The premiere of Star Wars: The Force Awakens is less than two weeks away, and it appears the anticipatory celebration of all things Star Wars has begun for reals. Like, the cool people finally showed up, and they’ve dimmed the lights for proper party conditions. For their part in the synchronicity, Earthling Cinema, still too classy to address the prequels, finishes their look at the original trilogy in their most recent episode. I’ve posted about Earthling Cinema’s take on Star Wars: A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back. The results are pretty fantastic.
Unsurprisingly since ROTJ is considered a subpar entry into the franchise compared to the first two, EC does mock it more mercilessly than the first two, and their analysis is likewise somewhat thinner. But as a fan of the film since its theater premiere, I can attest that the mockery is both cathartically satisfying and the analysis is intriguing.
In the video you’ll learn about musical leitmotifs, the connections between Endor and the Vietnam war, and the theme of technology vs. the natural. You’ll also get to enjoy the mockery of Star Wars as a one-woman show, the send-off of Boba Fett, and the reuse of plot elements from A New Hope. Plus lots of other lovely jokes I wouldn’t dare give away.
On September 4, a new novel titled Star Wars: Aftermath will be the first of a trilogy published to bridge the events of Return of the Jedi with the upcoming events of The Force Awakens. Chuck Wendig has written the new post-Return of the Jedi canon for fans to devour.
Part of the novel was “accidentally” released on the web, and rather than attempt to shut the spread down, marketers decided to release even more of the excerpt via Entertainment Weekly. So now the first few chapters are available to preview. Go read them here.
The opening of Aftermath shows the victory of the Battle of Endor, the destruction of the Death Star, the Emperor, and his henchman Darth Vader are not the definitive win the film, especially the Special Edition, might make us think. Though Ackbar gives a victory speech in the prelude, the first scene is on Coruscant, where civilians are toppling the statue of the Emperor but stormtroopers are quick to use violence to subdue the mob. It is a sensible turn of events considering how rebellions work in the real world. It dampens the joy we’ve come to know at the end of Return of the Jedi, but it is a sensible start to the journey to The Force Awakens.
Is a Star Wars novel meant to be of literary complexity and composition or is it merely plot-based fiction to be quickly absorbed by the brain? This excerpt certainly seems to point to the latter. The use of present tense brings an odd urgency to the narrative but makes for somewhat odd reading–usually a novel like this would be written in past tense. But that’s where I’ll leave the nitpicking. Decide for yourself if the writing is stomachable or not–after all, they’ve been thoughtful enough to give you a taste-test.
Earlier this week, StarWars.com featured a collection from the Hamill family archives–behind-the-scenes snapshots from when Mark Hamill’s wife and young child visited the set. They are simply precious. Imagine what it might have been like to, at the age of three, sit inside R2-D2 or meet actual Ewoks! Nathan Hamill was blessed.
But there are gems for all fans. Here are some highlights. The rest can be found here.
This is easily my favorite simply because it is so unexpected to see Emporer Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid, left) with such a broad, ingratiating smile. He’s such a cuddly fellow! I further love the very 1983 fall fashions sported by Ian, Mark, and Denis Lawson aka Wedge Antilles.
What if Luke had fallen to the Dark Side? This pose suits him well. He also appears to be channeling Mr. Burns.
Oh, Nathan Hamill, you are so adorable peeking out of R2-D2! “Can I live in here, Dada?”
The awesomeness in this one is all in the sidelong look and pinched chin that puppeteer Frank Oz is giving to Yoda. There is some sort of disapproving judgment implied. Perhaps Yoda senses a poopy diaper?
Look at the joy on that child’s face. Adult fans might malign the Ewoks for being glorified teddy bears to entice the kiddies, but, hey, it worked! He even got to meet a BABY Ewok. I am overwhelmed by the cute.
There’s almost too much of everything in this episode. Too many references to do them all. To many shipper moments to catch your breath.
Cassandra’s “Always… no, no… never… forget to check your references.”
Lily
The Flower symbolizes friendship and devotion. Which helps explain why every other word launced a ship. And ties in nicely to the Emma/Lilith relationship over time.
The opening scene is a smorgasbord.
