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Tron Legacy: And You Thought The New Duke Nuke ‘em Was Taking Forever To Release

A few weeks ago, Tee Morris, friend and reserve producer for the Back Seat Producers asked me if I would like to host his thoughts on TRON shortly after the release of the trailer for TRON: LEGACY.  Having a man-crush for Tee and everything he does, plus his awesomeness in regards to getting my picture on the cover of his Twitter guide, ALL A TWITTER, you just know I said, ‘Hell, yes!’ What follows is the essay that Tee submitted.  He asked if he should read it or just leave it as text, but I think you’ll agree with me that, if you’ve heard Tee on BSP before that in reading this you can HEAR him.

Enjoy!

-Tony

On March 9, one of Twitter’s trending topic took me for a wild ride in the Wayback Machine to what, I believe, history books will regard as the Golden Age of Gaming. I talk, of course, about the 1980’s. Yes, much like the Hot Tub Time Machine, I was thrown back to the days before iPhones and BlackBerrys, before World of Warcraft and Dragon Age, and before Playstations and Xboxes. I talk of days when I’d hop on my ten speed and pedal like the wind through the sweltering heat of a Virginia summer afternoon to cool off in the dark, dim lighting of Funway Freeway; or when my parents would drop me off at Putt-Putt Golf & Games where I would feed-feed-feed machines that went by bold, imaginative monikers like Zaxxon, Defender, Battlezone, and Joust.

Welcome to my days as a Gamer in the Coin-Operated Video Game Arena.

Hollywood, as it might not surprise you, tried to keep up with the 80’s (and with the amount of cocaine available that should have been easy…) and started producing movies centered around video games and computers. There was the Twilight Zone-eque horror film Nightmares (1983) where a young Emilio Estevez combats a video game from Hell. The “wacky sex comedy” Joysticks (1983) attempted to be the Porky’s for geeks. And the tale of King Arthur was retold in The Last Starfighter (1984) where a video game chooses a run-of-the-mill geek to save the galaxy from the Ko-Dan Armada.

And before you ask, yes, I’ve seen all of these films. Even Joysticks. Perhaps not the finest moment in Joe Don Baker’s career.

All these films followed what could be called the Avatar of the 80’s: Tron (1982) from Walt Disney Studios.

We had never seen anything so immersive or revolutionary as Tron. As one of the O.G.’s (original gamers), I can still recall this movie speaking volumes to me as the scriptwriters really captured the culture (and the thrill) of video games. It wasn’t that far of a stretch to think that there was some sort of digital alter-ego inside your favorite game’s or mysterious home PC doing all these things you were telling it to do in the Real World. There had been some real though put into this world, such as making its people (a/k/a “programs”) pay homage to a “user” and security routines into gladiators within this binary universe. There were also parts of Tron that were eluded to but never fully explained or realized such as the origins of characters like “Bit” and those grid spiders that were apparently doing something important for the MCP (Master Control Program).

However there were your obligatory “Let’s play with the new filmmaking toys” scenes that did little to further the plot, a plot that was not as well thought-out as the world itself.

Not that I really cared. This was a completely geektastic ride, and those light cycles were completely and utterly badass!

All these memories came back to me on March 9, 2009, because of Twitter and the online release of Tron: Legacy, the unexpected and now highly anticipated sequel to Tron.

So let’s just side-step for a moment the frustration that Hollywood has “run out” of ideas and are going back to wells that will insure them ticket sales…

Okay, let’s dwell on it for a moment…

Tron came out in 1982. 19. 82. Twenty-eight years ago. What. The. Hell?! I remember when it felt like forever between Star Wars and James Bond films, but twenty-eight years? Part of me shakes my head ruefully and asks Hollywood if this is what filmmaking has stooped to? Recycling old characters and concept from nearly three decades ago. What about a film adaptation of Scott Sigler’s Ancestor, P.C. Haring’s Cybrosis, or J.C. Hutchins’ 7th Son? Or, closer to home, how about a film version of MOREVI? (I wouldn’t say “no”.) Between films based on toy lines and remakes of films within a five-year window (*cough-cough* Hulk *cough*), the idea of a film that picks up twenty-eight years later after the original is just sad.

Right then. That’s the cinema purist in me. Now, switching to geekboi mode…

Sweet crapslinging monkeys on a jungle gym, it’s about goddamn time!

