pReview: The Last Jedi

 

So - large and exciting plans for the holiday season?  Personally, I'll be starting my Christmas break with a trip to the Scotiabank theatre this Friday to see The Last Jedi with Karli and her squad. It is my fond hope to avoid any spoilers for the next four days*, so if you've seen the film, please keep any comments generic.

Normally, I don’t mind having a little information going in:  for example, when I saw A New Hope in theatrical release, I'd already read the novelization (which I still own, although it's in rough shape) and probably a couple of issues of the Marvel comic book adaptation. However, in this case, I’m doing my best to learn as little as possible about the film, simply because I’m expecting - or at least hoping - to be surprised by answers to some of the questions raised by The Force Awakens.

First, the big question, the one that should probably be the focus of The Last Jedi: what has Luke been doing since the Battle of Endor?  Yes, we’ve gotten hints about the Knights of Ren, and obviously something went horribly wrong in Luke’s attempt to recreate the Jedi, but it’s been 30 years - what else has happened in Luke’s life?

 

I'm very curious about this, because life has not been kind to Luke Skywalker. In the first installment, Luke is the New Hope, and the assumption is that it’s him, rather than his father, who is the Chosen One who will bring balance to the Force - and where does it get him? 

Poor Luke:  lied to by Ob-Wan and dragged into a conflict of galactic proportions, he ends up maimed, scarred, and a witness to his father's death, the father who still remains the poster child for the Dark Side 30 years after his death. It's impressive that Luke would have attempted to revive the Jedi after everything he's been through in their name, and heartbreaking that his attempt was a failure. Looking at his life from that perspective, it’s not surprising that Luke would bitterly turn his back on everything and everyone - how much disappointment can one person handle?

 

Second, I think we’d all like to know who Rey is – or, more accurately, who her parents are. There’s been a certain amount of speculation that she’s Luke’s daughter, although I don’t see that as being likely, in spite of her extreme reaction to Luke’s long lost lightsaber and the proven tendency of the Skywalker children to be discovered on desert planets. I suspect that if Rey was Luke’s child, it would be immediately obvious to anyone with even hint of Force abilities, let alone her cousin and her aunt. 

Perhaps Obi-Wan Kenobi’s grandchild? Hmmm. Possible but a bit of a stretch, given that there’s not even a hint that old Ben ever decided to ignore the Jedi injunction against attachment after the fall of the Republic.

All that being said, let’s not forget this useful exchange from Spaceballs:

Dark Helmet: Before you die there is something you should know about us, Lone Star.
Lone Starr: What?
Dark Helmet: I am your father's brother's nephew's cousin's former roommate.
Lone Starr: What's that make us?
Dark Helmet: Absolutely nothing!

Let’s face it, it’s a big universe, it may well be that Rey’s back story is solely one of abandonment, rather than abandonment by someone we know.  Obviously, she has to be someone’s child, but not necessarily the child of someone named Skywalker.

Similarly, are we going to discover that Supreme Leader Snoke (worst villain name ever, by the way) is actually someone from the other movies, like Emperor Palpatine or even Anakin Skywalker?  Both seem equally unlikely, but there aren’t really a lot of other options if they decided to go that route – who else could it be? There actually aren't that many choices for a returning villain.  Snoke’s brutally scarred visage suggests that there has to be some kind of significant back story involving lightsabers and/or explosions, or else why bother having him look like that? 

Both of these questions share the same characteristics: the plot seems to demand some kind of significance for both the puzzle of Rey’s heritage and the mystery of Snoke’s injuries, but none of the options seem to make any sense.

Personally, I'd like there to be no connections with anyone, with just as much of a clean slate as possible for the new characters.  The death of Han Solo in The Force Awakens sends a clear message, and that message is that this is not your father's Star Wars - or his lightsaber.

  - Sid

* We really need to establish a baseline for this. Is four weeks a good spoiler buffer?  At what point can we assume that plot details are common knowledge?  For example, if anyone reading this was previously unaware that Darth Vader is Luke's father, my apologies – but it’s been 37 years, that has to be old news by now.

Geekmas 2017: The system works.

December 15th, 2017: departmental Christmas potluck lunch and Secret Santa gift exchange.

  - Sid

Geekmas 2019?

 

 

 “You’ll want all day to-morrow, I suppose?” said Scrooge.
“If quite convenient, sir.”
“It’s not convenient,” said Scrooge, “and it’s not fair. If I was to stop half-a-crown for it, you’d think yourself ill-used, I’ll be bound?”
The clerk smiled faintly.
“And yet,” said Scrooge, “you don’t think me ill-used, when I pay a day’s wages for no work.”
The clerk observed that it was only once a year.
“A poor excuse for picking a man’s pocket every twenty-fifth of December!” said Scrooge, buttoning his great-coat to the chin. “But I suppose you must have the whole day. Be here all the earlier next morning.” 

Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol

In the process of doing research for this year's Geekmas posting, I was pleased and excited to see a new William Gibson book in the "Inspired by your browsing history" section of my Amazon.ca home page.  I thought to myself, "Yep, that's going RIGHT onto the Books part of the gift list.  Maybe more than once, I can make it look like a joke if I ask for it twice."

However, I was disappointed to realize that Agency was being released on the 25th of December. I'm a big fan of Mr. Gibson and his work, but seriously, Bill, who releases a book on December 25th?   Would you not want to catch the Christmas shopping crowd?

...no, wait, December 25, 2018!  2018??

THIS BOOK IS AVAILABLE FOR ADVANCE PURCHASING OVER 13 MONTHS IN ADVANCE????

I can't decide if that's ridiculous or impressive - perhaps both. Regardless, I'll confess that I did wonder if I could have it delivered on the 25th of December, there is an option at the lower right that asks, "Want to receive this the day is comes out?"

I was actually a bit relieved to discover that Amazon doesn't deliver on Christmas Day - after all, it is only once a year, Mr. Bezos. 

  - Sid

Mirror mirror.

 

“After this, it’s a whole new chapter for Discovery.”

Captain Lorca: Into the Forest I Go, Star Trek: Discovery 

For the most part, I've enjoyed the first nine episodes of Star Trek: Discovery, and I was pleased to discover (no pun intended) that they'd been extended to a second season.  Regardless, I feel that I should make something clear to the producers of the show now that we've seen the mid-season cliffhanger:

IF YOU SHOW ME ONE ALTERNATE CHARACTER WITH A LITTLE GOATEE NEXT YEAR, I WILL DROP THIS SHOW LIKE A HOT POTATO, GOT IT?

Understood?  Splendid.  I just wanted to make sure we were all clear on that.

Thank you.

  - Sid

Geekmas 2017: Starting Over.

The holiday season is here again, as marked by the inevitable drawing of names for our workplace gift exchange. In order to simplify the process for whichever of my co-workers has pulled the folded paper slip with my name from the traditional red velvet bag - or anyone else seeking seasonal gift-giving inspiration - here's my annual Geekmas Gift Guide.*

This year, I'm the victim of my own success, as it were - thanks to remarkable follow-through on gift suggestions last year, I'm obliged to pretty much start from scratch. My sincere thanks to all of the people who selected items from the list, and to my girlfriend Karli** for managing the process from behind the scenes.

As always, the following list has been selected to fit more or less within the $20 - $25 range applicable to workplace Secret Santas (and Karli's** immediate family). To keep things simple for potential gift-givers, I've tried to source as many things as possible from Amazon.ca or equally accessible retailers - which will make more sense when you get to the Toys section. 

Books
I've had a pretty good year for buying myself reading material, so I had to dig around a bit more than usual for this section.  However, that being said, my first choice here was easy: Artemis, the sophomore work from Andy Weir, author of The Martian.  Early reviews are positive, although there have been a couple of comments that Mr. Weir isn't completely successful in writing a female lead.

 

From the non-fiction aisle, Marvel Comics: The Untold Story, by Sean Howe (whom you may recognize as the editor of Give Our Regards to the Atom-smashers!, which I picked up during our New York trip.).  If you're at all curious about the background behind Marvel's rise to fame, you may want to buy a copy for yourself, as well - or borrow mine.

A little Cancon to round things out, and a confession:  I've never read Margaret Atwood's classic dystopian novel The Handmaid's Tale.  There, I admit it.

Other options would be Luna: Wolf Moon, by Ian McDonald; Red Seas Under Red Skies, by Scott Lynch, and The Murders of Molly Southbourne, by Tade Thompson.

By the way, as per the above stipulation regarding price range, paperbacks or trade paperbacks, please, no need to go hardcover.  


Movies
I know that the era of physical media is on the wane, but I'm still fond of my library of movies and TV shows - I think of it as my own little On Demand service. As always, blu-ray by preference - although we're starting to think about a 4K disc player to go with our 4K flatscreen.

