“Ex Astris, Scientia!” — official motto of Starfleet Academy
Time for a few genre news updates that you might have missed. (Or not. Indulge me…)
First up… Star Wars: Rogue Squadron. The film was announced in Dec. 2020 with a release date in Dec. 2023. Wonder Woman‘s Patty Jenkins was set to direct from a story she would collaborate on with Matthew Robinson (Love and Monsters). But, as reported in Nov. 2021, Jenkins’ busy schedule with other projects resulted in the film getting shelved with an uncertain future.
In a recent podcast interview, Jenkins revealed that she had signed a deal with Lucasfilm right about the time the SAG-AFTRA strikes began. Now that that business has all cleared up and the possible Wonder Woman 3 project has been cancelled, she is freed up to get the Rogue Squadron development underway. Her priority now is getting a completed script to Lucasfilm. Fingers crossed that everything progresses smoothly and we finally get a good, new addition to the Star Wars franchise.
Switching franchises,… James Gunn and DC Studios recently announced that a live-action Teen Titans movie is being added to the slate of projects revealed back in Jan. 2023. The film will be written by Ana Nogueira, an actress (“Hightown”, “The Blacklist”) whose only writing credit — at least, on IMDB — is the currently-in-pre-production Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow. I hope this is a good choice — “new blood” and all that — but part of the problem we have seen with disappointing genre films lately is due to relatively inexperienced writers and directors. So, this may not bode well.
The film will have no connection with the live-action “Titans” TV series that recently ended its four-season run. I think this is a good thing. For one, that show had a decent finale; for another, I hope that the film will be somewhat “mature” but less dark (whether for a standalone or first film) than the TV series was. I also hope the casting and writing are more faithful to the source material.
As of this post, no announcements have been made about cast, director, plot, or tentative release date.
I wrote last week about the Star Trek: Section 31 movie that recently finishing filming. But, another highly-anticipated Star Trek project is “Star Trek: Starfleet Academy”. It has been almost exactly a year since CBS/Paramount announced that the much-rumored streaming series had indeed been approved and a first season ordered. Filming was set to begin in 2024 for a likely 2025 premiere.
Development slowed during the strikes and further news had been virtually non-existent. Until last month, that is, when franchise-boss Alex Kurtzman revealed a few tidbits about the young adult-oriented series in an interview with Collider. For example, the writers and set-builders are now hard at work during the pre-production phase (more on this later), but filming should begin late this summer. The first season is expected to have 10 episodes, but it probably won’t air until sometime in 2026.
“There’s a lot of different kids from a lot of different places. Some of them want to be there, some of them don’t want to be there. It’s gonna be a fundamental reinforcement of all the things we love about Starfleet, in general.” — Alex Kurtzman
Kurtzman also stated that (re-)building “that optimistic future that is Roddenberry’s essential vision… is very much going to be at the heart of Starfleet Academy.”
More recently, it was confirmed that the show will take place in the “Discovery” time period (i.e., 32nd century). But, whether or not the beloved Lt. Tilly will be involved has not been confirmed at this stage. No cast at all has been announced. But, we do know that Tawny Newsome, who voices ‘Mariner’ on “Lower Decks” is part of the writing team. Gaia Violo (“Absentia”, “Blood & Treasure”) is show creator, and Kurtzman will share executive producer and showrunner duties with Noga Landau (“Nancy Drew”, “See”).
Incidentally, in a recent ST cover story, Variety revealed that Paramount is going all out on this project, building the largest single set ever created for a “Star Trek” TV show. The central set for the series, used for the Academy’s atrium, will use the entire 45,900 square foot soundstage at Pinewood Toronto.
“A sprawling, two-story structure that will include a mess hall, amphitheater, trees, catwalks, multiple classrooms and a striking view of the Golden Gate Bridge in a single, contiguous space.”
Sounds impressive! As long as the stories and characters are written well, too, I will remain cautiously optimistic.
I came across this bit the other day and thought it worth sharing.
In context, pop-culture commentator ‘ENDYMION’ was lamenting the various ways that Disney has been ruining Star Wars and Marvel properties for years, especially with lame stories which often lose sight of what made these properties popular in the first place. He then quoted comics veteran Chuck Dixon from a recent interview he did with Bounding into Comics’ show “Escape the Future”, and Dixon had a few bones to pick with “modern-day Disney and media in general”, too.
— — —
Chuck Dixon
“I mean, comics aren’t the only things suffering, and we’re seeing that across the board. I mean, the streaming services, movie attendance, television series… everything else is falling apart, because they’re not aiming it at an audience that actually wants to see it.
Look what Disney did. They spent 8 billion dollars to get two male-oriented franchises and immediately turned them into girly stories. Disney’s already got their princess line. Why do you need to take characters that are typically male-centric or things that boys like and turn them into princesses. I don’t understand this at all. It’s like it was the only thing that they know how to do. But, their stated intent — I remember reading about this extensively when they bought Marvel and Lucasfilm — was that they needed material for boys. They didn’t have anything for boys in their library. And then they screwed both of them up in the worst possible ways you can imagine. It’s amazing how bad they’ve been at this.”
— — —
Dixon’s absolutely right about this. (“The Mandalorian” being a noted exception, but even it has some controversy.) But, I think he actually knows why, ‘cuz it’s obvious from what the executives have said and done. Disney is sold-out to the “woke” disease, so they get writers, producers, and directors to push that agenda (e.g., radical feminism, anti-white racism, LBGTQ+). Anyway…
ENDYMION added his two cents:
— — —
“Nothing Disney has done has worked, and it’s the epitome of trying to fit a square peg in a round hole. They’re simply pandering to the wrong crowd with this sort of thing. And like I said previously, if you want your products to welcome and incentivize both men and women, it turns out they both want the same thing, really — with a little variation, of course.
Men want strong, competent male characters. They don’t want to see a dopey idiot who stands by while girls do the fighting. And women want to see strong male characters that are also nice to look at. I mean, if this wasn’t true, then the last hundred years of cinema and entertainment is a lie, and it’s all a fluke…. What’s happening with a lot of media today is they are taking out the strong, competent men and replacing them with borderline-villain-coated women instead. This ends up being for nobody, and it shows.
What Chuck said here is so true, it’s crazy. But he’s right!”
