May the force be with you

Obvious title. I know. But there you have it.

****WARNING!! THIS POST WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS FOR STAR WARS EPISODE VII: THE FORCE AWAKENS – PROCEED WITH CAUTION!!!****

I feel like i should sort of make clear where i stand with Star Wars. As a fan of Star Wars itself i’m rather neutral. I’ve never disliked it but i’ve never been totally nuts about it. I’ve seen the original trilogy, fully all the way through, once – but i certainly know enough about them generally. I’ve also seen the Family Guy skits quite a few times….i mean…that’s gotta be worth something right?

The prequels. I’ve seen Attack of the Clones all the way through. Phantom Menace i admit i know VERY little about except maybe some big moments and some characters, and i’ve seen bits of and basically get the jist of episode iii.

My neutral-ness is not fully out of choice. I was not alive when the original trilogy came out, i didn’t grow up around people who loved it and therefore made me watch it. When the prequels were all the rage i was SUPER into Lord of the Rings and that was sort of the centre of my world. My best friend was super into Star Wars though so i certainly got my fair share of knowledge and, if i do say so myself, became a pretty epic commander of the AT-AT on Star Wars Battlefront for PlayStation 1….yeah.

All that said, i totally get how big a deal this was. I’m a general fandom person. I love my films i love my fandom madness. Every time i saw the trailer in the cinema i would cry. I cried when we first saw Han and Chewie in the trailer because i knew how much of a big deal it was. I very much like JJ Abrams and, especially after all the brilliant reactions from everyone, did really want to see this film.

Generally – i really loved it! Enjoyed it immensely! Loved the story and the characters and some of the twists and turns and how everything fit together. I loved the odd little nod back to the original trilogy without it getting completely bogged down in it AND having the original characters there for a totally plausible plot and reason which i think is fantastic!

Okay, maybe bit by bit is easiest.

Rey – i love her. I love her. She’s fantastic. What a brilliant central character to have! I’m so relieved to see her as a character. She was clever, she was witty, she was completely kick ass and she didn’t have any romantic intentions!!! Do you know how rare that is for a female character?! Especially a lead. Because she didn’t need them! And she was sassy without being all “ohh us ladies are so brilliant oh you men *rolls eyes* and i shall use my flirty ways in a sassy manner and never show any kind of emotion without completely breaking out of my bad-ass ways because that’s how strong women work” which i am kind of totally bored of at the moment. Plus it wasn’t made into a big thing like “woah, you? a girl? can do stuff?” Yeah people were a bit like “oh she can actually take care of herself” surprised at times, but it fit and came across just as a person, not specifically because she was a girl. She was just part of the gang and she was so badass and she was perfect. Can’t wait to see more of her.

Also bigging it up for the ladies we now have a top storm-trooper sporting the girl power! Silver too. Nice. That is, if she didn’t end up in the trash compactor. Heh.

Finn – i love the idea of this guy! I love the idea of a storm trooper who doesn’t want to be a storm trooper any more! Gives a real humanity to the big white suits that i’ve never really felt before. He’s also so good at being funny without completely over-doing it!

The oldies – sorry to group them all! Specifically Han, Chewie, Leia and Luke. YEY for having these guys around. As i said above i love that having them there wasn’t just for the sake of it, it was totally plausible. Plus i liked that Luke was pretty much kept as a tease. Han and Leia – n’aww. Bless them! But they were so realistic weren’t they?! I loved that. They were so how these characters would be when they were older.

Ohhh and a lovely little hello to C3PO and R2D2, wouldn’t have been the same without them eh! But they’ve sure got some competition now with BB-8! The cutest little droid EVER right?!

Kylo Ren – so, his actual name was Ben right? I heard that correctly didn’t i? This guy. I mean. You okay bro? Interesting twist of it being Han and Leia’s son!! But he’s basically a stroppy teenager right now isn’t he? Like dude even your big hero buddy Vader didn’t kill a member of his own family like right to his face. Too far man….too far.

