New Character Posters, Just Over Six Weeks to Go

Well, isn't that nice, huh? It reminds me how cool it is going to be when we start getting even more publicity stills and behind the scenes stuff to show us what we are not allowed to see until after the movie comes out. In a lot of ways this whole thing still doesn't quite seem real. An entire Star Wars movie with Han in it. And don't forget Leia:

Now, I'm going to have to state the obvious here, which is that someone did a little bit of digital fixing to Carrie's lips, but overall let's just look at these and be like, holy crap, Han and Leia in a movie! And let's remind ourselves that for those of us in the US seeing the movie at the first possible moment, we will be sitting in that theater a mere six weeks from tomorrow. Just let that sink in a little bit.

So, how is everyone doing at this point? For myself, I have completely abandoned any attempts at speculating what may or may not happen. That isn't even a conscious effort, it's just that it is so close at this point, I just want to SEE it finally, and let the movie speak for itself. Sure, I'm almost certain that amidst the wave of excitement that overwhelms me as I finally sit down in that theater on December 17th will also include a wave of terror as I wonder what they might have done to my favorite characters. But, I'm still very much looking forward to it.

Largely what I'm looking forward to is the once in a lifetime aspect of this. When is the last time you looked forward to a movie coming out anywhere near as much as this one? I like movies in general, I get excited when cool ones come out, but I am almost never a "first show on the first day" kind of person. Unless I just happen to be free and bored, that day, that is. Like, I think I actually saw Pitch Perfect 2 the day it came out, but that had more to do with boredom. Do you even remember the first time you saw Star Wars? I have no recollection of the first time I saw ANH or ESB. I have memories of watching them basically as far back as I have memories. I do remember the first time I saw ROTJ, though my only vivid memories of that are that it was really loud, and I thought it was pretty cool that Leia was under that Bousch mask. I was in preschool and already well enough versed in Star Wars to know the characters, but I wasn't like, emotionally invested in it.

I am very much emotionally invested in this movie. I care way too much about what may or may not happen to these characters. I mean, I love the Marvel movies, but I am not personally affected really by whatever happens to Iron Man and Black Widow and Captain America, even though I was admittedly kind of sad that he didn't get a chance to give things a shot with Agent Carter. (And as a complete side note: if you haven't, you guys should totally watch Agent Carter.)  Many of us have been waiting for this movie for over 33 years, while some of you lucky people have waited less if you didn't see them until later. That said, I'm sure even the rest of you have waited plenty. Most of the time we didn't even know we were waiting for it.

And now it's almost here. We get to see Han and Leia and Chewie (and maybe Luke, depending on where the heck he is hiding) on screen again together. And I'll tell you right here that I'm going to cry really regardless of what happens in the movie. It could probably be two hours of watching them wander around a desert and I'll still cry because OMG! Han and Leia! I don't want to know anything else about it until I actually get to see it.

Now as another side note: beware of Target. Holy crap to they have a lot of Star Wars merchandise. Just when I thought I had enough Star Wars t-shirts, they had to go and make Star Wars hoodies. There is even a fair selection of women's stuff for once. Honestly, half the time I think I'm in the 80s again. Star Wars is everywhere, Muppets are on TV, there is another Rocky sequel coming out and at this point I don't even know what number that is because I stopped watching after 4.

Anyway, mostly this was an excuse to post those gorgeous posters. And to warn you about spending all of your money at Target. Or online as there is also a Death Star waffle iron available currently. And to check in and see how everyone is doing so late in the game. It has been just over three years since this was announced and I can't believe it is almost here!

Episode VII: The Poster and Trailer

Finally, after many months of no news, we finally have something to look at!

First, the poster. I like it, but I also doubt they would've done anything with it I wouldn't have liked. It fits the same style as the other posters, and while our favorite characters are clearly not the main characters, at least they are next to each other, which I will take as a good sign. The lack of Luke is interesting, to say the least. But since Luke really isn't a main reason I want to see this movie, I'm not really concerned about that. Though I'm sure there are lots and lots of irate Luke fans out there. I would also guess there is some significance to the fact that Rey's weapon is parallel up against Kylo Ren's lightsaber, but I'm sure we will eventually learn why that is not a coincidence.

And the new trailer!!!! What else can we even say. I am writing this fast because I want to get it posted so we can start talking, but at least now from the trailer we know that Han and Leia at least hug in it. So, there is that. AAAAHHHHH!!!!! What does it all mean?!?!