— — —
I have to disagree with part of what ENDYMION said. For example, the “nice to look at” preference goes for both sides. (He did actually hint at that in a line I left out.) Also, as I have written elsewhere, most of us don’t mind “strong women” characters, superhero or not, as long as the story and characterization are also strong. But, the feminist trope of “independent women” who “don’t need no man” has been overdone over the past couple decades or so (in TV & film, too), and it’s tiring. Making the men look like idiots is equally tiring, and harmful to society. (I better quit before I get into some more socio-political commentary.)
BTW, I re-listened to that weird line toward the end multiple times, so I think I transcribed it correctly. Initially, I had no idea what ENDYMION meant by “borderline-villain-coated women” (or, “borderline, villain-coated women”). But, then I reviewed part of his commentary on Star Wars earlier in the podcast, and I think he is referring to the fact that the upcoming “Star Wars: The Acolyte” streaming series stars a predominantly-female cast and is told from the p.o.v. of the villains.
I realize this was a bit more cynical than I usually am in my commentary, but I thought there were some good observations made. ‘Til next week…
“Once a rebel, always a rebel.” — Gen. Hera Syndulla
With the recent finale of the first season of “Ahsoka”, it is time to review this latest streaming offering from the Star Wars Universe.
As I believe I have previously mentioned, I have yet to watch “The Clone Wars” or “Star Wars Rebels” animated series. So, other than skimming parts of Ahsoka’s entry at Wookieepedia, I have little background knowledge of the character outside of her recent live-action appearances. This puts me at a disadvantage, of course, since I’m not all that familiar with her personal history, relationships with other characters, traumas and other experiences, etc.
So, it feels like I’m going into this review with one arm tied behind my back, and maybe one eye missing, as well. Nevertheless, I’ll try to make a few worthwhile comments…
SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT!
Casting: Dave Filoni was right to pursue Rosario Dawson for the central role, especially after she had expressed her interest publicly. She did a great job, though the character was occasionally annoying to me. Getting Lars Mikkelsen to reprise his role (after voicing Thrawn in “Rebels”) was considered a bit of a coup, and it certainly gave some continuity to the franchise. His strength is in playing Thrawn’s seeming unflappability and always being in control. However, based on my reading in “The Thrawn Trilogy”, I expected the character to be more intimidating and with a stronger sense of menace under the surface.
The rest of the roles seem to have been cast very well, though I’m hardly the person to comment on faithfulness to the physical appearances and personalities of previously established characters (e.g., Sabine Wren, Hera Syndulla, Ezra Bridger). I enjoyed seeing Ray Stevenson as Baylan Skoll, even though I was left a bit confused by a few of his character’s actions and intentions. (It will be interesting to see who they get to replace the late Stevenson should a second season be produced.) Shin Hati proved to be one dangerous young “lady”, and I hope we find out more about her in the future. Ivanna Sakhno’s acting, on the other hand, seemed a bit stiff. (Maybe that’s just the character?)
It was fun to see Captain Carson Teva (Paul Sun-Hyung Lee), Mon Mothma (Genevieve O’Reilly), and Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) return in supporting roles. David Tennant’s voicing (and mo-cap?) for Huyang was great, and his interaction with Ahsoka and Sabine was a lot of fun. (I didn’t realize he also voiced Huyang in two episodes of “The Clone Wars”.) Even Mark Rolston and Clancy Brown got cameos! And Wes Chatham (“The Expanse”) got to play Thrawn’s right-hand man, Captain Enoch. (Cool character!) Claudia Black’s role as one of the witches was fine, though I’m not a huge fan of hers, so it wasn’t as big a deal for me as for some others. Diana Lee Inosanto returned as Morgan Elsbeth, too, but I disliked the character — not just because she was in league with Thrawn — and was happy to see Ahsoka finally kill her. (Not before she got to show off some fine work with the sword, though.)
Writing: The writing was… OK. I don’t know if I can put my finger on why, but it seemed a bit uneven. There was a decent plot and some cool action scenes, yet it just didn’t hold the sense of wonder that most Star Wars material does. (Same could be said of some writing in recent SW films and other SW series, to be honest.) Part of it may be because of my unfamiliarity with much of the characters’ histories. Otoh, while I made a point of not reading other articles on the subject, I heard/saw enough to know that I’m not the only one expressing disappointment in this area.
Sights & Sounds: For the most part, the visuals were quite good — from desolate planetary landscapes and the creatures that inhabit them to spaceships and those cool space-whales. VFX for weapons was pretty good, but the fight choreography was occasionally a little lame. I note that the “Ahsoka” music has certain notes and other characteristics in common with “The Mandalorian”, yet different. It was nice but not memorable/notable. (The theme music for “The Mandalorian” is the only one that sticks with me, really.)
Miscellaneous: There were a few instances during the series which made me wonder why a certain character did something foolish or didn’t do something that seemed to make better sense or how someone knew a particular thing. But, rather than harp on that stuff, I’ll stick to the following…
1) Sabine was obviously out of practice re her Jedi skills for most of the series, so how did she level-up so quickly in the final two episodes?! Ezra, on the other hand, must have kept in practice during his years on that far-away planet. He kicked some serious butt!
2) Which will be a bigger hit as the cute critter of the series: Sabine’s Loth-cat (who hopefully won’t starve to death in her absence)? Or the snail people?
3) Huyang’s got some combat moves of his own! (Have we seen two droids punching it out before?)
4) I wasn’t thrilled with — even a bit disappointed in — the Ahsoka and/vs. Anakin in the World Between Worlds scenes. But, at least we got to see & hear some of their shared history, etc.
5) Why would a story from the multi-volume History of the Galaxy begin “A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…”? I recognize the A New Hope scroll connection (and the title of episode 6 of “Ahsoka”), of course, but this makes no sense unless part of the “home” galaxy itself — i.e., where most of the Star Wars stories take place — and/or significant people within it somehow began in a distant galaxy.
6) How is it that people like Sabine and Ahsoka automatically know how to ride whatever semi-domesticated beast they need on whatever planet they are on? (Similar issue on other SW and non-SW shows, e.g., main characters on “Fear the Walking Dead” just happen to know how to ride a horse.) Same question regarding knowing how to pilot a ship, regardless of its design or planet of origin.
