Tag Disney

A TMNT: Saturday Morning Adventures Continued #1 Micro-Review – Mickey Ears?!?

Rob Siebert Leave a comment

***This is where we keep it nice and simple. Comic book reviews in 100 words or less. Straight, concise, and to the point.***

TITLE: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Saturday Morning Adventures Continued #1
AUTHOR: Erik Burnham
ARTISTS: Tim Lattie, Jack Lawrence (Inker), Raul Angulo (Colorist), Ed Dukeshire (Letterer)
RELEASED: May 31, 2023

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

In essence, what we get from this issue is more of the same. But in this case, that’s a good thing. The charm and show-faithfulness of Erik Burnham’s writing at the fun of Tim Lattie’s pencils are very much intact.

Late in this issue, the Turtles don space suits that very obviously have Mickey Mouse ears on them. Raph makes a joke about them being from TCRI’s “psychological warfare department.” I’m not sure if that joke lands or not. But it’s definitely surreal to see the Turtles essentially dressed like Disney characters.

Email Rob at PrimaryIgnition@Yahoo.com, or check us out on Twitter and TikTok.

Catching Up With The Mandalorian – “Chapter 8: Redemption”

Rob Siebert 3 Comments

The Mandalorian, season 1 posterSERIES: Star Wars:  The Mandalorian
EPISODE: S1:E8 – “Chapter 8:  Redemption”
STARRING: Pedro Pascal, Giancarlo Esposito, Gina Carano, Carl Weathers, Taika Waititi (Voice)
WRITER: Jon Favreau
DIRECTOR:  Taika Waititi
PREMIERE DATE: December 27, 2019
SYNOPSIS: Trapped, the Mandalorian and his allies struggle to keep the child out of Moff Gideon’s hands.

***New around here? Check out our Star Wars review archive!***

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

Taika Waititi, who directs this episode, and is also widely known for directing Thor: Ragnarok and Thor: Love and Thunder, serves as the voice of IG-11. Fitting, as this episode is a big one for the repurposed droid.

That scout troopers punching the child in the bag is one of those things that makes you hate the bad guy, but where you also can’t help but laugh a little. What can I say? It was funny. As was the target practice bit moment later.

This episode is the first time we hear the Mandalorian’s given name: Din Djarin. Not the worst name, by Star Wars standards. “The Mandalorian” has more mystique, of course.

The appearance of the super battle droids in the flashback sequence was a nice touch. It set the period.

It was pretty bad-ass to see IG-11 riding through that town on a speeder bike, twin guns blazing. Question: If his new base function is to nurse and protect, why does he bring the child into a town occupied by Imperial troops? Granted, none of them can shoot…

It’s funny to me how none of the stormtroopers can hit a target, as this episode makes light of. But when the episode needs him to be, Moff Gideon is a crack shot.

Din Djarin, The Mandalorian, Redemption, Pedro Pascal

I’d never seen or heard of Pedro Pascal prior to The Mandalorian. So what he looked like was news to me. He didn’t necessarily look how his voice suggested he looked. But that’s not a good or a bad thing, per se.

The armorer tasking Mando with reuniting the child with its own kind was a great hook for season two. As the last of the Jedi, the obvious implication was Luke Skywalker. Or perhaps Ahsoka Tano. But we couldn’t have realistically expected to see either of them…could we?

The big moment in this episode is when IG-11 sacrifices itself to save the rest of the group. I’ll say this much: The episode does a great job making us care about the repurposed robot, which we didn’t see again until the previous episode. It feels genuinely sad as he walks through the lava.

Something I appreciated about this group mission as opposed to some others we see in Star Wars is that there were consequences and casualties. Kuiil and IG-11 didn’t make it, and Mando was wounded to the point that he wouldn’t have survived if left to his own devices. The bad guys come off threatening and dangerous even in defeat.

Mando taking on Moff Gideon in the TIE fighter was a cool climax for the season. Suitably suspenseful, as you’d expect a man in a jetpack trying to take down a plane to be.

Din Djarin, The Mandalorian, Redemption

The one thing I didn’t like about this episode was how rushed everything was after said climax. Mando literally lands from taking down the TIE fighter, and everyone announces what they’re going to do going forward. Felt uncharacteristically clumsy.

The revelation of Moff Gideon with the Darksaber at the end was a fun little moment. Star Wars geeks knew what it was, obviously. And those who didn’t know would come to know as the series progressed.

Disney bet a lot on this first season of The Mandalorian. The first episode premiered with the launch of Disney+, so it was a great added incentive to give the service a try. But beyond that, it set the standard for all live action Star Wars TV projects to come. And thankfully for the fans, that standard wound up being pretty high. The Mandalorian season one isn’t just great Star Wars television. It’s great television, period. It’s compelling, intriguing, gorgeous to look at, and perhaps most importantly, very accessible to those not well-versed in Star Wars. (I’m trying to get my parents to watch it to this day.)

