are probably cryogenically freezing themselves until 2025, what are your plans for next year now that 2023 is nearly over? There’s plenty of other games to look forward to - Star Wars and Marvel fans will be getting another exciting set of games with Star Wars Outlaws putting players in the shoes of the galaxy’s next big name in the galactic underworld, while Wolverine will be hacking and slashing his way through the neon-lit Madripoor. Taking our hands off the controller for a moment, a handful of other games will be taking their turn on the silver screen with a promising-looking Fallout streaming series and a somewhat more sketchy-looking Borderlands film. Can’t be any worse than the Halo series, right…right?

   I mentioned in last years’ wrap-up that 2023’s E3 is hopefully back on track, which has aged a bit poorly; well, there’s no need to worry about that this time as next year’s E3 has already been cancelled. At least that means saving on tickets, but is the age of big gaming conventions coming to a close? Time will tell, especially depending on if Summer Games Fest is still in the works. Maybe things are switching to a more digital-based platform for game announcements - as someone not fond of crowds, that suits me just fine.

   But, hey, that’s not until next year. Until then, I hope you enjoyed this look back at the gaming world of 2023, and I look forward to seeing you all again in 2024!   Happy holidays!

An Aussie Button-Masher

[forzasedici]

i love it that you reblogged the “get to know the blogger” post bc i saw you reblog a lot of “le belle et la bete” gifs and was curious about your general taste/favourite films 👁️👁️

this is going to be so long i'm sorry but i just love talking about it so let's start!

i'm going to highlight some of the movies from my favourites list on letterboxd aka the movies that butter my bun:

— Skyfall (2012) and 1917 (2019) both directed by Sam Mendes are honestly great movies with Skyfall for me being the best Bond movie and 1917 as one of the best war movies. What made 1917 one of my favourites was the watching it at cinema experience plus the reveal in the end is just *chef's kiss*

— Tarantino movies. Like that's it. I know a lot of ppl don't like him but for me he's one of the best writers and sure has his problems but you cannot deny his work is great. Inglorious Basterds for me take the cake as his best movie with Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill: Part I being up there as well. One of his underrated movies is definitely Jackie Brown which I've loved.

— Period dramas. Another one of my fave genres. Emma. (2020) being one of my favourite movies. Emma (2009) is also a great adaptation albeit it is a series. Pride and Prejudice (2005) and (1995) are great as well. Little Women has recently grown on me way more and remains my favourite Greta Gerwig movie. Another underrated movie for me is Ophelia which as the title says focuses more on Ophelia from the play Hamlet. It's really well done and I've enjoyed watching it.

— This one is also a period drama but it is a bollywood movie so I wanted to highlight it. Jodhaa Akbar is a MUST watch such a good movie it's insane like I'm sorry you have a sword fight sequence between two lovers and you have won me over.

— Let's get franchises out of the way. Obviously Marvel movies are some of my favourites with Avengers: Infinity War, Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Thor: Ragnarok which are in my top 3. Both Black Panther movies and Spider-man: No Way Home are taking honourable mentions. For their series my favourite has been Moon Knight. (Sony gets their cookies for Spider-man: Into the Spider-verse and obviously Venom because come on now eddie and venom are otp y'all don't get it like i do)

— Next big franchise is Star Wars. Original trilogy: Empire Strikes Back. Prequel trilogy: Revenge of the Sith (I'm an Anakin girlie unfortunately) and Sequel trilogy: The Last Jedi (Rian Johnson supremacy). Series: Obi-wan Kenobi (i cried). Honourable mention to Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (i also cried).

— Since I mentioned Rian Johnson let's expand on that because the man just gets movies and everyone should watch Looper and Knives Out!!

— Denis Villeneuve. MY MAN!!!! Arrival and Dune *chef's kiss* if you can bear longer movies also Blade Runner 2049 but it isn't one of my favorites exactly because it was long and boring. And since probably someone will say the same for Dune at least Dune has you looking at Oscar Isaac and Timothee Chalamet sure they look miserable but that's when men look the best.

— Spy movies? like idk how to call this but let me list them all. Anna (2019) they succeeded where The Red Sparrow failed like if you're looking for anything similar to Black Widow Anna is the one I would recommend a thousand times. The Nice Guys and The Man From U.N.C.L.E. great comedies I just love them. It's not really a spy but assassin I guess but John Wick franchise is the shit and the best movie is obviously John Wick 2.

— Another director that has me is unfortunately Christopher Nolan. Can I get more basic than that? I do admit his faults and that's sound mixing is fucking awful, I don't understand his movies while I am watching them most of the time and this man cannot write a female character for the life of him BUT 🎶 shapes and colours 🎶. His ideas are what draw me in and it's just visual masterpieces doesn't matter if I can't hear the dialogue if it looks good am I right?

— Smashing musicals and animation together because this is already becoming too long. Singin' In The Rain and The Sound of Music are a MUST watch and also I'm a Phantom of the Opera girlie so if you're going to watch anything watch the 25th anniversary version. I am also unfortunately a Hamilton girlie and the damage to my life caused by that damn musical is irreparable. For animation musical Hercules, The Emperor's New Groove, Anastasia, The Lion King and Tangled and purely animation Howl's Moving Castle, Lilo and Stitch, The Incredibles and Inside Out.

— Now it's time for a quick fire: Ford v Ferrari and Rush are two best movies for my motorsport girlies, Gone Girl and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire for my book girlies, Death at a Funeral and Hot Fuzz for the british comedy girlies, i'm also unfortunately a Titanic girlie probably the movie i've watched most in my life, THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS!!! A. MUST. WATCH. Monty Python movies are great if you ignore some of the outdated jokes. Jackie is one of my favorites just because it's one of Natalie's Portman's best performances and that's also including Black Swan but both movies are also visually stunning.

