What is On Jeffs' Mind

Yesterday, I had the day off from work. I had to work extra hours this week, so it worked out well, as I was able to do something I was not able to do nearly 13 years ago.

I was able to go and see Star Wars Episode 1 the Phantom Menace on opening day. This time around, it was in 3D. When it originally came out, I could not go opening day, as at the time I was busy at work, and a few other things happening that did not allow me to go first day. Being a big Star Wars fan, that always ate at me a little bit, so I have corrected that

I went with my Dad and two nephews, and had a good time. Epsiode 1 is what it is, and I know that a lot of people really dislike this movie. I will admit, that if I rank all the Star Wars movies, this one would be at the bottom of my list, as it can get a bit slow at times, and doesn’t have the best pacing. But to me, the movie does really setup what the Star Wars universe was, on a greater scale then the Original Trilogy ever did. I am a big Star Wars fan as stated, so I like to do the “Deep Dive” so to say into the who Star Wars universe. This movie gives a person plenty to get into, like myself, who wants to be immersed into that universe. I am really looking forward to the other movies coming out. The 3D in the movie was alright, I don’t think it will ever be a showcase 3D, but it was well applied in my opinion, and added some depth to the scenes. I guess maybe in the end, the 3D was more just a vehicle to get Star Wars back onto the big screen. I am amazed, that a movie that a lot of people pan, that 13 years after the fact, it still can get released into the theatre again. There are plenty of Academy Award winning movies that would not be able to be released 13 years after the fact, even some of the big blockbusters from the past few years, could not even get released again.

When I got home, I had something cool waiting for me at the Post Office. The next in the series of Star Wars Kubricks was released. I had ordered this set a few weeks ago, and had been anticipating it for some time. It was Deluxe series 4, which included 6 figures and a build up figure of the Probe Droid. I think what got me the most excited, was the vintage style figures they released. In the last series they released a Vintage Style Obi-Wan, and now they released 3 more. A Vintage Vader, Princess Leia and Tie Fighter Pilot. Also they released a R2-D2, Captain Antilles and Imperial Dignitary. So this morning I opened then up and assembled my Probe Droid. So now I have to find some space on my shelf for them. I am thinking I might separate my vintage style figures from the rest. I also included my 3D glasses in the picture from the movie yesterday.

Tags: Captain Antilles, Darth Vader, Imperial Dignitary, Princess Leia, Probe Droid, R2-D2, Star Wars Episode 1, Star Wars Kubricks, The Phantom Menace, Tie Fighter Pilot

Lately I have been thinking a lot about fandom and the area of negativity. With the release of the Star Wars Blu-Rays in September, it has opened up the debate again about Star Wars and peoples feelings on how George Lucas has cared for the franchise. I am a big Star Wars fan, so I will be honest, the negative criticism bothered me. But a positive from this is that it forced me to rethink how I view fandom in general and how I approach it.  I guess for me, I have decided, that I am going to hold my own negative comments to myself when I come across different things in fandom I might not enjoy. If there is a TV show or a movie I did not like, unless I have something constructive to add to an argument, I am not going to say anything, as there are people out there who might really be fans of them. It is not my right to bring someone down for enjoying something, feel like I felt when I had to go through the negative criticism for Star Wars, or even going back, all the negativity around Star Trek Enterprise years ago. To me, it is so awesome to be able to go somewhere and celebrate with others the excitement over a piece of work, it helps me appreciate it more, and really get excited about it. I understand nothing is ever perfect, and for some, debating the strengths and weaknesses is where they get their enjoyment, but that is just not for me. I guess it is a fine line, as if it is done in a way that there is a like for the material being debated, then that is cool, but if a person is coming from a point of dislike, then to be honest for me, I really do not want to hear it. Vice Versa, I am not going to inflict my own feelings on others if I did not care for something.

With Star Wars, I find there is so much more to the whole series then just the 6 movies. I get that some people only really care for the Original Trilogy, it might be something they grew up with, but for me, there is so much more. They are sort of the stepping stone to this much bigger and larger universe that I have gotten into. The Empire Strikes Back is my favorite movie of all time, hands down, after that the rest of the movies I am not sure I could rank in any particular order, as I think I like them all as a whole. I guess since I view Star Wars as a larger piece of work then just the first 3 movies, the changes to the movies over the year have not bothered me, as it just brings the universe all together. When people say they don’t care for the EU, or even the prequels, that is fine. They don’t really need it to enjoy the original trilogy. I will buy their argument though that the movies they know have been changed for it, even though to be honest they are really only minor changes. I don’t get how a few seconds here or there can ruin a whole experience of a movie, especially when it is not really changing anything with the plot of the movie. In a sense, for me even though I do not have an issue with the changes to the original movies, I wish George Lucas would re-release a Blu-Ray cut of the Original Movies, more so the quiet all the critics. That way they can have their movies, we don’t have to listen to them anymore, and the rest of the people can go on enjoying the larger universe.