7) I understand Mon Mothma and others’ reluctance to accept without more concrete evidence that holdouts from the Empire pose a threat or that Thrawn might be returning. But, I also have to wonder if Sen. Xiono has ulterior motives for being such a stubborn jerk about the whole thing.
Overall, I really wanted to like the “Ahsoka” series more, but I can only say it was OK. Maybe a second season will be better…?
“The only [puzzle] worth solving. The complete, total, and utter destruction of the Rebellion.” — Grand Admiral Thrawn, Heir to the Empire
There are two reasons why I decided to fan-cast this character now. First, he has been mentioned in “The Mandalorian” series, and we know he will appear in the upcoming “Ahsoka” series and probably in Dave Filoni’s Star Wars film, too. Second, I am currently working my way through Heir to the Empire, first in “The Thrawn Trilogy” of novels that came out in the 1990s by Timothy Zahn. It is actually a re-read, since I first read Heir to the Empire a couple decades or so ago, though I don’t think I read the sequels (Dark Force Rising and The Last Command).
There is a good possibility that Filoni will try to somehow adapt elements of the Thrawn trilogy (or maybe just the first book) for the film. Even with new actors cast as Luke, Leia, and Han, there are various reasons why a straight adaptation of Zahn’s novels wouldn’t work now, not least of which is that Disney revamped the official Star Wars canon back in 2012-ish. This was in anticipation of 2015’s Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens, which was the first of the sequel movies. Obviously, those movies also established post-Return of the Jedi canon, as well. So, it will be interesting (and hopefully not too aggravating) to see what if any ideas and characters from Zahn’s first Thrawn books might make it into Filoni’s film.
As it turns out, not long after I began mulling over potential candidates for Thrawn, it was announced that Disney had already cast the part. Lars Mikkelsen (6’3.5″,b.1964), who voiced the character in the animated “Star Wars Rebels” (created by Filoni), will now get to perform the live version of the character in the aforementioned productions. He’s probably a very good choice, but I still wanted to throw out a few names for consideration.
There have actually been several novels about or involving Thrawn (mostly by Zahn), and a full bio could get lengthy. But, I’ll just hit some main points regarding his background, career, physical features, etc.
Grand Admiral Thrawn
Mitth’raw’nuruodo (core name “Thrawn”) is a male of the Chiss species, who are known to be great warriors. The Chiss originally came from the planet Csilla before spreading out into the Unknown Regions. Thrawn himself was born on Rentor. He attended the Taharim Academy, where he took up the “hobby” of studying the art and culture of other species in order to glean tactical information with which to defeat them. His early military career was with the Expansionary Defense Fleet of the Chiss Ascendancy. A trio of mentors helped guide him as he worked his way up through the ranks and attained senior officer rank (e.g., leading anti-piracy operations). Along the way, he gained a reputation as a brilliant and ruthless strategist.
When he was roughly 40 years old, Thrawn left the Unknown Regions to find allies against the Grysk Hegemony. One of those allies was the Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker. When the Galactic Republic morphed into the Galactic Empire, Thrawn “offered his allegiance to Emperor Palpatine, having deemed an alliance with the new regime beneficial to his people.” Though he was already an accomplished officer, Thrawn willingly attended and graduated from the Royal Imperial Academy on Coruscant. It wasn’t long before Thrawn had proven his immense talent, and the Emperor made him a Grand Admiral — one of twelve in the Imperial Navy.
After a few years, Grand Admiral Thrawn had attained command of the 7th Fleet, the flagship of which was the Imperial I-class Star Destroyer Chimaera. Thrawn worked primarily in the Lothal sector, trying to eliminate the rebel faction led by Captain Hera Syndulla. In a pivotal battle, a flock of purrgil (i.e., massive, semi-sentient space-whales) aided the rebels, inflicting heavy damage on the 7th Fleet and sending Thrawn’s ship into hyperspace. Thrawn and all those aboard (including Jedi Padawan Ezra Bridger) have been missing in action ever since, though former Jedi Ahsoka Tano continues to search for them.
Thrawn is generally quite “refined” and professional, with a calm demeanor about him that is rarely broken and which can be even more unnerving — to both underlings and opponents — than any emotional display.
Though quite human-looking, his people are distinctive for their striking blue skin, glowing red eyes, and shimmering blue-black hair. Chiss eyesight is slightly better than human, with their visible spectrum reaching into the infrared. Their hearing and reflexes are also superior to human. Thrawn is somewhat slender but wiry and fit and has an angular face. I’m guessing he is around 6 feet tall, but I don’t know if more specific detail or comparison of height has been given.
I don’t know if Thrawn’s age has ever been mentioned. Ahsoka Tano (b. 36 BBY) was searching for Thrawn when she encountered Din Djarin and Grogu in 9 ABY. This puts her in her mid-40s (which is exactly right for actress Rosario Dawson, who plays her). She is at least a few years younger than Thrawn, so he should be in his 50s or older. However, neither are human, so they may not age or “mature” the same as humans or as each other. And, of course, I am using Earth-years as my standard. All that to say, it seems like an acceptable age-range for candidates would be, say, late-40s to (a very fit) 70.
[Update: I just discovered that a new canon reference book, Star Wars: Timelines, was published this past April. It puts Thrawn’s birthyear as ca. 59 BBY, which would make him roughly 68 or 69 during the events of “Ahsoka”.]
Here are my choices…
Jason Isaacs
My first (and oldest) candidate is Jason Isaacs (5’11”,b.1963), who has of course done a ton of genre work. A few examples: DragonHeart, Event Horizon, Armageddon, Black Hawk Down, a few Harry Potter films, “Brotherhood”, Fury, “Star Trek: Discovery”, and voices for various video games and animated features (including the ‘Grand Inquisitor’ in “Star Wars Rebels”). He is the right build and has the “cultured” British voice and manner that goes so well with such characters. And, from his time as ‘Lucius Malfoy’, we know that he plays an outwardly calm but menacing character with aplomb. He just turned 60 but could certainly play older or younger. Just look at this image I found online after typing this up… Isaacs is Thrawn.