— The Death of Stalin is one of the best comedies as well. Ready Player One is one of my weirder favourites since many ppl see it as an average movie but i'd recommend it to anyone (literally can't believe it's my favourite Spielberg movie 😭😭). Also add to the video game genre Tron: Legacy because I will also recommend that movie to anyone. The Grand Budapest Hotel is also a must watch like if anyone made the world go through a pink paint shortage before Barbie did then it's this movie and finally The Batman (2022). Let's end on a battinson note just because.

— Crazy to think I haven't even mentioned all of my favourites but I guess this is kinda the jist of it all. Basically my taste is anything as long as I like it I guess jsbsjsbsjs. (I forgot to mention the horror genre but that's just because I don't really have a favourite movie like if I had to say anything it would be The Conjuring movies.)

— As for Le Belle Et La Bête it's one of my new favourites and honestly got me into a french cinema mood so I'll probably find more favourites there. One of my goals has always been to watch more foreign movies but not many have entered my favourites club unfortunately. Also fuck disney live-action remakes (except you cinderella (2015)).

get to know the blogger

[90shaladriel]

My son just watched the Star Wars OT for the first time and some observations.

Ok this is a bit of cross-fandom random thoughts, but I wanted to put somewhere.

I'm a child of the 80s-90s. I grew up with Star Wars, was legitimately obsessed with it from ages 3-7 me and my brothers endlessly rewatched the Original trilogy (or just 'Star Wars' as it was known then) on VHS tapes in those years. I remember being so excited for the theatrical re-releases and later the prequels.

My son (4) doesn't watch a lot of non-educational TV or movies, partly we don't show him much, but also he tends to be easily frightened by any tension or scary villains. Probably the scariest movie he had watched before this was Cars 2 (which was weirdly violent!) I also thought that maybe the violence would be something he wasn't really prepared for, none of his books or TV shows really shows graphic deaths. The worst thing he's seen are clips from TV News about the war in Ukraine which isn't often.

Last year I picked up some old children's books from my parents, and I had a stack of books that were the Star Wars read along books (that used to come with a small vinyl record) for the OT and a Star Wars ABC books. I would occasionally read these books at bedtime and my son gradually became enthusiastic about them, so we would get other Star Wars books from the library, most of those were either Prequel-era or even now Sequel-era stuff which he seemed to like and get. I think what's important is that going into actually watching the films he had been "spoiled" somewhat on the basic storylines and characters, like he knew Anakin Skywalker became Darth Vader, but honestly I think at his age he doesn't follow stories that well, so knowing all the characters and places upfront probably helped him enjoy it more I think?

So I thought with this I would just sort of give some observations about my son's experience and also my own re-watching the films for the first time in years. I had the Blu-ray Special Editions that were released maybe 5-6 years ago?

A New Hope

On rewatch this is by far my favorite, it's funny, gritty, action packed. It is pretty violent, dead bodies seen in the first firefight on the ship, Vader force choking people, Owen and Beru's burnt corpses, but overall this didn't seem to be harmful to my son, we did talk a bit about it being a war and that people were 'hurt'. He seemed most affected by the death of Obi-wan, and kept asking where he went. My son seemed to like Luke and R2-D2. I will say a lot of the audio was kind of uneven on this edition, I had trouble hearing dialog and my son can't read subtitles so I was explaining stuff and then the action or score would be super loud.

I think that the special edition CGI additions are the weakest in the trilogy, particularly the ones on Tatooine. IMO they don't add much and look fairly cheesy by today's standards. To be fair a lot of the Cantina alien costumes also don't look the best now in HD resolution.

Sadly one of the areas I feel suffers the most now is the continuity with all the Prequels and series. Like the way Obi-wan talks about the past makes it sound like 30-40+ years ago when it was really more like 18 and, now with the Kenobi show, things like him meeting Darth Vader was <10 years ago. I'm only 40 and events 10 years ago feels like nothing. So Vader's line "I sense something; a presence I've not felt since..." just feels like doesn't carry the weight it should. The Jedi shouldn't be an "ancient religion" they were still be hunted down in recent years and Han would have been alive when the Jedi were fighting in the Clone Wars I would think? I kind of think George Lucas backed the franchise into a corner a bit by setting the Prequels too close to the beginning of the OT, I get why to somewhat explain Luke and Leia's ages. I dunno, I would have rather ret-conned them to be mid-20s or something.

Empire Strikes Back

Very enjoyable still. Son liked the Hoth battle scenes, loves AT-ATs. Kind of less interested in some of the Dagobah planet and Yoda scenes. He didn't understand at all what was happening in the Dark side cave which was pretty scary for him, eventually the explanation that stuck was "It was a robot Darth Vader, not the real Darth Vader" that Luke killed. He had little or no commentary on the Han-Leia romance, something I remember feeling cringey about it as a boy that thought girls were like the enemy, he doesn't seem to care, but doesn't like it either as far as I can tell. My son was shocked when Vader cut off Luke's hand, because the Read Along picture books sanitize this as "Vader slashed Luke's lightsaber away" or something more PG. These are violent movies!

I don't remember as much additional scenes or CGI in this one, the old models of Star Destroyers and Rebel ships looked amazingly good I thought, I think Executor and generally imperial navy scenes overall are so good still. I think they added a few shots of the Falcon flying around Cloud City and maybe the snow monster scene looked a bit cheesy now?

Something that struck me on this rewatch in particular was how good the lightsaber duel between Vader and Luke was. I always remembered it as Luke losing pretty badly. Which is true, but he seriously held is own for most of the fight, counterattacking even getting a few glancing blows on Vader. The fight was way more intense than I remember it being and super fun to watch especially with how later jedi duels in the prequel movies get a lot of praise. This really held up in my opinion.

