Star Wars CATALYST A Rogue One Novel - A must read to get emotionally involved in the movie!

This is my review of the "Catalyst a Rogue One Novel": a must read to get emotionally involved in the movie.

This is my review of the Novel that was released a month before Rogue One hits the theaters. I really enjoyed this book and here bellow I'll tell you why ! 

Compared to several Star Wars novel I have read, this is, for my point of view, a novel of a new type: The script is purely centered on the characters personality and feelings and not on the on going actions. 

What I mean is that events are just shortly described and action scenes are very few and short. As a result James Luceno is concentrated on showing us the interactions between the characters and how there feelings and thinkings will evolve during the events.

For me it denotes a real maturity of the Star Wars universe because space battles and blaster fights are not necessary  anymore to get high interest of the fans! 

Like during the Clone Wars animated serie, the main question during the whole novel is : till what point can we go in the name of defending ourself during a wars. Where is the limit between good and bad ? 

The story rotates around 

• the Erso family : Galen the genius scientist, Lyra is wife (a galaxy explorer) and Jyn (nearly only mentioned because she is very young at the time of the events).
• Director Krennic and Moff Tarkin who are both climbing the ranks in the Empire hierarchy. 
• Saw Gerrera: the rebel fighter has a long story crossing the Galen family. 

The goal of the Novel is to prepare to the movie in a way that you deeply understand the dilemma of the position of Galen Erso who is the key scientist needed to complete the Death Star weapon system based on Kyber Cristals. You will discover in the novel how Gallen get involved and slowly get inside the project convinced that it is made for the good of the galaxy. But At one point he steps back. Why that? you will have to discover it by yourself. After that you go nearly directly in the opening scene of the movie. 

Having red the book, makes much easier to understand some less narrated aspects of the movie: especially Galen message and the deep feelings for his daughter. Indeed, I have noticed on the net few critics of the film about the fact that the huge amount of actions scenes let nearly no room for knowing the characters and get in touch with them. The novel is here for that to. Know the back story of Gallen and Jyn I was much more emotionally involved in the fate of both. 

It is very interesting to learn the back story of Krennic. Tarkin is also a key player and James Luceno masters this characters who he dedicated the "Tarkin" Novel. 

Concerning time line of the book, it is spread over the several years: it starts during the clone wars before the Imperial era and finishes few years before the Rogue One events. 

it is a bit complex to understand if it is before or after the Tarkin book events. In the DEL REY TIMELINE reported at the beginning of the Novel, Tarkin comes first but I am pretty convinced events are actually at the same period. 

A very interesting fact that is really new is that the giant mobile battle station (later named Death Star) has been commissioned and started by the republic based on the plans recovered from the capture of the Geonosian leader Poggle the Lesser. the motivations was that most probably Dooku was doing the same thing somewhere else in order to crush the Republic. We know of course the truth...

Overall the Catalyst Novel is very nice and entertaining. I invite you to read it and watch (again) Rogue One. You will most probably watch the film with a new perspective.

Dumb things in Star Wars: The Force Awakens that everyone ignored

Trent Moore @trentlmoore
Fans have waited years to see Star Wars back on the big screen, and they finally got their wish with director J.J. Abrams' The Force Awakens.

Unsurprisingly, it became one of the biggest hits of the past several years, and scored some pretty great reviews to boot. It borrowed heavily from the first Star Wars film, sure, but it sprinkled in enough fresh ideas to balance out the nostalgia perfectly. So the film is pretty great, but that doesn't mean there aren't a few things in there that might make you scratch your head.

From strange plot points left unexplained to quirks created by changes to the script, here are the dumb things we all ignored in Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

Just look here : Link

Read More: http://www.looper.com/30640/dumb-things-star-wars-force-awakens-everyone-just-ignored/s/image-4486/?utm_campaign=clip

Star Wars Rebels : Visions and Voices - Confirmed Obiwan Kenobi

Hello fans

I just finished seeing latest Star Wars Rebels episode "Visions and Voices" and we now have answers.... and new questions !

If you remember this article :

Star Wars Rebels : Holocron of Fate : Obi-wan Kenobi enters the show ?

then you will recall the 2 options we made for the comment of Maul. "His is alive !" : Kenobi or Savage Oppress. 

So it is Kenobi it is confirmed. 

(and the article from last week revealed that Obi-wan's name is written in Mandalorian characters on the cave wall). 

What we discovered during this episode is that the visions seen by Maul and Ezra during the merge of the holocrons was not know to both but they did not see the same. So Maul did not yet know the location of Obi-wan: the desert Twin Suns planet.

Maul and Ezra needed a second connection (this times through night sister magic). Now he knows this fact and he also recognised the planet as Tatooine : the planet were it all begin. What begun? The fight between Sith and Jedi after thousand years. 

On the contrary Ezra and Kanan do not yet know the exact name. Let see how and how quick they will figure it out !

Will maul directly rush to the planet ? I do not think so. He probably will have to observe and get prepared. I also guess we will have to wait for the season finally to get the great fight. 

