COUNTDOWN TO STAR WARS EPISODE SEVEN – 40 DAYS

Counting down the 40 days until The Force Awakens on December 18, 2015.

In the days leading up to Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens, And There Came A Day will present links, images, videos, art, memories, laughs, theories and thoughts leading up to the big day… which happens to be on my birthday!  ENJOY and may the Force be with you, always… or at least until 12.18.15!

NEW FOOTAGE… NEW THRILLS!

Unless you’ve been under a rock, you know that a new trailer (from Japan) for The Force Awakens went online last week.

Watch it. Now.

Then read the analysis!

COUNTDOWN TO STAR WARS EPISODE SEVEN – 41 DAYS

Counting down the 41 days until The Force Awakens on December 18, 2015.

In the days leading up to Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens, And There Came A Day will present links, images, videos, art, memories, laughs, theories and thoughts leading up to the big day… which happens to be on my birthday!  ENJOY and may the Force be with you, always… or at least until 12.18.15!

THE WAITING GAME VI

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With over a month go to, what is a Star Wars fan to do to keep sane? There are a few things I can suggest…

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STAR WARS RADIO DRAMAS

Okay, seriously. These are WELL WORTH the time of any Star Wars fan, particularly the first edition – the Star Wars adaptation. Featuring a voice cast that included Mark Hamill and Anthony Daniels, the Star Wars Radio Dramas filled in a terrific amount of back story, were adapted from some of George Lucas’ original concepts for the trilogy that were left out of the films and were massively popular. Listening to these would be a wonderful way for a fan to immerse herself back into the universe of the original trilogy prior to seeing The Force Awakens. I cannot recommend them (especially the Star Wars adaptation) enough!

COUNTDOWN TO STAR WARS EPISODE SEVEN – 42 DAYS

Counting down the 42 days until The Force Awakens on December 18, 2015.

In the days leading up to Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens, And There Came A Day will present links, images, videos, art, memories, laughs, theories and thoughts leading up to the big day… which happens to be on my birthday!  ENJOY and may the Force be with you, always… or at least until 12.18.15!

THE WAITING GAME V

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With over a month go to, what is a Star Wars fan to do to keep sane? There are a few things I can suggest…

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 NEW MARVEL STAR WARS

Recently, Marvel Comics regained control of the Star Wars license. This makes sense as Disney owns Star Wars and Marvel Comics. What this has meant is terrific Star Wars stories. These tales are set after the conclusion of A New Hope  and explore that time period in a way that Splinter of the Mind’s Eye never even conceived… of course, Splinter was almost the Star Wars sequel and not Empire, but that’s another story.

Writer Jason Aaron and artists John Cassaday and Stuart Immonen have created something very, very special. All Star Wars fans should be reading this!

COUNTDOWN TO STAR WARS EPISODE SEVEN – 43 DAYS

Counting down the 43 days until The Force Awakens on December 18, 2015.

In the days leading up to Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens, And There Came A Day will present links, images, videos, art, memories, laughs, theories and thoughts leading up to the big day… which happens to be on my birthday!  ENJOY and may the Force be with you, always… or at least until 12.18.15!

THE WAITING GAME IV

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With over a month go to, what is a Star Wars fan to do to keep sane? There are a few things I can suggest…

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SHATTERED EMPIRE

Shattered Empire is a Marvel Comics offering that fills in “Journey to the Force Awakens” with a pretty good, post Return of the Jedi story. This four issue mini series (which you can already order from amazon as a trade paperback) has more links to the characters from the original trilogy and deeper introductions to the characters from the new trilogy than Aftermath featured. Written by comic book veteran Greg Rucka and beautifully illustrated by Mark Checchetto (and others), this is a very good jumping on point for Star Wars fans who want to know a little more about Poe Dameron. It is, however, the second best comic book we’re featuring this week… stay tuned for the best!

COUNTDOWN TO STAR WARS EPISODE SEVEN – 44 DAYS

Counting down the 44 days until The Force Awakens on December 18, 2015.

In the days leading up to Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens, And There Came A Day will present links, images, videos, art, memories, laughs, theories and thoughts leading up to the big day… which happens to be on my birthday!  ENJOY and may the Force be with you, always… or at least until 12.18.15!

THE WAITING GAME III

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With over a month go to, what is a Star Wars fan to do to keep sane? There are a few things I can suggest…

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 AFTERMATH

Aftermath, a new novel published on Force Friday, was part of the “Journey to the Force Awakens” initiative that Disney created in September. Aftermath is set immediately following the events of Return of the Jedi and is supposed to serve as something of a bridge between that movie and The Force Awakens.

I’ll give author Chuck Wendig some credit for his inclusion of diverse characters in his story and for featuring women in lead roles. He also, from time-to-time, evokes the “feel” of the original trilogy in his writing. Also, there are elements in this story that will surely be picked up on in The Force Awakens.

