Steve Pond's Blog, page 2029
December 27, 2019
Confused About ‘The Witcher’ on Netflix? Showrunner, Henry Cavill Explain How the Timeline Works
(Warning: This post contains mild spoilers for Episodes 1-4 of Netflix’s “The Witcher.”)
Netflix’s “The Witcher” launched Friday, and if you are a fan of the best-selling fantasy book series the show is based, then much of the plot should be familiar enough to allow you to dive into this whole new world fairly quickly.
But if you haven’t read Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski’s works about Geralt of Rivia, showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich and star Henry Cavill are still confident you won’t be confused by “The Witcher,” despite the fact the show has three different timelines running at once, which is a) a serious departure from the novels and stories and b) something that is not immediately obvious to the viewer.
Actually, Hissirch is hoping this will help more than hurt, seeing as the different timelines allowed her to introduce main characters monster hunter Geralt of Rivia (Cavill), sorceress Yennefer (Anya Chalotra) and young princess Ciri (Freya Allan) all at once, which is also a major departure from the books.
Also Read: Why Netflix Is Betting You'll Want 'The Witcher' Season 2 - Before You've Seen Season 1
“What was important to me is starting off and making sure that we understood who Geralt was and who Ciri was, and then, in Episode 2, who Yennefer was,” Hissirch told TheWrap. “And one of our early decisions we made was actually just to introduce Geralt and Ciri in Episode 1 and to hold Yennefer for Episode 2 for that exact reason. There’s only so much you can take in. And I want to make sure that what I call the ‘bells and whistles of fantasy’ — the monsters and the magic and the violence and battles and sexuality — all of those things we expect from high fantasy, that those don’t take up the room of actual character development. We need to let the characters live and breathe in this world a little bit. That was one of the reasons we structured the story that way.”
Hissirch said she chose to use multiple timelines without explaining that there were multiple timelines because she “wanted viewers who weren’t familiar with ‘The Witcher’ to be able to watch the first episode and believe they could be happening on the same timeline.”
“There’s a couple of hints in the first episode that we’ve got some interesting things happening with time, but unless you’re paying a lot of attention or know what you’re looking for, they could easily pass you as little bits of dialogue,” she said. “Because I didn’t want to force a viewer, especially a new fan, to be working that hard, I just want them to enjoy the first episode. It’s sort of as if you’re thrown into the deep end already with all the characters and all the places, I didn’t want to have to enforce that they were working on different timelines, too.”
Also Read: 'The Witcher' Star Henry Cavill Explains Geralt's Accent
“To me, it becomes really evident, obviously, by Episode 4,” she continued. “This is the place where I think all audiences will go, ‘Oh my god. OK, now this is making a little bit more sense,’ where Queen Calanthe — who we see kill herself in Episode 1 — is younger and back to life in Episode 4. And hopefully, god, if I was watching this, I would want to go back to the beginning and see how they’ve been telling me this from the beginning. And I hope people will go back and rewatch and see what other little Easter eggs are planted in there.”
Cavill — a self-professed huge fan of “The Witcher” novels — told TheWrap that he thinks what Hissirch has done “fantastically well” in bringing the origin stories of Yennefer and Ciri into the show immediately might actually help a non-reader viewer understand things quicker.
“In the first book, it’s all a collection of Geralt’s short stories, which originally were written as separate short stories, and have been collected in the first book and a narrative string is between each story which travels all the way through and you actually meet Yennefer at the end of this book,” Cavill said. “But in this case, Lauren has done an amazing job and Anya has done an extraordinary job of bringing Yennefer to life before we meet her in the books.”
Also Read: 'The Witcher' Showrunner Says Netflix Series Will Never Adapt the Video Games
The book series is certainly not structured in the sort of neat and tidy way a television show is — the early stories that Cavill mentions are basically a series of episodes that focus entirely on Geralt. We learn things about Yennefer’s past, for example, through Geralt’s perspective, rather than because there’s a story in that collection about her origin. So the show is taking that sort of information to build an actual present narrative for Yennefer instead of essentially having her only exist when she’s near Geralt. It’s probably a helpful way to do this in the long run just because it lets viewers get to know her better this way.
