Category Archives: Star Wars

The Perfect Star Wars Party

(All the photos in this post are mine)

One more Star Wars post wouldn’t hurt before the hype dies down too much.  To celebrate the premiere of The Force Awakens back in December (and also to celebrate my birthday, which was the same week) I threw a little Star Wars party.  I didn’t have more than five people show up, but all who came had a good time. To get in the Star Wars spirit I prepared themed snacks and games.  I thought you might like to read about them, in case you want some Star Wars party ideas of your own and also to review my experience making these treats and games.

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10 Reasons the Prequels are still Relevant in ‘The Force Awakens’

I know what you were thinking when you read the title: “Liz, you have got to be kidding.”  Why would I joke about something this important?

I get that The Force Awakens was written to appeal to fans of the original trilogy.  You don’t have to have seen the prequels to understand or enjoy this film.  But what really bugs me is the mentality that some people have that “the prequels sucked and The Force Awakens is Star Wars being awesome again.” To me, Star Wars has always been awesome. 

I’m not buying into Lucasfilm trying to appease the haters. But I am going along with The Force Awakens being the first installment of a new story for a new generation.  True, they had to throwback to the original trilogy in terms of plot and visual style because for some reason otherwise people wouldn’t get on board with it. But the prequels are the foundation for the story that’s being told: there’s more to it that just the gimmicks. I’m just here to share my perspective and hope maybe you’ll gain something from reading this.

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5 Take-aways from The Force Awakens

Hello, dear readers, and welcome to 2016. Last year ended with a bang in Hollywood, with the release of the latest Star Wars film, The Force Awakens. As expected, it has already broken numerous records, and is on its way to breaking many more, including the top grossing film domestically, which it is projected to become as of Monday. As of the time I am writing this post, it has already sunk Titanic (I couldn’t resist). Even more amazing than how much money it has earned thus far, is how well it has been received by fans. Fans old and young seem to love the film, something the prequels were never able to accomplish.

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Jake’s List of 10 Movies for 2016

2016 is here, and that means we have a whole new year’s worth of movies to look forward to. 2015 was all about The Force Awakens. What will be the big hit for 2016? So far it looks like Captain America: Civil War may be the king of the year, but it has plenty of competition. This is my list of 10 movies I am looking forward to in the upcoming year. It’s not a comprehensive list, because there are a ton of really cool movies coming out this year. My list may not be the same as yours, but these are the 10 movies I am looking forward to. They are listed in order of when they are coming out.

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Star Wars: The Best is Yet to Come

WARNING: This essay includes an open discussion of spoilers. If you haven’t seen the movie and don’t want to be spoiled, don’t read this.

I have now seen The Force Awakens twice. I am relieved to say that this isn’t rebooted, dark and gritty Star Wars. This is Star Wars at its best. It’s the same feeling I get when watching the original trilogy AND the prequels. It’s fun, it’s fast, it’s exciting. There’s humor and warmth as well as stirring emotional scenes and deep moral lessons to contemplate. The action sequences are high-flying and thrilling. It flows with the rest of the saga like a river…but that’s still partly pending resolution of how we got from the happily-ever-after in Return of the Jedi to something-is-very-wrong-and-needs-to-be-set-right on Jakku.

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Star Wars: Ranking the Originals

Earlier this week, I ranked the prequels from worst to best. Today, on Star Wars Day itself, I am ranking the original trilogy. It is hard for me to not consider each of these movies superior to the prequels in almost every way. In fact, in our most recent episode of the Geekopolis Podcast, my brother Leonard and I discuss why we feel that way. I think a lot of it has to do with the generation I come from. It is almost impossible for me to take a step back and objectively look at all the Star Wars movies and find a way to say that any of the prequels are better than any of the originals.

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Star Wars: Ranking the Prequels

This is Star Wars week on the site, which means I am writing about nothing but Star Wars. I thought it would be fun, as we look ahead to the new movie this Friday, to look back on the previous six movies. Today, I am looking at the prequels and rating each of them. Wednesday, I will be looking at the original trilogy, and will rate each of those. At the end of that post, I will list each of the movies in order according to my rankings. I am making no promises that these will be at all unbiased, but I will do what I can. I will be ranking them from worst to best, although with the prequels, maybe I should rank them best to worst, to switch it up. Too late, I already established they would be worst to best. So, let’s get started.

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Star Wars – Old vs. New

I was born in the early 80s and went through my teenage years in the 90s. I experienced Star Wars as a kid on VHS. No special editions, no question about who shot first. It was just pure, unadulterated Star Wars. In a lot of ways it was glorious. Except for the small square TV and the Panavision that made the picture fit in your square screen by cutting out all the stuff on the sides. It’s not important, right? Plus, the picture quality kind of sucked after we watched each tape more than once. On a couple of the episodes, the tape was so worn out it was almost unwatchable. Almost, but we tried anyway. This was back when it was just Star Wars. Not “A New Hope,” just Star Wars. That is how I spent most of my childhood. That is how I always remember Star Wars.

