STAR WARS AFICIONADO WEBSITE

Sunday, 8 December 2019

THE CLONE WARS: PADAWAN BATTLE PARTNERS!

Not yet enemies, Jedi Padawans Ahsoka Tano and Barriss Offee are at the spearhead of space battle against enemy forces in this cool image from The Clone Wars Season Four image, Darkness on Umbara.

Saturday, 7 December 2019

EPISODE IX: A ROSE BY ANY OTHER NAME

With Rey at the Resistance's new hideout.

Now heavily involved in coordinating Resistance activity galaxy-wide, and later in the forefront of battle against the First Order, Rose Tico, once more played with cute strength by Kelly Marie Tran, will surely be very active in the events of The Rise of Skywalker.

Rose the soldier!

As seen at the Celebration 2019 event. Image: StarWars.com

Various EPISODE IX related interview clips:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JID0RVNW8bw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrunNiTKWoU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HywOnkv1E7g
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cobT4aaHlh0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUqWMFHPhJo

CLASSIC INDY: TWO OF A KIND LEGENDS!

When unique past and present adventurers meet: the Arthurian Knight (Robert Eddison) charged with keeping the secret of the Holy Grail, and the archeologist on the most personal of quests to find it, in a charming moment of 'strangely dressed' crusaders at the near climax of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, and the end of STAR WARS AFICIONADO's celebration of the film's Thirtieth Anniversary in 2019.

Friday, 6 December 2019

AFICIONADO REVIEW: 'RESISTANCE REBORN'

Courage under fire for our sequel heroes, as Resistance Reborn arrives in UK hardback.

Having been initiated successfully with the second prequel movie, the idea of publishing an all-new lead-in adventure to every Star Wars cinematic tale before its release has continued with both the sequel trilogy and the one-off movies, but to only varying degrees of success. The latest tie-in, Resistance Reborn, from newcomer author to the saga Rebecca Roanhorse (published in the UK by Century), is importantly charged with detailing the critical events that happened in the start of the year's gap between The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker, as the battle-weary General Leia Organa and her few surviving rag-tag heroes aboard the Millennium Falcon begin the long and dangerous road back to recruiting new leaders and fighters in their continuing conflict against the more universally dominant, thoroughly evil First Order. With help from old friends, including the iconic Rogue Squadron pilot Wedge Antilles, the heroes must liberate a group of captured influential names (one an important figure from Leia's pre-EPISODE VII senatorial past), secure a list of wanted suspects from the underworld on the legendary industry realms of Corellia, and steal as many decommissioned ships as possible from a far-off planet. All this whilst Leia is trying to set up a new secret base with the people of Ryloth, a deservedly bitter and suspecting race who are no strangers to fighting military threats since the days of The Clone Wars.

Though already an experienced speculative fiction author, Miss Roanhose's love of Star Wars is more important than ever in such a novel so eagerly-awaited by fans. And that love shines through in Resistance Reborn- clearly knowing how to write for the existing characters, giving Poe Dameron in particular more to do as the successor to a busy but physically withering Leia Organa. Sadly, new Jedi-to-be Rey and the dedicated-to-the-cause Finn, though also present in the story, ultimately feel sidelined from doing anything truly worthwhile, their destinies locked in 'hover mode' before J.J. Abrams gives them their final cinematic bow. Fans of the Expanded Universe post 2014, however, will be pleased with certain characters and referencing carefully included in this galaxy-spanning tale (mostly linked to Chuck Wendig's Aftermath trilogy and Claudia Gray's Bloodline), and there's some fair use of the aforementioned Antilles (Denis Lawson's character supposedly making a cameo for IX, too).

As for the overall story? Well, its plot reads great in the advance blurb but ultimately didn't win my full enthusiasm as a page-turner, lacking the kind of bold imagination and stirring action I thought was needed in this special case movie lead-in, to a film of such saga-ending significance as IX. It all felt to me that there was too much of a similar ilk done already in various storytelling media.

Ultimately, Resistance Reborn is perfectly readable stuff, and a solid effort. Yet, despite the author's commendably unabashed enthusiasm, it's certainly not the essential SW book collection purchase that it should have been, and deserved to be.

AFICIONADO RATING: 3 out of 5

Get it here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Star-Wars-Resistance-Rebecca-Roanhorse/dp/1780899920/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=resistance+reborn&qid=1575630195&sr=8-1

'SOLO': FIRESIDE DREAMING!

Revealing a rarely seen tender side to her nature, Val snuggles up to her man Beckett, and enjoy a warm fire against the chill of a Vandor night, as scoundrels talk life lessons and dreams of a rich plunder, during a nicely written and acted scene from Solo: A Star Wars Story.

Thursday, 5 December 2019

EPISODE IX: STORM BREAKERS!

Traversing the choppy waves of one of the expansive oceans on Endor, in some kind of flying powered air sled, our heroes head towards the stormy environs surrounding the ominous wreckage of the second Death Star, in this intriguing shot from The Rise of Skywalker.

EPISODE VIII: 'PEW-PEW!'

Vice Admiral Holdo takes swift and accurate aim against her Resistance captors in the main cruiser hangar deck, during critical events of The Last Jedi. The behind the scenes stories of actress Laura Dern's making blaster sounds during the filming of this scene have now become infamous!

Wednesday, 4 December 2019

EPISODE IX: BATTLING B-WINGS!

Their original onscreen involvement in the Battle of Endor for Return of the Jedi may have been curtailed by model filming problems at ILM in 1982, but that won't be the case for the upcoming The Rise of Skywalker, as fans will finally get to see the flexible fighting ships in full CGI action, and hopefully in the way they were originally intended to be seen...

In action for The Rise of Skywalker.

ROGUE ONE: UNWANTED VISITORS!

In the wild beauty of Iceland, Gareth Edwards and his crew capture to celluloid the unwanted arrival of Orson Krennic and his Deathtroopers squad on the far-off realm of Lah'mu, in a memorable start to Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.