The Bearded Trio

RAVEN BAR & WELL OF SOULS STAFF OF RA HEADPIECE FROM RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (1981) ESTIMATED: $100,000-200,000 ROBIN WILLIAMS’ “PETER BANNING” SWORD FROM HOOK (1991) ESTIMATED: $12,000-16,000 You will never dig in the wrong place again with this original Staff of Ra headpiece.  It's going up for auction from Wednesday 26th August to Thursday 27th August in Los Angeles, California.  All thanks to Prop Store Auctions.   It seems it doesn't belong in a museum but the highest bidder.  Dig deep because the estimate for the headpiece is between $100,000 and $200,000.  Why can't I just win it in a good old fashioned drinking challenge?   All the auction details are below in the full press release where you can see that there are other interesting lots related to The Bearded Trio.  Plenty of Star Wars items including Obi-Wan's lightsabre and a more conventional sword from Steven Spielberg's 1991 adventure classic, Hook ...

From the early 80s, here is a Japanese TV commercial with our own George Lucas, promoting a JVC "MacLord" camcorder.   The commercial starts with George Lucas saying "Right now, I'm surprised and entertained."  I'm guessing there's been a little lost in translation.  We get to see Jabba and his pals along with an AT-ST.  George ends the commercial by saying  “Itsumo something new,” which when roughly translated it's “always something new.”

20 Interesting Facts On Steven Spielberg The Director Steven Spielberg is a household name worldwide, but here are some facts you may not know about the man himself. While filming Close Encounters, Spielberg had been receiving reports of a guy who was running around L.A. pretending to be him. The imposter had been getting people to pay for his dinners, and had been giving Steven a generally bad name. Steven was upset, so he took an ad in The Hollywood Reporter: “To the gullible and defenceless: The man walking the streets of Los Angeles is not Steven Spielberg. Steven Spielberg is in Alabama, making Close Encounters of the Third Kind. At least do not allow this sad fraud to make you pay for dinner. This year, Steven Spielberg can afford a meal.” When Spielberg first showed John Williams a cut of Schindler’s List, Williams was so moved he had to take a walk outside for several minutes so he could collect himself. When he returned, he told Spielberg he deserved a better compo...

I remember the first time I laid eyes on the Star Wars Arcade cabinet.  It was at a holiday camp's arcade back around 1984 and it was pride of place in the middle of the floor.  I spent many 10p coins playing that game and I genuinely thought I had the Force while playing. the This gem of a video comes from the pilot episode of a 1983 show called "The Video Game Challenge" and shows off the then-brand-new Star Wars arcade game from Atari. It is safe to say the original Star Wars Arcade machine is one of the greatest arcade machines of all time.

The next entry from Lucasfilm Animation was announced Monday afternoon. The folks who brought you The Clone Wars (2008-14, 2020) and Star Wars: Rebels (2014-18) have been hard at work on the next animated series from the saga, which will be The Bad Batch. Read the official announcement from Starwars.com here . The show will debut on Disney+ in 2021. For those unfamiliar, the Bad Batch are a group of four (some would say five, more on that in a moment) misfit clonetroopers. Much like many super hero ensembles, they all have differing and complementary abilities and work completely as a team. Hunter, Wrecker, Crosshair and Tech make up the group, recruited by Commander Cody for the assault on Anaxes, a world controlled by Separatist general Trench, an arch-enemy of Anakin Skywalker. Hunter has a real Rambo vibe about him, with his unruly hair and red headband. Wrecker has been a fan favorite. He's a brute who is afraid of heights but unafraid of smashing battle droids to...

What is the John Williams Moment? I can safely say that John Williams and his wonderful, his magical, his sublime music has been with me every single day since I walked out of that cinema having watched Star Wars for the first time in 1977. For four decades I have amassed some truly magical music moments thanks to the master, but every now and then you get what I call a John Williams moment that if you’re lucky will stay with you for the rest of your life. What is the John Williams moment? Well, let me try to explain. You know when you smell a certain food and it instantly reminds you of another time in your life? Perhaps it’s the smell of toast in the morning that takes you back to your mother cooking you breakfast before heading out to school. Or maybe it’s not a smell. Perhaps it’s a special place that you had fond memories of and when you visit it brings a smile to your face. Well, for me there are certain tracks from the vast soundtrack collection of John Williams t...

