I Miss The Ewok Song... :(

And so do these guys:



If you'd like to sing along here's the lyrics.

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The Making of Star Wars: in Concert

I had the opportunity to preview the half-hour behind the scenes making of Star Wars: in Concert that will broadcast on WLIW21 Saturday, October, 17 at 9:00 p.m. Below is my review:

Star Wars: in Concert promises to be a tour de force (puns intended) of Star Wars music, images and props. WLIW will premier a half-hour behind the scenes look at the creation of the live show. Star Wars: in Concert is like a rock concert for selections of Jon Williams’ music from all six Star Wars films accompanied by specially cut video footage from the movies performed by a full live orchestra and choir. Star Wars theme music has always been a blending of the cool and the classical. Music was as Lucas puts it, “one of the main legs that Star Wars stands on.” In fact, legend says when the first movie was completed—Episode 4 in the maddeningly illogical way Lucas produced the films out of order—the only thing he was really completely happy with was John Williams’ score. Star Wars theme music is instantly familiar to many people, even those who have never watched the movies. (Yes, I know, but they do exist.)


Called by the producer of the event, “a symphonic concert in a rock venue” this traveling show will be narrated by Anthony Daniels himself—what no C3PO suit? Williams chose sixteen selections that he felt identified the thematic musical thread throughout the films. John Williams is arguably one of the most successful and most popular movie theme composers of all time. The list of fantastic and fantastical movie themes you know because of him is long: Star Wars, Jaws, Close Encounters, Indiana Jones, Superman, Jurassic Park, and Harry Potter to name a few.

The technical difficulties the producers had to overcome are highlighted in this show. The video editor timed scenes to the music selections and then a 100 piece orchestra and a 30 piece choir had to perform the selections live timed exactly to the film clips. Steve Cohen (no relation even though that's my father's name too), the show producer, points out the difficulty of getting them to “nail rhythmically” the timing live for the video.



In true Hollywood fashion and typical of Lucas productions every detail of the stage has been designed to match the Star Wars visual theme from the conductor’s podium to the laser lights. Star Wars: in Concert was premiered at the O2 Arena in London on April 10 and 11, 2009 and now is on tour.

This special is a good behind the scenes look at the difficulties in bringing together all the components to make the magic happen. To hear the music performed live and see the gigantic images on the screen along with the ability to really come up close to the film props will be an awesome experience and this video will certainly get you hyped up about it. Seems from this video special that it’s going to be an amazing production and I can’t wait to see it performed live.

The Star Wars in Concert half-hour broadcast will air on WLIW21 Saturday, October 17 at 9 p.m. Encore presentations air Saturday, October 17 at 9:30 p.m., and Sunday, October 18 at 8 a.m., 1:30 p.m. and 5 p.m.

One more thing. In Lucas’ revisionist mentality, there will be a premier during the live shows of a new, digitally created Yoda for the Episode 1 scenes that originally featured a puppet. I’m not attached to the Episode 1 puppet version of Yoda at all but I hope that he doesn’t then decide to go back to the Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi to replace Frank Oz’s brilliant original performance of Yoda. They were classic and still hold up surprisingly well, the puppet a well as the voice acting.

The Star Wars in Concert broadcast special also previews the exclusive exhibit of Star Wars costumes, props, artifacts, and production artwork -- many of which are leaving Skywalker Ranch for the first time -- that accompanies the concert tour, which will come to Nassau Coliseum on November 21.

Lucasfilm, STAR WARS™ and related properties are trademarks and/or copyrights, in the United States and other countries, of Lucasfilm Ltd. and/or its affiliates. TM & © Lucasfilm Ltd. All rights reserved. All other trademarks and trade names are properties of their respective owners.

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Why I <3 Star Wars

Well, that's personal. But since social media is the place for transparency, I'm going to give you this one.

It all started a long time ago in a town on Long Island. (You though I was going to say that other thing, didn't you?) It was 1977. There was a driving rain and my mother along with her friends decided to take the kids to the movies. My mother was a bit of a Trekkie, had tackled an engineering degree at CUNY before getting married to my father. Unfortunately the marriage ended after only a few years leaving me and my sister with my mother in a suburb of Long Island in the mid 1970s. We made our way the best we could. We saw my father frequently but when you're about 6 or 7 years old, there's no replacement for the real thing. Needless to say, it wasn't the happiest of times in my life.

