5 things I want to see happen with Disney's Star Wars

So I was asked to put a "positive" spin from last night's post.

What if Disney actually did a better job with Star Wars than Lucas. What would have to happen for me to admit I was wrong? Here's my top 5:

1) Keep the Expanded Universe in-tact

 The #1 thing they have to do to keep me to stay is keep the Expanded Universe around and undisturbed. Star Wars continuity is so unique that it's the only thing that separates it from every other sci-fi story in Hollywood. If Disney discards it all, then they've lost several million Star Wars fans including myself over night. To let us know that we haven't wasted our time reading excellent novels over the years would be the best move they could make.

But I'm demanding a little but more...

2) Bring out the Original Trilogy in Blu-ray

Lucas hated the fans and wouldn't do it. Now Disney has the chance to make everyone happy and get this done. I don't see why they wouldn't however. It screams dollar signs for them, especially if they put in ALL the deleted scenes from the first three movies and not just scraps and tidbits that Lucas set out to dry on the last Blu-ray set.

3) Release FULL soundtracks to Episodes 2 and 3 on CD

Lucas fooled all the Star Wars fan into buying the soundtrack to Episode 1 and then buying the "full" version of it later that year. But when the same trick didn't work twice on Episode 2 Lucas took his toys back to Skywalker Ranch and pouted. Leaving us out in the cold without a chance to purchase the incredible work John Williams performed in both movies.

4) Bring out the Ewok movies on blu-ray

This one sounds a little pathetic I know, but I'd like to see those films brought out with more fan fare. Add deleted scenes and some commentary. Give us some behind the scenes stuff. These movies weren't bad and all the kids who watched them back then are money-carrying adults by now. Surely Disney wouldn't pass up the extra moolah for this?

5) Build "Star Wars World" at all Disney Theme Parks

Can you imagine how awesome this would be? And how it would beat the pants off Universal's Harry Potter World if they did?

Walk the city of Mos Eisley. Stop in for a drink at the cantina, or dinner at Jabba's Palace with live entertainers on a stage with Jabba!

Walk the streets of Corusaunt. Stop by the Jedi Academy for a lesson from a Jedi Knight.  The Possibilities are endless!


There. Is that "positive" enough for you? Now leave me alone...I want to go cry over some blue milk.

Reposnse for Josh

For some reason it won't let me reply to your comment so I'm having to post a response. 

Let me give you a scenario. The Colts get sold and move to Toronto. Their new name is the Toronto Blue Coats. Are you still a fan? Remember, it's the same team, same coach and same colors, just under a different logo, name and city.

No?

Well I've spent 25 years collecting and enjoying the Star Wars expanded universe. It's the big reason I'm a fan. If they take all that away and say it's hogwash, then they've basically said I wasted 1/3 of my life reading excellent stories by Zahn, Anderson, Denning and others.

If this happens, I'm out. You wouldn't follow the Toronto Blue Coats but you would still watch the NFL, right?

I'll see the movies, but I won't be a big fan anymore. It'll be like Star Trek to me. Enjoyable stories that are worth watching but not worthy of collecting.

Like I've said before "continuity" is what makes Star Wars unique to me and several other fans. If they lose this, than they've made a complete separation from that group of fans.

It's happened before. The prequels came out and some fans said "good bye" to Star Wars. They care about the original trilogy only. I understand that. They had a line drawn in the sand and Lucas crossed it.

Well this is my line. They're talking about making movies until the series is worn out than doing a reboot after that. Sad because under exposure is what's helped Star Wars in popularity for a long time. Look at the McRib? Would it still be as popular for McDonalds if it was available all year long? No. It's established it's cult following through scarcity of product.



Yes I just compared Star Wars to a McRib, but you get what I'm saying.

I'll post more on this later.

Cardco 1993

It was this very day back in 1993 that the namesake for my comic "Cardco" shut down it's doors and went away forever.

There's never been a better card and comic book shop since. (sigh)

So in honor of Cardco's demise, dress up as your favorite super hero or villain, go door to door and receive candied sweets from everyone who's feeling the same pain as you are on this day.

I never understood why people do this on the day Cardco closed. Guess we all deal with loss in our own way!

Star Wars: The End

Today I was in an all day meeting with my boss and her boss discussing new changes and challenges with our department. That afternoon I received a text from a friend of mine saying Lucas had sold Star Wars to Disney and that they were making more films in 2015.

