Pictures and comments by Brad Chowen from the parks.
Cartoon Reviews, Attraction and Restaurant Reviews from Disneyland, Disneyworld and just generally everything Disney
My Disney Facebook page is here
https://www.facebook.com/braddisneylandblog
There was definitely something missing when Star Wars Launch Bay opened.
A glaring error that has now been been corrected.
BB-8
BB-8 is now on display next to Rey's Speeder in Star Wars Launch Bay. I'm glad to see this addition to the exhibit, since BB-8 is a beloved character from the film that has now grossed over 2 Billion dollars worldwide. Heck the BB-8 sipper cups are selling so fast that the fact that BB-8 wasn't in the exhibit when it opened was a huge oversight.
I hope that additions will regularly be made to Star Wars Launch Bay. It could become a permanent Star Wars exhibit with different items from the franchise being displayed. New and old props from the Lucasfilm archives could come and go making this exhibit a destination for all Star Wars fans.
"Who are you?" Asks the trailer......Well we really don't ever find out the answer to that question. We find out who the villain is and it is devastating.
I put off writing my thoughts on the Force Awakens until I saw it a second time. I guess I needed it to sink in a little bit. I'm sure there are already a million reviews about the movie so maybe I'll take a slightly different approach and maybe just ask questions. The movie brought up as many questions as it answered. So below are 6 questions I was asking myself and didn't post about before the movie came out and whether the movie answered them or not.
What I thought about the movie: I loved the movie.....I'm a huge Star Wars fan and I've read a ton of Star Wars books and I listen to Star Wars Podcasts and have even discussed it on my own Movie Podcast . The movie captured the spirit of the originals and brought a new generation of Star Wars characters to the forefront. Harrison Ford was awesome!!! The new cast was great.....I can't wait for the next film.
I'll discuss the film itself in more detail when we do our next Podcast.
1. Where is Luke? and has he turned to the Darkside?
What I thought before the film came out:
I really don’t think they will go the direction of Dark Empire comics and have Luke go to the darkside.Luke will probably show up towards the end of the film which means it will probably be a couple of years before we really get to see Luke in action again. Answers we got from the Movie:
Well I was definitely right about Luke. Now we know why he wasn't in the trailer and the posters... After all he was only in the film for the last minute and didn't even speak a line. I think it was a great ending and only makes us want to know more about what Luke has been up to and what we will see from him in Episode 8.
2. What are Rey and Finn’s last names?
What I thought before the film came out: Skywalker or Solo –the jury is still out.I’m sure Rey is related to one of our former heroes. The trailer where she talks about waiting for her family and the narration about the same eyes in different people makes you wonder. Answers we got from the Movie: Okay ---so we didn't find out the answer to either question. Finn may not be related to anyone and Rey doesn't seem to be a Solo. The movie makes you think that she may be Luke's child. Again the movie created more questions than it answered. My guess is that she is Luke's daughter and that maybe the mom dropped her off on Jakku to hide her when Kylo Ren had turned on Luke and the Jedi. I think the mom planned on coming back for her, but never made it back. Rey's visions when she touched Luke's Lightsaber show a memory of her being left on Jakku--but she also had visions of Kylo killing Jedi. Hopefully we will find out in a year and a half from now.
3. Is Snoke actually Plagueis?
What I thought before the film came out: This is highly unlikely –but Abrams did bring back Khan in Star Trek reboot….and the fact that they haven’t shown us what the character looks like makes the rumors persist.
Is the expanded universe really dead or is that just a setup like Khan? Before the movie went into production on the movie Disney and Lucasfilm announced that the expanded universe was pretty much dead.But aside from new post Return of the Jedi comics Rebels has basically just re -enforced older stories from the EU.When the EU was reset I thought that it made since for them to reset things post Return of the Jedi –but there really was no reason to retell things prior to that.They continue to bring elements of the Pre Jedi era into canon—which can be confusing for die hard fans.This makes me wonder if the movie is actually going to be giving us something more from the EU then we have been lead to believe.I hope that someday they bring Thrawn back into the new canon.
Answers we got from the Movie: Again we really didn't get an answer to this.... The book adaptation of the movie does say that Snoke has been around for a long time which only fuels the Plagueis fires....Of course they seem to be borrowing elements from the EU and changing them so he could be a Plagueis like character, but not Plagueis himself.
4. Rey and Kylo could actually be a version of Jacen and Jaina?
What I thought before the film came out: This goes back into dragging ideas back in from the EU.Rey and Kylo could just be new versions of the the Solo Twins from the EU. Answers we got from the Movie: They basically used the spirit of the EU without having the same characters. Rey is very much like Jaina Solo (Although she may be a Skywalker) and Kylo is like Jacen (except his name is Ben Solo). So we basically got very similar characters to Jacen and Jaina Solo in new characters.
5.Let the Wookie Live?Was the death of Chewie in the expanded universe one of the biggest reasons it was abandoned?
What I thought before the film came out: One of the main reasons I think they rebooted the beside being able to tell stories without being tied to details the general public don't know about was to reverse the loss of Chewie.They killed Chewie off in the books during the 19 book series about the Vong.Once they decided to do new movies and bring Han Solo back –not having Chewie would have been a crime. Answers we got from the Movie: So they let the Wookie Live!!! and they Killed Han Solo. I recall the reason that they killed Chewie in the books. I agreed that after so many books --when all the main characters always survived it took away the danger in the books. I hated that they had killed Chewie, but I understood it. The same goes for Han's death in the movie. It had an impact that will totally effect many of the characters and makes things interesting --because no one is safe. Like on the Walking Dead --the fact that they are willing to kill off main characters makes the show more interesting. Han will be missed. At least I still have all of Han's EU stories --still in my head...
6. When will the first Rogue One Trailer hit?
What I thought before the film came out: The first trailer for The Force Awakens broke on Thanksgiving over a year before the movie.In my opinion we won’t see a Rouge One Trailer until sometime after the Force Awakens comes out…Maybe not until Captain America hits theaters……Just to not create confusion for non diehard fans.
Answers we got from the Movie: I think I was right on this one.....We probably won't see a Rogue One Trailer until the Star Wars movie has run it's Trench Run assault on Box Office Records. The movie has already passed a billion dollars Worldwide in slightly over a week at the Box Office. It's daily numbers are insane and I'm sure we will not see a trailer for Rogue One until it's theater run is over.
Media day for Seasons of the Force was on Thursday this week. The Seasons of the Force kicks off on Monday November 16th --but some features had been having soft opening all weekend.
I couldn't wait for the official opening so we headed out to the park to see if we could check out some of the stuff.
Hyperspace Mountain was our first stop and it was open. (I'll save that for it's own blog tomorrow).
The Launching Bay wasn't open yet and neither was the Path to the Jedi film clips (which was open the day before).
We also hit Star Tours --but did not get to see the new segment.
The signage for Seasons of the Force was all over the place and the old Star Trader was literally all Star Wars now. (I'll blog about that this week as well)
For today I'll just give you a sneak peek at the Signage that shows Tomorrowland has turned into Star Wars already.
Right at the entrance of Tomorrowland it is clear that Star Wars has arrived.
Lightside and Darkside Banners line the Peoplemover tracks.
Here is Rey
Poe Dameron and BB-8
Luke Skywalker
Yoda
Ashoka
Han and Chewie
Leia
Ezra
Darth Maul
Assajj Ventress
The Darkside
Tomorrow I'll get into my review of Hyperspace Mountain and then later in the week I'll have a lot more to post once I get a chance to see all the rest of Seasons of the Force. To listen to our Podcast go here http://www.superfantasticterrific.com/