Once Upon a Time “Best Laid Plans”
This scene picks up immediately after Isaac’s imprisonment.
Fantasia – “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice”
As always, The Apprentice is accompanied by theme music based on the film.
Mickey The Apprentice traipses down the stairs to the Sorcerer’s… what is this place anyway?
According to The Disney Audio Archive and Sterling Holloway, “Once upon a time, in a deep dark cave way down underground, there lived a mighty sorcerer.” So that’s cannon anyway.
The Sword and the Stone
The Sorcerer finally manifests himself as blue smoke with white stars and red lights. It’d be an incredibly interesting coincidence if this weren’t intentional.
Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace
The Sorcerer sounds a lot like Palpatine, particularly with the diminutive, “my Apprentice.”
The Invisibles
Several works of fiction have dealt with authors entering into or getting trapped in their own stories, but few have dealt with them continuing to write inside. In Volume 2 of Grant Morrison’s magnum opus, the reader learns that Kay actually wrote herself into the story. A feat which required technology, magic, and time travel.
Being trapped inside might not be inherently bad; though Isaac doesn’t seem to have been too fond of it. Coincidentally, The Apprentice looks an awful lot like Tom’O’Bedlam, greatest sorcerer of his age.
The Hero with a Thousand Faces
Jennifer Morrison actually mentioned this title on Facebook and Twitter a couple weeks ago.
Gold: We won’t have what we need to rewrite the book, to secure our happy endings, until Ms. Swan has completed her journey.
We’d be forgiven for assuming he means only the dark path he mentions next. But in a sense, that’s just the latter phase(s) of the hero’s journey, dramatized below by Ryan Dunlavey in Action Philosophers.
Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi
Gold (again): The savior has taken the first step down a dark path.
Led Zeppelin and Jack of Fables
Lily’s adoptive parents are James and Priscilla Page. They’re named page to tie in with all this author stuff, The first names are clever. Jimmy Page’s guitar could scream for Adam and Eddie as easily as Tolkien. But Priscilla Page is a bold move. Fables is an ongoing comic book series with a conceit similar to that of Once Upon a Time. Priscilla Page handles retrieval, capture, and return of Fables to the Golden Boughs Retirement Village.
Paradise Lost
With Lily explicitly noting the savior.anti-savior setup they have going, it’s probably safe to revisit one of the greatest stories of hubris in the Enlish language.
Regina: How about we make this the day we both beat fate?
Nether of them actually do, of course. Emma picks up an embodied nemesis and Regina finds Robin bound by his sense of honor to remain with Zelena.
Lost
Emma’s foster family serves Mr. Cluck’s Chicken Shack for dinner despite having a two thousand dollar espresso machine,
Once upon a Time in Wonderland
A chess board with the white pieces closest to the camera and more to the left than their black counterparts dominates the foreground while Belle says goodbye to Will, recalling the White King.
Scooby-Doo
Will: If you’ve come here to hurt me, you best get on with it. But I warn you, I’m scrappy.
Gold: All right, Scrappy.
Scrappy is the original Poochy, added to the ABC series Scooby-Doo in 1979 in an effort to bolster ratings. It worked, but oversaturation ultimately squandered fans’ goodwill. He’s a universally unpopular character and the trope namer for characters with hatedoms rather than fandoms.
However, the reference here is both to Will’s boxing style and his willingness, even eagerness, to begin a discussion with fisticuffs. The image is from 4×11 because even he knows punching the Dark One is silly.
Weekly World News – The World’s Only Reliable News
Once a supermarket checkout aisle staple, The Weekly World News published its last issue in 2007. Consisting of mostly fictional material, the tabloid occupied a sort of fairy tale space in American culture for nearly three decades. Pinocchio’s story would not have seemed out of place on the cover as “Toy Becomes a Real Boy.” And it would have ran without a disclaimer.
Maleficent
First things first. You cannot escape this car in a Volkswagon Beetle. Even if you’re the Antisaviour.
Other than that, we mostly want it for the license plate that connects Lily to Maleficent via the 2014 movie. Rhea Sylvia conceived Romulus and Remus, founders of Rome with the god Mars. She was a minor forest diety, a spirit of the forest, like the movie Mal.