Which is impressive with what we now know Vader to be, like the greatest Jedi warrior ever. Again some continuity stuff bothers me more about the prequels, especially in Kenobi the Darth Vader vs Third Sister fight where in the how Vader could basically force block her lightsaber, and she was pretty much fully trained in the force. Similarly the hallway scene in Rogue One he can toss people around, it's hard to imagine Luke being able to compete with him at all. I kind of prefer the OT Vader without the prequels, strong with the force yes, but not superhuman powerful.

One nitpick though. Several times The Falcon is being chased by TIE fighters, why didn't Han or Leia go back and use the turret cannons to shoot them down like in ANH Death Star escape?

Return of the Jedi

Confession, growing up this was always my favorite Star Wars movie. On rewatch for me it kind of felt the weakest of the three. I guess you have to be an adult to kind of see it?

My son seemed to get a bit bored at parts. I think the Jabba Palace scenes were a bit more subdued and slow-paced than I remember, and so was a few of the middle scenes with Yoda or Luke's revelation to Leia, very quiet and somber, but definitely nothing like what we saw in ANH or ESB in terms of action-pacing.

My son thought ewoks were kind of silly and funny, but doesn't seem like to make an impression on him since we watched, unlike the AT-ATs or some of the human characters. He was afraid of the emperor, on some level I think he "got" the dynamics between Luke and Vader as it's clear Vader is his dad and Vader used to be a good guy (Anakin) in contrast to the truly evil Emperor so that all seemed to work well for him. I have to say, as a Dad now myself the final fight scenes and what Vader did hit way more deeply than anytime I've watched before, definitely teared up a bit. One question I got from him which I struggled to answer was "What does it mean to turn to the dark-side?" I'm not really sure I have a good answer other than "be tricked to do bad things" which is as good as I could explain it to his level. I guess that is a pretty abstract and fictional concept for a 4 year old.

Overall I loved the Luke - Vader rematch, again, Vader seems to be slowing down with age or wear and tear when compared to even Rogue One or ESB but Luke is getting stronger. Since Luke is the only Jedi left at the time, it was never clear how strong he was supposed to be, also being physically a small guy he doesn't seem as impressive a hero but more of an underdog in the saga, yet he took on Vader 1 on 1 and defeated him, so maybe the Force is stronger with him than I used to give him credit for? The fight was good, emotionally intense, I almost wish the actual lightsaber battle was a little longer.

One new takeaway that never really struck me before was that the ultimate climax to STAR WARS was the hero throwing away his weapon and choosing Non-Violence and ultimately being saved by (a father's) Love. That's kind of a radical notion for the 2020s let alone the 1980s. Props to George Lucas for that unconventional twist there. I almost feel like this doesn't get talked about enough compared to other aspects of Lucas' philosophy or themes in the films.

The Battle of Endor still is one of the best space battles I've ever seen. I do think the Battle of Scarif in Rogue One is probably on-par with it, but for the 1980s it's so impressive what they were able to achieve with the technology then. Also my favorite minor character of the series is Admiral Ackbar. I'm glad my son enjoyed him as well (also I felt his costume held up better in HD than the ANH alien rubber mask costumes). I wish he had his own spin-off show or movie tbh.

Overall Thoughts

I was so happy to finally be able to share this treasured part of my childhood with my son, and he seemed to take as much enjoyment from them as I did. He still asks to read the books at bedtime and we have been trying to branch out and get more Star Wars books about the Prequels and Sequels. As far as toys goes, he likes LEGO in general so we've got him a couple of Star Wars LEGO sets. It's a far cry from the collection of action figures and space ships I had in the mid-80s, but he enjoys it.

Next Star Wars to Show Him

I think that I would like to show him some of the Prequels next. Those were never my favorites, but maybe they will appeal to him at his age? The prequels were released when I was in HS/College and already had a lot of head-canon for what I thought would be in them from the EU and other sources. Maybe the Clone Wars animated show would be appropriate? I've never actually seen it myself so don't know if it's good for him to watch, maybe it's more for older kids?

I think Rogue One is also a natural fit with the Original Trilogy, but that's probably a bit too dark/adult for him right now I think. I do wonder if there are any good sanitized kids picture books about it though 😂

[themattress]

^ This right here, this is what I was talking about in this post. Rian Johnson, in his own words, admitting why he was the worst (and yet somehow also the best) choice to direct the middle installment of the Sequel Trilogy. He isn’t a serialized storytelling kind of guy, which is why his Benoit Blanc series are all self-contained stories and why he resents the A Knives Out Mystery subtitle being attached to Glass Onion. He flat-out calls the idea of an intellectual property “poisonous”...and Star Wars is literally the biggest IP in all of cinema. He’s an eccentric auteur who has a very specific philosophy for films which includes how films end, which means that by his own admittance he left little to no plot points for the follow-up to The Last Jedi to work with. He left a situation and characters in that situation, yes, but otherwise specific story elements and character arcs were all wrapped up conclusively by design, which was absolutely not the case for The Empire Strikes Back or Attack of the Clones (which is not me saying Attack of the Clones is a better movie than The Last Jedi, btw, since it isn’t).

Rian Johnson burned the boat. That’s why Lucasfilm was stuck trying to find a new one.

[yestolerancepro]

Tolerance Project  Extra John Williams  A Fans Tribuite

Introduction

Today the 28th June marks the end of one of my favourite composers film careers to mark the occasion I have decided to release an updated blog that was  first published last year with a load of new material,

At the age of 90 and according to Google the man who composed over 600 pieces of music for film TV and classical works has announced his desire to retire from the film world. His final film he will write music for will be the  5th and final entry in the Indiana Jones Franchise. Indiana Jones And The Dial of Destiny to watch a trailer for the film click here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQfMbSe7F2g&list=PL17vqAEJv6CXTpRdOfQdpiOim4ammXiwX&index=11

John Towner Williams (born February 8, 1932 is an American composer, conductor and pianist. In a career that has spanned seven decades, he has composed some of the most popular, recognizable and critically acclaimed film scores in cinematic history. Williams has won 25 Grammy Awards, seven British Academy Film Awards, five Academy Awards and four Golden Globe Awards. With 52 Academy Award nominations, he is the second most-nominated individual, after Walt Disney. His compositions are considered the epitome of film music and he is considered among the greatest composers in the history of cinema.