“I think the people that haven’t read the books, that’ll actually be a lot easier for them to get into because they have the Yennefer and Ciri storylines, which are amazingly performed, from the get-go,” Cavill added. “With the Geralt storyline, it’s a slower burn. If you’ve read the books, then yes, you have the privilege of knowing the why, the what and the how. But with his storyline, it’s a slower burn and you discover him bit by bit, more and moreover the season and through future seasons.”
Still, Hissirch is prepared for viewers who know nothing about “The Witcher” franchise to have the experience of “being thrown into the deep end” — but says that “is part of the experience of entering a fantasy world, which is it is a world that doesn’t resemble ours.”
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“The place names aren’t familiar, the people’s names sound weird. Nothing is really familiar,” she said. “The most important thing to me in Episode 1 is that you understand what a witcher is, once you have that knowledge, then you can kind of be along for the ride and things that seem confusing in Episode 1, hopefully, by the time you get to Episode 2 and Episode 3, you go ‘Oh my God, I totally understand what these things are now — but I understand why it wasn’t told to me immediately upfront.’ I think the journey is definitely part of that experience.”
Now when it comes to you viewers who did read the books and want to see the strictest adaptation possible, Hissirch has this message: “What I would say to people is, we’re adapting the source material, we’re going back to the books, we’re trying to honor the books — but it is an adaptation.”
“For purely logistical reasons, we can’t go page through page of the book and put it on screen,” she said. “We only have eight hours in this first season and we have to pick and choose the best ways to introduce these characters and the stories we tell about them — and also keep in mind what we’re hoping to set up for the future. We’re in a lucky enough position now that we know there is going to be a Season 2 of ‘The Witcher,’ so some of what we’re doing is laying down the building blocks for future seasons of stories we know we want to tell. And I always hate the losing from the source material, that’s the hardest thing. Adding things can be fun and I think we do a lot of them, but there are certain complications to stories that we did have to lose on screen, usually for time and to make space to be with characters as they are growing and changing and developing.”
Also Read: 'The Witcher' Gets Early Season 2 Renewal at Netflix
“Really, the biggest change we make to the source material is making sure that Ciri and Yennefer are also well-represented in this story,” she added. “It was really important to me to establish ‘The Last Wish,’ which was the first book that I read and the book I really fell in love with, but Ciri’s not alive yet during that book. So I didn’t want to wait until Season 2 or Season 3 to wait to introduce her, I wanted her to be a part of Season 1. So we made the decision to play with time and have these three different timelines so that we could tell each of their stories in a really thorough and full way.”
“The Witcher” Season 1 is streaming now on Netflix.
Related stories from TheWrap:
'The Witcher' Gets Early Season 2 Renewal at Netflix
'The Witcher' Showrunner Says Netflix Series Will Never Adapt the Video Games
45 Most Shocking TV Character Deaths of 2019, From 'Game of Thrones' to 'Stranger Things' (Photos)
Don Imus, Radio Host of ‘Imus in the Morning,’ Dies at 79
Don Imus, the host of the long-running radio show “Imus in the Morning,” died on Friday morning at age 79. The cause of death has not been released.
Imus began his radio career in 1968 at KUTY in Palmdale, CA. Later, Imus moved to a Sacramento-based radio station and soon became known for a gag in which he posed as a sergeant and ordered 1,200 hamburgers, to go, from a local McDonald’s for his supposed troops. By 1971, after receiving Billboard’s disc jokey of the year award multiple times, Imus began hosting the immensely popular “Imus in the Morning” for New York’s WNBC.
While Imus was described by the New York Times’ David Carr as “one of the most popular radio hosts in the country” in 2007, he garnered swift and public backlash that year for making racist and sexist remarks about players for Rutgers women’s basketball team, whom he had called “rough girls” and “nappy-headed hos.” At the time, Imus had apologized for his “thoughtless and stupid” comments but was ultimately fired from CBS.
But even before then, Imus’ brash and confrontational style often included insults and jokes made at the expense of underrepresented groups. Still, Imus’ popularity led him to be named one of Time Magazine’s Most Influential People in America in 1997. The shock jock was also inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame in 1989.
