The Star Wars cast sings Call Me Maybe by Carly Rae Jepsen. Obi wan (Old and Young) and a host of Skywalkers join Yoda and the Jedi for a quick rendition of an otherwise potentially forgettable pop tune. It even has a Mutilingual bit, who knew what Greedo was saying in the Cantina but it was certainly irritating enough for Han Solo to shoot first (answering a long standing question has to who started it).
It’s good that the dialogue from the love scenes in parts II and III have found a half decent. In the mean time, have to doff your cap to James Covenant fgor finding a new way to see the Star Wars movies – even in this slightly tacky way…
Rial Shif is an agent of the Jedi. You could walk around the Jedi Temple in Coruscant and ask everyone if they’ve ever heard the name Rial Shif. The answer from almost all of those present would be no and a quizzical look as to where you got that name from.
Rial Shif is as close to a Dark Jedi as you’ve ever met without falling over the precipice of the Dark Side. His teachings were considered far too borderline – edging into powerful and long hidden dark aspects of the force – to be allowed to teach the younglings. However Jedi Master Yoda understands the good in Rial Shif. His trust in Shif means he has found a unique position within the order. He wanders the space lanes, mostly out on the outer rim practicing his own brand of Jedi justice. Always short of brutal, Shif is an exacting and intimidating Jedi. All those that have crossed him have discovered that. To their cost.
Yoda is a very old man / Brussel Sprout. In his years of solitude he has been eating a lot of Swamp Radish, even gained a cheerful taste for the stuff as it grows low making it easy for the old feller to get his hands on it. The force has to be reserved for pulling X-Wings out of bogs of course. But given his Sprout heritage it is perhaps unsurprising that the elder members of his species create increasingly large clouds of noxious gas prior to death. Being 600 years old he couldn’t give a rats ass.
The guy who posted this video is as mortified by it’s popularity as we are about finsing it funny. I defy you to watch it the whole way through without a childish snigger.
With one of the universe’s silliest names he is non-the-less the most adventurous and well known jedi in the Galaxy is Pau’sa Carni (Sam Davies). Famed in holovids throughout all of the most advanced and fringe planetary systems he had made a career from playing Jedi Knights in adventure holos. However, Pau is a lapsed Jedi – trusted enough by Yoda and Windu to operate secretly outside the order. Now, with Order 66 tearing through the Jedi ranks they need all the help they can get.
Even if that help comes with a cheesy grin and an even cheesier quip and a flash of an out of date lightsabre blade.
A recent commission to finish the existing line work for the back flipping stage fighter Mr Samuel Davies – possibly one of the greatest and most rubber faced actors of our time. Living and working between his native Cardiff and London he is an elusive character and we haven’t seen him in some time. But we wish him well with all of his ass kicking, gurning and brilliantly performing adventures.
Ralph McQuarrie was the visionary artist who developed the look of one of the most easily recognisable moments in cinema history. Twin suns in the sky over Tatooine, A-wings sailing passed destroyed ATAT’s on the icy surface of Hoth. A young adventurer named Starkiller against an enemy named Darth Vader. All of these concepts had been brought to life long before a crew of hundreds started work on production of Star Wars. Lucas himself was quoted as saying ‘when I run out of ways to describe what I want – I point to Ralph’s work and say – like this.’
The Darth Vader suit was a combination of Samurai armour, Nazi uniform and gas mask. To stand in a room with it represents a real moment of awe. Combining aspects of mechanised war, machine, ancient warrior, vampire lord and dark magician – McQuarrie created an image of unsurpassed power and contained evil. His vision of Darth Vader, completed with the voice of James Earl Jones the most recognisable vision of evil and power in fictional popular culture in the 20th Century.
Anyone who loves the Millenium Falcon or Darth Vader should remember Ralph McQuarrie. King of concept artists – but much more than that – a man who brought dreams alive for an inexperienced director and ultimately the whole world. A true visionary.
Thank you Ralph McQuarrie. Dream maker.
To do the same thing again Lucas employs teams of visual artists for every scene. McQuarry did it effectively alone with one man’s ideas in his head.
The very definition of visionary.
This week concludes the run for the Lost Jedi. However they are still available to see in the main gallery here. Essentially a fan piece, created very much outside the Jedi Universe it never-the-less represents a great memory of my time at the Star Wars Exhibition in London (which ran from May 4th, 2007 until January 2008). For those who missed that please find over the next couple of weeks some videos from that exhibition. And if you were present, please let us know what you thought.
