The Bearded Trio

Michael J Fox interview By Barry Norman 1985 - London Premiere of Back to the Future On December 3, 1985, Barry Norman interviewed Michael J Fox at the Royal Premiere of Back to the Future at the Empire cinema in London's Leicester Square for the BBC TV show 'Film '85' The Premiere was in the presence of TRH Prince Charles and Princess Diana. It's such a classic interview and the much missed Barry Norman at one point asks Michael what he thought of Steven Spielberg:  "I've named one wing of my home after him." was his reply. Michael also explains that more people have seen Family Ties than Jaws.  I wonder if that's still the case?  Take a look at the video below. Rob @welshslider

IN SEARCH OF THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE STAR WARS PREQUEL TRILOGY The date of October 30, 2012 was a “where were you” moment for most of us Star Wars fans. It was the day the press release was issued, stating Disney was purchasing Lucasfilm. It got me thinking, “was there an equivalent press release announcing the prequel trilogy?” Some background. I graduated from high school on June 12, 1991. A few weeks before that, Heir to the Empire was released. I recall seeing it in a bookstore within a week of my graduation. The event of that book’s release can’t be overstated when telling the real world story of Star Wars. It triggered a renaissance in the brand that hasn’t slowed down in the 29 years since. I believe the success of that book, which zoomed to number one on the New York Times Bestseller List, was an indicator to George Lucas that his historic creation wasn’t dead, but was waiting to be revived. And revived it was, thanks to Timothy Zahn’s wonderful novel. Did th...

George Lucas uses the force. This is a from a 1988 Panasonic advert. This is ridiculous, ludicrous even. I mean come on. Video cameras were never that big were they? Rob (Actually old enough to remember them being that big.) @welshslider

Join Us For a Jaws Twitter Watch Party Kevin Smith will be hosting a watch party this Saturday and The Bearded Trio have been invited to participate.  We would love you all to join us on Twitter to watch Jaws with us and we will be providing plenty of behind-the-scenes trivia and photos along the way. Click here to follow Kevin Smith on Twitter And of course don't forget us. The Bearded Trio - The Site For Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, John Williams and a whole lot more.

Fan letter asking to be a Star Wars Extra From 1981 Below is a scanned image of the letters sent in from readers taken from Starlog magazine August 1981 number 49.  I particularly like the one from an enthusiastic fan who is trying to become an extra on the upcoming movie Revenge Of The Jedi. You have to commend his commitment.  He actually moved to California to increase his chances of being an extra in the next Star Wars movie.  Then he found out that George Lucas cut ties with Hollywood, moved to San-Fransisco and this poor fan suddenly found himself no closer to his dream and a move that wasn't needed.  Anyway, he goes on to explain how he wrote a number of letters and not giving in.  That's some determination.  I wonder if he managed to get a spot in one of the movies? Also, there a few letters expressing their enthusiasm for the recently launched Space Shuttle Columbia.  I wonder if we'll ever see that level of enthusiasm again for another ...

Jurassic Park: I take a look back at the 1993 classic. When I first watched Jurassic Park back in 1993 I knew the film directed by Steven Spielberg would become a classic.  The CGI dinosaurs coupled with the genius of Stan Winston’s animatronic T Rex made Jurassic Park a cinema experience that would never be forgotten. The story is straight forward.  John Hammond who has oodles of money has this idea of a tourist attraction on a island but instead of staff dressed in costumes, Hammond’s plan is to have a park full of dinosaurs.   Using DNA from dinosaur blood which was found in mosquitoes, trapped in amber.  Scientists filled in the gaps with frog DNA and BINGO,  Dino DNA!  T-Rex’s, Velicopraptors and those creepy little ones that spit deadly poison at your face are just a few of the dinosaurs roaming around freely on the island for rich guests to enjoy and look at in awe.  Of course approval and endorsement is needed first and what better ...

This is a newspaper clipping from September, 1982 previewing the much anticipated, Revenge of the Jedi.  It explains how it has completed principal photography indicating how late in the day the change from Revenge of the Jedi to Return of the Jedi really was. Love the part about the saga may be extended to nine movies and also mentions "Indy 2" What a golden time for movies the eighties were.

