Star Wars Rebels Season 4 (2017) TV Show Review

 Hey everyone, how's it going? I'm doing pretty well for a Wednesday. Normally I try to do a comic book review on Wednesdays as it's the day that new issues come out every week, but I finished watching the final season of Star Wars Rebels last night and I'm bursting to talk about it. There will most likely be spoilers in this review, so if you've never seen the show before and are interested in watching it, please do so before reading this review, or any of my posts on this show. With that out of the way, let's get into it.

Season 4 is probably the most interesting season of them all. It's starts off with the liberation of Mandalore from the Empire and returns to the much smaller scope of the show's first season by the end of the season with the action returning to Lothal in the last seven or eight episodes. Which intrigues me if I'm being honest. Mostly because most Star Wars shows don't have the chance to expand and contract the way Rebels was able to since they're short single season shows rather than a full on four to seven season show.

One of the things that I liked about this season is how much things were starting to connect to what's going on in The Mandalorian and Ahsoka. The biggest reason I watched Rebels now is because Ahsoka is coming up in August and there's gonna be alot of connection to Rebels in that show and we've had characters hinting at certain things from Rebels in seasons 2 and 3 of The Mandalorian, so to finally get to connect the dots was fantastic.

The final few episodes were intense. Despite knowing that most of the main characters survive, being that they're gonna show up in Ahsoka, and Zeb showed up in season 3 of The Mandalorian, there were moments where I genuinely thought one of them was gonna die. And one of them did die, I just won't say who in case those of you who haven't watched the show yet wants to before Ahsoka comes out.

Most of this season took place on Lothal, and yet it didn't seem as small and isolated as season 1 had been. I think that's just because seasons 2 and 3 were all about the crew of the Ghost's involvement in the larger Galactic Civil War and the Rebel Alliance, so it's not like the show was set entirely on Lothal or anything. 

The stuff with the Force, the World Between Worlds, and the Lothwolves was fine, but it felt tacked on. It wasn't bad, but it felt like a way to help the Rebels deal with the Imperial presence on Lothal more than anything. Again, not bad, but not my favourite part of the season given that it came up about halfway through the season, at a point where so much was going on to begin with.

Overall, this was a fantastic season. I do wish we could've seen more of the Rebel Alliance but given that the latter half of the season took place during the events of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016) and the early parts of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (1977), there really wasn't a way to bring the Alliance to Lothal in the series finale. Otherwise this season was fantastic.

That'll be it for me for today. I'll be back on Friday for my final thoughts on Star Wars Rebels as a whole. So until then have a great evening and I'll talk to you all later. Take care.

A Game of Thrones (1996) Book Review

 Hey everyone, how's it going? I'm doing pretty well for a Monday. I hope you all had a good weekend. Today I'm here to review A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin, which was published by Bantam Books in 1996 and serves as the source material for the first season of the HBO series, Game of Thrones (2011-2019). Even though the book is nearly 26 years old and many of you have seen the first season of the show, which is now 12 years old, this will be a spoiler free review. I also won't be mentioning the TV show after this introduction as I've never watched the show, though I am fairly familiar with it being that references to it were everywhere online during the show's run. So let's get into it.

"Winter is coming!" is the motto of the House Stark, led by Lord Eddard of Winterfell (nickamed Ned), and in the case of this book, it's an apt one. Not only is the season known as winter starting, but difficult times also begin in this book. What I find interesting about this book is how the Starks are initially portrayed as the good guys and the Lannisters are portrayed as the bad guys. However, we learn very quickly that sometimes things aren't always as they seem with either House. Especially when it comes to characters like Tyrion and Sansa. In fact, that is one of the things I enjoy about the book. Nobody is simply good or evil. There's a little bit of both in everyone in this book and the only constant is the lust for power that consumes almost everyone in the book. Not necessarily a lust for political power, though that is certainly the case with Cersei Lannister, and her son, Joffrey, and Viserys Targaryen, but a lust for personal power, as we see with Bran, Arya, Catelyn, Daenerys, Jon Snow, and Tyrion as they each struggle to gain control over their own circumstances.

The first time I read this book, back in the summer of 2019, I remember my favourite characters being Jon Snow and Tyrion Lannister. However, this time around I found myself enjoying Bran, Arya, Ned, and Catelyn most. Though I still love Jon and Tyrion as characters. Because of the way Martin wrote these characters there are aspects of them to like or dislike as each of their stories goes along. Because we switch focus between the majority of these characters, we get the events of the book from multiple points of view and see all sides of it. Which is what makes them feel like real people rather than stereotypes. 

One of the things that I paid alot of attention to during this readthrough is food. One thing I noticed is that in chapter 25 when Ned meets with Grand Maester Pycelle the Grand Maester offers him a cup of iced milk sweetened with honey. There's no explanation of what iced milk is in the book and when I tried looking it up on any of the Wikis for the A Song of Ice & Fire series, there's no entry for it. So either it's simply milk with ice in it, or it's the Westeros equivalent of ice cream. Either way, it sounds good. 

Without spoilers I don't really have too much to say about A Game of Thrones. It's a good book and I really enjoyed it, but so much happens and there's so many characters it's easy to lose track of what's going on and who something is happening to. George R.R. Martin created such a rich world though and it's easy to just get lost in all of the detail he put into it. And it doesn't matter if you've seen the show or not because this book stands quite nicely on its own, as does the show itself. I recommend reading this book if you've never read it before, whether you've seen the show or not.

Alright my friends that's going to be it for me for today. There won't be a comic book review this week as I'm gonna be finishing up the final season of Star Wars Rebels tomorrow night before bed and my review of the season will be up on Wednesday with my final thoughts on the series as a whole going up on Friday. So until then have a great rest of your day and I will talk to you all later. Take care.

The Flash (2014-2023) TV Series Retrospective

 Hey everyone, how's it going? I'm doing pretty well. I was originally gonna do a comic book review either yesterday or today, but I decided to do something different instead. Last night the series finale of The Flash aired on The CW in the US, and has, hopefully, dropped on Netflix here in Canada by now. And while I haven't been able to watch the show since we got rid of Netflix back in mid to late 2020 or early 2021, I would still like to talk about the show a little bit, because it was an important part of my life for six or seven years, and is one of the reasons I started blogging to begin with. There might be spoilers for some of the early seasons, but there won't be much from seasons 7, 8, and 9, since, I haven't actually seen those seasons, and basically only kept up through the Arrowverse Wiki. So let's get into it.

2014 was quite a year for superhero and comic book based movies and TV shows. James Gunn's Guardians of the Galaxy came out and was a massive success, showing that even Marvel's most obscure characters would be successful in the MCU. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (2013-2020) also aired it's tie-in episode to the newly released Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014). On the DC side of things, Man of Steel had been released the year before and development was underway on its sequel, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, though it wouldn't come out for another year and a half at that point. On the TV front, Arrow was starting its third season. But on October 7th, 2014 a new superhero show aired it's pilot episode, giving birth to a whole universe and that was The Flash.