Ca De Nas (Cristian Cadenas) is a master of arms for the Jedi. One of the foremost trainers of Lightsabre technique in the galaxy, Ca De Nas is based on Coruscant at the time of Order 66. A trainer of Anakin Skywalker in the years prior to the Clone Wars, Ca De Nas tried to impart the wisdom of open hand techniques in battle and introduce mercy, guile and non-fatal attacks. Anakin struggles to fight his teacher for a time, until fury takes hold. Ca De Nas instinctively held back some of the techniques taught to all Padawans at Master Yoda’s request and Obi Wan’s agreement until he had demonstrated greater control of his temper. Ca De Nas’ capacity for guile and adaptability make him a difficult opponent and a respected warrior in the Jedi ranks.
Jedi Master Govija Kaoli (Jack Gavin) is a whip crack smart tactician who always gets every body killed. Always put at the sharp end because of his calm exterior, Govija Kaoli has only one true Achilles heel. His Padawan Mooba Choobi. Having been assigned an idiot nephew to the successful Hooba Choobi, Govija finds his path immeasurably blocked by the affable buffoon. Govija is a kind hearted warrior with almost immeasurable patience and a wry view of the universe but even he is uncertain whether his strong Jedi intuition and piloting abilities will help him survive alongside such an incredible idiot.
We’ll admit we don’t watch much TV at Beyond the Bunker (we tend to catch this stuff on DVD – which this year would’ve led to reviews of Firefly and Battlestar Galatica) but we’ll try to make sure we keep up next year as best we can. Or review DVDs we’ve seen. Or get rid of it completely. Never-the-less here’s an attempt at the Best series of the year awards 2011 based on the buzz and our own personal choices.
Denied Winner – Game of Thrones (Season 1)
According to popular buzz surrounding HBO’s blood and thunder epic Game of Thrones, featuring LOTR’s Sean Bean, Conan’s Jason Momoa and Tesco’s ad’s Mark Addy in various roles we know nothing about, it’s an absolute corker and the best thing out this year. However, because of delays in releasing the DVD – causing online bloggers all over the web to declare that they’ve been left with no choice but to pirate it to get their fix in spite of wanting to support their favourite TV programme – we haven’t seen it. But we hope to. Oh yeah.
Based on George R.R. Martin’s epic series of novels the series has an enormous following and from what we’ve heard – rightfully so. As seven families fight to control the mythical land of Westeros, political and sexual intrigue is pervasive. In all of this chaos, clear and entertaining characters are struggling to gain increasing amounts of power – through savagery, skullduggery and sexual manipulation. Sounds great.
Winner – Sherlock (Season 1)
In spite of the fact that the decision by the BBC to produce a modern day turn for the world’s most famous detective, featuring Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman as the titular detective and his now unwilling partner, Watson generated some concern regarding the dumbing down of a British classic, Sherlock proved to be one of the best series released in recent years for a number of reasons.
It proved itself so slick, challenging and interesting that even die hard fans of the original Sherlock were brought on board. Initially, a three episode series, Cumberbatch’s depiction of an ostrasised and maligned genius detective being followed by a beleagured and bemused hobbled war veteran turned journalist through his first set of cases wooed audiences and made Cumberbatch a household name, previously restricted to period costume and theatre performances that while no doubt engaging failed to reach so wide an audience.
Combining assured and intelligent scriptwriting by Dr Who and (in one one case) League of Gentlemen scribes Stephen Moffat and Mark Gatiss, BBC’s primetime production values and an award baiting turn from relative unknown Andrew Scott as Sherlock’s new found nemesis Moriarty – the game is very much afoot for Series 2.
With Season 2 starting on New Years Day on BBC1, now would be a good time to familiarise yourself with the return of the great detective in this assured, intelligent and gripping series.
Best Current Series – Walking Dead (Season 2)
Frank Darabont’s translation of Robert Kirkman’s Walking Dead serialisation has been happily consistent with it’s source material. The bravery of focussing on the assembled survivors allows such a series to be created but the sense of scale that is realised – particularly in the devastation of Atlanta in the opening episode of Season 1 – gave the feel of the piece a much bigger scale than most American series. This was continued in Season 2 from the very first episode, featuring a debilitatingly tense scene involving ‘a herd’ and a plot point unexpectedly introduced from further through the comic book series.
It is a careful adaptation, using large swathes of detail from the original series – both following Sheriff Rick Grimes, his wife, child, best friend and a host of disparate survivors through a world now overrun by Zombies. But it darts and diverts from the original, allowing any devotees of the books guessing as to what is happening next an excellent and original experience. Developing its own storylines it remains rewarding both when it diverges from and converges on moments from the popular series.
The effects work is fantastic, easily on par – or beyond – work previously seen in various Zombie Movies. The presence of the Zombies is never lost, keeping tension in scenes where otherwise there may be none. This is also fuelled by the camerwork as the stark cinematography is deliberately sparse and simple, constantly making the viewer aware that empty space has the possibility of being occupied but most poignantly emphasising the isolation the central figures have found themselves in.
Effectively a survivors epic it has the added joy of the wandering undead to liven things up should the action become too leaden as it can at times in other long running series. Season 1 was only 6 Episodes long but with season 2 considerably longer it will allow central characters to develop in a way that will make the inevitable loss of them even more effective.
Epic scale narrowed to engaging character plots and the possibility of Zombies at every corner. The promise of this series based on events in the original books is potentially phenomenal and this series has to be seen.
Best Non-geek Series – Fresh Meat (Series 1)
The series follows a group of six students about to embark on the most exciting period of their lives thus far University (yawn, right?)! Away from home for the first time, on the brink of adult life, they are about to discover who they really are. From the moment they ship up as freshers at their shared house, their lives are destined to collide, overlap and run the whole gamut of appalling behaviour and terrible errors of judgement.
Sounds like every coming-of-age college series there is but this one proves itself different. The assembled characters move well out of their archetypal characteristics like students at their first university stand-up gig. Where similar series have relied on stereotypes and presumed reactions to arriving at university this one takes each individual and offers them realistic and familiar situations which they deal with in the way anyone else would. Quite badly.
The expected central figure Kingsley (Inbetweeners Joe Thomas) is sidelined pretty swiftly to share room with all his fellow housemates, in spite of a fantastic central plot involving a burdgeoning mutual attraction to fellow housemate Josie (Kimberley Nixon) which somehow always ends with them discovering the other has slept with someone else – sometimes hilariously audibly through their shared partition wall (while drunkenly arguing with each other at one point). Add to that the socially awkward Howard (Greg McHugh) who is pursued by a borderline psychotic classmate he developed a brief friendship with, straight talking hard-living Vod (the incredible Zawe Ashton) and Oregon (Charlotte Richie), desperate to be cool and terrified of being boring and you have a great mix.
But bizarrely, it’s Jack Whitehall’s character JP that walks away with the crown. A public school boy with an over inflated sense of entitlement, Whitehall manages to instill enough humanity into the prat that you do understand why the rest put up with him.
The jaunty and intelligent script bounds away through numerous scenarios, both realistic enough to be occuring but wild enough to be entertaining and the incredible cast bring it both harmoniously and raucously to life. An excellent series and well worth a look.
Most anticipated DVD – Star Wars: The Clone Wars Seasons 3 and 4
Unseen as yet and as I understand it ongoing at present – Clone Wars Season 4 is the continued influence of Star Wars on kids TV channels. Less engaging than the original 2 Dimensional seasons directed by Genndy Tartakovsky but offer more plot and development to the whole saga. With each season the CGI improves and more worlds are revealed in higher detail. Still 2 seasons behind at present however I (Steve P) have to put this on my guilty pleasures list because it expands the Star Wars Universe and is occasionally noticably created by true die hard fans who jump at the chance to develop part of the SW universe.
Most Cause for Concern – Dr Who (Season 6)
Matt Smith is an excellent Doctor, Karen Gillian is a great sidekick and we know that Steven Moffat is a great writer. However, somehow, indiscernably, the last series of Dr Who has lacked the pathos and light hearted touch that previously won it so many fans. No doubt a deliberate intention by Moffat to darken and broaden the Who, it appears to be beginning to lose it’s grip on plot this season. In spite of an introduction of The Silence, the scale and adventure wasn’t as bedded down in character and engaging emotional situations as it has been in previous seasons.
Upping the sci-fi quota, scripts have become slightly convoluted and less involving as a result. Matt Smith, while entertaining as the lithe and slightly dotty Doctor lacks the strength that the more seasoned Doctors had and while, initially, the scripts played with this they have now put perhaps too much emphasis on a young actor to imbue wonder and concern at every turn every time a ‘tree whispers’. Somehow less surprising than previous series, the science babble has gone up, the lunatic and dastardly alien beings have gone down and the geek wish fulfilment is beginning to become too visible.
I have loved Doctor Who but I am concerned that continuity is beginning to fray and that it needs a rest between seasons before it collapses under it’s own weight of expectation. Still excellent, it is however less excellent than it was, seemingly relying overly on emotional resolutions to tie up convoluted plots and slightly unoriginal concepts.
However, still excellent. Hopefully Moffat et al will see the slight error in their ways and get behind an excellent Season 7. God knows the BBC wants it!!
Beyond the Bunker 