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10 Geeky Ways to Get Into the Holiday Spirit

(I’m writing my Christmas post now because my next post is most likely to be my reaction to The Force Awakens)

This is a bit of my OCD talking: I’m a skeptic when it comes to mixing sci-fi and fantasy with Christmas. I was raised in a family where the religious side of Christmas was always observed, and I’ve continued that in my adult life. Mixing Christmas with Disney princesses or superheroes or so forth can make me a little uncomfortable. Holiday specials featuring these characters can get a little on the cheesy side so I tend to avoid those. Storm troopers in Santa hats? I’ll have to tell you no. If we’re talking fan art, I might be a little more receptive. Yes, I believe that Christmas is “magical,” but I don’t like to mix it with other people’s definitions of that magic. Christmas should be about Christmas! I’m not a total purist, I’m just really picky.

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My Reaction to Star Wars Land

When I was a kid, my favorite part of Disneyland was Tomorrowland. If someone asked what my favorite land was, I wouldn’t even hesitate. To be honest, there was really only one reason. I never liked the rockets that spun around in a circle, Space Mountain always made me a little sick afterwards, Autopia was ok if you liked the smell of exhaust, the Monorail was cool looking but pretty boring to ride, and the Submarines looked like an old, cheap swimming pool. The one reason I loved Tomorrowland was Star Tours. The first time i went on that ride, I was hooked. It was like being in the Star Wars movies, and that was awesome. It wasn’t just the ride, either, but the whole queue leading up to the ride. You got to see C3PO and R2D2 up close and other droids. You got to see travel ads for different Star Wars locations. Then there was the safety presentation at the beginning of the ride. It was all pretty magical to this little kid. I remember thinking that someone should make a whole theme park just based on Star Wars. I would love it. Of course, this was probably never going to happen.

This was during the time between Return of the Jedi and the prequels, when there was little hope of “more” Star Wars. There was no announcement of the prequels coming and it seemed that Star Wars was going to be a cult classic that would always be popular amongst a certain crowd, and not much more. No one was going to build a them park out of that. Fast forward a few years, and we have Phantom Menace, and Star Wars is opened up to a whole new generation, and it begins its journey from just a super successful, quirky trilogy, to a mega franchise consisting of 7 films (soon to be 8) counting the Clone Wars feature-length film and two super successful animated series. It has become one the most recognizable brands in the world, on a level that rivals Disney in its own right. As all of this was happening, I thought maybe someone somewhere would finally build my Star Wars theme park, but it again looked like nothing was going to happen there.

Then, the historic day when George made a deal with the Mouse for the purchase of Lucasfilms, including the rights to Star Wars. The day Princess Leia became a Disney Princess. A lot of folks were unsure about what this would mean for the beloved franchise. A lot of people may have even been upset. I hoped it would mean that we would see a larger Star Wars presence in the parks. Well, one park in particular, Disneyland. I never go to Orlando, so I don’t really care as much about Disney World. Disney was quick to announce that they would be making a new trilogy of films that would serve as episodes VII, VIII, and IX. Then they announced they would be doing a bunch of stand alone films as well, and everyone got excited. I waited, hoping that somehow the Star Wars presence would increase in Disneyland.

I always thought it would be nice to redo Tomorrowland, give it a better theme, an updated theme. When Disney bought Lucasfilms, I thought Star Wars might be a great overall theme for Tomorrowland. My brighter was quick to point out that it wouldn’t really work since Tomorrowland is all about, well, tomorrow, and Star Wars happens “long ago.” This is why we’re not really on speaking terms. Ok, we are, and he was right, so maybe Tomorrowland won’t work for Star Wars, but what other land would it fit in? Frontierland? Maybe Adventureland? I mean, there isn’t really any room to add a land, is there? It looked like if Disney were to ever do something as big as a whole land devoted to Star Wars, it would have to happen in Florida, and not in Anaheim.

Leading up to this last D23 expo, though, rumors began to circulate that there may indeed be a Star Wars Land coming, or something Star Wars related. Some rumors said it would replace Tomorrowland, except for Space Mountain, others said it would take up the Toon Town space and a little bit more. And it could have turned out that none of it was true. Then on Saturday, the news broke from the D23 Expo and these images started circulating Twitter feeds everywhere:

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Star Wars Land was coming to Disneyland and Disney World. It will be the largest single land expansion in the history of either park at 14 acres each, and looking at the concept art, it looks glorious. Each land will ave a cantina, I’m sure lots of retail space and great food and two new attractions. One of the attractions will put the riders in the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon in the middle of a battle between the First Order and the Resistance. I don’t even care about the second part of that sentence. The first part is all I need. Take my money now, Disney, just take it now.

When I first read the news, the little kid inside of me (the part my wife says I listen to more often than I should) almost fainted with excitement. I could barely contain my inner child, he was so giddy. My childhood dream was becoming a reality, and it looks incredible. This means, in a few years, I will be able to go with my nearly teenage son to southern California and between Disneyland and Universal Studios, we will be able to visit the worlds of Star Wars and Harry Potter. That will be awesome. I can’t wait. They have yet to release a lot of details, like where exactly Star Wars Land will be within the park, or when they plan to have it completed, so I am sure we will be hearing more about it as it develops.

What did you think of the big Star Wars Land announcements from D23? Were you excited as well? Share your thoughts in the comments below, or feel free to send me an email directly at [email protected].