We knew the show was coming because three of its main characters, Barry Allen (played by Grant Gustin), Caitlin Snow (played by Danielle Panabaker), and Cisco Ramone (played by Carlos Valdez), were introduced in the second season of Arrow, with Barry being introduced in what was basically a two part backdoor pilot in late 2013. But, the Flash wasn't a super popular character, and being that the show would lean more heavily into the comic book superhero formula that hadn't really been done in live action television before, apart from the later seasons of Smallville (2001-2011), I don't think anyone was sure if the show would be successful, despite the fact that superheroes were more popular than they had ever been thanks to the success the Marvel Cinematic Universe was enjoying at the box office. Developed and produced by Greg Berlanti, Andrew Kreisberg, and Geoff Johns, The Flash was a huge success, opening up to a big shared comic book universe on TV, which we hadn't seen since the DC Animated Universe shows came out from the early '90s to the mid 2000s, and had never seen in live action before. 

One of the interesting things about the show's first season, aside from appearances from much of Arrow's cast, is that the show maintained a strong connection to the 1990 CBS The Flash series with John Wesley Shipp, who had played Barry Allen/the Flash on that show playing Barry's father, Henry, and then later playing Jay Garrick/the Flash, and reprising his role as the Flash from the 1990 series, and Amanda Pays and Mark Hamill reprising their roles of Tina McGee and James Jesse/the Trickster as well. In fact, this show is the reason I ended up buying the 1990 series on DVD, because I wanted to check it out and see what it was like. 

The Flash had its problems, though it didn't quickly fall apart with the CWness of the show not coming into play as much as it did on Arrow. Its biggest problem was that it had too many characters. Particularly in later seasons, starting around season 4 or season 5. As a result, Barry would stop having as much of the focus as he had in the first three or four seasons, and he became less interesting as the show went on. Which is part of the reason I stopped watching the show near the end of season six. The other reason is because of something that was out of the hands of the show's producers.

In the pilot, it was hinted at that Barry would die/disappear during a Crisis event. As the seasons went on it became clear that an adaptation of the 1985 comic book miniseries, Crisis on Infinite Earths, is what the show was leading up to in the 10th season, which would air in the 2023-2024 television season, if the TV landscape held up long enough. But then Stephen Amell chose to leave Arrow, effectively ending that show, and due to Green Arrow having a pretty large role in the TV show version of this event, Crisis on Infinite Earths was moved up to midway through the sixth season of The Flash so that it could be how they wrote Amell out of the series. The problem was that, only Arrow was going to be wrapping up in the 2019-2020 television season, though Batwoman, Black Lightning, Supergirl, and DC's Legends of Tomorrow would follow it soon after. Suddenly the writers had to keep going on The Flash after Crisis on Infinite Earths aired. As a result it felt like they didn't know what to do with the series, since they hadn't intended to do Crisis on Infinite Earths so soon, and didn't know how to keep it going after that big crossover. At least that's how it felt to me by the time season seven started.

The best parts of the show for me were the characters. Barry, Iris, Joe, Cisco, Caitlin, the various versions of Harrison Wells (all played wonderfully by Tom Cavanagh) and the new ones that came in right before Crisis on Infinite Earths, as well as the ones that moved over to Legends when that show started midway through the second season of The Flash, were all likeable. And the villains, while actual threats, were delightfully evil, though many of them still fell into the trope of believing they're doing what they're doing because it's the right thing to do. The entire cast, be it main, recurring, or guest, did an amazing job and they were all fun to watch on screen. Cisco was one of my favourite characters, and I loved Danielle Panabaker as Caitlin. While some people found Candice Patton annoying as Iris, I honestly really liked her in the role, it's just the writers really didn't give her much to do for the first five or six seasons. From seasons 2 through 6 she was just Barry's girlfriend and then his wife. And I suspect that that has to do with behind the scenes industry politics more than Candice Patton's skill as a performer. 

Something else that I enjoyed about the show was the way it embraced the more cheesy aspects of comic books. While the show wasn't campy like Batman (1966-1968) was, it didn't shy away from the fact that it's a show based on a comic book and that comic books can be ridiculous sometimes. I mean the show did a musical episode in early 2017, during season three. 

   In 2014, just before the TV show debuted, DC Comics published a digital first comic book series called The Flash: Season Zero, which took place between episodes of the show's first season. I missed out on this comic book series as I wasn't going to the comic book store as much by the time the print version started coming out. 

Then, in November of 2016 a novel for the series was published by Titan Books. It served as a crossover with the novels based on Arrow. I also missed out on this book, though I do remember seeing it on the shelves at Indigo Books back in 2017. It was followed by Climate Changeling in 2018. 

Then, in 2018 a series of books based on The Flash began publication by Amulet Books. Again, I missed these books completely as I wasn't going into Chapters/Indigo Books very often anymore, and I don't remember seeing them available at the comic book stores. 

Of course, like most DC Comics properties, The Flash had a very small toyline accompanying the show. The show also had a series of Funko Pops as well. 

Despite me walking away from the show after six seasons, The Flash, particularly the earlier seasons, is one of my favourite shows. It opened me up to the wider DC Universe even more than Arrow did, and I remember a time when Supergirl (2015-2021) was on on Monday nights, The Flash was on on Tuesdays, Arrow (2012-2020) was on on Wednesdays, and DC's Legends of Tomorrow (2016-2022) was on on Thursdays and that's how I spent my time watching TV. Especially back before Star Trek returned with Star Trek: Discovery in 2017 and the Disney+ Star Wars and MCU shows started in 2019 and 2021. I loved seeing all of these characters in live action, on TV, every week. 

That's it for me for today my friends. I'll be back soon with another review. Depending on when I finish them the next review will either be of A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin, or Star Wars Rebels season 4. Or I might do a comic book review next. We'll see what happens. Until then have a great evening and I will talk to you all later. Take care.

Star Wars Rebels Season 3 (2016) TV Show Review

 Hey everyone, how were your weekends? Mine was good. I'm back to talk more Star Wars Rebels as I finished season 3 last night. Like with my reviews of the previous two seasons there won't be too many spoilers, but there will be some as there are a few things I want to talk about, but can't with some spoilers. So, with that out of the way, let's get into it.

Season 3 is the season where alot of elements from The Mandalorian come from. Mainly from episodes 15 and 16, which I'll get to a little later in this review. It was kinda nice to have context for things like the Darksaber, and the Mandalorian involvement in the Galactic Civil War. We got hints of that in seasons 2 and 3 of The Mandalorian, but it was nice to actually see it for myself in this show finally.