Look at them!!!

And ok, final edit, to add another photo of this moment, this time with Leia's eyes open so you can really see he anguish:

And, to top of the night, I have tickets to a show at 7pm on December 17th!!!  That was incredibly stressful. Online sales were a mess, Fandango was crashing, everything was moving incredibly slowly, and the theater I wanted to get the tickets from was entirely not working. So I had to broaden my search a bit. I did not get my first choice theater, but I do have tickets to a show at 7pm. And actually I also have tickets to a show at 10pm. During the stressful ticket buying process, my movie buddies and I were conversing and trying to figure out what to do, so we got those too while we were worried we might not be able to get any at all. Phew, that was the last thing I was worried about, and now we just have to wait. And of course show up early enough that we can get good seats and sit near each other.

And another edit, to add this:

Will Return of the Jedi Be Rendered Meaningless?

We are a little over two months away from The Force Awakens. Given that it has been months since we've seen any new footage, six months since the last trailer, and an awfully long time since any real news, I actually haven't been thinking about it all that much. I'm not spending any time worrying or looking over web sites searching for news. I would guess we will get a new trailer in the very near future, and surely that will ignite my interest once again and cause another wave of excitement. But for now, mostly I'm just kind of sitting here noticing it getting colder and colder outside and realizing that December 18th (or 17th now I guess) actually isn't all that far away anymore.

That said, of course I do think about it sometimes, and I only caught a piece of an article that sparked this question in my mind. Let's remember first that I am not reading spoilers, I would prefer not to discuss them, but like most of us I have at least been trying to piece together some things about this movie based on the official information we have been given, and of course in spite of not reading spoilers, I still speculate in my own head. One of the things I've been speculating on of course is Han and Leia's relationship. Now, when this whole thing was first announced, them being together seemed like a given. The more time that passes, the less sure I am of that, to the point where basically I'm just expecting them not to be. What happened, and for how long they have or haven't been together, I really have no idea. I just have a bad feeling that they will not be together when this movie takes place.

That is bad enough, of course. But another thing that seems inevitable based on what we've been seeing, is that things aren't going so well for our heroes, whether they are the Rebels or Resistance or whatever the not-Empire people are calling themselves these days. Clearly, things are not good there. That of course brings another question, being how bad is it, and how long has it been bad? And has it basically been this bad all along? Did destroying the second Death Star do nothing?

Which brings me to the point of my post. If, in fact, destroying the second Death Star did not actually defeat the Empire, or even come close to it, doesn't that basically mean that the entire movie Return of the Jedi is completely meaningless? I mean, seriously. Think about it. 80% of the movie focuses on this big epic battle and the destruction of the Death Star. At the end of the movie, we're looking at them all smiling and happy, like they truly accomplished something and this long nightmare is over. But what if it isn't? What if they're just going to tell us that everything still sucked and the Empire was still basically in control of the galaxy? Then we just spent a whole movie focusing on a minor battle but then failing to tell us that they lost the war. It'd be like doing a sports movie and focusing on one mid-season game that was ultimately meaningless, but treating it like the win was a HUGE deal, but then coming back later and telling us that that team didn't even wind up making it to the playoffs.

It'd really make me sad if they render that movie meaningless. I mean, it is not completely without purpose. Luke goes through a lot, Anakin comes back to the light in the end, Leia learns of her parentage and connection to Luke, Han and Leia are finally truly together (or are they? I guess this is another thing that might become meaningless.)  But, still. Can you ever watch that movie the same way again if you knew that the "win" meant nothing? That the morning after the above photo they all woke up and things still sucked? If the prequels had come first, and we came back to Episode IV after the end of Episode III and after seeing the bad guys win and the Empire being in control and most of the Jedi dead it wouldn't make any sense to come back and suddenly have the Republic be in power and the Jedi be totally fine, would it?

I guess I'm just worrying more and more that they are going to further destroy the original trilogy. Even more annoying is that there is simply no reason to. I can almost guarantee you that whatever craziness they have going on in the universe when we get back to Episode VII could've been accomplished equally successfully without rendering Return of the Jedi meaningless. These movies are set thirty years apart. That is a very long time during which an awful lot can happen. And there would seem to me to be no reason why they couldn't have enjoyed several years or more of "winning" after that whole Death Star battle and everything, before things turned back around.

It has been nearly three years since they announced we'd be getting this movie. I just need to see it already and stop wondering and worrying and knowing for sure what I have to be enraged over!

