GeekTyrant has a special sneak preview of an upcoming episode of Pop Culture Quest featuring Mark Hamill, who of course played Luke Skywalker in the Star Wars films. Prop Store’s Brandon Alinger appears with Mr. Hamill and shows him the original hero lightsaber that he used in Return of the Jedi, which was also used by Alec Guinness in A New Hope. You can check out a preview of the scene on YouTube. [Read more…]
A year ago I received a lot of nasty hate mail over my “sort of” movie review for Star Wars: The Force Awakens. In short, I completely hated it (really even more than I let on in my review). In addition to hating what they did with the classic characters, it kind of ruined the Original Trilogy, in that by Han and Leia having a child and doing such an awful job of raising him (along with Uncle Luke), they created a monster and basically undid all of what they accomplished in saving the universe in the original films. So it kind of just made the entire Star Wars odyssey all pointless. But there were plenty of other things wrong with it as well (in my subjective opinion), and you can read all about it in my full review of The Force Awakens. But this review is different. Finally, since 1983, there is a legitimate fourth Star Wars film. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. And I absolutely loved it. [Read more…]
This is part of my ongoing coverage of San Diego Comic-Con 2016. Disney had scheduled their Star Wars Celebration convention event to be held in London the week leading up to SDCC, but they still put together an impressive collection of original costumes together for exhibit at San Diego Comic Con at their official booth. This year, it was all costumes from the upcoming Rogue One, which is due in theaters in December. [Read more…]
Online auction company IfOnly has a special charity offering running for two weeks – one of the original “Han Solo” production jackets worn by Harrison Ford in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, including a certificate of authenticity from Lucasfilm. Proceeds from the sale of the rare wardrobe piece will benefit NYU Langone Center and FACES (Finding A Cure for Epilepsy and Seizures). [Read more…]
A stunt blaster prop attributed to use by Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back failed to attract any bids at it’s hopeful $200,000 starting price in the most recent Nate D. Sanders auction last week. Though featuring an interesting history and a prior sale at Sotheby’s, as well as a lot of mainstream media attention leading up to the auction (see CNBC, CBS, Reuters, MSN, EW, Daily Mail, NBC, etc.), the “jackpot” reserve strategy employed by Hollywood memorabilia auction houses that I’ve frequently written about seemed to be the barrier to sale. [Read more…]
Following a wave of interest in Star Wars memorabilia with the release of the new film, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Mark Hamill has started using Twitter as an authentication tool in an effort to help prevent fans from being defrauded in purchasing autographed memorabilia. I don’t recall an actor ever taking such a “hands on” approach to helping fans with authentication in such a manner, so it is a pretty interesting development. [Read more…]
I didn’t plan on seeing Star Wars: The Force Awakens on opening day, let alone write a review about it afterwards, so this is a bit off topic. I couldn’t find a critical review searching Google, so I wonder if I maybe saw an alternate cut of the film (some hailing it as the best or near best Star Wars film ever)? As readers of the Original Prop Blog know, I am a huge Star Wars fan, and seeing the original in 1977 at 4 years old was a life-changing event. Collectively, the first three films (Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi) are my favorite films of all-time. Didn’t care for much in the Prequels (loved the Maul lightsaber scenes the best). So how does the J.J. Abrams/Disney relaunch/update/merchandising empire measure up? It’s a mixed bag, honestly, and as the hours passed from seeing it unfold on screen (about 12 hours ago), it’s the negatives that stick with me most, though I mostly enjoyed it while it was happening, if that makes sense. I can’t say it’s a complete disappointment, since I went into it with low expectations; there are some excellent elements within the work (I’m also an Abrams fan). But overall, there are some serious flaws that leave me feeling a bit down on it, because they transcend this film and the characters work against the characters I have grown up to know and love to make them worse. I kept waiting for that rush of adrenaline to run down my spine, but it never came. Out of context from the original films, it’s a well-made, entertaining film. But context is everything. Search “disappoint” and #starwarstheforceawakens on Twitter, and “does not” or “doesn’t” always precedes “disappoint”, so maybe it is just me, or maybe people just went in willing it to be what they wanted. [Read more…]
Following last month’s public auction offering of one of the “prototype” Star Wars stormtrooper helmets by Profiles in History (that went unsold), Ewbank’s has now offered one for sale in their own auction on December 3rd… Upon examination of the photos, it would appear to be the same one that Christie’s withdrew from their own sale last year (with Nate D. Sanders withdrawing their own example from their own auction just one month after Christie’s). [Read more…]