In the 1990s, Imus’ show focused more on politics and would feature politicians and journalists as on-air guests. The radio host also didn’t shy away from lobbing insults at politicians, as can be seen in his 1996 White House Correspondents’ Dinner speech.
By March 2018, “Imus in the Morning” ended its nearly 50-year run. “Turn out the lights…the party’s over,” Imus tweeted that year.
News of Imus’ death drew messages of praise from other broadcasters, including MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough, who replaced Imus at the network, which simulcasted Imus’ program.
“Morning Joe obviously owes its format to Don Imus,” Scarborough wrote on Twitter. “No one else could have gotten away with that much talk on cable news. Thanks for everything, Don, and Godspeed.”
Morning Joe obviously owes its format to Don Imus. No one else could have gotten away with that much talk on cable news. Thanks for everything, Don, and Godspeed.
— Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) December 27, 2019
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Does ‘Jumanji: The Next Level’ Have a Post-Credits Scene?
Since “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle” more than held its own against “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” back in 2017, it’s safe to say that this franchise is going to be around for a while. Though “Jumanji: The Next Level” has thus far not quite matched its predecessor’s take at the box office, it’s certainly been successful in its own right. So I hope you’re ready for more in a couple years.
This time around, the new “Jumanji” flick got a head start by opening a week ahead of its “Star Wars” competition — this is actually why it’s pacing behind the last movie, because it hasn’t gotten as much of its holiday bump as the last movie did at this point in its run. It’s off to a good start, having taken the box office crown from “Frozen 2” for a week before “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” stormed in to take it back for Disney.
Unless the new film straight up bombs, which is unlikely, it looks like this franchise will be with us for a while. Which begs the question: does “Jumanji: The Next Level” follow in the footsteps of so many franchise movies the past few years by teasing the future of the series with an extra scene during or after the credits? Does this movie have a mid- or post-credits scene?
The answer is yes — there is a bonus scene, which comes fairly early in the credits. There is not, however, anything extra at the very end of the credits.
From this point on, we’re gonna do some spoiler talk. Specifically, we’re going to tell you what’s in the extra scene.
Also Read: 'Jumanji: The Next Level' Film Review: Second Go-Round Offers Some Familiar Fun
The movie ends with the friends sitting at Nora’s cafe, after they just completed another round in the game. At the beginning of the film, Spencer’s mom, played by Marin Hinkle, says she’s waiting for someone to come repair the heater that of course is broken during the cold winter months. He never shows up — that is, until after the credits have started rolling. And it’s none other than Lamorne Morris, who has worked with director Jake Kasdan on “New Girl.”
He comes to fix the broken heater, and is led into the basement do start the repair. There, he sees the broken game console. He’s an avid gamer, he explains, so he is drawn to the console.
Fade to where the gang is sitting at the cafe, and a stampede of ostriches runs past them. The ostriches were a big part of the game this time around — so needless to say, Morris’ character might’ve reopened the portal once again.
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Whether Kasdan is leaving it up to you to decide what happens, or whether this means we can expect a third film (or fourth, should you count the original “Jumanji” starring Robin Williams), is left totally open-ended.
“It felt to me that that gave us both a jumping off point for a cool movie we’d want to see, and also, if that didn’t happen, I would be comfortable with the story ending there,” Kasdan tells TheWrap. “Because once again, while I thought it was worth it to seed an idea, I also thought that it was really important that this movie finish itself, and that we get to the end of the story we’re telling.”
So there you have it, folks. Just stay seated.
“Jumanji: The Next Level” stars Johnson, Kevin Hart, Jack Black, Karen Gillan, Awkwafina, Danny DeVito, Danny Glover and Awkwafina, and will hit theaters this Friday.
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Does ‘Frozen 2’ Have a Post-Credits Scene?
“Frozen 2” has been out for more than a month, but it’s still going strong as we near the new year — not the most surprising development for the sequel to the biggest animated film of all time. It seems that Disney’s complete domination of the box office just cannot be stopped.
