Star Wars Mega Medley

John Williams is the heart and soul of Star Wars. Without his music, it is questionable if the films would have been so successful- it is definite that the films would not feel the same.

When Lin-Manuel Miranda and J.J. Abrams released "Jabba Flow" on May 4th, I started thinking about John Williams' epic classical pieces and also the more strange and alien pieces that have entered the saga. I wondered whether I could make a medley that included all the major themes in the Star Wars franchise. So I started working on it. This was the result.

https://soundcloud.com/broctorwho/star-wars-mega-medley

Star Wars Main Theme (0:00 – 1:22)
Jedi Rocks (1:23 – 2:24)
Rey’s Theme (2:25 – 5:01)
The Imperial March (5:02 – 5:48)
Jabba Flow (5:49 – 7:25)
Binary Sunset (7:26 – 8:08)
Battle of the Heroes (8:09 – 11:14)
Yub Nub (11:15 – 13:08)
The Throne Room (13:09 – 14:54)
The Asteroid Field (14:55 – 16:18)
Augie's Great Municipal Band (16:19 – 17:41)
Cantina Band (17:42 – 18:40)
Yoda’s Theme (18:41 – 20:13)
Across the Stars (20:14 – 21:10)
Kylo Ren’s Theme (21:11 – 21:47)
Duel of Fates (21:48 – 23:13)
Victory Celebration (23:14 – 25:18)
Finale (25:19 – 26:13) 

Well this is the end result anyway. It contains some of the most memorable Star Wars themes (such as the Main Theme and The Imperial March) and it also contains some of the stranger stuff (such as Jedi Rocks and Augie's Great Municipal Band).

The problem is that I had to cut out a lot. This is because I wanted the medley to function as something I could listen to on my drive to work. Since my drive to work is an average of 25 minutes, I have to keep the headphones on during the walk to my classroom to complete the entire track.

Because I had to cut a lot out, I am already working on a supplemental medley that I can listen to on my drive home from work. I was only able to use samples of 18 themes and there are a bunch of themes that I missed.

Here is my medley organized by film:

The Phantom Menace
-Duel of the Fates
-Augie's Great Municipal Band

Attack of the Clones
-Across the Stars

Revenge of the Sith
-Battle of the Heroes

A New Hope
-Star Wars Main Theme
-Binary Sunset
-Cantina Band
-The Throne Room

The Empire Strikes Back
-The Imperial March
-The Asteroid Field
-Yoda’s Theme

Return of the Jedi
-Jedi Rocks*
-Yub Nub
-Victory Celebration*

The Force Awakens
-Rey’s Theme
-Kylo Ren’s Theme
-Jabba Flow
-Finale
*20th Anniversary themes (1997)

Even though I do not watch much of the prequels, I have always maintained that the best thing about them is the John William's music. It has still not been officially announced that Williams will score episode VIII, but fingers crossed everybody!

I think I will have to follow this up in a few months with another supplement track that will collect themes that I missed. For now, enjoy this if you have time to listen to it. It may be a good way to spend some time in the months between now, Rouge One and Episode VIII.

Fandom Wars: The 4 Generations of Fans

 As “The Force Awakens” run at the Box Office comes to a close, and the film gets closer to releasing on home media, Star Wars fans are still fighting about whether or not the film is any good. There are lots of questions fans are asking about the movie. The most popular is “Is this film just a rip-off of A New Hope?” 

Let’s consider that question for a spell. I think the question is as old as time itself. I can imagine 16^th century theater goers saying “Is Romeo and Juliet just a rip-off of Pyramus and Thisbe?” The correct answer is “Yes, that’s the point.”

Whether you considered “The Force Awakens” to be a high quality film is a question of taste. But ironically, if you are a Star Wars fan, you might be too close to the franchise to actually be a good judge of quality (like someone blinded by love). Only non-fans could really be trusted to give an unbiased review of the film. Fans tastes are probably heavily influenced by their age and during what era they first fell in love with the franchise. I call this my “Four Generation Theory” Here it is:

I have split fandom into four unique generations.

