The Big 3 at Comic Con!

No matter what else happens, we will at least still have this kiss. So in case you didn't realize, last night was the Star Wars panel at Comic Con in San Diego. There was some talk about what might be shown, though my feeling had always been that nothing major would be revealed, nor would we be getting that new trailer that had been discussed, and I was correct about that. There was enough talk though about an appearance from Harrison that I actually did believe that would happen, but it is just awesome that he finally was there. First, that he looks great (he'll look even better once his hair has a chance to grow back, but at least you can barely notice the new scar on his forehead) and second, Harrison Ford was just on stage talking about Star Wars. Not only that, but in what appeared to be a genuinely favorable light. When is the last time Harrison Ford really talked about Star Wars? And not in a jokey way like arguing with fake Chewbacca on Jimmy Kimmel. And when was the last time he appeared somewhere with Carrie? This is just amazing.

The thing I think most of us here will be interested in will be this behind the scenes reel that they showed. For those of you being careful, it does not seem spoiler-y at all, but if you would rather not see any visuals of the characters, including seeing Han and Leia (separately) in full costume, do not watch. But for the rest of you:

It's Leia! It's Han in the Falcon! It's... mostly nothing super interesting we haven't seen before, but still!  Also, it is suddenly dawning on me, does anyone else find it weird that with all of the big reveals and everything, we haven't heard from Threepio yet?

And here is the video of the complete panel from last night. I honestly haven't even watched the whole thing yet, I only skipped ahead to when Carrie shows up, followed by Mark and then Harrison.

I'm sure I'll watch the rest later but I had to skip to the important stuff first. Harrison even expresses gratitude that he did not again have to say anything about navicomputers again. I remember reading a long time ago how much he hated that line, and I can't say I blame him.

All in all, nothing really new here, just giddy excitement, which is kind of what I needed right now.  It really is just incredible that we are seeing this happening. Even the actors seem excited about it, not that you'd expect different from Mark and Carrie, but still. I did like how Harrison said about returning to the role, "It should've felt ridiculous." And he's right, it probably should've. Yeah, let's go back to a role you first played nearly 40 years ago and dress up in a similar outfit and fly the same ship and hang out with the same Wookiee. Even as a huge Star Wars fan, that does, in fact, sound pretty ridiculous. He assures us it's not, though.

Just as the final dagger to my heart as far as showing me just how much I missed out on by not being there last night, after bringing together Han Solo, Princess Leia, and Luke Skywalker for the first time in a bazillion years, they then took all of the panel attendees to an outdoor concert of Star Wars music and fireworks, also providing every one of them with a lightsaber. The evening also included the stars again, and Harrison walking out using a toy lightsaber as a cane as he pretended to limp across the stage. Seriously, typing that sentence made me feel like I had entered some sort of parallel universe, but I have video evidence that proves this is true:

Seriously, much of this just feels like it was a dream. If you had told me before all of this Disney stuff was announced that this kind of thing would be happening, I would've bet you every dime I had and every bit of future income I might earn (which, I guess admittedly isn't really that much money, but still) that there was no way in the world we would possibly see things like that. I've never been so happy to be wrong.  Well, maybe, for now, because later if we find out the movie sucks I might wish for the time before this happened. But for now at least I'm excited.

What do you guys think? Of course I love how happy they all seem to be hanging out again, and who doesn't just absolutely love the fact that Harrison kissed Carrie. Also notable was Harrison apologizing to Mark for the fact that it turned out Carrie was his sister. It's just so fun to see them all getting into it again. Damn it, now I want them to be in Episode VIII as well just so we can see more of this stuff.

Okay, enough fan gushing. I'll just lave you with one last picture of Han and Leia.

EDIT: One more photo, because this one made me so happy.

Han Solo Spin-off Movie Officially Announced

This sort of falls under the category of "not really news" to me, since I'd fully expected this for a long time, but now it has become "official."  http://www.starwars.com/news/christopher-miller-and-phil-lord-to-helm-han-solo-anthology-film?linkId=15374280

What does everyone think of this?  Personally, my first thoughts are that I really don't even want to think about any further Star Wars movies until I find out what happens in Episode VII, at which point I can more adequately decide how much thought or consideration I need to put into these other films. If Episode VII is terrible or takes things in a direction I'm not happy with, I will be a lot less inclined to give much mental energy to any other movies, because I'm going to expect to be woefully disappointed. Of course there is the possibility, however remote, that I get fully engaged and sucked right back in, at which point I can go back to worrying about all these new movies.

If I do give myself the opportunity to think about this, again I'm, sadly, left with mostly negative thoughts on the idea. First and foremost: NOBODY wants to see anyone but Harrison Ford playing Han Solo. I honestly think that even whatever actor gets cast in this role, no matter how good for his career it might be, will still kind of secretly wish that Harrison could somehow go back to 25 and play this role himself. This is one of the most iconic roles in cinema history, and much of that is because Harrison Ford completely embodied that role. He WAS Han Solo in such a way that I don't think anyone can duplicate. And would we want him to? I'm wondering even how it will be approached. Whether we'll be left watching some young actor spending 2 hours doing his best Harrison-as-Han impression, or if he will try to make the role his own. I almost hope for the latter, but at the same time, then do we really accept him as Han? This just seems like a no-win situation.

Another thing I don't like about it is that I've actually always kind of preferred that Han's past be left shrouded in a bit of mystery. I don't necessarily want to know exactly what happened in his youth, how he grew up, what happened to his parents. While I enjoyed reading those things in the AC Crispin Han Solo trilogy (mostly enjoyed - Bria excepted) I actually feel like something is taken away from the character a little bit if we know everything about his past. Sure, little things like how he got the Falcon, or how he met Chewie might be fun to watch, but I don't know if I want them to try and work backwards and fit all of the puzzle pieces into what made him what we saw in the original trilogy.

Lastly, similar to my worries about the new movies furthering the story compared to the now-discarded EU, I worry that they will give him a back story that I don't like and would rather not see. To explain further, it is sort of like how I worry they might change Han and Leia's relationship in the new movies. We have all spent years complaining about COPL and how we wished it didn't exist, but it's quite possible we will wind up hoping that we could go back to a time in which that is exactly what happened to Han and Leia, because at least at the end of that horrendous book, they did, in fact, get married. And then they stayed married. And in this case, for years we also complained about Bria Tharen and how much we hated her. It is entirely possible that this new movie might give us a new background (random wife from the comic, anyone?) that will make us very much wish we could have Bria back. At least Bria had the decency to die before Han met Leia! 

I'd be really curious to hear everyone's thoughts on this. I fully admit it makes me sad that I'm not simply jumping for joy at every Star Wars announcement, but I am only left worrying for all of the worst possibilities. You would think that I would be excited about all of these Star Wars movies coming out, but I really haven't been at all. You can even go back to the first mention on the blog of Episode VII nearly 3 years ago, I wasn't excited then, either!  And I'm still not sure if I should be. 

In brighter news, apparently there will be some Episode VII fun at Comic Con this weekend, so let's hope that brings some good news.