So Anna, Elsa, Olaf, Kristoff and Sven are all back in “Frozen 2” for this new adventure. The original “Frozen” was groundbreaking for how it reinvented the Disney princess template for the 21st Century, giving its two heroines a sense of real agency and establishing a strong relationship between two women that’s rarely seen on screen. And of course, the track “Let It Go” was so huge it became an instant Disney classic. Idina Menzel’s performance of the sweeping, Broadway-esque ballad even won the Oscar for Best Original Song.
Whether “Frozen 2” can match the original with its songs, animation or humor for a new film is for the fans to debate, and the film is a box office smash with young audiences all the same. The question is whether your children will patiently be up for just a little bit more “Frozen” after the credits start to roll. So, should you stick around?
Also Read: 'Frozen II' Film Review: Elsa Belts Again in Entertaining, Unnecessary Sequel
Yes, “Frozen 2” does have a brief post-credits scene at the end of the film. During the credits however, you’ll hear three alternate takes on some of the film’s original songs. First, we;ve got Panic! at the Disco performing one of Elsa’s big numbers, “Into the Unknown.” Next, Kacey Musgraves sings an acoustic version of “All Is Found,” which is initially heard at the very start of the film as performed by Evan Rachel Wood as a lullaby to the young Anna and Elsa. Finally, Weezer give their take on “Lost in the Woods,” the big, comedic rock ballad that Kristoff sings midway through the movie.
But on to that post-credits scene! And keep in mind, there are SPOILERS here for “Frozen 2” if you have yet to see the film. Olaf (Josh Gad) has a great gag during the movie where he rattles off a quick recap of how they got here. He pantomimes and acts out all the most famous moments from the first “Frozen,” all building up to the explanation of why Anna and Elsa are now exploring a hidden, enchanted forest outside of Arendelle.
During the post-credits scene however, he recaps the remaining events of the movie you just watched. He says he was right all along about his theory that “water has memory,” a recurring theme of the film, and he assures the audience that yes, he’s still alive. It’s a tragically sad moment when Olaf briefly melts away in one scene after Elsa becomes trapped in ice, but she uses her magic to revive him for a happy ending. “I live, and so do you,” Olaf says to the camera. The camera then cuts to a captive audience of the massive snow monster from the first film and hundreds of other baby snowmen all listening intently to Olaf’s story.
Also Read: 'Frozen II' on Track for $100 Million-Plus Opening, Biggest for Animated Film Outside of Summer
“Frozen 2” is directed by Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee, and Kirsten Bell, Idina Menzel, Jonathan Groff, Josh Gad all returned to the voice cast. The film’s newcomers are Evan Rachel Wood, Sterling K. Brown, Jason Segel, Martha Plimpton, Ciarán Hinds, Rachel Matthews and Alfred Molina. Critics have been somewhat more muted on the new “Frozen,” as the film has a 76 percent fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes, compared to the original’s 90 percent.
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'Frozen II': Critics Mostly Enchanted By Disney's 'Deeply Strange' Sequel
Quentin Tarantino to Receive Director of the Year Award from Palm Springs Film Festival
DO NOT POST UNTIL FRIDAY 12/17 AT 6AM PT
Quentin Tarantino will receive the Director of the Year award from the Palm Springs International Film Festival’s 2020 Awards Gala, PSIFF organizers announced on Friday.
Tarantino is being honored for “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood,” his ninth feature film, which has also landed him directing nominations at the Golden Globes and the Critics’ Choice Awards.
Since premiering at the Cannes Film Festival in May, the film has been one of the year’s most acclaimed, taking a spot on the American Film Institute’s Top 10 list and receiving nominations from virtually all the Hollywood guilds and professional organizations that give out awards.
This announcement completes the lineup for the annual gala. In addition to Tarantino, the full list of honorees consists of Antonio Banderas and Charlize Theron (International Star Awards), Laura Dern (Career Achievement Award), Adam Driver and Renee Zellweger (Desert Palm Achievement Awards), Cynthia Erivo (Breakthrough Performance Award), Jamie Foxx and Jennifer Lopez (Spotlight Awards), Zack Gottsagen (Rising Star Award), Joaquin Phoenix (Chairman’s Award) and Martin Scorsese (Sonny Bono Visionary Award).
The Awards Gala will take place at the Palm Springs Convention Center on Jan. 2, 2020, at the beginning of the 31st annual film festival. The festival itself will run through Jan. 13 in the desert resort town east of Los Angeles.
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Female-Led Blockbusters ‘Wonder Woman 1984’ and ‘Black Widow’ Top 2020 Fandango Poll of Most Anticipated Movies
Four films directed by and led by women, “Wonder Woman 1984,” “Black Widow,” “Eternals” and “Mulan,” were ranked as the most highly anticipated movies of 2020, according to a poll conducted by the ticketing service Fandango.
Fandango surveyed 2,000 millennials who used the site during the final weeks of December for their choices of the movies and performances they’re most looking forward to in 2020. For the first time, the online group of voters selected movies that were all directed by women for the top spots.
Other films on the list included the 25th James Bond film “No Time to Die,” “A Quiet Place 2,” Cathy Yan’s “Birds of Prey,” the musical “In the Heights,” Pixar’s animated film “Soul” and “Fast & Furious 9.”
“As we head into the next decade, the new cinematic offerings look promising, with inspiring stories and new definitions of the word ‘hero,'” Fandango correspondent Nikki Novak said in a statement. “Adventure-seeking fans can’t wait for the kick-ass leads of ‘Wonder Woman 1984,’ ‘Black Widow,’ and ‘Mulan’ – all films directed by women – to command the big screen. And with invigorating, fresh fare like Lin-Manuel Miranda’s ‘In the Heights,’ Marvel’s ‘Eternals’ and Pixar’s ‘Soul,’ the 2020 box office will offer a cornucopia of welcome surprises.”
There’s a possibility that if excitement for these films holds up, the top 10 movies at the box office in 2020 could achieve gender parity with an even split of movies directed by both men and women. It would be quite the feat, as no year at the box office has had more than one movie directed by a woman in the Top 10 at the box office.
Kristen Wiig even topped the list of villains that moviegoers are most excited to see when she takes the role of Cheetah in “Wonder Woman 1984.” While Wiig’s character showed up in the first trailer for the film, we didn’t get to see her become her villainous alter-ego just yet.
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Movies like “Ghostbusters: Afterlife,” “Bill & Ted Face the Music” and “Legally Blonde 3” also made a separate list of the most anticipated comedies of 2020, while fans are equally eager to see “Halloween Kills” and “Sonic the Hedgehog.”
Last year, “Avengers: Endgame” predictably topped Fandango’s list of the most anticipated movie of 2019, and it went on to shatter records for sales at Fandango and everywhere else. That list also featured “Captain Marvel,” “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” and “Spider-Man: Far From Home.”
Check out the full results of Fandango’s survey below:
Most Anticipated Movie:
“Wonder Woman 1984”
“Black Widow”
Marvel’s “Eternals”
“Mulan”
“No Time to Die”
“A Quiet Place 2”
“Birds of Prey”
“In the Heights”
Pixar’s “Soul”
“Fast & Furious 9”
Most Anticipated Actress:
Gal Gadot (“Wonder Woman 1984”)
Scarlett Johansson (“Black Widow”)
Emily Blunt (“A Quiet Place 2,” “Jungle Cruise”)
Margot Robbie (“Birds of Prey,” “Barbie”)
Zendaya (“Dune”)
Most Anticipated Actor:
Chris Pine (“Wonder Woman 1984”)
Paul Rudd (“Ghostbusters: Afterlife”)
Ryan Reynolds (“Free Guy”)
Daniel Craig (“No Time to Die”)
Robert Downey Jr. (“Dolittle”)
Most Anticipated Villain:
Kristen Wiig as Cheetah (“Wonder Woman 1984”)
Rami Malek as Safin (“No Time to Die”)
Ewan McGregor as Black Mask (“Birds of Prey”)
Jim Carrey as Dr. Ivo Robotnik (“Sonic the Hedgehog”)
Charlize Theron as Cipher (“Fast & Furious 9”)
Most Anticipated Family Film:
“Mulan”
Pixar’s “Soul”
“Sonic the Hedgehog”
“Dolittle”
“Jungle Cruise”
Most Anticipated Horror Film:
“A Quiet Place 2”
“Halloween Kills”
“The Invisible Man”
“The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It”
“The Grudge”
Most Anticipated Live-Action Comedy:
“Ghostbusters: Afterlife”
“Bill and Ted Face the Music”
“Bad Boys For Life”
“Legally Blonde 3”
“The Lovebirds”
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Jerry Herman, Broadway Composer of ‘Hello, Dolly!’ and ‘La Cage aux Folles,’ Dies at 88
Jerry Herman, the Broadway composer who wrote the music and lyrics for such classic shows as “Hello, Dolly!” “Mame” and “La Cage aux Folles,” died Thursday in Miami of pulmonary complications, the Associated Press reported. He was 88.
Over his storied career, Herman won four Tony Awards, including a 2009 Lifetime Achievement honor. He earned honors for his score for “Hello, Dolly!” in 1964 and for “La Cage aux Folles” in 1984, and then another as a producer of the 2017 Bette Midler-led revival of “Hello, Dolly!”
He also earned two Grammy Awards: Song of the Year in 1964 for the title tune from “Hello, Dolly!” and Best Score From an Original Cast Show Album in 1966 for “Mame.” He received a Kennedy Center Honor in 2010.
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Herman was one of the last Broadway composers in the Rodgers & Hammerstein tradition, who relied on hummable melodies and optimistic, seize-the-day lyrics reflected in such songs as “The Best of Times,” “Tap Your Troubles Away,” “We Need a Little Christmas” and “Before the Parade Passes By.”
In accepting the Tony Award for “La Cage” in 1984, he acknowledged that he was a bit of a throwback at a time when the more melodically complicated scores of Stephen Sondheim and others seemed to be dominating the scene. “This award forever shatters a myth about the musical theater,” he said. “There’s been a rumor around for a couple of years that the simple, hummable show tune was no longer welcome on Broadway. Well, it’s alive and well and living at the Palace.”
He was also a trailblazing advocate for LGBTQ rights. “La Cage aux Folles,” an adaptation of a 1978 French comedic film of the same name, centered on a longtime committed gay male couple who own a splashy drag club on the French Riviera and have raised a son from one of the partner’s previous relationships. The show’s signature tune, “I Am What I Am,” became a gay anthem that anticipated greater public acceptance for LGBTQ rights.
Herman, who is survived by his partner, real estate broker Terry Marler, was also forthright about his own homosexuality.
Tributes quickly poured in for Herman. “We lost one of the greats,” wrote Harvey Fierstein, who wrote the book for “La Cage” and starred in the 2010 Broadway revival. “I cannot thank him enough for his love, trust, encouragement, support and laughter.”
Jerry Herman lost his hard fought battle last night and we lost one of the greats. A collaborator and friend for almost 40 years, I cannot thank him enough for his love, trust, encouragement, support and laughter. Well done, Mr Herman. Bravo! pic.twitter.com/QYws9jQu6h
— Harvey Fierstein (@HarveyFierstein) December 27, 2019
RIP Jerry Herman, a great man of the theater. I once had a meeting at his Upper East Side townhouse, where I was greeted by a uniformed butler and then the delightful Mr. Herman, standing beside a full-length oil portrait of Angela Lansbury as Mame. He provided such joy pic.twitter.com/CEKFNR4gBX
— Paul Rudnick (@PaulRudnickNY) December 27, 2019
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‘The Mandalorian': What You Need to Know About Moff Gideon’s Weird Sword
(Spoilers ahead for the season finale, “Chapter 8,” of “The Mandalorian” on Disney Plus)
We have now reached the end of the first season of the first ever live-action “Star Wars” TV show, “The Mandalorian.” It’s been a bit of a weird ride, with eight short episodes and not that much story to tell, but at least we know that Disney is doing a second season that might have a little more plot. Regardless, the season finale, “Chapter 8,” ends with quite the surprising reference to another part of the “Star Wars” universe, with the new Big Bad of the show, Moff Gideon (Giancarlo Esposito), whipping out a pretty strange looking blade in the last scene.
So this episode was, of course, all about the Mandalorian (Pedro Pascal) and his friends trying to escape Moff Gideon and his legion of stormtroopers of various types. Baby Yoda takes a few lumps along the way, but they manage to eventually escape thanks to Mando’s new jetpack which he picks up on the way out of town. Our hero pulls quite a crazy move when Gideon, piloting a TIE Fighter, tries to take them out from the air.
The Mando rockets up into the air and manages to get on top of the fighter, riding it like a bucking bronco. Eventually he manages to attach a couple explosives to the hull and jumps off, with Gideon’s TIE Fighter crashing to the ground. And the Mandalorian heads off to try to find some Jedi to hand Baby Yoda over to.
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But that’s not the end. Gideon survived the crash, and carves his way out of the wreckage with what looks very much like a black lightsaber. And the reason it looks like a black lightsaber is because that’s exactly what it is. Gideon is wielding the blade known as the Darksaber.
This is a pretty obscure reference for everyone who didn’t watch the “Star Wars” cartoons, “Clone Wars” and “Rebels.” The Darksaber appeared in a handful of episodes of each show, and has a very long history. If you want the full history of this weapon, you should check out the Wookieepedia article about it — otherwise, I’ll give you the short version here.
So the Darksaber has a lot of meaning for Mandalorians, because it was made a thousand years before any of the movies by a Mandalorian named Tarre Vizsla, who was also a Jedi. After Vizsla died, the Darksaber was kept at the Jedi temple on Coruscant, but was stolen by Mandalorians during a major period of upheaval in the Republic — we’re still hundreds of years before the movies here.
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By the time of the Clone Wars, the blade had fallen into the hands of Pre Vizsla, who led a rogue group of Mandalorians called the Death Watch who fought with the Separatists against the Republic. Darth Maul — who, yes, survived being cut in half in “The Phantom Menace — tired of Viszla’s shenanigans and power plays, challenged Viszla to a duel for ownership of the Darksaber and control of Death Watch, which he won. So Darth Maul used the Darksaber for a while, until he put it in storage on his home planet of Dathomir.
Years later during the events of “Rebels,” the Darksaber was nabbed by heroes Sabine Wren and Kanan Jarrus. Wren, herself a Mandalorian, learned to use the sword and wielded it in battle for a while, before eventually handing it over to Bo-Katan Kryze, another Mandalorian, about a year before the events of the original “Star Wars” film. And that was the last we heard about the Darksaber until Moff Gideon used it.
“The Mandalorian” takes place a few years after “Return of the Jedi,” so there’s probably seven or eight years between “Chapter 8” and when we last saw the Darksaber on “Rebels.” So we don’t know how Gideon ended up with it, but that’s a long time and anything could have happened since then. The fact that Gideon knew the Mando’s real name indicates he has had some run-ins with some other Mandalorians in the past, and it’s entirely possible that he killed Bo-Katan for it. But there’s no point in speculating further until we get more info.
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Either way it’ll be interesting to see the Mando facing off against a personal enemy instead of just the random bad guys of the week the way most of his conflicts in season 1 were. But it’s gonna be a long wait for season 2.
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‘Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker’ Has Way Too Many Death Stars
(We’ve got some major spoilers for “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” in this article)
There’s been a lot of discussion about how “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” seems to exist just to pull out references to the franchise’s past in an attempt to fill the film’s running time with fan service. But at some point, if you go too far with that, you just end up making a parody of the thing you’re trying to pay respects to. And that’s exactly what happens when we learn that every ship in Emperor Palpatine’s gigantic fleet of Star Destroyers is actually a Death Star.
OK so let’s talk about this. At the very beginning of the movie, the Emperor (Ian McDiarmid) reveals that he has a giant fleet of Star Destroyers that he’d kept hidden under the ice on Exegol for who knows how long. If Kylo Ren proves a suitable successor to Palpatine’s Sith legacy then the First Order gets to have this fleet. Allegiant General Pryde (Richard E. Grant) remarks later that if they get that fleet it’ll increase their military strength “ten thousand fold.” And then, just before the final battle, we learn that every single one of those Star Destroyers has a Death Star superlaser that can blow up a planet.