It is interesting to mention that Ezra learned that "the key to destroy the Sith" is Obiwan Kenobi and not Luke Skywalker. It can be true "from a certain point of view" Obi-wan would say. Without him, Luke would not have been preliminary trained and rushed into the rebellion. We also know from comic book "STAR WARS #7" that Obi-wan protected him and saved him at least one time without revealing himself. 

Let see what will come out in the next episodes. On contrary to some fans, I do not think that we will see Luke in Rebels but the confrontation Maul - Kenobi is most probable. 

Now we have to wait for the season 3 , 2nd half trailer !!!!! I will keep you informed. 

By the way, my speculation about the return of Mother Talzin revealed to be WRONG. Sorry for that but it is the game of speculation. Just some night sisters spirits. The goal of Maul is to get revenge of Kenobi and not any more to bring back his mother to life.

Clones

https://youtu.be/eicnxj8HPcI

Easter Egg from the Rebels next episode teaser : Dark Side Secrets - Visions and Voices

We see something that looks a temple of Dathomir that his Maul's lair. 

There are really many things there like a picture of Duchess Satin on the wall, the Dark Saber, some battle droids heads, Mandalorians helmets from the Shadow Collective but what I found really cool is the bloody letter writting on the wall:

I translated from Mandalorian Alphabet : KENOBI. With he face of Maul and the finger pointed that looks Awesome!

maul knows that Kenobi leaves and he will hunt him !

Star Wars: Darth Maul - Son of Dathomir - review. The five most evil characters fighting each others !

This is the story of what happened to Darth Maul and his criminal group : Shadow Collective after he was defeated and captured by Darth Sidius himself on Mandalore. For that you can see the Clone Wars Arc ending with the episode called "The Lawless" in which we can see Darth Sidius himself taking a high risk to be unmasked by flying to Mandalore in order to crush his former apprentice. 

In the comic book made of 4 parts we can first see Darth Maul being rescued from prison by 2 death watch mandalorians: Gar Saxon (that just reappeared in the Rebels season3) and Rook Kast.

Darth Maul get back his Dark Saber and re-unite what remains of the Collective with the Pyke Syndicate and Black Sun. 

Again his ultimate goal is to seek vengeance on his old master by bringing back his mother (Talzin) to life. 

I will not describe the story to avoid spoiler but I will describe what I found good and less good. 

+

It is a very intense comic book full of the Darth Maul ruthlessness and Energy

It is expending the Clone wars Arc that remained unfinished. 

It involves all together the five most evil characters of that time : Darth Maul, Darth Tyrannus (=Dooku), Darth Sidius, Grievous and Mother Talzin! At the climax they all fight each others! this is something remarkable to see. 

It features also Mace Windu and Kenobi. 

Again Maul and Talzin are the really endangering the Darth Sidious plan to a point he has to get personally envolved in the fight. This confrims the power of the witch dark magic. 

Maul reaches again the top (he manages to reunite the clans, he captures Dooku and Grievous and gbring Talzin to life) but he his again crushed by his former master. He appears that Maul destiny is to fail at the climax over and over again. 

-

It is perhaps too intense in battles and there is lower focus on the characters.

We do not learn many new facts of the characters involved. He little of the childhood and how he became sidius apprentice. 

The story could be considered weal because Darth Maul knows who in reality is Dath Sidius so a way to make him weak could have be to reveal Palpatine true identity. Then he could have try to take over...

I strongly recommend this comic serie because it is overall great fun and we really enjoy to see again our big villains in action.

May the Force be With You

Tie Defender enters the Cannon in Star wars Rebels.

Latest episode of Starwars Rebels "an Inside man" gave us a nice surprise: The entrance of the Tie Defender in the Cannon ! Till now it was only used in video games (Tie-Fighter, Commander and Battlefront) 

As you can see on the picture bellow Hera and the crew just discovered the plan of the Empire to produce the new Tie that is equipped with Shields. (and Hyperdrive !). This Tie will be a great threat for the rebels. We learn also that it is a wish from Grand Admiral Thrawn and it makes sense because it is clear that his war tactics are requiring equipment less "expandable" (like tie and his pilot) and more accurate in order to defeat rebels starfighters. 

That is really great that the Star Wars Rebels shows focuses a lot on introducing new space ships in a way that we can see both Rebels and Imperials develop their fleet. 

For the rebels we have been step by step introduced with A-wings, B-wings (proto), Y-wings but not yet with X-wings. X wings development could actually be pushed by the existence of these high performances Ties like the Defender.

For the imperials we saw first standard Tie fighter and Bombers, recently the Interceptors showed up at the academy and now we got first look on the Defender project. 

That brings an additional dimension to the serie to build the "tech" bridge to the Episode 4.   

Dark Vador BD Tome03 sortie !

Voici un court article en Francais pour annoncer la sortie francaise della BD "Dark Vador T03".

