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The Star Wars Expanded Universe is Alive and Well
Don’t worry, everybody, geekery is alive and well in Star Wars. Our nerdy ability to create backstory for every single insignificant character in the Star Wars Universe has not diminished in the slightest with the death of the Expanded Universe and the arrival of The Force Awakens. I couldn’t be giddier.
I speak, of course, about Internet sensation ‘TR-8R’, the fan-name given to the First Order Stormtrooper who whips out that amazing stun baton and gets into a melee battle with Finn halfway through the film. He’s so named because he shouts, “Traitor!” at Finn before he attacks.
The new ‘Boba Fett’
It’s a cool battle, it’s the first lightsaber fight in the film, and that stun baton is just badass. The scene goes a long way to making Stormtroopers dangerous again. The Internet fell in love with the Trooper immediately, and he’s kind of become a meme sensation. It’s hilarious, in that special Internet way.
Now, if you were like me, you thought that scene would have been a great place to use Captain Phasma. She doesn’t get much screentime, and a fight against Finn would have been pretty stellar for her character. And even though TR-8R gets blasted in the end, there’s no reason Phasma couldn’t survive and come back later. It would have been a fantastic use of the character.
Her IMAX poster was a good use too
But now I know how wrong I was, because Star Wars knew exactly what it was doing. For you see, TR-8R isn’t just some random Riot Control Stormtrooper who is mad at Finn. He’s actually a fully-fleshed out character who has a lot of backstory in the new, Disney version of the Expanded Universe. It all takes place in Greg Rucka’s novel, Before the Awakening, which now I really want to track down and read. Fortunately, Awesome Internet Person babieseverywhere went and summarized the book for us — SPOILERS for Before the Awakening in that link, of course.
The official Star Wars website has also jumped in to explain the truth behind TR-8R after they noticed his sudden spike in popularity.
Not only does TR-8R have a backstory now, but we also know who that Stormtrooper was in the beginning who died, and whose blood then marked Finn’s helmet.
Granted, all of this was pre-planned to take place in a tie-in book, so it’s not the same as most of the Expanded Universe explanations. But it’s good enough for me. It’s been a long while since I read the EU books and was really a part of that universe, but I’m excited to see the practice continue with the new canon.
Plus, I don’t know about you henchies, but I’m finding all these TR-8R memes to be hilarious!
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Review: Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Fair warning, there will be SPOILERS later on in this review. Everything before the jump will be spoiler-free, and everything after the jump will have spoilers. I’ll make the distinction clear.
This is not the movie you’re looking for. Or maybe it is. Honestly, I think opinions are going to be all over the map for Star Wars: The Force Awakens. For some, it might be a glorious return to that wonderful galaxy far, far away. For me, it was a fine and enjoyable film, but it wasn’t the be-all, end-all cinematic second coming that it was hyped up to be. Instead, The Force Awakens is a fun adventure full of familiar characters that easily entertains.
But if this really is the start of several decades worth of new Star Wars films, one after another, I’m no longer as excited as I was yesterday.
Movie Rating: 6/10 – Pretty Good.
There is definitely a lot to enjoy about Star Wars: The Force Awakens. It’s definitely worth going to see, especially if you’re a Star Wars fan. The new cast all acquit themselves well, meshing splendidly together and with the old, returning cast. Harrison Ford’s aged Han Solo steals the show, with ample support from the legendary Chewbacca. The two of them on screen again is worth the price of admission alone. Lightsabers blaze with iconic glory, the Millennium Falcon is as great as we’ve always know it to be, and this galaxy looks like the lived in, wildly varied galaxy of yore.
But the movie is far from perfect. There are numerous plot contrivances that seem to exist solely to bait the fans’ love for the franchise. Several seemingly important characters barely get any screen time, making you wonder why they seemed like such a big deal in all the advertising. And worst of all, what really took me out of the movie, was the inexhaustible desire to callback to and remember the original trilogy.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens does not take the franchise anywhere new. It revels in the old ways, while presenting just enough new material to guarantee the endless supply of new movies we’re going to get over the next several years (decades?).
But at the very least, Han Solo and Chewbacca are pretty awesome.
Join me after the jump for my full review. Be warned, I really get to rambling a bit. And this is the SPOILER cut off. Read the rest at your own risk.
And So the Star Wars Parodies Continue
We’re only a few short weeks away from the premiere of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and sure enough, all our favorite parody sites are getting in on the act! Honest Trailers knocked around A New Hope the other day, and now it’s time for the rest to start their no doubt massive preparations!
First up, here’s Everything Wrong With A New Hope.
And here is how Attack of the Clones should have ended!
Good times, people. We’re in for some quality comedic takedowns!
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Star Wars Trailer Supercuts!
The Internet being what it is, several industrial geeks out there have spliced together all of the Star Wars: The Force Awakens trailers into two big, awesome super trailers!
Seriously, two different people did this.
First is the one by James Darling of Science vs. Cinema.
And then we have a super trailer by Shaun Cauthen of ScreenSlam.
Big props to all the geeks involved. This movie looks pretty neat! And it’s coming out in December! That’s, like, right around the corner!
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Star Wars Had Their Thing!
Didn’t I tell you they were going to have a thing? They promised, and they delivered! And that thing was a new trailer!
First impressions, I’m not as blown away as everybody else. It looks great, it looks very slick, but there’s just something missing…We didn’t get any Luke Skywalker stuff. The end of the trailer didn’t have any particularly strong buzzes. But maybe I just really want to see the movie now, and any tease is just going to leave me wanting more! It happens.
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Henchman-4-Hire 