Renew THE ACOLYTE...Now!

So a few hours ago, I watched the season finale of The Acolyte on Disney+...and all I can say is— Screw the haters. Renew The Acolyte for a second season immediately!

After viewing Episode 8, titled "The Acolyte," it made me that much eager to see the story of Osha (Amandla Stenberg) continue as (SPOILERS AHEAD) her journey down the path of the Dark Side quickly unfolded once she killed her former Jedi mentor, Master Sol (Lee Jung-jae), upon finding out that he murdered her mother on Brendok 16 years earlier. I want to see what awaits Osha and her cortosis-welding teacher Qimir (Manny Jacinto) after the would-be Sith spared the life of Mae (also played by Stenberg) in exchange for her sister Osha becoming his apprentice instead.

And of course, as shown in the screenshot at the top of this Blog entry, I want to see how Darth Plagueis plays a role in the future trials and tribulations of Qimir and Osha. I expected Darth Tenebrous to show up in tonight's finale instead (I definitely wouldn't be surprised if he made an appearance in Season 2), but it's still awesome that Darth Sidious' former master appeared in this Star Wars streaming series.

And let's not forget the final scene of today's episode...with Vernestra Rwoh (Rebecca Henderson) meeting a certain green-eared Jedi Master at the Jedi Temple to seek his counsel following the discovery that her former Padawan was still alive after being seduced by the Dark Side of the Force a long time ago. That Padawan, of course, being none other than Qimir.

So yea— If Lucasfilm wants to politely give all the haters the middle finger for review-bombing The Acolyte, Season 1 on Rotten Tomatoes and other sites, as well as continuing the story of Qimir and Osha and revealing how Plagueis and Yoda factor into their tale, then giving The Acolyte at least one more season is the way to go!

We've seen the Old Republic in the Star Wars prequels, the reign of the Galactic Empire in Solo, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Andor, Rogue One and the original Star Wars trilogy, and the New Republic in the Star Wars sequel trilogy (as well as in The Mandalorian and Ahsoka)... Let's see more of the High Republic in live-action through the eyes of creator Leslye Headland!

The Dark Side also continues to beckon.

Images of the Day: Screenshots from AHSOKA...

With the 8-episode run of the Star Wars Disney+ series Ahsoka now complete as of today, just thought I'd post these random screenshots from some of the chapters in this exciting show!

It's so awesome that Grand Admiral Thrawn, who I first heard about from Timothy Zahn's Heir to the Empire book trilogy (which I read in 9th grade back in 1995), has finally been realized in live-action by Lars Mikkelsen (the brother of Rogue One's Mads Mikkelsen)! Well done.

I never watched the animated series Star Wars Rebels so I'm fairly indifferent to Ezra Bridger (Eman Esfandi) returning to his home galaxy, heh. But I can't wait to see what's in store for him, Thrawn, Hera Syndulla (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), Sabine Wren (Natasha Liu Bordizzo), Shin Hati (Ivanna Sahkno), Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen...showing how awesome he plays the role when he isn't given clunky dialogue like in the prequels) and of course, Ahsoka Tano (Rosario Dawson) herself in the next Jon Favreau/Dave Filoni Star Wars project!

Rest In Peace to Ray Stevenson, who was awesome as Baylan Skoll. Carry on.

THE BOOK OF BOBA FETT Is Here!

Yesterday, I re-subscribed to Disney+ and eagerly watched the first episode of The Book of Boba Fett!

Unsurprisingly, the season premiere of The Mandalorian's first spin-off show was awesome. Ming-Na Wen didn't miss a beat as she once again kicked arse as Fennec Shand, and it was exciting to finally see Boba Fett (Temuera Morrison) make his way out of the Sarlacc Pit in Chapter 1's opening dream sequence (along with callbacks to 2002's Star Wars: Attack of the Clones)...which is why I posted a screenshot from that scene above. This wasn't a spoiler, as how else did Boba escape from "the maw of the sand beast" (to quote Patton Oswalt from a 2013 episode of NBC's Parks and Recreation, shown below) to make an appearance in Season 2 of The Mandalorian last year?

Ludwig Göransson's music for The Book of Boba Fett's end credits is just as good as that in The Mandalorian, while just like The Mandalorian, we see amazing production artwork of yesterday's episode play in the background as the credits roll.