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Joseph Fiennes
Joseph Fiennes (6′,b.1970) is a bit younger, having recently reached the tender age of 53. (I can say that; I’m older.) Perhaps best known for doing period pieces, his work has included Enemy at the Gates, The Great Raid, The Escapist, “Flashforward”, “Camelot”, “American Horror Story”, The Games Maker, Hercules, Strangerland, “The Handmaid’s Tale”. One advantage Fiennes has over the others is that his narrow face is more in keeping with Thrawn’s description. Also, Thrawn is a sort of Shakespearean role that a stage-actor like Fiennes could sink his teeth into. I would love to see his take on the Grand Admiral.
.
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Michael Fassbender
Finally, if the powers-that-be wanted to go a bit younger, I can think of no one better than Michael Fassbender (6′,b.1977). As for some representative work, let’s go with “Band of Brothers”, Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Silk Stocking, “Hex”, 300, Inglourious Basterds, Jonah Hex, Haywire, a few X-Men movies, some Alien stuff, Assassin’s Creed, et al. Fassbender seems like a younger version of Jason Isaacs to me — in looks, experience, and talent. (Though, not necessarily less talent.) My preference would not be to go quite so young for Thrawn, but if they could add just a few years to him while in the makeup chair, that might work. OR, if Isaacs had the role, Fassbender could play the character in a flashback scene from 15-20 years earlier.
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Any comments, faithful readers? If Mikkelsen had to drop out for some reason, would you pick any of these three to replace him? Or, do you have someone else in mind?
* All ideas copyright Christopher Harris, 2013-2023.
“Thank you, Kathleen and Sharmeen, for having me back. I’m very thrilled to be continuing this journey. My heart is pounding!” — Daisy Ridley at Star Wars Celebration 2023
A couple weeks ago, I posted “This Is Not the News You’re Looking For…”, in which I discussed some generally negative news items about the Star Wars franchise from the past few months. This week, I have some more positive Star Wars news to review, most of which comes from announcements early last month (Apr. 2023). Shall we…?
At Star Wars Celebration 2023, Disney/Lucasfilm revealed a revamped official timeline for the Star Wars franchise, really nine eras: Dawn of the Jedi, The Old Republic, The High Republic, Fall of the Jedi (the prequel films), Reign of the Empire (“The Bad Batch”), Age of Rebellion (“Andor”, “Star Wars Rebels”, Rogue One, the original trilogy), The New Republic (“The Mandalorian”, “The Book of Boba Fett”, “Ahsoka”), Rise of the First Order (“Star Wars: Resistance”, the sequel trilogy), New Jedi Order.
They also talked about three Star Wars films in the offing, the first being Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy’s Star Wars: New Jedi Order. This film (which I mentioned in my previous post) takes place 15 years after The Rise of Skywalker and focuses on Jedi Master Rey’s efforts to re-form the Jedi Order, much as Luke wanted to do. According to Kathleen Kennedy,
“She’s attempting to rebuild the Jedi Order, based on the books, based on what she promised Luke, so that’s where we’re going. I don’t know as we’ll spend a lot of time in flashbacks or Force ghosts or things like that, but certainly, the spirit of what he represents to her is gonna be significant.”
It’s a quasi-sequel, but they prefer to call it a “standalone” — but one that could “grow”. In other words, they are hoping these new films will be successful enough to expand into sequels but don’t want to commit to trilogies at this point.
So far, Daisy Ridley is the only star from the sequel trilogy confirmed to be returning for Star Wars: New Jedi Order. The film’s premiere is currently set for either Dec. 19, 2025 (as I read in one article not long ago) or Dec. 17, 2027 (as per IMDB).
Confirming popular rumor, the second film in development will be helmed by James Mangold (Logan, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny). But, rather than a Boba Fett spinoff (which Lucasfilm denied back in 2018, anyway), the film will be about “the first Jedi in the earliest past.” Logic dictates that it will be set in the era now called ‘Dawn of the Jedi’. Will fans finally get an official story about the foundations of the Jedi religion?
The third film discussed will be from David Filoni — writer, director, and/or executive producer on multiple Star Wars projects (including “The Mandalorian” and “Ahsoka”). It will “culminate the story of ‘The Mandalorian’ and its respective spin-offs [as well as animated projects], likely in a battle between the New Republic and Grand Admiral Thrawn.”
Since they are much earlier in the development stages, there have been no announcements about casting, production, or release dates for the Mangold and Filoni projects. (Though, of course, Filoni’s will assuredly bring in characters from ‘The New Republic’ era TV series.)
Favreau (l) and Filoni (r)
Now, you may be wondering about the previously-announced SW film from Taika Waititi. While not a main topic at the Star Wars Celebration, Waititi’s project did get a mention from Kathleen Kennedy:
“Taika is still working away. He’s writing the script himself. He doesn’t really want to bring others into that process and I don’t blame him. He has a very, very unique voice. So we want to protect that and that’s what he’s doing. But we’re going to make that one day.”
Finally, we have a little something regarding “The Mandalorian” TV series. (If you haven’t yet watched the third season finale, you might want to skip the next couple paragraphs, as they contain SPOILERS.)
As many of you will remember, there was at one point going to be a “Rangers of the New Republic” spin-off series starring Gina Carano as Cara Dune, a freshly-badged New Republic marshal. But, Carano was fired and the show canceled before it got off the ground. So, Season 3 of “The Mandalorian” incorporated a few elements originally planned for the canceled series — i.e., the subplots of Elia Kane, Dr. Pershing, and Capt. Carson Teva. (That’s why the Kane/Pershing stuff seemed oddly out of place.)
As per Variety, writer/co-creator Jon Favreau says that Season 4 of “The Mandalorian” has already been written and will continue with more plot elements from “Rangers of the New Republic”. In fact, this was further set up in the Season 3 finale, when Mando visited Teva and arranged to not only get bounty-hunting assignments from him but to secretly work at hunting down Imperial warlords in the Outer Rim on behalf of the New Republic. (Something Cara Dune would have been doing, apparently.) This will in turn likely lead up to the events of Filoni’s film.
I’ve been holding onto a few bits of Star Wars-related news, and this post will address the, shall we say, more negative pieces. (Though some readers may find some of the news a relief or a good sign.) Thus the post’s title.