Le tome est en vente depuis le 9/11/2016. Il regroupe les sorties US 13 a 20 ?
Je suis très impatient de pouvoir mettre la main dessus. Dessins époustouflant et un Vader jamais vu auparavant.

Voyez ici mes articles sur Tome 1 et Tome 2.

Amazon.fr

Impressive Fan film

The tale of blind Jedi Master Ko Hoshino and her journey to becoming one with the force. https://www.facebook.com/hoshinostarw...

Director/Producer/Editor STEPHEN VITALE

Hero's Journey 2: Ezra Bridger - Star Wars rebels Season S01E01 to S03E05

In this series of articles, I would like to study the Hero's journey. It is known that Joseph Campbell was a mentor of George Lucas and the Hero's Journey is a base for the build of the characters and the plot.

My plan is to try to describe the hero's journey of the main characters of StarWars : Luke, Anakin, Ezra, Ashoka, Rey and also counter heroes like Darth Maul and Kylo Ren.

This way I will be able to check if the model is still applied in the newer cannon material and try to extrapolate the model in order to make some thought of what might come in the futures movies or shows.

The so far achieved hero's Journey of Ezra Bridger:

1. THE ORDINARY WORLD.	Ezra is an orphan child on Lothal. Parents killed by the Empire. Living on is own. Steeling to survive. Just believes in himself.
2. THE CALL TO ADVENTURE.	The main fact that shakes the ordinary is the meeting with the Ghost crew but there are 2 different calls to Ezra.  The first one is that Ezra starts to realize that I can us his abilities not help only himself but all others in order to avoid that others are facing the tragedy he faced.  The second is the knowledge that his abilities are special and that he should learn more of the Force.
3. REFUSAL OF THE CALL.	I first refuse to help others. I does not trust in other them himself. For him nobody helps others. This does not exist! So when Hera press him to go and help the crew, he first refuses. Why should he help someone? Nobody ever helped him !
4. MEETING WITH THE MENTOR.	The Mentors are 2 : Kannan and Hera The articfact is the Force (through the holocron)
5. CROSSING THE THRESHOLD.	At the End of episode 1, Ezra understands that he can use his abilities to help people, he can join this crew = strange family.  He passes the threshold when he run and save the life of a young Wookie (a mirror of the drama the Empire reserved toEzra). He can give a sense to his life!  He also realise that the Force is something that he has the opportunity to use to grow and help people. He choose to be trained by Kannan.
6. TESTS, ALLIES AND ENEMIES.	Allies : Kannan, Zeb, Hera, Sabine, Chopper, Hando, Rex, Ashoka, Leia, YODA.  Enemies : The Empire, Kallus, Tarkin, The inquisitors, Darth Vader, Maul, Thrawn…  Tests : The need of focus and discipline as a padawan, the thin path between trusting feelings without seeking revenge, the fear of loosing his new family, the quest to find informations on parent and the news that they are dead, The fight that constantly seems uneven... Tempetation. Becoming a pirate with Hondo and leave the fight. Trust Maul to seek knowledge in the Sith holocron: the easy path through the dark side.   During this period Ezra is growing in maturity and in abilities of padawan. He understands the cost of war and he has to constantly control is emotions that would tend to bring him to the dark side. Indeed, when he unleashes is emotions he can accomplish great actions through the force (both good and bad).
7. APPROACH.	The rebellion is endangered due to thte fact that the inquisiters are searching for Kannan, Ezra and Ashoka. The approach goes through the visit to the Jedi Temple: Ezra talks to Yoda, Kannan is made a Jedi Knight, Ashoka sees anakin and definitly knows that he his Vader. THen, Ezra and his Jedi friends, have to split to the rest of the allies and go to their major challenge: Seek knowledge to defeat the inquisitors.
8. THE ORDEAL.	The Ordeal takes place on Malachor (closure episodes of Season2). Ezra enters a Sith temple: the place that represents Evil. He also meet Maul that tricks him to activate the Sith temple. Ezra nearly dies by the end of Vador. Kannan is blinded, Ashoka is left for dead. Ezra feels himself responsible for all of it has he pushed to trust Maul and activate the Temple. At this point Ezra looses himself to passion, anger and hate...
9. THE REWARD.	The treasure is the Sith holocron. But off course this is very dangerous. Kannan is not present. Ezra opens the holocron and seek knowledge and power out of it. He reborns as a strong fighter with no mercy to his opponents. He his falling to the dark side but for him it is the only way to get revenge on the one that destroyed is family again (Kannan blinded, Ashoka dead... )
10. THE ROAD BACK.	The road back starts when Kannan (The mentor) returns and make him understand that Ezra is not responsible for what happened. Moreover Ezra starts to understand how dangerous the Sith holocron is for him. Slowly Ezra finds is way back to the light and start to act like before the ordeal. New test, Enemies, Allies are appearing but the Resurrection and the Return with Elixir is yet to come...
11. THE RESURRECTION.	open
12. RETURN WITH THE ELIXIR.	open

I am working on a way to visualize the Jouney on a time scale ploting also the feelings of Ezra. It will be ready in the next weeks. 

