The Latest STAR WARS Disney+ Show Is More Relevant Than Ever in the Trump Era...

So in case you guys haven't been following U.S. news recently, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents have been conducting numerous raids around Southern California over the last few days. Considering that the population in SoCal—and Los Angeles in general—is predominantly Latino, citizens in this metropolitan area of 4 million people didn't take the news lightly.

So as the news coverage have shown, score of Angelenos have been protesting against the federal agents...prompting wannabe dictator Donald Trump to deploy the California National Guard (as opposed to CA Governor Gavin Newsom making this call himself—which would be the norm if the U.S. was still a fully-functioning democracy) in Los Angeles.

Now, if you watched the hit Star Wars Disney+ series Andor, or at least Season 2 of the show which concluded last month, you'd feel that this provocation being wrought by the Trump regime against a Democratic state like California was suspicious as hell. In Andor: Season 2, we found out that the Empire antagonized Ghorman to force a local uprising that would justify the deployment of Imperial forces onto the small world...allowing the Empire to secretly mine a resource known as 'deep substrate foliated kalkite' that would be used to power the superlaser on the Death Star.

I highly doubt that Trump is creating a Moon-sized battle station (since most of the people in his administration are idiots who used to work for Fox News), but his motive to anger the largest liberal state in this country reeks of flat-out authoritarianism. The ICE raids were, after all, spearheaded by White House Deputy Chief of Staff and wannabe Nazi douchebag Stephen Miller.

As of this Blog entry, the National Guard has arrived in Los Angeles...so we'll see what happens if protests continue in my hometown.

Combine this weekend's development with the fact that Trump—a 5-time draft dodger—is planning to host a North Korean-style military parade in Washington, D.C. next Saturday (June 14, which is the Dotard's birthday), and you have the makings of fascism in the world's only superpower. And let's not forget that the parade will cost up to $45 million in American taxpayer money when all is said and done.

To make this post relevant to Andor again, Trump continues to show that he's the "monster" that Palpatine was in the Star Wars galaxy, according to Mon Mothma. Just as how the Rebel Alliance continued to take shape while the Empire was trying to consolidate its power in that fictional galaxy, an anti-MAGA rebellion needs to continue taking shape across the United States of America in real life. Carry on.

This is so wrong. All to feed the ego of a mad tyrant who never had the balls to serve. This is not what we do in America. This is so fucking wrong. Makes me so sad. And so angry.👇 https://t.co/ZmDcwLovhA

— Joe Walsh (@WalshFreedom) June 7, 2025

Welcome to Donald Trump’s America

pic.twitter.com/7VLKrSoAQY

— Rachel Bitecofer 🗽🦆 (@RachelBitecofer) June 7, 2025

“Tasted a little tear gas— tasted like fascism” pic.twitter.com/o7SLl4ZWnV

— Acyn (@Acyn) June 8, 2025

ANDOR: It's Been One Week Since the Best Star Wars Show in the Disney Era Came to an End...

So last Tuesday, the final three episodes for Season 2 of Andor premiered on Disney+...and all I can say is: Well-done, Tony Gilroy!

The Star Wars streaming series began with Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) infiltrating a top-secret Imperial facility to steal a prototype TIE Fighter, and concluded with Andor walking amongst his fellow Rebels at the base on Yavin 4 to embark on a mission that would directly lead into the events of 2016's Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.

In the 12 episodes that graced Andor: Season 2, we returned to the storylines of such formidable characters as Luthen Rael (Stellan Skarsgård), Bix Caleen (Adria Arjona), Dedra Meero (Denise Gough), Syril Karn (Kyle Soller), Kleya Marki (Elizabeth Dulau), Vel Sartha (Faye Marsay) and of course, Mon Mothma (Genevieve O'Reilly) and Saw Gerrera (Forest Whitaker). In Season 2 specifically, Rogue One characters Orson Krennic (Ben Mendelsohn), K-2SO (once again voiced and motion captured by Alan Tudyk) and Bail Organa (portrayed by Benjamin Bratt and not Jimmy Smits, respectively, on this show) made memorable appearances as well.

There are so many things to discuss about Andor: Season 2, but all I will say is that this show truly is The Empire Strikes Back of Star Wars Disney+ series. Andor's grittiness and extremely-grounded themes are things that we probably won't see much of in future Star Wars projects (especially in regards to the use of profanity like in Andor), unless an apt showrunner like Tony Gilroy has a major involvement in those productions.