I look forward to Chapter 2 premiering next Wednesday (January 5), and enthusiastically await the long-anticipated Star Wars streaming series Obi-Wan Kenobi and Andor (based on Diego Luna's Cassian Andor from 2016's Rogue One: A Star Wars Story)...set to make their online debut next year.

The Force is back on Disney+!

Parks and Rec called Boba Fett’s return EIGHT years ago 🤯@pattonoswalt pic.twitter.com/1445sjQOov

— TJ Cooney 🚀 (@TJ_Cooney) December 31, 2021

On This Day in 2001: IMPORT_JEDI Is Born...

So today marks two decades since I created my Import_Jedi account for the Jedi Council Forums on the Star Wars fan site, TheForce.net.

I've actually been browsing the JC Forums since early 1999 (before The Phantom Menace was released in theaters...which was near the end of my first year of college at Cal State Long Beach), but Import_Jedi was born 13 days after Lucasfilm revealed that the official title for Star Wars: Episode II would be Attack of the Clones.

I've been going on the JC Forums regularly till after Revenge of the Sith came out in 2005—and then it was only sporadically that I would frequent threads, most of which had nothing to do with Star Wars.

I started logging on a bit more around the time The Force Awakens and Rogue One were theatrically released almost six and five years ago, respectively (but not as much for 2017's The Last Jedi, and not at all for 2018's Solo and 2019's The Rise of Skywalker), but other than that, I only visit the JC Forums if I'm feeling extremely nostalgic about my good ol' college days.

Click here to view the list of friends that I made on the JC Forums during my 20-year tenure—though I don't know how many of them still go to this message board. I miss the 3SA Sarcasm Knights! Happy Friday.

On This Day in 2001: The STAR WARS - EPISODE II Title Is Revealed...

Just thought I'd point out that today marks 20 years since Lucasfilm revealed Attack of the Clones as the official title for Star Wars - Episode II. I was neither disappointed nor excited about this title when it was unveiled, and this movie is my least favorite among the Star Wars prequels (and the 11 current live-action Star Wars films, overall), but I'm a nostalgic fool and wanted to commemorate this date anyway.

I would've mentioned this in my Film Notes blog instead, but today's post on that page is devoted to my review of The Suicide Squad. It's a very entertaining movie! Kudos to director James Gunn for a job well-done... Happy Saturday.

Photos of the Day: All Hail THE MANDALORIAN!

So surprisingly, despite the fact that I've been a huge Star Wars geek since 1995, this Blog entry is the very first time that I'm typing about the Disney+ masterpiece that is The Mandalorian! I'm not gonna recap the events of the show's first two seasons, but let me just say that showrunners Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni are friggin' awesome! To triumphantly bring Boba Fett back from the dead (and give him his own Web series, The Book of Boba Fett, next year; what a wonderful tribute to the late Jeremy Bulloch...who memorably played the bounty hunter in the original Star Wars trilogy), feature live-action incarnations of Bo-Katan and Ahsoka Tano (even though I didn't watch all episodes of The Clone Wars animated series), as well as Dark Troopers (which initially got me interested in Star Wars over 25 years ago), and now showing Luke Skywalker (still played by the venerable Mark Hamill) in all his Jedi Master glory, well... It remains to be seen how Favreau and Filoni will top this in Season 3, which premieres on Christmas Day, 2021.



So many other Star Wars titles will soon stream on Disney+...including the much-anticipated series about Obi-Wan Kenobi (with Ewan McGregor reprising the role and Hayden Christensen returning as Darth Vader once more), Cassian Andor (again featuring Diego Luna as the Rebel soldier from Rogue One: A Star Wars Story), Ahsoka Tano (Rosario Dawson will return as the former Jedi) and even Lando Calrissian (though it remains to be seen if Donald Glover will reprise this iconic role from Solo: A Star Wars Story, or Billy Dee Williams himself will don the cape in this limited series). Oh, and let's not forget that Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins will helm the next Star Wars feature film, Rogue Squadron—which gets released in theaters nationwide on December 25, 2023. Can't wait! So much Star Wars goodness at hand...

Artwork of the Day: Wrath of the Dark Trooper...

