Movie Talk - The Star Wars Prequel Trilogy

Qui-Jonn: If you say “yipee” one more time, I’ll lock you in a room with Jar Jar for two hours!

Well, here I am again with this trilogy. A couple of years ago, I did a little post about what I liked about The Phantom Menace. I was going to do more with the other movies, but school got in the way and I just lost interest in it. Well, it’s now 2014, and I’m a little better at planning things. I don’t have much else to say, so let’s talk about the Star Wars prequels.

I don’t remember when I saw first saw The Phantom Menace.  I was already a fan of Star Wars at the time and I even got an action figure from their toyline. I think the only one I got was Obi-Wan Kenobi. I do know that I rented it at Movie Gallery when it came out. When Attack of the Clones came out, I ended up seeing that in theaters with my dad. I think my dad bowed out at the scene where Anakin and Padme were on Naboo. When thinking about it now, I can’t blame him.

I didn’t get to see Revenge of the Sith in theatres but I did get it and Attack of the Clones on DVD. The Phantom Menace was relegated to a recorded VHS copy from 2005, I believe. Yes, I still used those in the 2000’s. I even have a couple of other stuff recorded on there like Superman: The Movie and an episode of Smallville (“Rosetta”). Anyway, I planned on seeing all of these movies over a weekend but that didn’t exactly happen. I only watched TPM and I couldn’t find the DVDs to AOTC and ROTS. Some might say I’m better off without them, but I don’t like to lose stuff like that. Luckily, I’ve seen them enough to know what I want to say.

Random Pics of the Month - May: Seven Things About Anakin Skywalker

Since I did something similar to Spock last year, I might as well do the same to this franchise's main guy.

Anakin was a slave boy who saved Naboo, yelled "yipee" a lot, and was badly directed. "Are you an angel?" Ugh.

Anakin hates sand, kills Sand People, and likes dictatorships. Seriously, what did Padme see in this psycho?

Anakin... actually becomes a likable human being. Seriously, The Clone Wars did Anakin better than the prequels did!

Anakin/Darth Vader ain't afraid to choke a wench though he is now afraid of the high ground.

Darth Vader apparently hates atheism these days.

Darth Vader knows the power of the Dark Side. 'Nuff Said.

Finally, Darth Vader isn't that much of an idiot, Palpatine. "Yes, let me electrocute the son of my apprentice in front of his face! I'm so smart and eeeeevvvvviiiillllll!

Overall, Anakin Skywalker is alright though he is cooler in those black clothes.

TV Talk - Star Trek: The Next Generation

Picard: Q, what are you doing?

Q: Oh nothing, mone capitane. Just reading the unabridged book of your life. Just know that you'll get a nice jacket in a few years!

It’s been said that this show is one of the best sci-fi television shows of all time. Is that true? Well, I’m talking about it, so I’m guessing it must be true. So, Star Trek: The Next Generation… where do I begin? I guess I can begin at the beginning and I’m not talking about Genesis 1:1 either.

I never watched TNG when it first aired since we just didn’t have that station. I had already known of Star Trek through the TOS movies. When Movie Gallery first opened in town, they had a few episodes of TNG’s first season on VHS. I think some of them were “Hide and Q,” “Where No One Has Gone Before,” and “Justice.” There are also a couple of random episodes on some tapes my uncle had. When we finally got cable, I remember that the FOX station out of Huntsville (how we got that station I’ll never know) would run episodes of TNG weekly for a while. This station was also how I got into Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and another show called Earth: Final Conflict.

I pretty much saw the whole series when Spike TV aired them back in the 2000’s. I’ll pretty much watch an episode if it’s just on especially these days. It seems like some station is always showing it. Heck, BBC America even is showing it! I wonder how Doctor Who fans think about that. Anyway, it was either an episode from this show or one of the others that made me a fan of SFDebris, an Internet reviewer. For this, I decided to look at episodes that I haven’t seen in a long while on Netflix. So, is it one of the best shows ever? Find out below.

Movie Talk - The Original Star Wars Trilogy

While Luke is in awe of Leia, RD-D2 wishes he could tell him that she's his sister.

Well, it’s about time that I got to these movies. Yes, I decided to release this on May 4^th which has been dubbed Star Wars Day. It’s like I planned all of this or something! As you can tell, I’m starting the Star Wars movie segment with the original trilogy. It’s the one trilogy that set the world on fire. I’d be shocked if there is anyone under the age of 40 who doesn’t know anything about Star Wars. I don’t have much for a preamble, so let’s get to it.

