Author Archives: Matt

CHEWBACCA AND DOCTOR WHO LEGEND COME TO PORTSMOUTH

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Image via @stephencalcutt1

Doctor Who Legend Katy Manning and Stephen Calcutt, one of the actors to don the infamous Star Wars costume for fan favourite character Chewbacca have both been announced as signers for Groundlings Theatre forthcoming Comic-Con taking place at the end of July at their venue in Portsea.

Richard Stride, Artistic Director of the theatre who himself was in Star Wars as Ewan McGregor’s combat double and various other characters commented “Over the last six months, I have attend-ed a number of comic-cons as a signer across Europe and realised what a wonderful community there is between fans and signers. Our own Comic-Con will have its own particular spin as we have the capability to recreate sets and being able to bring Katy Manning down means we really are excited about this event.

Katy Manning, played the Doctors Assistant in over 70 episodes whilst other announced guests in-clude, Jack Klaff who featured in James Bond and Brian Wheeler who has featured in both Harry Potter as a Gringotts’s Goblin and infamously as an Ewok in Star Wars Return of the Jedi.

Groundlings Theatre is two mins away from Gunwharf Quays and the Hard and is an independent arts venue based in Portsmouth since 2010. Tickets can be booked online, via the phone or in person at the box office.

Date: 28th + 29th July 2018

Location: Groundlings Theatre, 42 Kent St, Portsmouth, PO1 3BS (Near Gunwharf)

Time: 11am-5pm

Tickets: £8-£14

Box office: 023 9273 7370 | www.groundlings.co.uk

 

PEOPLE Exclusive: Alden Ehrenreich Received Harrison Ford’s ‘Blessing’ to Play Han Solo: ‘He Was So Supportive’

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Via People.com:

(NEW YORK) – Alden Ehrenreich went into Solo: A Star Wars Story knowing he already had the most important blessing on his side.

The actor stars as Han Solo in the standalone origin film detailing the iconic character’s beginnings — and Harrison Ford was totally cool with him stepping into his old boots. Ehrenreich tells PEOPLE in the new special issue, Star Wars: The Secrets of Solo (on newsstands now), that the two met before he started filming in a really cool setting.

“Harrison was awesome, it was awesome just to meet him and have lunch with him,” Ehrenreich says. “I met him at his airplane hangar in Santa Monica and we sat with like five planes around us. He basically said, ‘Tell them I told you everything you need to know, but that you can’t tell anyone anything.’ “

The actor, 28, continues, “He was so encouraging and supportive. It was really nice to walk onto the movie knowing I had his blessing.”

But Ford’s blessing wasn’t the only thing Ehrenreich was riding on before he started shooting the Ron Howard-directed film. The actor, who calls himself a film buff, also made sure to watch every movie again and read up as much as he could.

“It’s a really specific world that has way different rules. I had to make the role personal,” Ehrenreich says. “I just wanted to know as much as I could about the universe. There’s more literature out there about Star Wars than almost anything!”

Solo: A Star Wars Story flies into theaters May 25.  A Star Wars Story  streaming now on PeopleTV.com.

Click below for even more from People.com

 

Lava swallowed his Mustang, butr he’s more upset about his destroyed R2-D2 mailbox!

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Sent in by YN reader Mark via CNN.com:

The red-and-black lava slowly slithered across the road in the Leilani Estates community on Hawaii’s Big Island consuming anything that stood in it’s way — including a Ford Mustang parked on the side of the street.

You’ve seen it happen, thanks to a video by storm chaser Brandon Clement that’s been widely shared. But the owner of the car, Michael Hale, wasn’t as upset to see the car destroyed as he was to see his Star Wars R2-D2 mailbox gobbled whole by the lava.
 
“It was a really special Christmas morning for me,” he said. “It’s something personal she gave me.” In the process of evacuating the area, Hale, who owns a small rental car company, took several trips to his home to remove vehicles but left behind the Mustang since it wouldn’t start. “Here’s the funny thing about that car,” he said. “It was stolen four times. Each time there’d be a little bit of damage they did and I’d fix it up.”
 

HAMILL MAY HAVE ACCIDENTALLY REVEALED A SOLO CAMEO

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Via Babybitt.com:

After a long and storied road to get here, we are mere weeks away from the second Star Wars spinoff film, Solo: A Star Wars Story. The Ron Howard-helmed film promises to play like a greatest hits of Han Solo’s notorious past, full of all the scum and villainy in the galaxy. We will be seeing younger versions of Star Wars favorites like Lando and Chewie, and I’ve wondered if we’ll see Jabba and Boba Fett as well. 