First, we have the report that “The Book of Boba Fett” is indeed getting a second season. Well, “report” may be too strong a word, so let’s just call it a reasonable rumor for now. Jason Ward, editor-in-chief at MakingStarWars.net, says he has “recently spoken to sources around Southern California who are working on production elements specifically tied to the character of Boba Fett himself.” The “sources” in question have reasons to believe they are working on a second season of “Boba Fett”, and some of the things they are making lead Ward to agree that this is entirely possible.
Given that this was perhaps the most frustrating and least well-received of the new live-action series set in the Star Wars universe, this may or may not be good news. Depends on how willing you are to give it a second chance, I suppose. (I’m sort of indifferent.) More details on this and how the Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike fits in can be found here.
Second, we have some film news. You might remember that Marvel’s Kevin Feige was announced to be developing a Star Wars film. That was in Sep. 2019, and screenwriter Michael Waldron (Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness) said he was working on it with Feige in May 2022. But, Feige is a very busy man, what with all of his MCU projects. So, it is not surprising that Variety has now reported that Feige’s Star Wars film is “no longer in active development at Lucasfilm.”
You might recall that Patty Jenkins (Wonder Woman) had been named as director for a Star Wars one-off adventure titled Rogue Squadron. (Lucasfilm’s Kathleen Kennedy announced it in Dec. 2020.) But, Disney pulled the title from its scheduled December 2023 releases last September. Jenkins had since indicated that the film’s future was unknown (to her, at least), and Variety has now reported that “sources with knowledge of the production say it is no longer in active development at the studio.”
A couple days later, we got news about one of Disney’s legal battles, this one involving the in-development TV series, “The Acolyte”. Here’s a summary as I understand it:
Karyn McCarthy (“House of Cards”) was courted by Lucasfilm in April 2022 to work on “The Acolyte”, and she accepted based on a “broad strokes”, written agreement. This meant passing up a long-term and potentially lucrative opportunity with Apple. She started on the series right away but was mysteriously(?) canned after only 2 weeks. Lucasfilm/Disney deny that the signed agreement (which included compensation) existed and refused to pay her anything more than a token $5000 (for one day’s work). Oh, she is also upset that her opportunity to work for Apple is now gone.
So, McCarthy (via her lawyers) has filed a breach-of-contract lawsuit against Lucasfilm. Assuming this information is a fair representation of the facts, then I don’t blame her. (Although, losing out on other opportunities sounds like a normal risk associated with signing onto something.) Meanwhile, the 8-episode “The Acolyte” has been filming since Oct. 2022, but no debut date has been set.
Lindelof and Obaid-Chinoy
Back to the films… I don’t remember for sure if I mentioned it in a previous post, but last October we heard of another, as-yet-untitled Star Wars movie in development. This one was to be directed by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy (“Ms. Marvel”) with a script co-written by Damon Lindelof (“Mrs. Davis”) and Justin Britt-Gibson (“The Counterpart”). While not a direct continuation of the Skywalker Saga, it would chronologically follow The Rise of Skywalker and feature an older Rey who was training two Jedi knights. The hope is that it will be sufficiently successful to lead into a new trilogy.
This past March at SXSW, Lindelof made a few ominous remarks about the difficulty of working on the project. Then, as per ‘Above the Line’,
“Lindelof and Britt-Gibson finished a draft of the script and exited the picture only a few days later. Production is not meant to start until early 2024, and the release date is slated for Dec 19, 2025.”
Roughly five weeks later, Lindelof revealed in an interview with Esquire that it was Lucasfilm that had asked him to leave the project. I don’t know if Lucasfilm also requested that Britt-Gibson leave, but he may have left on his own due to his close collaboration with Lindelof on this and other projects. Scripting for the Star Wars film is now the purview of Steven Wright (“Peaky Blinders”), but it was confirmed at a recent Star Wars Celebration that “the Daisy Ridley character and her quest to rebuild the Jedi Order post-Rise of Skywalker will propel the upcoming Star Wars feature” by Obaid-Chinoy.
OK, the final news item today involves the popular TV series “Andor”. Specifically, shooting on Season 2 had to shut down in southwestern England recently due to safety concerns. According to a statement by the National Trust (which owns the site),
“The planned filming due to take place at Winspit Quarry has been canceled due to safety concerns following the recent turbulent weather, which has increased the risk of rockfalls and landslips. Visitors looking to explore the Dorset Coast are advised to follow signs and keep out of unsafe areas until further surveys have been undertaken.”
Viewers will remember the Winspit Quarry from an episode or two of Season 1, as it was the site of the headquarters for Saw Gerrera (Forest Whitaker). But, don’t worry, the delay should only be temporary. (Maybe they can rewrite the scene for a different location or used CGI or something?) The season is scheduled to wrap filming this August (2023) and is expected to premier in Aug. 2024.
If the somewhat disappointing returns and criticisms of some of the last few superhero films weren’t enough, both the new DC Studios (and its owners at Warner Bros. Discovery) and Marvel Studios (and its owners at Disney) have been undergoing shakeups in management. This has led to or enhanced speculation about the fates of future DC and Marvel TV and film projects.
It was just this past October that fans got some good news regarding Wonder Woman 3. Director Patty Jenkins confirmed that the script was done, so Warner Bros. Discovery could finally focus on getting production underway. However, a few days ago The Hollywood Reporterreported that a new treatment (i.e., basically a story summary) — indicating that the previously completed script wasn’t the final script — by Jenkins and Geoff Johns had been rejected by the studio.
Warner Bros. Film Group execs Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy apparently “didn’t think the treatment worked and decided not to move forward with the film in its current iteration.” James Gunn and Peter Safran, the recently-named co-heads of DC Studios who are working on a 10-year plan for the DC Universe, are said to have agreed with the decision. Jenkins made it clear she has no interest in “going in another direction” with the story and has left the project.
It may be just as well, since leaked plot details (Deadline) of Jenkins’ story involved another resurrection of Steve Trevor, this time via Lazarus Pit, “where the League of Assassins would use his enhanced strength to go to war against Themyscira. The film ends with Diana leaving him in the care of Task Force X.” Ugh. Personally, I’d rather see a story involving ancient legends and maybe another Greco-Roman god or two. Involve the Amazons but give Diana another friend in “Man’s world”, too. Maybe Etta’s granddaughter or grand-niece?
