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Tag Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi
A Star Wars #34 Micro-Review – Lightsaber Stories
***This is where we keep it nice and simple. Comic book reviews in 100 words or less. Straight, concise, and to the point.***
TITLE: Star Wars #34
AUTHOR: Charles Soule
ARTISTS: Madibek Musabekov, Rachelle Rosenberg (Colorist), Clayton Cowles (Letterer). Cover by Stephen Segovia & Rain Beredo.
RELEASED: May 3, 2023
By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder
One complaint I’ve had since the beginning of this series is how lightsaber-centric some of the stories have been. Luke has to go back to Cloud City to find his blue lightsaber, Luke has to find a new lightsaber, Luke’s new lightsaber gets destroyed, etc. Now, we’ve got Luke looking for a kyber crystal to construct the green lightsaber we see in Return of the Jedi.
I’ll say this much, at least it was established in Jedi that Luke had to construct a new lightsaber. So we’re not just making up lightsaber stories for the heck of it.
Email Rob at primaryignition@yahoo.com, or check us out on Twitter.
The Mandalorian, “Chapter 21: The Pirate” Review
SERIES: Star Wars: The Mandalorian
EPISODE: S3:E5 – “Chapter 21: The Pirate”
STARRING: Pedro Pascal, Katee Sackhoff, Emily Swallow, Carl Weathers, Paul Sun-Hyung Lee
WRITERS: Jon Favreau
DIRECTOR: Peter Ramsey
PREMIERE DATE: March 29, 2023
SYNOPSIS: Din Djarin and his tribe come to the aid of Greef Karga on Nevarro.
***New around here? Check out our Star Wars review archive!**
By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder
We’re five episodes into season three of The Mandalorian, and I’m starting to worry that the bloom is off the rose. Not that the show isn’t good anymore, or that I’m not enjoying it. I’m just wondering if this season isn’t a step down from seasons one and two. I maintain that they should have saved what they did with Mando and Grogu on The Book of Boba Fett for this season. Because this show is ultimately about them. Right now it feels like we’re watching a show about Bo-Katan Kryze. Or at the very least, this tribe of Mandalorians. Maybe that’s what the show should be called now. The Mandalorians, plural.
How bad is it that when I see Paul Sun-Hyung Lee, who reprises his role as Carson Teva in this episode, I keep waiting for him to break into the accent he used for all those years. on Kim’s Convenience? Still, it’s nice to see them bring that character back again. In terms of people we have to check in with every season (Greef Karga, Migs Mayfeld, etc.), his name is definitely on the list.
Gorian Shard, or “the swamp monster” as Mrs. Primary Ignition calls him, is voiced by Nonzo Anosie. I thought he sounded familiar, though I couldn’t quite place his voice. He’s probably best known for playing Thomas Jepperd in Sweet Tooth.
The moment from this episode that got a lot of online buzz was when Zeb, the big purple guy from Star Wars: Rebels, briefly cameos (shown below). This isn’t as big a deal to me as it is to other people, as I haven’t seen much of Rebels. But it’s cool to see Zeb in live action, and Steve Blum rightfully returns to do his voice.
Saturday Night Live alum Tim Meadows pops up in this episode as Colonel Tuttle. Much like me waiting for Lee to do the Kim’s Convenience accent, I kept waiting for Meadows to do the accent he did in the “Ladies Man” skits.
The tree full of Kowakian monkey-lizards was a cool visual. Reminiscent of classic Star Wars, as we obviously saw a monkey-lizard in Salacious B. Crumb back in Return of the Jedi.
Mrs. Primary Ignition brought up an interesting point: Do all Mandalorians have the nickname Mando? Obviously it was used for Din Djarin because he never told people his given name. But if someone were to casually know say, Paz Vizsla, would he also get the Mando nickname? It’s possible, I suppose. It’s not like Mando is a huge leap from Mandalorian.
Wait…the New Republic uses Lambda shuttles too? I thought those were an Imperial thing? Palpatine and Vader rode around in those things, for cryin’ out loud! I realize that in-universe it’s probably the equivalent of a car brand. But from a viewer’s perspective, those things are identified with the Empire. Not what I would have done, per se.
Email Rob at primaryignition@yahoo.com, or check us out on Twitter.
A Star Wars: Jabba’s Palace #1 Micro-Review – “…Disintegrated?”
***This is where we keep it nice and simple. Comic book reviews in 100 words or less. Straight, concise, and to the point.***
TITLE: Star Wars: Return of the Jedi – Jabba’s Palace #1
AUTHOR: Marc Guggenheim
ARTISTS: Alessandro Miracolo, Dee Cunniffe (Colorist), Clayton Cowles (Letterer). Cover by Ryan Brown.