But I didn’t enjoy the book that much. It was too far distant from the world of Luke Skywalker for my tastes. I had thought the original trilogy characters would take center stage in this novel when they are actually supporting characters at best. Perhaps my expectations were too high for this book. It pales in comparison to Timothy Zahn’s Thrawn Trilogy. Maybe I will enjoy the sequels (Star Wars Aftermath: Life Debt and Star Wars Aftermath: Empire’s End coming in the next two years) more.

COUNTDOWN TO STAR WARS EPISODE SEVEN – 45 DAYS

Counting down the 45 days until The Force Awakens on December 18, 2015.

In the days leading up to Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens, And There Came A Day will present links, images, videos, art, memories, laughs, theories and thoughts leading up to the big day… which happens to be on my birthday!  ENJOY and may the Force be with you, always… or at least until 12.18.15!

THE WAITING GAME II

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With over a month go to, what is a Star Wars fan to do to keep sane? There are a few things I can suggest…

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DARK EMPIRE

When Dark Horse Comics had the Star Wars license, they put out a number of good titles including Dark Empire which told the story of Emperor Palpatine’s almost resurrection in the form of clones. These comics (Dark Empire, Dark Empire II and Empire’s End) also speculated that Luke Skywalker could go over to the Dark Side if pressured by thinking he could do more good for the galaxy by controlling it.  Did JJ Abrams and company pick up on this thread for The Force Awakens?

COUNTDOWN TO STAR WARS EPISODE SEVEN – 46 DAYS

Counting down the 46 days until The Force Awakens on December 18, 2015.

In the days leading up to Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens, And There Came A Day will present links, images, videos, art, memories, laughs, theories and thoughts leading up to the big day… which happens to be on my birthday!  ENJOY and may the Force be with you, always… or at least until 12.18.15!

THE WAITING GAME I

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With over a month go to, what is a Star Wars fan to do to keep sane? There are a few things I can suggest…

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 THE THRAWN TRILOGY

This trilogy by Timothy Zahn was originally published in 1991 and, for my money, is the gold standard of Star Wars fiction. No longer considered “canon” as new Star Wars tales will unfold with The Force Awakens, the so-called “Thrawn Trilogy” was so good that one could feel strains of John Williams playing while reading it.

Set five years after the events of Return of the Jedi, the trilogy tells the story of Luke Skywalker beginning to train new Jedi knights, of the married Leia Organa and Han Solo expecting twins, of the mysterious Grand Admiral Thrawn who has been building power and a plan to recreate the Empire and of the Jedi clone Jorruus C’Boath who will make matters worse for everyone.

Featuring terrific adventure, a story that would have made wonderful films and new characters that, unlike most Star Wars fiction, can really hold their own with the creations of George Lucas, the Thrawn Trilogy is absolutely worth the time of any Star Wars fan!

Pick it up. You won’t be able to put it down.

The Force is very strong with this one.

COUNTDOWN TO STAR WARS EPISODE SEVEN – 47 DAYS

Counting down the 47 days until The Force Awakens on December 18, 2015.

In the days leading up to Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens, And There Came A Day will present links, images, videos, art, memories, laughs, theories and thoughts leading up to the big day… which happens to be on my birthday!  ENJOY and may the Force be with you, always… or at least until 12.18.15!

HARRISON FORD IS A HOT DOG

Harrison Ford was on Jimmy Kimmel Live late last week dressed as… a hot dog. During the interview with Kimmel (dressed as Princess Leia), Ford discussed the new movie (“J.J. has made an incredible movie. You will not be disappointed at all. I promise you.”), his love of George Lucas (“George has been amazing to me. He’s been the author of the early chapters of my life and given me the opportunity to have a really extraordinary life.”) and why he wanted Han Solo to die in Return of the Jedi. Entertainment Weekly did a terrific write up on the interview which links to the video.

COUNTDOWN TO STAR WARS EPISODE SEVEN – 48 DAYS

Counting down the 48 days until The Force Awakens on December 18, 2015.

In the days leading up to Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens, And There Came A Day will present links, images, videos, art, memories, laughs, theories and thoughts leading up to the big day… which happens to be on my birthday!  ENJOY and may the Force be with you, always… or at least until 12.18.15!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Here are two of kids in terrific Halloween costumes from many, many years back… check on the one on the right!

COUNTDOWN TO STAR WARS EPISODE SEVEN – 49 DAYS

Counting down the 49 days until The Force Awakens on December 18, 2015.

In the days leading up to Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens, And There Came A Day will present links, images, videos, art, memories, laughs, theories and thoughts leading up to the big day… which happens to be on my birthday!  ENJOY and may the Force be with you, always… or at least until 12.18.15!

THE EYES HAVE IT

During the next few days, we’ll look at the real mistakes made during the filming of the original trilogy, not the ones that many fans feel George Lucas created when he released the Special Editions.

WINDOW TO THE SOUL

You can really see into this Ewok’s eyes…