Yes, it has been three decades since the original Tron graced the screen, and when you watch the film now it may look a little dated in its concepts and (of course) the graphics. Back in 1982, though, this was how we perceived computers and video games. Things were very two-dimensional, cold, calculated, and stayed within the confines of a set grid. We look at ENCOM’s “state-of-the-art” facility and our jaws drop at how huge the company’s servers are. When you consider and compare their processing speed and power to your home computer, you’re on the floor, gripping your sides, laughing until you hyperventilate. But computers evolved. Networks gave way to the Internet. Hackers were now targeting one another as opposed to the evil empires of commerce. (They still do, of course, but there is more money to be made off the unsuspecting everyman.) Email went from a novelty to a necessity. Hard drives that took up an entire, climate-controlled room now fit in the palm of our hands. And now we live in an age where networks instantly go global, and we communicate to this international audience via status updates, podcasts, and tweets.

Computers evolved. So should filmmaking.

Tron: Legacy has the potential to be placed in the same class of sequel as Star Trek II:  The Wrath of Khan. Considering how technology has completely reinvented our waking world, it is mind-boggling on a 2001-StarChild scale what the digital world has become under, what the trailer seems to insinuate, the guidance of Kevin Flynn. There is also the technology in filmmaking and how far it has come since 1982. Avatar, from a visual perspective, has removed all physical barriers. If a filmmaker can dream it up, the right effects team can make it happen; and from the briefest of glimpses that we have seen in the trailer they have. So if all these advancements and possibilities have made Tron: Legacy seem “easy” to put together, what will set it apart from the original and not reduce it to a Michael Bay-esque eye-candy fest?

This to me is the most exciting bit: The filmmakers, in order to meet the potential of Tron: Legacy, must focus on the story.

Yeah, I know, I know…I may be asking a lot here, but Walt Disney Studios can spin a good yarn when they put their minds to it. What has been revealed to us so far in the trailer insinuates that not only have the filmmakers ramped up the visuals, but the plot itself sounds intriguing. For over twenty years, Kevin Flynn has been missing, leaving, ENCOM’s heir apparent and Flynn’s estranged son, Sam, and his college and friend Alan Bradley wondering what happened. Then comes a page — not a phone call, but a page — from a phone number disconnected decades earlier. And as we see in the preview, Sam follows in his father’s footsteps into a very different take on Second Life.

From the trailer Tron: Legacy’s story will be far stronger than the original, setting it apart as the rare sequel that tops the original. As much as I love Tron, I always wanted a stronger story at its core with slightly better characters at its core. As we all have been stung by trailers being better than the feature film, I believe Tron: Legacy is a different case. There is something compelling in the mystery of exactly what Flynn has been doing and if he ever intends on leaving the digital plane. More to the point, what drove him to return to this world, and did it become the Utopia that we receive a brief glimpse of following the downfall of MCP, or have things — like technology — changed. Perhaps waiting twenty-eight years for a sequel, in this case, may be a good thing.

Cynics will scoff and say “Tee, you’re pinning a lot on Hollywood and Disney to deliver…” and I would agree; but I will argue that this is not a Summer but a Christmas release. Already, that is a point in my playbook. Another point is scored as this is a Disney release. They were able to make Tron work back in the eighties and while often copied, their success was never replicated. Finally, there is the presence of Jeff Bridges and Bruce Boxleitner reprising their roles. I think that is a very good sign. Actors usually need a good reasons (aside from a paycheck) to return to a property nearly thirty years old. This speaks volumes to me. So bring on the light cycles, the flying discs of death, and the Space Paranoids. This going to be one hell of an upgrade.

Granted, if I’m wrong, this means the Back Seat Producers have new “rant material” the next time I’m on pod. And in the same vein as Kingdom of the Crystal Suck, I will probably call it Tron: Vista.

Good God, let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.


Tee Morris has been an active member of the Twitter community since 2007 and part of the Social Media movement even longer. He established himself as a pioneer of podcasting by being the first to podcast a novel in its entirety. His fantasy epic, MOREVI, went on to be a finalist for the 2006 Parsec Award for Best Podcast Novel. That production also led to the founding of Podiobooks.com, the writing of Podcasting for Dummies (with Chuck Tomasi and Evo Terra), and the writing of Expert Podcasting Practices for Dummies (with Evo Terra and Ryan Williams). Tee continues to explore the application of blogging, podcasting, and Twitter at Imagine That! Studios (online at imaginethatstudios.com), and has spoken across the country and around the world on Social Media for Book Expo America, NOAA, Te Papa Tongarewa: The Museum of New Zealand, and LIANZA.