Now I am thinking of what could be the next steps of Ezra.
Based on this model, What do you think will happen in the rest of Season 3 and the future upcoming Season 4 ? 

Here my article about Luke Journey : http://beingstarwarsfan.blogspot.fr/2016/08/heros-journey-1-luke-skywalker-original.html

Rogue one Final trailer : Awesome !

Rogue One, A Star Wars Story has reached the final step before theatre release. The final trailer and the Final Poster

This Poster is beautiful. Look at Vader on the top right and the texture (plans?) on Jyn face. Very nice. 

Now concerning the Trailer: I did not expect so much new images and story background content about Jyn's father and the rest of this "dirty dozen" team. So as it is the contrary, I was really impressed.

We see also incredible images of planetary and space dog fight with rebel fleet in the background.

New images of Saw Gerrera: we discover that he had quite a hard life since we met him on Onderon during the Clone Wars.... He has lost both legs and he wears mechanical implants. He looks more machine than man now and he definitely has paid a very heavy tribute to his rebel actions. So much that he seems to have lost hope. The mission of Jyn seem to give him something to grab to...

As announced Bail Organa is involved (you see him on the right side of the round table). 

The Rebel X-wing pilot with the red coloured helmet (very similar to Jek Porkins..) is unknown to me. Did you recognize him?

The Death Star will fire! (on Jedha?) Probably not at full power tough.

Last but not least Darth Vader is there . We see him very briefly and I am glad because I did not want the trailer to spoil his actions!

I cannot wait for December. The movie will be great. We will feel 100% the Star Wars universe: A team (=a family), the drama father and daughter, the fight rebels - Empire, the internal conflict on what is the non return point of violence! Awesome.

Previous Rogue One related Post :

• Trailer
• Trailer 2
• Saw Gerrera
• First trailer Analysis

That is a great theory about Rey origin!

Just enjoy reading that. It is awesome and it is my favorite up to know.

Luke daughter is definitely too simple. I for sure agree on that.

http://epicstream.com/features/Mind-Blowing-Star-Wars-The-Force-Awakens-Theory-About-Reys-True-Identity

Star Wars Rebels Season 3: WHO is the new FULCRUM ?

Hello there  

Yes, this will be one of the major question of the Season 3: Who is Fulcrum? 

In previous seasons it was Ashoka Tano but we all know what happened to her in "twilight of the Apprentice" (do we really know?). It seems that, even if she is alive, she is gone for now...

So let us assume that the Season 3 FULCRUM is not Ashoka. Who is it ? 

Note that Hera explains that there may be several Fulcrum because we learn that it is generic name for spies providing intels to the rebels... so this can make things more complex and we could end up with various sources..

We got the first insight in the Trailer last summer and yesterday in the episode "The Wedge Extraction". Fulcrum informs (with a deformed male voice) that some cadets want to defect from the elite imperial flying academy. For my point of view, this intel must come from someone inside the Empire because cadets do not really have contacts outside the academy.

This article is just the beginning of a list of candidates that will probably increase every episode.... 

Option 1: Agent Kallus. We have been talking already in the past about him. 

First of all we know that he may have some doubts on the way the Empire use the violence to control the populations. He was put in charge of the massacre of the Lasat to make an example of what happened to his team on Onderon.  As a consequence Kallus sees why the Rebels are fighting and he respects them for there courage and loyalty to their cause. And most of it he knows the COST OF WAR. (see the episode "The honnorable Ones").

Secondly in the season 3 opening episode we see him being put in a secondary role due to the entrance of Grand Admiral Thrawn. He is also clearly not a fan of Thrawn brutal tactics to destroy the Rebellion with no matter of the civilians casualties. I made an hypothesis that Kallus could also act to help the Rebels in order to fool Thrawn : more details here 

Finally, in the episode "The Wedge Extraction", also Governor Price ridicules him in front of cadets. Moreover there is a clear scene in the Episode (I will not spoil that) that indicates some wish to help the rebels. 

So il looks like it could be him. But something is not ok .... : it is too easy to understand!. So I am not sure... let see. 

Option 2: Scaris (not sure I write is correctly)

He his officer/Instructor on the Skystrike Academy. He looks extremely convinced about the Imperial methods and pushes his cadets to follow orders without discussions (even if they have to shoot unarmed peoples....). But there is one extremely brief shot at the end of the Episode: after the successful extraction of Wedge, he actually SMILES. Why that ? Rebels have escaped, Why should he smiles? ... only if he provided the information as Fulcrum. 

He his also in constant contact with the cadets, so he could be able to understand that some wanted to defect from the Empire. 

Option 3: Thrawn

I read that on a comment of a video and I found it really good. What if Thrawn himself gives info to the Rebellion and the same to Governor Price and Kallus. This way it can build traps to try to catch the rebels. We should keep in mind this possibility for future episodes.

Well, no answer today! For sure you will have also some other theories. Let me know in the comments. !