Background

I can definitely say that these movies have been a part of my life for the longest time. I don’t remember when I first saw the movies. It may have been on TV or the video store. I know that I’ve owned a few versions of the movies. I think had the VHS version that came out before the special editions. I know that I had the special editions on VHS. Unfortunately, I think A New Hope is the only one still around and I don’t know where The Empire Strikes Back VHS is. I know the copy of Return of the Jedi is kaput. I also saw the Special Edition of TESB when they released it in theatres back in the day.

I ended up getting the DVD trilogy when it eventually went on a discount a few years ago. Since I’ve seen them all, I really don’t watch them on TV anymore. I believe Spike TV plays them occasionally. I got the DVDs and I’ve seen these movies enough. Since I haven’t seen them in a while, I watched all three over the weekend. It’s safe to say that this is still one of my favorite trilogies. Still, are they really that perfect? Find out below.

Favorites - 15 Favorite Lightsaber Fights

It’s been said that the lightsaber is “an elegant weapon for a more civilized age.” I guess that’s Obi-Wan’s way of saying that “lightsabers are cool, man!” Anyway, he kind of has a point. The lightsaber is one of the most recognizable things from the Star Wars franchise. I even have one but it’s in a shade of red. One thing that made all of the movies and TV shows exciting were the lightsaber battles. Heck, the battle in The Phantom Menace is probably the only awesome thing about that movie.

Here are my 15 favorite Lightsaber battles. Why 15? I just want to go those five extra steps. Yes, I’m going all Nostalgia Critic on ya’ll. There’s also the fact that I wanted to include some battles from the animated TV shows. While they’re only animated, both Clone Wars shows had some really good battles and they need to be highlighted somewhere. I’ll also try to provide links to these fights.

15. Mace Windu vs. A Droid Army (Clone Wars) – I know it’s not a duel, but come on! There’s a lightsaber in it! While Mace seems a little overpowered in this, you have to admit that this is frickin’ awesome. I mean, he’s pushing back hundreds of droids! He’s punching them to bits! He destroys a dang fortress! Mace Windu is truly a bad brother from another galaxy. I only wish we got to see this awesomeness in the prequels. I know Samuel L. Jackson would have been happy.

14. Obi-Wan vs. General Grievous (Revenge of the Sith) - This is the final fight for Gen. Grievous in the prequel trilogy. For those who don' know, Grievous commanded the Droid Army during the Clone Wars. The Republic finally tracked him down and Obi-Wan's the one who's got to fight him. The fight itself is pretty different and interesting since Grievous is a cyborg with multiple arms and lightsabers. 

13. Darth Maul vs. Prez Vizsla of Deathwatch (The Clone Wars) – Setting up this one would be pretty hard. Basically, Darth Maul (yes, he came back) and Savage Oppress (yes, that’s his name) teamed up with Deathwatch, a group of Mandalorian terrorists, in order to take back control of Mandalore. After they’ve succeeded in ousting the queen, Prez Vizsla makes himself ruler. Maul (who was planning to double-cross Deathwatch) challenges Vizsla for the throne and leadership if Deathwatch. The fight itself is pretty awesome. One thing this show excelled at was having these brutal, fast-paced fights. They fight back and forth until Vizsla is defeated and you find out that “there can be only one.”

12. Obi-Wan, Anakin, and YODA vs. Count Dooku (Attack of the Clones) – While the Battle of Geonosis is happening, Obi-Wan and Anakin track down ‘ole Dracula himself. He takes them both down one by one and even slices off one of Anakin’s hands. Dooku is about to escape when another challenger enters: Yoda. This is either ludicrous or one of the coolest things ever to see in theatres. Luckily, Kermit’s 2^nd cousin uses the Force and his lightsaber to put up a good fight. The fight is cool for one reason only: we get to see Yoda beat the crap out of a Sith Lord.

11. Anakin and Obi-Wan vs. Asokha Tano (The Clone Wars) – This weird fight comes from the Mortis story-arc in the 3^rd season. The whole arc revolved around Anakin being the Chosen One to balance the Force. This was something that was mentioned but never got really explained in the prequels. Anyway, the three get stranded in some strange land that is inhabited by Force-wielders. The wielder is of the Dark Side kidnaps Asokha and infects her with the Dark Side. When Anakin finds her, she attacks him with all she has. Eventually, Obi-Wan gets in on the action. Overall, it’s a nice fight from a pretty interesting arc about the Force.