Along with being a Social Media specialist, Tee is a columnist and critic for AppAdvice.com and writes Science Fiction and Fantasy found in print at Dragon Moon Press and in audio at TeeMorris.com. His fantasydetective novel, The Case of The Singing Sword: A Billibub Baddings Mystery, received an Honorable Mention forForeWord Magazine’s 2004 Book of the Year award, Finalist for the 2005 Independent Publisher’s Best Science Fiction and Fantasy, and Best Audio Drama: Long Form at the 2008 Parsec Awards. Find out more about Tee Morris at imaginethatstudios.com and teemorris. com on the Internet.

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DVD Review: Caprica

The long-awaited pilot for this prequel series to Battlestar Galactica is finally here, a year before the series is set to debut and this provides quite a meaty appetizer for hopefully what is to come in the full series.

Taking place about fifty years before the start of the Battlestar Galactica mini-series and before the unification of the twelve colonies, Caprica follows the lives of two men in particular, super-industrialist Daniel Graystone and lawyer Joseph Adams (Adama), the tragedy that brings these two together, and what will give way to the conflict to come and the birth of the Cylons.

This is quite a bit different than what might be expected, and at least in the pilot, doesn’t rely on some of the more crowd-pleasing aspects that Galactica did, being primarily the gung-ho action of that. But what’s here, is some really powerful drama, and a lot of great ideas that should lead to something that has the potential to be just as special as Battlestar Galactica is.

This film is directed by Jeffrey Reiner, who’s best known for his work on Friday Night Lights and apparently producers Ron Moore and David Eick have been trying to get Reiner involved in Galactica for quite awhile, with Reiner having turned them down as far as the main series goes, but having finally jumped on board by getting an opportunity to be more at the main helm (I guess along the same lines that Michael Rhymer was with Galactica) and getting to shape a new series rather than being an important cog in an existing franchise. Reiner’s a good choice here, and he certainly does bring something different to the table with a different look to this series as well as a greater emphasis on the personal drama.

Eric Stolz and Esai Morales head up this cast, respectively playing Graystone and Adama, and man, they’re both just absolutely terrific here, individually for sure, but in the scenes that they’re in together, having some real nice chemistry. They’re just great, and offer up a lot of weight, and yet they’re almost outshone by two young actresses, Alessandra Torresani and Magda Apanowicz, who play Zoe Graystone and her friend Lacy Rand, who are both just as instrumental in the future to come. Both of these young ladies are really tremendous here, and they certainly hold their own with the bigger names of the cast.

I watched this film and was just immediately taken with it, especially after a certain key moment happens, that’s basically the catalyst for what’s to come, and I wasn’t disappointed in the slightest, and if this way-early release of the pilot was supposed to get you further fired up for the new show, well then, it certainly did it’s job with me, and though it might seem that knowing the ultimate end of what’s to come could hamper this for some, I’ve got enough faith in Moore and Eick, to think that they’re going to make this a hell of a ride along the way and probably nowhere near as conventional as it could be.

The DVD extras include four video blogs, a handful of deleted scenes, an episode of Ghost Hunters and a commentary track from Moore, Eick and Reiner. I’ve watched all of the extras except for the Ghost Hunters episode, which doesn’t really interest me. The blogs are basically fluff, but certainly inoffensive as well. Better though are the deleted scenes and the commentary track, and seeing the deleted scenes after watching the whole movie, I certainly can understand why they were deleted, though they are good scenes. The commentary track is excellent, and there’s a lot there talking about the behind-the-scenes, the philosophy of the new show and hints at things to come.

For Battlestar Galactica fans, this is must-viewing and I think for most it will get you fired up for the new series, even though it’s still a year away from premiering. For those that were more casual viewers, well, I still think there’s a lot of meat here, though it doesn’t have the action/adventure trappings (yet) of the prior show, but still worth you’re time if you want to watch some very smart science fiction. Caprica is the good stuff, and highly recommended.

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DVD Preview: Inside Bob Dylan's Jesus Years: Busy Being Born Again

Gonna Change Your Way of Thinking

Joel Gilbert’s documentary on Bob Dylan’s sudden conversion to Christianity is an authentic, detail-oriented and thought-provoking work. It is a must see for fans and casual viewers alike. The subject-matter alone is fascinating and remains, thirty years from its occurrence, a little told story about the already mythic and mysterious artist. 