Luckily I had a good imagination. I was an artist and would draw, create, and dream my days away, still as you might expect, there was something missing in my childhood.
That summer in 1977 when my Trekkie mom and her friends took the kids to the movies on one rainy day, they decided on the latest blockbuster movie when summer blockbusters were still something new that Spielberg and Lucas were helping to define. While the other single-mothers weren't so sure (they probably and rightly though that the kids might enjoy a movie more along the lines of Pete's Dragon rather than a strange space movie starring Sir Alec Guinness) my mom convinced them to take us to Star Wars. There I was, waiting in the rain, on a line that wrapped around the one screen movie house, oblivious to that something was about to change my life forever.

Let me digress here to say that before Star Wars came out, there was arguably nothing else like it on the big screen before. I had no real affinity to any movie up to that point. Perhaps there were stories that had captured my imagination, but nothing like the world - no the universe - that was the Star Wars story. I went into that theater a lonely little boy and came out a dreamer, a storyteller, with a world in which the good guys won (well, usually) and the bad guys wore black. A universe so different and so wonderful and so remarkable that it would forever control my destiny.

I was hooked. It was a place I could go to experience extreme joy and happiness to escape the times when real life was, well, not so hot. There were lightsabers to take care of the monsters, beautiful princesses I could help rescue and all types of wondrous creatures to keep my mind occupied for a while at least until the melancholy lifted from my brain. From the cacophony of the orchestra during the opening scroll it was like a revelation, a baptism of special effects and pseudo religious mumbo jumbo set against a universe that was strangely lived in and familiar, yet amazing and technologically superior.

This movie came at exactly the right time in my life. It was like George Lucas told the story just to me. I also felt immediately comfortable with everything from the shapes and sounds to the music and dialogue. It all went directly from the screen into my soul, no need to translate it or figure it out. I just knew. I felt like the characters, the worlds, the ships, the story was my story of a young boy feeling lost and shiftless in his own home, wanting something grander for himself, something where he could become more than just the pieces of his life that were left for picking up after, to be powerful and wield a Force to mold and shape the world around me. I was Luke Skywalker.

The tale only grew in the telling, as more episodes were introduced and in each one no punches were pulled. Darth Vader was Luke’s father – boy and I though I had father issues! Obi Wan lied to Luke about just about everything, manipulating the poor boy for his own endgame. Even Yoda was not entirely trustworthy, withholding the truth from Luke. The universe itself and everyone in it conspired against young Skywalker. But you know what? Despite everything, Luke became master of his own destiny.

It cost him, no doubt. He lost a part of himself, his innocence, most of his family and friends died in the epic journey but he also gained much. He gained ultimate victory, grabbing it from the edge of defeat, throwing away the one weapon that could help defend himself against the Emperor, putting all his faith in humanity of his father, trusting his instincts and feelings that someone who everyone else had written off for dead might come back and redeem himself. Not only for himself but for his son and daughter and the rest of the galaxy.

In the end, it was the boy who triumphed over everyone’s doubts. Luke ended up growing from the innocent farm kid stuck in his mundane life, unable to influence the world to the one with the ultimate power to save the galaxy. Not just brute strength, but faith, understanding, empathy and ultimately love.

How can you NOT love that movie.

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Star Wars vs. Star Trek

Wired Magazine is holding a survey: Star Wars vs. Star Trek. Everyone know which side of the fence that I am on. But head on over to the Geek Dad blog to see read the entire post and then offer your two cents.

One note, the image that they have on the blog for Star Wars is a pretty cool collage of Star Wars characters from all six films. I downloaded it as my desktop. It's worth the trip over there just to check it out. IMO, it blows the Star Trek image they have there away.

From @wired:

World peace be damned — it's time to take a stand! Star Trek or Star Wars? Cast your ballot at http://tinyurl.com/n5864v

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Star Wars Deserves A High Place In Science Fiction

Keith Olexa, whose LinkedIn profile says he’s a Managing Editor and Contributing Writer at Starlog. He started a discussion on the Science Fiction readers, writers, and collectors Group. The below is my long winded answer to what he called “a saucy send up.”