Get Ready Player Two.  Strap on your headset and let's return to the Oasis.  The sequel to the 2011 Ernest Cline virtual world adventure, Ready Player One is set for release on November 24th. Ernest Cline has been hard at work to bring us the sequel to Ready Player One and it was announced yesterday that the sequel will be release in November with pre-orders already available.   Expect more 1980s pop-culture references and a virtual world where all dreams are possible in Ready Player Two. Not much is known about the sequel apart from Ernest Cline confirming the main characters from Ready Player One will be returning and the book is 384 pages.  We do have the cover which doesn't give much away except for an 8-bit figure that looks like the main character from the Atari 2600 game, Pitfall.  Could we see an Indiana Jones style adventure perhaps? Ready Player One had the Steven Spielberg treatment in 2018 and went on to gross $582 million globally whi...

This is a rare gem.  It's from 1982 and Japanese TV.  Steve Spielberg talks about Raiders of the Lost Ark.  Also see his eyes light up when he sees all the arcade games in the room. The video is in English except for the Japanese commercial breaks but are still worth watching for their entertainment value.  Look out for Steven Spielberg on the set of Twilight Zone: The Movie where Spielberg directs the segment, "Kick the Can." From 1976REDRYDER : This is an interview with Steven Spielberg that was on Japanese Television when I was stationed in Japan while in the Air Force back in Christmas of 1982. The TV crew came to his house for the interview. It is very good. This was taken from original broadcast with Japanese commercials! It is so awesome. It was on VHS tape and converted a few years ago to DVD.

Here's a gem of a photo.  This is the creator of Star Wars, George Lucas playing the Star Wars Arcade machine.  Easily the finest arcade machine to ever exist. Game play of the original Star Wars Arcade from 1983 complete with those excellent Vector graphics. The Bearded Trio - The Site For Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, John Williams and a whole lot more.

Ron Howard Answers Our Questions About Willow 2 Warwick Davies Is Very Happy With The Sequel Wales Being Considered For A Location Sequel Not Green-Lit Yet During a live Q&A with Ron Howard on Facebook I was lucky enough to get my question answered by the director about the current progress of Willow 2 and whether there's a chance we could see a return to Wales where the first movie was shot. Ron Howard was answering questions on a Facebook live video chat for the Edinburgh International Film Festival's #EdFilmFestAtHome event.  Howard was promoting his latest documentary REBUILDING PARADISE about the destruction of the city of Paradise in the United States due to horrendous fires and how the community pulled together during these recent tragic events.  Rebuilding Paradise is sure to be a moving but essential watch.  We've added the trailer below. I had to get a quick question in at the end of the chat about the potential sequel to the 1988 Lucasfilm pro...

J.W. RINZLER ANNOUNCES NEW BOOK ON THE CAREER OF PRODUCER HOWARD KAZANJIAN Wednesday afternoon , prolific Star Wars author J.W. Rinzler hosted a YouTube chat in which he promoted his forthcoming book "All Up" but also teased a new Star Wars-focused book project, announced for the first time. A little more than 25 minutes into the chat, Rinzler announced he will pen a book that will chronicle the career of producer Howard Kazanjian. Kazanjian is best known as the producer of both Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) and Return of the Jedi (1983). He attended USC Film School with George Lucas, and joined Lucasfilm in the wake of the success of Star Wars: A New Hope (1977), leading the company's non-Star Wars film projects. As part of that book, Rinzler revealed he conducted a four-hour interview with Marcia Lucas, the former wife of George Lucas and enormously valuable part of the editorial team during the original trilogy era. This can certainly qualify as a coup, s...

Q&A with film director Ron Howard Wednesday, 1 July at 8.15pm Now's your chance to get your questions answered by director, Ron Howard thanks to the Edinburgh International Film Festival and the #EdFilmFestAtHome event.  It all takes place on YouTube and various social media platforms.  The Q&A is taking place tomorrow so make sure you get your questions in.  Details are below: The event will be hosted on the Edinburgh International Film Festival’s YouTube channel   &  Facebook  and will take place at 8:15pm BST. You can Ask questions via Twitter or Facebook by tagging @EdFilmFest or using #EdFilmFestAtHome . Follow @edfilmfest for links and live updates The legendary film director brings his latest documentary, Rebuilding Paradise, to UK audiences for the very first time. The film, available now until 5 July on Curzon Home Cinema as part of Ed Film Fest at Home, chronicles the post-fire lives of the residents of Paradise, Californ...