On November 9, 1979, Bob Dylan shocked San Francisco (and America at large) by performing nothing but new songs from his gospel album titled “Slow Train Coming,” and other then-unreleased gospel songs written by the rock poet. The fans, expecting his hits, classics, or the man they have created in their mind as a result of all of his previous records, is nowhere to be found.

When presumably being asked something about why he didn’t play any of his old songs at the concert or why he may have changed his music’s message, Dylan speaks in archived footage from the era “The old stuff’s not gonna save them and uh… I’m not gonna save them. Neither is anybody else gonna save them. They can boogie all night. It’s not gonna work.”

The purpose of the first-half seems to be orienting the viewer with the world Dylan was entering at the time: The Vineyard Movement, a decentralized and individualistic approach to Christianity—progressive at the time. This viewpoint, coupled with the perspective of Messianic Judaism, or, Jewish believers in Jesus as the foretold Messiah, frames the manner in which Bob Dylan, of Jewish descent, considers and then pursues his own journey to Jesus Christ.

The second-half of the film covers the most controversial music Dylan had made since he went electric in 1965.  Alienating his fan base once again, Dylan pursued this journey of personal discovery as his primary artistic expression for two and a half full-length albums and four years of touring, after which fans and critics alike remain, I would argue, mostly confused about where his belief system stands today. We are treated to samples of Dylan’s preaching at the concerts, and interviews with the band, and there is, at the heart of the film, a serious discussion of the seemingly contradictory dichotomy between religion and rock ‘n’ roll and whether Dylan was able to reconcile the two.

The film is helmed by Joel Gilbert, and released by the company Highway 61 Entertainment. Gilbert and the company seem to be offshoots of a professional Dylan tribute band called “Highway 61 Revisited.” Gilbert dresses like Dylan, and passes as a shadow of someone who might have been a version of Dylan in “I’m Not There.”  Gilbert’s appearance is a bit distracting—it makes the film seem wholly subjective from the jump. But Gilbert asks the right questions about this period of life, challenges his interview subjects from different perspectives, and is a competent and informed interviewer.  It also does an excellent job of bringing in voices of contempt for Dylan’s work during that period, most notable of which apparently was Joel Selvin, writer for the San Francisco Chronicle. Selvin really gives the music industry, critics, and disenchanted fans, a voice in this film.

I would argue that the only weakness of the documentary is that the entire affect of the film, in the aggregate, seems to be sympathetic to Dylan’s conversion. But, in truth, the film spends a lot of time trying to understand what Dylan was converting to, rather than promoting or discouraging why he converted.

In the end, the film ends on a different type of note than it began, takes a somewhat surprising turn, and attempts to reveal what the film feels Dylan has always been trying to get at in his never-ending search.

As a fan of Dylan, my greatest acclaim for this film is that it covers a great deal of unchartered territory, to my knowledge, for the very first time on film and uses primary sources. It may be the most important source on Dylan’s Christian music to date, period. Only “Behind the Shades Revisited,” a book on Dylan’s life, has adequately shed some light on Dylan’s work in this period to my knowledge, besides the few interviews Dylan has given himself.  For enthusiasts and analysts of Dylan’s work, that makes this film very important.

I highly recommend this film for both people who love Dylan and casual viewers who may not have even been aware that this period of Dylan’s music existed.

No matter what conclusion one draws about what Dylan’s life or music means, your perspective is limited prior to having seen this documentary if you had not been deeply involved in Dylan’s music during this period or are not a huge fan of it. It will change the way you think about Dylan’s music, and perhaps his life. If you’re measuring Dylan’s artistry through metrics that do not include an analysis of this period, it will create a different set of rules to do so.

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TV Review: In Plain Sight

In Plain Sight is the newest member of the family of the USA “Characters Welcome” family. It is a very welcome addition, and is an intriguing and fun show to watch!

The show centers on Mary Shannon (Mary McCormick), a US Marshall working with the Federal Witness Protection Program (WITSEC). She is a feisty, independent agent who wants to handle her cases in her own way – and lets nothing or no one stand in her way. She is extremely dedicated to her job and the people she protects, almost to the exclusion of everything else in her life.