The criticism for the prequels as well baffles me. People go on and on about them, and how much they dislike them. I guess my simple answer to that is, don’t watch them, don’t pay any mind to them. Those stories don’t exist to you, and should not hold you back from enjoying the Original Trilogy. Same goes for the Clone Wars or any other story that has been put out since the Original Trilogy. I am sure when the Phantom Menace comes out in 3D in early 2012, the whole prequel debate/hate will flare up again. I hear friends tell me they don’t get all the extra content in the Star Wars universe, they feel it is to much, just leave it at the movies.  Again, my answer is, leave your fandom at the movies, nothing in the rest of the EU is going to change what you see in the movies. Some people just enjoy a movie for what it is, others like to get immersed into something so much larger and more, nothing wrong with either.

I heard similar feelings about Star Trek Enterprise. People railed against it when it originally came out. They said it was an affront to the Original Star Trek series, and was messing with continuity. But I never bought that argument. If a person is just a TOS fan, then what ever happened in Enterprise, had no affect on TOS. Not one TOS episode changed because of Enterprise. If you did not like what was happening in that series, then don’t watch. Star Trek fandom for you ends at TOS, and anything past that, does not change anything with how a person views the original episodes. Like wise for TNG, Voyager or DS9, if a person liked or disliked those series, for the most part they did not affect the other series. If a person dropped Voyager, because they did not like it, nothing in that affected what happened in TNG. A person could end their fandom in Trek where ever they wanted, and what came since would not affect what they already saw.

It always bothered me that people were so vocal with Enterprise, in how it was ruining Trek and should be cancelled. Again why? If they had stopped watching, then the stories did not apply to the Trek they know. They could still come to their own conclusion on why things were in the Trek universe if they did not want to accept what was being done in Enterprise. Kirk was still Krik, Spock was still Spock. Klingons looked the way they did, the missions were still the same missions with the same outcomes. In a sense, sadly the negative people got what they wanted at the time. They said they would rather have no Trek then Enterprise, and that is what they got. Since then there has been no new Trek series, and now we are dealing with a rebooted Universe. I liked the new Star Trek, it was a great movie and looking forward to what is next, but I think my heart will always be in the Trek Prime universe. But I wonder if all those negative people pushing for the end of Enterprise ever imagined we would get what we got after it left. The old adage careful for what you wish for, it might come true. Just sadly for all us folks, who liked Trek, we got pulled along with them. But for me, Trek Prime remains alive in books, and again, a person can either accept them, or they don’t as they do not change anything to date that they have seen.

This was a bit of a rant on my part, but something I was thinking about for awhile. It has forced me to relook at things and how I relate to my own fandom.  So for me, if there is something I might not like, but others do, I am just keeping it to myself, they have the right to enjoy what they like to fullest they can. Maybe it goes against the spirit of debate, and even peoples right to express themselves, but at least I know I have not put a cloud over somebody’s fandom.

Tags: DS9, Enterprise, Fandom, Star Trek, Star Wars, The Clone Wars, The Phantom Menace, TNG, Voyager

Yesterday after work, I picked up a copy of Star Wars the Complete Saga on Blu Ray. Originally I was going to wait until my Birthday and ask for it then, but listening to people talk about it over the past week, just got me more and more excited, that I wanted it sooner. It is weird, what got me excited was people complaining about the changes that had been made, and it really sparked my interest to see these. They had been floating around on the internet, but I really just wanted to see these for myself on the discs first. Also the deleted scenes that they were including with the discs also had my interest in seeing.

I got home and put in Episode 4 A New Hope in and started watching. I found myself very excited to watch this movie, and at points felt like I was watching it for the first time, even though I have seen it many times over the past 34 years. To me it looked fantastic. I found some of the colours to be much more vibrant, the details the High Def picked up made me feel like I was right there. What amazed me a bit was the sound, they have added subtle little differences to it. The scene where Luke first meets Obi-Wan for the first time, almost felt magical when Obi-Wan was talking about not hearing the name for a long time. I have seen that scene many times, but just felt a bit different this time. They added in a new Krayt  dragon call from Obi-Wan, which many people are complaining about. To be honest, it doesn’t bother me, as I sort of view the dragon as being an out of this world creature, so it having a stranger sound is fine with me. They also cleaned up the lightsabers in the battle between Obi-Wan and Vader a lot, and they look much more brilliant. I also noticed so many different Astromech droids throughout the movie. Maybe it is because I collect them, that I pay more attnetion, but the HD I think also makes them really pop out in the scene.