Disney Descendants
Snow and Charming have a dateughter. And a son. The Evil Queen has a son. Maelficent has a daughter. Zelena’s pregnant. What does it all mean? Hopefully not this. (Although Kristin Chenoweth is always a delight.
Erin’s Happy Shipper Moments
Captain Swan
Although Hook himself isn’t in much of the episode, he and Emma have a key romantic scene. As Emma is saying her good-byes to the fam before she and Regina road trip it to New York, Killian gives her one last encouragement on how to keep from the dark side as a man who started as a hero, turned dark, and has had to work his way back. She asks him why he gave in to the dark path of revenge. “I had nothing to live for. You have your parents, Henry…” “You,” she supplies wryly. “Aye, me. And I you. That’s what’s kept me on my path now. Use whatever it takes to stay on yours.” If Emma does go dark, or on the brink of it, and all signs seem to point that way, I’m hoping Killian will be the one to bring her back.
Swan Queen
This is a Swan Queen episode if ever there was one. Regina is the one to comfort Emma when she finds her staring at the microfilm article about baby Lilith Page, empathizing about being fate’s plaything–Emma’s only friend may have been her darkside doppleganger, but Regina managed to adopt the Savior’s son. In the first half of the season, this role was being filled by Killian, but now Regina has stepped in. Regina suggests they road trip to New York. Emma says she doesn’t need a babysitter, but Regina responds by saying perhaps she needs Emma. “But maybe I need you. You lived in New York; I’ve barely been outside of Storybrooke. How ’bout it, Swan? How ’bout we make today the day we both beat fate?”
On the road trip, Regina attempts to find out more about the story of Emma and Lily, leading to the various flashbacks, although it doesn’t seem that Emma shares the information from those flashbacks with her. Instead, as Emma is challenged by her feelings of anger, fear, and aggression (the Dark Side of the Force are they), Regina is constantly trying to pull her back, make sure she’s okay and not crossing lines she can’t come back from. Most noteably this happens when Emma has Lily on her knees at a point of a gun and Regina talks her back from killing her. What’s at stake for Emma: Lily knows the whole story and wants revenge against Emma’s parents. By killing Lily, Emma would be protecting her family. This was the Cruella justification. But this time, Emma knows Lily can’t kill anyone, at least not at the moment. There is time for other options. Regina points this out and makes it clear that if she crosses this line, the path back is not easy. “Your parents need a hero, not a murderer…Cruella was an accident. But if you cross this line, the journey back isn’t easy. Trust me. I know.” And Regina reaches her.
Lily Swan
Of course, the other major ship that got play this episode was Lily Swan. All of the talk of fated, entangled lives. All the discussion of Lily being in darkness and life being lighter when Emma is around. All of that can easily be read as soul-crossed lovers stuff. Among the best of these lines: “Emma was the first person who really understood me. You know, like we were meant to come into each other’s lives.”
But also: “My life is filled with darkness. When you’re around, things are brighter.”
And the set designers are fine leaving the ambiguity there. When Emma and Regina enter Lily’s mobile home, there is a colorful banner hanging over her couch. It’s one of those multicolored prayer banners with the many different religious symbols to guide a person to enlightenment–clearly a character-building detail–but it also reads as a gay pride banner to anyone looking for clues of that sort.
Dragon Queen
Regina looks truly excited and impressed when Malificent crashes the family meeting to get Emma on the case of finding her daughter. “I knew Gold couldn’t keep the dragon on her leash for long.”
Rumpbelle
Gold enlists Will’s help to retrieve Belle’s heart. But the banter that opens the deal is priceless. While Will certainly doesn’t want to work with Gold, he does want Belle to have her heart.