RELEASED: March 29, 2023
By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder
It’s always fun to come back to Jabba’s palace. It’s one of those classic Star Wars locations that rarely disappoints. This issue delivers in that respect, with a story about the protocol droid in Jabba’s palace who we see being tortured in Return of the Jedi.
I always get a kick out of how writers are able to mine story ideas from extras in these now 40-year-old movies. Case in point, this robot that was only on screen for a few seconds.
Tremendous cover by Ryan Brown. The best I’ve seen on a Star Wars book recently.
Email Rob at primaryignition@yahoo.com, or check us out on Twitter.
George Lucas on Star Wars: Reading Emotion into a Robot
***Think what you will about George Lucas, but in terms of Star Wars, it can all be traced back to him. That’s why I always find it so interesting to listen to him talk about it. His creative process, the reason certain decisions were made, and how these movies became the pop cultural staples they are. This space is dedicated to just that. This is “George Lucas on Star Wars.”***
***New around here? Check out Primary Ignition‘s “George Lucas on Star Wars” archive!***
By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder
The Scene: C-3PO enters the film alongside R2-D2.
George Lucas Says: “One of the very difficult things about creating Threepio is that I needed to create a face that was absolutely neutral, that I could then read into whatever emotion it was that was being put forth in the scene. I had a sculptress come in and do a series of heads to to get to a head that was absolutely neutral and had no emotion on it whatsoever. I wanted all the reactions to be from the environment and the story around it so that if he was happy you would read happiness into his face. If he was sad you would read sadness into his face, and it wouldn’t be distorted at all by the physical configuration of his face.”
I Say: The whole “read emotion into the face” principle doesn’t just apply to Threepio. It also applies to Darth Vader. Case in point: The moments prior to Vader’s unmasking in Return of the Jedi, as he’s telling Luke he wants to “look on you with my own eyes.” We’re reading things like love and compassion into Vader’s mask, which is a stark contrast to what we’ve read into it previously.
To an extent, it also applies to R2-D2 and other robot characters. I suppose that’s what happens when your robots have so many feelings…
Email Rob at primaryignition@yahoo.com, or check us out on Twitter.
The Essential Clone Wars: “Eminence”
***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: S5:E14 – “Eminence”
WITH THE VOICE TALENTS OF: Sam Witwer, Jon Favreau, Clancy Brown, Katee Sackhoff, Kevin Michael Richardson
WRITER: Chris Collins
DIRECTOR: Kyle Dunlevy
PREMIERE DATE: January 19, 2013
SYNOPSIS: Maul and Savage Opress team with the Death Watch against Obi-Wan Kenobi.
***New around here? Check out our Star Wars review archive!***
By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder
My stance on Jon Favreau voicing Pre Vizsla has softened a bit. He doesn’t necessarily sound like a warrior belongs in a group with Darth Maul and Savage Opress. But maybe that’s the idea. Vizsla is more of a conniving scheming, after all. Maybe it works in a subtle sense…
When Savage gets up from the operating table after Maul comes to retrieve him, he bumps his horns on the lamp above the table. That’s obviously meant to be funny. But it’s oddly timed. Kind of like the stormtrooper bumping his head in A New Hope. Only that was an accident on the set, and they just left it in. From an animation standpoint, this was obviously intentional. It’s an interesting choice.
Jabba the Hutt, as well as the Black Sun leaders, are voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson. Richardson has worked on a litany of Star Wars projects, as well as shows like The Simpsons, Family Guy, Teen Titans, and the 2012 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon. He also got two Daytime Emmy nominations for voicing the Joker in The Batman.
I was pleased to see that the Black Sun leaders were falleens, the same species as Prince Xizor, who ruled Black Sun when we first saw them back in the ’90s in in Shadows of the Empire. Nice continuity there.
Was that Dengar I briefly saw with the bounty hunters that fought Maul’s group (shown above)? That’s a cool little cameo. Dengar, of course, being one of the bounty hunters from The Empire Strikes Back. He had maybe a couple of seconds of screen time as a background character. But still, die-hard Star Wars nuts like me recognized him.
It’s almost always cool to see Jabba’s palace, as it’s a classic location from Return of the Jedi. Especially when we get to see it from different sides and vantage points.
Email Rob at primaryignition@yahoo.com, or check us out on Twitter.
Astonishing Art: Han and Leia’s Wedding by Geneva Bowers
By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder
This weekend I finally started Star Wars: The Princess and the Scoundrel by Beth Revis. The book tells a story which, among various other things, contains Han Solo and Princess Leia’s wedding following the events of Return of the Jedi. I’ve been looking forward to this one. It caps off one hell of a summer for Star Wars books, that’s for sure.
Several days ago, Entertainment Weekly dropped this fun little piece of business. An artistic rendering of Han and Leia’s wedding on Endor, courtesy of Geneva Bowers. It’s got a great storybook quality to it. It wouldn’t necessarily feel out of place mixed in with the Star Wars Little Golden Books my daughter enjoys so much.
I wish Star Wars would do this kind of thing with their books more often. The franchise is so visual in nature, and it makes all the sense in the world. And while we’re at it, more Geneva Bowers Star Wars projects, please and thank you.
Email Rob at primaryignition@yahoo.com, or check us out on Twitter.
George Lucas on Star Wars: Running Out of Environments
***Think what you will about George Lucas, but in terms of Star Wars, it can all be traced back to him. That’s why I always find it so interesting to listen to him talk about it. His creative process, the reason certain decisions were made, and how these movies became the pop cultural staples they are. This space is dedicated to just that. This is “George Lucas on Star Wars.”***
***New around here? Check out Primary Ignition‘s “George Lucas on Star Wars” archive!***
By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder
The Scene: Luke, Leia, Han, and the Rebel Alliance arrive on the forest moon of Endor to disable the shield generator protecting the Death Star.
George Lucas Says: “The thing about Endor is I wanted an environment that was different from the other environments [in the previous movies]. But it needed to be a jungly kind of place with a lot of growth and green, which is the color of life. I wanted to give it a different look than Dagobah, which in essence had the same qualities of a swamp. Again, a cradle of life environment. Lots of life there. But I was beginning to run out of environments. Something that was unique. The only thing I could come up with was really giant sequoias, where the trees would be so big that it would give it a different look than what we’d seen before. The reason I was able to move on and do the [prequels] was because I was able to create digital environments. By the time we got down here to Return of the Jedi I had pretty much shot everything on Earth. *laughs*”
I Say: The whole “running out of environments” problem is something that’s very much evident in modern Star Wars stories. After awhile, all the different desert plants and jungle planets and snow planets start to blend together. Creators are having to work, or at least they should be working, hard to make settings that are as distinct and memorable as Tatooine, Hoth, and Endor are in the original trilogy.
This is one of the reasons I was so enamored with the planet Crait in The Last Jedi. The idea of the planet being one giant salt flat with red soil underneath is very creative, distinct, and memorable. It’s very Star Wars.
Email Rob at primaryignition@yahoo.com, or check us out on Twitter.
A Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi, “Part VI” Review
SERIES: Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi
EPISODE: “Part VI”
STARRING: Ewan McGregor, Moses Ingram, Hayden Christensen, James Earl Jones (voice), Joel Edgerton
WRITERS: Joby Harold, Andrew Stanton, Stuart Beattie, Hossein Amini
DIRECTOR: Deborah Chow
PREMIERE DATE: June 22, 2022
SYNOPSIS: Obi-Wan must face Darth Vader once again.
***New around here? Check out our Star Wars review archive!***
By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder
We got a lot of callbacks in this episode. We got some Empire Strikes Back with the ship being chased by a Star Destroyer, Vader on the bridge, and the musical callback to John Williams’ score. We got another later in the episode with Luke’s line, “I’m not afraid.”
We had some more more verbal callbacks with Ewan’s lines, “I will do what I must,” (Revenge of the Sith) and “Then my friend is truly dead” (Return of the Jedi). Palpatine (more on him in a bit) had one about Vader’s thoughts being “clear.” One can even make an argument for Reva’s hunting of Luke in the dark being a nod to Return of the Jedi.
All…interesting choices. I’m not sure I would have gone quite that heavy. But there it is.
Ha! After Obi-Wan says, “I will do what I must,” he does what I’ll call the “Obi-Wan pose” (shown below), with the lightsaber in one hand and his other extended outward. Great little touch.
The second fight between Obi-Wan and Darth Vader was about what it should have been. Obi-Wan had a little bit of his mojo back, but was still doing a lot of evading.
That broken Vader helmet thing was done on Rebels. So there is a certain cheapness to doing it again. But I’d argue this was more effective, by virtue of us having the involvement of both Hayden Christensen and James Earl Jones, as well as Ewan McGregor.