Contrary to what I wrote in this previous Blog entry, it isn't the Gundam Epyon that I drew after illustrating Valak from the 2018 horror flick The Nun, but a Dark Trooper from the 1995 Star Wars video game, Dark Forces. It was the ad below that got me to become a Star Wars fan 25 years ago (when I was in my second semester in 9th grade). This was because I initially thought that this was a character from the Star Wars prequels—which, of course, wouldn't start hitting theaters for another four years. The cool design of this Imperial villain captured my imagination, and it wouldn't be till 1997 (when I was a junior in high school) that I played against this antagonist on Dark Forces when it became available for Sony Playstation (which my family originally had; but I have no idea what happened to it). This Dark Trooper was the final boss in the game, and he was pretty easy to defeat, hah!

I originally tried to draw this artwork over a decade ago, but I found it a bit challenging coloring-wise (using Crayola markers to emulate a painting is pretty tricky work) so I abandoned the effort. Leave it to staying at home during the coronavirus pandemic to give me motivation to try drawing the Dark Trooper again! Anyways, next up: the Gundam Epyon. No seriously!


Lucasarts

Donald Trump Wants to Create the UNITED STATES SPACE FORCE...

Note to the Dotard, the Outer Space Treaty of 1967 bars any signatory nation from deploying nuclear warheads and other weapons of mass destruction beyond Earth's atmosphere. Keep that in mind while you contemplate the idea of having a new branch in the American military: the Space Force.

But if you want to make the T-65, RZ-1, A/SF-01 and Delta-7 fighters a reality, be my guest! Star Wars geeks everywhere will be grateful...maybe.

A Random Thought To End This Month With...

Why are flying cars a DUMB IDEA? If people are generally too stupid or incapable of using their turn signals when changing lanes on the ground, what makes you think they'll be capable of safely flying a 2-ton machine hundreds to thousands of feet in the air?

That's my random thought for November. And no, I didn't type this entry as an excuse to post the cool screenshot from Blade Runner 2049 above, or an image of the Star Wars planet Coruscant below. I actually mean it. Speaking of Star Wars, The Last Jedi arrives in theaters two weeks from today! Can't wait to go to an advance screening of Episode VIII at 7 PM on December 14. Carry on.

Photos of the Day: You, Too, Can Look As Bad-Ass As Boba Fett!

Photo courtesy of Galac-Tac International - Facebook.com

Just thought I'd share these awesome pics showing body armor that was recently developed by a company called AR500 Armor. This gear—which you can wear while playing airsoft (and paintball too...presumably)—is inspired by the cool Mandalorian armor that Boba Fett (and his father Jango Fett before him) donned in the Star Wars saga. Don't know how much this outfit will cost, but all I can say is, the U.S. military should adopt this for use in the Army and Marine Corps...just because. One wonders how much ISIS fighters would piss in their pants if they saw opposing troops wearing that awesome helmet with its T-shaped visor walking right towards them, guns at the ready.

Note to AR500: Please develop a Kylo Ren-inspired helmet next!


Photo courtesy of Galac-Tac International - Facebook.com


Photo courtesy of Galac-Tac International - Facebook.com


Photo courtesy of Galac-Tac International - Facebook.com

Star Wars Celebration...

So last Thursday and Friday, I drove down to the Anaheim Convention Center to attend the latest Star Wars Celebration. The main event (which I missed since I didn't pick my badge up early enough to join the line on Wednesday evening; instead, I watched the panel via simulcast in a separate showroom at the convention center) was the morning panel devoted to The Force Awakens on Thursday. During this presentation, director J.J. Abrams and Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy unveiled the newest trailer for Star Wars: Episode VII...plus introduced the film's three main stars, Oscar Isaac, Daisy Ridley and John Boyega, onto the stage to divulge details about their characters for the very first time. Several minutes later, the cast of the Original Trilogy—Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Anthony Daniels and Peter Mayhew (Harrison Ford couldn't make it since he was still recovering from that plane crash last month)—appeared on stage to thank the fans for their 35-plus-year devotion to the science fantasy franchise.



Originally, I was only going to attend the Celebration on Thursday, but I went back on Friday to visit the costume and prop exhibit devoted to The Force Awakens. I spent much of Thursday looking for this exhibit (it was on the 2nd floor of the convention center), and by the time I found it later that evening, the line to get into the showroom was cut off since the exhibit was closing for the day. But that's okay... It was another $65 (plus $10 for parking at Angel Stadium; I had to take a shuttle to the convention center on both days) well-spent. Here are several photos from my two days in Star Wars nerdvana.