The mission is a success, and Rumple gives back Belle’s heart while also seemingly bowing out of the love triangle. Gold: “We [he and Will] share one thing in common–we both care for you… I’m not asking for forgiveness. I spent every day of our marriage deceiving you when I shoulda been trying to make you happy. Now it’s too late. My heart is nearly black. If I continue hurting you, then there’s no hope for me. I’m going to return this [her heart] to you, Belle. But he’s [Will] the one who is going to protect it, because I’ve proven unworthy.” When he leaves, she turns to go after him or say something at least. Will tries to take her hand but she pulls it away. Now, on the one hand, this could be sincere change in Rumple, a move that deserves Belle cracking her heart open to let him back in. But, on the other hand, this could be a calculated move to sully Will in her eyes by teaming up with him, magnanimously giving back her heart, both literally and figuratively, and showing repentance and a lack of jealousy.
Scarlet Beauty
The same scenes that play into the Rumpbelle fandom play here, but less well. The scene opens with Belle and Will kissing before Belle goes off to babysit for a bit. Will, when originally approached by Gold, readies himself for a fight. Although he doesn’t trust Gold, he cares enough about Belle to take a chance to get her heart back.
But why does he back up so when Rumple gives her heart back? Rumple gives a line that might be a clue to another twist in this story: “But he’s the one who is going to protect it, because I’ve proven unworthy.” At face value, it would seem Rumple is talking about Will making her happy. But there’s another option, a more literal one. Perhaps Rumple put Belle’s heart in Will’s body and Will’s heart in Belle’s body. Thus he would literally be protecting her heart, and the one in her chest, the one that Regina might seek to remove again for leverage, would actually be Will’s. He would take the chance rather than her. It’s a bit convoluted, but not outside of the range of plausibility.
Outlaw Queen
Good grief. Where to start? This story line went from bad to worse in the span of five minutes. But let’s begin at the good. Regina travels to New York to save her love Robin Hood from her insane sister. I like the twist of the normal trope here–the princess needing to be rescued from the evil king.
The bad. Then, at the end of the episode, she finally makes it to New York, gets reunited with Robin, tells him Marian is actually Zelena, and (conveniently) it was Zelena who killed Marian (not her). She can’t understand why Robin is so reticent to believe her, to grab Roland and make a run for it.
The ugly. Then Marian returns home, and all hell breaks loose. First, Zelena attempts to play Marian and get Robin on her side. This works for a while, until Regina makes a move to find the magical artifact allowing Zelena to look like Marian and Zelena brings down the illusion to reveal to Robin the truth. Robin is aghast. Zelena is pregnant. He can’t leave her.
Why is this ending so ugly? Because Robin was raped (or merely sexually assaulted by some state’s definitions). It’s bad enough for OQ shippers that he would consent to sex with Marian, and certainly that is one of the implications of Zelena’s pregnancy. But the fact that he was consenting to sex with Marian, not Zelena, means that Zelena raped him. The ugliness of this is that the show runners won’t likely treat it as such. Already, he means to stay with Zelena out of honor. I understand him wanting to make sure the baby is healthy and protected, but the whole turn of events, besides being needlessly soap-operatic, is likely going to do little justice to telling a story of male rape. And that’s a damned shame. Treat it respectfully, or find another way to challenge the Regina/Robin relationship.
We learn that sympathy for De Vil is misplaced. Or is it? The writers appear to be doing some deep literary work. And a fan favorite ship is upturned.
Cassandra’s “Always… no, no… never… forget to check your references.”
“Sympathy for the Devil”
The first track on Beggar’s Banquet, 1968, from The Rolling Stones. While the song doesn’t actually generate any sympathy for Lucifer, this episode goes out of its way to empathize with the baddies. Rumple gets played pretty hard. Cruella’s story is structured so that her nature only becomes clear at the end. And the Author’s heart gets broken.
He also stands in for the tempter in several cases. Setting Snow and Charming on the path that lead to Lily’s exile. Giving Cruella her magic. And who knows what else?
But what’s puzzling you Is the nature of my game
Isaac: Why? Cruella: That’s the question on everybody’s mind, isn’t it? I wish I had an answer.
One Hundred and One Dalmatians
The title card featured the running dalmatians from the movie integrated into the standard forest scene. More and more appeared as they ran.
Cruella’s magic, the ability to control animals, manifested as green smoke; an homage to the orginal animated feature and the perpetual cloud surrounding the character.
Cruella: With one whistle I can send a hundred snarling dogs after you.
In this version of the story, Cruella gets the dalmatian coat. In fact, she sews it herself.
