Tag Archives: star wars

Book Review of “Star Wars: The Last Command” (1994)

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Cover of the novel “Star Wars: The Last Command.”

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I just finished reading the third book in Timothy Zahn’s “Thrawn Trilogy,” The Last Command. Oh “spoiler alert,” it is Thrawn’s last command because he dies, which I didn’t see coming.

Grand Admiral Thrawn having acquired the “Katana fleet” in the previous book and with a massive army of clones to man them, proceeds to press the offensive, even to Coruscant.

Leia has her twins and cares for the infants with the help of her aide Winter, but that doesn’t keep her out of the action as the story progresses.

The clone of Jedi Master Joruus C’baoth goes further off the rails, claims the Empire, galaxy, and the whole universe for his own, and is still raving about having Luke, Mara, Leia, and her babies as his apprentices. He decides to leave the Grand Admiral’s ship for the planet Wayland, which is where Thrawn originally found him. Thrawn grants this, but turns the tables. He makes C’baoth his prisoner in the Emperor’s own throne room in the mountain fortress where the clone factory and all of the Emperor’s other secrets are hidden.

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Book Review of “Star Wars: Dark Force Rising” (1993)

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Cover of the novel “Star Wars: Dark Force Rising”

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I finished reading Star Wars: Dark Force Rising, book 2 in the Thrawn trilogy and I have to say I’m having a blast.

It doesn’t quite nail down the original film trilogy, but it comes close. I suppose because more details can be packed in a novel than a two-hour film, those details take a little away from its “Star Wars-ness.”

The race is on to find the derelict Katana fleet, a group of Dreadnoughts dating back to the Clone Wars. Both the New Republic and the revitalized Empire are in desperate need of ships.

Supposedly Talon Karrde, head of the smuggler’s guild, knows the secret location and might be persuaded to tell the New Republic, but then there are others.

Following her promise in the last novel, Leia, Chewbacca, and Threepio meet with their Kashyyyk contact in orbit around Endor. Leia and the rest leave the Millennium Falcon and travel with their companion Khabarakh to his home world in an attempt to convince this warrior race to abandon the Empire and join the New Republic. Eventually, she finds evidence of the Empire having poisoned their planet during the clone wars, rather than the Rebellion, convincing them they have been betrayed by the Empire.

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Book Review of “Children of the Lens” by E.E. “Doc” Smith

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Cover art for “Children of the Lens” by E.E. “Doc” Smith

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Yesterday, I finished Children of the Lens (1954), the last in E.E. “Doc” Smith’s Lensmen series.

By rights, it’s a book I should have started and finished over fifty years ago. The works of Smith as well as Edgar Rice Burroughs and others were hugely popular in paperback in the late 1960s. All of my male friends in Junior High were devouring them.

But when everyone else was reading the Lensmen, I was reading The Skylark series, so I missed my opportunity the first time around.

Today, if I have anything to complain about the Lensmen series (or Skylark for that matter), it’s that they’ve aged. With each passing novel, the powers, technology, and scope of the books became larger and grander. I can’t read these stories without also imagining them taking place between the 1930s and 1950s.

Even back in the day, “Children” was criticized for two-dimensional characters and juvenile storyline, but at the same time, it was highly popular with young (and not so young) men and boys as a source of adventures and heroics.

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Book Review of “Star Wars: Heir to the Empire” by Timothy Zahn (plus a few extras)

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© James Pyles

Yes, this is a book review, but I need to lay a little groundwork first.

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When online strife over what “Star Wars” as a franchise has become gets to be too much, I always return to watching the original trilogy. Nothing seems to capture what “Star Wars” is to me like those films.

I haven’t watched the prequels in some time. I’d probably enjoy them. I did when I first watched them. At the same time, the thrill wasn’t the same. For one thing, Anakin’s eventual fall to the dark side didn’t have the same horrific tone as did Luke’s final battle with Vader in Return of the Jedi (1983). After all we expect Anakin to become Darth Vader. No one knew for sure what would happen to Luke until it did.

As far as the sequel trilogy, I won’t even get into it. It was too flawed from the beginning to be able to carry the legacy of Lucas’ vision. The fact that Disney in general and Kathleen Kennedy in specific were in charge didn’t help.

I haven’t watched any of the Disney+ shows although I have heard all the angst about them on social media.

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More Social Media Dabbling: Video Reviews and Commentary

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Okay, fine. I’ve made another two TikTok videos. The first is a three-minute whimsical review of Adrian Tchaikovsky’s 2018 science fiction novel Children of Time. My written review of the book is more straightforward and detailed. TikTok videos are brief by design, so I had to compress everything into a max of three minutes. As I wrote my script, I realized there was no way I could deliver anything serious in such a short time period, so I punted and this is the result.

