Whenever someone brings up the topic of sequels that are better than the original, I always mention “Ewoks: The Battle for Endor” (1985). One, because most likely no one other than me has seen the two Ewok […]
The six episodic “Star Wars” films, adhering to George Lucas’ philosophy of putting story first and not getting too showy about the artistry, don’t wallow in their settings or cultures. They pique our interest, then […]
I love “Star Wars” but hate war; it’s a conundrum a lot of fans probably struggle with, and that includes Lando Calrissian trilogy author L. Neil Smith. Getting more specific in this 2006 essay in his […]
The latest Star Wars Insider (No. 145) noted that libertarian writer L. Neil Smith was asked by Lucasfilm to keep politics out of his Lando Calrissian trilogy, which — as I noted in my review […]
Like his 2009 sci-fi classic “District 9,” “Elysium” has the distinct dystopian touch of writer-director Neill Blomkamp: Slums surrounded by desert wastelands, futuristic weapons and gadgets encrusted in grime and blood, and a sweaty everyman hero who […]
Princess Leia has enjoyed the spotlight this year as the new “Star Wars” ongoing comic series and the novel “Razor’s Edge” have explored her exploits in the early days of the Rebellion. All of this […]
I was too young to read the 1970s and ’80s “Star Wars” spinoff novels when they came out, but those seven books sat in my childhood collection just the same. I read “Splinter of the […]
Writer-director Gavin Hood, best known for helming 2009’s “X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” does a wonderfully faithful job of adapting Orson Scott Card’s 1985 sci-fi masterpiece “Ender’s Game” to the big screen while also keeping things entertaining. It’s been […]
Michael Stackpole and Timothy Zahn are the two authors who introduced the most important and iconic EU characters in the 1990s, but ranking a close third is Kevin J. Anderson. While he’s not in the […]
Having been swept up by the Luke-Callista romance introduced at the end of “Children of the Jedi,” it was with some optimism that I gave Kevin J. Anderson’s “Darksaber” (1995) another chance, despite my negative opinion of the “Jedi Academy […]