At first I thought he was an idiot and didn't know what he was talking about. So I ignored his text and went back to my meeting.....then 7 more messages came in.

At break I got my buddy to pull up the news on his phone. I was shell shocked for the rest of the day.

Why would Lucas sell Star Wars?! Seriously, it's makes no sense. And for only 4 billion? Disney will make that money back before Episode 8 comes out!!

It makes ZERO SENSE. I even watched an interview with Lucas today about it and I've got to wonder if he even cares about anything anymore? Sure he hated the fans but NOW?!?

Now I have a giant mouse who controls my future?!

I've spent my life reading the books from the expanded universe. If Disney throws that into the wind then I'm out. I'm done. I will no longer be a Star Wars fan.

Yep, you heard me right. I'm through. If they make over a third of my life and time spent caring about the Star Wars universe a joke, then that's it for me and I have a feeling Hollywood is heading that way.

Who'll direct the new movie? Ron Howard and Steven Speilberg come to mind. But maybe they'll go with (cringe) JJ Abrams!!! My life would be ruined.

What will the stories tell? Would Harrison Ford even come back for another movie? Or will it be set further into the future? Now that Lucas doesn't have his thumb over it all I'm afraid Hollywood's going to run wild over this and it's not going to be pretty when it's all over.

So what does this mean for Dark Horse Comics? Guess they're done making stories once their contract is up. Disney's Marvel will own it after that.

What about the great work from authors such as Timothy Zahn, Kevin J Anderson and others, who've spent countless hours delivering us excellent stories to enjoy. Are we now calling all that "fan fiction" now??

The biggest reason I loved Star Wars was because of it's continuity. The books, the movies and TV shows all reside in the same story line unlike Star Trek where even the movies has contradicted each other.

If they take that away they take away my love for Star Wars as well. I guess now all we can do is wait and see. But one thing's for sure..... I have a bad feeling about this.

5 movies that should have been TV Shows

We've seen it happen all the time, where movies were surpassed by the TV shows which were based off of them. Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Highlander and Stargate. Their have even been some that were just as good as the films. (The Sarah Conner Chronicles and Tremors) But what movies out already would have been better as a TV show? Let's take a look:

 How awesome would it have been to watch 7 seasons of Harry Potter grow up at Hogwarts?! Think of how much more material from the books could've been covered?! It would seem like a whole new series! They really should consider this. Especially J.K. Rowling if she even wants to make another billion dollars again. This would be great. The films were fine, but seemed rushed for time since the movie wasn't long enough to fit everything from the books. This is a show that could be done right and with mediocre CGI be a very affordable show to make.

 As most of you know, I hated the Lord of the Rings movies. Hollywood butchered these timeless classics. But the story could be retold in a TV series! Starting with it's first season "The Hobbit" could kick off the next 3 seasons that would follow going into the next 3 books. How awesome would it be to meet Tom Bombadil? I think a TV show would be perfect and I know Tolkien fans would eat the story up all over again.

 The Narnia movie franchise seems to be dead. Hooray. They really screwed it up anyway. I'm glad it's gone. Now it's time to move the story line to TV and let it REALLY shine! 7 seasons, 7 books. Just like that. They wouldn't even have to be full seasons either. I think 12/13 one hour episodes is good enough to cover the story and how great would it be to see "The Magician's Nephew" "A Horse and His Boy" and "The Last Battle" told on the small screen?! Even a good version of the "Silver Chair" would peek my interest. Whoever owns the rights to this should seriously think about moving the series in this direction. This could be a gold mine.

John Carpenter's Vampires wasn't that good a movie at all but the premise was interesting. Here we have a group of vampire hunters on the prowl taking down blood-sucking baddies where ever they go. Why wasn't this turned into a TV Show? I think it would have been just as good as the Buffy series became (if not better) Though the time has past for this to become a TV Show, I think someone should rip it off and make a totally awesome story about this too. I'd watch it. 

Finally there's Star Wars. A few years back George Doofus told us he planned to have a live-action TV show about Star Wars but last year it was determined the show would be too expensive and not worth making at this time. Which prompts the question from me: TOO EXPENSIVE?! George! You're sitting on billions of dollars on movie sales alone not too mention all the merchandising you got! Surely there's room in those deep pockets of yours to spend a few bucks on a nice show? Think of all the billions more you could make off it?!