I think I said this in one of my previous reviews, and I know I've said it to my friend, Aaron, but I went into this show almost completely blind. Aside from reading non-spoiler interviews in Star Wars Insider magazine when the first season was about to start airing, I didn't follow this show at all while it was airing on TV. I knew that Darth Vader, Bo Katan Kryze, Grand Admiral Thrawn, Ahsoka, Captain Rex, and Darth Maul made appearances in this show, and I knew that both Thrawn and Maul appeared in this season as I actually have the season's poster hanging up on my wall down here in the Geek Cave, but that's all I knew. And most of that came from seeing images online. So I was pleasantly surprised to see what is basically the birth of the Rebel Alliance in this season.

There are several appearances in this season from the old Expanded Universe novels, comics, and video games, now all under the Legends banner. The biggest one is Thrawn, voiced by Lars Mikkelsen. He was originally created by author Timothy Zahn for the 1991 novel, Heir to the Empire, as a worthy antagonist for Han, Luke, and Leia since the book was set after Return of the Jedi (1983), which meant the Emperor and Darth Vader couldn't be used. He was killed in the final book of what is now known as the Thrawn Trilogy, The Last Command, but Zahn continued to use the character in books set before Heir to the Empire. In fact, Thrawn is either shown or mentioned in every Star Wars novel that was written by Zahn, both in Legends and Canon. Other authors mentioned him in their books too, especially during the '90s when Bantam Spectra had the Star Wars novel license. However he wasn't the only Legends element to appear in this season.

Thrawn's flagship in this season is the Chimaera, which was his flagship in the Thrawn Trilogy and remained the flagship of the Imperial Navy through most of the post-Return of the Jedi Bantam era novels that were set after The Last Command. Though Captain Pellaeon, the Star Destroyer's commanding officer, doesn't appear in this season. The other Legends element that I noticed in this season is the TIE Defender, was originally created for the 1994 PC game, Star Wars: TIE Fighter, which was a sequel to the 1993 game, Star Wars: X-Wing. The TIE Defender also made appearances in Legends novels including the final two books in the X-Wing series by Michael A. Stackpole and Aaron Allston, and the New Jedi Order series, again in the final two books in the series.

While the previous two seasons focused heavily on Ezra and Kanan, they took a bit of a backseat this season, allowing Hera, Sabine, and Chopper to have some great episodes. Ezra centric episodes focused on his connection to Maul, but Kanan didn't really have much to do this season once they dealt with him being blinded by Maul during their lightsaber fight in the season 2 finale. Which is fine, because, again, it allowed Hera, Sabine, and Chopper to shine.

Speaking of my little murderous Droid, I am so glad the writers teamed Chopper up with the inventory Droid, AP-5, who defected to the Rebellion last season. Their dynamic is so similar to Artoo and Threepio's in the movies, and yet, is so completely different, as I'm not really sure if AP and Chopper actually like each other the way Artoo and Threepio do. Mainly because there are several points where either Chopper or AP are going to be destroyed, and they each wait until the last second to save the other, and only do so either at the urging of Ezra, Zeb, or Hera, or one of them saves whichever Droid is in danger of being destroyed. 

My favourite episodes this season are "Trials of the Darksaber" (3x15), and "Legacy of Mandalore" (3x16). This is a pair of Sabine focused episodes that takes us to the Mandalorian world of  Krownest, where Sabine's family, Clan Wren, of the House Vizla, lives. Aside from getting a bunch of Imperial era Mandalorian stuff, including the Darksaber, which I really only got hints of from The Mandalorian, they really filled in Sabine's backstory, which I appreciated because Sabine is my favourite character in this show. 

Another episode that I really enjoyed is "The Antilles Extraction" (3x4), which is another Sabine episode. In this one, Sabine infiltrates the Imperial training facility, Skystrike Academy, to extract two defecting Imperial pilots, Wedge Antilles, and Derek "Hobbie" Klivian. Yep, Misters "Look at the size of that thing!" and "Two fighters against a Star Destroyer?" themselves debut in this episode. But, more than that, it really deals with Sabine's time at the Imperial Academy, adding even more to her as a character.

Overall, this was another excellent season. While many shows were moving to streaming around this time (2016-2017), many of them were still on traditional television, with 20 to 23 episode seasons. Most live action shows were struggling to keep a season going for 20 to 23 episodes every year. Rebels managed to pull off two consecutive 22 episode seasons and did both of them pretty well. 

That's going to be it for me for today. I might be back with a comic book review tomorrow, or maybe on Thursday. We'll see what happens. I'm also a little more than halfway through my most recent readthrough of A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin and when I'm finished reading it, I'll have a review up for you. Until then have a great rest of the day and I will talk to you all later. Take care. 

Batman #135/#900 (2023) Comic Book Review

 Hey everyone, how's it going? I'm doing pretty well! Happy Friday! I'm back with another comic book review as I went out with Brad on Wednesday, right after I posted my review of The Flash #123, and picked up some new comics. Today, I'll be reviewing Batman #135 (Legacy #900). There won't be many spoilers, just a couple of them, so don't worry if you buy this series and haven't read this issue yet. Let's get into it.

I stopped reading alot of the Batman related titles published by DC Comics when the New 52 began way back in 2011. I still checked in with the various Bat titles over the years, but I no longer buy them new, nor do I buy them consistently like I was doing between 2009 and 2011, right at the tail end of the pre-Flashpoint/New 52 run where Batman and Batman related titles were the only comics that I bought and read. So I haven't read much of Tom King's run on Batman or much of Chip Zdarsky's run. But last week Cool Comics in My Collection, which is a comic book centric blog run by my friend, Ed Gosney II, did a little blurb on the issue, and it piqued my interest given that this was the 900th issue overall of the main Batman title, and that multiple versions of Batman appear in this issue. I'll get to that part in a little bit.

So the story is good, but it being the final part of a multi-issue story arc, called "The Bat-Man of Gotham", it was a little confusing at first, being that I haven't been keeping up with the story that's been happening since the last issue I read, which was the first issue of Zdarsky's run (#125). But, unlike many other Batman comics, this issue was very easy to get into after the first couple of pages. At least, it was for me, I don't know how the rest of you who read this issue and hadn't been keeping up with this story arc, found it. Chip Zdarsky is a writer that I'm only mildly familiar with as he wrote Jughead for Archie Comics when the New Riverdale reboot first started back in 2015, and I read the first issue of his Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man series from 2017, which is an issue that I'll be reviewing on the blog sometime in the near future. But, besides those two issues, I'm not super familiar with his work. 

The basic premise of the story is that Batman has to chase a villain named Red Mask, who wants to capture Batman and become like the Joker. Which is an...odd goal, but at least it's better than the usual bad guy plots that Batman comics tend to have. And, at least with this issue, there's no deconstruction of Batman, the Joker, or Gotham City like there has been since Grant Morrison's run, which I was getting tired of.