Play The Insult Sword Fighting Game From Your Browser I am rubber you are glue! The interweb is now complete. Yes you can play the famous insult sword fighting game from Lucasarts Monkey Island right here on your browser. That clever modder Karza has done a service so great I think he should be given a T-shirt saying "I created this insult game and all I got was this lousy T-Shirt" The game is well polished. You get an introduction just like in the original game with Guybrush Threepwood talking to two pirates around a camp fire. After a brief conversation you then select your opponent from the map and that's it you are thrust into your first insult sword fight. Featuring great retro music and sound effects this will bring back memories of the original. It features two difficulty settings, easy which contains insults from the original game and hard which takes insults from the third. All this and its free! Definitely added to my favourite links. Play the ...

Steven Spielberg is a master at creating tension in a movie. Our regular guest blogger, Dominic Holder lists 10 of the most nerve jangling moments Among all the wonder and magic, there is of course a serious side to Spielberg's work. The man can build tension, like LEGO building bricks. Here in my latest Spielberg Top 10 I take a look at 10 of the most tense moments in his films. This was a tough one and I'm sure people will point out personal favourites that didn't make my final cut, for example there is no room for the excruciating ascent up the hill at the climax of Duel as David Mann's car starts to give up the advantage, likewise the caravan cliffhanger in the Lost World, which will be saved for a later countdown. I hope you enjoy the list but as always, comments, discussion and feedback very much welcomed. 10. "Let's go, let's do it, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go let's publish" - The Post (2017) Meryl Streep...

The Droids In Raiders of the Lost Ark.  Where To Spot Them You've heard that R2-D2 and C3P0 from Star Wars are somewhere in the world of Indiana Jones, specifically in the movie, Raiders Of The Lost Ark but you've never seen them? Well we've made it easy for you to spot. Check this photo out: It's during the scene where Indy take the Ark out of its stone case while down in the Well of Souls (around the one hour six minute mark in the film.)  As Indiana Jones and Sallah struggle to lift the stone case off, you can see to the side of Indy, a small pillar with hieroglyphics.  This is where you can see two droids.  R2-D2 and C3P0. This fun Easter egg was returned in the world of Star Wars.  Indiana Jones is referenced in the animated Star Wars show, The Clone Wars.  In the season one episode, Liberty of Ryloth we see an Ark that looks very much like the Ark of the Covenant being transported on to a ship.  According to Star Wars Fandom this is c...

Evil E.T's In E.T.-X Fan-made Trailer This is a fan-made trailer from a few years ago where we see the aliens from E.T. The Extra Terrestrial returning to Earth but this time they are evil.  This is not a million miles away from the originally planned sequel to the 1982 classic where Steven Spielberg had intentions of the aliens being evil.  The sequel had a working title of "Nocturnal Fears" and you can read some of the script here. This fan-made trailer that offers a different interpretation to Nocturnal Fears, "ET-X" splices footage of Drew Barrymore and Henry Thomas in different films with some rather clever CGI of an older, wiser-looking ET, who is back to save the earth from evil aliens. Cameos from the Jonas Brothers, Morgan Freeman and David Morse.

Video Showing On Set Action From Return of the Jedi Th is a seven and a half minute video showing the filming of Return of the Jedi in Buttercup Valley CA,1982.  There is no sound and the whole video was shot on gloriously vintage 8mm and "sand-o-vision" to give a grittier look. Look out for Anthony Daniels, George Lucas and director, Richard Marquand.  We also get to see the Sail Barge fight scene in action from a different angle and poor old Boba Fett dangling in the air.