May the Force be with you. 

Star Wars Rebels : Holocron of Fate : Obiwan Kenobi enters the show ?

Hello Rebels fans!

Episode 2 of Season 3 is already gone and we have a very interesting scenario in front of us !

I will not analyse the Episode in detail even if there is a lot to say about the renewed balance between Ezra and Kanan for example. But I want to focus on the last minute during which the 2 holocrons are fusing together and Maul and Ezra are having visions:

Maul says : I look for "Hope" and then "I see him", "he leaves"
Ezra says : "the twin suns" or "the twin sons" and then he speaks about various planets.

So question is Who leaves and give hope to Maul ?

Hope in the Sith way is to be able to get revenge or to get more power.
2 options :

1. Savage Oppress: Maul's brother (the "twin son"?).  From the Trailer we see a lot of Nighsister magic so Talzin, Savage Oppress... could be part of Season3. Savage was killed by Darth Sidious on Mandalor. Off course he could have survived like Maul did (perhaps thanks to the magic in his body). 
   
2. Obiwan Kenobi: Maul revenge over Kenobi who cut him half and made him become a crazy exiled mind on a junk yard planet for years...  Kenobi is on Tatooine : the planet with the "twin suns". Maul can get revenge over Kenobi by tracking him on Tatooine. The Light side Holocron even include a message from Obiwan Himself. 
3. Someone else?

It looks like the second option is more realistic. So unless you have other theories, there is a high probability that we will see Obiwan in Star wars rebels. Maul escaped in a beautiful Madalarian ship. Did he go directly to Tatooine ?

This is the planet of his very first fight with a Jedi, if it becomes the planet of his last fight the circle would be closed. 

Side Question: I ever thought that Maul wanted to use the Sith temple super weapon to kill Darth Sidious to have revenge on is brother and mother death. Was it that he wanted to kill Kenobi ?

Is that not a little bit limited ? Maul manage to take over Mandalor and several crime syndicates. He has the possibility to become very power full. He also claims to not be a Sith anymore but a new form of dark side force actor. So why this pursue of revenge on Kenobi instead of using his knowledge to lead part of the galaxy?

This characters seems to be doomed to fail over and over again in what ever he tries to accomplish...

Grand Admiral Thrawn entry in Star Wars rebels season 3 ...

.... Not as I expected

First of all I have to say that I do not know much about Thrawn. I never red the Trilogy and as a consequence I did not know from the beginning what to expect.

I made my first idea based on the Trailer and the short clip ("Enter Thrawn") we got upfront of season 3 start.
The image of Thrawn I got was extremely powerfull. I imagined a very calm character with a very strong fame in the Empirial ranks creating full respect from the other officiers. What I mean is: When Thrawn talks nobody talks back because he is right ! No doubt about that!
Very similar to the Tarkin we can find in the novel: calm and precise, strong analyst that prefer to look at the large picture in order to maximize the effect of the actions instead of rushing to the action.

But then The first Episode came and Thrawn made his entry. And it looked like a different character to me. It appears that he actually does not have yet a large fame all across the imperial officers. Indeed, when he enters the scene in the middle of a briefing, Admiral Konstantin and Agent Kallus are actually making comments and questions to him! That was pretty surprising for me. Nobody of this rank would dare to do so with Grand Moff Tarkin.
So Thrawn character and his reputation will evolved probably during this season.

The quote : "They will be the architect of the own destruction" in the trailer is enforced by images and music and it made me think of a very strong and determined quote that he could have pronounced to one capture rebels for example.
In the Episode during this briefing with all these "minor characters" around him, this quote losses a lot of impact to my mind.

So the entry was a bit less strong than I expected. But I am anyway happy because we will see Thrawn further make his name instead of having a established villain like Vader or Tarkin are. This brings strong expectations for Season 3.

Actually, already at episode end, nobody dares to contradict him when he gives order to let the rebels fly away. That is the first step of establishment of his authority.

According to the Insight Discovery profile tool : 

As for personality Thrawn is clearly a BLUE personality (...like his skin...) as opposed to Agent Kallus that is clearly a RED.

I expect Kallus not to go very good with Thrawn and I go further : I do not think that he can openly act against him or parallel to him to avoid behing crushed to a minor officier... but perhaps he can help the Rebels to make Thrawn fail! This way he could make his return and become the main player.

What do you think of the Thrawn Entry ? Do you agree with me that Kallus can be a threat that Thrawn could not take into account ?

By the way : look how good the Lucasfilm designers are : just looking at the face of these 2 fotos you can relate the behavior to the color profile description! well done!

Darth Vader Comic Book 7 to 12 - Review

Today I would like to continue to write about something really stunning : 

The MARVEL StarWars comic book . DARTH VADER. 

I continue the review with the tome #2 (French edition) that collect US editions tome 7 to 12 (2015) 

As a reminder : The comic scenario is from Kieron Gillen(Young Avengers, Iron Man) and the drawings are from Salvador Larocca(various X-Men series and Iron Man).