Wicked
It’s not much, but Zelena’s inspiration and tagline gets a quick mention.
Regina: I can handle one wicked sister.
Cinderella
Isaac calls Cruella’s life “a classic Cinderella story.” While that title belongs to Storybrooke’s Ashley back in the Enchanted Forest, it not only makes sense that multiple realms would mean multiple iterations of the same story, it fits with how we classify folktales. Cruella’s an Aarne-Thompson 510A, “The Persecuted Heroine.” She’s got the missing father, the female antagonist, the confinement, and escaping for a magical date. The variation, of course, is that she’s a psychopath.
Murray’s Night Club
Cruella and Isaac went to a real place. Well, a place based on a place that actually existed.
Murray’s Night Club opened in London in 1913. While both its format and ownership changed over the years, it remained a durable Beak Street fixture until 1975.
The stand-in in the episode looks almost nothing like existing drawings or photographs, but it’s nonetheless a nice touch. If you’re interested, you can read more here.
Ernest Hemingway / Henry David Thoreaux
Isaac isn’t exactly impressed with Gold’s cabin, first mocking the antlers and then trying to recover with, “makes me feel like Hemingway; or Thoreau.” Both the intensely masculine Hemingway and the anti-establishment Thoreau might have been at home in such a place, writing the Nick Jones stories or Walden.
The Great Gatsby
Makes sense. An Author reading the classics. But it really informs the flashback scenes. The Great Gatsby is the quintessential Jazz Age novel. And he was a contemporary and friend of the aforementioned Hemingway. The text on the Introduction places the edition between 2010 and 2013, which is an eerie detail since it also places it before Frozen. I’m impressed they bothered to note when the season takes place like that.
Isaac and Ishmael
Something’s missing when you drop Hemingway, Fitzgerald, and Thoreau without a fourth name. Another American Romantic or Renaissance writer. I can’t shake the feeling that the Author’s name is Isaac because that missing author, Melville, began his masterwork, Moby Dick, with, “Call me Ishmael.”
Angry Birds
Because she’s not actually going to kill Henry, Cruella sits on her hood and plays the hottest new game app. It’s one of two game references. The logo would have looked like this at the time.
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
In the 2003 XBox game, in game choices affected your characters position on a spectrum between the light side of the Force and the dark side. Jedi were hale and healthy, tanned and bright eyed. But as Sith slipped toward the dark side, or splashed in and had fun, their skin paled and cracked while their eyes sunk and rimmed with red. That’s pretty much what’s been going on with Emma.
Bonus! Return of the Jedi
I can’t call this one an actual reference because the irreverence would be unusual, but the resemblance is uncanny. Rumple’s heart looks a bit like Boushh’s thermal detonator during the confrontation with Jabba the Hutt. It’s even in a similar position.
Erin’s Happy Shipper Moments
Rumpbelle
I’d thought I’d lead with Rumpbelle, because they got the biggest high and then the biggest drop kick to the groin.
Regina visits Belle to help her make sure that Gold won’t be a threat to her trip to NYC to save Robin from Zelena. Belle asks what she can do to help. “I’m so glad you asked that.” Cut to next scene. When we return to Belle, she is calling Rumpelstiltskin to the wishing well in the woods. They have a moment of remembrance about what he said to her there–that she had chased the darkness out of him. Well, not quite. She asks why he’s back, what he’s after. Her? Gold pulls his heart out of his chest to show the blackened heart with only a small dot of beating red light in the middle. He explains that centuries of dark deeds take their toll. “Will you die?” she asks. Rumple answers, “In a manner of speaking, yes. I will lose any ability to love, and that goodness you saw inside of me will be gone forever.” Only the Author can reverse the process. “I don’t expect you to understand, of course.” Belle counters, “But I, I do understand.” “You do?” “Sometimes I worry I threw out the chipped tea cup too soon.” THEY KISS. Rumpbelle fans everywhere shout, “OTP!” and throw their hands up in victory.