The Force Awakens.... A Few Hours Earlier For Some of Us

It's been pretty quiet lately. Force Friday came and went. It's been two months(!) since the behind the scenes footage at Comic-Con. A whopping five months since the last trailer was released. And several weeks since that random little tease of footage that showed nothing but footage we had already seen plus like four extra seconds we hadn't, that included Finn holding a lightsaber.

Personally, I am enjoying the quiet. It allows me to not think too much about what may or may not happen in the movie, and less worrying about potentially bad things. I will surely watch the next trailer when it comes out (likely next month) but I'd be just as happy at this point to know nothing more, and simply sit down and watch the movie. I know I said I wanted to know some stuff to mentally prepare myself, but I'm not sure that is true anymore.

The good news is, apparently we may not have to wait quite as long as we originally thought. For those of you who are unaware, apparently there will be screenings in the US at 7pm on December 17th. I guess this has been a trend for some of the larger releases (this would count, since it is probably the largest release in the history of cinema) rather than midnight shows on the release date, to have 1 show at 7pm the day before the official release. This, of course makes me happy because not only does it mean that I will get to see the movie 5 hours earlier, it also means that I don't have to stay up all through the night. Not that I wouldn't have, it's just nice not to have to. I don't know how widely available these 7pm shows are, but I do know that locally for me we've gotten these early shows for things like Hunger Games, so I have no reason to believe it'll be different.

Also, for our non-US based readers, apparently several countries are getting it in the days prior to the 18th (or 17th now, as the case may be.)  As early as December 15th. I know the UK is getting it on the 17th. I don't quite understand this, because given that it is the biggest movie EVER it makes more sense to me to release it all on one day. And really, the US is behind everyone else anyway when we are talking time zones, so even if we all get it the same day, we're still last, so why do so many other people get it earlier?  Also, for several days before the release this means I will have to be extremely careful on the internet so that my overseas friends don't spoil it all for me.

Which reminds me, and I'll remind you all later, but when the time comes, I've decided that the rules for posting about Episode 7 on the blog will be that nobody can post anything on here about having seen it until I see it and post. I know that may not be fair to some of you who might not see it right away, but it's my blog and it is easier for you to not look here than for me to not look here!

I'm also curious: which format are you planning on seeing it in first? This movie was shot in IMAX 3D. The trailer, for those of you who have not seen it, looks pretty darn cool in IMAX 3D. That said, I think the first time I see it will be in regular, 2D format. I will absolutely be seeing it in IMAX, but sometimes the 3D can be distracting or make me miss something on screen, so the first time, I'm thinking I'm just going to see it "normal." Or, really, whichever possible way I can see it the soonest.

Anyway, now I know what I'm doing at 7pm on December 17th, just a little earlier than I thought. Now I just have to have the anxiety about getting tickets on top of the anxiety over what they are going to do to my Star Wars.

Happy Force Friday!

In case you hadn't heard, today is Force Friday. I honestly don't entirely know why, or when they decided to start calling it that, or if this will become a "thing" every year like May the Fourth or whatever, but for some reason someone in the marketing department decided that this would be a cool idea. So, here we are on Force Friday. And what does it mean? Mostly, the opportunity to spend money. Lots and lots of money. Most of your usual retailers have set aside special Star Wars sections, at least for now. Also the first wave of the "new" EU reading material was released today. I have still not yet decided whether or not I'm going to get into that stuff. Most likely I'll await further review. 

Did anyone go check anything out? At this point in my life, while a lot of the stuff looks fun and cool, it is unlikely I'll be buying much. It's all fun to look at and everything, but once I buy it and take it home it's just like, there. So it's tough for me to justify spending money on it. Maybe if I had more room at home. 

Oh, except for the remote controlled BB-8. Have you seen that? It is so adorably cute and looks like a lot of fun. I would actually love to play with one of those. 

Let me know if any of you have checked anything out or are planning on getting anything. Even if I don't buy anything I think it will still be fun to peruse the merchandise in the stores. It's cool to see so much Star Wars stuff out there again.

The Return of Some Legendary Han and Leia Writers

Clearly more recently we have mostly been discussing the new movie, coming movies, and comic books. At the heart of it all, this blog was about writing Han and Leia specifically, or Han and Leia fans in general. We've had an excellent mix of older fans, young fans, new fans, people who saw the original trilogy in the theater and people who weren't born until years after it came out.

