Tag: Star Wars

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A new report has Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni taking over Star Wars

Embed from Getty Images Is current LucasFilm President Kathleen Kennedy exiting Disney? It sure looks and sounds that way. Yesterday afternoon, reports circulated that Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni will likely take over the creative direction of Disney Star Wars. Which is fantastic news for the future of Star Wars as well as the fan base.

Jon Favreau, Dave Filoni, creator’s of the new Disney Plus streaming service smash hit “The Mandalorian” are set to be named over all things Star Wars. The Mandalorian  is getting rave reviews from fans.

To this point no one is entirely sure where Star Wars films will go once The Rise of Skywalker arrives in theaters next month. Jon Favreau is newer to Star Wars. Meanwhile his probable new partner, Dave Filoni helped revive Star Wars with the animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels. Filoni also directed the debut episode of The Mandalorian, and produces the series with Favreau.

It has been reported the next Star Wars film will be released December 2022, with Favreau and Filoni calling the shots. This is a time for Star Wars fans to exhale. Star Wars is in very good hands moving forward.

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George Lucas was asked to fix “Star Wars The Rise of Skywalker”

OEmbed from Getty Images *This comes from very good sources,* Early screen tests for “Star Wars the Rise of Skywalker” were disastrous. So disastrous in fact that Lucasfilm brought back the one person who could right the ship. Star Wars creator, George Lucas.

With Disney CEO Bob Iger, in attendance director J.J. Abrams tested the final story in the Skywalker saga. The audience was made up of hard-core Star Wars fans, casual Star Wars fans as well as general movie fans who were simply only aware of Star Wars.

The audience was asked to rank/grade the film. The J.J. Abrams/ Kathleen Kennedy ‘Rise of Skywalker” cut had the lowest score 29. The audience sighted a “very lackluster” third act that hurt the film. In other words a flop.

It is said the biggest issue with that version was Rey destroyed Emperor Palpatine in “OP fashion,” causing the film viewers to bust out into laughter. That is said to have enraged Iger, who demanded reshoots.

Iger went to Abrams and specifically told him him to bring Anakin and Luke Skywalker ‘in the flesh.” Following the modifications Iger asked for the film was re-tested. The results were better not great. The audience ranked/graded Iger’s “Rise of Skywalker” 65. In other words good not great, which would have irritated and already on edge fan base.

It was right after the screening Iger made the call to bring in the one person who’s vision is being presented, George Lucas himself! This is where it get’s interesting. Lucas watched both versions. He then went to the editing room. He used both Abrams and Iger’s films and crafted them together.

George Lucas also asked for “certain reshoots.” Abrams agreed. “The Rise of Skywalker” was then tested for a third time to the same audience demographic. This time the J.J. Abrams/ Kathleen Kennedy/ Bob Iger/ George Lucas Star Wars film scored and 88.

In movies anything over 82 is considered a hit movie. There is a bit of irony in all of this. George Lucas who created one of the most successful movie franchises of all-time. Who directed  some of the films, was brought in to fix the last one. Well in terms of the Skywalker portion of Star Wars anyways.

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Iconic Star Wars actor Anthony Daniels teases a possible final scene with C-3PO

Embed from Getty Images Say it is not true! Could the very first character to be scene in the very first Star Wars movie teases the iconic C-3PO could be headed to an emotional farewell. Anthony Daniels has played the character ever since 1977, recently wrote a boo “I am C-3PO”

*There is potential spoilers ahead so proceed with caution.*- In a recent interview Anthony Daniels had this to say about “The Rise of Skywalker,”  “It was difficult not to tear up a bit. Partly because J.J. Abrams (director) said some really nice things and all the crew were listening and watching. I have to admit it was an emotional moment, but I knew it was coming. It wasn’t even a scene in which I said anything. For once, Threepio was in a scene without butting in. But I felt it’s such a terrific movie that I thought it was okay to say goodbye. I feel satisfied with this one. I have something to be proud of that, you know, as I say goodbye.”

It is no secret C-3PO has had a huge role of the Star Wars history. With the December release coming like a freight train, The final film in the Skywalker saga promises to be a bit of an emotional roller coaster for those of use who have been able to see every Star Wars film in their original runs in theaters.