@james.pyles

I’m doing a series of three-minute SciFi book reviews. Today, it’s Adrian Tchaikovsky’s 2018 novel “Children of Time.” These are fast and whimsical reviews. To tead longer versions. Go to https://poweredbyrobots.com/book-and-film-teviews/ #bookreview #sciencefiction

♬ original sound – James

This morning…

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Mourning the Loss of Escapism

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Photo of Lester Del Rey

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What disturbs me more is the whole concept of purpose as applied to any literature. To the Marxists, intent upon subordinating everything to the good of the state, the arts must serve a direct purpose of life — usually propaganda, I’m afraid. But why people in this country accept such Marxist ideas is a puzzle.

–Lester Del Rey as quoted from The World of Science Fiction, 1926-1976: The History of a Subculture

I suppose it’s a mild coincidence that I’m quoting Del Rey on his birthday. These words from his tome, which I reviewed HERE and HERE, are predictive of the world of science fiction (and entertainment in general) we experience today.

Del Rey saw SciFi as a lot of things, including instructive, but most of all, he believed it should be fun.

But where has the fun gone?

And while Lenin read a book of Marx
The Quartet practiced in the park
And we sang dirges in the dark
The day the music died

And the three men I admire most
The Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost
They caught the last train for the coast
The day the music died
And they were singing bye-bye, Miss American Pie
Drove my Chevy to the levee but the levee was dry
And them good old boys were drinking whiskey and rye
Singing, “This’ll be the day that I die”
This will be the day that I die

–Don McLean from “American Pie” 1971

Just substitute “escapism” or “fun” for the word “music” above, and it fits. There’s a lot inspiring this missive, including this recent one.

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They Came For Gina Carano

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Publicity shot of actress Gina Carano

Addendum: 2-12-2021, 5:30 p.m. mountain time: I was reminded that what happened to Gina Carano makes Disney+ and the social media cancel culture/hate mob guilty of the decades old practice of Hollywood Blacklisting. Click the link and have your eyes opened.

Addendum: 2-12-2021, 11:59 a.m. mountain time: Looks like Gina has a new project set up as well as new representation. I hope it all works out for her.

Addendum: 2-11-2021, 3:20 p.m. mountain time: Terrific 13+ minute video (some language) giving a detailed description of the cancel culture and yes, though they don’t think of themselves this way, the “hate mob.” Give a watch.

“Nobody has the right to live their life being protected from offense, or from insult, or from hurt feelings. It is an occupational hazard of living in Society! And if you really can’t take it, become a hermit”

-Ann Widdecombe

Yes, we all say and do things that sometimes upset others and sometimes other people say and do things that upset us. It’s the nature of being human to disagree with one another.

However, in the case of actress Gina Carano, it’s gone well beyond that. For the “crime” of expressing her opinions, she’s now out of a job. In other words, she was fired.

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When Twitterati Troll Women in Action Films

Screenshot from twitter

So I came across a tweet on twitter from someone I follow named “Mara Jade” (@OG_MaraJade). It was a retweet of this.

I followed the link to the source and came up with |Blake| the Villain (@Enemies_Allies) who originated the image. He also said “This was a very successful tweet. They literally just expose themselves.”

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Why Is Kylo Ren a Hero?

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Promotional image of Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) from the 2019 film “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker”

A day or two ago, I saw a YouTube video on Mara Jade’s twitter account commenting on a Bounding Into Comics article titled Fans Threaten J.J. Abrams and Report Mental Breakdowns Over Kylo Ren’s Ending in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.

Frankly, I was amazed. I guess I shouldn’t be. As a fan of the television show Smallville (2001-2011), I watched fans on social media tear each other apart over which female lead should be in a relationship with Clark (Tom Welling). I watched the show for the superhero stuff, even though it really was a teenage/millennial soap opera.

So why shouldn’t Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019) be any different?

However, the more I read the outrageous comments being supposedly made on twitter (to read them, click the appropriate link above), the more I became curious. Are these people real?

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Movie Review of “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker”

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© James Pyles

DISCLAIMER: This film review is loaded with spoilers, so if you haven’t seen the movie yet and want to be surprised, don’t read any further!

Yes, I went to see Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker today with my son, my grandson, and my son’s girlfriend.

What I’m about to say will probably annoy or even anger some of my friends and acquaintances, but the movie wasn’t half bad. In fact I liked it for the most part.

This isn’t to say that it didn’t rehash the original three films from the late 1970s and early 80s, but it was better than Director Rian Johnson’s horribly failed The Last Jedi (2017).

First of all, it was visually very impressive. Just in terms of cinematic “eye candy” (no, not that kind), it’s a pleasure to watch.

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