I'm not sure how much of the "history" of Han and Leia fanfic you all know or what kinds of fans you all are. I'm certainly no expert myself but have been around the fandom since a little before the turn of the century (come on, it wasn't THAT long ago) and can remember the online debates about Chewie dying and Han's reaction as well as the whole Bria fiasco with the release of the Han Solo trilogy.

It was around the same time that I discovered fanfic online. I'm sure I had the same reaction you all had, like suddenly you didn't feel so weird and alone because other people shared this quirky little obsession. I believe fanfix.com was the first site I discovered, which had some good stories on it. There were some Han and Leia specific fan sites that I remember reading, most of which, sadly, are no longer online. Lots of good stories and discussions.

Over the years it became clear that there were a few "legends" that had earned their status among Han and Leia fans as having written some of the most universally loved and lauded stories on our favorite couple. Most of these people had seemingly disappeared. I can certainly understand that, as even my own interest level wanes from time to time, and what once used to take up tons of your time and thoughts, suddenly doesn't anymore. Personally, while I'm still thinking about the upcoming movie, admittedly I don't really look to read fanfic much anymore, let alone writing it. Not saying I never will again, just that at this moment, it isn't really something I'm seeking out.

That said, for those of you who will recognize these authors and appreciate the return, and also for those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, I feel you must be informed. Recently two of the most cited authors when talking about favorite Han and Leia stories ever have returned. I have no idea whether it was coincidence or if they had been talking or if someone somehow went and convinced them both to come back to us and repost their stories, but I would urge any Han and Leia fan to go check them out immediately if you haven't already. Or, if you already did a long time ago, do it again anyway. 

The first to return was Cindy Olsen, who is posting under the name Corellian Blue on fanfiction.net.  She has written multiple excellent Han and Leia stories of all kinds. Some canon, some not so much. All very well written and very in character. The other is Leela Starsky who wrote what is arguably the most recognized and acclaimed Han and Leia story there is, 40 Days to Bespin which she has just reposted over there, as it had been previously absent from the internet (though somewhat available through PDF trading) for quite a while now. If you have not read it, go do so. Like, right now. She also has several other great Han and Leia stories, including one that she had left unfinished for years and maybe we can all hope she finishes up now. Same with Cindy Olsen, apparently she will be sharing some new stuff, so be on the lookout! 

I think it is fantastic that some of these people are coming back. Makes me wonder if it is the new movie or what, but it has always seemed so tragic that some of these great stories had disappeared so that nobody new could read them. It will also be interesting to see if anyone else from the old days comes back. In the mean time, happy reading!

Marketing, Spoilers*, and How Much to Reveal About Episode VII (*There are no spoilers in this post)

First let me say up front that this post will not reveal any spoilers. I was reading something the other day that sparked what I thought could be an interesting discussion. There were some complaints about how the lead-up to this movie is way too secretive, and could ultimately be detrimental to the movie in general. There were also comparisons to how apparently at Comic-Con in San Diego there was quite a bit shown of Batman vs. Superman and we have barely been shown anything at all about Star Wars aside from scant few images and a mere three words of dialogue. They called it the most secretive movie, ever, and that even with the prequels we were shown more than this.

I thought this was an interesting discussion. First of all, as far as marketing goes, I'm probably not the only person who is fairly certain that they can do no wrong in marketing this film. They could show us everything, and they could show us nothing, and it would still make at least a billion dollars. So in terms of that, and in terms of "hype" created by whatever snippets we are shown, I just don't think that is something that the promoters of the film are the least bit concerned about. I'm probably not the only one who was thrilled with every tiny little bit that we've been shown of the movie so far.

Personally I don't feel cheated by this. I don't want to see too much before I actually see the movie. I think we need to remember what a unique opportunity this is, and how this is very different from the prequels, or even a Batman vs. Superman movie. I mean, let's start with hyped movies in general. These days, most of the movies with the biggest hype are based on characters or comics or something else that we have seen before. There isn't much surprise there. The characters are all well established, and sure, maybe they'll take them in a different direction or have something unprecedented happen to them, but the characters like in, say, comic book films we are looking at situationally, rather than focusing on their lives and character development. I mean, often times there is almost no character development, but in the case of the types of films these are, it can often work anyway. I mean, I guess Tony Stark softened a little and settled down (sort of) with Pepper Potts, but that isn't really why we watch those movies. It adds a human element, but nobody watches Iron Man for the character development or the story to see where it goes. We just want a cool movie.