For an actor who generally has never praised a Star Wars film he has been in Daniels offered this about the upcoming film, saying it had  “a terrific script that seemed heading for a very satisfying conclusion.”

Daniels went on, “I tried hard to concentrate as finally, the cameras moved to my closeup,” Daniels wrote in I Am C-3PO. “For Threepio, this was going to be a telling moment in his existence. Because, suddenly, I had uttered his last line in a Star Wars film.” He hinted this sequence, with C-3PO’s final line, is “the closing moments of the film itself,” As it should end with the final shot of C-3PO who has   spanned more than 40 years of cinematic history. Overall, Anthony Daniels seems happy with how Star Wars is ending.

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Who are the greatest Star Wars heroes of all-time? Let us take a look

Embed from Getty Images Chirrut Imwe, from Star Wars: Rogue One, displayed both faith and courage. Yet, Imwe did not make my list of greatest Star Wars heroes. The Star Wars movie franchised has had some great characters over the years. In this opinion piece I will explore my list of great Star Wars heroes.

Yoda: Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, Revenge of the Sith, The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, The Last Jedi. The great Jedi Master, wise strong and can use a lightsaber. and icon of Star Wars to be sure.

Obi-Wan Kenobi: Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, Revenge of the Sith, A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi. Obi-Wan was the best part of the prequel trilogy in my opinion. Patient, wise, loyal. Not too mention became one with the Force in ghost form first.

R2-D2: Star Wars:The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, Revenge of the Sith, A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi, The Rise of Skywalker. R2 is a life saver and bails people out with regularity. To not have him on a greatest heroes list would be a huge injustice to the grest Star Wars droid.

Luke Skywalker: Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith (quick baby shot) A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi, The Rise of Skywalker. A seemingly average hero, who turns into much more. The Luke loses it all and is darker in The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi. Yet finds it in himself to help Rey.

There it is, my list of greatest Star Wars heroes. What’s that you say? No Han Solo? No, the bitter cargo smuggler turned Rebellion hero just missed my cut. If Solo is on your list great!

If it makes you feel better I did almost put the poor aiming Stormtroopers on my list, for regularly missing their targets and heroes while  allowing them to escape many times.

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Hot rumors: Disney re-shooting The Rise of Skywalker, “Almost Whole Movie”

Embed from Getty Images A very solid, very reputable  Star Wars source claims to have first hand knowledge of all things Star Wars. Including something that has been whispered for some time.

“I have Star Wars info, they are still shooting. They were having to remake almost the whole movie as what they tested as the movie was a complete pile of flopping @!%$. This is not some kind of casual 2 week reshoot. This is almost a 75% remake. They shot the thing so there were 6 possible main edits. And even then there was no way to put it together that would not have flopped. JJ Abrams said this film will not please everyone. Disney flipped out and said this film has to please everyone and redo it until it does. If they can not get it to perform in tests, this is the end of this particular reboot.”

One of the biggest issues surrounding the final film in the Skywalker saga is that Abrams and his writers  tried to force to much plot into the film. That has been reported by multiple people with firsthand knowledge of the film.

Some of the plot involved characters being able to do too much. One insider said “Apparently Rey could raise both a Death Star and the dead by the end of the film.” In the first round of shooting. Disney was not on board with this.

It is being reported that the third and final trailer for “The Rise of Skywalker” was delayed because of the reshoots.

Another source had this bit of information, “Disney realizes or fears at least that they have devalued the Star Wars brand. They have also according to this other changed the direction of the film substantially.”

JJ Abrams is said to be both re-shooting parts of the film and editing at the same time.

Disney was right to order the re-shoots after the fans dislike for “The Last Jedi” which in turns made the very solid “Solo: a Star Wars story” suffer at the box-office. I believe Abrams will deliver and set a new direction for Star Wars moving forward.

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Star Wars: Could Emperor Palaptine and Supreme Leader Snoke be related?

Embed from Getty Images *This is not a spoiler, only speculation*, that explores if Darth Plagueis created Palpatine?  Plagueis knew how to create life, so he creates the perfect Dark Side apprentice. Plagueis’ apprentice then kills him in his sleep after learning his teachings, and the apprentice creates even more life in Anakin Skywalker. And some further speculation: Could Supreme Leader Snoke have been created as a backup Palpatine and learned everything from Plagueis as well?

“Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” director JJ Abrams, said back in the spring, “This movie had a very, very specific challenge, which was to take eight films and give an ending to three trilogies, and so we had to look at, what is the bigger story?

While this week, JJ Abrams revealed why Palpatine is returning for The Rise of Skywalker. He said, “Some people feel like we shouldn’t revisit the idea of Palpatine. And I completely understand that. But if you’re looking at the nine films as one story, I don’t know many books where the last few chapters have nothing to do with those that have come before. If you look at the first eight films, all the set-ups of what we’re doing in IX are there in plain view.”

To link the films and characters together, is not as easy as it would seem. In my opinion, a big shocking moment would be if Emperor Palaptine and Supreme Leader Snoke were created by the same person, Darth Plagueis.

It is already known, Emperor Palpatines is returning for the last installment of the Skywalker saga. What better way to paint a bigger picture on the story and give them more meat?

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A rumor has sent a rift through Star Wars fans

*Warning: This is a potential spoiler. Please turn away or take with a grain of salt.*

Embed from Getty Images A Darth Vader rumor has hit “The Rise of Skywalker” and has fans freaking out. Not in a good way. While this rumor may or may not be true, it does exactly what a rumor is designed to do. Divides the fans.

According to the rumor, the Darth Vader suit has been spotted on the UK “Rise of Skywalker” set.  The rumor is centered around the suit and Kylo Ren, it seems that Kylo Ren will be wearing the iconic Darth Vade suit.

Fans are unhappy. They do not feel that Kylo Ren is worthy to wear the suit of the greatest villain in cinema history. Star Wars fans on Social Media have been very vocal about the fact they do not want Ren anywhere near the Vader suit.

If it is true then it would link 1977 “Star Wars A New Hope” with the final film in the Skywalker saga.  What seems certain is that Darth Vader is indeed going to be in the film one way or another. Could be a flashback sequence or something similar.

The same rumor also has appearances of Qui-Gon Jinn and the Hutts in the JJ Abrams directed Episode IX. While the last two seem a long shot at best, the Darth Vader seems a bit more realistic. At least in theory.

Anakin Skywalker/ Darth Vader is the grandfather of Kylo Ren, there is not two-ways about it. So that alone makes the Darth Vader suit plausible. What seems out of place is that Kylo Ren would actually put the suit on.

Kylo Ren holds his grandfather on some pedestal. While I believe Emperor Palpatine is connecting with Ren  through Vader’s mask, I do not believe Ren would put on the suit unless he was directed to do so. I believe Ren has too much respect for his grandfather to put the suit on.

I for one hope this is a false rumor. It could end up being just that. Star Wars fans hope that is the case.

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Star Wars Theory: Did Palpatine have a contingency plan if he died

Embed from Getty Images Palpatine told Anakin Skywalker that they would find the secret to stopping people from dying. In my opinion, Palpatine may have been plotting to possess Anakin to continue living in him after his body died. As we all know, Anakin/ Darth Vader  killed Palpatine by throwing him over the reactor railing on the second Death Star.

Any good leader is always two steps ahead of everyone. Which leads me to a  contingency plan that could have been put into play by Emperor Palpatine. This plan is focused around the First Order. I believe the First Order was put in place by Palpatine in the event he was overthrown or killed. As in the First Order of business was getting rid of the Resistance.

It has been confirmed, Palpatine has an elite fleet of Sith troopers and ships in the Unknown Regions waiting to be activated. It is possible the  First Order’s Stormtroops and their weapons as well as equipment may have been created in the Unknown Region which explains how they have such a robust army even though the Republic had been reinstated. Palpatine could have had this contingency plan waiting for a while.

Which brings us to the teachings of Darth Plagueis. Plaguies perfected transferring his spirit/soul and be able to live in another being. Palpatine learning under Plaguies learned this as well. Which leads us to Rey.

I believe Palpatine was living in Supreme Leader Snoke, with no true ties to the Force, Snoke knew enough about it because Palpatine was leading him. If this is indeed the case then it lends to “The Force Awakens” when Palpatine/Snoke feels a strong presence of the Force in Rey. Much like I believe he was wanting to use Anakin Skywalker, I think Palpatine realized Rey would be a perfect vessel to possess and return to full strength. Thus allowing Snoke to die.