The supporting characters include those people who are close to Mary (or try to be). Mary’s flaky unemployed mom, Jinx (Lesley Ann Warren) lives with her. Her slacker sister Brandi (Nichole Hiltz) has just arrived for a seemingly endless visit (bringing with her secrets of her own). Mary is the “adult” in the household and takes care of her mother and sister as if they were her witnesses. Raphael (Cristian de la Fuente) is her boyfriend who Mary rarely sees and seems to use only for sex and to do her errands (mostly involving her sister). Her WITSEC partner is Marshall (Frederick Weller), who tends to “get” her more than most of the other people in her life. Stan (Paul Ben-Victor) is her boss at WITSEC and just may be nursing a little crush on Mary.

The show is set up in a “case-of-the-week” style with Mary being assigned a new witness or a problem arising with a previously placed witness in each episode. In the pilot, Mary is called in to investigate the murder of the son of a mob informant that was previously placed in witness protection. She had previously placed this family, and she feels responsible for the safety of the family – and to find the killer. In the second episode, Mary is the only protection for a little boy placed in her care after witnessing his mother’s murder by his own father and his drug king-pin bosses. In another episode, Mary and Marshall work together to place a girl and her family in witness protection after she witnesses a murder by a notorious gang member. The girl’s father is extremely reluctant to leave his posh lifestyle and acclaimed career and begin a new anonymous lifestyle regardless of the danger to his family, and it is up to Mary and Marshall to make him understand why their protection is necessary.

I would definitely recommend In Plain Sight to anyone who is a fan of the current line of USA drama series or the crime and investigation genre.

In Plain Sight premieres Sunday, June 1 at 10pm/9c on USA Network.

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DVD Review: Yo-Yo Girl Cop

Magnolia Entertainment has done a fine job lately of bring over some very cool Asian cinema to both theatres and DVD lately. With releases like The Host and Tears of the Black Tiger we get some highly entertaining looks at other cultures, all wrapped up in very good films. The Host was a terrific look at Korea and Tears of the Black Tiger gave a great look at Thailand, and now Magnolia is back with a look at Japanese school culture, but in a very over-the-top way with Yo-Yo Girl Cop.

It’s the present day in the Shibuya district of Tokyo, and a young school girl is running about frantically with a bomb strapped to her chest, trying to get clear of the crowd of people- and then the bomb goes off! We learn that she was a special police operative who’s mission was to look into a website called Enola Gay, that’s counting down to something mysterious. The site is a resource for students without hope, and that leads the police to want to place a special operative within the school to find out more. There’s only 72 hours left to the countdown, and desperate measure force the “recruitment” of a new operative, a young girl named K, who’s been deported from New York is given the option of either serving the force or not having any hope of seeing her mother again. She takes on the name of Asamiya Saki and begins her job of uncovering the secret behind the Enola Gay site, with her only weapon being a deadly steel yo-yo…

Now I’m not that familiar with this, but apparently Yo-Yo Girl Cop has some heavy duty history and this is the first the character has been seen in 20 years. The DVD package touts this as from the creator of Battle Royale which is also heavily vested in Japanese school culture. To an American audience, watching this and taking it literally will no doubt have you thinking that Japanese schools are Columbines just waiting to happen, but yet to me this is all played very, very broad, very tongue-in-cheek, almost like this wild adolescent anime come to life. I really had no problems following it at all, but at the same time, again for a Western audience, you’ll no doubt see moments in this film where it just looks like logic has flown out the window.

The action is pretty decent in the film and it even takes it upon itself to make fun of itself in a few places (basically moments when Asamiya Saki is getting ready to go into action with her yo-yo), but once it gets to it’s end, it goes fairly balls out, and again, I thought very entertaining to watch.

Aya Matsuura is the young actress who plays Asamiya Saki, and again, near as I can tell, she’s a Japanese singing star who’s making her acting debut with this film. Well, she certainly does commit to the part and definitely brings an earnestness to it.

It’s a good-looking disc, in anamorphic widescreen with a 1:1.85 ratio and it features 5.1 and 2.0 surround sound in both Japanese and an English dub. I watched this with the English dub, and overall it’s pretty good, though the original Japanese will give you the natural voices of all of the characters. Usually movies like this I think are worth watching both ways.

This includes a Making Of featurette, that’s right in line with what Magnolia did for Tears of the Black Tiger. What this is is a subtitled TV special made in Japan about the film, and it features some nice behind the scenes footage, as well as some background on the various actors and actresses in the film. And of course, it’s very cool to see a Japanese television show like this, just to get a tast of the culture.