Steven Spielberg Appears Briefly In Duel We all love the 1971 Steven Spielberg directed classic, Duel about a business commuter pursued and terrorized by the malevolent driver of a massive tractor-trailer across the empty deserted roads of America.  Some say Duel is a precursor to Steven Spielberg's other classic, the 1975 in-the-water thriller, Jaws.  Duel is one and a half hours of pure edge-of-your-seats entertainment and shows the early potential of Steven Spielberg even back in 1971. The TV movie, originally 74 minutes in length was made for ABC's "Movie of the Week" and Spielberg was under pressure to complete the filming of the movie in just 10 days.  He did it in 13 much to the amazement of the crew who said it couldn't be done.  Insisting on using on-location shots rather than what would have ultimately been fake-looking studio shots, Spielberg can be forgiven for the odd blooper here and there due to the pressure he was under to complete the TV mo...

Spock Talks Star Wars Yes, you read that right.  This is a 1983 documentary that I came across on Youtube and is has Star Trek's Leonard Nimoy presenting the show.  Well this makes perfect sense.  What next?  Billy Dee presenting the making of Star Trek Into Darkness? The show was called Standby...Lights! Camera! Action! and aired on the Nickelodeon channel in the US.  This would have been filmed slap bang in between Wrath of Khan (1982) and Search for Spock (1984.)  Other movies covered in the show included E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, The Goonies, Cocoon and Back to the Future to name a few.

Michael Heather looks back At Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and why it deserves more love My favourite Indiana Jones film is Raiders Of The Lost Ark, probably not the opening statement you expected in a piece celebrating the (fortune and) glories of Indy's second celluloid adventure. However, Indiana Jones and the Temple Of Doom has somehow become the somewhat unloved sequel/prequel dismissed even by its own director who claims that “the only good thing to come out of it was meeting my wife”. The undeniably perfect pacing, framing, composing and overall genius of ‘Raiders’ is well documented but I just as often these days feel like I need to defend the movie or part of a minority (albeit strong) that needs to champion the many awesome aspects of Indy's darkest escapade. No time for love? Far from it. Every recollection like this seems to start with its own authors personal context and I have no intention of straying from that formula, unlike the film itself. I w...

NOSTALGIA AND STAR WARS One of the most powerful words in Star Wars fandom is Nostalgia. A quick search for the definition of nostalgia states: a sentimental longing or wistful affection for the past, typically for a period or place with happy personal associations. During my years observing Star Wars fandom, this word comes up in my mind over and over again, for both good and bad reasons. One of my preferred Star Wars podcasts, Skytalkers , recently did a deep two-part dive on the concept of nostalgia within Star Wars, its place, and where its listeners feel Star Wars media and creators have hit and missed with nostalgia. It’s a great listen, I highly recommend it, and you should absolutely subscribe to that channel. You have time. Inspired by that podcast, I decided to take a crack at nostalgia within Star Wars, a highly complex topic. How should we define nostalgia within Star Wars films and publishing? Is nostalgia an attempt by the creators to devise a callback for ...

Lego Indiana Jones and Lara Croft Crossover Was Pitched To Lucasfilm Over on YouTube , there is a channel ( GameHut ) that has been created by founder of TT Games, Jon Burton.  Now, gamers will be familiar with TT Games as they have brought us the fantastic Lego games such as Lego Batman, Lego Star Wars and Lego Indiana Jones. What is interesting is in the video below, TT Games pitched an idea of creating a Lara Croft game but thought that it needed a bit more to it so decided to approach Lucasfilm with the idea of a Lara Croft/Indiana Jones crossover Lego game. Thinking Lucasfilm would be enthusiastic about the idea, they had the opposite reaction.  Apparently, Lucasfilm have never been happy with the creators of Lara Croft (Toby Gard/Eidos.)  In the video, Jon Burton said that Lucasfilm thought Lara was too similar to their hero with the whip and hat, Indiana Jones and going as far as claiming they "stole" their idea.  The concept was shot down immediately ...