Click on the above link to read another article on how John Williams retirement marks the end of an era for film music this article comes from the RTE website https://www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2022/1130/1339123-john-williams-composer-retirement-jaws-et-star-wars-indiana-jones-harry-potter-jurassic-park/

Also this article from the french Lemonade website tells us how John Williams composers unforgetable soundtracks https://www.lemonde.fr/en/culture/video/2023/06/25/how-john-williams-composes-unforgettable-soundtracks-from-star-wars-to-harry-potter_6037212_30.html 

Also the AV club lists his top 20 soundtracks of all time  https://www.avclub.com/john-williams-greatest-film-scores-ranked-1850567897

Williams has composed for many critically acclaimed and popular movies, including the Star Wars saga, Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Superman, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, the first two Home Alone films, the Indiana Jones films, the first two Jurassic Park films, Schindler’s List, and the first three Harry Potter films. Williams has also composed numerous classical concertos and other works for orchestral ensembles and solo instruments.

Speaking as a personal fan of John Williams I was first introduced to his work when I bought a double CD version of his music for the first star wars film for my birthday. I loved it but it took me a while to get the other soundtrack in the series. I didn’t get round to buying Empire and Return of the Jedi till the special edition Soundtrack releases in 1997.

I loved those as well and I have since bought all of the Star Wars Soundtracks that John Williams worked on.

Williams like John Barry before him had a magical talent for making the music come alive in my head to create scenes and adventures that I never saw on the cinema screen.

The music become the star of the film itself John Williams did this in many of his great film scores 2 of the best examples being Jaws and Close Encounters of the Third Kind both of these films were directored by Steven Speilberg Both John and Steven explained how they made music the star in both of these films in a recent interview you can see it by clicking on this link https://boingboing.net/2023/03/10/steven-spielberg-and-john-williams-on-how-music-became-an-actor-in-jaws-and-close-encounters.html

His excellent score for the first Indiana Jones film the Raiders of the lost ark also had the same effect on me and because of that its always been a film I have enjoyed re- watching seeing it several times over the years.

Williams music has also helped me to enjoy films that I don’t really like these include his scores for both Superman the movie and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial being a good example.

His music also opened up the doorways to other worlds like his work on the Harry Potter films I never read the books and wasnt really interested in going to see the movies till I was persuaded to by a good friend and thanks to her I saw Harry Potters first two adventures on the big screen John Williams main theme for Harry Potter was magical no pun intended.

John Williams The Tolerance Project connection

When we decided to make the Tolerance film in 1999 we decided the best way to approach the film would be through the medium of a dramatic comedy this we would do through a series of film spoofs the first one was the most obvious was Star Wars if you talked to any child of my generation who grew up in the 80s Star wars was the big one with its space battles Special effects and that music by John Williams for the Tolerance film we used the blockbuster main theme to tell our story

Jaws is a 1975 American thriller film directed by Steven Spielberg, based on the 1974 novel by Peter Benchley.It stars Roy Scheider as police chief Martin Brody who, with the help of a marine biologist (Richard Dreyfuss) and a professional shark hunter (Robert Shaw), hunts a man-eating great white shark that is attacking beachgoers at a summer resort town.

Jaws was the prototypical summer blockbuster, regarded as a watershed moment in motion picture history, and it won several awards for its music and editing. It was the highest-grossing film until the release of Star Wars in 1977

We used the Famous Jaws theme called Main title/First Victim which runs to just 22 seconds,is used twice in the Tolerance film.

 First when Robert played by David Smith on his way to a job interview norrowly avoids being run over  He is saved by a passer-by, played by Dan McTiernan, who was also our first Assistant Director. When Robert is about to be run over you can hear the Jaws theme for the first time. You hear it again when Robert meets the infamous Mr Grosenberg. To learn more about the making of the original Jaws film click here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7jjHLJlDZo&list=PL17vqAEJv6CV1syq4_fFKgBwSqGdJzH9z&index=275

Thank you John Williams for introducing me to the world of movie magic

Update

John Williams announces he is not retiring after all to read this news story click here:John Williams Cancels Any Retirement Plans - Dark Horizons

 Pictures The Man himself

Posters from the various films his worked on Jaws from 1975

One of the original Star Wars Posters from 1977

Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones

Artwork for Harry Potter

Poster for Superman the Movie 1978

ET 1982

John Williams music as it appeared in the Tolerance film

Our Star Wars crawl which tells you about the Tolerance project and what your about to watch

Jaws theme

Robert is saved from being run over by a passer by Jaws theme used again to introduce Mr Grosenberg played by Actor Tony Green

If you have read this blog and want to help Tolerance click on the link below https://gofund.me/5cf25de4

Thank you to Wikipedia for the information on the life of John Williams and the film Jaws

Also thank you the Minty comedic arts Youtube page for the videos on Superman the Movie Home Alone Home Alone II lost in New York Close Encounters of the third kind Indianna Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark And ET The Extra Terrestrial Thank you to the Oliver Harper Youtube channel for his retrospective video reviews of Raiders of the Lost Ark and  Superman The Movie

Bonus content

Documentaries

To learn more about the making of Close Encounters of the third kind click here

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQFCEuJrtmw&list=PL17vqAEJv6CV1syq4_fFKgBwSqGdJzH9z&index=277

To watch a video called 10 things you didn’t know about Superman the Movie click here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDPl1eCIFvo&list=PL17vqAEJv6CV1syq4_fFKgBwSqGdJzH9z&index=278

