Tag Archives: Star Wars

Dec 31 2012

Best of 2012

There were many outstanding films and TV shows, etc. in 2012 and many letdowns. Here are our rankings for the best in sci-fi, fantasy and horror in 2012.

Best Sci-Fi TV Show
fringeFringe, now in its final season, the show left its X-Files trappings of government agents investigating unusual phenomenon and radically changed the show’s concept. The main characters wind up decades into the future and have become freedom fighters against the oppressive Observers, post-humans from the distant future who traveled back in time and conquered the world. It’s still head-spinning fun but the new unexpected plot development refreshed the show as Fringe marches towards its conclusion.

Best Web-Based Show
Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome, shame on Syfy for not greenlighting this as a regular series. The network took the pilot and cut it up into ten minute segments that appeared online, making it a web show. It was exciting with terrific f/x and production values, plus engaging characters. It was a perfect companion piece and prequel to Battlestar Galactica.

clone wars

Best Animated Show
Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Darth Maul finally came back from the dead! Until Episode VII comes along this well-produced animated series is the perfect tonic for Star Wars fans waiting for the next big-screen installment.

Best Horror TV Show
The Walking Dead, the tension and developments kept viewers on edge as the characters’ plight in a post-apocalyptic, zombie-infested world went from bad to worse. People unexpectedly died, the gore quotient was high and gross and the stories were some of the most riveting shown on TV. The Walking Dead only loosely followed the comic book it’s based on, which allowed it to take different paths, introduce new characters and kept fans guessing.

walking dead

Best Fantasy Show
Game of Thrones, two things made this fantasy show based on George R. R. Martin’s books noteworthy for viewers: Tyrion Lannister (Peter Dinklage), who despite his size manages to hold his kingdom together, and snow zombies a.k.a. the White Walkers and wights.

Best Documentary/Reality Show
Dark Matters: Twisted But True, John Noble (from Fringe) hosts this interesting and sometimes macabre look at some of the weirdest and most disturbing science experiments and discoveries throughout history.

Best Cancelled TV Show
last resortLast Resort, admittedly the show was borderline sci-fi (a nuclear sub with stealth capabilities, hints that it takes place in the very near future with nuclear warfare and $8 dollar a gallon gas prices), but this military drama about a renegade nuclear sub crew who commandeer an island retreat was suspenseful, gripping and entertaining. Too bad it didn’t catch on.

Best TV Character
Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) in The Walking Dead, kudos have to go to Lincoln for his near-perfect characterization of a former deputy sheriff who struggles to keep his band of survivors alive in a world full of flesh-eating ghouls. Despite his best efforts, people die and he’s forced to become more and more ruthless to survive.

Most Missed TV Character
Etta Bishop (Georgina Haig) in Fringe, she only appeared for a few episodes but Peter Bishop and Olivia Dunham’s grown up daughter while sweet and endearing to loved ones was surprisingly brutal against the Observers and their human allies. Her death was a sudden shock that nearly unhinged her parents in their struggle to defeat the Observers.

Most Improved TV Character
darylDaryl Dixon (Norman Reedus) in The Walking Dead, at first he was a non-descript redneck but Daryl has shown an inner toughness and tenderness that was astonishing to watch. Usually quiet, Daryl has emerged as Rick’s most dependable ally and right-hand man, and is quite adept at surviving and killing zombies.

Most Improved TV show
Being Human, this American/Canadian adaptation being humanof the hit U.K. show wisely took the characters and situations of the original and spun itself off into different and unpredictable directions. At the same time, Being Human in its second season quickly developed an engrossing mythology as its non-human characters struggled to regain their humanity.

Best Series Finale
The River, this uneven supernatural series ended with the main characters managing to find the TV show host that they were all searching for in the Amazon since the show began. But the evil spirits that plagued them keep them trapped in the mysterious waterways. Not a bad way to end a horror show.