 

How could I not ask for a copy of Wonder Woman, 2017's superhero feminist breakout movie? Well acted, well directed, and hopefully a how-to guide for future Hollywood female comic book character adaptations.

On the vintage movie front, I'm going to suggest the classic 1954 black and white SF/horror film Them.  If you're not familiar with Them, three words:  giant radioactive ants.  This movie frightened me beyond words when I first saw it at the age of ten - now I'm more appreciative of the manner in which it overcomes the limitations of Fifties effects technology with an excellent cast delivering excellent performances. (And the debut of the giants ants still scares me a bit.) Alert fans will catch a brief appearance by a youthful Leonard Nimoy as an Air Force staff sergeant. 

Either Rogue One or The Force Awakens would be useful additions to the lineup, although I lean a bit toward Rogue One:  The Force Awakens will probably end up being part of an eventual purchase of the sequel trilogy, whereas all evidence would suggest that there won't be another Rogue One movie.

And, as a wildcard suggestion, any of the DC Animation Justice League series collections.  DC's animated adaptations have been uniformly excellent, with good storylines and superb voice acting.  If you're not certain, yes, Justice League Unlimited is part of the same group.



Toys
Yes, toys. As previously mentioned, toys are a huge part of the fan experience. My current haphazard collection is a bit idiosyncratic compared to the standard approach: it's not specific to a fandom, and I haven't invested thousands of dollars in it.  It's predominantly made up of contributions from other people in the form of gifts.

I don't have any Star Wars toys, and I honestly wouldn't know where to start in terms of recommending something from the list of options available - anyone buying me a Star Wars item has complete carte blanche.  However, if you want to pick up something a bit different, I'd love to have one of the Funko Fallout Legacy Collection toys - either the Lone Wanderer or the Power Armour figure.

 

Funko is better known for their ridiculously comprehensive selection of Pop! figures, but as you can see, they also produce more realistic action toys. To my surprise, the Fallout toys shown above can be found at walmart.ca - who knew? They're currently on sale, too.

And, in all fairness, if reading all of this has just made your head spin, not to worry - I'm completely content with gift cards. 

  - Sid

* To be honest, this isn't an easy process for me. My British mother left me with a marked reluctance to actually ask someone to give me a gift, which makes the whole idea of publishing a list of "I wants" a bit of a challenge. However, I take comfort in the fact that if someone has already made the gift-giving decision (or had it mandated by workplace imperatives), they may well be eager - if not desperate - for some guidance.

** My gorgeous girlfriend, to be accurate.

Toy Story.

For whatever reason, a substantial part of being a geek involves toy ownership. Toys have always been associated with being a fan - it's tempting to blame it on Star Wars, but as far back as 1934, fans of Buck Rogers mobbed Macy's Department Store in New York to buy the Daisy-produced XZ-31 Rocket Pistol.

My modest personal toy collection reflects my broad interests in the genre.  It's an idiosyncratic collection, based on entirely on whimsy and contributions from other people, which still manages to cover quite a wide range of fandom.

Scopedog, Defender, Warpig

I don't own the XZ-31 Rocket Pistol: my Buck Rogers sidearm of choice is a vintage XZ-38 Disintegrator pistol.  I also have a phaser, a communicator, a Halo UNSC M6 blaster, and a sonic screwdriver.  My treasured 09-ST Scopedog figure from the 1983 Armoured Trooper VOTOMS anime was a surprise stag gift: I had commented to my best man that it seemed unfair that there was a bridal shower but no tradition for pre-wedding gifts for the groom, and he was kind enough to get me something as a consolation prize.

My Spock bust and Dalek were also gifts, and my Major Matt Mason and matching Supernaut Power Limbs were impulse buys, based on childhood ownership.  I have a plastic Defender and a cast metal M.A.C. II Monster from the 1985 Robotech series but sadly, my GBP-1 VF-1J Veritech fighter came to an unhappy end many years ago.  There's a Starcraft Terran Marine "War Pig" figure that I believe was never sold in stores, but was instead a bagged promotional item of some sort, as well as a Batman toy, a Halo sniper that Colin gave me, 10th and 11th Doctor Who bobbleheads that were also from Colin, a wind-up Lost In Space robot, a GoBot, a Gundam figure of unknown origin, and of course, the classic 12 inch toy robot that I received as a fiftieth birthday gift at work.

Oddly enough, I have no Star Wars representation, other than a set of light saber chopsticks from Japan that Karli gave me - great souvenirs, but not toys as such.

