A Certain Point of View: Writing, Film and Stuff

Slipcover (and Blu-ray jewel box) art for the 2019 Multi-Screen reissue of Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. © 2019 Buena Vista Home Entertainment and Lucasfilm Ltd. (LFL) Twenty years after its initial theatrical release and nearly three months before the December 20 premiere of Star Wars - Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker, the first installment of George Lucas's Star Wars Prequel Trilogy was reissued on Blu-ray disc (BD) as part of Buena Vista Home Entertainment and Lucasfilm Limited's 10-film  Star Wars Multi-Screen Edition collection. This marks the first Disney-era reissue of Star Wars material that was originally distributed by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment since The Walt Disney Company acquired 21st Century Fox and the distribution rights to the first six  Star Wars films earlier this year . This promotional photo depicts the slipcover art for the Multi-Screen Edition reissues of the Skywalker Saga films. Rogue One and Solo (not shown here)   also get the

Promotional illustration depicting the cover art for eight of 10 Buena Vista Home Entertainment's 2019 "Multi-Screen Edition" Star Wars Blu-ray/Digital Copy sets. © 2019 Buena Vista Home Entertainment and Lucasfilm Ltd. (LFL) Hello, everybody, and welcome once again to another installment of Bloggin' On , my blog-within-a-blog where I step out of my reviewer/political commentator role and just talk about...stuff. It's Sunday, December 8, and there are only 17 (or 16, depending on how you view December 24) shopping days till Christmas. (For what it's worth, I'm good as far as that goes; I finished my Christmas shopping last week.) Right now it's early afternoon in my corner of Florida. I have not ventured outside today, but according to my weather app, the temperature is a mild 79℉ (26℃) under sunny skies. This is the warmest it's been here for a few days, and if I were the outdoorsy sort I would be out walking or, at the very least, sitting o

Was Coruscant intended to appear in the original trilogy of Star Wars? No. According to various sources, including Laurent Bouzerau’s  The Star Wars Trilogy: The Annotated Screenplays,  and the director’s audio commentary on the DVD and Blu-ray releases of  Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope,  depicting a city planet such as Coruscant on screen at the time (1977–1983) was beyond the ability of Industrial Light and Magic to pull off. It would have required extensive (and expensive) miniature work to create even a portion of the ecumenopolis which, at the time of  Return of the Jedi,  was tentatively named Had Abbedon. In an early draft of  Return of the Jedi,  George Lucas tried to come up with a way to show the Imperial capital, but none of the techniques needed to pull it off (matte paintings and miniatures) would have rendered a city planet in a photorealistic way, which is what  Star Wars  fans were accustomed to by the early 1980s. (This, by the way, was the draft in which t

What was known about Padme, Luke and Leia’s mother, prior to the release of the prequel trilogy? Before the run-up to  Star Wars - Episode I: The Phantom Menace’s  release in May of 1999? Certainly not much. And what little we  did  know was either wrong or was learned from tidbits in action figure packages in late 1998, when Hasbro added a  Flashback  line of  Star Wars  figures from the Classic Trilogy but with Lucasfilm-supplied nuggets of information about major characters from the upcoming film. For instance, a  Power of the Force  figure of Princess Leia Organa with  Flashback  packaging was my first inkling that Luke and Leia’s mother was Queen Amidala of Naboo and that Leia was not just royalty by adoption, but she was also royalty - of sorts - by heredity. Hasbro’s writer did not divulge the fact that on Naboo “royalty” was elected and wasn’t necessarily  hereditary,  but Lucasfilm kept a lot of pesky details about such things close to the vest. But  before  1998, we