All in all? It was a home run for everybody involved.

Email Rob at primaryignition@yahoo.com, or check us out on Twitter.

Honey Nut Cheerios, Stickiness, and Winnie the Pooh

Rob Siebert Leave a comment

Winnie the Pooh, HoneyBy Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

Honey Nut Cheerios are deceptively sticky. I put my one-year-old in the stroller yesterday, along with a snack container filled with them. When we got home they were stuck all over her body.

That’s why Winnie the Pooh isn’t nearly as cuddly as Disney wants you to believe. Much as we all love him, dude is elbow-deep in honey half the time. You’d come away with yellow fur stuck to your body.

Email Rob at primaryignition@yahoo.com, or check us out on Twitter.

The Essential Clone Wars: “Nightsisters”

Rob Siebert 1 Comment

***I must confess that, despite being a huge Star Wars geek, I have yet to see the landmark Clone Wars animated show in its entirety. I’m aiming to rectify that to a large extent here, as we look at pivotal episodes of the series in, “The Essential Clone Wars.”

SERIES: Star Wars: The Clone Wars
EPISODE: S3:E12 – “Nightsisters”
WITH THE VOICE TALENTS OF: Nika Futterman, Barbara Goodson, Corey Burton, Matt Lanter, James Arnold Taylor
WRITER: Katie Lucas
DIRECTOR: Giancarlo Volpe
PREMIERE DATE: January 7, 2011
SYNOPSIS: Count Dooku turns on Asajj Ventress, who returns to her home planet to plot her revenge.

***New around here? Check out our Star Wars review archive!***

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

To my knowledge, the Nightsisters and the planet Dathomir were created by Dave Wolverton for his 1994 book The Courtship of Princess Leia. Here, nearly two decades later, those elements were used to further the story of not only Asajj Ventress, but as we’ll later see, Darth Maul.

I was surprised to learn that Mother Talzin is voiced by Barbara Goodson, who is widely known as the voice of Rita Repulsa in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. Surprised, that is, because Talzin doesn’t sound anything like Rita. I’m always so impressed at the wide range that so many voice actors are capable of. You can now count Goodson among them.

On the subject of that range, this series has turned me on to the greatness of Corey Burton, who voices Count Dooku. He’s been active since the early ’70s, and the list of characters he’s lent his voice to reads like a laundry list. Several laundry lists, actually. On The Clone Wars alone, he voices Dooku, Cad Bane, and Ziro the Hutt. But his Wookieepedia page indicates his connection to the franchise actually goes back to 1979, when he voiced Luke Skywalker for a Disney read-along adaptation of the original film.

Me? I’m just impressed he provided the voice for both Dale and Zipper in Chip ‘n Dale Rescue Rangers. What can I say? I’m on a kick because of the new Disney+ movie.

Apparently, if you want to kill a Sith Lord, your best shot is when they’re sleeping. We know from Revenge of the Sith that Palpatine killed Darth Plagueis in his sleep. And Ventress and the Nightsisters come pretty close to doing the same to Dooku here. They must be really sound sleepers…

This episode is written by Katie Lucas, daughter of George Lucas. She wrote numerous episodes of The Clone Wars. She was also one of the writers of an unproduced story arc that would have seen Asajj Ventress fall in love with a Jedi, and ultimately wraps up her story at large. Said story was later turned into the novel Dark Disciple, which is one of the better Star Wars books you’ll ever read.

Email Rob at primaryignition@yahoo.com, or check us out on Twitter.

Rob Watches Boba Fett – Hijacking the Show

Rob Siebert 2 Comments

The Book of Boba Fett, Mandalorian posterSERIES: The Book of Boba Fett
EPISODE: S1:E5. “Chapter 5: Return of the Mandalorian”
STARRING: Pedro Pascal, Amy Sedaris
WRITER: Jon Favreau
DIRECTOR: Bryce Dallas Howard
PREMIERE DATE: January 26, 2022
SYNOPSIS: The Mandalorian gets a new ship, and learns more about the power of the Darksaber.

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

Let’s call out the elephant in the room. The big critique of this episode, as well as the following episode, is that they’re episodes of The Mandalorian shoehorned into The Book of Boba Fett. Whether anyone likes it or not, that’s a fair and just criticism. This is supposed to be a Boba Fett show, and he doesn’t even appear in this episode.

That’s not to say Mando has no place in this story. He could have come to Tatooine to help Fett in his fight against the Pykes. But this? Basically hijacking two episodes of Fett’s show to shift back to his story with Grogu? That’s too much. It’s good stuff, but it doesn’t belong here. It should have been saved for season three of The Mandalorian.