To watch a video called 10 amazing facts about Home alone click here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNA1-lgphkk&list=PL17vqAEJv6CV1syq4_fFKgBwSqGdJzH9z&index=279

To watch a video called 10 amazing facts about Home alone 2 click here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lm5FD-ZrsMk&list=PL17vqAEJv6CV1syq4_fFKgBwSqGdJzH9z&index=280&t=3s

To watch a short film called 10 amazing facts about Raiders of the Lost ark click here

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uyb1Gm43Dfc&list=PL17vqAEJv6CXTpRdOfQdpiOim4ammXiwX&index=9&t=18s

To watch a film called 10 things you didn’t know about ET click here

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKwtCb5zWpU&list=PL17vqAEJv6CV1syq4_fFKgBwSqGdJzH9z&index=258

To watch a retrospective review on Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the lost Ark from the Oilver Harper YouTube channel click here  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngyfP84wZiI

To watch a retrospective review of Superman 1978 the movie from the Oliver Harper YouTube channel click here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEtID1kJ_Ho

To watch a retrospective review of Home Alone 1990 from the Oliver Harper Youtube Channel click here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iMXXrptBFI

Trailers

Superman The Movie 1978  click here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOkb8pxtTfk&list=PL17vqAEJv6CV1syq4_fFKgBwSqGdJzH9z&index=277&t=45s

ET 1982 Click here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZNInG8kSiA&list=PL17vqAEJv6CV1syq4_fFKgBwSqGdJzH9z&index=278&t=23s

Indiana Jones and The Raiders of the lost ark 1981 click here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xQSIdSRlAk&list=PL17vqAEJv6CV1syq4_fFKgBwSqGdJzH9z&index=279&t=34s

Harry Potter and the PHILOSOPHER'S STONE 2001  click here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNgwNXKBEW0&list=PL17vqAEJv6CV1syq4_fFKgBwSqGdJzH9z&index=280&t=6s

Star Wars 1977 Click here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1g3_CFmnU7k&list=PL17vqAEJv6CV3Y85xphI3YrPVq3Q5wI_7&index=23&t=11s

Further reading

the Collider film website published a list of his most iconic film scores ranked you can read the list by clicking here there are some on there that I have heard of before now https://collider.com/john-williams-most-iconic-movie-soundtracks-ranked/#39-indiana-jones-and-the-raiders-of-the-lost-arc-39-1981

The Mary Sue film website also published a list of his 12 best film Scores you can read that by clicking herehttps://www.themarysue.com/best-john-williams-scores-ranked/

[ylojgtr]

star wars movies ranked by how much i like rewatching them:

1. Revenge of the Sith - the culmination of the prequels, where everything comes together so nicely, just such a satisfying story. my favourite characterizations of pretty much everyone who appears in it (except grevous lmao) and the 3d cgi finally came into its own to make a very unique aesthetic imo

2. A New Hope - the original, full of creativity from so many people, just a perfect movie honestly. the special effects are absolutely fantastic and the story is simple but so well told. i feel myself getting swept away by the adventure and mystique in this one more than any other

3. The Empire Strikes Back - personally my favourite star wars movie, it builds on the original in every way i could hope for. some excellent character development for luke and the jumping between storylines is super fun. it has some great silly moments with yoda and lando and also some seriously dramatic set pieces on hoth and bespin

4. Rogue One - what was probably pitched as a nostalgia bait plot hole filler turned out to be one of the best character driven team movies in the last decade (all in my opinion, of course). jyn's faith in life and hope being restored is what makes the conclusion so heartbreaking and krennic is such a hateable villain with stakes directly connected to the protagonist. of course the whole cast is amazing. i remember being surprised at how fast i learned the names of all these previously unknown characters because i just liked them so much. each one is unique in personality, aesthetic, and what they bring to the discussion of the movie's themes. they don't all get a ton of screentime, but for what they're given each has a really well deserved heroic conclusion, however sad they are

5. Attack of the Clones - while its not my favourite in terms of characterization, plot development nor does it have my favourite gags, i still find myself coming back to this one for the vibes. it's 85% cgi, but the giant battle on geonosis and the intrigue of kamino are so fun and i think those awkward special effects kind of add to it. it's just fun, yk? the mystery elements are some of my favourites in the movies, although i think that aspect is better done in the clone wars series

6. The Last Jedi - really difficult spot to pick but i ultimately chose this over phantom menace because honestly i usually just watch the maul fight lmao. this movie is tricky for me since i like a lot of the ideas present, but hate it at the same time for completely derailing the sequels. had jj made all 3, we could have had a mildly entertaining if very repetitive nostalgia trip. with the way it was done, we have one of those movies, one movie that completely swerves the opposite direction and gives a taste of something more, then violently course corrects to the point of everything going off the rails. i think had rian johnson been given control for the whole series, we could have gotten something very special, and so this movie is here because it's fun to live in that world even for just one film. kylo is at his peak here and i love the idea of rey coming from no "important" background, i don't love how rey developed in this movie but had it been followed up on properly it probably would have been better. really i like rose and finns story as well as the end scene, which is more of the movie than phantom menace, so there

7. Solo - i really like this movie, don't get me wrong. the star wars underworld is super cool to see on the "big screen" (so they say) and i think han's portrayal is EXTREMELY well done. his arc fits perfectly into his story, the naïveté at the start and the reluctant hero at the end. he's a pure hearted boy thrown into a situation where heroism is punched in the stomach and kicked in a corner and seeing him navigate it is endlessly captivating. i like the new characters too (especially l3-37 and enfys) and it's so cool to see lando in his prime. all the forced-in explanations about how han got his name, how the millennium falcon ends up looking like that, etc etc is kinda unnecessary but id imagine they needed to do that to get the movie greenlit lmao, but honestly those are the things that drag it down in terms of rewatchability for me. once you see how the falcon lost its escape pod for the first time the novelty wears off, and enough time is spent on it that it becomes a drawback, time taken away from what i really want to see: character interactions, development, and fun, unpredictable action. the end where han kills beckett never gets old though and everytime i watch it i have that same feeling of relief, sadness and shock