The best part of the issue for me, aside from the artwork of Mike Hawthorne, Jorge Jimenez and Mikel Janin, is just how many versions of Batman appear in this issue. There's the Arkham video game series version, the Vampire Batman from the '90s Elseworlds trilogy, the Gotham by Gaslight Victorian era Batman, the Michael Keaton version, the DC Animated Universe/Kevin Conroy (RIP) version, the Batman Beyond version from the future version of the DCAU, the Dark Knight Returns version, the 1950s comic book/Dick Sprang version, and the Batman '66 version from the Adam West TV show. 

My favourite part of this issue, and this is where the spoilers come into play, is where the current comic book version of Batman, Batman Prime if you will, meets the Adam West Batman, Batman '66 shall we say, and Batman '66 gives Batman Prime his utility belt, which contains a can of Shark Repellent Batspray, which Batman Prime uses against a Shark version of the Joker on another Earth near the end of the issue and he thinks, "Heh, I finally met a Batman more prepared than I am." If you know me at all you know that Batman (1966-1968) is one of my favourite TV shows of all time and Batman: The Movie (1966), where the Shark Repellent Batspray first appears, is one of my favourite movies of all time, so to see Batman '66 give Batman Prime his utility belt and it has a can of Shark Repellent Batspray, which he ACTUALLY uses against a Shark version of the Joker, is pretty freaking awesome in my books. Obviously it's ridiculous and stupid, but it's now one of my favourite things ever. So kudos to the creative team for actually using such a deep dive element from the 1966 TV series in a modern day Batman comic.

Overall, this is a pretty great issue. It works much much better if you've not only kept up with Zdarsky's run up to this point, but have a decent knowledge of Batman history as well, but it's easy enough to get into if you haven't been keeping up with Zdarsky's run. I just wouldn't recommend it as your first Batman comic ever, or your entry into it if you're new to the comic book medium. Oh and it also has the bonus of being part of DC's current revitalization initiative, Dawn of DC, too.

And that my friends is going to be it for me for today and for this week. I'll be back soon with my review of season 3 of Star Wars Rebels, and more comic book reviews as well. So in the meantime, please head on over to Cool Comics In My Collection if you aren't already reading it weekly. I'm sure Ed would love to have new readers, especially since his 400th episode is coming out next week. The link will be at the end of this post. So until next time have a great rest of your day and a great weekend and I will talk to you all later. Take care.

https://edgosney.com/http:/edgosney.com/category/cool-comics/cool-comics/ 

The Flash #123 (1961) Comic Book Review

 Hey everyone, how's it going? I'm doing pretty good. I'm back for another comic book review. This time I'm going back to 1961 and taking a look at The Flash #123, which was the birth of the DC Multiverse and allowed the Flash (Barry Allen) to meet and team up with the Flash (Jay Garrick). So let's get into it.

"The Flash of Two Worlds" is a pretty great Silver Age tale of the two Flashes coming together to face some of Jay's most classic villains, the Thinker (Clifford DeVoe), the Fiddler (Isaac Bowin), and the Shade (Richard Swift). Of course DeVoe was the big bad for season 4 of the CW show, and both Isaac Bowin and Richard Swift appeared in Stargirl. Which is pretty cool. And obviously Jay Garrick, played by the wonderful John Wesley Shipp, has shown up on both The Flash (2014-2023) and Stargirl (2020-2022).

The book was written and drawn by Gardner Fox, Carmine Infantino and Joe Giella. Of course, I'm extremely familiar with this creative team's work as not only did Gardner Fox write some early Batman stories for Detective Comics in 1939, but he, Infantino, and Giella, alongside Julius Schwartz, who is the editor of this issue, sheparded Batman and Detective Comics through the mid to late '60s during the time that the Adam West TV series was on the air. So it's a real treat to see them usher in the DC Multiverse through the Flash.

Speaking of the DC Multiverse, it's interesting to see its birth, given that the publisher has had a real focus on the Multiverse in the last five years with the Arrowverse, particularly Crisis on Infinite Earths in the 2019-2020 TV season, the upcoming The Flash movie, and various comic book series. 

I also had to keep reminding myself that the Speed Force didn't exist yet in 1961, that wasn't created until 1994, during the Wally West, post-Crisis on Infinite Earths, era of the comics. Here, Barry and Jay simply have super speed powers given to them by their respective accidents. Barry getting hit by a lightning bolt, and Jay knocking over a flask of hard water and inhaling the fumes. Okay, so Jay's origin is a bit stupid at this point, but he was created in 1940 by Gardner Fox, who isn't exactly a scientist.

Superheroes had just become popular again when Julie Schwartz revamped the Flash in Showcase #4 in 1956, and John Broome revamped Green Lantern in Showcase #22 in 1959, and the Justice League had just been formed as well. Over at Marvel Comics Stan Lee and Jack Kirby were just starting the Fantastic Four, relaunching their superhero and giving birth to the Marvel Universe, after having done monster books for the last decade. So while superheroes were originally created in the late '30s and early '40s, the late '50s and early to mid '60s are when they really took off. 

 Before you start envying me for having a readable copy of the original issue, no, I would never be able to afford such a copy. Instead I have the 2022 reprint of the Facsimile Edition of the issue that originally came out in 2020. Brad picked it up for me earlier this year and while I've read it a few times since then, this was the first time I've read it specifically to review on this blog. It's a really good issue and a great place to start if you want to look into the history of the DC Multiverse. And while it's been reprinted in several trade paperback and hardcover collected editions, this is the best way to get this issue if you wanna see what it looked like when it was originally published in 1961, without paying an arm and a leg for an original edition. Especially one that isn't all torn up and unreadable.

That's going to be it for me for today. I'll be back soon with another blog post and hopefully I'll be back sometime this weekend for my review of Star Wars Rebels season 3. So until then have a great rest of your day and I will talk to you all later. Take care.

Star Wars Rebels Season 2 (2015) TV Show Review

 Hey everyone, how's it going? I'm doing fine for a Monday. Today I'm here to review season 2 of Star Wars Rebels. I finished the season last night before bed and I'm super excited to talk about it. There might be spoilers for the season, so if you haven't watched it, please do so. Let's get into it.

Season 2 of Rebels really kicks things up a notch from season 1. While season 1 was a smaller story, season 2 launches us into the larger Star Wars universe and introduces us to the larger Rebel Alliance and its conflict with the Galactic Empire. It also reintroduces us to old friends, Ahsoka Tano and Rex from Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008-2014). Of course our intrepid crew from season 1 returns as well. 

With the larger episode count for this season, I was afraid that we'd get alot of filler episodes since this aired on traditional network television. But even the smaller one off episodes served the larger story. Which is really refreshing for a show that aired on network television in the mid to late 2010s. Each character got a chance to be the focus of an episode, which I also really appreciated. 

While Hera and Sabine are still my favourite characters I really fell in love with Chopper this season. As other people have said online, Chopper is my little psychotic murderer Droid. Unlike most Droids, Chopper isn't afraid to hurt or kill beings if they get in the way of him completing his objectives. Not to mention his personality is like R2-D2's, but dialed up to a thousand times sassier than R2's. I love it.