So what happened? How did The Book of Boba Fett get hijacked? I’ve got two theories…

The first is that the showrunners realized they didn’t have enough story with Boba Fett to fill an entire season. So they fall back on the Mandalorian stuff, which they knew fans would like. That doesn’t excuse it, but it’s a reasonable explanation.

The second is that the higher-ups at Disney and/or Lucasfilm said, “Mando and Grogu are popular. So put them in the show.” I’m not sure how likely that is, as Jon Favreau seems to have a good amount of control over the “Mandoverse.” But never underestimate the possibility of non-creative people trying to exert control over creative people. There’d be a sad irony there, as George Lucas fought vehemently against that sort of thing while making the original trilogy.

But to reiterate, even though these two episodes don’t belong here, they are pretty damn good. So let’s dive in…

The Book of Boba Fett, Mandalorian

Awesome entrance for Mando, not surprisingly. A sure fire way for a Star Wars project to impress me is to show us new and unique places in the Star Wars universe. “Return of the Mandalorian” manages to do that not once, but twice. We get this slaughterhouse in the opening scene, which is pretty cool. They could have gotten a little more creative with the fight and maybe had Mando and the goons smacking into bloody slabs of meat. But maybe that’s a little too much…

But what I really loved was the city of Glavis, which is situated on a gigantic ring structure in space. They could have just had Mando on another desert planet, or a jungle planet, or an ice planet, or whatever. But instead they got creative. Excellent.

Amy Sedaris is back as Peli Motto. Given her background, I’m curious if she has any input on what she says. That stuff about dating a jawa, for instance. Did she come up with that, or was it in the script?

Mando’s new ship is a modified Naboo starfigher, like the ones we saw in The Phantom Menace. It looks cool, but I miss the Razor Crest. This fighter doesn’t double as a home base the way the Crest did.

Mando has Mandalorian armor made for Grogu, and wants to deliver it to him personally. He apparently knows where Luke took him. But how? Luke didn’t exactly give a forwarding address. And you’d think he’d want to keep its location a secret. So what gives?

Email Rob at primaryignition@yahoo.com, or check us out on Twitter.

Rob Watches Boba Fett – He Kept the Ship?!?

Rob Siebert 1 Comment

The Book of Boba Fett, Fennec Shand posterSERIES: The Book of Boba Fett
EPISODE: S1:E4. “Chapter 4: The Gathering Storm”
STARRING: Temuera Morrison, Ming-Na Wen, Jennifer Beals, Carey Jones
WRITER: Jon Favreau
DIRECTOR: Kevin Tancharoen
PREMIERE DATE: January 19, 2022
SYNOPSIS: Boba Fett gathers his forces far war against the Pyke Syndicate.

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

Boba Fett, now wandering alone, finds a nearly dead Fennec Shand in the desert. He takes her for cybernetic augmentation, saving her life. He then recruits her to help him take his ship back from Jabba the Hutt’s palace.

Fett saving Shand means, chronologically, these flashbacks are now in the era of The Mandalorian. In other words, five years after Return of the Jedi. Thus, I must pose the question…why is the ship still at the palace five years later? What possible use could Bib Fortuna have had for it? Why not dismantle it for parts? Or auction it off as the last remanant of the great Boba Fett?

The real answer, of course, is that from a storytelling standpoint, Jabba’s palace is the last place we the viewers saw the ship. So it’s easiest to simply have them go back there and get it. But someday, even if it’s just in a novel or something, I hope we get some kind of answer as to why Fortuna kept it.

Incidentally, Boba Fett’s ship is called Slave I. For whatever reason, Disney doesn’t want it referred to by the name anymore. I imagine they don’t want the protagonist for one of their big TV shows riding around in a ship with slave in the name. But I’m old school. It is, and always will be, Slave I.

Some of these sequences are really, really dark. Not tonally. I mean it’s difficult to watch them during the daytime because they look almost pitch black in a sunlit room. The sequence in the previous episode where Black Krrsantan attacks Fett in the bacta tank was like that too. Does that make me sound like an old man? Yes. But is it still true? Yes.

The Book of Boba Fett, Fennec Shand

Why does Shand decide to stay with Fett after her debt to him is paid? What’s her interest in him? Is it professional admiration? Is it romantic? What’s the deal?

The visual of Slave I hovering face down over the sarlaac pit is pretty absurd. I get that it served the purpose of killing the sarlaac. But still, it was awkward.

This episode gives us some insight into why Fett wants to take over Jabba’s operation. He wants to run an organization that’s better than the ones he’s worked for. That’s…not the best answer they could have given. But it’s fair enough, I suppose.

Email Rob at primaryignition@yahoo.com, or check us out on Twitter.

Living in Disney Hell

Rob Siebert Leave a comment

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

Disney Hell is a very real place.

