Tag: the phantom menace

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The fandom minute: Star Wars spending

Making maths. Justin Brown calculates how much he’s spent on Star Wars over the years. And although it’s a nice chunk of change, it’s still less than one copy of Frames, so I’ll give him a pass, despite that whole Boba Fett thing.

A social experiment. Ryan Britt takes a look at just how confused Clone Wars loving kids may be by their first look at the rest of the movies. Could ‘Anakin becomes Vader’ end up as their ‘Han shot first?’

…And for their parents. John Scalzi looks at awesome scenes in bad movies.

Right at home. Artist Cedric Delsaux returns to fandom’s radar with a new set of Star Wars images taken in what may be the world’s most sci-fiesque city, Dubai.

Why stormtroopers miss. Cracked explains the much-maligned plot hole with science.

Eye Candy Vader and Yoda via font.

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It’s official: Star Wars going 3-D in 2012

Well, they’re finally going through with it: The saga will be coming to theaters in 3-D in 2012, starting with The Phantom Menace. Although May seems the obvious choice, LFL is not committing to any dates or even a season for TPM, let alone the other 5 films. “The process is really extensive, and we want to make sure each of the films gets the attention it needs,” Lucasfilm spokeswoman Lynne Hale told USA Today.

Meanwhile, The Hollywood Reporter claims “each of the films would be released in order at the same time each consecutive year, depending on how well the first re-release does.” Hrm.

MORNING (9/29) UPDATE: Variety delves deeper into the situation with the techies. Most notably, John Knoll says that no other visual effects will be tweaked or added.

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Video: The Bechdel Test for women in movies

The Bechdel Test or Mo Movie Measure (misnamed as it may be) is a simple formula that tests three simple things in a movie: a) if there are (named) female characters and b) that they talk to each other about c) something other than a man.

Most movies fail this by a mile, including the lions share of the Star Wars saga.

I believe The Phantom Menace (Shmi and Padme) and Attack of the Clones (Padme and Queen Jamillia, Padme and Beru) may be the only Star Wars movies that pass the Bechdel test… Though perhaps barely, Anakin being a topic (but not a romantic one) in all three conversations I’m thinking of. Thoughts?

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The fandom minute: ESB in Entertainment Weekly, TPM/AOTC reviewer speaks

On the newstand. The 30th anniversary of The Empire Strikes Back (and the upcoming Making of The Empire Strikes Back) lands the cover of this week’s Entertainment Weekly. The issue will be on stands (and hopefully in subscriber mailboxes) on Friday.

Prequel madness. With the release of his Attack of the Clones review, MTV has a an two-part interview with Mr. Plinkett/Mike Stoklasa of Red Letter Media for a sitdown on the reviews, copyright, mocking, and backlash. Meanwhile, Bryan Young continues his defense of The Phantom Menance.

Chartage. It’s equal mockery under the law for Star Wars, Star Trek, Firefly, Avatar and Lost fans in the sci-fi superfan reference manual.

Younglings. Head over to Offbeat Mama for Darth Aesop’s Death Star party. The balloon sabers are particularly brilliant.

Cake! Neatorama spotlights Star Wars cakes.

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The fandom minute: Defending TPM, subtext, politics, cake, and other things you do under the cover of night

Rebuttal. Big-time prequel fan Bryan Young has begun his response to the 90-minute Phantom Menace review that was going around a while back.

Presented without comment. Karen Miller, whose Star Wars books have been enthusiastically received by certain areas of fandom, wants folks to know that she’s not writing homoerotic subtext into her Clone Wars books. Okay then. (It seems the rant was inspired by this thread. Sigh.)

If we ever see an Essential Guide again… Suggestions for a book on GFFA politics. Dan Wallace is game!

Cakes! Clone Wars’ fame continues to spread with an impressive Republic Gunship and an adorable Jabba with Rotta. (via/via)

Crass fansumerism. Chewbika or soap? A bank?

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Box Office: Avatar beats Titanic, but still lags behind The Phantom Menace

Avatar may have beat Titanic in terms of cold hard cash, but it still has yet to catch up with The Phantom Menace when it comes to the amount of tickets sold, Entertainment Weekly points out. And when the domestic box office numbers are adjusted for inflation, it’s only #26 – all three original trilogy films and TPM are higher, along with Raiders of the Lost Ark, E.T., The Exorcist and all-time champ Gone With the Wind. (A New Hope is #2.)

Granted, all this stat-pushing is petty and useless, but hey: We’re interested, aren’t we? And on that note, check below the cut for a blast from the past: The ad George Lucas took out in Variety when Titanic took the top spot from Star Wars. Continue reading “Box Office: Avatar beats Titanic, but still lags behind The Phantom Menace“