Click below for the full story, minor (if that) spoilers

How ‘Big Bang Theory’ Landed ‘Star Wars’ Favorite Mark Hamill

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Via HollywoodReporter.com:

CBS’ The Big Bang Theory had one very special guest in mind for its May 10 wedding-themed season 11 finale: Star Wars favorite Mark Hamill.

It’s actually a little hard to believe that, after more than 250 episodes, the Luke Skywalker actor had yet to make a cameo on the geek-tastic comedy, but showrunner Steve Holland and producers including Chuck Lorre, Steve Molaro and Bill Prady figured that Amy (Mayim Bialik) and Sheldon’s (Jim Parsons) wedding-themed finale would prove a good reason to extend the offer to Hamill.

“When we started talking about the wedding episode, Mark was the first name on the list,” Holland tells The Hollywood Reporter. “I’m a huge, lifelong Star Wars fan, and we started talking about fun guest-stars and were making our dream list — and Mark was at the top of it.”

Click Here or below for the full story at HollywoodReporter.com

No-spoiler Book Review – Star Wars: Last Shot

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Review via Yodasnews Contributor Jacob Burdis:

Staying true to form, Disney and LucasFilm in partnership with Del Rey are releasing another set of novels and short stories in preparation for the upcoming movie, Solo: A Star Wars Story. The most recently released novel, Star Wars: Last Shot explores an adventure with the scoundrel duo, Han Solo and Lando Calrissian, both pre Episode IV and post Episode VI.

The novel is set in 3 time periods that are shuffled throughout the story: Lando while he still owned the Millenium Falcon, Han shortly after he acquired the Falcon, and Han and Lando soon after the Battle of Jakku. The story begins when the Pau’an surgeon turned droid worshiper, Fyzen Gor, puts a sadistic, long-term plot in motion to achieve galactic domination. Yeah… it’s one of those stories where an unrelatable, psychopathic antagonist hatches an “end of the galaxy” scheme that comes within mere seconds of success until the brave heroes pull off the impossible and save the galaxy.

The Good

The best part of this story is getting to know younger Lando’s droid L3-37. Surprisingly, of all the characters depicted in the novel, L3 has the most depth. I look forward to seeing L3 in action in the upcoming film.

The Bad

One of my biggest issues with this novel is that the grandiosity of the Fyzen Gor’s scheme actually tries to “one up” the threat of both Death Stars and Starkiller Base. In short, Gor has created a device to turn all of the galaxy’s droids into a homicidal army which, if successful, could be the most menacing threat the galaxy has ever faced. Treating this story in a “just another day saving the galaxy” one-off novel is both uninteresting and unbelievable.

The Ugly

The worst infraction committed by this novel was the misrepresentation of Han Solo, one of my all-time favorite Star Wars characters. The Han Solo in this novel, specifically in the later scenes, was depicted as a domestic, fragile, insecure mess. I get that he has become a bit more “tame” and soft around the edges since becoming a family man, but I almost didn’t recognize this version of Han. This was very difficult for me to swallow.

Honorable Mention

The audiobook version was well done with the exception of the voice for young Han, which happened to be Daniel José Older himself. The voice sounded like it came straight from the inner-city of Chicago and is nothing like what I would expect from a youthful Han. This was quite distracting to the overall experience.

In summary, the novel presents a disappointing, superfluous, somewhat unbelievable story that mishandles several of our favorite heroes and does little to add to the Star Wars Universe as a whole. If you have time, it is a mildly entertaining read with a few pieces that I expect will tie in to the new movie. But I don’t think you will regret missing out on this one in your preparations for the Solo: A Star Wars Story.

Click Here or the image below to pick this up via digital, audio or physical form.  We would like to thank Del Rey/Penguin Random House for providing the review sample.

BLUEFIN ANNOUNCES NORTH AMERICAN RELEASE OF BANDAI HOBBY’S CHARACTER LINE OF STAR WARS MODEL KITS

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Bluefin, the leading North American distributor of toys, collectibles, and hobby merchandise from Japan, Asia and more, brings the force to Star Wars fans and retailers as it announces the Star Wars Character Line of model kits from Bandai Hobby.  The news of these highly anticipated new products follows Bluefin’s previous North American release of the Star Wars Scale Vehicle Model kit line that encompassed notable crafts and space ships from the earlier classic Star Wars films as well as from Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.

