A Certain Point of View: Writing, Film and Stuff

(C) 1981 National Public Radio (NPR) and Lucasfilm, Ltd. Tomorrow, May 25, 2017, marks the 40th anniversary of the theatrical release of George Lucas's Star Wars (aka Star Wars - Episode IV: A New Hope ). Although very few people, including its then 33-year-old writer-director, imagined it, the space-fantasy film set a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away was not only a box office hit; it also launched a multi-media franchise that includes eight live action films (with more on the way), two animated series for television, a library's worth of tie-in books, comic book adaptations and graphic novels....even a "mashup" tribute called William Shakespeare's Star Wars  series.  Brian Daley (1947-1996)  One of the most interesting adaptations of the original  Star Wars film was Brian Daley's 13-part radio drama, which was produced for National Public Radio by KUSC-FM Los Angeles with the cooperation of Lucasfilm, Ltd. Known in sci-fi circles for his b

As someone who studied journalism in high school and college, I often wonder how professional journalists feel about Rupert Murdoch's Fox News Channel, the cable news outlet he founded 21 years ago to - in part, anyway - combat what he and many conservatives saw as the liberal domination of print and broadcast media. In a 2004 interview with the Australian Associated Press , Murdoch said that Fox is  "full of Democrats and Republicans, the others only have Democrats. We don't take any position there at all. " Murdoch's public position on Fox News' bias - or lack thereof- is reflected in the network's slogan, Fair and Balanced. However, given Murdoch's acknowledged support for former President George W. Bush's foreign and domestic policies and his reliance on the late Roger Ailes (who resigned in disgrace last summer as Fox News' chairman after several women at the network accused him of sexual harassment), many observers accuse Fox N

(C) 1995 Bantam Books/Lucasfilm Ltd. Star Wars:Tales From Jabba's Palace is one of several anthologies of short stories set in George Lucas' "galaxy far, far away" that delve into the cast of supporting characters that were seen in specific scenes of Classic Trilogy Episodes IV, V, and VI. Edited by prolific Star Wars author Kevin J. Anderson ( Darksaber, The Jedi Academy Trilogy, and various Dark Horse comic book series), this volume contains 19 entertaining stories set within the walled palace of Tatooine crime boss Jabba the Hutt. In the dusty heat of twin-sunned Tatooine lives the wealthiest gangster in a hundred worlds, master of a vast crime empire and keeper of a vicious, flesh-eating monster for entertainment (and disposal of his enemies). Bloated and sinister, Jabba the Hutt might have made a good joke -- if he weren't so dangerous. A cast of soldiers, spies, assassins, scoundrels, bounty hunters, and pleasure seekers have come to his palace,

(C) 1994 Del Rey/Ballantine Books and Lucasfilm Ltd. (LFL) When Gareth Edwards' Rogue One: A Star Wars Story premiered five months ago, many Star Wars fans - especially those who grew up with the Prequel Trilogy - were ecstatic. In this stand-alone Anthology prequel to 1977's Star Wars (aka Star Wars - Episode IV: A New Hope, John Knoll (who pitched the story to Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy), Gary Whitta, Chris Weitz, and Tony Gilroy tell the "untold" story of how the Rebel Alliance obtained the plans to the Empire's ultimate weapon, the Death Star.  Older fans of George Lucas's space-fantasy series set "a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away," including Your Humble Correspondent, enjoy Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. It is a gritty and exciting war story with a The Guns of Navarone- meets- A New Hope vibe and makes a great first half of a double feature billing that includes the original 1977 Star Wars.  Yet, Rogue One was not the

It's 1990. The Cold War is over, and Communism is being rejected by most of the dying Soviet Union's former vassals. Only a handful of die-hard regimes still hangs on to Marxism-Leninism, grasping at power with the grip of those who are about to die.  One of these nations is the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, which rules the northern half of the Korean peninsula with uncommonly fanatical dedication to socialism and the discredited theories now being discarded by Eastern Europe and even the cradle of World Revolution, the USSR. With a population of less than 20 million, North Korea has the largest per capita standing army in the world, with some 784,000 men under arms. It is also a poor country, has little contact with the outside world, is heavily into the "personality cult" of the Great Leader Kim Il Sung and his succesor, Kim Jong Il, the Dear Leader. Now, with South Korea once again embroiled in a cycle of student riots and apparent political inst

(C) 1993 Bantam Skylark Books Although most of the Star Wars novels and other literary spin-offs (graphic novels, reference works, and screenplays) are primarily written for general audiences that include adult fans, the sextet of Bantam Skylark books written by Paul and Hollace Davis is targeted squarely at a specific audience, namely, young readers between the ages of 10 and 13. The first three novels in the series ( The Glove of Darth Vader, The Lost City of the Jedi, and Zorba the Hutt's Revenge ) purport to be a continuation of the Star Wars saga set in a nebulous time period between the events in Return of the Jedi and Timothy Zahn's Heir to the Empire . With the second Death Star's destruction and the deaths of both Emperor Palpatine and Lord Darth Vader at the Battle of Endor, rival factions vie for control of the crumbling Galactic Empire. One faction, led by the surviving Grand Moffs, has temporarily installed the former Slave Lord of Kessel, Trioculous

What makes a good movie "good" or a great movie "great"? The answer, of course, is, "many things." You have to have a good story, a well-written script (ideally with memorable lines and lots of linear logic!), a director with a fine eye for detail and organizational skills that rival Ike's before D-Day, a well-trained crew, a well-versed composer, a top-notch special-effects team, and a visionary producer with a dream in his mind and a deep pocket to match (but at the same time have better fiscal discipline than some Presidents). Have I forgotten anything? Oh, yeah. And you gotta have a good cast. Let's face it. Until the late 1960s, we did not go to see the latest Michael Curtiz or Victor Fleming picture like we go watch the new one from Spielberg or, God forbid, the latest Michael Bay offering. No, we (or our parents and grandparents) went to see the new Gable and Lombard flick at the Bijou or Rialto. If you went to a John Wayne picture -- as m

Why didn’t the Western Allies invade France via Spain and avoid the fortified beaches on the Normandy coast? The quickest way to victory is to invade Northern France, then liberate Belgium and cross the border into Germany proper. There were many different factors involved, including the reality that Spain was officially neutral (albeit somewhat sympathetic toward the Third Reich). The main  military  reasons why the Allies didn’t invade France via a Spanish “back door,” of course, were  geography  and  logistics. Keep in mind that the primary proponents of the cross-Channel attack were the American commanders, Gen. George C. Marshall and his protege, Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower. They were of the opinion that the only way to defeat Nazi Germany was to land in France and drive directly into the Reich as quickly as the Allies’ resources would permit. The British, on the other hand, preferred an indirect peripheral approach instead of a head-to-head confrontation in the fields