Worst Series Finale
Alcatraz, the producers of this low-rated show decides to end its first and only season with a cliffhanger that kills off the main character and leaves its core mystery unsolved! Way to go fellas!

john carter

Best Sci-Fi Film
John Carter, Disney should fire any marketing exec involved with this exciting, fun and action-packed thrill ride. Director Andrew Stanton skillfully presented a grand swashbuckling yarn about the very first space hero whose adventures predated all the familiar space operas and originated the sub genre. John Carter featured a rugged hero, a tough and beautiful damsel in distress, weird aliens, and fantastic f/x and production values.

Best Horror Film
The Cabin In The Woods, it wasn’t the cabinscariest horror film but it was the most original and fun. It took the concept of isolated young people terrorized by savage killers and went off in a unique and imaginative tangent. The way the entire premise switches midway in the film made it very memorable. BTW, we would’ve picked the merman premise too.

Best Fantasy Film
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, true, it’s too long and not as good as The Lord Of The Rings trilogy, but thanks to Peter Jackson’s direction it’s still a grand adventure with dazzling effects, a rich environment (made more real thanks to its 48 fps film), characters and a welcome return to Middle Earth. Better yet, more Gollum and Gandalf!

Best Animated Film
rise of guardiansRise of the Guardians, one of the most underrated animated films in recent memory features stupendous animation and at its core a hero (Jack Frost voiced by Chris Pine) with a surprising amount of depth and heart. It’s also a vibrant celebration of childhood and all of its innocent wonder, imagination and faith.

avengers

Best Superhero Film
Marvel’s The Avengers, it’s not like Ghost Rider: Spirit Of Vengeance had a chance! Director Joss Whedon hit this one out of the planet in a true epic that saw several of Marvel Comics’ popular superheroes teaming up in an eye-popping spectacular. Fans rejoiced in seeing the momentous occasion that was like seeing a superhero version of an all-star game.

Best Superhero On Film
?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????The Hulk in Marvel’s The Avengers, finally a film captured the essence of the Hulk at his smashing best. The green behemoth stole the show as he pummeled Loki and his alien forces. So how about a proper film for the Hulk now?

Best Film Character
Andrew Detmer (Dane DeHaan) in Chronicle, DeHaan gives a great performance as a picked-upon high school loner who gets superpowers one day and basically doesn’t do anything with them. Instead of becoming a hero, Andrew slowly and disturbingly becoame more and more malevolent as Chronicle came to its terrifying conclusion.

dane deHaan in chronicle

Biggest Disappointment
Prometheus, wow was this a huge letdown. A poorly written mess where characters behave illogically and plot points appear and disappear at a moment’s notice. Ridley Scott and wiz bang f/x couldn’t salvage this disappointing Alien prequel. Note to Scott: forget about those Prometheus and Blade Runner sequel ideas.

Most Overrated Film
Looper, let’s see gangsters in the future only use time travel to get rid of bodies? Immoral types wouldn’t want to get rich or muck with timelines? What’s with the out-of-left-field plot development about the telekinetic mutants and a kid that belongs in an Omen movie? The unlikeable characters didn’t help matters with this unsatisfying time travel film.

hobbit

Best Use Of 3D In A Film
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, thanks in part to it being filmed in an immersive 48 fps, the 3D erases the barrier between the film and the audience.

Best Trailer For An Upcoming Film
Star Trek Into Darkness, while the trailer for J.J. Abrams’ first Star Trek film was more exhilarating this trailer promises excitement and vengeance-fueled destruction as seen in Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan, the Star Trek film that all the others in the franchise try to emulate.

Best App
Angry Birds Star Wars, it’s the best mashup since peanut butter met chocolate!

mass effect 3

Best Video Game
Mass Effect 3, despite all the groans about its ending, the game featured stunning graphics, addictive game play and a solid storyline.

Best Hallmark Ornament
TIE: the time-traveling DeLorean car from Back To The Future and the Stay Puff Marshmallow Man from Ghostbusters. ’80s genre nostalgia lives on with these accurate and detailed ornaments.