A saucy send up: STAR WARS is the farthest thing from Science Fiction...

... and IMHO, has been the most damaging influence on the genre... agree? disagree? Discuss.

And here is my answer:

Star Wars Deserves A High Place In Science Fiction
by Lon S. Cohen

Seems that the bigger a franchise becomes the harder or less reluctant fans and writers are to bring it into our little ghetto of a genre. We Science Fiction fans are a fickle bunch. We bristle at any perceived criticism of our beloved worlds. We try to make geekism an exclusive club only open to those who truly get it. If there is anything that we fans have in common with religion it’s that we’re fanatical in our beliefs sometimes to the point of extremism. The masses don’t truly understand that Science Fiction is not just about laser swords and ray guns and flying rockets. It’s about possibilities and the human condition. What will or might be.

But you have to admit, it’s really cool if it also has an evil sentient computer thrown into the mix, right?

So where does Star Wars fit in? Both vilified and glorified, this little film that almost didn’t get made starts a lot of fights around fandom. In my opinion, Star Wars is Space Opera. It spans an entire galaxy, bringing us to worlds chock full of furry, scaly creatures with any number of eyes, limbs and skin tints. There’s good versus evil. We have all the elements of the classic tales from Sword and Sorcery to Westerns. The characters are archetypical and the themes are grandiose. It has become a behemoth franchise at the box office. Coming on the heels of Jaws it didn’t invent the summer blockbuster so much as put a definition to it. It has become the model for almost every whiz-bang popcorn flick since the year of our Lord, nineteen hundred seventy-seven. It has invaded the culture, the language and even the politics of everyday life. For this reason people tend to want to tamp down its importance, pushing it out of the Science Fiction realm.

Here’s why: Star Wars is dumb.

Don’t get me wrong. I am a true Star Wars geek. I have all the figures stashed away. I can probably recite every line from both the original trilogy as well as the much-maligned prequels. Like every other fanboy, I expected the second coming when Episode I came out and when I didn’t get it I made up excuses why it was going to one day be justified as a true work of genius. Yes. I know I’m wrong. And I don’t care.

Because the reason we fans love Star Wars is not because it’s smart. Not because it says something about mankind and our place in the universe. It doesn’t even pretend to be speculative. We love Star Wars because it’s cool. The themes are simplistic, easy to grasp and uplifting. The story is trite and pedestrian but it’s wrapped in a really rich universe. The characters are sexy, familiar and dangerous. The designs are complex and exciting yet functional. The sounds are bold, exotic and inspiring. The milieu of Star Wars appeals to a wide swath of the public. But in the end, it is not overtly intelligent.

Have you ever sat down to learn the origin myths of some foreign culture and been utterly floored by their simplicity and seeming lack of originality? The world is held on the back of a turtle and was germinated by a woman who fell from the sky in the religion of natives from the northeastern portion of the Americas. God got mad at people so he instructed Noah to build an ark to save two of every animal. This is not high literature worthy of the Nebula, the Pulitzer or even the Mann Booker. These are not stories that strike us as particularly deep or telling of man’s nature. Yet they endured through the centuries, even the millennia. Why? Because they tell a simple story, one that many people can imagine and take something away from without investing too much mental capacity. They are direct and to the point. Does this make them good? Not necessarily. Are they important? Absolutely. Why? Because the people have held onto these stories for a reason. They are simple and they speak to a simple childlike part of our soul.

This is something of what Joseph Campbell was getting at when he wrote his book on comparative mythology, “The Hero With A Thousand Faces.” A simply told tale that speaks to the deepest part of our psyche will always grab the attention of the masses and has throughout time if you look at the myths developed in cultures around the world. It also explains why Star Wars is an important and worthy contribution to Science Fiction.

That is what storytelling is all about. It occurs in every genre. Star Wars has not damaged Science Fiction. Some will always see Star Wars as a screen that hides the true nature and richness of Science Fiction. Because this is what people who don’t like Science Fiction hold up as an example of the generic Science Fiction story. Star Wars has been accused of perpetrating the stereotype of the outsider’s view of SciFi. It has all the elements after all: Lasers, robots, aliens and space travel. But what some people don’t understand is the inclusiveness of the broader genre.