Speaking of love, Kanan and Hera's relationship intensifies this season. Especially in the two part season finale where Ezra, Ahsoka, and Kanan go up against the Inquisitors, Maul, and Darth Vader at a Sith Temple on Malachor. Which was pretty intense with multiple lightsaber duels going on practically at the same time. Which was insane to watch.

The show also dealt with lingering plotlines from season 1, like the fate of Ezra's parents, and the fate of Lothal. We also finally see Zeb's history with the Imperial Security Bureau's Agent Kallus, which was fascinating. 

I was afraid that with Rex and Ahsoka appearing this season that I would be confused and feel like I was missing something since I haven't watched The Clone Wars since the middle of season 2, when the show was originally airing. But this show did a good job of showing us who these two characters are with minimal baggage from the previous. In fact, alot of what they hint at wasn't even touched upon until season 1 of Tales of the Jedi from last year, as well season 7 of The Clone Wars, which came out in 2020. Which was pretty cool. 

My favourite episode this season is episode 19, "The Forgotten Droid", where Chopper is accidently left behind on a planet, stows away on an Imperial freighter, and with the help of a protocol droid on the ship, AP-5, takes control of the ship, turning it over to the Rebels. The dynamic between Chopper and AP-5 is even better than R2 and 3PO's in the shows and movies. In fact they remind me of R2 and 3PO in the post-Return of the Jedi Legends novels. 

The animation got even better this season. In fact for the vast majority of the season I kept forgetting that I was watching an animated series. That's how much it looks like it's live action. I love animation, but for Star Wars, animation had previously looked too cartoony and often didn't feel Star Wars. But the animation here feels right, like it's Star Wars and it's great.

I could go on and on about this season because it was so good. But I think I'll save that for my full series review once I've finished season 4 in a couple of weeks. Season 3 is also 22 episodes, like season 2, but it didn't take me long to finish season 2, so I should be finished season 3 by the end of this week. Overall I loved season 2 and I can't wait for season 3. I definitely recommend watching Rebels. It's amazing.

That's going to be it for me for today. But I will back soon for a comic book review as well as my season 3 review. So until then have an awesome day and I will talk to you all later. Take care. 

Star Trek: The Next Generation: The Best and the Brightest (1998) Book Review

 Hey everyone, how's it going? I'm doing pretty well for a Saturday. I'm back with another book review. This time I'm taking a look at the 1998 Star Trek: The Next Generation novel, The Best and the Brightest by Susan Wright. As usual there won't be a ton of spoilers, but there might be some, so if you're interested in reading this book, be aware of that. Let's get into it.

The Best and the Brightest is one of those rare Star Trek novels where select members of the main casts of the TV shows show up as cameos throughout the book, but don't have major roles to play in the story despite Star Trek: The Next Generation being on the front cover. According to Memory Alpha the book was originally supposed to be part of the young reader series, Star Trek: The Next Generation: Starfleet Academy, but was turned into an adult novel in the main Star Trek: The Next Generation series instead. 

There isn't a single story that goes through the book. Instead we have a series of events featuring a group of six cadets - Moll Enor, a newly joined Trill, Jayme Miranda, a human with a history of Starfleet in her family, Starsa Taran whose race doesn't enter puberty until adulthood and who live in an environment different from the majority of Federation worlds, Bobbie Ray Jefferson, a member of the felinoid Rex species, Nev Reoh, a former Bajoran Vedek, and Hammon Titus, a human with a need to prove himself. 

The book opens with a prologue set in the summer of 2371, where the news of the destruction of the Enterprise-D, depicted in Star Trek Generations (1994), has reached Starfleet Academy and the cadets are informed that one of their own was killed. Jayme is upset because Enor, who is her girlfriend, was onboard, along with Titus and Reoh.

The rest of the book goes through all four years, starting in 2368, just before the Enterprise is called back to Earth following the discovery of Data's head in an ancient cavern near San Francisco, as depicted in the season 5 finale, "Time's Arrow, Part I", and goes until sometime during the Federation-Klingon War in 2372, as depicted in season 4 of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. 

One of my favourite vignettes is during their third year, 2371-2372, Jayme and Starsa are assigned to Jupiter Station to help Lewis Zimmerman finish the Emergency Medical Holographic Program, including taking holographic images of Zimmerman for the visual template for the Doctor. Naturally, I imagined hearing Robert Picardo's voice whenever Zimmerman and the Doctor had dialogue. 

Speaking of characters from the various TV shows appearing, we don't get many of them, but we get Guinan, Captain Picard, Jadzia Dax (from DS9), and the Doctor (from Star Trek: Voyager), and Wesley Crusher, Harry Kim, and B'Elanna Torres are mentioned as well. As I said in the opening of this review, it was very unusual for original characters to be the focus of a novel. Aside from Peter David's novella series, New Frontier, the novels tended to focus on the TV show characters. 

Jayme Miranda is probably the character we get the most focus on throughout the book. We get bits and pieces of Bobbie Ray and Hammon Titus, but the main focus is on Jayme, Enor, and, to a lesser extent, Starsa. Which is fine because focusing more on one character helps the book be less chaotic, given that we have six main characters and doing an ensemble cast is really hard to do. Especially in books. I don't really have a favourite character, but this is probably the most likeable original Star Trek characters that weren't created for one of the TV shows. Though Nev Reoh, the failed Bajoran Vedek, is the most interesting of the six. Simply because he was born on a Bajoran colony, not on Bajor itself, and ended up not working out as a Vedek. Also, he's always referred to as Cadet Reoh, not Cadet Nev as Bajorans have their family names first and their given name last. I don't know if that's because the author, Susan Wright, who has written other Star Trek novels, knew that and just went with the naming conventions that western humans have where the given name is first, and family name last or if there's a specific reason she did it that way.

I first read this book back in high school. My best friend, Brad, lent it to me, along with a few other Star Trek books, and I think I read through it twice before returning it to him. Then a few years later, he was getting rid of his Star Trek and Star Wars books and gave them to me. Including this one. It's also one of the few Star Trek novels I kept when I was getting rid of stuff in 2015 and 2016, when my parents and I were getting ready to move. This is actually the first time I've read it since before we moved. 

Overall The Best and the Brightest is a good Star Trek book and I hope that the Starfleet Academy series that's been greenlit for production on Paramount+ takes some inspiration from this book because it would make for a good TV show. Amazon or a used bookstore would be the best places to find this book if you're interested in reading it since it hasn't been reprinted since 1998, and this original paperback edition has been out of print since probably about 1999 or 2000. 

That's going to be it for me for today folks. I'll be back soon for more reviews. I'm halfway through season 2 of Star Wars Rebels, so that's likely going to be my next review. So until then have a great weekend and I will talk to you all later. Take care. 