Best Marketing Tie-In
SAMSUNGThe black, Avengers-themed monorail at Walt Disney World. It’s visually arresting with the movie heroes and logo boldly displayed on the sleek mode of transit seen around the Magic Kingdom in Florida. It continues to wow tourists.

Biggest News Item
Disney buys Lucasfilm and thus the Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchises. Not since Disney purchased Marvel Comics has there been such a cataclysmic happening in the world of fandom. Many had conflicted thoughts about seeing George Lucas stepping down and handing control of his beloved franchises to the Disney juggernaut. Feelings were also mixed but guardedly excited over the announcement of new Star Wars films on the horizon.

Dec 11 2012

Star Wars Ornaments Wish List

star wars orns

One popular gift item for the holidays with fans are Star Wars ornaments. Though there are produced by different companies the best ones are those made by Hallmark. They were first produced by Hallmark in 1996 a few years after the success of the Hallmark’s other sci-fifalcon brand the Star Trek ornaments. The first beautifully detailed ship ornament was of the Millennium Falcon and in that same year, Hallmark produced a set of mini-ornaments which consisted of a TIE fighter, an X-wing fighter and an AT-AT.

Since then, the company has released several ornaments each year and there is no sign of slowing down. Many of these ornaments have become highly sought after in the secondary market like the original R2-D2, while others are duds that would be lucky to fetch a buck on eBay (examples of those include Emperor Palpatine and Princess Leia in her slave outfit).

The pattern of these releases per year consists of a strikingly detailed ship, characters and dioramas. The first Star Wars (and Star Trek) ships featured lights but had to be inserted via a wire into a Christmas tree light socket. These days, batteries replaced the wires but for some reason while the Star Trek ships still have light features (except for the NX-01 and the 2012 Enterprise D) the Star Wars ships only have sound features. It’s too bad, because the lights as seen in the Star Trek ships really add an oomph factor and the Star Wars ships seem kind of pale in comparison.

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The character ornaments look great on trees, even the villains like Darth Vader, and they are much more colorful and eye catching when compared to the Star Trek character ornaments who are basically just humans. With Star Wars, Hallmark wisely utilized the many different aliens and droids in that universe and this could be why the ornaments are so popular. Even the human ornaments are nifty with the same characters being released wearing different outfits or accompanied by exotic companions like the Han Solo ornament with him riding on a tauntaun.

duelThe dioramas themselves are usually topnotch. Some include lights and sounds that capture specific moments from the films like Anakin Skywalker’s duel with Obi-Wan Kenobi in Episode III or when the Millennium Falcon leaves Mos Eisley (that diorama boasts John Williams’ iconic score) in Episode IV. Other dioramas were kind of frustrating, take 2011’s recreation of the Han Solo and Greedo confrontation in Episode IV. We still don’t know who fired first!

Hallmark also released ornaments based on the animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars and even LEGO Star Wars figures. Undoubtedly with the new batch of films coming up in a few years, there will be ornaments based on those as well.

hp photosmart 720Beginning with 2007, Hallmark had branched out with special, limited edition Star Wars ornaments that were only on sale on premiere weekends. Many of these ornaments, the first being the Tusken Raider, are highly sought after collectibles. But Hallmark raised the ante recently with extra rare, limited ornaments that were only available in conventions. Many of these special ornaments were basically repaints of previously released ornaments such as the K-3PO/R3PO and R2-Q5/R2-A3 sets being C-3PO and R2-D2 painted in different colors. However, Hallmark also put out original ornaments in these conventions of the nefarious bounty hunters IG-88, Dengar, 4-LOM and Zuckuss, as well as Ben Kenobi and Ponda Baba (that alien whose arm got lopped off by Kenobi in the Cantina). All of these extra rare ornaments are hard to find and command a lot of money in the secondary markets.