Some people love classic Science Fiction but hate the hard stuff. Others like a good near future tale while others want a story set as far away from planet earth as the universe will allow. What Star Wars does well is resurrect the classic elements of SciFi from days gone by. It is, dare I say, homage to the golden years when pulps and movie reels featured the space explorer du jour for the young ones. (The oft-told tale is that George Lucas wanted to remake the story of Flash Gordon for the screen but stymied by the copyright sought to make his own version. A few years later we ended up with a version featuring a Queen soundtrack—though that’s a story for another day.) Many of those young ones become inspired by these broadly painted themes. With an education in basic plotting, character development and wonder, they are free to take their own Science Fiction story making to the next level.

So the answer to the question of whether Star Wars has been the most damaging influence on Science Fiction is no, it is not. I make my case that it is more likely the inspiration for a whole generation of Science Fiction stories of high quality. Star Wars is also firmly in the realm of the Science Fiction genre.

And anyone who says different is probably a Trekkie. IMHO. ;)

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I Find Your Lack Of Faith Disturbing

by Lon S. Cohen

Ain’t It Cool News reports that the Lucasfilm panel at the New York Comic Con was less than spectacular. Ever since the prequels, Lucas’ company has lost some luster in the PR department. They’re getting about as interesting as the Yellow Pages. Too bad because with a little spin and some actual teasers, they fans would be rabid again instead of just tempered. Rehashing the same crap and actually making the Comic Con in New York a platform for announcing that Lucasfilm is releasing another Young Indiana Jones DVD at exorbitant prices and yet another Indy release on separate DVD’s is not only annoying and unimaginative but it’s an insult to the fans’ intelligence.

I am still a Star Wars/Indy nut, but I think Lucas could use some new blood in the Marketing Department. Maybe his kids will find a way to infuse new life into the franchise and actually take some risks, someday. Sometimes I feel that the best I can say about the PT is that they were safe. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Some fantastic CG was accomplished but it overshadowed the story arc, which lent almost nothing to the OT. I remember when Lucas announced the PT that he specifically said he would not do them unless they changed how people viewed the OT in some dramatic way. All jokes aside, he did not accomplish this goal as a screenwriter and moviemaker.

Anyway, read the AICN report on the Lucas panel (plus more) at New York Comic Con at AICN:

This panel was, for the most part, lame. I don't know if it was quite "prequels lame." But it was close.

Ludicrous Speed.

Of course they were not the only ones. Hudson Valley Blog Party was disappointed too.

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Coming To A Galaxy Near You: More Clones

Ever since Obi Wan-Kenobi revealed in A New Hope, that he was a general in the Clone Wars, Star Wars fans obsessed about the meaning of this mysterious conflict. Were the Clone Wars a minor skirmish in the history of the galaxy or were they a series of long protracted battles that changed the face of the Republic forever?

Because of the Prequal Trilogy that we know that it is the later, yet George Lucas has only given us the book ends of the great war that brought down the Republic to usher in the dark times of the Empire. While, “Lucas has a lot of explaining to do,” according to Lou Ander’s comment to me in our interview for the British Science Fiction Association’s The Matrix, (OK, I’m name dropping, so sue me!), the “Great Plaid One” also has been brilliant at making millions of fans struggle with the mythological themes in a series subpar space opera fantasies, myself among them.

Lucas is brilliant at composing over-arching epic stories. Star Wars (from Episode I to Episode VI) is a sweeping, multigenerational, galaxy spanning, myth that deserves its great place in the annals of story telling history. Star Wars is one of the few modern tales that will probably be remembered for all time. Like the stories of Homer, though somewhat dated, the greatness of the story and characters’ challenges transcend mere annoyances like a plot that’s choppier than a stormy sea or dialogue that doesn’t sound like a cheese grater dragged across the side of your head. The problem is that with the details—Lucas, not so good.

Taken at face value, the Original Trilogy (OT) is uneven at best and the Prequal Trilogy (PT) is an absolute mess. But put them inside the bigger themes of good versus evil, redemption and fall from grace, and they shine like gold. What Lucas lacks is the restraint and nuance that comes with great scriptwriting and directing.

In the times when he allowed others to do their work, the results were brilliant. Costumes, Modeling, Special Effects, Character Concept and of course, John Williams’ Music were fantastic in the OT and PT. As a matter of fact, George Lucas’ infamous mantra of “faster, more intense” probably made each of these better than they would have been in the average film.

