A Week of Star Wars
So, it's been a busy week on the Star Wars front, starting with the release of the long-awaited "Limited Edition" DVDs of the original trilogy, featuring the unaltered theatrical Han-shoots-first-dammit versions of the movies which George Lucas swore would never be released on DVD except if he could make a really big pile of money. Actually, they really are a bit of a con - each movie has a two-disk set, the first of which appears to be identical to the disks from the Special Edition trilogy box set, and the second of which contains the theatrical versions. No special features other than commentaries on the special editions (not even the stuff from the fourth disk of the box set). Meh.
It's no coincidence that this week also saw the release of LEGO® Star Wars™ II: The Original Trilogy - another entirely too much fun video game. It follows much the same format as the original, albeit with a few new bells and whistles. Once again there's a vast array of playable characters (and if you have a save from the first game, you can play as any of the Episode I-II characters too), and great gobbets of silliness. Excellent.
What was more fortuitous is that this week saw the One Man Star Wars show passing through Oxford, which I went to see on Thursday night. It was utter genius from start to finish - hilariously funny and constantly entertaining. Admittedly, if you don't know the movies then you'd be completely lost - but that's really not who this is aimed at. Writer/performer Charles Ross has incredible energy as he plays all the characters - including seamlessly portraying both sides of the battles. And, yes, he does the music and the spaceship battles too. Go see it if you can!
And finally, Look who's making a special appearance in the costume shop downstairs:
It's no coincidence that this week also saw the release of LEGO® Star Wars™ II: The Original Trilogy - another entirely too much fun video game. It follows much the same format as the original, albeit with a few new bells and whistles. Once again there's a vast array of playable characters (and if you have a save from the first game, you can play as any of the Episode I-II characters too), and great gobbets of silliness. Excellent.
What was more fortuitous is that this week saw the One Man Star Wars show passing through Oxford, which I went to see on Thursday night. It was utter genius from start to finish - hilariously funny and constantly entertaining. Admittedly, if you don't know the movies then you'd be completely lost - but that's really not who this is aimed at. Writer/performer Charles Ross has incredible energy as he plays all the characters - including seamlessly portraying both sides of the battles. And, yes, he does the music and the spaceship battles too. Go see it if you can!
And finally, Look who's making a special appearance in the costume shop downstairs: