Welcome Back to WonderCon! The title of this column is both literal and metaphoric. The usually sunny spring weather of Southern California gave way to two days of near-nonstop rain, which forced a few last-minute changes to this year’s WonderCon 2024 in Anaheim (right across the road from Disneyland). The metaphoric aspect refers to my…
Tag: Star Wars
A glimpse into Disney+’s new Star Wars series, “The Acolyte”…
******JEDI TEMPLE-SIZED SPOILERS!****** Recently, I wrote a column about what it was like to be a young “Star Wars” fan in the late 1970s. Just writing that column was a sentimental trip that awakened all kinds of childhood nostalgia. But part of growing old with a franchise like Star Wars is watching it evolve over…
What it was like to be a young “Star Wars” fan in the late 1970s…
“A long time ago…” As the name of this column alludes, these are the recollections and inspirations of a middle-aged geek (now in his 50s), who was a ten-year old kid in the summer of 1977 when a certain sci-fi space-fantasy blasted onto movie screens across the country and changed everything that came afterward. Literally….
How 1973’s “American Graffiti” created a ripple effect still felt over 50 years later…
*****TWIN BARREL-CARB SPOILERS!***** After the arguably unjust box office failure of his arthouse-dystopian sci-fi film “THX-1138” (1971), George Lucas was challenged by his mentor and American Zoetrope producing partner Francis Ford Coppola (“The Godfather” trilogy, “Apocalypse Now”) to do something challenging to his own avant-garde sensibilities, which, for young George Lucas, meant creating a warm,…
“The Mandalorian and Grogu” make the jump from hyperspace onto the big screen…
From AP News: A new ‘Star Wars’ movie is coming to theaters: ‘The Mandalorian & Grogu.’ There hasn’t been a Star Wars film in theaters since 2019’s “Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker,” which received mixed reviews at best (personally, I thought it wasn’t too bad, despite some issues), which means this announcement…
Disney+’s “Ahsoka” (2023) gives a popular Star Wars character her own spinoff…
*****STAR DESTROYER-SIZED SPOILERS!***** The character of “Ahsoka Tano” first appeared in the animated Star Wars TV series “The Clone Wars,” the pilot of which was released theatrically in 2008. Having seen that feature-length pilot, I can tell you it was abysmal, and it put me off any chance of watching the series for most of…
San Diego Comic Con 2023 soldiered on, despite some new challenges…
Comic Con Returns Once again, my wife and I returned to San Diego Comic Con, as we have almost every year for nearly the last two decades. The last time the event was cancelled outright came in 2020, the year the COVID pandemic changed everything, and prematurely ended millions of lives around the world. That’s…
Disneyland’s “Rise of the Resistance” takes Star Wars fans on a ‘captivating’ ride…
Disneyland, 2023 Well, it’d been over three years since I last visited Disneyland, which is not far from where I live. But the ticket price is high, and the recent COVID pandemic put a damper on my personal comfort level with crowd situations. However, my wife (who’s far braver than I am) had the idea…
“Starcrash” (1978) is a Star Wars knockoff minus the wit, the charm, or the spaceballs…
*****SPACE SPOILERS AHEAD!****** When “Star Wars” came out 46 years ago, it was a paradigm shift in cinematic entertainment. Visual effects, sound and even editing were never the same, and movies have been forever chasing its tail ever since. This dramatic revolution occurred when I was all of ten years old in the summer of…
Comic Con Revolution 2023: The Inland Empire’s ‘little Comic Con’ is well-established…
Welcome Back Since the Southern California Inland Empire’s first Comic Con Revolution (CCR) in 2017, my wife and I have attended nearly each one, save for 2022, when we attended the COVID-delayed “Star Wars Celebration 2022,” which unfortunately, landed on the same weekend. While my wife and I have attended many big ticket conventions, including…
Teaser trailer for “Ahsoka” is unveiled at Star Wars Celebration 2023…
*****DEATH STAR-SIZED SPOILERS!***** As of this writing, “Star Wars Celebration Europe” is currently underway (April 7-10th) at ExCel London. While I’m not there personally, I’ve been lucky enough to have attended two Star Wars Celebrations here in California over the past decade, and they are wonderful. I hope every Star Wars fan attending in London…
Cosplay, Quantum Leap, and the Walking Dead: WonderCon 2023 wraps…
Welcome Back. Once again, WonderCon has returned to Anaheim, California and with COVID restrictions pretty much gone now (though I still wear masks), things feel a bit more back to normal. This year also saw a surprising championing of smaller or lesser-known movies and TV projects than in years’ past. Instead of a DC or…