The success and high value of these rare ornaments are a testament to the popularity of the Star Wars ornaments. Given the diverse nature of the Star Wars universe, there are many ornament ideas to be pursued. Hallmark should consider making these ornaments, as well as those based on the upcoming films:

Characters and Dioramas

  • Obi-Wan Kenobi riding on Boga, that agile dinosaur-like creature with the funky honks seen in Episode III.
  • A diorama featuring Han Solo, Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia and Chewbacca in the trash compactor, and have a feature where the chamber starts to compress!
  • A diorama featuring the Episode II arena battle with the huge beasts.
  • Mace Windu with his purple lightsaber.
  • Watto, who would look at home suspended on a tree branch.
  • The bug-like droidekas seen throughout the prequel films.
  • The MagnaGuards that accompany General Grievous, complete with their buzzing electrostaffs.
  • Admiral Ackbar the Mon Calamari militaryackbar leader who commanded the Rebels in Return Of the Jedi.
  • A diorama featuring Luke on Dagobah with Yoda and a force ghost of Ben Kenobi.
  • A diorama taking place in Jabba’s palace during Return Of The Jedi.

Ships

  • The Y-wing, A-wing and B-wing fighters seen in Episodes IV-VI. It would be really cool if the B-wing fighter’s wings would open and close.
  • Obi-Wan Kenobi’s Jedi starfighter seen in Episode II.jedi fighter They can even have one with the portable hyper space engines.
  • The Mon Calamari cruisers seen in Return Of The Jedi.
  • The Medical Frigate seen in The Empire Strikes Back and Return Of The Jedi.
  • A speeder bike complete with a scout trooper. It would blend in nicely on a Christmas tree since they were shown in Endor’s forests.
  • A Bespin twin cloud car from The Empire Strikes Back.
  • Jabba the Hutt’s sail barge from Return Of The Jedi.
  • Anakin Skywalker’s pod racer from Episode I.

José Soto

Nov 13 2012

The Future Of Star Wars

With the purchase of the Star Wars franchise and Lucasfilm by The Walt Disney Company, there has been much speculation as to what will happen now with the franchise. Here are some ideas that I have as to what will happen and what should happen.

The Movies: The most obvious thing that will happen now is a new trilogy of films starting in 2015 (Episodes VII, VIII and IX). it will be a new story line created by George Lucas and written by Michael Arndt. Some fans wanted the Thrawn trilogy of books (written by Timothy Zahn) to be made into films but it seems the new Star Wars movies will be about the Skywalker clan taking place long after Return Of The Jedi. Lucas has said in the past that any sequels would be about this and it seems this will come to pass as it should. On a side note, the trio of stars from the original trilogy Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, and Carrie Fisher have recently stated that they would be interested in appearing in the new films. If that will happen or if they will even reprise their famous roles remains to be seen. One interesting idea I heard about years ago after Revenge Of The Sith was released was a movie that takes place hundreds of years before A New Hope with a young Yoda at the center. It would be nice for Disney to make this happen after the new trilogy is done.

TV Shows: The popular Star Wars: The Clone Wars animated series is in its fifth season. A sixth season is in the works, and will air on the Disney XD channel instead of the Cartoon Network. Hopefully the long-delayed, live-action show will get a green light with Disney’s backing and dollars. Something else I would like to see is another CGI animated series like The Clone Wars, but one that takes place during the original trilogy, perhaps between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back. It could detail the Galactic Civil War and seems to be a ripe area for interesting Star Wars stories.

Video Games: The bounty hunter-themed game Star Wars 1313 will be released next year as planned for the PS3 and Xbox 360. As to what future games Lucasarts should tackle, many fans keep waiting for Star Wars: Battlefront 3 which has not been made yet. Maybe under new ownership this game will finally see the light of day. One series I would love to see revived is Rogue Squadron. The last game in that series was Rogue Squadron III for the Nintendo Gamecube in 2003. Flying Star Wars starfighters in scenes from the movies was thrilling and definitely should be revisited.