I watched the deleted scenes for ANH after and some I had seen before and others not, but really liked them, especially the extended scenes in Anchorhead. I always like deleted scenes, as I find they give me a little more insight into the movie, the characters, and I like to try and rationalize why the film makers took them out. Sometimes I find that these scenes really do give a lot of insight into a movie.

Looking forward to getting into the rest of the movies over the weekend, and more into the extra material. Very excited about this Blu-Ray set and so happy to have it now.

Tags: A New Hope, Star Wars, Star Wars Complete Saga Blu Ray

This weekend was a first for me for 2011. I went to my first movie for the year. I have to admit I am a bit surprised I have not gone to a movie since last year, but it took me 5 months into the year to go. On Saturday Tao tao and I went and saw Thor over at West Edmonton Mall, and I have to say I really enjoyed it. For me, it is a bit odd that it has taken so long to see a movie in the theatre, as the last one I saw was Tron Legacy just before Christmas.  I used to go every week to see a movie, and sometimes multiple times, but I guess I have really slowed down. There are probably a few reason. The first is probably the most obvious, there has not been any movies that I have wanted to see, or maybe more correctly enough to see in the movie theatre. The second is probably the cost, as to see a movie at the theatre is expensive, and the 3D movies even more so. Another reason is maybe since I am getting older, the excitement of going to the theatre to see a movie is not a great as it was a few years ago. Probably the last reason, is that I am married now, and we go to movies we both like, so that cuts out some of them, as either I don’t want to see them (Horror) or Tao tao does not want to see (Comedies). I guess for me, I really don’t want to make someone go see a movie they might not want to see. When I was single, I used to see all different types of movies, as more often then not, I would go by myself. But now it is the two of us who go, so we have to agree on the movie. The last movie that Tao tao saw without me was a Resident Evil movie, she really wanted to go, but that was not a movie I had any interest in seeing. I went to see Tron without Tao tao, but that was more of the late night viewing, before that, I think the last movie I saw on my own was the last Trailer Park Boys movie.

I really liked Thor, thought it was excellent. I have to admit I don’t know much about Thor at all, so I went to the movie without really knowing much more then he was a Comic Book Superhero. I have to say I really liked the blend of Viking/Norse mythology and a Sci-Fi element, it felt very unique to me. The story I really liked as well, in that it happened it two different worlds. On Thor’s home world of Asgard there was a war between his people and another group called the Frost Giants. Then on Earth, which Thor was sent to, they followed his story there and his encounter with S.H.E.I.L.D. I have to say the visuals of Thor’s home world were stunning, the effects were great. I also thought the actor Chris Hemsworth did an awesome job as Thor, especially with the transformation from a arrogant character to one with humility and compassion. I saw this movie in 3D, and happy I did, as originally I was thinking of seeing it in 2D. I thought the way they did the 3D was great, and I was very impressed, as in the past, other 3D movies I was not really excited about the technology. I have to admit, I spent some time at the start of the movie making sure to position the glasses on my face so that the screen looked the best, and that may have made the difference. I wear glasses, and I was thinking that I may have had the 3D glasses sitting to close to my face in the past, so it sort of nullified the 3D effect, and maybe made the screen look a bit blurry, but this time, the visuals looked awesome. I was so impressed with this movie, that I am thinking of maybe searching out some Thor comics to read more.

Sunday morning I went to a local toy show called the Pop Culture fair. It is a smaller show then the Edmonton Collectible Toy and Comic show that I sell at, but still look forward to going. I did not really have anything that I was really looking for, and was going more so out of interest for my side business of toy reselling. I wanted to get an idea of what other people were selling things for, so I sort of knew what I could resell things for, and what I should be paying for things. It was good to have a look at the tables, and found myself looking more closely at the tables and what people were selling. I also got a chance to talk with a few people I know. I had a good chat with my friend Ryan from Red 5 Collectibles, and learned a few things from him that I was not aware of. Also I was able to pickup a Anakin Skywalker as Darth Vader figure that I had been looking for. I don’t collect many action figures anymore, but I wanted to get the Anakin with Darth Vader on the card in the throw back to the vintage packaging. I had looked around for a few shows, and was happy Ryan had one, also it was not even punched, so when I got home I had to find a Star Case for it, since I did not want to hang it up since it was not punched. I also picked up a few items that I feel I can resell, so it was a good show.

Also this weekend Tao tao and I watched the season finale of Fringe, and I have to say wow. I am so happy that it is coming back for another season, as there is so much more to tell. The way they left it, I really have no idea where they are going with the story. This season was a wild ride, with some really cool episodes. I think the one that stands out the most for me, was the episode where half of it was animated, as it was so unique. I wish the ratings were stronger for Fringe, as I would like to know that there could be many more years of it, but I am guessing we will be lucky to get 4.

Tags: Anakin Skywalker, Darth Vader, Fringe, Pop Culture Fair, Ryan from Red 5 Collectibles, Tao tao, Thor