Meanwhile, Dwayne Johnson has been lobbying to get Henry Cavill back in the Superman costume. Cavill was thrilled by the idea and immensely thankful for the support of Johnson and all the fans. It looked like the new powers-that-be at Warner/DC were listening, too, as Cavill was set for potentially multiple cameos and eventually a Man of Steel 2 to star in. Unfortunately, THR now reports that MoS2 plans have “stalled out.” It seems that the initial treatment written by Steven Knight (“Peaky Blinders”) was not well-received, and no new writers have been hired under the new regime. Thus, “development promptly ended.”
Gunn tweeted that these reports by the usually reliable THR are partly true, partly not, and some things are still undecided. Understandably, Gunn and his fellow executives at Warner/DC are still trying to get their hands around what they can and can’t, should and shouldn’t pursue in the DCU over at least the next decade. There are indications that they are still interested in making both a Wonder Woman 3 and a Man of Steel 2, but what those might look like are unknown at this point. Heck, we don’t even know if Gal Gadot or Henry Cavill would sign on, given whatever the new direction(s) will be, or if they might be replaced in a DCU reboot.
As for next year, DC Studios still has scheduled sequels for Shazam and Aquaman, as well as new films for the Flash and Blue Beetle. A sequel for The Batman with Robert Pattinson is also planned — at the moment, anyway.
On the Marvel Studios front, its production schedule will be slowing down a bit. As you may have heard, Bob Chapek has been booted from the Disney CEO spot and replaced by his predecessor Bob Iger. This was followed up by another announcement, summed up here by Danni Button at The Street:
“Shortly after the news of Chapek’s leaving and Iger’s return, Disney released its annual report stating that 2023 will see a reduction in television shows and feature programming. According to the document, ‘In fiscal 2023, the Studios plan to produce approximately 40 titles, which include films and episodic television programs, for distribution theatrically and/or on our DTC platforms.’
To put that in perspective, 2022’s annual report set a goal for 50 titles. In the last two years, both Marvel and Star Wars have released several major film and series titles, each of which cost millions of dollars to make and market. Each new addition to the brands’ libraries drew praise and criticism alike — but now it looks like Disney is looking for more precise hits that favor quality over quantity.”
Will this mean that some or all surviving projects get a budgetary boost? Or, is Disney looking to cut expenses. As a fan, the former suits me just fine. But, the latter idea makes more financial sense, especially during an economic inflationary period like we are currently in. This would seem to fit what is happening at HBO Max (also owned by Warner Bros. Discovery). Button pointed out that the service “has been itching to slice $3 billion from its own budget, cutting programming and even shopping animated content to Amazon.”
I’m glad Warner/DC and Disney/Marvel are trying to do what makes sense both monetarily and creatively. We don’t have to have a new film or series every month or two. Let’s hope they can give us fans what we want (within reason) without breaking the bank.
“A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away….” — introductory text preceding opening crawl text for each Star Wars film
Spring is well underway here in the Northern Hemisphere, so I thought I’d better get a start on my “Notable Genre Anniversaries” posts for the year of 2022. This is where we celebrate iconic characters and stories — usually in the sci-fi/fantasy and action/adventure genre(s) — which were first “introduced” to the public X years ago, where “X” is some multiple of 5. We begin with a doozy, so forgive me if it’s a bit lengthy…
Star Wars (1977): 45 years
This particular anniversary is for one of those properties that is so huge, it hardly seems I can do it justice. But, I’ll begin by saying that, when I first watched Star Wars (later dubbed Star Wars, Episode IV: A New Hope) as a 10 year old, I was simply enthralled with the whole thing (as were so many others) and am still a huge fan decades later.
Following THX-1138 (1971), George Lucas wanted to make a Flash Gordon movie to honor the serials he loved as a youth, but he couldn’t obtain the rights. So, he turned to earlier material (e.g., those by Edgar Rice Burroughs) that had inspired Gordon’s creator, Alex Raymond, which then led him to Edwin Arnold’s Gulliver on Mars (1905). But, being preoccupied with writing and directing American Graffiti, Lucas couldn’t immerse himself in developing his space opera until January 1973.
Lucas compiled a two-page synopsis titled Journal of the Whills, followed by a 13-page treatment to help sell the story and the elaborate worlds and ideas behind it. Many studios turned down The Star Wars, questioning either the concept or Lucas’ ability to pull it off. Long story short, eventually Lucas convinced Alan Ladd, Jr., the head of 20th Century-Fox, to film it on a low, $8 million budget. (It ended up being closer to $11 million.) Lucas himself was paid $150,000 to write and direct. After American Graffiti became a success, Lucas renegotiated and got sequel rights, which included the bulk of merchandising profits. After many re-writes and tweaks, the script was completed in March 1976, and filming began.
Despite later claims about exploring “psychological underpinnings of mythology”, Lucas’s earlier statement is likely more true:
“My main reason for making it was to give young people an honest, wholesome fantasy life, the kind my generation had. We had Westerns, pirate movies, all kinds of great things…. Where are the romance, the adventure, and the fun that used to be in practically every movie made?”
In addition to the aforementioned works by Alex Raymond and Edwin Arnold, Lucas included several cinematic and literary allusions in his film. These ranged from Fritz Lang’s Metropolis to Frank Herbert’s Dune and Akira Kurosawa’s The Hidden Fortress and Yojimbo. Many aspects of the film (and later ones) were inspired by various historical groups and events.
As most genre fans know, Star Wars (1977) was a blockbuster hit and became the cornerstone for a humongous franchise earning billions of dollars. Of course, no one anticipated the chord it would strike with moviegoers, and Lucas didn’t even attend the premiere. (Instead, he vacationed in Hawaii with pal Steven Spielberg.) Despite an initially limited theatrical run, the film ended up grossing $461 million in US & Canada and over $775 million worldwide. It set several records and earned (mostly) critical acclaim, too. It won six Academy Awards, and a couple engineers won special awards, as well. George Lucas was nominated for Best Original Screenplay, Best Director, and Best Picture, while Sir Alec Guinness was nominated for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. There were various awards and nominations from the Golden Globes, the British Academy Film Awards, and composer John Williams won a Grammy for the soundtrack. Star Wars also won the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, as well as winning nine (out of twelve) Saturn Awards.
