30 Years Since We Have Known Darth Vader To Be Luke's Father

Wow its been 30 years already. Where was I when Empire Strikes Back premiered? Well, I wasn't conceived yet, (8 years later) so I was probably squirming around still in my fathers...well you get the idea. But I don't really remember the first time I saw this movie either. Which doesn't make matters worse entirely. I knew right away when I saw the Star Wars series that I was going to be a Sci-fi fan though. My life is not devoted entirely to Sci-fi, but Star Wars still holds a place in my heart for being the movie [trilogy] (or franchise now) that it is. Even if I don't remember my first time watching Empire Strikes Back; it is the Star Wars movie I have watched most. It is truly one of the best movie's I will ever watch. I would dare say that it may be one of the best movie's ever made, but everyone has a different opinion (which I respect in some way).

Because of this movie we have seen countless parodies; wither it be in movies, TV shows, or other fan made stuff which aren't so good. I think the single best one I have seen, well not being a parody, is from The Simpsons which when we see a flashback of Homer and Marge go on a date to see the movie. Luckily I found a clip:

The unfortunate part is that they cut a line from Homer when a random moviegoer shouts "Way to ruin the ending!" and Homer responds "Well, its fairly obvious!" Ah, good times.

Not only did this movie give us the famously shocking line, but also a badass character which we all wish to be, but can never be. Of course I am speaking of Lando Calrissian. Probably also one of the biggest backstabber's in cinema history. What I really mean here is Boba Fett. (Boba Fett was introduced in the Holiday special, but notice I said bounty hunters in the Star Wars universe) He may have a bit of screen time, but it introduced to us bounty hunters in the Star Wars universe and the existence of Mandalorians. Of course we won't know this for a few years after or through book form, I really don't know or remember. But somehow we find out.

Well anyway, we have also seen a DVD version of the movie. Multiple DVD versions. I think this is the best one of the movies to be remastered and have a few added scenes and none of which were altered. Nobody shoots first and we don't get a weird song which probably has no relevance or meaning to the movie. Instead we get a clearer picture an extra wampa scene and still a great movie. If something wasn't satisfactory, I'll remember in a moment. Either way I say its the best out of the revisions. Actually now that I remember they did redo that scene with Emperor Palpatine talking to Darth Vader about their plans for Luke Skywalker. Sure it had to be done, but maybe it felt too forced. Well, its still better than a new song or an altered scene.

Empire Strikes Back will always be in my memory, since I know every line from the movie and seen it a bunch of times, but its still a great movie anyways. Its also quite a step up from the first movie. Darth Vader's helmet is polished, (I'm totally serious on that one. Watch the first movie and it looks like it needs a wax.) to the great puppetry of Yoda (done by Jim Henson's workshop of course), and to the movie evolving lightsaber duels. This movie has everything. Now with that said I would like to end this with something that has been on my mind for a long time. I remember watching a show when I was a kid in which Steven Spielberg directed and involves Kevin Costner, a cartoonist, a WWII plane and for some reason yellow tires on this plane. I couldn't for the life of me remember said show and exactly what happened....until now:

This is Awesome

Yes its another video, but you gotta admit its awesome as a certain team returns to a New York Library:

Literally Saving Private Ryan

I am planning on getting Saving Private Ryan on Blu-ray one day, but I’m glad it wasn’t the first week. Reason being is that the first batch of Blu-rays have been recalled. Supposedly if you have the disc the audio would not be able to sync correctly with everything else. If you believe its the player, well your wrong it really is the disc. I do believe the dialogue was fine, but I think it was the many other noises you hear in the backround that wasn’t in sync. Never heard this happen to any DVD or Blu-ray disc before and that is quite a problem. Usually it would be my sound systems fault.

Well Paramount says if you have it right now, you have to give it back so that they can give you a better one. It is being fixed very quickly though as the new discs will be out by next week with a yellow colored UPC now so you can tell the difference of a bad and good one.

If you got one and (of course) want a replacement, return it to where you bought it or just call this number (if your retailer are jerks) 888-370-8621.

There was also a press release, but it just praises the audio company (Technicolor) on how they are great even if they made this mistake.

A New Inception Trailer

I think its amazing. What do you think:

4 New Challengers Approach

Click the picture for a closer look. This is taken straight from the video game and the 4 new characters apparently being announced are Felicia, Captain America, Dante and Deadpool. Feel free to Marvel at their presence. I totally went for it. More in game pics seen here.

Disneyland's Evolution

For a while now I've been closely following some people who seem to work with Disneyland through twitter. Mostly to listen in on whats going on with the Disney parks since I've been wanting to work there. After a few posts I noticed something really new is going to take place soon. And it involves the Disney meet and greet characters as well as probably the musical shows. Here is some amateur footage of a testing event taking place:

Pretty amazing stuff. The second video shows Mickey even refers to a girl by name. Apparently couple of years ago they tested the characters for a musical show at World of Disney. It seems to work well and makes one wonder why they didn't continue on after that. Well here's the other video:

Think that's how far back this goes? Back then in the year 1994 Disney made a patent for the technology seen in the videos above. Crazy stuff no? Disney as it seems has been trying to perfect the technology for years.The picture to the right is the patent in question that was made in 1994. Click on the picture for a bigger view. It is not known if that the finished product is what we see in the videos above, but it is very well possible. And because of this may be why its taken so long to perfect it.I wonder with the voice altering technology being worn like a backpack inside the suit would get hot and make the wearer more uncomfortable. More questions could arise from this. It also shows that the Mickey Mouse voice actor isn’t working overtime. Or probably was to get all the words and noises in as well. Either way its a welcome start to the evolving Disneyland. The technology probably won’t be open to others since it is a patent and well it would be quite dangerous if you could speak someone else’s voice. Though it would be cool. Here’s an official talking Mickey from Disney themselves:

And their words on all of this evolution:

“Mickey, who usually saves his voice for shows and parades, talked with guests and interacted with them in never-before-seen ways! This was part of a process we call “playtesting” as it gives us a chance to develop new concepts with our guests long before they end up in the Parks. “We’re always looking for innovative ways to let guests interact with our beloved characters,” says Disney Imagineer and head of Advanced Development Scott Trowbridge. “And we have many more surprises up our sleeves.””

Can’t wait to talk to Scrooge McDuck on all his DuckTales adventures!

Edit: By the way, don't let the kids read this if they still believe the Disney characters aren't being moved around by people.

Retro Japan

While I'm trying to sort out a few kinks on the blog; here's a new feature:

During a time in the 80's Japan was super crazy about robots. While they always have been, they were obsessed with transforming robots at the time. While your probably thinking about Transformers, there was another transforming toy Japan was going all out with, which were the Gobots. You've probably don't remember these or even heard of them because Transformers was busy filling in that spotlight here in America. During this craze in Japan, Nintendo decided to release these Famicom transforming cartridges.

Toy compared to the actual cartridge.

These were released by the Gobot company at the time and were called "Kasseto Sentai" or Cartridge Corps. These toys came in small boxes and resembles a Famicom cartridge. Or a Nintendo cartridge. Most Nintendo fans should know by now that the Famicom cartridges were made bigger in Japan when first introduced. And was made smaller in America.

Well back to the cartridges. The cartridges were made to transform into the character the game represented. The toys also came with a bonus item. Nothing too fancy, it just came with an item that was featured in the game. In example with the Mario toy it came with a mushroom. Below will be more pictures, including an instruction guide and even a game you can play with the toys, which looks like a Battle Bots game. More transforming cartridges are shown below, which include Bowser, Dig Dug, and Ghosts ‘N Goblins.