The Bearded Trio

The year 2022 from a Star Wars standpoint will be one of the busiest in the history of the franchise. That year gets off to an unofficial start a couple days early when Star Wars: The Book of Boba Fett lands on Disney Plus on Wednesday, December 29. The official site posted the release date and a brief synopsis here .  From TOS release: The Book of Boba Fett, a thrilling Star Wars adventure, finds legendary bounty hunter Boba Fett and mercenary Fennec Shand navigating the galaxy’s underworld when they return to the sands of Tatooine to stake their claim on the territory once ruled by Jabba the Hutt and his crime syndicate. The Book of Boba Fett stars Temuera Morrison and Ming-Na Wen . Jon Favreau, Dave Filoni, Robert Rodriguez, Kathleen Kennedy, and Colin Wilson are the executive producers. Karen Gilchrist and Carrie Beck serve as co-executive producers, with John Bartnicki producing and John Hampian as co-producer. The Book of Boba Fett leads a deluge of forthcoming Star Wars c...

Once in a while, Star Wars publishing comes out with a completely unique reference book, and in the case of Star Wars: The Lightsaber Collection by Daniel Wallace, it is an absolute joy to consume. Wallace has penned Star Wars reference books for many years, going back to the early years of the franchise's publishing revival in the 1990s. This stands out to me as one of his unique achievements, but more on the writing style in a bit. One of the signature items in Star Wars is the lightsaber, an inspired invention by George Lucas going back to the earliest drafts of his screenplays for A New Hope. The lightsaber gets the gold star treatment here in this book, which serves as a close examination on the form and function of the weapon completely unique to this franchise. The first thing that stands out about the book is its design. It was printed in an extreme rectangular shape format, which fits perfectly with the lightsaber layout. Without even opening up the book, the reader is clu...

Alan Jones Gives Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade A Right Whipping! We all love Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade .  It was a much loved addition to the Indiana Jones franchise back in 1989 and has aged well over the decades. But not all, it seems enjoyed the movie.  Critic of the time, Alan Jones had something of a no holds barred reputation when it came to reviewing TV shows and movies and the third Indy movie was equally not spared.   The short review from Starburst volume 11, number 11 July 1989 was ruthless and ultimately Alan gave the movie a straight down the middle five out of ten stating that he liked the movie but not as much as the others.  He called The Last Crusade "an inferior clone of the original" and said "The Last Crusade now travels such a well-worn path.  The over extended desert tank battle is one example of how exhilarating familiarity slides into contempt by Spielberg never knowing when to stop milking the formula despite inventing...

Planes and Ford Spell Trouble On The Set Of Raiders of the Lost Ark The Flying Wing scene is a memorable one in Raiders of the Lost Ark as we get to witness an exciting few minutes of action including a fight scene with Indy and a muscly German mechanic, Indy almost losing his head from a propeller all coupled with big explosions and fast-paced action.  But for Steven Spielberg the Flying Wing scene was a bit of struggle.  The prop itself didn't always perform properly and Steven had to figure out how to piece together 120 shots for the fight sequence and of course the blazingly hot temperatures on set. But it was these hot temperatures that saved Harrison Ford from having a major disaster and a potential life-changing injury.  The wheel of the Flying Wing actually ran over Ford's leg at one point as the actor lay on the ground for a fight sequence.  Ford recalls "I go down and start to roll away - and my foot slips, right under the rolling plane's tire.  Everyb...

STAR WARS: THE BAD BATCH VOLUME 2  (EPISODES 9-16) AVAILABLE TODAY     Star Wars: The Bad Batch, Volume 2  (Episodes 9-16)   is available today from Walt Disney Records. “Star Wars: The Bad Batch” debuted on May 4, with all Season One episodes now streaming exclusively on Disney+.   Award-winning composer Kevin Kiner composed and produced all 37 and 38 tracks respectively on  Volume 1  and  Volume 2 .   Kiner said, "We’re proud to be completing the first season soundtrack of The Bad Batch with Volume 2! There are so many high points in here as the season builds to its finale that it’s impossible to mention all of them, but we’ve got the climax of the Cad Bane arc, the chilling turn of the Clones theme from heroic to villainous as the Empire uses the clones to tighten its grip on Separatist worlds. We’ve got Hera and Howzer, Gregor and Cid! Early Stormtroopers! Kamino!!! Of course, there’s the emotional climax of the season with...

Star Wars: Visions Trailer Released We've got the full press release for today's Star Wars: Visions announcement.  We've included the English dubbed trailer that hit the Internet today and also the Japanese original with English subtitles.  Let us know in the comments below if you will be tuning in to this new Star Wars experience.  "Star Wars: Visions" launches on Disney+ on Wednesday 22nd September Today, Disney+ debuted the trailer and announced the Japanese and English dub voice casts for “Star Wars: Visions,” an upcoming anthology series from Lucasfilm that tells new Star Wars stories through the singular style and tradition of Japanese anime. Disney+ also released four exciting images from the trailer. The new trailer provides a glimpse of the captivating tone and stunning visuals from each of the animated shorts, which can all be viewed both with the original Japanese voice cast or the English dub cast when the series launches on Disney+ on Wednesday 22n...