Star Wars was followed up by two films in 1980 and 1983, thus completing a trilogy. A prequel trilogy came out in 1999, 2002, and 2005, respectively. A sequel trilogy then came out in 2015, 2017, and 2019, respectively. There have also been two anthology films — Rogue One (2016) and Solo (2018) — and others may be on the way. Meanwhile, several animated and (as of recently) live-action TV series have been produced, with others currently in development.
As a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon, the Star Wars franchise has also produced or licensed multiple other products and properties over the years. These include comic books, novels, other books, video & computer games, RPGs and other board games, toys, action figures, trading cards, theme-park attractions, radio adaptations, soundtracks, bedspreads and sheets, lunchboxes, miscellaneous tchotchkes and collectibles. Even the first film on its own got multiple re-releases, a “special edition”, and various home media editions. It has also been satirized in movie form (Spaceballs) and animated comedies (e.g., “Family Guy”, “The Simpsons”).
Industry-wise, Star Wars is credited with “reinvigorating” 20th Century-Fox (with big profits), launching or enhancing several acting careers (e.g., Harrison Ford, Mark Hammill, Carrie Fisher), inspiring many now-popular filmmakers (e.g., James Cameron, Peter Jackson, Christopher Nolan), and being “a technical watershed that influenced many of the movies that came after,” beginning “a new generation of special effects and high-energy motion pictures.” On a cultural level, Star Wars is one of the most beloved, best known, and most referenced movies — at least in the sci-fi/fantasy genre and probably beyond. It is quoted in TV, films, novels, comics, pop music, etc., not to mention by regular people in their daily lives (including me). Many publications, both industry-oriented and for the masses, have included Star Wars in their best films lists. It was Time magazine’s Movie of the Year for 1977. In 1989, the 1977 theatrical version of Star Wars was selected for preservation by the National Film Registry of the United States Library of Congress.
I am thankful toward Mr. Lucas and the many people behind and in front of the camera who transport us to the worlds of Star Wars, where we experience amazing adventures!
Rambo (original novel, 1972; first movie, 1982): 50 & 40 years
The world was first introduced to troubled U.S. Army Special Forces vet John J. Rambo in a 1972 novel, First Blood, by David Morrell. (Technically, though, the novel only gives his last name.) The Canadian-American Morrell was not yet 30 and working as an English professor at the University of Iowa at the time, and he was inspired to write the story after hearing of the experiences some of his students had in Vietnam. Part of the inspiration for the Rambo character was WWII hero Audie Murphy, who suffered from untreated PTSD after the war. The novel was critically praised in Newsweek and The New York Times, as well as by writers Stephen King and John D. MacDonald. It has since been translated into 26 languages.
Morrell sold the film rights to Columbia Pictures in 1972, who then sold them to Warner Bros. After a number of screenplays and nearly a decade of “development hell”, fledgling producers Andrew G. Vajna and Mario Kassar bought the film rights and cast the very popular Sylvester Stallone in the lead. I haven’t read the novel, but apparently there were a few notable changes made for the movie version. For example, “Stallone was able to use his clout to force changes to the script to make Rambo a more sympathetic character, including having Rambo not directly kill any police or national guardsmen (in the novel, he kills many), and having him survive at the end instead of dying as he does in the book.” (I’m sure that last bit was a big help for the sequels. 😉 )
The First Blood (1982) film was a hit, bringing in $125 million worldwide on a $15 million budget and kicking off what would become a popular and profitable franchise. There have been four sequels — Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985), Rambo III (1988), Rambo (2008) and Rambo: Last Blood (2019) — and Stallone has said he is open to another. In fact, Stallone has writing credits on all five films and he directed the fourth installment. The five films together earned combined box office revenues of over $819 million dollars. The franchise includes the “Rambo: The Force of Freedom” (1986) animated series, too.
A live-action Rambo TV series has been trying to get off the ground for several years. Originally, it was going to be a “sequel” involving Rambo and his estranged, ex-Navy SEAL son, possibly with a passing of the torch. As of late-2019, the project has morphed into a “prequel” that will explore Rambo’s character evolution from popular athlete in high school to traumatized soldier and Vietnam veteran. There is also a Bollywood remake of First Blood in the works starring Tiger Shroff, and there are plans to do versions of all five Rambo films. Other films from America and around the world, both serious and comedy/parody, have been inspired or influenced by (or blatantly ripped off) the Rambo novel and films (e.g., Thunder Warrior, Missing in Action, Hot Shots! Part Deux, When Eagles Strike).
Morrell wrote novel adaptations of the first two sequels, so he could integrate characterization he felt was missing from the films. There have been multiple DVD and Blu-Ray collections issued of the series. There have been various comic books, along with video and computer games based on the first three films. Rambo has even been a character in other video games (e.g., Mortal Kombat 11, Call of Duty Warzone) and a trading card game (Fight Club). The soundtracks for the films have fans, too, especially the scores for the first three films, composed by Jerry Goldsmith (Star Trek, Logan’s Run, Planet of the Apes, Alien).
John J. Rambo may be a sad character, but audiences continue to enjoy seeing him dish out grim and violent ends to the evil and corrupt.
The Six Million Dollar Man (1972): 50 years
Much like Rambo, the “world’s first bionic man” Steve Austin first appeared in a 1972 novel; this one was Cyborg by Martin Caidin. I didn’t know about, let alone read, the novel until many years later. It was the TV movies and regular series (1974-1978) that I enjoyed in my youth, along with the Bionic Woman spinoff (1976-1978). In fact, I am slowly working my way through both series right now for the first time in decades. But, it was the novel that started it all.
Caidin was an avid pilot, and his writing (both fiction and non-fiction) often incorporated aviation, military history (especially WWII), space travel, and/or other technological advances. Thus, the idea of an astronaut-turned-test pilot who gains bionic prosthetics was right up his alley. Not counting three sequels to Cyborg (Operation Nuke (1973), High Crystal (1974), Cyborg IV (1975)), he included bionics in at least two other novels, along with similar ideas. (The only other book of his that I read was ManFac (1982), and I quite enjoyed it.)