Thanoth

At the beginning of this 2nd arc, Darth Vader just discover that he has got a son. His son destroyed the Death Star. So his quest to find him continues with the help of Aphra, 000, BT1, Bobba Fett and a droid army !

In parallel to his missions for Grand Amiral Tagge, Vader tries to build his own power in order to find Luke and be prepare to defeat his villain competition (the creatures of Cyclo).... 

But the most problematic for him is the incredibly smart inspector that is in charge to support him in solving some mysterious actions against the Empire : Inspector Thanoth. 

The relationship Vader / Doctor Aphra is still very interesting because it is always very uncertain and we keep always the impression that Vader can dispose of her anytime... but she starts also to use this to her advantage. 

The comic is really awesome for the scenario, the drawings. We really get the feeling to be together with Darth Vader and we see him as a "hero" in the middle of the Empire most dangerous peoples.... and that is weird because at the same time he his merciless with rebels, criminals and whoever can endanger his plans .... This will definitely modify my view of the films. 

Darth Vader #12

Especially the "I am your father" moment: this series gives a new dimension to his wish to make Luke join him.

We know that the Sith way is that the apprentice tries to defeat his Master (so he needs Luke in order to kill Sidious) but I get the impression that when he says to Luke that together they could restore peace in the galaxy this is because deep inside he has seen so much brutality of the Empire killers that he thinks that through his power he can destroy the darkest part of the Empire and rule everything better by himself (and his good part deep within) and Luke. 
What if Luke would have joined him and destroyed Palpatine? Could it be that they would have restored peace and democracy together with Vader redemption? 

It is very hard for me to express this. I will try to develop more in future. 

Star Wars Rebels speculation: Darth Vader kills commander Rex !

Hello Star wars fans, I would like to discuss an idea I had for future Rebels episodes.

In season 3 trailer of Rebels we still can see Captain Rex. I really like this character that represents the perfect soldier : courage, discipline, efficiency. He has also a great sense of honor and friendship to both his brothers in arms and the Jedi Generals.

We all know that commander Rex was the officier fighting together with General Skywalker.
They had a great respect and trust for each other and they have made numerous missions hand in hand. They saved the life of each other several times.

To my mind this is part of the reason why he has been used in the Rebels show. He has a connection to Ahsoka (who finds him again) but also to Anakin that is now Darth Vader. Rex talks even shortly of "The Jedi he served" has a great example.

In Season 2, Rex did not met Vader directly and I do not think that Ashoka spoke about who Darth Vader Really is before she disappeared.

I wonder if in Season 3 (or later) we could have a fight between them in which Vader recognizes Rex and eventually makes him understand that his former trusted General is now behind the mask before...killing him.
That would be a great moment full of emotions. Rex would be strongly affected (a bot the Ashoka way) by the fact that his wise and powerful Jedi now became the worst villain. I imagine he would lay down his famous 2 blasters and get crushed by mercyless Vader.

For sure Dave Felloni could make that a very emotional sequence.


Here bellow a very nice video I found that summaries the relation ship between Anakin and Rex. This relationship was created and made so intense by Dave Felloni, I really think that he cannot let that forgotten in Rebels.

Could it happen ? What do you think ? 

New clip of Ezra Bridger "Mind trick": slowly sliding to the Dark Side.

StarWars you tube channel posted recently this new extract of Rebels. 

This is a sequence that is following just the one revealed before SWCE16: 

You can see my comments there. http://beingstarwarsfan.blogspot.it/2016/07/new-star-wars-rebels-season-3-clip.html

Already in this previous clip, I underlined that I was pretty chocked by the lack of mercy of the fight manners of "new" EZRA. We can see him in a very deadly lightsaber fight in which he literally exterminate the stormtroopers. We can see a lot of anger in his eyes. 

At the end of the clip, Tarba (Ando's friend) is killed by a AT-DP (All Terrain Defense Pod).

Now, in the new clip we can see Ezra focusing on the pilot of the AT-DP. He get controls of pilot's mind that turns the AT-DP against the stormtrooper. Again it is very clear that he kills them without hesitation. One can think that he could have simply made them runaway.... 

It shows first that Ezra is now really powerful with the force. This is a new frontier of mind trick. Because we can see him not only influence the thinking for a short time but here he manages to use the pilot as a puppet for several seconds...  Never see before i think ?? (do you have other examples?)

Secondly I fear that Ezra chooses this way to destroy the troopers in REVENGE for the Tarba loss. 

So what else to say : ANGER, REVENGE, NO MERCY... the ways of the dark side.

Last point is the sense of surprise but also fear that one can read in the eyes and behaviour of the 3 rebels (Zeb, Sabine, Ando). I am not sure they approve the way of acting of Ezra...

EZRA - Mind control

My theory is that, due to the injuries, Kanan does not stay close enough to Ezra to keep him on the right road. He will need external help to prevent Ezra fall....

A lot of people now are talking of EZRA being a "Cannon Starkiller". Well there some base for that. 