JOHN WILLIAMS - BY THE NUMBERS - A STATISTICAL BREAKDOWN OF THE MAESTRO'S CAREER A good deal of my professional career has dealt with statistics, primarily in the sports world. I have also, through my work, disseminated stats for written stories for many years. I figured it might be a fun exercise to apply some of that thinking to the career of John Williams. I can’t possibly do true justice to the art and joy this man has gifted all of us with during his career. But I broke down and analyzed the films he’s scored, the directors he’s worked with, and measurable success his scores have had. Williams’s collaborations with Steven Spielberg are well-documented. More on that below. But who else has he worked with? How often? When? I found some interesting breakdowns when examining the spreadsheet I made of his works in films. Enjoy! We Know Steve. The other guys? One of the best directorial choices Spielberg ever made was to have Williams be his preferred musical composer. The...

Guest Post by Author, John Booth Rob Wainfur was one of the very first total strangers to read my book about growing up on Star Wars called Collect All 21! (I mean, look: He has the now-uber-collectible author's amateur cover edition ) and he has been kind enough to publicly say nice things about it several times. This made for a seriously easy “YES!” when he asked if I'd like to contribute a guest blog for The Bearded Trio. Because I like to explore the memories and associations triggered by popular culture recollections and nostalgia, and because music so often comes with so many attached images and emotions, I decided to poke around in some not-often-explored corners of John Willams' work. John Williams was the first composer whose name and work I recognized - and who wasn't dead. He benefited, of course, from having his name attached to Star Wars , which, when I was a kid, made just about anything interesting. It turns out, for instanc...

So what were they singing in "Duel of the Fates" ? It's a line from a Welsh poem, Cad Goddeu ("Battle of the Trees") , originally translated by Robert Graves, and literally transcribed into Sanskrit. The line goes, "Under the tongue root a fight most dread, and another raging, behind, in the head." Sanskrit lyrics? Williams chose Sanskrit because it was not as recognisable as Latin or Greek, and the vowels were easy to sing. The lyrics are: Khara Matha Khara Rath Amah Khara Rath Amah Yuddha Khara Khara Syada Rath Amah Dai Ya Khara Ki La Dan Ya Niha Ki La Khara Rath Amah Syada Ki La Khara Rath Amah Khara Dan Ya Khara Rath Amah Khara Dan Ya Khara Rath Amah Niha Ki La Khara Rath Amah Syada Ki La Khara Rath Amah Khara Khara Matha Khara Rath Amah Khara Dan Ya Khara Rath Amah Niha Ki La Khara Rath Amah Syada Ki La Khara Rath Amah Khara Was it then also Sanskrit at Qui-Gon's funeral ? Yes: Mahdhurah swehpna Go rahdomah swepna ...

Steven Spielberg's Cancelled Alien Game Surfaces With New Footage It's no secret that Steven Spielberg is a gamer and has dipped his talented hands into the world of gaming in the past such as Boom Bloxs and The Dig.  Well, thanks to a documentary on YouTube about the video game company, Arkane Studios who brought us gaming greats such as Prey and Dishonored, we get to see some unseen footage on a game that Steven Spielberg had an involvement in.  It was in the mid-2000s and the game had a code-name of "LMNO."  The game didn't get off the ground and didn't even have a proper name but the concept was intriguing. It was going to be an open-world cross-country road trip with a friendly alien as your sidekick who had special powers.  An interesting and original idea and a huge shame it got cancelled.  The story was actually Steven Spielberg's idea.  He had the script and wanted to make the game and a movie.  The game would have seen your character ...

Hasbro Black Series Packaging Gets A Facelift Hasbro have revealed their new packaging for the Star Wars Black Series.  Normally we wouldn't get excited about a change in packaging for a range of figures but two things have made us post this.  One, the new packaging is pretty awesome!  Colourful and actually specific to each figure.  The second is the packaging for the original Black Series was...Well lets be honest, it wasn't the best.  It was just a bit bland and generic with no specific artwork for each character.  Well now they do and the change is a much needed one.  This is a huge improvement that is worthy of the superb figures that the Black Series normally boast.  Hasbro tell us: "This new packaging welcomes a new era for collectors and fans, featuring several new details and colorways. Each colorway represents a Star Wars entertainment property and helps fans to collect figures based on their favorite Star Wars movies and series. T...