The first TV movie was a fair adaptation of the Cyborg novel, though a few changes were made. More significant changes included making the bionics both more powerful and more useful and, while Austin was still resentful and a bit of a jerk at the start, he was made less emotionally detached and less prepared to kill. It went over well enough that two more TV movies were made. By the time the regular series found its groove, Austin had gotten much more comfortable with his bionics, his life as a part-time secret agent, and he was a downright likable guy who never tried to seriously injure or kill anyone.
“The Six Million Dollar Man” was a very popular, successful TV series, as was “The Bionic Woman”. People who grew up in the ’70s (or who watched the series in later syndication) typically remember the theme music, F/X, and some of the episodes. Lee Majors might not have worn a cape or tights, but he won TV Land’s “Superest Superhero” award in 2003. It is said that the series’ popularity even pushed the medical prosthetics industry to come up with more advanced technology. Another odd cultural reference to the novel/show was found in Brazil, when it was under military dictatorship. For several years, there were a number of politicians who were called “bionic” (biônicos), because of their perceived extraordinary power and influence.
There was a lot of merchandise produced to capitalize on that success, including novels (most based on the original Cyborg version and some more oriented to the TV series), comic books (which enhanced the bionics further), action figures, lunch boxes (I think I had one), trading cards, board games, bedspreads and sheets, etc. The main cast from both “The Six Million Dollar Man” and “The Bionic Woman” returned for “reunion” movies in 1987, 1989 (guest-starring a young Sandra Bullock), and 1994. There was a short-lived “Bionic Woman” series (2007) starring Michelle Ryan that brought back a few of the original Cyborg concepts, and an updated The Six Billion Dollar Man film starring Mark Wahlberg has been in development for several years.
Thanks for allowing your bionic ideas to be expanded into TV and beyond, Mr. Caidin!
Didn’t think I’d be back to “The Mandalorian” so soon, but here we are….
In case you somehow missed it, some Star Wars fans have been trying to get Gina Carano (‘Cara Dune’) kicked off of “The Mandalorian” because of some controversial tweets she put out over the past few months. There is even a #FireGinaCarano hashtag trending on social media, in response to her Liking of a tweet by conservative activist Charlie Kirk. (Ironically, the one who started the campaign — SyFy Fan Grrls Associate Editor Courtney Enlow — had her own publication cancelled.) Carano’s supporters, on the other hand, have countered with #StandWithGinaCarano.
What were the subject(s) of the offensive tweets, you ask?
Carano posted a picture (which I have seen on FB and elsewhere) of a single man refusing to give the Nazi salute during a 1936 Hitler rally. This supposedly meant she was racist, when in fact the image is well-known to be encouraging non-conformism, including against Nazis (who are/were outright racist) and the like.
She refused to use the term “ACAB” or “All Cops Are Bastards”, then called those pressuring her “cowards and bullies.” (I agree.)
She didn’t include her “preferred pronouns” in her Twitter profile; after she got razzed for it, she put “boop/bop/beep”. This supposedly made her — who is strongly anti-bullying — transphobic. The practice was explained to her, and she tweeted, “I didn’t know [the reasons] before but I do now. I won’t be putting them in my bio but good for all you who choose to.”
She shared a meme mocking Democrat leaders that said, “Democratic Government Leaders now recommends we all wear blindfolds along with masks so we can’t see what’s really going on.” God forbid anyone question masking policy or politicians’ motivations! She was also accused of “supporting and defending white supremacists and their extremist ideals whilst voicing her own.” Good grief!
She indicated that she agrees (as do I) that there has been serious voter fraud in the 2020 elections, which needs to be investigated and corrected (if possible). Also, “We need to clean up the election process….”
Will Carano leave social media ‘cuz some people don’t like her? Not freakin’ likely. In a recent interview with YouTuber Drunk3PO, Carano said,
“I’m going to stick around and if my presence bothers you, okay, but also a lot of people are not bothered by my Twitter presence or my social media presence. So I focus more on those people. I bring the fire out in people. I’m not sure why.”
The latest rumor was reported by WDW Pro, who says that the only thing keeping Carano on the show is having Jon Favreau in her corner.
“The problem for all of those who hate Carano based on her worldview and political positions is that Jon Favreau isn’t publicly political… and word on the street is he doesn’t care one iota for the divisiveness…. The question now is whether or not Favreau can protect her — she’s an integral part of his series, and firing her would essentially indicate that conservatives can be purged from Hollywood in a step beyond what we’ve already seen (blacklisting).”
It remains to be seen how true this rumor is, but I certainly hope Carano has the support of someone powerful. If she does get booted from “The Mandalorian”, it wouldn’t be the first time Disney took such action in response to tweets and/or socio-political leanings. A couple examples from 2018 come to mind. Rachel Butera, the voice of Leia Organa in the animated “Star Wars Resistance”, was replaced because she mocked Dr. Christine Blasey Ford during the Brett Kavanaugh hearings. And, of course, director James Gunn was removed from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 when decade-old tweets were found of him making offensive/insensitive comments about rape, AIDS, pedophilia, and the Holocaust. In my opinion, the situation with Gunn (who was rehired months later) was a thousand times more concerning than anything Carano has posted.
Personally, I think the haters need to “let it go” and just enjoy the show, fer cryin’ out loud! You don’t have to like everything about an actor to enjoy their performance, and there’s no reason to form a virtual mob to attack those you don’t like. (If I did that, I’d be at it 24/7!) This “cancel culture” crap is toxic and, unfortunately, representative of the dangerous trends that are destroying our nation from the inside out. [End of micro-rant!]
I was due for an “Artist Appreciation Day” post, so I picked another artist with a very recognizable style. He does both covers and interiors and has occasionally written a piece or two. His subjects always have an intense realism about them, and the usually muted colors lend to a darker mood. I am speaking, of course, of the mostly-self-taught and award-winning Lee Bermejo. He began his career as a Wildstorm intern in 1997, and possibly my first exposure to his art was something with the Deathblow character. He has since done a lot of work for DC (including the Vertigo imprint), as well as for Marvel and the odd piece for someone else.
Here is a (hopefully) representative selection:
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s NestJohnny Cash in prison cellMichael Jackson, “Thriller”Luke Skywalker on DagobahDarth Vader “reaches out”
Heroes and Aliens 