What was you reaction to this video ? 

Some might say that it is a normal fight between rebles and a Jedi and the Empire.... what do you think?

Darth Vader. Rogue one

Vader.... nothing else....

More Rogue one artworks here :

http://epicstream.com/features/Rogue-One-A-Star-Wars-Story-Artwork-Shows-A-Better-Look-at-Darth-Vader

EMPISA ! A cool Fan club in Italy!

I am really happy to promote that fan club from Italy. Very impressive Cosplay, several events in Tuscany for fans of all ages. 

Check there nice website : http://www.empisa.it/

Thrawn

Canon Novel review. TARKIN. James Luceno

Hello

In this article I would like to talk about the book TARKIN by James Luceno 2014.

The author is a well know StarWars EU novel writter. "Darth Plagueis" among them.

The scenario takes place between episode 3 and 4 during the assembly on the Death Star.
Of course the Main character is the Moff TARKIN that is not yet Gran Moff...
The story is really detailed and brings us to know the  back story of the officer that died too soon in the original trilogy.
We will understand his fillosophy, his approach to law and order and his rise to the upper levels of the    empire. We will finally understand why even Darth Vader can accept to follow his command.

This brings me to the second very important character of the novel: Darth Vader. We can see him in action and also his interaction to the Emperor. he is off course impressive... Most impressive...

The plot is interesting. Lot of travels in the outer and mid rim. The first sparks of rebellion. The structure of the Empire. TARKIN acting with no mercy.

Here bellow positive points and negative points.

POSITIVE

The duo Vader / Tarkin. Seems to see them back in the Citadel rescue during the clone wars.
Description of the Empire Board of command and the interactions between the factions.
Several references to the Clone Wars and how it has forged the Galaxy, the populations and the Empire structure.
A lot of details on the Emperor and several references to his Master: Darth Plagueis
Some insights of the true plan of Darth Sidious besides the Empire.
Revelations of atrocities committed by the Empire.

NEGATIVE

The plot is too short. The end of the plot leaves us with a taste of missed climax.
The Death Star stays a side element that could have be more directly involved.



Overall it is a great novel providing a lot of info on the Empire, the history and the Leaders.
From the evil point of view.

I really recommend it.



Quote : "The sooner the battle station is completed, the sooner you and I can devote ourselves to more pressing matters..." - Emperor Darth Sidious

Star wars the clone wars ! Awesome video for 100th episode celebration

Hello guys

Personally I love the clone wars animated serie.

I found by case this old video from 2013 for the celebration of the 100th episode.

Awesome overview.
If you do not know the serie. just watch it ! you will learn so much about the universe !

May the force be with you .

Hero's Journey 1: Luke Skywalker - Original trilogy & hypothetic journey to episode 7 to 9

In this series of articles, I would like to study the Hero's journey. It is known that Joseph Campbell was a mentor of George Lucas and the Hero's Journey is a base for the build of the characters and the plot.

My plan is to try to describe the hero's journey of the main characters of StarWars : Luke, Anakin, Ezra, Ashoka, Rey and also counter heroes like Darth Maul and Kylo Ren.
This way I will be able to check if the model is still applied in the newer films and try to extrapolate the model in order to make some thought of what might come in the futures movies or shows.

Indeed, Dysney is also a well known user of this model in every  animated film or other films (like Hook for examples). So I expect that for the future production they will stick to this model that is demonstrated to bring the most  attachment from the public to our hero's.

The first one of my article is probably the easiest. LUKE SKYWALKER. But I will look at it over the whole original trilogy episodes (4 to 6) and even 7. (on the net you can find the journey of Episode 4 only that is indeed already a cycle on his own).

After documenting myself a bit, I actually choose not the Campbell model but the Christopher Vogler (2007) 12 steps. (at the end of the article you can find some background explanations of each steps and some links.