Star Wars: Crucible (2013) Book Review

 Hey everyone, how's it going? I'm doing okay. I'm back with another Star Wars book review. This time I'm reviewing the book that is, chronologically, the last novel featuring Han, Luke, Leia, and Lando in the Legends timeline, as well as the final novel in the post-Return of the Jedi book run that began with The New Jedi Order: Vector Prime in 1999. Even though this book is nearly a decade old now, I'm going to try to avoid spoilers, just because it does wrap up a bunch of storylines for Star Wars novels that came out before this one. So let's get into it.

Crucible, which was written by Troy Denning, is a Star Wars novel that you shouldn't read unless you've either read everything from The New Jedi Order (1999-2004) to Fate of the Jedi (2009-2012) as there are many callbacks to events shown in those novels. The entire premise of the book is that Han, Luke, and Leia are preparing to retire from public life as members of the New Jedi Order, leaving it in the care of the surviving Young Jedi Knights, Jaina Solo, her husband Jagged Fel, Ben Skywalker, and Tahiri Veila following their most recent confrontation with the Sith. But first, they need to help Lando deal with a Columi crime family who seek revenge on Han for something he didn't actually do.

If you don't know who the Columi are, that's okay, because they haven't shown up in Canon, and had very few appearances in Legends. They're in two other novels besides this one and their other appearances are in supplemental material for Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game starting in 1990. Basically they look like your stereotypical aliens from Mars with big heads and small bodies and use mechanical powerbodies to move around in. They're apparently the smartest beings in the galaxy because of how big their brains are so big and their ability to use logic puts the Vulcans to shame. That's right, these guys outlogic the Vulcans. Which makes them extremely dangerous to our heroes as they're always twenty steps ahead of Han, Luke, and Leia. 

I like this book. It's not the best Star Wars Legends novel ever, but it's a decent ending to Han, Luke, and Leia's story in Legends. This is how I wished their story had concluded in the movies rather than the tragic endings each character had in the sequel movie trilogy. Star Trek: Picard ended better than the Sequel Trilogy did, and that show had a rough start. I'm not a huge fan of Troy Denning's writing mainly because he tends to tell really tragic stories. Case in point, this is the book where Han, Luke, and Leia come the closest to actually dying tragically in Legends and they survived the Yuuzhan Vong War in The New Jedi Order series. I could go into more detail but I promised I wouldn't do spoilers.

While I've read all of The New Jedi Order, I've only read some of the Legacy of the Force series, and haven't read the Dark Nest Trilogy or Fate of the Jedi, so I was a little bit confused since Fate of the Jedi is the series I don't know much about so there are events in those books that I'm not as familiar with. Even though I'm missing some key Legends knowledge from those books, it didn't hinder my enjoyment of this book. The Qrephs, Marvid and Craitheus, the Columi who act as the angtagonists for this book, are decent bad guys. Though nothing stands out about them as their motivation is no different from any other bad guys who have a grudge against Han. 

I also wish Jaina and Jag had more to do in this book. They show up during Luke's first scene and then they don't show up again until the epilogue. Everything they were involved in in this book happened offscreen, which is frustrating as someone who grew up reading Jaina's adventures in the Young Jedi Knights YA series, and The New Jedi Order in the late '90s and early 2000s and enjoyed her growth as a character. The funny thing is is that in this book Jaina is close to being 36 years old, which means she's close to being my age. Which is cool. 

Overall I enjoyed this book. But as I said earlier in this review, you kinda need a working knowledge of Star Wars Legends to really get anything out of this book. Especially all of the books that take place in the era of Legends that the Sequel Trilogy takes place in in Canon. And that's everything from Legacy of the Force to Fate of the Jedi. I was able to get something out of this book because I have that background with Legends, though not as much as I would've had I read everything from this era. I still enjoyed it though and recommend it as a good way to end Han, Luke, and Leia's story in Legends.

Alright my friends that's going to be it for me for today. I'll be back soon with more reviews and posts soon. So until then have a great evening and I will talk to you all later. Take care.

Star Wars Rebels Season 1 (2014) TV Show Review

 Hey everyone, how's it going? I'm doing okay. Today I'm here to review the first season of Star Wars Rebels, which I just finished watching on Disney+ this morning. There will be some spoilers as there are a few things I want to talk about so you know the drill. Let's get into it.

Star Wars Rebels is one of those rare shows that has an amazing first season that kept me interested throughout. It's also a show that I missed out on when it originally aired. I'll get into that a little later though. 

One of the things I loved about this season is that it was very easy to get into. It was definitely aimed at a slightly younger audience than The Clone Wars had been, given that Rebels aired on Disney XD and The Clone Wars had aired on Cartoon Network (seasons 1-5), and then later Netflix (season 6) and Disney+ (season 7), but it doesn't feel like it was made for really little kids or anything like that. There does seem to be a bit more slapstick humour with Ezra, Zeb, and Chopper than there were with Anakin and Ahsoka, and the Battle Droids in The Clone Wars. And it doesn't feel out of place on this show.

Created by Dave Filoni, Carrie Beck, and Simon Kinberg, Rebels was developed from various concepts and elements from unproduced or early versions of existing Star Wars shows, ranging from Filoni's original concept for The Clone Wars to the late 2000s canceled live action series, Star Wars: Underworld. In fact the design for Zeb is based on an early sketch that Ralph McQuarrie did of Chewbacca for A New Hope in the '70s.

I honestly think this show handles its themes, and the overall themes of Star Wars, extremely well for an animated series made for Disney XD in 2014. Everything I criticized season 1 of Star Trek: Prodigy for, especially the second half of the season, Rebels season 1. It's never too childish, it never talks down to the audience, and it allows us to ask questions and immerse ourselves in this relatively untold (in canon) era of the Star Wars Universe without too much of the focus being on the familiar characters who show up throughout this season, such as Lando Calrissian, Senator Bail Organa, R2-D2, C-3PO, Grand Moff Tarkin, and Darth Vader. Which is really hard to do in Star Wars, as we've seen with the recent slate of shows on Disney+.

I won't talk about the Empire too much, but the Inquisitor is ten times more frightening of a character here than he was in Obi-Wan Kenobi. Probably because he was a genuine threat to our crew while he was basically a background character in Obi-Wan. In fact, some of my favourite action sequences this season are the lightsaber duels between Kanan and the Inquisitor. They're just so different than the duels in the movies and on The Clone Wars. And that's where it being an animated series has its advantages. 

My favourite characters so far are Sabine Wren, voiced by Tiya Sircar, and Hera Syndulla, voiced by Vanessa Marshall. I think it's because they're both really awesome, and I have the most history with Hera, since she appears in Alphabet Squadron by Alexander Freed. But that's the thing about Star Wars, there's never really a bad character outside of the Sith and the Empire. I love the crew's dynamic with each other as it feels more like a family than the crew of a Rebel starship and that's what drew me into the show.