The Star Wars trilogies, for all their faults, all look and sound better than anything else out there. Lucas has a gifted sense of style when it comes to making movies; he was born to do it. His films just come together better than any others (Exception: Howard The Duck). Really, the Star Wars films do transport you to a galaxy far, far away and they are not just eye candy. Ironically the details in the design and production are outstanding, it’s just that Lucas doesn’t have that ear for dialogue, sense of character or attention to plot detail that is needed to make a great story rise above the rest.

Lucas has said before that the script writing process is painful to him. I can understand that. Writing is a tedious, unrewarding process. It takes you out of human contact and requires long hours of intense concentration, a talent that obviously, Lucas does not posses. (Faster, more intense!)

What he could have done was take his storyline and overarching tale and handed it over to another scriptwriter and director to play with. How sweet would it have been to see Steven Speilberg’s take on Episode II with all that old fashioned, action and adventure style? This is what made the OT so special. Lucas did direct the first movie (Episode IV) but that script was drastically rewritten. With Episode V and VI, he left it up to others to direct and write the scripts. Arguably, Episode VI is inferior to any of the others in the OT but it does have a very satisfying duel in the end, even more dramatic and emotional than the one at the end of Episode III.

Now with the entire six episodes laid bear, we are in for a very big treat. Coming this summer, Lucas will release a CG animated movie called, The Clone Wars to fill in the missing gap between Episode II and III. The movie will then be followed by a series on Cartoon Network.

At ShoWest, Lucas commandeered the stage with the help of six Clone troopers from the 501st Legion to introduce the Clone Wars movie and television series.

Here are some excerpts of what Lucas said from the Star Wars official website official blog:

It’s great to be back at Warner Brothers. I started here some 40 odd years ago. I made that exquisite hit before some of you were born called THX 1138. It was a huge hit. It played for a week. [laughs]

But now I’m back with something I think is really special. It started out as an idea to explore what happened during the Clone Wars. In Episode II, we see a little of the beginning of it. And in Episode III we just see the very end of it. We don’t actually get to see the whole spectacular battle.

This is really where it belongs — on the giant screen. It’s very new and different. It’s a little bit of anime, a lot of action and it’s exactly like the features only it’s more stylized. We have a new young character Ahsoka who’s a young teenage girl who turns out to be Anakin’s apprentice.

I think this film will hold up with the live action features. And I’m really excited to be able to bring it to you and I’m hoping that it will sell a lot of popcorn — because that’s actually what Star Wars is — one of the first popcorn pictures.

If you watched any of the Clone Wars cartoons that came out before Episode III, then you know that they were probably far superior to all three PT episodes and delivered where the PT lacked. Hopefully Lucas was able to sit back and let others do most of the heavy lifting, while he tweaked and pushed (faster, more intense!) the quality to the highest level.

I for one am looking forward to the animated Clone Wars movie and the series. I couldn’t ever imagine a time in my life when a new Star Wars motion picture is not either rumored to be coming (as was the case through most of the 1980s and 1990s) or on the horizon (the past decade). I hope that this is a quality film that makes enough dough to force Lucas back into the Ranch to keep producing Star Wars for as long as I live. That’s right George you can’t die until after I do.

Live long and prosper, Mr. Lucas! (Faster, more intense!)

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Ewan For President! (Of The Obi-Wan Kenobi Fan Club.)

I just want to take a moment to reflect on the only actor to actually take the Star Wars prequels seriously enough to even attempt to act: Ewan McGregor. What he did with crappy dialogue should have earned him an academy award. Seriously. I have watched them hundreds of times and he's such a great actor that he's the only one that looks like he's trying or even believes in the role. I mean, he acted the crap out of those blue screen shots, just like he was really there. At times I did get the sense that he was looking around at the other actors and saying, "Isn't anyone taking this job seriously?"


Kudos to Ewan because he made Obi-Wan Kenobi an action hero instead of some old fossil that someone dug up. (Han Solo's words, not mine.)

Also, you can't say Ewan McGregor without sounding like Fat Bastard, which is just this great bonus.

Undergoing MyBlogLog Verification

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