In “The Rise of Skywalker” Kylo Ren is now Supreme Leader. This has been confirmed by Star Wars director JJ Abrams. Ren seems to be going back and forth between the Dark and Light side of the Force through the past two films.

Palpatine wants and needs someone who is fully committed to the Dark Side which is why I believe he will try to convert Rey. Kylo Ren, is not stable enough for the Emperor’s liking.

It will all play out soon enough.

 

 

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Star Wars: How Kylo Ren, Darth Vader, Supreme Leader Snoke, Darth Plagues and Emperor Palpatine are connected

Embed from Getty Images “The Dark Side of the Force is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be unnatural,” Palpatine told Anakin Skywalker. This is the quote that will serve as a backdrop. One that will link five major Star Wars characters to paint a bigger picture.

In “The Force Awakens” we know Kylo Ren is drawn to the mask of Darth Vader. In my opinion this goes beyond family. In Charles Soule’s Darth Vader comic series it ends with Darth  Momin performing a  Force ritual that got interrupted by Jedi. The imbalance in the Force caused Momin’s ritual to go wrong, and his spirit was trapped inside the mask he wore. That mask became one of Palpatine’s treasured possessions, and one that would end up on the head of Anakin Skywalker.

Having learned how to achieve the ability to live on through studying his master Darth Plaguies work. Palpatine killed him. Or so we are lead to believe.

The  connection between Snoke and Palpatine, is interesting. Palpatine was killed by his apprentice Darth Vader, Snoke is also killed by the very person he had been grooming as well Kylo Ren. Darth Nihilus and accent Sith Lord, became so corrupted by the Dark Side he just became a spirit who was able to live in a mask and robe. This coupled with the teaching of how to cheat death from Plaguies lends it’s self to Emperor Palpatine saving himself as he was thrown over the reactor chamber in “Return of the Jedi.”

Like Darth Plaguies, Palpatine could use his spirit to enter people and control them. Someone like Supreme Leader Snoke. Once he no longer need Snoke he allowed Kylo Ren to strike him down.

In “Return of the Jedi” Vader asked Luke Skywalker to take the mask off so he could see him through untainted eyes. Kylo Ren smashed his mask after he took it off and was conflicted between the Light and Dark Side of the Force.

With “The Rise of Skywalker” set to hit theaters this December, In my opinion we will find that it has been Emperor Palpatine calling the shots the whole time. Including using the possessed Darth Vader mask to control Ren.

 

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Star Wars: what is going on with the Death Star in “The Rise of Skywalker?”

Embed from Getty Images Could it be Yavin 4? Could it be Endor? That is what fans first thought was when “The Rise of Skywalker” teaser trailer was  finally released. There is a clear shot of Rey looking out at a chunk of what is could be the second Death Star from 1983’s “Return of the Jedi.”

In a new book from famed Star Wars author Timothy Zahn, “Thrawn: Treason, the book may and I stress may offer some clues. An excerpt from the new new book has been released and Star Wars fans now know, Palpatine, Thrawn, Director Krennic and Grand Moff Tarkin were together. Palpatine put Thrawn in charge of a massive project.

Perhaps the Yavin 4 or Endor is the wrong thought. What if Rey went somewhere else entirely like where the very first Death Star protocol was? What if the very first Death Star either was not up to standards and crashed as they worked on perfecting it? Or it was complete and it was destroyed to get rid of evidence?

Those rabid Star Wars fans also know that as part of cannon, Emperor Palatine and Thrawn have a close connection. Thrawn also helped get the First Order up and running. The same First Order that is chasing Rey and company.

It is also known Thrawn has extensive knowledge on many unknown regions. Including Jakku. Which all leads to a very interesting question, With Thrawn’s deep history and place in the Star Wars universe, with Emperor Palpatine seemly set to make an appearance in “The Rise of Skywalker,” Could Grand Admiral Thrawn also make an appearance?

That would please a very scared fan base. It would also set up what could be the next wave of Star Wars stand-alone films. The Thrawn trilogy. I know I said trilogy right after stand-alone. Disney/Lucasfilm could break the films up into three stand alone films and not run an entire trilogy.

Whatever happens, the plot has thickened. That is the great thing about Star Wars in my opinion, it lets the imagination run wild.