I love the Master/Apprentice dynamic between Kanan and Ezra. Ezra is this orphan kid, living on the streets of Lothal, dealing with so much anger and doubt, stemming from the loss of his parents 7 years earlier, and Kanan was only a Padawan himself when Order 66 happened, so he feels that he is so far removed from being qualified to train Ezra as a Jedi. It's almost similar to Anakin and Obi-Wan's dynamic at the end of The Phantom Menace, but it's also so unique at the same time that it's entertaining.

Kanan and Hera are like that couple who isn't actually a couple, but you know they probably should be, even if THEY don't realize it yet. They have the hots for each other, but they're both too independent and stubborn for either of them to make a move in that direction.

Zeb and Ezra are so much like the Thing and the Human Torch in the Fantastic Four it's not even funny. Every time they interacted with each other in the first five episodes, I kept thinking to myself that Filoni and company had to have been influenced by Ben Grimm and Johnny Storm in Fantastic Four a little bit.

Ezra and Sabine's relationship could either lean towards the romantic side of things, or they could be best friends. Either one is fine with me as their chemistry is perfect. I hope they get a mission together, just the two of them, in season 2.

The voice cast for this show is fantastic. Besides Tiya Sircar and Vanessa Marshall, you have Freddie Prinze Jr. as Kanan, which is something I don't hear people talk about that much, as if everybody forgot that Freddie Prinze Jr. is a member of the cast for this show, Steve Blum as Zeb, which is amazing, and Taylor Gray as Ezra. Steve Blum and Freddie Prinze Jr. are the cast members I'm the most familiar with since Freddie Prinze Jr. was pretty popular back in the '90s, and Steve Blum voiced Wolverine in Wolverine and the X-Men (2008-2009), Flamedramon, Raidramon, and Magnamon (among others) in the English dub of Digimon season 2/Digimon Adventure 02 (2000), and Guilmon, Growlmon, and many others in the English dub of Digimon season 3/Digimon Tamers (2001).

My favourite episodes in this season were episode 7, "Out of Darkness" where we get a bit about Sabine's background and start to get hints that there's more going on with Hera and her fight against the Empire than she's telling the rest of the crew, episode 10, "Path of the Jedi", where Kanan takes Ezra to a hidden Jedi Temple on Lothal and Ezra becomes a true Padawan, and episode 11, "Idiot's Array" where the crew takes on a job from Lando Calrissian after Zeb loses Chopper to Lando during a game of Sabacc. 

As I mentioned earlier, I completely missed Rebels when it originally aired. We didn't have Disney XD as part of our cable package back in 2014 and unlike The Clone Wars, which aired on CTV for the first season and a half and then on Teletoon for the remainder of the show's run here in Canada, Rebels only aired on Disney XD. I was aware of it because I read the show's coverage in Star Wars Insider, though I skipped episode guides and other spoilery info that happened to be in interviews for the show once it started airing. However about four or five years ago, a buddy of mine lent me the first two seasons on DVD, and I watched the first season and I couldn't get into it. I just didn't get it. I don't know if that's because I hadn't seen The Clone Wars or if by the time I watched the first season DVD set I was just done with Star Wars. Not in the sense that I was no longer a fan, but 2018/2019 wasn't a great time to be part of the Star Wars fandom. This was in the wake of The Last Jedi and Solo: A Star Wars Story coming out, and the fandom was split as a result. Nobody knew if The Rise of Skywalker was going to be any good, and I don't think The Mandalorian had been announced yet, and I was just exhausted from all of it.

And even though I've been enjoying the Star Wars Disney+ shows, especially The Mandalorian and Obi-Wan Kenobi, I've kinda let my other fandoms overtake my Star Wars fandom. But ever since Star Wars Celebration Europe 2023 in April I was reminded that Star Wars isn't something I like. It's something I love. In fact, Star Wars and Star Trek are my favourite franchises of all time and I've been reminded of that alot lately. That's why I've done alot of Star Wars content here on the blog recently and why I'll be continuing to do lots of Star Wars and Star Trek content here. Not just reviews for seasons of the current shows either. Or reviews of novels either. 

Overall, this is a great start to a 9 year old show. As I said to my buddy, Aaron, last night, I wish I'd gotten to watch this show when it first aired back in 2014. I recommend watching this season at the very least. Don't let it being an animated deter you from watching it. It's great. All four seasons are on Disney+, which is where I'm watching it.

Alright my friends, that's going to be it for me for today. I'll be back tomorrow for another Star Wars book review. Until then, have a great evening and I will talk to you all later. Take care.

Star Wars: Darth Plagueis (2012) Book Review

Hey everyone, how's it going? I'm doing okay. It's a beautiful day outside where I live and I spent much of my afternoon out on the front step, listening and reading the book that I'm about to talk about in this review. There are gonna be some spoilers for this book as there are things that I would like to talk about that I can't without any spoilers. So let's get into it.

 Darth Plagueis is a fascinating Star Wars novel. Despite his name being the title of the book, Darth Plagueis is only the central focus of it for the first third, until he meets Palpatine and takes him on as an apprentice. The rest of the book is Palpatine's story. How he became a Sith Lord, how he became the senator of Naboo, how he met Count Dooku and Jedi Master Sifo-Dyas, and how he engineered the events of The Phantom Menace. In fact, a good chunk of this book takes place during the events of the movie, along with some of the comics and novels that precede the movie in the Star Wars Legends timeline. This was also the last book to be written about a character whose name was spoken in the movies, but we've never seen on screen before.

What's most interesting to me about this book is its publication history. Darth Plagueis was originally supposed to be published in October, 2008, around the time that Star Wars: The Clone Wars started airing. But the book was canceled in 2007, and was replaced by Rule of Two, the second book in the Darth Bane Trilogy. I guess there were concerns about Palpatine's backstory being revealed or something like that, according to the article about the book on Wookieepedia. Anyway, three years later, in July of 2010, it was announced that Darth Plagueis was back on the schedule and due to be released on February 28th, 2012. Though that was eventually moved ahead to January 10th, 2012. If I'm not mistaken, I think this is the only Star Wars novel to be canceled and then resurrected a few years later. Unless there's a more recent one that that's happened to.

The late 2000s and early 2010s was an interesting time for Star Wars publishing. Aside from The Fate of the Jedi, there was a huge focus on the prequel era, now that Revenge of the Sith was out, as well as the Knights of the Old Republic, and the pre-Republic eras of the Star Wars Legends timeline. Which is why books like Darth Plagueis, and Dawn of the Jedi: Into the Void were being published during this period. That's actually a book that I'd love to read sometime. Same with the Darth Bane Trilogy to be honest.

