A Certain Point of View: Writing, Film and Stuff

(C) 2015 Marvel Comics and Lucasfilm Ltd. Cover art by Adi Granov Star Wars – Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (2015 Remastered Edition) Based on a screenplay by Leigh Brackett and Lawrence Kasdan, and on the story by George Lucas Writer/Editor: Archie Goodwin Artists: Al Williamson and Carlos Garzon Colorist: SotoColor Editor-in-Chief: James Shooter Cover Artist (2015): Adi Granov As the countdown to the release of Disney/Lucasfilm’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens nears the four-month mark, Marvel Worldwide (which is also owned by the Walt Disney Company) continues the “remastering” of its Classic Trilogy comic book adaptations with Star Wars – Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back. Published in hardcover on August 11, this oversized graphic novel (OGN) follows the publication of Star Wars – Episode IV: A New Hope by three months. In November, Marvel will complete its remastering of the saga when it publishes Star Wars – Episode VI: Return of the Jedi. As th

(C) 2015 Marvel Comics and Lucasfilm Ltd.  On April 12, 1977, a then-struggling Marvel Comics published Star Wars 1 , the first issue of a six-part adaptation of George Lucas's Star Wars (aka Star Wars - Episode IV: A New Hope ). Released more than a month before the movie was in theaters, Star Wars 1 gave many sci-fi and comics fans their first glimpse at Lucas's space fantasy set "a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away." Adapted by Roy Thomas, who was Marvel's editor-in-chief at the time, and with art by Howard Chaykin, Marvel's Star Wars comic series closely follows the basic plot of Lucas's 1977 blockbuster. However, since Thomas used Lucas's fourth revised draft of the screenplay and had access to a handful of publicity photos provided by Lucasfilm, his version includes several scenes that were deleted from the film before its May 25, 1977 release. Star Wars' comic book adaptation was a major success. It saved Marvel Com

Pros:  Nice aerial photography, some exciting action scenes Cons:  Predictable, full of war movie cliches It is spring, 1944. World War II is entering its fifth year. Although the Allies have driven Hitler’s armies from North Africa, Sicily, and parts of Italy, most of Europe is still under German control. In the Eastern Front, the Red Army is massing for a summer offensive that will follow the long-promised cross-Channel invasion of France, which is scheduled for late spring. Meanwhile, Allied intelligence has discovered the nature of mysterious concrete-and-metal installations being built by the Germans in northern France, Belgium, and Holland: they are launch pads for Hitler’s V-2 rockets, the “wonder weapons” that, if deployed in time, could wreak destruction on England and jeopardize the D-Day landings. The Allies’ only hope is to destroy the Germans’ rocket-fuel plants in occupied Norway, and for this mission the Royal Air Force’s high command requires the

Pros:  Interesting Luke-and-Mara capstone to Timothy Zahn's novels set in the  Star Wars  universe Cons:   Might confuse readers who haven't read previous Timothy Zahn novels; too ship-bound If you are a more-or-less regular reader of the Bantam Spectra/Del Rey  Star Wars  Expanded Universe novels, you're doubtlessly aware that though each novel or series of novels is pretty much a stand-alone work, it's also part of a larger mosaic. There are many instances in which a minor character, planet, or even old pre-Empire projects mentioned in one book will later play a larger role in the continuing  Star Wars  narrative. This technique isn't exclusive to the Lucasfilm-licensed  Star Wars  projects; Paramount's  Star Trek  franchise has published hundreds of paperback and hardcover novels which not only tell "untold tales" of the famous starships  Enterprise  and their legendary crews, but also have their own internal - if somewhat looser

Pros:  Fine (if sometimes inaccurate) script, great narrator, and always-interesting presentation "We have felt the incommunicable experience of war. We felt - we still feel - the passion of life to its top. In our youths our hearts were touched with fire."   - Oliver Wendell Holmes. On September 23, 1990, just as units of the XVIII Airborne Corps were taking up defensive positions in the desert kingdom of Saudi Arabia as part of Operation Desert Shield in the wake of Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, the Public Broadcasting Service aired "The Cause," the first of nine episodes of director Ken Burns’  The Civil War . It was an odd juxtaposition - as an almost unbelieving nation was sending the vanguard of what eventually became a 350,000-troop force to war against Saddam Hussein, millions of television viewers were watching what was to become the defining documentary about America’s bloodiest conflict. Although Burns wasn’t an unknown filmmaker

(C) 2016 CBS Studios  Pros:  Gerrold's script, fine performances, good directing by Joe Pevney Cons:  None, unless you have the sense of humor of a Klingon Captain's Log: Stardate 4523.3 While on routine patrol in Federation space, the  Enterprise  received a Priority One distress call - the Federation's communications protocol for near- or total disaster - from Deep Space Station K-7, which is located near the strategically important world known as Sherman's Planet. Claimed by both the Federation and the Klingon Empire, this otherwise insignificant planet has a small settlement dependent on food shipments - basically grain - from outside. Because the Organian Peace Treaty stipulates that the planet belongs to the government that can best populate it using peaceful means, it is imperative that the  Enterprise  investigate the nature of the distress call.... Star Trek , as originally conceived by series creator Gene Roddenberry, was intended to be

Hi, there, Constant Reader. I'm sorry that I have not dropped by recently, but I've been busy writing paid blog posts  at Cerebral Palsy Guidance (CPG), a site that provides information about one of the most common disabilities that afflicts children and adults - cerebral palsy (CP). This isn't my preferred type of writing gig; I'd rather be paid for writing reviews of movies, books, computer games, and music albums, to be honest. But I have CP - I acquired it as the result of an injury at birth - and the site owner wanted a blogger with some insights about living with the disability, so I was asked to contribute. I accepted the gig, not because I like the topic, but because I need the money. I didn't set out to become a spokesperson for the many people who live with CP in the U.S. and elsewhere. I am more comfortable writing about, say, the merits of Saving Private Ryan and arguing in favor of George Lucas's much-maligned Star Wars prequels than the ups and d