GREETINGS FROM AIRSHIP GLITZVILLE!
The splendiferous exciting adventures and inane ramblings of KT Glitz and his beautiful wife Toni Glitz. There will also be garbage talked about music, movies and Star Wars, a LOT of Star Wars!
If you can't be a good example, you'll just have to be a horrible warning!
Never forget your dreams, they are the hopes of the future!
With today being Star Wars Day, Lucasfilm released their new animated Star Wars series. Star Wars: The Bad Batch is a spin off of The Clone Wars animated series featuring characters introduced in the last season.
Well that was really brilliant. A great start to the series. A new story while digging deep into continuity. This is going to be a good story!
Here's the final trailer
Here's a neat little featurette:
Disney+ also dropped a few other nice things.
First up was Star Wars Vehicles Flythroughs with the Millennium Falcon and a Star Destroyer virtual tour on offer.
Next was Star Wars Biomes which gave some virtual location tours. Most excellent
Rounding things off was a Simpsons short called The Force Awakens From its Nap starring Maggie Simpson.
There was a lovely sky this morning when I got up. These photos don't do it justice...
It put me in a very good mood I have to say. Spirits lifted it was time for the weekly bread baking. These ones came out a really well and I was very happy with them. I love the smell of these baking in the oven.
After the baking I had to do a quick bought of work to complete the migrations for this weekend and then it was time to kick back and relax.
Traditional breakfast was prepared and then there we did a catch up with RuPaul's Drag Race UK and RuPaul's Drag Race. Wasn't happy with the UK elimination but the US one was fine with me.
WandaVision this week was absolutely superb. The reveals are getting bigger each week. This series appears to be the perfect platform to launch the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) Phase Four. It's going to lead into other shows and movies. At the end of the episode we had Wanda's brother Pietro (Quicksilver) appear. The twist was that instead of being played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson from the recent MCU films he as now being played by Evan Peters who had the role in the Fox X-Men movies (prior to the Disney buyout). Funny moment there was Darcy Peters exclaiming, "he's been recast" which fitted beautifully with the TV show angle that WandaVision has been taking. Have to confess that might have got a bit emotional at that point. I wonder who else might make an appearance in future episodes?
Today has been a good day. Everything ticking along nicely. The team took another resignation reasonably well, now I have the challenge of trying to fill two roles, don't hold your breath on that one!
Lucasfilm have just release a new trailer for their launch of Star Wars: The High Republic.
In the all-new era of the glorious HIGH REPUBLIC, the noble and wise Jedi Knights must face a frightening threat to themselves, the galaxy, and to the Force itself...
The first book, Light Of The Jedi, has just arrived on my Kindle so I am really looking forward to starting that.
Finished the evening off with a nice bout of Four In A Bed.
My back is still playing silly buggers which is most inconvenient. I had been hoping it would all pass quickly but sadly it seems it does not want to. I had a disturbed night although thankfully not full of pain and this morning I feel stiff and in slightly more discomfort than yesterday. Back on the rum today I think, it might not help but it does at least mask things!
Breakfast of kings today with toast and turkey dripping, perfect. We decided to be brave and check out the newly released Wonder Woman 1984. The last one was OK, one of the better DC movies so we were interested to see how this one would stack up.
The verdict is that DC should stop making movies! That was not good. I wasn't a big fan of the first Wonder Woman and this one is no better. Patty Jenkins can be forgiven for the first one as she did not write that but she wrote and directed this one so there is no excuse. I hope that Lucasfilm don't let her write the Star Wars: Rogue Squadron movie and she is just taking on the director role. That end credits scene though!
To wash away the bad taste we watched the only really good current DC movie, Joker,
Now this film is one that was deserving of a sequel although suspect it won't happen sadly. It does have a natural end but could easily be expanded to take the story on further. Sadly it too gritty to really fit in with the rest of the current DC universe films unless they go down a multi-verse route.
Following some good reports we had heard we decided to check out Pixar's new movie Soul on Disney+.
It was a heart warming film although I'll have to watch it again as I did snooze through some of it LOL.
Sticking with Disney+ it was time for some Ice Age.
Well it's not quite the Ozzie Man style disaster but 'Destination Fucked' is what I feel about my back right now. Last night was not great. I did manage to get some sleep but there were times when a slight movement would cause sharp shooting pains across the base of my back. Moving or turning at all was a challenge although I did find ways to do this albeit very slowly. I feel very tender and fragile this morning which is most inconvenient as there are things I want/need to do.
I got up (ver carefully) and got my baking groove on to make sure that Toni had enough rolls to take her through to next week.
