What was Yoda thinking?

Who would have thought while watching the first movie...(or is that the fourth movie?)...that is, my favorite of the six, now seven, that one day so much of the movies' storyline would be centered around the evolution of the freaky dude in the black robot suit and cape.

For the hardcore SW junkie it was necessary, I think, that Revenge of the Sith was made to allow for the storyline bridge linking the end of the Republic and Anakin's role in it to the action on the Tantive IV and what followed. It is satisfying and even amusing to see more of his story, as in this last cartoon movie. Heck, there was a time when one might have mentioned the name Anakin and immediately needed to follow it up with an identifying explanation of who he was in the first place. I am sure I have held the following conversation,
"So, who's your favorite Star Wars character?"
"Are you kidding me? Han Solo, dude. How 'bout you?"
"Anakin"
"Who?"
"Anakin Skywalker. He became Darth Vader."
"Oh, so Darth Vader is your favorite character?"
"No, not really, I like the character of Anakin. He has dimension to his personality. Good guy, torn, falls, is resurrected."
"Who?"
"Forget it. I like Han, too."

Similarly to all this, I never would have guessed that Anakin would have his own padawan. Hmmm, what to think of this? I'm still not sure. I suppose when it comes right down to it, I may not trust Anakin, even as a little guy living with his mom on Tatooine. Yeah, I'm a good guys guy, a white hatter, and at his best, Anakin is character nuetral to me. It doesn't seem right that he should be given the opportunity to influence another. Especially when Yoda fosters the union.

That's my thinking as we head into this week's podcast.

Original Novels. Jealous much?

After our discussions about whether or not Alderaan had any idea what was coming and why the rebel base on Yavin had time to mount an assault, I mentioned that I needed to dig out my old first edition Star Wars novel. I love digging around the attic when it’s 90 degrees outside in Orlando, where the humidity usually hovers around 116%. It was worth the change of clothes and shower required. What wonderful nostalgia in that giant cardboard box.

Not only did I find “STAR WARS FROM THE ADVENTURES OF LUKE SKYWALKER”, but also my “SPLINTER OF THE MIND’S EYE” and “HAN SOLO AT STARS END”. Looks like I’ll be up late for a week or three catching up on my reading. I’m including scans of the covers of all three novels here so you all can be incredibly jealous. They are absolutely not mint condition, but they are circa 1978 through 1979.

Also, check out the scans of the prologue from “STAR WARS”. This should be worth a 20 minute podcast segment. George, if you’re reading this, I’m invoking the fair use doctrine when reproducing such a limited amount of your copyrighted content for the purpose of generating legitimate criticism and comment, and not to create derivative work from your intellectual property. I probably don’t need to say that, ‘cuz you seem like a relaxed guy, but just in case, I’m really not pirating your work in any way by referencing it!


So all you with and without the knowledge, comment away. Help us keep the Star Wars love alive.

Audio Edits

Check out the audio edits I did to the first two minutes of the last podcast. http://starwars.originofwebintelligence.com/2GuysStarWarsPodcastEdited.mp3

Y'all let me know what works.

By the way,...

Jerry Jethro (see recent post comments), I agree. There is certainly a natural parallel between the sweeping darkness of the Nazi regime and the Empire's influence on its galaxy. For the record, I believe that the Nazi campaign in World War II was one of Lucas's strongest models in building the saga. In fact, I believe the Nazi infantry, or at least a subset of the army, was referred to as "storm troopers" (for fun see The Nazi Secret Service at ISWWR IfStarWarsWasReal.com)...

Hunting the Hunters

You know, Tim, a listener brought to my attention that we don't really know the layout of the solar system in which Alderaan resided and thus the circumstances behind the Death Star's approach to Alderaan prior to Alderaan's destruction -- in contrast to the period of threat to the rebs on Yavin IV where we had a glimpse of the DS's approach around Yavin. This brings up two good issues, 1) Was it shielded upon its approach to the planet by the local sun(s)?, and 2) how overwhelmingly much of the saga Lucas and his crew left to be deciphered by the audience. If nothing else, he may be not so much a master of the story telling (though he is that for sure), but rather a master of the story not told.

On another matter we touched on in the latest podcast, the topic of the September 11th attacks came up this morning with some friends at breakfast and, specifically, the current status of the pursuit of the wolves behind them. I was pleasantly surprised to hear them voice how strongly they still wanted our country and allies to nab Bin Laden himself and make a punitive statement about these kinds of "Tarkinian" thinkers. That's how I feel. Time has not lessened my yen for justice on this one!

Good vs Evil and such

Timing! As I provide this first input, MSNBC is rebroadcasting the original running coverage from 09/11/2001, Fox News is broadcasting the 7th anniversary memorial service from The Pentagon with the president and the Sec of State, CNN is covering the various news items from today. Talk about providing perspective of Good vs Evil! No need for an allegory in this story.

Which brings us to clarifying our standing disclaimer – that of us not being experts in anything other than our own Star Wars fascination: Tim and I are interested in the greater tides of our home galaxy, as with the ebb and flow of the battle of G v E in our times. If you are here to only provide criticism without constructive input, that’s the stuff of tide pools. We are sure you can find another cantina in which to get stewed. Our podcasts and this blog are simply arena in which to visit and share this interest of ours and we heartily welcome good humored conversation.

With that said, more simply we also love some light saber battling; galaxies with spaceships making sounds in deep space; artificially intelligent robots helping people farm moisture; Kit Fisto, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Plo Koon, Aayla Secura; the crashing first notes that accompany the crawling first words; Mace Windu kicking some bounty hunter butt (me); Mace Windu getting marginalized by his head-of-state foe and soon-to-be apprentice (Tim); entering and leaving planetary atmospheres with the ease of going to the grocery store; Hoth; and on and on and on...

Who knows where the advenure will take us!

2 Guys Talking Star Wars, Episode 1

A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away...

...Okay. Not so long ago (two weeks) and not so far (Orlando).

Hey folks! Tim here of the Brad & Tim "2 Guys Talking Star Wars" fame. This is our inaugural blog post which will (in the future) coincide with the podcast release dates.

This first post addresses the first show where we covered what happens to a laser blast when it doesn't connect with any target and we argue the merits of the various heroes.

The laser topic is a basic review of Newtonian physics for Brad's sake; the question becomes, can "The Force" and Newtonian physics live side-by-side in the same universe?

As for heroes, I've always asserted that Mace Windu was contrived just to justify Samuel Jackson getting a Jedi role. Brad argues that Mace was crucial to the story lines. All this comes about as we discuss the merits of the various "heroes" and what defines a hero.

On a different note, we all sat down to watch both "Star Wait" and the Genndy Tartakovsky version of "Clone Wars" last weekend, reaffirming our fanhood.

I'm going to leave it to Brad to put out blog post two, and I'm hoping he'll also clarify our disclaimer, so all you haters, please wait to flame until you've heard his two cents.

Until next time, this is Tim saying "May the Force Be With You"!