8. Return of the Jedi - i love this movie, but in terms of rewatching it for fun on its own, i get a lot of what i like about it from other movies. ive always been a little underwhelmed by this one tbh. the death star again is fine, but it doesn't hold the same existential horror as the first time around. the emperor is perfection, but he's way more over the top in rots which is more entertaining lmao. vaders redemption is awesome and the perfect way to end the trilogy, but it is what we were expecting, isn't it? ewoks are fun and work symbolically i thinkbut they make for less spectacular action than other combatants

9. The Phantom Menace - qui-gon is one of my favourite star wars characters, ever. liam neeson's performance is excellent, and i love watching him throughout the whole thing. however, the story isn't as tight as other movies and while i love the thought and implications of the politics it explores, the senate and trade disputes kinda bring it down if im just watching it for fun. the podrace section is really popular for how fun it is, and i do like it, but car chases and races are often my least favourite type of action and i would sooner choose to watch a different action set piece. the fight at the end is AMAZING but i can watch it on youtube if i want so yeah, it goes here

10. The Clone Wars - it's...not good lmao. everyone knows this. but it is pretty fun. and most importantly, it kickstarted the best star wars media of all time, Star Wars: The Clone Wars. seeing the introduction of ahsoka and rex, and the reintroduction of ventress and cody, while neat to look back on, are improved upon in the series so id sooner just watch that. i have no problem watching it, despite its faults, but definitely not my go-to (i do wish we got to see rotta the hutt again though smh)

11. The Force Awakens - literally just watch a new hope. lmao that's not entirely true but all the characters here i prefer in tlj. there are some great moments, like when you think ben is going to accept help but he cements himself on the dark side or when finn and poe escape the star destroyer. the practical effects are nice, the sets and costumes are cool. but really this movie just makes me sad seeing how much promise these characters had and knowing how they all went to waste. maybe this will change someday and ill be able to take it for what it is, but now is not that time lol

12. The Rise of Skywalker - *sigh* yeah this one is just painful to watch. i honestly can only think of one character moment i like from this movie, which is when c3po calls the cast his friends. and thats like one line. i hate what they did to rey, to ben, to finn, to poe. rey's arc just sizzled out, she's more just going along with whatever comes her way, doing what she's told. she has more agency than that!! i honestly think she should have turned to the dark side. my ideal head canon was that rey and ben essentially switch sides at the end of tlj before both realizing that absolute adherence to either the extreme light or dark would only result in death and destruction as the universe fought to have balance. so they both come together in the middle and try and explore the practicality of living in the neutral area of the force. this would have opened up some really cool discussion about good vs evil (which is what star wars is known as being an excellent example of), it would have created a new, unique era of star wars to set future stories in in the future, and it would have ended the saga in a poetic way (the prequels end in darkness, the originals end in light, the sequels end in the middle). alas, this didn't happen, and this movie just makes me sad. there's nothing wrong with liking it, to be clear, i just like to pretend it doesn't exist

[wevegotbackissues-blog]

Mangold's Star Wars Gets An 'Andor' Writer

Beau Willimon will work on the script for James Mangold’s Dawn Of The Jedi film that was announced last year at Star Wars Celebration. Willimon created Netflix’s House Of Cards but is best known to Star Wars fans for writing the Narkina 5 arc of Andor that received the franchise’s best reviews since The Empire Strikes Back. The film will be set 25,000 years before the Skywalker saga and explore…

[smokeybrandreviews]

Tonal Whiplash

So this is weird. The glory of that Ahsoka trailer washed over me completely but i heard a phrase i did not believe I'd ever hear in an official Disney Star Wars production: Heir to the Empire. It’s been some time since I've read those books but they still sit as the best sequel content Star Wars has ever produced and to hear that Favloni are moving in that specific direction makes my fanboy heart flutter. Obviously, it’s not going to be a direct adaption, there���s too many discrepancies between the narrative and what Favloni has built through Mando, but i cannot wait to see this take because it’s going to be Dave Filoni himself, directing the ultimate film finale! The Mandoverse has been a mixed bag of quality but the fact we are getting Heir to the Empire is f*cking everything!

That said, there is a “new” trilogy in the works starring Daisy Ridley who is, apparently, building a new Jedi Order. I don’t know how much of this is going to be a thing. I don’t know how much of this is going to get made. No one liked Rise of Skywalker. No one wants a Rey Palpatine anything and, considering Iger is out here floundering trying to appease shareholders with loot, i didn’t see this happening. I think this is a last gasp to get Kennedy put before Favloni absolutely erase everything she’s done. Rumors were that this year’s Star Wars Celebration was going to be a celebration of her, and her greatest “contribution” in her tenure as the High Lord Saboteur of tar Wars, was Rey Palpatine. his sh*t has to be a joke, right? It can’t be real? Seriously, i wouldn’t be surprised if this sh*t get canceled some time next year or reworked by Fioloni after Kennedy’s exit because really?

[sjbattleangel]

Behold some of the worst Star Wars takes you've ever seen. "I love Star Wars!" No you don't, Lily. Just like certain reactionary hacks, you hate Star Wars for the most idiotic reasons ever. Case in point: 1) Lily decides to rewrite the sequel trilogy into angst-fest that over-worships the Sith as a misunderstood, persacuted race of people, turns classic characters like Luke and Leia into "old racist white folk" and of course, has her "heroic" character straight-up murder unarmed rich people!