Harry Potter and The Hunger Games were based on books. Anyone who wants to know what is going to happen can just go and read the book. They can show us whatever they want because anyone who wants to can go see how it ends long before the movie comes out. I guess people complained about JJ being all secretive about the new Star Trek movies too (which I watched and enjoyed, but I know almost nothing about Star Trek and paid basically zero attention to the hype for those before they came out) but they were based on characters and situations people had already seen before anyway.

Or, look at Batman vs. Superman. I mean, we know what the movie is about, because the title says it all. Interesting concept, for sure, two supposed "good guys" battling, which you don't usually see. But it's based on previous material. I'm sure it has been changed somewhat, but you can show a lot of that and I don't think it could "ruin" the movie, because we already know what it's about anyway.

Then there are the prequels. I don't specifically recall how much of the prequels we really saw before the movies came out, though I'm sure it was more than we're getting now. I'm sure there was dialogue and a bigger glimpse at the characters. Here's the thing, though: we already knew the story we were going to be told. We knew Anakin was going to be trained as a Jedi and be a great pilot and have twin Jedi babies and eventually turn into Darth Vader. We knew in the end that the Jedi would be destroyed and the bad guys were going to win. There was no way, after seeing the original trilogy, to not know that that was how the movie was going to end. They could've shown us the Vader mask, or Anakin starting to go dark (they probably did; again, I don't remember exactly) and it wouldn't have been a spoiler or ruined the movie for us, because we knew it was going to happen anyway. We got that moment of, "Wow, that looks cool, can't wait to see the rest!" without feeling like, well, now I don't really need to see it, because I already know what is going to happen.

I was actually discussing this just last week with some Star Wars obsessed family members, and how the incredible thing here is that we have absolutely no idea what is going to happen. I mean, sure, some of you have maybe gone and read the spoilers, but for the rest of us who want to be surprised, really all we know is that everyone grew up and now there are some new people and it looks like things aren't going so well now that they have crazy lightsabers. There are no books or source material out there (yet) that can tell us where this is headed. They are actually giving us the opportunity to go into this movie "fresh" and not just going to see something where we know what is going to happen, and I think that is pretty amazing and I want to keep it that way. How often does this happen? Pretty much never, and it might never happen again.

I have no idea whether or not this was the case when the original trilogy came out, if we knew what was going to happen. I think actually that the novelizations came out before the movies did. Probably nobody was paying that much attention until after A New Hope came out, but at least for ESB and ROTJ we were coming off the heels of the last movie. We had some sense of where everyone and everything stood. Vader was still doing pretty well, the Rebels were still, well, rebelling, Luke was becoming more of a Jedi and the Empire still had the upper hand. Thirty years later a whole lot of other things could've happened, so we don't even really know where things are going to stand to begin with. It's amazing and scary at the same time.

So, people complain about not being shown enough, but I think this is an excellent strategy and I really do hope that they don't show us much more. I'd honestly be happy if they didn't show us anything else until the movie comes out. Yes, I know that sounds crazy, but it's true. That said, when the next trailer comes out, I'm sure I'll cry again and feel my heart beating in my throat and will be just as excited as the rest of you. But I also secretly hope that it doesn't tell us too much. Like I said, when is this opportunity going to come up again where we will know so little about a franchise we are so incredibly well versed in? Even with Episode VIII and IX and beyond, just like with the original trilogy, we're going to have a much better idea of where things are going to stand when the movie starts. This could be almost anything. And I would prefer that "almost anything" to be revealed to me on December 18th, not months before while I sit and wait to see the movie that shows me all the stuff I already read was going to happen.

What do you guys think? I just thought it was interesting that people were complaining about the lack of information, and how these other movies have more hype and are showing more. And it just feels as though those other movies have nothing to lose really by showing more because everyone knows what to expect. You could probably show us the end and tell us who wins but it won't even really matter because that isn't what those movies are about.

I'm not trying to stop anyone from reading spoilers who is into spoilers, just making a point based on what I was reading about hype and secrecy, and sort of saying like, why not, when given this incredibly unique set of circumstances, say as little about it as possible? It really sets us up (or those of us who were able to stay away from spoilers) for a movie-watching experience of such a well known franchise that we will probably never get again. And I think that is pretty cool. So, JJ, as far as I'm concerned, don't tell us or show us another damn thing! Although if you do, I'll totally watch anyway. Just don't tell us too much.