Disney Parks: Right now the recently updated Star Tours is in Disney’s Hollywood Studios in Orlando FL and Disneyland in Anaheim, CA. I would not be surprised to see more rides and experiences like this one expanding to more of Disney’s parks (aside from the updated Star Tours premiering next year in Tokyo Disneyland). Why not use the same ride system in Soarin’ where riders are elevated over a huge film and recreate the attack on the Death Star? Perhaps even a whole section of a park can be devoted to Star Wars. This is something I would like to see happen. Or even an entire Star Wars-themed park, with each section named after the different planets of the saga. Instead of Main Street USA, how about Coruscant Central? Having lunch at the Mos Eisley Cantina, or visiting the Jedi Temple all seem like really neat experiences and would absolutely be a big hit with tourists and fans.

Regardless of what happens, having Star Wars under the Disney umbrella does present  several new opportunities for the franchise. Hopefully whoever makes the decisions will do right by Star Wars and not dilute the brand or over saturate it. Either way, this is a very interesting and exciting time for Star Wars fans.

C.S. Link

Oct 30 2012

Disney Buys Lucasfilm! Star Wars Episode VII On Its Way!

In a surprise move that rivals their acquisition of Marvel Entertainment a few years ago, Disney announced today that they bought Lucasfilm for $4.05 billion. Obviously, the sale includes the rights to the Star Wars franchise.

Kathleen Kennedy, who was the co-chair of Lucasfilm with George Lucas before the sale, has been named as president of Lucasfilm. Disney CEO Robert Iger announced that a new Star Wars film will be released in 2015 to be followed with more films coming out every two or three years.

At the moment, it wasn’t clear what would be the fate of the current Star Wars: The Clone Wars animated series or the attempt to bring about a live-action Star Wars TV series. For all we know, The Clone Wars may cease production much in the same way that popular Marvel animated shows were canned following Disney’s purchase of Marvel. In the same way that Disney then launched new Marvel animated shows, they could produce a new Star Wars animated series. Additionally, Disney now has the rights to the Indiana Jones franchise, though no information was available on the production of future films of that franchise.

In a prepared statement, George Lucas said, “For the past 35 years, one of my greatest pleasures has been to see Star Wars passed from one generation to the next.” In some ways this news isn’t that surprising given his announcement earlier this year that he was retiring from popular filmmaking. In the same statement Lucas added, “It’s now time for me to pass Star Wars on to a new generation of filmmakers.” This most likely means that he won’t be directing the new films, which should cheer some fans. But it’s hard to imagine that the future films won’t have some kind of input from him, at least on an advisory basis.

For Star Wars fans this is undeniably shocking and exciting news. As some suspected after Star Wars: Episode III was released, we haven’t seen the last of Star Wars on the big screen. Like it or not Star Wars: Episode VII is coming.

José Soto

Aug 24 2012

Hoverbikes Are Here!

After a few years of development the company Aerofex finally unveiled an actual working hoverbike. For thrill seekers who loved the speeder bike chase scene from Star Wars: Episode VI: Return Of The Jedi, this is great news.

Of course, this real-life hoverbike won’t zip around at insane speeds as seen in that Star Wars film but it really works and that is a plus. The hoverbike from Aerofex has a maximum altitude of 15 feet and its fastest speed is just thirty miles per hour. No, it’s hard to imagine Return Of The Jedi’s high-velocity races with this hoverbike, but its altitude and speed is much more practical and safer. In fact, Aerofex is targeting the vehicles for use by emergency first-response units and not thrill seekers.

The vehicle looks more compact and practical than the speeder bike or the swoop bikes (briefly seen in Star Wars Episode II and IV-the so-called Special Edition). Similar to a motorcycle, the pilot steers the hoverbike by leaning from side to side. The company worked out the kinks that plagued the hoverbike when it was first tested in 2008, such as maneuverability and the problem of “helicopter brownout”. That is when the recirculated air from the vehicle’s blades, which provide lift, kick up blinding clouds of dust.  

Aerofex is now working on an upgrade to their hoverbike that will have improved landing gear and a better positioning for the pilot. The company hasn’t released information on the availability or final cost of the hoverbike.

Sure, it’s a long way to go from those zipping models seen in Return Of The Jedi and the other Star Wars films but we’re getting there with this real-life hoverbike.

Waldermann Rivera

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=FGw7qQlQWFM