Rumors had the series dated around the time of Darth Vader before Episode 4 but an even better idea would be to take the story line from an old West End Games book titled "The Darkstyder Campaign" about a group of Rebels (5 years after "Jedi") who go after a renegade Moff in the outer reaches of space known as the Kathol Sector. They're cut off from the universe as they chase him into the unknown, encounter new alien species and investigate any mysterious Darkstryder technology they find. This series would be a HUGE hit and with the entire campaign already written out by WEG this show really writes itself on story lines!

I've always thought this would make an excellent series and think it has potential to blow away anything the movies have already made. I doubt it would happen however, seeing that Lucas is a jackass who only cares for himself, but one can wish, right?

Most embarrassing movies I've ever seen

So a question I always like to ask is what movie are you most embarrassed to admit you've seen in theaters. I have 2 that come to mind...

 Oh yeah, saw it opening weekend...while I was in college!! Embarrassing since I should have outgrown them by then but couldn't resist going to see the movie...now it's more of a regret.

But it doesn't beat the MECCA of all terrible movies as this one does. Yep, it actually premiered in theaters and yes, I was there to see it. I even knew at the time it was going to be bad. In fact, White Fang taps into his Indian spirit at the end end the movie, jumps off a cliff and transforms into an eagle!

I wish I was making that up.

Why did I do it? The party I was with wanted to go see it. I know, I know... when you have friends who want to see White Fang 2 it's time to get new friends!

To this day though, this movie would be hard to top!

What about you? Any embarrassing movies you care to admit too?

Hello, I'm Matt and I am an addict

I think I suffer from an addiction. I love Star Wars fiction. Any kind. Even some fan fiction. How much do I love Star Wars fiction?

I just purchased an old copy of a strategy guide for a Star Wars game that came out years ago...because I found out it had a short story included in the intro.

Yeah....pretty embarrassed about that fact but it's true.

At least admitting it is the first step.

What ever happened to good fan fiction?

It's time once again for my "nerd rant"

Today's topic is the lack of good Star Wars fan fiction these days. As Jerry Seinfield would say "Whaaaat's the deal?"

Back in the day I collected an impressive amount of fan fiction that was well written and didn't always have to involve the main characters to be interesting. But now-a-days fan fiction has gone down the crapper. I seriously found these titles while conducting a recent search:

1) The Luke Side of the Force
2) Boba Babysits
3) Mr Jodo and the Lord of Bounty Hunting
4) The Pilots Who Want Do Anything
5) Crazy About Obiwan

And this is after I typed in "Best Star Wars Fan Fiction" in Google.

It's pathetic. Fan fiction has become either alternate universe (what if) stories or 1st person accounts which I like to call "Dear Diary" fics, which are overdone and awful!

What I'd give to find a group of Star Wars fans who weren't simple-minded CW fans and could write brilliant Star Wars fiction without it having to be "epic"

Years ago I can across a site (that's now defunct) that had an excellent story about stormtroopers hiding deep in the middle of a jungle planet after a failed raid on a Rebel base. The story is about a pilot who returns to the planet to look for this lost platoon and upon discovering them, finds out they're not as "hopeless" as they seem. He ends up joining the troopers for a surprise second raid that catches the Rebels off guard and ends up being a victory for the Empire. There's a lot of detail given to show how resourceful and relentless stormtroopers can be and read like a dark military novel taking place inside the world of Star Wars. Now THAT'S what I'm talking about!

Since November is "Write a book" Month, I think I'm going to give a challenge out to see who can find me some fan fiction worth reading! I may even post a few of the ones I've gathered over the years as well, so stay tuned for that.

Boba Babysits. (sigh)

Fanboy Expo

Con-Quest rolls on to Knoxville, TN for the Fanboy Expo!

We're actually on our way now, so you'll hear more about it (as well as Fan Days in Dallas last week) soon!

Have a good weekend folks!

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Dragon Con pics (11)

Where in the world in Carmen San Diego? Right here!

 Megan just got done with this show but at Dragon Con some people from Cats showed up. Megan really liked their costumes.

 Cheetarah from Thundercats...now if she can only tell me where that blasted samoflange is!!!

 CONDORMAN!!!! BEST COSTUME EVER!!!! Too bad the wind was blowing in this picture, the wings, the boots and the mask looked like they were straight out of the movie!! Except for being Hispanic he could've fooled me! I saw him while on the 2nd floor and rushed to get downstairs and outside for a pic with him. I truly was blown away by the costume.

