Sir Mike of Breakfast visits Merlin
To call attention to the new season of Merlin, BBC One’s Breakfast program sent presenter Mike Bushell, in Camelot garb, to interact with the cast on location in France.
Interesting way to promote a show. Here it is:
http://youtu.be/y6MbfFchK9o
Making Return of the Jedi
Jamie Benning does it again. In his analysis of Return of the Jedi, he reveals the desire by Lawrence Kasdan and Harrison Ford to see Han Solo die, and why George Lucas opposed it. Find out the origin of the Ewoks and how they’re related to Wookiees. See deleted scenes. Fascinating anecdotes galore! All this and more await you here at Vimeo.
Building Empire: The Making of The Empire Strikes Back
Jamie Benning’s meticulously-researched documentary, Building Empire, is a delight. Featuring audio commentaries by Irvin Kershner, Gary Kurtz, George Lucas and the cast and crew, it reveals many interesting anecdotes and several scenes that didn’t make it to the final film.
Available on Vimeo here.
The Loss of Earl Kress
I had a huge shock today. I learned, through Facebook, about the passing of one of the great writer-historians in the animation industry, Earl Kress. Jerry Beck at Cartoon Brew, Mark Evanier at Newsfromme.com and Steve Hulett at The Animation Guild pay tribute to a man who will sorely be missed.
Here’s one of my favorite skits, written by Earl:
The Tax Collector from Space!
With the exception of about a dozen copies of Return of the Jedi Weekly, today I finished cataloging the Marvel Comics issues of Star Wars in both the U.S. and in the United Kingdom, for my Star Wars Reference Guide.
In acquiring Star Wars comics, I’ve had to purchase sets to fill in the holes of my collection, resulting in spare issues. A few spares of Star Wars Weekly, published in the UK, are now available in my shop. Feel free to visit and purchase! Goodies galore!
Note from the cover below that no place is too remote for the IRS to collect your money!*
*Actually, it’s one of Stan Lee’s “Tales of the Watcher.”
“Head-Hopping” in Fiction
Author/editor Ray Rhamey objects to authors “head-hopping,” that is, obtrusively changing the point-of-view from one character to another in the narrative. For his blog, “Flogging the Quill,” he asked an executive editor of a New York publisher what he thought about the matter, here.
Further comments from executive editor “Mad Max” Perkins, an unnamed “top New York literary agent” and others can be found here.
Darth Vader: Just Say “No”
Since today, September 16, 2011, marks the North American release (September 12 international) of the Blu-Ray editions of the Star Wars saga, it’s opportune to present one of George Lucas’s updates in Return of the Jedi.
The first clip demonstrates Darth Vader’s disposal of the Emperor, without dialogue.
The second clip is the new, “improved” version.
What does a Krayt Dragon sound like?
In the original Star Wars, a tribe of Sandpeople have clobbered Luke Skywalker and are stripping his landspeeder. Ben Kenobi frightens them away by imitating the cry of a Krayt Dragon.
George Lucas changed the Krayt Dragon noise for the 2011 Blu-Ray version.
Listen for yourself. Which is the better version?