But then the kiss breaks and Belle continues, “You know what the problem is though…Will is just such a better kisser than you are.” “What?” Rumple asks (as do the Rumpbelle fans who had just been cheering). “You are pathetic. Watching you come grovelling back to me is like a dog begging for scraps.” “Why are you saying this? This isn’t like you, Belle.” (The Rumpbelle contingent nod their heads energetically in agreement.) “But it is so like me,” Regina interrupts from off-screen. The cut to her reveals that Regina has taken Belle’s heart and has been controlling her this whole time. Regina tells Belle to forget this ever happened and scamper off before making her demands clear to Gold, who pretty much just got his black heart run through the cheese grater.
By the way, there’s an upside down ship hanging from the ceiling in Gold’s shop. Symbolic much?
Swan Queen
Emma worries about Regina heading into NYC alone. And since Regina refuses to let Emma join her in NYC, Emma gives her her gun to protect her. (Because giving a gun to a person who has probably never used one before is a good idea. Headcanon fills in that since these two are in a committed relationship, Emma’s certainly taken her out to the woods and shown her how to shoot.)
But wait! Cruella has kidnapped Henry! The two watch their video message together and then share a very intimate, serious look. It reminds me of the look on Ripley’s face in Aliens: “Get away from her, you bitch!”
Making plans to rescue Henry, Regina comments that it’ll be far more satisfying to kill Cruella rather than the Author. When Snow is taken aback by the comment, Regina retorts, “It’s Emma’s heart we’re trying to save, not mine.”
Later, Emma splits the Henry Rescue Posse into two groups: 1) her parents, and 2) everyone else, showing that she trusts Regina and Hook while she doesn’t trust her parents. “So you’re not angry with me for keeping your parents’ secret?” Regina asks. Nah, Emma’s soft spot for Regina foists the blame solely onto her parents. Regina then teams up with Hook to coach Emma into forgiving her parents. Emma points out that while the two of them have been bad guys in the past, they’ve never lied about it and played themselves off as heroes. (And I begin wondering if there’s a name for this OT3. Captain Swan Queen?) The two attempt to reason with Emma using empathy. “Even heroes make mistakes, love,” Hook points out. It’s a cool little switcheroo and also heavy foreshadowing. But Emma doesn’t go for it. She continues her petulant little child act by saying, “You two understand them so well you forgive them.”
Outlaw Queen
Regina makes plans to rescue Robin. She manipulates and endangers Belle to do it. I’m not sure Robin would approve, exactly, but it certainly shows her commitment to her man.
Captain Swan
Other than the OT3 moment mentioned above, there’s just not much overt Captain Swan material in this episode. Hook is always in the background of Emma’s scenes (except when she gives the gun to Regina) and he’s always showing concern and support for her. That’s pretty sweet of him.
But the fact that he’s the one that says, “Even heroes make mistakes, love,” right before she goes off and makes a pretty big mistake foreshadows that he’ll be crucial to keeping her from going full-on darkside or at least bringing her back.
There is no shame in this house over loving Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi. We have a “family picture” of the rebels together on Endor in our kitchen. It was the one I first remember going to see in the theaters (and I remember seeing it at least three times that summer).
A little gift to ROTJ fans has hit the internet in the form of 50 behind-the-scenes shots from the film. There are your normal shots of actors hanging out on the sets looking cool and anachronistic, like this one.
There are wonderful shots showing the various ways they created creatures, managed scale models, or otherwise pulled off impressive non-digital special effects, like this one:
There are even shots that suggest the behind-the-camera relationships of cast and crew, like this one:
Please note, although Warwick Davis looks much younger, he is probably 13 at the time this picture is taken. I suspect the snuggle from bikini-clad Carrie Fisher is meant to be innocent, but I wonder what is going through pubescent Warwick’s head.
There’s even a variation of the shot we have in our kitchen.
Several works of fiction have dealt with authors entering into or getting trapped in their own stories, but few have dealt with them continuing to write inside. In Volume 2 of Grant Morrison’s magnum opus, the reader learns that Kay actually wrote herself into the story. A feat which required technology, magic, and time travel.
you best get on with it. But I warn you, I’m scrappy.
Weekly World News – The World’s Only Reliable News
d featured the running dalmatians from the movie integrated into the standard forest scene. More and more appeared as they ran.
The Dinglehopper 