For a bit of silliness I started watching World's Strongest Man 2020. Who doesn't enjoy a bunch of large men manhandling impossibly heave objects? Right now I would struggle to bend and lift a feather!
I received an unexpected parcel in the post today which turned out to be a Christmas gift pack from my company. Some nice little bits in there.
Various chocolates and nuts, some nice coffee hot chocolate and some interesting olives
There was a also a nice branded thermal cup too
Christmas viewing was resumed with Love Actually.
We also took in A Charlie Brown Christmas courtesy of Apple TV+
Christmas movie viewing continued with The Nightmare Before Christmas.
Our Foodmas prep was underway as Toni cooked off the ham tonight. The smell was amazing! Is it tomorrow yet LOL.
We finished off the night with Willow which we haven't watched for ages
So today didn't really go as planned. I did 20 minutes on the treadmill first thing and did a few hours work even though it was my day off and had planned to at least relax for the rest of the day. As you can probably guess things did not go as I wanted and I kept getting dragged into various emergencies so I pretty much carried on working for the rest of the day. Grumble grumble. I have now pencilled in next Wednesday for a break and it will be phones off all day!
After work it was time for the latest episode of The Mandalorian and what an episode it was!
Now that was a really good episode, it's all coming together very nicely now!
Lucasfilm have just released the following video to support their new Project Luminous Star Wars project.
Project Luminous will cover stories covering the High Republic era across novel. comics and other media. It seems to be focused on Jedi across the galaxy....
Star Wars: The High Republic, which has previously been referred to as “Project Luminous”, will be set in an era when the Galactic Republic and the Jedi Order are at their zenith, about 200 years before the events of Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. This period on the Star Wars timeline will not overlap any of the filmed features or series currently planned for production, giving creators and partners a vast amount of room to tell Star Wars stories with new adventures and original characters.
Here's a set of artwork and covers for upcoming releases:
As most of you are aware Lucasfilm and Disney have wowed us all with their Disney+ TV show The Mandalorian, The first Star Wars live action TV show has been a massive hit and we have more of that plus the Kenobi and Cassian Andor shows to come. What a lot of people are unaware of is that George Lucas always wanted to a create a TV show in the Star Wars universe and had plans for one called Star Wars: Underworld.
The following test footage made in 2010 has suddenly become available and also has a making of segment.
The footage seems to validate the rumours that the show was supposed to take place in the seedy depths of Coruscant. All of this was planned pre-Disney and George apparently wanted to run 100 episodes at one hour each. The project ultimately got cancelled because at the time it was just deemed too expensive to make.
Who knows what this would have been like but I am so glad that this has seen the light of day and we can all see what might have been and how advanced the techniques were even back then.
The latest Star Wars novel that I am working my way through is Force Collector, part of the Journey To Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker material.
I absolutely loved this story. Set just before The Force Awakens, a restless teenager sets out to discover what connection his mysterious Force powers have to the fabled Jedi and what the Force has in store for him. We have some new characters and some lovely colour added around more familiar characters. This might be a young adult novel but it is a compelling read and I struggled to put it down. Big thumps up to Keven Shinick for this one!
Next up on my reading list was the The Perfect Weapon that was actually released as part of the Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens material. It's not new but I've only just got round to reading it.
The Perfect Weapon" is a short story by Delilah S. Dawson and features Bazine Netal, a character that appears in Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens.
There are plenty of mercenaries, spies, and guns for hire in the galaxy. But probably none as dangerous and determined as Bazine Netal. A master of disguise—and lethal with a blade, a blaster, or bare handed—she learned from the best. Now it's her turn to be the teacher—even if schooling an eager but inexperienced recruit in the tricks of her trade is the last thing she wants to do. But it's the only way to score the ship she needs to pull off her latest job.
An anonymous client has hired Bazine to track down an ex-stormtrooper and recover the mysterious package he's safeguarding. Payment for the mission promises to be astronomical, but the obstacles facing Bazine will prove to be formidable. And though her eager new sidekick has cyber skills crucial to the mission, only Bazine's razor-sharp talents will mean the difference between success or failure—and life or death
It might be a short story but it was big on action and expands nicely on the background of a character that we only see briefly in The Force Awakens.
This is only available as ab eBook but if you like Star Wars novels it is worth the small price.
Kicking off today with the great news that Disney have just announced that the Disney+ release date has now been brought forward by one week so will now be live in the UK on 24th March! Finally!
Really looking forward to having this. All of the Star Wars and all of the Marvel in the same place and a major upgrade to the currently available Disney Life.