It’s not filled with villains, or kidnapped princesses, or evil magic. Rather, it’s a song. One song. That your child keeps asking for over…and over…and over…and over…

The make-up of Disney Hell varies depending on the family and child. But in the Siebert house, Disney Hell is this “I’ve Got a Dream” song on a constant loop. My two-year-old will specifically ask for, “Dream Song?”

And no, “I’ve Got a Dream” does not feature Martin Luther King Jr.

Email Rob at primaryignition@yahoo.com, or check us out on Twitter.

WandaVision Episode 8: A Few Thoughts on Cars

Rob Siebert Leave a comment

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

You know what I came away from the latest WandaVision episode thinking about? It wasn’t about Agatha Harkness, Wanda’s past, or the mysterious white Vision…

It was Wanda’s car.

If I were a superhero whose parents, brother, and robot boyfriend had all been murdered over the course of my life, you know what I’d have invested in? A really nice car. The one she was driving in this episode looked so pedestrian.

I’m not even a car guy. But maybe get her something sleek. Like a sports car. Something in the Corvette family. And of course, make sure it’s red. Not just because of the whole red thing Wanda has going on. But I mean, who can be sad when they’re in a red Corvette?

Maybe if she’d splurged a little after Avengers: Endgame, maybe she wouldn’t have…y’know…abducted a bunch of people and created a big fantasy land with her dead robot boyfriend.

Just a thought.

Email Rob at primaryignition@yahoo.com, or check us out on Twitter.

Dory, Sesame Street, and Why Characters Matter

Rob Siebert Leave a comment

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

Baby Primary Ignition is slowly but surely learning to talk. Two of her favorite words are “Dah-wee” and “Mo.” Which are apparently baby talk for “Dory” and “Nemo.”

The older she gets, the more I’m starting to realize just how much mass media characters matter, especially when kids take to them so early in life. They become a big part of how they discover and relate to the world around them.

I couldn’t help but compare Baby’s love of Dory to my love of Sesame Street when I was about that age (she’s one and a half). In the mid ’80s, Bert and Ernie were it for me. Bert specifically, for some reason. I had these little stuffed Bert and Ernie dolls, and my mother tells me Bert went everywhere with me. Perhaps even at that young age I realized I’d one day, like Bert, be a nerd with a nasally voice.

Actually, those Bert and Ernie dolls have ended up in Baby’s toy chest. I actually get a pretty big nostalgic kick out of seeing her play with them.

The wife and I haven’t exposed Baby to Sesame Street yet, largely because we don’t subscribe to HBO Max these days (I guess the Justice League “Snyder Cut” didn’t draw us in.). Full episodes are available on YouTube, though. So I imagine it’s only a matter of time before Elmo’s voice echoes off the walls of the Siebert house for hours at a time.

I don’t want to dislike Elmo. He was around when I was a kid. But too much of anything, and I tend to turn against it…

Maybe we’ll reach a compromise with Daniel Tiger. He’s the stand-in for Mister Rogers these days, right?

Email Rob at primaryignition@yahoo.com, or check us out on Twitter.

Intro to Tarzan

Rob Siebert Leave a comment

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

At one and a half years old, Baby Primary Ignition doesn’t see a great deal of TV. But she has been exposed very selectively. We have a Disney+ subscription at the PI household. She loves the Frozen movies, Finding Nemo and Finding Dory, and as we very recently found out, Tarzan.

Released in 1999, Tarzan came down the pipe a little late for Mrs. Primary Ignition and I. But she recently turned it on for Baby, and was amazed at how responsive she was to the opening sequence. So much that she showed it to us this morning.

The sequence that’s pretty dramatic even by Disney standards. Baby Tarzan loses his parents to a leopard attack, and we see blood next to their shrouded corpses. This is after said leopard kills a baby gorilla. So of course, the gorilla’s mom adopts baby Tarzan, and we’ve got ourselves a movie.

As she gets old, Baby has started to point to things and say, “What’s that?” (In her own special toddler language, of course.) She was quite responsive during the movie’s opening, as Tarzan and his parents escape a fiery blaze. She also responded to the gorillas. Animals of all sorts are big with her. She’s started to point to different ones and say “Cow,” “Sheep,” etc. She also calls fish “elmo,” which we think is supposed to be Nemo.

But what really surprised us was her reaction to the bloodthirsty leopard. When the tiger leapt out and attacked, she actually called out “No!” She wasn’t afraid for herself, but the characters on screen.

It’s both scary and exciting to think that she’s becoming more aware and responsive to the world around her. That can only mean being a parent is about to become harder, and we’ve got to make more small decisions about what content is and isn’t appropriate for her. My days of watching John Oliver while she plays nearby may nearly be over.

Then again, we just showed her a movie where a ferocious leopard kills two humans and a baby gorilla. So maybe the child psyche is more durable than we give it credit for.

Incidentally, that Phil Collins soundtrack? Highly underrated.

Email Rob at primaryignition@yahoo.com, or check us out on Twitter.