Hello everyone!

So it's been a long while since I've had the chance to make it onto the blogs - school's too busy! I'm planning on (soon) posting a list of my "collection", as well as a book list (inclusing my favourites and least favourites, etc), however for now I'm going to chat about the Clone Wars and the new DVD.

On Tuesday, I convinced my mom to take me to Best Buy early in the morning (of course to buy the shiny new CW DVD on it's release day), and I got there fifteen minutes after the store opened. I'm very glad (and nerdily proud ) to be the first to pull it off the shelf and buy it. I brought it home and looked at it for a while (that cool, I know...) but didn't get a chance to watch any of it until yesterday afternoon. The special features are wonderful! (One interesting thing, for me at least, was that the soundtrack was recorded in Prague, Czech Republic, where I was for a few days last summer!)

I watched the deleted scenes first (they're always my favourite) and was surprised that many of them had in fact been axed. Thre was a great scene of Anakin and Ahsoka versus Ventress and droids, which I loved. Considering how short the movie was, I was very surprised to see how many great scenes were cut. I suppose Lucas, Filoni, and the crew had their reasons...

So then I was shocked to open up the newspaper and see this headline: "The Clone Wars sad end to Star Wars saga". Knowing I wouldn't agree (but not being able to stop myself nevertheless) read on. It was a very uneducated article, clearly writen by someone who doesn't like Star Wars (let alone a fan) to begin with. Here's a few quotes from the article...

"[...]and introduces an annoying new character, monkey-faced Padme Ahsoka."
Annoying? ... maybe. Monkey-faced? hmmm... wait!?! Padme Ahsoka? What's that all about? Word to the wise: if you're going to insult a character, get their name straight. Geesh!

"The story fills in gaps between Episodes II and III [...] Personally, I don't remember feeling all gappy. This story did not need to be told."
No gaps? An entire galactic war wasn't a gap to be filled in? Hmm... I wonder what this guy considers a "gap" (because it's definitely not my definition). And if there was any story outside of Anakin's that absolutely needed to be told in the SW universe, it was the war that brought down Galactic civilization as they knew it. Or maybe that's just me. =S

"The stylized animation is static, clunky, and herky-jerky. Compared to Pixar's artistry, The Clone Wars looks like Neanderthal cave paintings."
First of all, if the author did his homework, he'd know that it's not supposed to be life-like. Lucas wanted TCW to have that new edge to it... however, is it just me or did Neanderthals have computer imaging processors which simulated human movement? Hmmm...

And finally, "He [Filoni] and his colleagues seem clueless about the crap they created, just as Lucas himself is in denial. Over, the Star Wars saga is."
Well, that's just downright rude. That's fine, state your opinion (however flawed), but do so tactfully... "crap" usually isn't a word one sees in a newspaper review. And maybe someone should tell him about the continuing TV series, a second TV series, the extended book deal with DelRey, new video games, comics, and collectibles that are all happening or in the works at the moment.

Star Wars, if anything, is definitely not only alive, but thriving strongly.

I'm definitely going to send the author of this article an email (more... polite... than this blog, I suppose), and see what he has to say. Hopefully he won't shrug me off... we'll see.

May the Force be with you, Always!

PS I saw Quantum of Solace (the 22nd Bond film) on midnight Thursday night, looking forward to another fantastic addition to the series, and was a little disappointed. It was an excellent film, don't get me wrong, however it didn't stand up to my (possibly too high) expectations, and it didn't beat Casino Royale (but, admitedly, CR was a pretty hard film to outdo).

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We simply rob ourselves when we make presents to the dead.
- Publilius Syrus