This episode gave us what I thought was the show’s only major misstep: Obi-Wan knowingly leaving Vader alive. That’s an objectively stupid move. At least in Revenge of the Sith, he thought Anakin was dead when he left Mustafar. But here there’s no excuse. Obi-Wan has accepted the notion that the Anakin he knew is gone. He’s standing in front of Darth Vader, who has slaughtered hundreds, if not thousands of people. The right thing to do would have been to finish the job.
What boggles my mind is that they could have easily had the Grand Inquisitor fly in with a squad of TIE Fighters and attack Obi-Wan, prompting a hasty retreat. Or something like that. But to just leave the evil dictator alive when you’ve got him right where you want him? Nope. Fail. So is Obi-Wan now culpable in every life Vader takes from here on out?
Reva’s redemption obviously opens the door to more stories with her. Supposedly she has her own series in the works. I can’t say I’m dying to see her story continue. But who am I kidding? I’d watch. If nothing else it would be poetic justice for all the racist crap Moses Ingram got.
Great to see a Palpatine cameo from Ian McDiarmid. He’s always great. Poor guy had to lie about it at Star Wars Celebration.
There’s been a lot of talk about Leia’s outfits in this show being reminiscent of stuff she wore in the original trilogy. But I’d argue her final outfit in this episode, and the series itself, was very similar to what Luke wears on Tatooine. That’s fitting, for obvious reasons.
So…Obi-Wan just stopped by Alderaan for a quick visit? That’s a little weird. They couldn’t have done that via the holo-communicator?
I can already here the crybabies out there calling foul over Obi-Wan meeting Luke. But Luke did know who “Old Ben”was in A New Hope. There was nothing there to directly contradict him meeting Leia, and there’s even less to indicate that he hadn’t met Luke at least once. Maybe even two or three times. Cool your thrusters, fanboys…
Aaaaaaand of course Liam Neeson made a cameo as Qui-Gon. I called it. They couldn’t not pay that off after Obi-Wan spoke to him multiple times over the course of the show. I’m happy Liam Neeson is back in the Star Wars fold. I enjoy the Qui-Gon Jinn character. Quite a bit, actually.
There was a time period where Star Wars really harped on hope. Especially in Rogue One and The Last Jedi. But in its own way, Obi-Wan Kenobi was about hope too. Specifically, Obi-Wan regaining the hope he lost so many years ago after Anakin’s fall. Thankfully, this series didn’t point at it the way those movies did.
Obi-Wan Kenobi went by fast, didn’t it? But the show, despite its critics, delivered. I’d still argue The Mandalorian is better. But not by much. Obi-Wan Kenobi has been, and perhaps should be, judged by very different standards. People came in with much higher expectations. But I honestly don’t see what more the show could have done to appeal to fans new and old. For that, I tip my hat to it.
Email Rob at primaryignition@yahoo.com, or check us out on Twitter.
George Lucas on Star Wars: Boba Fett’s “Death”
***Think what you will about George Lucas, but in terms of Star Wars, it can all be traced back to him. That’s why I always find it so interesting to listen to him talk about it. His creative process, the reason certain decisions were made, and how these movies became the pop cultural staples they are. This space is dedicated to just that. This is “George Lucas on Star Wars.”***
By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder
The Scene: Han Solo accidentally smacks Boba Fett’s jet pack with a weapon, jump-starting his jet pack and sending him falling into the sarlaac pit below, presumably to his demise.
George Lucas Says (via the Return of the Jedi commentary track): “In the case of Boba Fett’s death, had I known he was going to turn into such a popular character I probably would have made it a little more exciting. Boba Fett was just another one of the minions. Another one of the bounty hunters and bad guys. But he became such a favorite … for having such a small part, he had a very large presence. And now that his history has been told in the [prequel] trilogy, it makes it even more of a misstep that we wouldn’t make more out of the event of his defeat. Because most people don’t believe he died anyway. I had contemplated putting that extra shot in where he climbs out of the hole. But I figured it doesn’t quite fit. The main character that ultimately dies in this scene is Jabba the Hutt.”
I Say: “It’s a little refreshing to hear George admit a mistake here. He’s a guy that usually sticks to his guns. But with almost 40 years of hindsight, it’s pretty tough to deny that Fett went out like a chump. Years after the fact, Lucas would make a similar admission about his decision to kill off Darth Maul in The Phantom Menace.
It’s even more interesting that George acknowledges that the fans didn’t buy that as his death. It makes you wonder if he’d have made Fett part of the sequel trilogy, had he gone forward with his version of the movies.
Fett was, of course, brought back for various novels and comic books in the old “Legends” canon. And now, Disney has made his return official with The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett. So I guess he didn’t go out like a chump after all…
Email Rob at primaryignition@yahoo.com, or check us out on Twitter.
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