Generation O (birth = before 1979)
The Original Generation: This generation of fans would have seen one or more of the Original Trilogy films in the cinema. This generation is most likely to avoid using the term “A New Hope” to refer to the first film of the saga, preferring simply “Star Wars”. Among Generation O, fans may disagree on the quality of the three films. Some would say that the original film is the only true Star Wars movie. Some would cite the original film and The Empire Strikes Back as being the quality ones, and some would defend the entire original trilogy. Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, and Princess Leia probably had a big influence on their childhoods.


Generation E (birth = 1980 – 1990)

The Expanded Universe Era Generation: This generation discovered Star Wars on VHS (though their first Star Wars films could have been “Ewoks: The Caravan of Courage” or “Ewoks: The Battle for Endor”) New content published during their childhoods included Timothy Zahn or Kevin J. Anderson novels, the Shadows of the Empire media event, various CD-Rom video games and the collectable card game. Characters such as Dash Rendar and Grand Admiral Thrawn and Mara Jade are near and dear to the hearts of this generation. 



 Generation P (birth = 1991 – 2005)
The Prequel Era Generation: This generation would have been introduced to the Star Wars movies with the prequel trilogy. The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, and Revenge of the Sith are near and dear to their hearts. They find Jar Jar endearing, Darth Maul badass, and young Obi-Wan quite heroic. Slightly younger members of this generation may have been exposed to Star Wars through the “Clone Wars” cartoon series before any of the films. Generation P can probably name dozens of clones including Cody and Rex.

Generation S (birth = 2006 Onward)
The Sequel Era Generation: This generation might not have seen a Star Wars film until The Force Awakens or they may have discovered the series through Disney Channel’s “Rebels” or “Angry Birds Star Wars”. They may not be aware of the first two trilogies and probably think that Episode I was the first film released. This generation of fans will gravitate toward Poe Dameron, Rey and Finn as their idols.

With each generation having their own views of the films, it’s easy to see why fandom quarrels so much online. When people are super passionate about anything (religion, politics, sports) emotion can lead people to heated arguments about quality, canonicity, or a thousand other things. It can be hard to remember that everyone is entitled to their own opinions and there is no one correct answer, even to questions of canon.

Many fandoms even have etiquette laws to help fans remember that fandom should be fun. I would like to examine some Community Guidelines from the Harry Potter Alliance.

Positive Fandom
1. I will be kind.

2. I will remember there are many ways to be a fan.

3. I will make our community a welcoming space.

4. I will imagine people complexly.

5. I will respect and celebrate diversity.

6. I will learn.

7. I will teach.

8. I will give others the opportunity to grow.

9. I will practice self-care.

10. I will remember to be awesome.

A greater explanation of these rules can be found at http://www.thehpalliance.org/positive_fandom.

With so many Star Wars films being released in the coming decades it worth remembering that more Star Wars fans will be created every new day. We need to learn not to "Fan Shame". Comments such as “I’m a true fan because I saw the original film in the cinema” can be alienating to new generations of younglings. As we welcome in new generations of films and new generations of fans, things will change. But sometimes things must change or they are in danger of dying out.

Pilots: The Evolution of the Human and Not-So-Human Background Characters from Star Wars

The X-Wing pilots of the Star Wars films are often the unsung heroes of the franchise. Everyone knows characters such as Luke Skywalker, Poe Dameron, and Lando Calrissian, but what of the pilots that get significantly less screen time? Blink-and-you'll-miss-them pilots from The Force Awakens such as Snap Wexley and Jessika Pava have captured the hearts of hardcore fans. Let’s explore the history of these heroic pilots.

Wedge Antillies

The most famous secondary character from the original trilogy is X-wing pilot Wedge Antillies. Most Star Wars fans know Wedge by name, but many do not realize how much the character evolved during production of the original trilogy.

Denis Lawson is now famous for portraying the Wedge in the OT, but this almost wasn’t so. In fact, Lawson isn’t even the first Wedge to appear on screen in the film.

During the Death Star briefing scene actor Colin Higgins portrayed Wedge (the fanbase now refers to this character as “Fake Wedge”) Higgins apparently did not memorize his lines and was fired after only a day. That’s when Lawson (who had originally lost the part to Higgins) was brought in. Yet the portrayal of Wedge gets even more confusing. You see, American actor David Ankrum’s voice was used to dub over the lines of BOTH Lawson’s “Wedge” and Higgins’ “Fake Wedge”. But why bring in a third actor to dub over the lines of the original British actors?