The themes of both seasons of Andor definitely resonate in the real world...with Mon Mothma's brilliant Senate speech about the Ghorman Massacre in Season 2's Episode 9 (titled "Welcome to the Rebellion") lamenting about how we all fall victim to monsters who "scream the loudest" when truth is buried in the public discourse. Emperor Palpatine is the monster who Mothma was referring to on Andor, but in real life, the majority of the world who aren't right-wing radicals know who the monster is that's currently residing in the White House.

While the closing minutes of Season 2, Episode 12 (titled "Jedha, Kyber, Erso") focuses on the fateful mission that Cassian is about to embark on that will lead to his sacrifice in the climax of Rogue One, the final scene of Andor is a hopeful one: With Bix, Cassian's wife, walking in a wheat field of the planet Mina-Rau while cradling their newborn infant. It is sad to know that Cassian will never meet his offspring, but it is reassuring to know that he and Bix have brought a child into the Star Wars galaxy who will be able to see the sunrise that Cassian—and fellow Rebel heroes like Luthen Rael—won't get to see on their own.

Once again: Well-done, Tony Gilroy!

Photos of the Day: Blue Ghost in Mini-Brick Form...

Richard T. Par

Just thought I'd end March by sharing these images of the Blue Ghost mini-brick model that I bought from Firefly Aerospace earlier this month!

As mentioned in this entry from my Human Spaceflight Blog, I planned on ordering the Blue Ghost model online if the actual lander successfully touched down on the Moon over four weeks ago. And successfully touched down Blue Ghost did!

Unlike my LEGO® Artemis 1 rocket and Perseverance Mars rover, as well as my Atom Brick New Glenn rocket, Blue Ghost was relatively quick to build—as it 'only' consisted of 196 pieces. Just like my Artemis 1 rocket and the Percy rover, Blue Ghost is now kept dust-free inside an acrylic case that I bought online.

I initially bought a 4.2"x4.2"x4.2" glass case from a local Michaels store...but Blue Ghost barely fits inside this display. So I went to Amazon and purchased a 5"x5"x5" case, and the mini-brick lander fits perfectly in that one! (The 4.2"x4.2"x4.2" case now holds a LEGO Boba Fett figure and Grogu figurine, which you can see in the very last photo of this entry.)

Astrobotic has a mini-brick version of its Griffin lunar lander, which is scheduled to launch no earlier than this December. Just like with Blue Ghost, I intend on waiting to see the outcome of Griffin Mission One before I decide to buy something to commemorate Astrobotic's next Moon flight. Happy Monday!


Richard T. Par


Richard T. Par


Richard T. Par


Richard T. Par


Richard T. Par


Richard T. Par


Richard T. Par


Richard T. Par

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.

Why I'm a Big Fan of THE BIG BANG THEORY...

I can relate to the four main dudes on the hit CBS sitcom:

- Leonard: He's extremely infatuated with Penny and feels insecure whenever she talks to some random guy...

- Howard: Because he tries too hard with women (before he met Bernadette)...

- Raj: He's such a hopeless romantic that he tends to unwittingly come across as effeminate whenever he expresses feelings for a lady he cares about—and is unable to speak to certain (mostly gorgeous) women...

And

- Sheldon: He's extremely arrogant and narcissistic, and views sexual desire as an affliction that needs to be suppressed in the pursuit of new knowledge about the universe...before he met Amy.

And of course, all of them are huge comic book geeks and Star Wars fans. Happy Monday!

Season 1 of a STAR WARS Masterpiece Has Come to an End...

So earlier today, I watched the Season 1 finale of Andor, a 12-episode spinoff of 2016's Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, on Disney+.

Needless to say, this finale—titled "Rix Road"—did not disappoint...just like all other episodes of Andor!

I am confident in saying that Andor is The Empire Strikes Back of Star Wars' Disney+ shows. It relied on nothing more than a compelling story and a mature, and at times very dark, tone to be entertaining.

The only other Star Wars project that Andor gave fan service to was Rogue One, which of course, was directed by Tony Gilroy—the showrunner of Andor—during the reshoots for the 2016 winter blockbuster.

I am very excited for Season 3 of The Mandalorian to drop on Disney+ early next year...but in the meantime, Andor is the Star Wars series that needs to be topped in regards to excellent writing and awesome, original characters!