As for this book, I think I enjoyed Palpatine's backstory more, simply because he is a character from the movies and I've always been interested in learning more about the Emperor. Especially in the Legends continuity. I mean, Plagueis is a fine enough character, but I don't think he's as interesting as Palpatine is. I think that's because up until this book came out there was no hint that Plagueis had any role in the events of The Phantom Menace and that Darth Sidious had killed his master years before the events of the movie. Indeed it seems that way in the Canon timeline as well, interestingly enough. But in this book, Sidious kills Plagueis during the Battle of Naboo at the end of the movie, which also coincides with the end of the book. In fact Sidious senses the death of Darth Maul on Naboo at the same time of Darth Plagueis's death on Coruscant. Which is interesting.

I have the first paperback edition as I prefer paperbacks over hardcovers, and I got the book probably in 2013, not too long after the paperback had been published, so long before the Legends banner paperback edition had been published. It's a nice paperback, which includes previews for Shadow Games by Michael Reaves and Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff, and The Old Republic: Annihilation by Drew Karpyshyn, with Shadow Games having come out in November 2011, and Annihilation coming out in November 2012.

I think I've actually read all of James Luceno's Star Wars Legends novels over the years. In fact he and Michael A. Stackpole are the only Legends authors I can actually say that about as Stackpole only wrote 8 novels across the Bantam and second Del Rey lines, and Luceno wrote nine of them. I just really like Luceno's work in the Star Wars Universe.

Overall, Darth Plagueis is an excellent novel. It might be a bit confusing as the book does reference previously published comics and novels, but you don't really need to have read them to understand what's going on in this book. There's also still alot of gaps in Palpatine's life since there's a time jump of about thirty years across the entire. Plenty of room to potentially tell more stories about Plagueis and Sidious in the future, in either Legends or Canon. I definitely recommend reading this book.

Alright my friends, I think that's gonna be it for me for today. I'll be back soon though for lots more reviews and other posts. So until then have a great rest of your weekend and I will talk to you all later. Take care.

May the Fourth Special: How I Became a Star Wars Fan

 Hey everyone, how's it going? I'm back for this year's May the Fourth (Star Wars Day) Special, where I talk about how I became a Star Wars fan. So let's get into it.

My Star Wars journey began in 1991 with reruns of the cartoons Star Wars: Droids and Star Wars: Ewoks, both of which started in 1985, as well as being given an Empire Strikes Back carrying case full of action figures, along with an original 1980 AT-AT Walker toy, and Star Wars: Dark Empire #3. I had no idea what Star Wars was, who any of the characters apart from the Ewoks, C-3PO and R2-D2, since they appeared in the two cartoon shows.

Fast forward to January 1996. My dad had finally gotten the Star Wars Trilogy on VHS, in a three tape box set, which was the last time the movies were released on home video before the Special Editions came out in early 1997. I liked them, but I wasn't in love with them. However, it wasn't the movies that made me fall in love with the series.

Between early 1998 and mid 1999, I discovered the world of Star Wars novels. For some reason the Scholastic Book Order had two Star Wars novels in it. Eaten Alive, which was the first book in the Goosebumps inspired Galaxy of Fear young readers series, and The Paradise Snare, which was the first book in The Han Solo Trilogy by A.C. Crispin. My mom, who had never ordered books for me through Scholastic before, apart from a Chronicles of Narnia box set way back when I was in grade 2, ordered both of these books for me, and I was excited. Suddenly, the Star Wars Universe had opened up for me as it introduced me to characters who weren't in any of the movies. Then, in the fall of 1998 at the start of grade 6, my best friend at the time lent me Rogue Squadron, the first book in the X-Wing series by Michael A. Stackpole and Aaron Allston. These three books made me fall in love with Star Wars and my friends and I started speculating about what Episode I was going to be about.

I wouldn't have my first Star Wars theatrical experience until The Phantom Menace came out in the summer of 1999. I ended up seeing the movie two weeks in a row, which is something I hadn't done before, and haven't done since. I've been a fan ever since. And proud to be one, despite the problems certain members of this community cause.

And that my friends is it for today. I'm off to get in a VHS viewing of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope before bed. So until next time have a great night and I will talk to you all later. Take care.

The Goldbergs: A Personal Retrospective Part 3 - The Series Finale (2023)

 Hey everybody, how's it going? I'm doing okay. Today is May the Fourth, a.k.a. Star Wars Day, and don't worry, I'll be doing a special Star Wars Day post later today. However, the series finale of The Goldbergs aired last night, so I thought I'd talk about that a bit before lunch. So let's get into it.

10 years and 10 seasons isn't bad for a show that I didn't think would last more than a season. As you know, I loved the show the minute the pilot started, but at the time whenever I got invested in a show, the network it aired on ended up canceling it after one season, and because the internet wasn't exactly a buzz about the then brand new show the way it had back in 2007 when The Big Bang Theory aired its first season, I wasn't confident that ABC, which is owned by Disney I might add, would renew The Goldbergs for a second season. Or if they did it would be 13 episodes and that would be it. I had no way of knowing that the series would be on the air for ten seasons and have a two season spin-off.

So what happens in this episode? Well, Adam goes with Beverly to her high school reunion where they run into her former high school boyfriend and he selfishly tries to make sure that Beverly isn't forgetting about her late husband/his late father, Murray. Meanwhile, Barry and Joanne try to prove they're serious about their relationship, and the results are very Barry and Joanne.

Honestly, I thought this was a very fitting series finale for this show. I've always said that the strength of The Goldbergs was making characters relatable without the necessity to have a joke every minute. And that's what this finale did. It presented us with characters we could relate to, no matter what decade we grew up in. And the fact that it did that for 229 episodes across 10 seasons, between 20 and 23 episodes per season, is truly remarkable in this day and age where shows rarely get more than 10 episodes per season anymore. Now, before I go, I wanna talk about my favourite part of the episode, so, basically, spoilers for the rest of this post, for any of you who watch the show and are waiting to watch the finale until it drops on Hulu today.

My favourite part of the episode is the very end where Adam and his girlfriend, Carmen get into the DeLorean that Adam's uncle, Marvin, left at the house in the Thanksgiving episode all the way back in season 1, Carmen asks, "So, where are we headed?", Adam replies, "I don't know. Let's find out", and the two of them drive into the night, the radio cranked up. I can't think of a more fitting ending than that.

I'm glad that The Goldbergs didn't go for the typical sitcom series finale of the family selling the house, the main character moving away, or a wedding happening, though Barry and Joanne did elope off screen. It just felt like a typical episode with flashbacks at the end, including during the Dedication to Ten Years of The Goldbergs end credits scene. It was a fun episode.

Overall, this was a really good episode. And a good cap off to ten years of the show. Thanks Adam F. Goldberg, not that he'll read this post, for sharing a fictional version of your childhood with us. It's been a blast.

Alright my friends, that's going to be it for me for right now. I will be back later for my special Star Wars Day post sometime this evening, so until then have a great day and I will talk to you all later. Take care.