The Prophecy And in time of greatest despair, there shall come a savior, and he shall be known as : THE SON OF THE SUN. And he shall bring Balance to the Force. "Journal of the Whills, 3:12"
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October 2019
New 'Final' trailer for The Rise of Skywalker 31st October 2019
On the 21st of October, a new - "final" - trailer for The Rise of Skywalker was released :
Of the plethora of images, the more intriguing ones are :
A spiky iceberg-planetoid, which might well be Kimiji.
A spiky looking rock throne for Palpatine.
A huge Resistance fleet, including the Millennium Falcon, and possibly also the Ghost from the Rebels show.
What appear to be horse-like creatures again, belonging to Jannah's tribal people, though different from the 'Fathiers' seen on Canto Bight, but which appear to gallop across the hull of a Star Destroyer (!).
A pedestal - holding Vader's helmet ?? - being destroyed by both Rey and Kylo Ren.
Also, some puzzling dialogue, notably Threepio saying he's "taking one last look at [his] friends" and Palpatine noting that "[he has] waited a very long time... and [their] coming together will be [their] undoing".
I, like many commenting on forums, found myself certainly intrigued by the imagery... but not at all emotionally engaged. Now this might be because of a bitter-sweet feeling knowing this is the "last" of the 'Family Saga' episodes, or it might be that, rightly or wrongly, foolishly or not, I've picked up on some significant spoilers recently, and this imagery is partly confirming what I've read. Let's hope that the final unveiling in December will be enjoyable and worthy.
It was recently revealed by Disney's Star Tours Ride that the ocean world that is now the resting place of the Death Star II is not the forested Endor Moon but is fact Kef Bir.... which is referred to as a "moon", so might likely be another moon of Endor, of which there are apparently nine. It's also confirmed to be the homeworld of Jannah and her tribal people.
Early in October, the push for marketing of The Rise of Skywalker got underway, and one piece that stood out was poster art and character photos. These include the main heroes, plus many of the Knights of Ren, and are presented in clear detail.
An interview, summarised by fansite SWNN, with JJ Abrams and co-writer Chris Terrio was conducted by Empire Magazine, and that provided a lot of insightful revelations as to their approach to this last episode, and what their intentions may be....
“Some of the most interesting scenes in The Last Jedi are the conversations between Rey and Ren. We’ve tried to pick up that complicated relationship that really has been present ever since the interrogation in Episode VII. When Ren takes his mask off, there’s a nakedness about him with Rey that he doesn’t express to anyone else. Rian developed that in fascinating ways and we’ve been able to develop it even further.”
“Having [Kylo] be masked, but also fractured, is a very intentional thing. Like that classic Japanese process of taking ceramics and repairing them, and how the breaks in a way define the beauty of the piece as much as the original itself. As fractured as Ren is, the mask becomes a visual representation of that. There’s something about this that tells his history. His mask doesn’t ultimately hide him and his behavior is revealed.”
“Some people feel like we shouldn’t revisit the idea of Palpatine, and I completely understand that. But if you’re looking at these nine films as one story, I don’t know many books where the last few chapters have nothing to do with those that came before. If you look at the first eight films, all of the set-ups of what we’re doing in IX are there in plain view.”
A new trailer for The Mandalorian was released at the end of the month. Due to start streaming on Disney's new TV service in a limited number of territories....
Entertaining and intriguing by equal measure, with a hint of the state of the galaxy in its covering dialogue, this looks like a bold and exciting entry into the Star Wars universe. As always, although they may 'get' the look of a backwater Outer Rim Territory world and there may be stormtroopers and Moffs, familiar hardware, and recognisable aliens, it wil be interesting to see how this will play out without an obvious reference to Jedi or Sith or the Force or lightsabres.... But a relatively 'frequent' live-action show on a 'small scale' TV production looks exciting for fans !
As things stand, the UK has not got a release date as yet, and personally speaking, as I did with the Clone Wars and Rebels shows, I might wait and hope for a dvd release.
At the end of the month, it was suddenly announced that the 'Game of Thrones' writers David Benioff and David Weiss who had signed a three-movie contract with Lucasfilm and Disney had effectively 'jumped ship' for a better offer with Netflix. Although this split appears amicable with an 'open door' policy for a possible return, it does indeed seem that the lure of more money has attracted these two.
A few months ago I picked up a copy of Roger Christian's autobiography, 'Cinema Alchemist', his memoir of working on Star Wars, Alien, and a handful of other productions, and specifically his invaluable input on 'dressing down' the Star Wars architecture and creating the iconic lightsabre ! I've now started reading this, and although the online criticism of a lack of editorial discipline (in terms of rambling and repetition) is probably fair, the apparent moment-by-moment anecdotal recall is amazing ! Such memories mean that the rich detail comes to the fore and allows you to feel that you really are there in the small London Studio trying to figure out, for example, the look and build of R2-D2 ! Roger keeps impressing upon the reader George Lucas' focused need to create a futuristic world that wasn't clean and stylised and silvered metal as per many other recent Sci-Fi movies, and how he and designers John Barry and Les Dilley clued in on this artistic vision from the beginning. I'm looking forward to seeing how the production of Star Wars - and his subsequent productions - plays out !
The illustrated virtual edition of Episode VII : Plague of Doom continues with Han and Leia escorting their friends away from the mining complex. Suddenly, thanks to the droids' intervention, the dociling aura gas clears from the air ! Chewie and Lando become aware of their surroundings again, and Lando quickly grabs Leia's gun and knocks her to the ground !
Once they've recognised their friends, Lando pauses the group and urges them to consider rescuing the other slaves held here by the Imperials....
For my virtual edition Episode X 'The Riddle of the Pirates', I have now introduced the titular pirate action ! This includes revealing the primary villains of the piece, twin brothers Chekkel and Yuide.