Lucas’ original idea for the films was that all the good guys would have American accents and that all the bad guys would have British accents.  Even his initial idea for C3-PO was “a sort of a used-car dealer: a fast-talking guy with an American accent".

         Since Star Wars was filmed in London many of the “good guys” were British actors having to fake American accents. A good example of this is Garrick Hagon who plays Biggs Darklighter. Though he didn’t have many lines in the original cut of the film, if you watch the missing “Tatooine Scenes” you can hear a lot more.

One of the "Lost Tatooine" scenes with
Luke and Biggs bumming around their home planet

         Lawson reprised the role of Wedge in Empire Strikes Back, (even though he hadn’t realized the character of Wedge survived the first film). This time around Lawson’s voice was dubbed over again by another American actor. It wasn't until Return of the Jedi that you can hear Lawson’s real voice faking his way through an American accent.

    

Nien Nunb

Nien Nunb

Another famous pilot is Nien Nunb, the Sullustan who co-pilots the Falcon during the Battle of Endor. The history of Nien Nunb’s character can be almost as confusing as the history of Wedge. Nien Nunb is named for the fact that the character was “number nine” on the creature packing list. Ten Numb, a character of the same species, is presumably named because he was “number ten” on the packing list.

The puppet Nien Nunb was performed by Mike Quinn and Richard Bonehill in Return of the Jedi and voiced by Kenyan actor  Kipsang Rotich. In the film Nunb can actually be heard speaking  Kikuyu, a Kenyan language.

Ten Numb

As far as Ten Numb is concerned, there is a debate whether he actually made the final cut of Return of the Jedi, but he is supposedly there. Preproduction images show him wearing a white B-Wing jumpsuit, which definitely did not make it into the film, but Ten Numb shows up in a lot of merchandise including Lego minifigs and Hasbro figurines.

Evidence for Ten Numb & Mon Cal fighter pilots

(2 minutes 39 seconds)

When "The Force Awakens" went into production J.J. Abrams asked Denis Lawson to return to the role of Wedge Antilles. Lawson declined saying "they asked me but it just would have bored me." Fortunately J.J. was able to put one of the Original Trilogy pilots into a role. Mike Quinn was more than happy to reprise the role of Nien Nunb. Nunb returns, not in the Falcon, but as an X-Wing pilot who is involved at the Battle of Starkiller Base.

Rey's X-Wing Pilot Doll from TFA

The Assault on Starkiller Base

In “The Force Awaken” Poe Dameron leads the assault on Starkiller Base, piloting “Black One” his customized X-Wing. The lesser known pilots include Ello Asty, Snap Wexley and Jessika Pava.

Snap Wexley is portrayed by Greg Grunberg, who is a childhood friend of J.J. Abrams. Grunberg has been in practically every project that Abrams has helmed including Felicity, Alias, Lost, Mission Impossible III, and Star Trek. Grunberg was asked to say multiple lines during the filming of “The Force Awakens” but he refused to say the line “I’m hit!” when prompted by the crew. Grunberg obviously plans to return to the role in future films.

Ello Asty (apparently named for the Beastie Boys album “Hello Nasty”) is a Abednedo pilot with the words “Born to Ill” written across his helmet (apparently a reference to the Beastie Boys album “Licensed to Ill”. Asty was not as lucky as Snap Wexley during the battle and was shot down in the conflict.

Not much is known about pilot Jessika Pava, though she does appear in tie-in media including some novels. The most notable thing I can say about her is that fanfic sites often “ship” her with Rey (because who else are you going to ship with Rey?)

It's interesting to note that The Force Awakens has the best survival percentage for these pilots. J.J. really leaves the door open for these characters to become more active in future films or the expanded universe. 

There is a lot that I would love to elaborate on in regards to this topic. There are the astromech droids who are the pilots constant companions and there are also the starships themselves, but in the interest of keeping this blog relatively short I will stop typing and just let you enjoy some Jessika / Rey fan art.