And for those of you reading this who also watch Andor, stay for the end credits!

I'm so stoked for Season 2.

Dragonfly Update: Testing Continues for the Robotic Mission That Will Explore Saturn's Moon Titan Next Decade...

Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory

Just thought I'd share this cool video showing an engineering model of NASA's Dragonfly quadcopter being tested at Imperial Sand Dunes Recreation Area in Southern California.

The engineering model, which is only a quarter of the size of the 990-pound (450-kilogram) aerial vehicle that will venture to Saturn's ocean moon Titan, took flight at the California national park (which was also where the Tatooine scenes for Return of the Jedi was filmed 40 years ago) last May.

Assuming that development continues to go well on this exciting endeavor, the Dragonfly mission will launch in June of 2027...and touch down at Titan's Shangri-La dune fields in 2034. Can't wait!

The Force Is Strong With This Tamagotchi...

So yesterday, I received an R2-D2 version of Bandai's Tamagotchi digital pet that I ordered through Amazon.com on Saturday—and received less than 24 hours later thanks to Amazon Prime's one-day delivery.

Majdolene, my very-lovely and talented actress from my short film The Broken Table, sent me an ad for this cool Star Wars collectible via Instagram over a week ago...and needless to say, I couldn't wait to buy it since. Of course, I still got ways to go in terms of learning how to properly take care of R2-D2, as I might've caused him to explode when I pressed the wrong button to do maintenance on the Astromech droid earlier today! My bad.

Tamagotchis were extremely popular during my last two years in high school (from late 1996 to early '98), but I never bought one till now. Better late than never, I guess!

Being a huge fan of Star Wars for the past 27 years will pique my level of interest like that. Happy Monday (and President's Day to my fellow Yanks)!

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 1996: Cool Things Happened in High School...

Just thought I'd point out that today marks 25 years since I had my final exam that concluded 10th grade at my alma mater, Bishop Amat Memorial High School! The test that I took on June 13, 1996 was for my English II class...which I had for 7th period. So why was this date memorable, you ask? Because of a girl I had a crush on, of course! I won't divulge her (full) name here, but she was the prettiest Filipina in my class—and probably in all of Amat, truthfully—and I was fortunate enough to have managed to be on speaking terms with her for much of sophomore year. We hugged after the English II exam ended (she was also in my homeroom and 3rd period World History class, respectively), and that was the last time I saw her for almost the next two years. (She ended up transferring to another high school for 11th and 12th grade, but showed up at a birthday party of one Amat classmate in February of '98, and the graduation party of another classmate four months later.) This hug was so big that my brother's friends (they all graduated from Amat two weeks before) found out about it afterwards...and expressed awe at my lucky moment. That's how significant it was that I was on good terms with Des during the 1995-'96 school year! ***



On another topic, here are photos that I recently took of the new Performing Arts Center (PAC) that's currently under construction at Amat! I'm both excited and sad about this... The PAC replaces the Faculty House (which had the publication office where I served on the school's Yearbook staff in 11th and 12th grade) that was demolished a few years before. Oh well. It's always after we graduate that our alma mater builds something cool on campus! I hope all of you are having a nice weekend.





***-Though I found out through Facebook last week that Des isn't into Star Wars (which doesn't really come as a surprise). My Star Wars obsession was huge in sophomore year—and it was me writing Star Wars fan fics during the weekend (and ahem, during some of my classes) that allowed me to not dwell on thoughts of Des and cause me to say or do anything lame or crappy around her throughout 10th grade! It's okay... This can't be a deal-breaker when she's now married with three children.

First TRIDENT and Now This... The Losses Just Keep Mountin' Up for 2021!

So a day after NASA rejected the exciting Trident flyby mission to Neptune's moon Triton for two spacecraft that will explore Venus—a planet that has no future in human space exploration (Venus floating colonies? Oh please... This ain't Cloud City from The Empire Strikes Back)—the Los Angeles Lakers got eliminated by the Phoenix Suns (113-100) in Game 6 of their first-round series at STAPLES Center tonight. Unlike in 2020, when the Lakers won their 17th NBA championship, the L.A. Dodgers earned a World Series title for the first time since 1988, and Joe Biden ousted the Orange Treasonous Buffoon in last November's presidential election, the losses just keep pilin' up for this year...

Personally-speaking, 2021 is a complete and utter failure. That is all.


L.M. Prockter et al. LPI / JPL / SwRI

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...