Because my status as a geek and collector is a somewhat known phenomenon, one of Karli's co-workers suggested that if I was interested in that sort of thing, we should pay a visit to Toy Traders, located in Langley.  Recent weekend plans took us in that direction, so we decided to make a stop at the store.

For whatever reason, I had pictured a small collector's shop, a few hundred square feet with locked glass displays and so on, and I had hopes of possibly adding to my little Major Matt Mason collection.  When it came to the actual location, I was overwhelmed.

 

Toy Traders is an epic 17,000 square feet of toys, featuring an incredible selection of action figures, vehicles, busts, statuettes, models, games and accessories from virtually every part of the geek and fan spectrum. In addition to its massive and comprehensive inventory, the store is decorated with an astonishing collection of props and collectables: statues, masks, helmets, weapons, and costumes.

Photo by KT

The upper level of the store's warehouse space also showcases toys from Marvel Comics, Star Wars, the Muppets and other franchises in an amazing array of dioramas.

Photo by KT

I suspect that it would be easy for a fan who was obsessed, impulsive, rich (or all of the above) to blow ten grand in Toy Traders without even breaking a sweat - or or having to shop in more than one aisle. As an example, the 21 inch Skeletor statue shown below is characteristic of the pricing for the gorgeously detailed collectibles available at the store.

 

Rare and vintage collectables can be found in the Darkside section, located in a small upstairs mezzanine. I was surprised to see that a lot of the upstairs stock was loose, rather than Mint On Card or Mint In Package - I tend to associate serious toy collecting with toys still in sealed packaging.

I was a little tempted by the Captain Power action figures in the upstairs displays, both MOC and loose.  Not terribly pricey, and an unexpected trip down memory lane to the short-lived Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future series from 1987.*

Impressive though Toy Traders is, it's actually possible to find a few gaps in their inventory. For example, I didn't see any of Blizzard Entertainment's Heroes of the Storm action figures (my main interest is in the Starcraft characters) or any of the Fallout Legacy Collection. However, in the interests of fairness, it's 17,000 square feet of toys, I may well have just missed the right shelf.

After much thought, I decided to buy a Marvel Select Avenging Captain America action figure in the World War II costume from the movies.  I've always been fond of the character, and Marvel is completely unrepresented in my current lineup.  It's a well detailed and constructed figure, although there were a couple of rogue paint marks on his shield, which could either be mistakes or attempts to create the look of field repairs to the shield's finish.  Either way, I find the shield's red to be a bit dull, and may consider repainting it in a more vibrant scarlet.

As I was paying for my purchase, the young woman at the till asked me the pro forma "Did you find everything that you were looking for?" question. I initially delivered the equally pro forma, "Yes, thank you", but then decided to perjure myself, and replied, "Actually, to tell the truth, I was hoping to find some Major Matt Mason toys."

She frowned in a slightly puzzled fashion, but then from my right, a baritone voice replied, "We don't get a lot of Matt Mason toys, when we do , they go upstairs. Did you see the upstairs?  We had his Space Bubble come in recently, but it's gone now."

It turned out that I had attracted the attention of Matthew Purdy, the affable and knowledgeable owner of Toy Traders.  Sensing an opportunity, I mentioned to him that I had a co-worker who had inherited what might well be a quite rare selection of first generation Star Wars toys.  Purdy, who confessed to being a Star Wars collector himself, was obviously intrigued, and suggested that my co-worker contact his assistant to set up a possible meeting. So there may yet be a happy ending to Damon's search for a home for his Star Wars collectables.

Who knows, if all goes well, he might even get me something like a Toy Traders gift certificate by way of thanks - hint, hint.

- Sid

* Weregeek moment:  does anyone else remember Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future? It was an American-Canadian series that ran for one season in 1987.  It was an ambitious but not completely successful attempt to create an interactive TV program - viewers could buy toys that allowed them to shoot at the onscreen villains during combat scenes, and the villain's weapons would produce bright flashes of light that would be picked up by the toys and register as hits. (At one point, someone gave me one of the interactive toy/guns, a Captain Power Powerjet XT-7. I wonder where that ended up?) It was also ahead of its time in integrating computer graphic characters with the live action footage. 

The show had some surprisingly adult themes for a children's show, and the first (and only) season ended on a dark note with the death of a major character.  J. Michael Straczynski, who went on to create the Babylon 5 series, was the show's story editor and a contributing script writer and Jessica Steen, who played the role of Corporal Jennifer "Pilot" Chase, later appeared briefly as Doctor Elizabeth Weir on Stargate Atlantis before Torri Higginson took over the role.