"They escaped." That's the cynic's version of recapping what happened in Friday's Season 1 finale of Star Wars: The Bad Batch . And, well, it's not a meritless summary. But as there typically is with Star Wars, the cynic's point of view often ignores subtle nuance that gives the story and characters the guts required to resonate with an audience. The season's penultimate episode, airing last week, left our heroes running for their lives as Imperial Star Destroyers were brutally laying waste to Kamino's Tipoca City, birthplace of all Clonetroopers over the past 13 years. Omega, the helpful hovering droid AZ-3 and all five original members of the batch escape one perilous situation only to get into a worse one as Tipoca City crumbles under the Empire's orbital bombardment. They eventually find temporary relief in the lab they were created in. They climb into tall cylinder tubes in hopes they can bob up to the planet's watery surface.  Much of...

THE EIGER SANCTION Music Composed and Conducted by JOHN WILLIAMS ISC 465 Intrada's latest release features a 2-CD set of John Williams' music for the 1975 Universal Pictures thriller  The Eiger Sanction.  The score is a masterful example of the composer’s 1970s style, encompassing orchestral and jazz elements, tonal and atonal moments, and memorable themes. From the foreboding theme of the main title to the thrilling action of "The Car Chase" and the majestic "The Top Of The World," the score is a showcase of a composer who was rapidly rising to the top of the industry's game. The first disc features his complete 75-minute score, offering substantially more music than was represented on the MCA LP, a re-recording that also included tracks often substantially reworked by Williams. While the original scoring sessions were in three-track split-mono, ace producer Mike Matessino has mixed the tracks into a satisfying stereo experience, similar to his prior wo...

Star Wars: The Bad Batch reached a new high point for me in the penultimate episode of season 1 ( yes, there will be a season 2 ), released Friday morning. Return to Kamino is a heavy episode packed with action, emotion, story and character. It also leans more heavily into the show's overall theme - free will and choice - more than any other single episode to date. We open with Hunter, captive on an Imperial shuttle, being taken to Kamino by Crosshair. Crosshair activates Hunter's comm device, which alerts the Bad Batch to Hunter's location. The group naturally follows the device, intent on executing a rescue of its leader. Kevin Kiner smartly utilizes John Williams's musical themes for Kamino during back-to-back landing sequences early in this episode. The music played for the landing of both the Imperial shuttle and the batch's Havoc Marauder are slight variants on the music heard as Obi-Wan Kenobi lands on Kamino in Star Wars: Attack of the Clones . I adore this...

It is with a heavy heart I report on the news of the passing of author Jonathan "JW" Rinzler. He passed away peacefully at his home in California after a year-long bout with pancreatic cancer. He was 58 years old. Mr. Rinzler was executive editor at Lucasfilm from 2001-15, and in that time, became one of the company's most prolific and respected authors. He spent time as a teacher and professor around the United States and in Paris, France before settling in Marin County. According to blog posts he penned, he was approached by producer Rick McCallum about writing a Making of Revenge of the Sith book that would be superior to the prior two Making Of books from the first two prequel films. After starting preliminary work on that book in the latter half of 2002, Rinzler had the idea of taking the material he was gathering and creating two separate books - The Making of Revenge of the Sith and The Art of Revenge of the Sith. Both stand out of all the books in its era for prov...

Friday's episode of Star Wars: The Bad Batch , War-Mantle, is, at worst, my second-favorite of the season so far. Simply a thrilling, tense and engaging episode from the very first frame to the last frame. The stakes are considerably higher for Clone Force 99 throughout this action-packed episode, and all is not well with our favorite group of defective clones by the episode's end. We open with a wayward clone being pursued by uniformed troopers through a forest at night. The whole scene is strongly reminiscent of the opening of E.T. The Extra Terrestrial (1982) when government agents chase the aliens through a suburban California forest, only to leave E.T. behind when the ship escapes.  The clone is being chased by troops and Massifs, vicious dog-like creatures seen on Tatooine during Star Wars: Attack of the Clones (2002). He is eventually stunned and taken into custody, but not before leaving behind a distress call, eventually being answered by Captain Rex. Rex contacts th...

Varèse Sarabande Records has re-released what kind only be described as a beautiful-looking L.P.  It's the epic The Empire Strikes Back - Symphonic Suite from the Original Motion Picture Score and this piece of treasure has been out of print since 1980.  Just look at that cover!  If that isn't enough you get special notes from Ray Bradbury, Christopher Palmer and of course the man himself, John Williams.  Below is the full press release with details on how you can order yours: Varèse Sarabande Records  is re-issuing the long out-of-print LP  The Empire Strikes Back  – Symphonic Suite from the Original Motion Picture Score  by Academy Award®-winning composer  John Williams . Out of print since 1980, the record is pressed on 180-gram black vinyl and housed in a gatefold jacket featuring the original Star Wars paintings and notes. Available now from  VarèseSarabande.com  along with two limited exclusive versions: “ Imperial G...