Plus, as someone who adores The Last Jedi as one of the best Star Wars films since The Empire Strikes Back, Lily completely missed the point of the film! It doesn't need to be "fixed" as it's already a compelling deconstruction of Star Wars that challenges the notion of destiny and fixed traditions by having the characters grow through their mistakes: Like Rey learning she doesn't need to be related to someone special know where she belongs; Poe learning to stop and listen to other people's ideas; Finn learning about how other people are effected by the war; Luke learning not to give up on himself.

I get the feeling Lily's bitter because it didn't line up with her own bloated "SWTOR-and-KOTOR-II-are-the-only-SW-media-that-matters-and-the-Sith-are-the-real-good-guys" headcannon.

That and the real reason Lily hates Rose Tico is because she wasn't a sexy traumatized black lesbian with a high body-count. Because, let's face it, Lily didn't create Darth Amorosa because she wanted "diversity" and "representation". No, it was simply because she wanted a black woman to fetishize.

[smokeybrand]

Tonal Whiplash

So this is weird. The glory of that Ahsoka trailer washed over me completely but i heard a phrase i did not believe I'd ever hear in an official Disney Star Wars production: Heir to the Empire. It’s been some time since I've read those books but they still sit as the best sequel content Star Wars has ever produced and to hear that Favloni are moving in that specific direction makes my fanboy heart flutter. Obviously, it’s not going to be a direct adaption, there’s too many discrepancies between the narrative and what Favloni has built through Mando, but i cannot wait to see this take because it’s going to be Dave Filoni himself, directing the ultimate film finale! The Mandoverse has been a mixed bag of quality but the fact we are getting Heir to the Empire is f*cking everything!

That said, there is a “new” trilogy in the works starring Daisy Ridley who is, apparently, building a new Jedi Order. I don’t know how much of this is going to be a thing. I don’t know how much of this is going to get made. No one liked Rise of Skywalker. No one wants a Rey Palpatine anything and, considering Iger is out here floundering trying to appease shareholders with loot, i didn’t see this happening. I think this is a last gasp to get Kennedy put before Favloni absolutely erase everything she’s done. Rumors were that this year’s Star Wars Celebration was going to be a celebration of her, and her greatest “contribution” in her tenure as the High Lord Saboteur of tar Wars, was Rey Palpatine. his sh*t has to be a joke, right? It can’t be real? Seriously, i wouldn’t be surprised if this sh*t get canceled some time next year or reworked by Fioloni after Kennedy’s exit because really?

[ferretfyre]

[gffa]

You asked for this! I've got timeline specific questions because I'm struggling either because I can't do math or because it's sw maybe both. Anyway. If Obi-Wan was born in 50 BBY then what is his birthdate called in times of tcw when BBY didn't exist yet? What's the calender before BBY called but also what's Obi-Wans birthdate!! I've been losing my mind over this and I'm actually so frustrated. Help lumi 🥺

*HAND SHOOTS UP*  I CAN HELP WITH THIS. BUT FIRST THE LINER NOTES: - This is sourced to only one reference book, BUT it was an in-canon reference book, meaning it was written as a text that exists within the GFFA, not as an omniscient Doylist reference book. - It’s never specifically said this is the dating system used, but in lieu of having literally nothing else, I actually love it. - Everyone is perfectly free to ignore this niche content and do whatever works best for your fic!!! So, Star Wars: Scum and Villainy: Case Files on the Galaxy's Most Notorious had several pages on the prequels:

This system of numbers is called the C.R.C. in the book! We don’t know what that stands for (probably something like Centralized Republic Calendar or Common Republic Calendar maybe?) and we’re doing a lot of guesswork, but those numbers line up exactly with the BBY dates used out-of-universe. Using the BBY/ABY system, we know: - Attack of the Clones takes place in 22 BBY (Padme’s assassination attempt) - Nack Movers died in 21 BBY - Rogue One takes place in 0 BBY - A New Hope takes place in 0 BBY / ABY (destruction of the Death Star, Leia’s arrest warrant), the film was also released in 1977 in our world - Empire Strikes Back takes place in 3 ABY (Han Solo frozen in carbonite) Now compare these to the dates we have for some of these (mostly) known events in Scum and Villainy with what we know of the BBY/ABY events: - 7951.131.6 is a Quinlan Vos security image (26 BBY) - 7955.314.3 is a security image of a Coco Town Eatery (Dex’s Diner) (22 BBY) - 7955.422.1 is Padme’s assassination attempt (22 BBY) - 7956.101.2 is Nack Movers’ death from TCW s02e11 Lightsaber Lost - 7656.103.1 is when Boba Fett was first imprisoned by the Judiciary from TCW s02e22 Lethal Trackdown (21 ABY) - 7956.123.2 is the Moogan tea from TCW s03e05 Corruption on Mandalore - 7956.901.3 is “Rako Hardeen’s” arrest from TCW s04e15-s04e18 (20 BBY) - 7956.881.4 is Moralo Eval’s intake holo/arrest (21 BBY) - 7956.919.5 is Han Solo’s arrest warrant (21 BBY) - 7957.101.4 is Bail Organa and Mon Mothma security image (20 BBY) - 7957.338.1 is a Hondo Ohnaka security image (20 BBY) - 7957.910.3 is a Senate District Law Enforcement Recruitment Poster (20 BBY) - 7957.203.3 is the Jedi Temple bombing from TCW s05e17 (19 BBY) - 7973.121.0 is the date on Ketsu Onyo’s bounty hunter profile (4 BBY) - 7976.994.5 is Jyn Erso’s arrest warrant, which was set before Rogue One (1 BBY) - 7977.331.3 is Leia’s arrest warrant which happened after the events of ANH (0 BBY / 0 ABY) - 7977.934.1 is Aphra’s wanted file (0 BBY / 0 ABY) - 7980.421.2 is Han being sealed in carbonite, which happened during ESB (3 ABY) - 8009.332.1 is a patrol of New Republic guards (32 ABY) So, I’m cribbing from myself from this post if you want a longer, more detailed version of the different calendars used in the GFFA (and what they change to once the Empire takes over, then once the New Republic takes over) as well as @glompcat has a lot of excellent posts on their Scum and Villainy tag. But the basic gist of it seems to be that the Republic during the PT (again, in lieu of anything else that has ever touched on this!) would be to say it took place in the ‘50s or ‘950s CRC. So, if someone asked, “When were you born?”, Obi-Wan would answer with, “I was born in ‘18.” or “I was born in 7918.” (Or “‘918″, maybe?  Go with what feels natural.) since he was born in 57 BBY. (At least according to the trading cards, I think?  But 57 sounds about right for how old he was when he died.) Some helpful numbers to give you a scope of things: - Obi-Wan was born in 7918 CRC - Anakin and Grogu were born in 7936 CRC - The Phantom Menace takes place in 7945 CRC - Attack of the Clones takes place/The Clone Wars starts in 7955 CRC - Revenge of the Sith takes place in 7958 CRC - The war in TCW lasts from 7955 CRC to 7958 CRC