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This is a truly unbelievable revelation. The Empire just trying to fix every problem with a Death Star has been a joke among “Star Wars” fans for decades. It was a bit surprising, because of that, that folks embraced “The Force Awakens” after it presented an extra large Death Star that could blow up several planets at the same time. But this is something else. This is a fleet, referred to in the movie as the biggest fleet the galaxy has ever seen, that is made up entirely of Death Stars. It’s a fleet that is so big that it has 10,000 times the power of the First Order fleet that just conquered the entire galaxy.
So we’re talking about literally thousands of Death Stars. A threat so gargantuan, and never even hinted at before “The Rise of Skywalker,” that it makes everything that happened before in this entire franchise seem like minor conflicts — like the previous eight movies are all “The Hobbit,” and “The Rise of Skywalker” is “The Lord of the Rings.”
I’ve got so many questions about all these mini Death Stars. If the Emperor was just hiding out on Exegol for 30 years, then where did he get the biggest fleet in galactic history from? Why did the First Order, which Palpatine was secretly the leader of the entire time, have to completely build its own fleet of new Star Destroyers from scratch if the Emperor had that fleet? Why would they build a giant Death Star, presumably at his command, when he’s got those Death Stars just sitting there in the ice, plus the technology to apparently affix a Death Star laser to any capital ship?
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But this article is not about those questions, to which there are no answers right now. Right now all I’m trying to do is remind everyone that “The Rise of Skywalker” has too many Death Stars. Adding a fourth Death Star in six movies would be silly. Adding thousands of Death Stars all at once is parody. Except “The Rise of Skywalker” is an actual mega-budget “Star Wars” movie, not some cheap farce thrown together by the “Meet the Spartans” guys. They put a fleet of Death Stars in this movie, and it wasn’t intended to be funny.
I just don’t understand.
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December 26, 2019
Offices of Brazilian Production Team Behind Gay Jesus Netflix Comedy Firebombed
The Rio de Janeiro offices of Porta dos Fundos, the Brazilian production company behind the satirical Netflix comedy “The First Temptation of Christ,” were firebombed on Christmas Eve in what appeared to be a right-wing terrorist attack.
No one was injured in the attack, in which several molotov cocktails were hand-thrown at the offices of Porta dos Fundos (“Back Door”), known for other similarly biting comedies. “The First Temptation of Christ,” which debuted on Netflix Dec. 3, portrays Jesus returning home to his family for the holidays, and bringing with him what appears to be his same-sex partner.
The film has been heavily criticized by religious-affiliated groups in Brazil and abroad who object to the film’s portrayal of Jesus. And in a video released after the attack, a group claiming credit cited similar objections, saying the attack was intended to “seek justice” for “all Brazilians against the blasphemous, bourgeois and anti-patriotic attitude” behind the film, the New York Times reports. The video calls Porta dos Fundos “militant Marxists,” and includes footage of the attack.
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In a statement posted on Twitter, Porta dos Fundos condemned “any act of violence” and said it has provided security camera images to law enforcement. The company said it will make a further statement when more information is available, adding “we anticipate that we will move on, more united, stronger, more inspired, and confident that the country will survive this storm of hatred and love will prevail along with freedom of speech.”
“We have endured all types of verbal assaults, online, even from members of Congress,” Gregorio Duvivier, the actor who plays Jesus in the film and is a member of Porta dos Fundos (“Back Door) said in a statement after the attack. “But this is the first time we’ve faced violence of this nature, an attack that could have killed people.”
The attacks come amid increasing political tension in Brazil as the country’s president, Jair Bolsonaro, has staked out hard-line positions on multiple hot button issues. Among others, these include vocal opposition to marriage equality and equal rights for LGBTQ Brazilians, and support for the military dictatorship that ruled Brazil from 1965-1985.
Netflix has not yet publicly commented on the uproar over the special or the attack. The company did not immediately reply to a request for comment from TheWrap.
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