The Star Wars Celebrations begins!

The day is finally here. The one I’ve been preparing for all my life. My parents have ignored my pleas to celebrate it but I’ve persisted. Finally, I get to celebrate my birthday!

I’ve got my blaster ready to shoot first

But that’s not why you’re here. Tomorrow (1am Singapore time), the doors will open to Star Wars Celebration in Anaheim, California – the biggest gathering of Star Wars geeks ever seen on this galaxy. While I am unable to join the festivities, Disney Studios have arranged for a simulcast of the Star Wars: The Force Awakens panel from Anaheim. We are one of only 23 countries to be given this honour.

When is too much, too much?

About a week ago, we were alerted to a new Star Wars Digital Release Commemorative Collection from Hasbro by @greybear on Instagram (follow us here). The collection, which carries four 3.75-inch figurines each, features six box sets spanning across all the episodes in the Star Wars saga.

Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back Digital Release collection. Photo: starwars.hasbro.com

The four key figurines are crucial in advancing the plot so Episode I: The Phantom Menace focused on Padme Amidala, R2D2, a battle droid (with bells and whistles) and Darth Maul. While we’re glad Jar Jar wasn’t included, it’s hard not to shed a tear for the fallen Gungans in the Battle of Naboo.

Rebel’s Simon Kinberg to take over Star Wars Spin-off: Reports

Hot on the heels of the announcement that Star Wars spin-off writer Gary Whitta has left the project, a rumour has sprouted to suggest Disney’s Star Wars Rebels Co-creator and Executive Producer Simon Kinberg will fill the spot.

Screengrab of Simon Kinberg’s interview for Disney’s Star Wars Rebels

According to movie blog, SlashFilm, the writer/producer is next-in-line to script the 2016 release. They were, however, unable to get confirmation from Lucasfilm or Kinberg’s representatives, said IGN.

The movie is reportedly about a band of bounty hunters who steal the plans for the Death Star. The plans eventually fall into the hands of one Princess Leia whose ship was boarded by Darth Vader in Episode IV. Even though Disney has maintained that the film will feature the Millennium Falcon but not Han Solo, rumours are that Aaron Paul will play a younger version of the charming smuggler. Speculations also include origins story for Boba Fett or one revolving around the Falcon’s original owner, Lando Calrissian.

Disney has announced three spin-off movies which will not be part of the Star Wars canon. This has left pundits debating the merits of creating origin stories versus brand new plotlines. The three movies are planned to be released in 2016, 2018 and 2020 between Episodes VII, VIII, IX.

Kinberg has worked on screenplays for X-Men: Last Stand, X-Men: Apocalypse, X-Men: Days of Future Past, Sherlock Holmes, Mr & Mrs Smith and produced many more notable films. He had been pipped to write another of the spin-off series and it is unclear if the 2016 film will replace his other commitment or add on to it, reported movienewsguide.com.

 

 

Aural Pleasure of Star Wars

So, apparently, audio plays have become a thing. Back in the day, I had caught snippets of Mandarin soap operas playing on Rediffusion as I flit between home, the neighbours’ apartments and the expanse of the common corridors lining our HDB homes. I had always marvelled at the range of emotion that could be expressed on an audio platform. It provided for the most livid of imagery as scenes were only limited by my imagination.

Today, audio books, which have some following, are trending because of viral podcast, Serial. A spin-off from radioshow and podcast This American Life, Serial reopens a homicide case from 1999. The story revolves around the murder of a Korean highschool teen Hae Min Lee. The suspect: Her ex-boyfriend Adnan Syed, a popular kid on campus. Although Syed maintained his innocence and police struggled to piece evidence that he did, the boy was eventually incarcerated based on the strength of a key witness, Jay.

Screengrab of the Serial website.

Through the 12 episodes, listeners learned, as did producer and host Sarah Koenig, that testimonies were sketchy, leads were not followed up, and various details that seemed important — at least on the podcast — were not mentioned in court.

File photo of the victim Hae Min Lee (second from right) and alleged murderer Adnan Syed (bottom). Photo from Reddit

Season one of Serial wrapped a couple of weeks ago and has been dubbed the “most popular podcast in the world” by The Huffington Post. You can hear the entire season here.

And, now, live audio performances have also become a thing. Last month, Aaron Paul, who played Jesse Pinkman on Breaking Bad, played Luke Skywalker in a live audio performance of Episode V: The Empire Strikes Bad. This led to rumours that the thespian will be cast as one Han Solo in the Star Wars spin-off movies.

Unknown picture of Jesse Pinkman, played by Aaron Paul, whom some have said resemble a young Han Solo.

Today, starwars.com have announced a one-off live audio performance of Star Wars: Smuggler’s Bounty at the upcoming Star Wars Celebration held at Anaheim, California over April 16-19. No prizes for guessing who the protagonist in the feature will be.

Directed by Kyle Newman (of Fanboys fame) and co-written by him and FJ DeSanto, the audio play reunites the creative team behind Celebrations IV’s Star Wars: Smuggler’s Gambit audio drama. If you can’t imagine what an audio play would be like, it will be a “live performance on the Celebration Stage, with music, live sound effects, and a star-studded cast”, reported starwars.com.

The show promises to stay true to classic radio dramas and the Star Wars saga. Han Solo will be played by David W Collins, and accompanied by voice talents James Arnold Tayor and Jimmy Mac. Clone Wars alums Sam Witwer, Jaime King as well as other surprise guests will join the cast, continued the report.

If the show is anything like my Star Wars cassette read-along book, I’m sure it will be mesmerising.

If you’d like to travel back to your childhood and relive the read-along book, thestarwarstrilogy.com have downloadable audio files with scanned jpegs of the pages.

Star Wars read-along cassette audio book. Picture from thestarwarstrilogy.com

Aaron Paul for Han Solo, BITCH!

So I’m late to the party – again. Apparently rumours are going around that Aaron Paul — popularly known as the popular thug Jesse Pinkman in Breaking Bad — will play a young Han Solo in the Star Wars spin-off movies. The rumour started after Paul played Luke in an live reading of Empire Strikes Back last month, according to Esquire.

Unknown picture of Jesse Pinkman, played by Aaron Paul, whom some have said resemble a young Han Solo.

The spin-off will fill the timeline before A New Hope and after Revenge of the Sith, according to reports.

Meanwhile Mr Pinkman has come out to refute the rumours, tweeting “who’s starting these rumors? This one is actually making me believe I have a job in 2015. Very exciting”.

So does the rumour have legs? We can only wait for further leaks and official news. Meanwhile, do you think the expletive-spewing Jesse Pinkman has the right amount of charm and scoundrel in him to play Han?