1. THE ORDINARY WORLD.	Home : Luke is a farmer on Tatooine. Learning to fly with goal to enter the academy.
2. THE CALL TO ADVENTURE.	The call : The arrival of the droids: C3PO talks about the rebels. The message from Leia inside R2D2. Searching Obiwan Kenoby. Then : bring R2D2 to Alderaan, learn Force ways.
3. REFUSAL OF THE CALL.	Luke cannot leave. His uncle needs him for work. Threshold guardians : Uncle Ben
4. MEETING WITH THE MENTOR.	Luke meets Ben Kenoby : he learns about the force and his father. Artifact : His father's Lightsaber
5. CROSSING THE THRESHOLD.	Event: Uncle and Tant are killed by the Empire. Luke : "there is nothing left for me here".
6. TESTS, ALLIES AND ENEMIES.	Tests: the Death of Obiwan, the Death Star search and princess rescue, the destruction of the Death Star 1, the escape from the Monster on Hoth. Allies : Han, Chewbecca, Leia, Obiwan (force ghost). Enemies: troopers, Vader, Empereur
7. APPROACH.	The approach is made with Yoda on Dagobah. Luke has to learn the ways of the Force in order to be prepared for the confrontation with Vader and Emperor. Training for becoming a Jedi.
8. THE ORDEAL.	This is the confrontation with Vader on Cloud city: Luke faces the power of the Dark Side, the fear of death, the fear caused by revelation that his father is Vader. The jump into the Cloud city core represents the death and rebirth of Luke after this episode.
9. THE REWARD.	Luke gets the knowledge that his true quest is to turn Vader back to the Light Side. He also discovers that Leia is his sister. So the Reward is hope, and FAMILY.
10. THE ROAD BACK.	Luke returns to his friends to prepare the Endor battle with the knowledge of the bound of the family.  Then he chooses to surrender to Vader in order to try to turn him to the light Side
11. THE RESURRECTION.	After having nearly killed Darth Vader, Luke stops , move away from hate and throws away his weapon. All the up and down we have seen during the film due to his uncontrolled emotions are now over. He is now committed to the light and he truly divide good light and darkness , compassion and greed. Luke nearly died for his quest to redeem his father. The balance in the Force is restored after the Emperor death and Vader redemption. Luke reborns has a powerful Jedi that survived the temptation of the dark Side.
12. RETURN WITH THE ELIXIR.	The elixir is the proof of redemption of Anakin Skywalker + the knowledge of the Force to bring to other people.

Now if we think about episode 7 , we find Luke in Exile after, obviously, a great disappointment that happened after episode 6.
If we look at the Campbell description of the RETURN phase, it looks that Luke failed the last part that is called "master of the 2 worlds": Luke has not managed to live both normal life and life within the Force as a master. Probably the failed teaching of the ways of the force to Ben Solo forced him to exile in order to avoid seek revenge or anger (we do not know yet what happened) that are the ways of the dark side that have been rejected by Luke in the confrontation with the Emperor.

Now at the end of Episode 7, Luke will start a new Journey, a new cycle. Rey finds him and begins back his saber and ask for knowledge : it is the new CALL TO ADVENTURE.
For sure Luke will first REFUSE REY's CALL because it will fear to return and have to face back what caused his exil.

So what will make him CROSS THE THRESHOLD again ? 
My hypothesis : The distress call of his sister Leia to try to bring Ben back to the Light side - The redemption scheme is repeating.
Off course, if Rey is his daughter, that he protected by sending her alone on Jakku, now that she is involved it is no threshold to his return !

Will he have a mentor? 
My hypothesis : YES, His father (as a force ghost) could push him to go again a help of the galaxy. Something like "Save Ben liked you saved me"

The reward (for Luke ) would be then the redemption of Ben. (and as a consequence the fall of Snoke)

Some simple explanations of the Heros Journey.

1.        THE ORDINARY WORLD.  The hero, uneasy, uncomfortable or unaware, is introduced sympathetically so the audience can identify with the situation or dilemma.  The hero is shown against a background of environment, heredity, and personal history.  Some kind of polarity in the hero’s life is pulling in different directions and causing stress.

2.        THE CALL TO ADVENTURE.  Something shakes up the situation, either from external pressures or from something rising up from deep within, so the hero must face the beginnings of change.

3.        REFUSAL OF THE CALL.  The hero feels the fear of the unknown and tries to turn away from the adventure, however briefly.  Alternately, another character may express the uncertainty and danger ahead.

4.        MEETING WITH THE MENTOR.  The hero comes across a seasoned traveler of the worlds who gives him or her training, equipment, or advice that will help on the journey.  Or the hero reaches within to a source of courage and wisdom.

5.        CROSSING THE THRESHOLD.  At the end of Act One, the hero commits to leaving the Ordinary World and entering a new region or condition with unfamiliar rules and values.

6.        TESTS, ALLIES AND ENEMIES.  The hero is tested and sorts out allegiances in the Special World.

7.        APPROACH.  The hero and newfound allies prepare for the major challenge in the Special world.

8.        THE ORDEAL.  Near the middle of the story, the hero enters a central space in the Special World and confronts death or faces his or her greatest fear.  Out of the moment of death comes a new life.

9.        THE REWARD.  The hero takes possession of the treasure won by facing death.  There may be celebration, but there is also danger of losing the treasure again.

10.      THE ROAD BACK.  About three-fourths of the way through the story, the hero is driven to complete the adventure, leaving the Special World to be sure the treasure is brought home.  Often a chase scene signals the urgency and danger of the mission.

11.     THE RESURRECTION.  At the climax, the hero is severely tested once more on the threshold of home.  He or she is purified by a last sacrifice, another moment of death and rebirth, but on a higher and more complete level.  By the hero’s action, the polarities that were in conflict at the beginning are finally resolved.

12.       RETURN WITH THE ELIXIR.  The hero returns home or continues the journey, bearing some element of the treasure that has the power to transform the world as the hero has been transformed.

source :

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hero%27s_journey
http://www.movieoutline.com/articles/the-hero-journey-mythic-structure-of-joseph-campbell-monomyth.html