While I really enjoyed this, I can’t necessarily give it a good recommendation for a wide audience, but then I don’t think that’s who it’s for either. This one’s for fans of Japanese films, anime and manga and for those that like to see a little something different. It brings to mind for me other Japanese films like Takashi Miike’s Fudoh (though Fudoh is a way more extreme piece of work and definitely more for an audience that knows Miike’s films) and Suicide Club, a film with a similar premise at it’s core, but much, much more serious in it’s execution. While this doesn’t carry the same impact as either of those two, still I thought it was fun to watch.

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DVD Review: Dynamite Warrior

The year is 1855 and the location is Thailand. Thailand has just entered into a treaty that brings them into the forefront of world trade. But farmers can’t keep up the production with their normal resources, so they need more buffalo brought into pull their plows. Buffalo traders are happy to oblige, but they’re being pursued by mysterious warrior who combines his martial arts skill with a use of rockets and explosives- and he’s out for revenge, looking for a trader who killed his mother and father. All the while, progress is making it’s way through, and one slick character known as both Lord Sirokorn and Lord Waeng (I’m gonna refer to him as Lord Waeng) is trying to sell tractors at an exorbitant price. Well, no one is buying, so Lord Waeng enlists a group of outlaws to start to steel all of the buffalo and force the farmers to buy from Lord Waeng. And eventually, all forces involved come together for a huge showdown…

And that’s the basic premise of Dynamite Warrior a highly, highly entertaining Thai film (my second Thai film this year, my first being the equally entertaining Tears of the Black Tiger) that pushes itself as “from the makers of Ong-Bak” and that may be true, but thematically, this owes way more to Stephen Chow and his movies Shaolin Soccer and Kung Fu Hustle than anything else. While this might have it’s historical significance (and it certainly looks like it’s been taken very seriously as far as the visual look and the lifestyle portrayals), believe me, the movie itself plays as more a giant cartoon than anything else, and really I wouldn’t have it any other way. I think trying to treat this seriously would’ve resulted in a stuffier film, nowhere near as fun as this is.

I’ve read other reviews online that have talked about the acting here as being very bad, and then y’know I just think they’re missing the point of the film- I think it is supposed to be as broad as it is, Dan Chupong who plays the Dynamite Warrior in question is typically stoic and he plays the hero well, but it’s the rest of the cast that makes this fun, at least from a character standpoint, in particular with the actor who play Lord Waeng. But Chupong excels with the stunt work, and really that’s what everyone is here to see, and you’ll see some nice stuff and some pretty original stuff too, especially when combined with the rocket attacks.

Dynamite Warrior is presented in an anamorphic widescreen format and available in 5.1 sound in both Thai and English dubs. This also includes a couple of extras around the making of the film and the stunts, and they’re subtitled featurettes, figuring that they’ve been created for their native land and then translated for domestic release.

Like I said, I just thought this was a lot of fun to watch, and it certainly gets points with me with it’s milieu as well, this isn’t a period I know a lot about and while I wouldn’t say this is at all a totally historical piece, it is showing me something on screen that I’m not used to seeing. Have fun with this one.

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Preview: Star Wars: The Legacy Revealed

Thirty years ago today, a film opened to forty theaters. That film went on to pave the way for Science Fiction and Fantasy, and break new ground in the technology of film making. At it’s basis was the story of a farm boy who discovers within himself the power to bring down an oppressive evil empire. That film was Star Wars.


On May 28th, The History Channel is premiering a documentary that serves to examine just why Star Wars has become the cultural icon that it has. Through interviews with numerous historians, scholars of mythology and literature, film makers, and pop culture icons, this film examines the broad themes, characters and stories that make up the Star Wars saga. Footage of the films sits along side works of mythology, earlier works of film, historical footage, and commentary to postulate on just where George Lucas may have gotten his ideas and creative sparks when producing the films.

I have had the opportunity to review this documentary. We also discuss the documentary in more depth in the upcoming Episode #37 (to be posted May 25th or May 26th as time for editing allows.)

I think that anyone with even a passing interest in the Star Wars saga will enjoy how the content of the films are framed against literature, mythology, the history, politics, and personal experience. It’s not often that you have people like Tom Brokaw, Newt Gingrich, Kevin Smith, Stephen Colbert, Nancy Pelosi, Joss Whedon and Peter Jackson all come together with historians and scholars to discuss a couple of Sci-Fi films.

This documentary is highly recommended by both Tonys.