Although it actually starts before Disney+ hits the UK I am really excited for the final season of The Clone Wars. A new trailer has just been released
In sadder news it appears that the Kenobi TV series for Disney+ is now on hold. Recently we had rumours that it was cancelled which was proven to not be true but it looks like there is an issue anyway. Reports are that the production crew were all sent home from Pinewood Studios. It is also rumoured Kathleen Kennedy was not happy with the scripts. It is better for them to delay things and get it right rather than rush something out there and create a disaster especially given how picky the Star Wars fan base is these days. It sounds like the story line was also a problem with it being too similar to The Mandalorian with Obi-Wan looking out for young Luke Skywalker. Defending the child can't really work twice. The other worrying this is that they might have decided to cut the length of the series so we have may now gone from a movie to a six hour series which is now rumoured to be down to a four hour series.
More news will be reported as and when I hear more.
20th Century Fox have recently dropped a trailer for The New Mutants.
This Fox superhero horror film is based around the X-Men universe. I did wonder if it would ever see the light of day after Disney bought Fox but it seems the green light has been given and now it's all systems go.
The New Mutants actually looks pretty good so that's a definite cinema trip coming up in April.
Well we are now in 2020 and the final episode in the Skywalker Saga has now been released. Kathleen Kennedy (President of Lucasfilm) is apparently going to share some news on the next film in the pipeline (due to be released in 2022).
I'm sure lots of people are dreading the announcement that Rian Johnson is involved but I am just keen to hear whatever news there might be. Clearly it won't be the Benioff and Weiss Old Republic trilogy as they bailed out to take big bucks from Netflix to do something else.
I am very pleased that there are still plans for more Star Wars films on top if all the TV stuff coming to Disney+ and am excited to see what might be in store for us going forward.
The dust has finally settled and I've just realised that I missed off point the last set of TV spots for The Rise Of Skywalker. Here we have the final five, 35-39.
I am planning on seeing it at least one more time before I post an actual review. That should give you all plenty of time to make sure you've seen it LOL.
In other Star Wars news, we've just complete watching the TV series The Mandalorian. The last three episodes finally started moving the story arcs in a good direction leaving plenty of scope for things to get very interesting in Season 2. The downside is that Season 2 isn't due for realise until Autumn 2020 so it's a long wait. Still, we'll have Season 7 of The Clone Wars to tide us over.....
The Rise Of Skywalker initial reaction ***NO SPOILERS***
It's so embarrassing when you all turn up wearing the same outfit LOL
***NO SPOILERS****
So that's it then. The Rise Of Skywalker has arrived........ here is my initial reaction
***NO SPOILERS****
Well that was an emotional rollercoaster, the saga is finally at an end
I laughed, I shed a tear, I cheered and part way through the end credits my emotions burst out and I was crying. I couldn’t actually leave the theatre for a couple of minutes after the end credits had rolled. The Rise Of Skywalker is not the best Star Wars film but it sure as hell delivers and wraps things up nicely. It’s not perfect but then NO Star Wars film is.
I’ve been invested on this journey since I first saw Star Wars back in 1978 and it’s been a major part of my life for the last 41 years and suddenly it had all come to a spectacular resolution. Yes there will be more Star Wars but this was a significant milestone today
I was there from the start with the original trilogy, I proudly brought my kids into the prequel trilogy and the grand kids are now emerging into the sequel trilogy. It's a saga for the generations.
I loved it, loved it, LOVED it!
Here's the Star Wars cast in an interview talking stealing from the set and gifts from J.J. Abrams
The final day before The Rise Of Skywalker is with us! Although says one day it's actually midnight today that this happens so the hours part is where we are at LOL!
The final film in the countdown was Episode VIII: The Last Jedi. We really enjoyed this film but it certainly caused some major controversy and angst with the Star Wars fan base!
***WARNING*** Disney+ have just run a Special Look Trailer that contains new footage, you'd be as well to avoid this before watching the film!!!!!!!!!!
Just in case you are behind on what this Star Wars stuff is all about please check out this hilarious overview of all the films and TV shows
....and with that dear reader we head into the night to watch The Rise Of Skywalker. A spoiler free reaction will be posted once we are out.
Tonight we watched Episode VII: The Force Awakens. This was the film that finally brought the franchise back to the world following the sale of Lucasfilm to Disney. The hype was real, I might have gone a little bit Star Wars crazy at the time but this was certainly time to a Star Wars fan! Looking back it had some major issues but at the time it was just amazing!
Last night was The Rise Of Walker world premiere in the US in Los Angeles. It's classed as a Red Carpet event but it was actually a Blue Carpet LOL. Here's the coverage:
Here we have some interviews from the World Premiere:
