Written by Robotical712 Reflections on the current state of the Star Wars franchise. (more…)

Ask 10 Star Wars fans to rank the Skywalker Saga films from their favorite to least favorite and you will likely get 10 different answers.  Prior to the release of the Rise of Skywalker if you asked them to then name the best things or redeeming qualities about their least favorite Saga film nearly all of them will mention the score, and it’s easy to understand why. John Williams Star Wars scores…

Concept art for the Rise of Skywalker posted by the artists hints at a very different climax for the film than that which appeared in the theatrical version.  Perhaps most interestingly is art that shows a lightsaber duel between three characters. The art doesn’t clearly identify who the three characters are.  When asked the artist replied that they couldn’t reveal who the characters were…

In a previous article we discussed the fandom spectrum and how it affects what fans like and how they prefer to participate in fandoms. [https://the-swsc.com/2021/03/24/the-fandom-spectrum/] This article aims to discuss how the fandom spectrum can be used to understand what fans don’t like about new entries in their favorite franchises and what generally leads to fandom backlash. This article…

Fandoms major and minor are composed of a myriad of different ways in which fans enjoy, interact with, and express their liking for their favorite stories.  User LordByronic on Reddit broke down fandom expression into a dichotomy that they described as the curative and the transformative.  (https://np.reddit.com/r/gallifrey/comments/2u73cg/tumblrbashing_why_or_why_not/co5ucsk/).  LordByronic saw…

**CW/TW racist slurs & remarks** It’s been well-documented that racism surrounding the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy erupted in an overt social media boycott stemming from a few fringe members of the Star Wars fandom. Star Wars Episode VII was originally accused of being “anti-white” and promoting “white genocide” because John Boyega was a Black stormtrooper and other leading faces were not white…

“One of the first things I did when I started this project was to order a kit of recorders” – Ludwig Göransson on scoring the Mandalorian Ask most people to imagine a theme song for an action hero and the sound of the recorder isn’t the first thing that comes to mind.  In the US, at least, if you mention the recorder to people who’ve heard of it the reaction you’re most likely to get from them…

John Williams and Hans Zimmer are both brilliant composers of iconic blockbuster scores, but they have very different processes by which they craft their scores.  John Williams considers himself “Old School” when it comes to how he goes about actually writing his scores.  He still uses pencil and paper to actually write out the score. He also prefers to score his films based on his initial…

A Leitmotif is a short musical phrase that is repeated throughout the film or series of films to emphasize recurring people, places, objects, ideas, emotions etc. Some of the best uses of leitmotif in cinema, in my humble opinion, come from film series with long run times where the scores for all of the films are composed by the same composer.  The length of the series allows the composer to…

Why do films have scores?  It seems like a rather odd question to ask. To us It seems perfectly natural that when we watch a movie there is music behind each scene carefully crafted to shepherd our emotions through the story.  In fact a number of videos have been made that point out just how awkward films feel when the score is removed.  But if you think about it it is rather odd that there’s…

Kyoshi Island and the Kyoshi Warriors draw inspiration from Japanese history and culture in a number of ways, but some Chinese influences can also be seen.  Names  Kyoshi – 京士, is actually a Japanese male first name, Kyo means capital, shi can mean samurai  Suki – すき or 好希 using Kanji, is a Japanese female first name, the Kanji mean good and hope, respectively  Unagi – うなぎ, 鰻, is the Japanese…

Lando’s story is one of foresight, sacrifice, bravery, and promise – not betrayal.

In this series, I offer alternative perspectives on classical interpretations of the Star Wars mythos.

A long-standing attribute of Lando Calrissian’s story among Star Wars fans is his betrayal at Cloud City. For most, there isn’t a lot up for debate regarding this aspect of The Empire Strikes Back.Certainly,…

The Mudhorn Clan Returns

Although Mando’s quest has only begun, our wait is over and we lay out our reactions here. Beware: This is the way to spoilers!

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Book 1 Chapter 3 of Avatar the Last Airbender takes inspiration from Chinese, Japanese, Tibetan, and Hindi for the names it introduces. 

Zhao –Zhào, 赵, is a Chinese surname, the character means “to surpass”.  It’s possible that a pun was intended with Admiral Zhao’s name considering zhǎo, 找, means “to try to find” (an appropriate name for the other character seeking…

FIre Nation armor appears to have been heavily inspired by different types of armor used by the Chinese throughout their history. Zuko’s armor appears to be inspired by a type of Chinese armor called “Cord and Plaque”, which features a breast plate consisting of two plates over the chest and two plates over the back held together by shoulder straps and cords around the waist.  

Cord and Plaque…

John Boyega recently criticized Disney and Lucasfilm for sidelining Finn even while advertising him as a Jedi character ahead of the first movie. The shot list leaked before The Force Awakens strongly indicates Finn was indeed meant to be Force Sensitive and a co-protagonist with Rey.

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