Jake Lloyd as Anakin Skywalker. Photo Credit and © 1999 Lucasfilm Ltd. (LFL) I am not normally in the habit of second-guessing the storytelling abilities of writers or filmmakers whose work I admire. This is partly because I usually enjoy most of the books or movies that I consume, even though my many years of writing reviews have taught me that you can like, even love, a book, a musical work, a television series, or a film and yet be able to see imperfections in them. For the most part, I enjoy  Star Wars - Episode I: The Phantom Menace  and the rest of the Prequel Trilogy. Not as much as I do the Original Trilogy that introduced my generation of fans to that great adventure that took place “a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away,” but enough to sit through all three films and not feel like I could have spent my time something more worthwhile, such as working on a novel or a screenplay or playing  Order of Battle: World War II.  I am, after all, a  Star Wars  fan, and whi

Photo Credit: Rebelscum.com. (C) 2003 Hasbro Inc. and Lucasfilm Ltd. (LFL)  The Jedi High Council is the main interface between the Jedi and the government of the Republic. The twelve High Council members are chosen from the ranks of the Jedi Masters and represent a gathering of great minds who have proven themselves and their abilities in the service of peace and justice. – Package blurb, Jedi High Council 2, Star Wars Saga Collection Screen Scene Pack During the first quarter of 2003, Hasbro released the second wave of its revamped Star Wars collection of action figures, vehicles, creatures, and other toys and collectibles based on the popular franchise created by George Lucas. The Star Wars line – which was dubbed the Star Wars Saga collection by various collectors even though Hasbro never officially used the moniker on the new logo – featured many products based on Star Wars – Episode II: Attack of the Clones, but it offered toys and collectibles from the other films as w

I've been enthralled by John Williams' scores for the original 1977-83 Star Wars Trilogy ( A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi ) since I first owned the 2-LP original soundtrack album from the first installment of the saga. For instance, I have bought the original 1977 recording in all available formats, from LP, eight-track, cassette, and compact disc. I also have the slightly expanded variation available in The Star Wars Trilogy Soundtrack Anthology four-disc box set and the even more complete Special Edition 2-CD set. So it shouldn't be a jolting shock to you, the reader, that I bought Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace' s 1-CD original soundtrack recording on the very day of its release (about a month prior to the premiere of Episode I). Like many Star Wars fans, I'd waited for 16 years for a new movie -- the 1997 Special Edition really didn't count as new movies -- since Return of the Jedi 's theatrical run

Photo Credit: eBay. (C) 1999 Hasbro and Lucasfilm Ltd. (LFL)  Pros:  Nice detailing on Palpatine's costume, nifty hovercam accessory Cons:  No Darth Sidious cloak? No lightsaber? Young kids will be bored by Senator Palpatine .... A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.... It is a period of instability in the Galactic Republic. Although 1,000 years have passed since the Jedi Knights defeated the evil Sith order, a phantom menace lurks in the shadows of the dark side of the Force, waiting for the opportunity to make its presence known and take control of the galaxy. With the Galactic Congress steadily growing more corrupt and inefficient under the influence of bureaucrats and special interest groups such as the greedy Trade Federation, hundreds of crises are arising throughout the Republic. Star systems begin squabbling over old grievances, and rumors of a financial scandal involving Supreme Chancellor Finis Valorum have further eroded public confidence in the demo

(C) 2002 Hasbro, Inc. and Lucasfilm Ltd. (LFL) Pros:  Nice detailing, good sculpt, and packaging lends itself for collecting Cons:  May be too scene-specific; available mostly online. Character Background:  Just as Darth Vader's Nazi-like helmet, skull-like breath mask and black armor-and-cape outfit indelibly branded him as the face of the Galactic Empire's evil in the Classic  Star Wars  Trilogy, Darth Maul, the seven-horned, red-and-black tattooes Iridonian Zabrak apprentice to future Emperor Palpatine's Sith alter ego Darth Sidious, was supposed to be the incarnation of Hate itself in  Star Wars - Episode I: The Phantom Menace. If one watches the Prequel Trilogy carefully just for thematic purposes, it becomes evident that Maul personifies one of the three aspects of Anakin Skywalker's transformation from earnest but troubled Jedi Knight to Sith Lord: anger and hate. (Count Dooku, of course, represents Anakin's ambition and the fact that a Jedi  ca