[exceptionally-minded]

I deduced that my followers enjoy the ramblings of loquacious bibliophiles, so I've decided to share my live-tweeted Kenobi III reactions here instead of my personal blog. Spoiler warning should be obvious.

I'm still very focused on how Reva / Moses' character will be treated and am happy to see Vader respecting Reva in Vader's way.

"How does the Force work" "not like that" feels like a reference to Ep. 7 "That's not how the Force works!" - Han

Obi-Wan describing it as turning on the light is a beautiful visual and honestly reminds me to meditate more often.

I also keep recalling portions of text from Clone Wars: Wild Space and would like to again recommend that literature.

I don't mind the voiceovers from previous films but if it continues much longer I will feel it's a bit... indulgent

Mapuzo hasn't been mentioned before which I conclude from its limited Wookiepedia chronicling - edit - it was apparently mentioned in a game.

Obi's hallucination of ROTS Ani reminds me of Ezra's visions of Maul.  How sweet for Leia to ground Obi - it echoes of the "sins of the father" question that haunts ROTJ.

Reva is the smartest and most awesome Inquisitor. Why is everyone still sleeping on that. Oh yeah, because the Empire is inherently corrupt and doesn't actually value talent.  Just loyalty.

"Father, aren't you going to say hello?"

Ewan: DOES NOT SAY HELLO THERE

Obi sitting in his same spot on a transport in his same robes doing his same arm pose... he "cannot help what he is."

SOMETIMES WHEN I LOOK AT LUMA I SEE HER MOTHERS FACE

NO NO NO NO I CANT CRY ALREADY THEY CANT DO THIS ITS OUTRAGOUS ITS UNFAIR

Ahhhh Leia's wondering about her parents - first of all, she's SO STRONG with the Force - second of all, what wonderful foreshadowing for the Star Wars: Bloodlines novel.

Leia and Obi-Wan can already communicate with each other through glances.  I like how she is confident that he is trustworthy even though she still knows he's not being completely honest with her.  An interesting distinction, to be sure.

A friend pointed out last night that they did a great job not spoiling her role here.  The trailer made it look like it would be all about Luke and thus far it is NOT and I am NOT complaining.  MORE LEIA

20:02 I need a gif of Tech saying "Oh good, a probe droid."

Action hero Obi-Wan has entered the chat!!! The dramatic head raise.  Deadeye shot.  SO Uncivilised.

The way she runs toward him in her little green Endor-foreshadowing jacket like a human Grogu to Mando

Knowing Aurebesh is such a problem because now I have to pause this all the kriffing time...

Leia introducing herself to the droid and introducing her droid to the droid because droids ARE life forms and obviously her parents would because blah blah blah you already know. 

"You're not the first Jedi to come through here" EXCUSE ME MA'AM IM ON THE EDGE OF MY SEAT

Jedi Order symbol scratched onto the wall Leia and Lola are looking at.  Cant really make out the Aurebesh name because its so scratchy... wait, wait, I've got a signal coming in... LR_E.  Best I've got.  Was really hoping for a major easter egg like "Ashla."

Oh kriff there's actually a ton of names... I don't have time for this, someone else on the internet can do it

I SPOKE TOO SOON!!! QUINLAN KRIFFING VOS YES YES YES PLEASE GET MY GUY BACK INTO LIVE ACTION!!!!

This droid's lower limbs look like clone armor from the back..

Oh no, I was right... again.  You know that shot from the trailer that we thought was an armored clone's butt?  Yeah it was the loader droid from the safehouse 😦 Damn I am so disappointed right now.

Shit I didn't think we'd see Vader so soon.  Can you imagine how CONFUSING it would be for Obi?  Like wtf IS THAT

Ooh I did not miss how Reva was startled by Vader's callousness toward the civvies.

Echoing in my head: Vader's "I sense a presence... once I haven't felt since...." from Ep IV

When Jedi say "I'll be right behind you" they literally NEVER MEAN THAT.  See: Kanan Jarrus, etc.

Okay very interested to see how they're going to manage the transition between Ep 3 and Ep 4 lightsaber duel style.

I recall on Mustafar that Obi-Wan KNEW Anakin was his equal, so he utilized Anakin's hubris against him by manipulating him to make stupid decisions, coaxing him onto dangerous platforms, even - I know - the high ground.  And I'm seeing that here too, he's looking around his environment for an advantage, whereas Vader is just stalking him down.

Oh no, Obi-Wan released some fog for Vader to walk through.  Anakin just haaaaaaaates that 😉

"I am what you made me" ugh, I mean, I expected that, but that's pathetic.  Own your mistakes, Anakin.  You're angry with yourself.

Damn that was brutal, not like it was unexpected but good gracious I could not watch the fire scene.  Tala is great but their escape was too easy.  Droid is great.  Reva supremacy.  The end.  Can't wait for next week.  QUINLAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1