Bandai Hobby is renowned for its high-quality model kits that blend complex detail and innovative construction that fans of all skill levels can enjoy. The kits in the Star Wars Character Line require no glue and color injection molding reduces or even eliminates the need for paint. Some kits, such as the Han Solo and Luke Skywalker releases, feature new technology that allows a digitally printed likeness to be rendered onto the facial components in the kit. Once completed, each Character Line model is fully articulated and capable of replicating numerous iconic poses.

Pre-orders are available now from authorized Bluefin retailers nationwide and also from a variety of leading online outlets.

Manufactured in Japan, the Star Wars Plastic Model Character Line includes classic characters such as Darth Vader, the Storm Trooper, C-3PO and R2D2 as well as others like Kylo Ren and BB-8 from the latest Star Wars movies. Originally available only for the Asian market, these official U.S. releases will include English instructions and will also have product support from Bluefin.

The Bandai Hobby Star Wars Character Line features kits in 1/12, 1/6, and 1/2 scales. Initial characters to be released will be in the 1/12 scale and will have an MSRP range of $28.00 – $50.00:

Initial Bandai Hobby Star Wars Plastic Model Character Releases for North America will include:

  • Darth Vader
  • Boba Fett
  • Stormtrooper
  • C-3PO
  • R2-D2 & R4-D5
  • K-2SO
  • Han Solo Stormtrooper
  • Luke Skywalker Stormtrooper
  • Shoretrooper
  • Clone Trooper
  • General Grievous
  • Kylo Ren
  • BB-8
  • First Order Stormtrooper

Additional character releases will be announced throughout 2018.

Disney Is Taking a Very Different Marketing Approach With ‘Solo: A Star Wars Story’

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Via Fortune.com:

Disney and Lucasfilm have finally released the official teaser trailer to the next film in the Star Wars franchise, Solo: A Star Wars Story.

The studio actually already released a 46-second teaser to the teaser trailer during the Super Bowl on Sunday, promising via Twitter that a “full” teaser trailer would follow on Monday morning with a little bit of Disney synergy on Good Morning America.

Clocking in at one minute and 43 seconds, the teaser provides some desired first looks at the cast, comprised of familiar characters with new actors (like Donald Glover as the young Lando Calrissian‬ and Han Solo himself, now played by Alden Ehrenreich) and brand new additions, such as Westworld‘s Thandie Newton and Game of Thrones‘ Emilia Clarke. Woody Harrelson also makes an appearance in what has been reported will be a mentor-like role to Solo, and that indeed appears to be the case when Harrelson’s character says he’s “putting a crew together.”

Click here for the full story!

 

Amazon Removes Star Wars Figures – Why They Did It!

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YN reader Sam reports in:

Over the last few days Amazon has started removing  some Star Wars action figures that come with the 30th Anniversary coin.   Here is the list and the reason given.  If you do a google search using the ASIN you will see the link.

This product has been identified as nonmonetized or monetized bullion, or a collectible coin.  Amazon prohibits the listing and sale of nonmonetized bullion.  Monetized Bullion is allowed in the Collectible Coins section of Amazon.

ASIN: B000WTXFY2, , Title: “star wars 30th anniversary saga legends – imperial officer – fan’s choice”

ASIN: B002A5UV4I, , Title: “star wars mace windu ultimate galactic hunt 3 3/4 inch action figure with vac-metalized gold colored coin”

ASIN: B000GKA2P2, , Title: “star wars 30th anniversary biggs darklighter with collector coin”

ASIN: B000GKA2P2, , Title: “star wars 30th anniversary biggs darklighter with collector coin”

ASIN: B000W0GSA4, Title: “star wars 30th anniversary ” battle droids” red variant saga legends moc”

ASIN: B000W1TO22, , Title: “star wars 30th anniversary collection mcquarrie concept chewbacca action figure ultimate galactic hunt (with gold coin)”

Thanks Sam!  And now we know! 

 

John Williams Set to Write the theme for Han Solo

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Via Variety.com:

‘Solo’ will stay in the ‘Star Wars’ family with veteran franchise composer John Williams set to write the theme for the standalone film about Han Solo, slated for release on May 25. It will be Williams’ ninth assignment.

Williams revealed his involvement in “Solo: A Star Wars Story” during in an interview with Variety about his current “Star Wars” opus, “The Last Jedi.” “The present plan is that I’m writing a theme for Han Solo, and John Powell is going to write the score, which he’ll do brilliantly,” Williams says.

Click Here or below for the full story at Variety.com