The Star Wars Marathon!

11.02 - Here we go, kids, the first back-to-back viewing of the classic Star Wars trilogy. I'll keep you posted as we go!

13.04 - A New Hope So Far... Just a small change, but they've finally changed the English writing on the Tractor Beam control panel for the Aurebesh script seen in the rest of the series. A small thing, but it'd been bugging me for a while! The shot of the Landspeeder entering Mos Eisley may have been changed too - it looks a bit less wooden than before!

The major thing is the quality of the picture - good contrast and colours. Ooh, they've sorted out Ben's lightsaber too - looks like both his and Darth's have been re-animated to look brighter and cleaner. Wahey!

13.20 - One Down... Well, that's A New Hope finished. Like I said, no major changes, just a nice clean version, with only one example of matt lines visible. Onwards to the best of the Trilogy...!

14.40 - New Empire Scene... Well, I'd heard the rumours that they were going to drop Ian McDiarmid as the Emperor into Empire, but they've also changed the dialogue somewhat, with the Emperor revealing that it was "the offspring of Anakin Skywalker" who destroyed the Death Star. Vader is unsure how this could be, telling us that he didn't know he had any kids, but the Emperor tells him to "search his feelings"....

A nice little scene to tie things together a bit more, and it adds to the continuity to have McDiarmid reprising his role as the Empereor, as he wasn't in the original version of Empire. And he's sooo evil!

15.10 - Boba's Got A New Voice! Boba Fett's voice has changed! Sounds a lot like Temuera Morrison's voice to me...!

15.52 - Empire Still Rules... Yep, The Empire Strikes Back is still the best of the series. One small thing - the end credits still have Clive Revill as the Voice of the Emperor, even though he's been replaced, and the copyright message only says 1980, 1997, and not 2004 like A New Hope... Has someone made a mistake and not updated them?

Just Jedi to go now...!

16.21 - Jabba's Lost His Subtitles...! I don't know if this is intentional, or an error, but Jabba's lost his subtitles! Most of the time it's not necessary (probably because I know the film inside out), but there are a few times when the Illustrious One's wit and humour are lost to the casual viewer.

Or I may have turned them off somehow.

Ooh, I never noticed Dengar in the palace before...

19.33 - The End of the Saga... Well, that's it, game over! For the most part, Jedi was unchanged, save for the addition of Naboo into the victory celebrations, and dropping Hayden Christiansen in at the end (with his Battle of the Planets haircut...)

So all in all the DVDs are pretty well done. I would have preferred the original versions on there as well as the Special Editions, and perhaps 2 disc sets for each film, with all the original '70s and '80s documentaries, but I'm sure that'll come out in another few years or so...

Aero's finally here!

Well, I've just got a hold of Aero, and even though I haven't got a 5.1 Surround sound system, the CD still sounds lovely and deep and gorgeous! Go get it, you shmoes!

Can't do a proper listen to it at the mo', 'cos I've got bigger fish to fry...

Music and other important stuff...

Is it just me, or is there a lot of good pop music around at the moment? I mean, pure, fluffy, catchy pop? I can't get Annie's "Chewing Gum" out of my head at the moment - and if you know the song, chances are it's in your head too now! Bwah ha ha! And this is the second great pop song Richard X has written/produced this year, after Rachel Stevens's (no relation) "Some Girls" (and now you're humming that one too!)

And that's without mentioning Girls Aloud's "The Show", if only for the line: "Should have known/Should have cared/Should have hung around the kitchen in my underwear, acting like a lady". Pure bloody poetry.

On a similar note, Jean Michel Jarre's Aero comes out on Monday - pity I haven't got a 5.1 surround sound set up yet, so I'll just have to make do with 1.1 stereo. Bah! (BTW, did anyone else see him on BBC's Breakfast the other day? Didn't look well to me - maybe it was just the dead Womble he had on his head...!) If it wasn't clear from the previous post, this is the first album composed from the ground up in surround sound (there have been other surround sound albums, but they were just tweaked stereo), so it should be pretty bizarre to listen to (if you can!)

Battlestar Galactica Trailer

Hurrah, hurrah and thrice hurrah! The new series of Battlestar Galactica is going to be on Sky from October 18th! For those of you who haven't seen the mini-series that came out last year, then you deserve a great big kicking! This is top notch space opera, people!

Ahem. Well, the series is set 40 years on from the last Cylon War, but set at the same time as the original '70s series. Clear? Okay, let me try to explain. The Cylons from the original series are now the old models, and have been replaced by newer models, including ones that look just like humans. The Vipers from the original series are also the old models, having been replaced by swisher, more computer controlled versions. And there the problems start...

The characters are all the same - in name at least. Adama controls the Galactica, his son is Lee "Apollo" Adama (Apollo now being his call-sign), and Kara "Starbuck" Thrace is the Galactica's best pilot. And she's a woman. But she still likes playing cards and smoking cigars.

I have a feeling I've made it all more complicated than it is, so do yourselves a favour and go and buy the DVD of the mini-series. It's only eleven quid or so, and for that you get 3 hours of bloody good TV. If you can't stretch to that, they're repeating the mini-series on Sky One from 14th October. (What do you mean, you haven't got Sky...? Sheesh, some people...!)

And in the meantime, you can get to the trailer for the new series here:

BBC - Cult Television - Galactica trailer