Megan didn't get it though...too bad the movie's impossible to get these days or I'd rent it for us to watch one night...then she'd really be confused as to why I love it so much!

 The pic got caught off but it's Johnny from the Karate Kid! Cobra Kai costume and everything! He even had the hair and slightly resembled the actor who play him in the 80's.

 The Dread Pirate Roberts from The Princess Bride. Sadly he was talking while the picture was taken. There were actually more than one dressed up as him.

 The Shredder and April O'Neal. Before you ask, no. There were no Ninja Turtles there. Odd.

 Spy vs Spy. Mad Magazine, but I knew them better from their Nintendo game.

 Voltron. Did you know I was a member of their fan club back in the day? When that membership card came in the mail I thought I was someone important! (dweebish, I know)

That's all the Dragon Con pics I have. Next up, pics from our recent trip to Fan Days in Dallas, TX

Have a good week folks!

Hyperspace shorts!!

OK. Geek alert!

For the past two years I've been searching for the exclusive Hyperspace shorts that could only be viewed thru the Star Wars fan club. When I'd tried to join years ago they told me they were cancelling the club and making all material free in a year when the last of the subscriptions ran out.

Of course, they lied. The site went down and all the material went with it. I was crushed. For years I've uselessly spent my time searching for these hard to get Star Wars stories.

Until...

Del Rey's website posted them all but ONE!! And to make matters worse, it was the one I wanted most to read! "Death in the Slave Pits of Lorrd"

Don't get me wrong, it was great to read the other shorts but it's almost as if they designed a specific kind of torture for me by not providing the one short I wanted to read! INCREDIBLE!

Since then I've sent notes to Del Rey that have all been ignored. I'm sad that my long wait has netted me all but that story.

Ok, my nerdy rant is done.

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That's all I have folks! Thanks for tuning in.

C-ya later!

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Time for some video footage from the Cats!

The last performance at Strauss was last week and if you didn't get to see it don't worry. We'll be playing clips of the show all day long.

Enjoy folks!

Dragon Con (10)

Halloween's right around the corner so why not show you the creepy costumes people dressed up as...

This costume has fake arms in the front, her real arms work the wings of the costumes, making them flap. Creepy but inventive!

 We're both bug-eyed! Get it? Bug-eyed?! Nyuck, nyuck, nyuck

 Freakiest one there was the girl to the left. White skin, contacts that blacked out her eyes, fang in her teeth looked real and when I asked for a picture replied in her regular voice.....weird.

 Me with Pinhead from Hellraiser. You could buy the boxes at the Con but Megan wouldn't let me get one.

Have a good weekend folks!

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I always told folks if I was to dress up as someone it'd be Auquaman because no one dresses up like him... until now!

 Me and Blade. Dude looked a lot like Wesley Snipes! I wonder if he paid his taxes? Hmmm...

 Deadpool and a girl dress as Captain America. There were a lot of female versions of super heroes there and male versions of Sailor Moon... which made my stomach turn.

 Me with Hawgirl

 Mary Marvel

 Rouge from the X-men

 Spiderman pose!

 War Machine

 And Wonder Woman, the only good costumed one at the Con. Everyone else's looked too homemade of store bought.

Dragon Con pics (8)

Now it's time for some Megan pics. Here she is with "Sweet Sixteen" star Anthony Michael Hall. He's a really nice guy and gave Megan a BDE (Best Day Ever) for sure! She even got an autograph poster and an invitation to come on the set of his latest film he's directing in New Orleans. (we're not going)

 Megan with her favorite super hero, Captain America

 Megan with the Disney Princess girls and Ursela

 The amazing thing about this was their costumes are made completely of DUCT TAPE! Incredible.

 Megan with the Hamburglar. Wish he'd break into Mickey D's safe house and get me a McRib!

 GREAT Ironman costume. One of the best costumes in general that I saw.

 Megan with Ironman

 Megan with Stormtrooper

 Megan with her fav, Ole Gregg. Don't get it? Ask Megan.

 The first pic I took of Megan with R2-D2, yes... that smile is real.

 Megan with Spiderman

 Megan with Telletubbies. She couldn't stop laughing she had so much fun seeing them. The other two were coming up behind us but Megan didn't want to wait. She told me these were her favorite two anyway..... yep, being a kindergarten teacher has it's drawbacks.