Speaking of…

The death of Mr Solo. Now, i had done amazingly well in not being spoiled for this film, i hadn’t even tried very hard. But this was, unfortunately, the one thing i got told, many times, in increasing volume, by the 6 year old son of a friend of mine. Not to worry. He’s basically lucky Star Wars didn’t mean as much to me as it could have! So i knew this was coming, but i didn’t know how or when! When it got to the moment..i sort of guessed it..then went back and forth in my head…and then it happened and it still totally got me. Cried.

As an Andy Serkis fan i was looking out for him in this film! About half way through i decided he was Snoke. I mean, it’s Andy Serkis – of course you’re not going to be able to see his face in a film! Ha! Plus i assume as the king of motion-capture he did that for his role? Having stared at him quite closely i reckon so but will have to look into it.

Also, either this was common knowledge that completely passed me by or it was actually a bit of a sneaky – Simon Pegg! Saw him pop up in the credits and was like “errm…say what now?”. I think he was the…big junk yard guy, the payment one. Possibly. And Lupita Nyong’o as Maz – also i think a bit of motion capture going on there? Well as much as possible. I really loved Maz as a character, hope we see more of her.

So, there you have it. My laptop battery is about to die and i’ve probably missed stuff out but – that’s the rambling of your fairly neutral Star Wars fan. I’ll certainly be eagerly awaiting the next installments! I’m so happy it’s been getting such praise and fans old and new are so pleased with it.

Smoke rises from the mountain of Doom. The hour grows late, and Gandalf the Grey rides to Isengard seeking my council…

For that is why you have come, is it not?

Christopher Lee is 91 today.

Let me just repeat that for you…

CHRISTOPHER LEE, is 91 TODAY….I just worship this man. Alright, i can’t say i’ve been around to experience his Dracula days, Sherlock Holmes, various other mysterious creatures and villains most of all i’m sure! But i hold him in extremely high regard! He is, in every sense of the word, legendary.

When i was 10 we had a to do a project on a celebrity at school and i did Christopher Lee because i’d fairly recently discovered LOTR and my dad said he’d be interesting, oh boy was he right!

The man has been in over 250 films! I’ve seen a couple of his old ones including a good chunk of The Wicker Man (with Edward Woodward…isn’t that the best name you’ve ever heard?). I have a hard time describing him to people of my generation if they haven’t seen Lord of the Rings, but thank goodness for Tim Burton films! I usually go to “Willy Wonker’s dentist dad” or “Count Dooku if you’ve seen Star Wars episode 2 and 3”

But yes he’s always popping up in Tim Burton films one way or another! I think maybe after Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter he’s one of the slight regulars! I can always pick up his voice in the animated ones, because honestly a voice like his certainly sticks in your brain! Speaking of his voice he was most recently in the radio play “Neverwhere” by Neil Gaiman which i listened to and it was brilliant! Get your hands on it if you can!

“I gave you the chance of aiding me willingly, BUT YOU HAVE ELECTED THE WAY OF PAIN”

And Lord of the Rings..

• He’s actually met J.R.R. Tolkien, he wrote to him once saying how if they ever made a film he’d love to play Gandalf or something and Tolkien was actually fine with that.
• He reads Lord of the Rings every year and has done for decades!
• I’d love to sit and talk to him about Lord of the Rings his knowledge is probably close second to Tolkien himself! Have you heard him say the writing on the ring in the language of Mordor? Perfection.
• I don’t exactly what regiment and things it escapes me, but the guy’s won medals in wars! On filming his last scenes in Return of the King (if you’ve not seen the extended edition, spoilers!…if you’ve not seen the extended edition…do it immediately!) he said to Peter Jackson “have you any idea what it sounds like when someone gets stabbed in the back…because i do”

I could go on forever but i wont! What an amazing life and career he’s had and he’s still going!

Is he Sir Christopher Lee yet? He must be surely! *Googles* YES! SIR Christopher Lee, my apologies! Here’s a video of him being his awesome self after being knighted

CLICK ME

“The love of the halfling’s leaf, has clearly slowed your mind” 

P.S Happy Birthday to Sir Ian McKellen for the 25th too!