A Certain Point of View: Writing, Film and Stuff

(C) 1993 HighBridge Audio and Lucasfilm Ltd. (LFL) Before Brian Daley was hired by Lucasfilm's vice president for publications Carol Titleman to write the 13-part radio adaptation of Star Wars, he was an established science fiction who was best known for his Coramonde duology and - more relevantly - a trio of novels about Han Solo set before the events of George Lucas's 1977 space-fantasy film. In fact, Daley was given the gig because Titleman liked the way he had written Star Wars material, especially when it came to depicting everyone's favorite Corellian smuggler before he met Luke Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Mos Eisley cantina on Tatooine. There's no doubt about it. Brian Daley really enjoyed writing the dialogue for Han and Chewbacca in the Radio Drama. Photo credit: (C) 1977 20th Century Fox Film Corporation I mention this because in "The Millennium Falcon Deal," the sixth episode of Star Wars: The Radio Drama, Daley introduc

Band of Brothers,  sadly, reflects one of the sad realities of American society in the 1940s - racial segregation in the armed forces. Although there  were  a few all-Negro (as blacks were referred to in those days) units in the U.S. Army and the Army Air Forces that served with distinction in the European Theater of Operations, most black servicemen were assigned to non-combat units in Supply of Services and other support forces. Most of these soldiers were truck drivers, anti-aircraft gunners, barrage balloon handlers, engineers, stevedores, clerks, cooks, corpsmen, and so on. Only late in the war (fall of 1944 and winter/spring 1945) did large numbers of black infantrymen see combat against German forces, and even then they served in all-black units commanded by white officers. The 101st Airborne Division was an all-American unit made up of individuals from many different groups - Easy Company’s first C.O., First Lieutenant (later Captain) Herbert M. Sobel, was Jewish. and Sg

“Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” (1984) Directed by Steven Spielberg Written by Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz, based on a story by George Lucas Starring: Harrison Ford, Kate Capshaw, Amrish Puri, Roshan Seth, Philip Stone, Ke Huy Quan After the successful theatrical run of 1981’s  “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” executive producer George Lucas and director Steven Spielberg began developing the second installment of the Indiana Jones film series. They considered various story ideas (a haunted castle in Scotland, a “lost world” scenario with dinosaurs), all of which were discarded in favor of an India-based quest for the sacred Sankara Stones. Lucas intended “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” to be darker in tone than “Raiders of the Lost Ark.” He wanted the second installment in the Indiana Jones series to be the thematic equivalent of  the “Star Wars” trilogy’s “The Empire Strikes Back.”  As it turned out, “Temple of Doom” became too dark: the story feature

(C) 2010 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment ' “Family Guy Presents: It’s a Trap!” aka “Episode VI: It’s a Trap!” Episode 165 of “Family Guy” Directed by Peter Shin Original Air Date: May 22, 2011 Written by Cherry Chevapravatdumrong and David A. Goodman Starring: Seth McFarlane, Alex Borstein, Seth Green, Mila Kunis, Carrie Fisher, Mike Henry, Dee Bradley Baker, Carrie Fisher, H.Jon Benjamin, John G. Brennan, Adam West (Note: The unrated  Blu-ray and DVD edition of this episode was released before Fox aired the made-for-broadcast version.) A long time ago, after "M*A*S*H", but before After "M*A*S*H"... Seth McFarlane’s animated series “Family Guy” has parodied “Star Wars” many times during its run on the Fox television networks. Most of the “Star Wars”-related jokes are quick throwaway bits embedded in the show’s regular 22-minute long episodes and only last a few seconds.   Starting in 2007, McFarlane and the “Family Guy” creat