Star Wars for Christmas? Why yes I WILL have some

Between the election and the start of the holiday season, we’ve been stresspuppies in my household. So given that our blog is fond of romance and SF/F and often the two of them together, I clearly need to divert myself from both of those contentious topics by sounding off about space opera for a bit.

And by space opera, I mean Star Wars!

Christmas means a lot of things to a lot of people, of course—but to me and my beloved, it’s one of the quieter holidays of the year. Since I live a great distance from my family and air travel is not really an option for me these days, my wife and I usually spend that particular holiday on dinner and a movie. Last year, the movie was The Force Awakens (and if you’re one of the five people on the planet who hasn’t actually seen this movie yet, fair warning, my post I’m linking to IS chock fulla spoilers).

This year, I’ll say right out, I’m looking forward to yet another Star Wars movie to enjoy. I’ve been trying very, very hard to avoid too many news items and spoilers and even trailers about Rogue One, as I want to go in as unbiased as possible. Because it ain’t like I’m not going to see the film—so I figured it’d be nice to be as surprised as possible when I get there.

Still, though, this is a Star Wars movie we’re talking about here, so avoiding tidbits about it is nigh impossible. I have picked up on some small number of things. So first, here are a couple of said things that make me a little twitchy about the movie:

1. Wait WHAT John Williams isn’t doing the score? WHAT MADNESS IS THIS? Okay, I’ll be grudgingly willing to buy this if Williams is busy working on scoring Episode VIII… but it’s going to be weird watching a Star Wars film that doesn’t have his music involved.
2. There’s no opening title crawl?! That’ll be almost as weird!

(Source for these two items: this article over on The Mary Sue.)

But really, these two items are outnumbered by what does have my interest, namely:

1. Jyn Erso! Another female-led Star Wars story! Looking forward to getting to know this heroine!
2. Alan Tudyk, best known to all Browncoats as Wash, voicing the droid K-2SO.
3. The return of Darth Vader.
4. Getting to see Bail Organa on camera, and appreciating the continuity of having the same actor that played him in the prequel trilogy. I’m going to be VERY curious as to whether this’ll mean we might get a glimpse of Young Leia.
5. Ditto for Mon Mothma! Due to my history as a roleplayer on Star Wars MUSH and another Star Wars-themed game called Galaxy, I’ve got a soft spot in my heart for this character as an established female leader of the Rebellion, and later of the New Republic.
6. What promises to be a nice mix of diverse faces in the cast, in addition to a female lead role.
7. Seeing more of what the new canon timeline is going to fill in between Episodes 1-3 and Episodes 4-6. While I know a lot of Star Wars fandom was very upset about the relegating of the Expanded Universe to non-canon status, and while I myself am a bit sad about that, I’m still quite intrigued both as an author and as a fan to see what new possibilities are going to unfold with the new tales to come!

What about the rest of you out there? Any other Star Wars fans in the house? Who’ll be seeing Rogue One over the December holidays and what are you looking forward to about the movie? Sound off in the comments!

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Angela, in addition to being a giant Star Wars nerd, writes as both Angela Highland and Angela Korra’ti. Come say hi to her (and geek out about Star Wars if you like) on angelahighland.com, or follow her on Facebook or Twitter!

Sci-Fi Week: Battle of the Franchises? No thanks, I'll pass!

Unless you’re living under a very, VERY big rock, you’re aware that we’ve now got the first Star Wars movie we’ve had in decades in the theaters. To all initial reports, it even appears to be good. My wife and I are pretty amused at the number of early reviews we’ve seen along the lines of “everybody relax, it doesn’t suck!”

This post, however, is not going to be about the new movie, although it IS still going to be about Star Wars!

Because I’ve also seen quite a few posts and videos and such going around the net this past week, all along the theme of “this is why Star Wars is the best franchise ever”. In particular, I’ve seen a post that put Star Wars up against Lord of the Rings, and I’ve seen a video that puts it up against Star Trek. Both faceoffs are certainly clashes of titans, and the kind of post fodder guaranteed to get geeks defending the honor of whichever franchise is their favorite.

“What’s your take, then?” I might hear you asking.

Easy. I embrace the power of and. I love Star Wars and Star Trek and Lord of the Rings.

Oh, sure, I have often different reasons for loving all of them. Those reasons may even be different on different days for the same franchise, because people are allowed to be complicated creatures and full of contradictions!

Allow me to elucidate with a small sampling of why I love all three of these franchises.

Why I love Star Wars:

1. Two words: Harrison. Ford.
2. John Williams’ soundtrack.
3. To this day, I remember eight-year-old-ish me laying eyes on that gigantic Star Destroyer at the beginning of A New Hope. Formative movie influence on me, like so many other geeks my age.
4. Han’s love for the Millennium Falcon led me right into instant affection for Mal’s love of Serenity in Firefly! Because I mean honestly, Mal really is Han 2.0, isn’t he?
5. And did I mention Harrison Ford? Because he warrants mentioning twice. :D

Why I love Star Trek:

1. Three words: James. Tiberius. Kirk.
2. The way my heart lifts every time I hear “Space: the final frontier” and the horns kicking in under those iconic words.
3. I adore the whole core concept of Trek, which for me is “space is AMAZING, let’s go look at it and discover new life forms and civilizations and make friends with them”. I love the inherent optimism of that, and I frequently feel that we could use more of that optimism in all of our lives.
4. Kirk, Spock, and McCoy, at least in the original series (the reboot movies aren’t doing it for me, not yet), are the threefold heart and soul of the cast. I regularly go back and rewatch that series, and the best parts for me are the parts that emphasize how these three characters all love and respect one another.
5. Uhura! Our lady of communications! Who is also a musician! How can I not love her?

Why I love Lord of the Rings:

1. Tolkien’s masterful works, as I’ve posted before, are a huge influence on me as both a reader and a writer.
2. I can rewatch the Lord of the Rings movies yearly and feel like I’m coming home.
3. Howard Shore’s masterful score.
4. Every single time I hear Annie Lennox sing “Into the West”, tears start streaming down my face.
5. Four words: Aragorn, son of Arathorn.

At the end of the day, though, what all of these franchises have in common for me is that they’ve all delivered me excellent storytelling, compelling characters, music that lifts my spirit, and worlds I believe in every time I visit them. To ask me to say that one is better than the other is like asking me to choose a one true flavor of ice cream. Dude, it’s ice cream. It’s all delicious!

All that said? That eight-year-old kid in me who went all wide-eyed in awe at the first sight of a Star Destroyer is now totally shrieking OMG OMG NEW STAR WARS OMG OMG OMG CAN WE GO SEE IT YET?

Hang in there, eight-year-old me. We’ll be going to see that movie soon enough. And Trek and Lord of the Rings will keep being there for us too!

So talk to me, everybody, and tell me what your favorite movie franchise is and why you love it so! (And if you’ve already seen The Force Awakens, this is a SPOILER-FREE ZONE, so please, no spoilers in the comments! I won’t be seeing the movie until Christmas Day! You wouldn't want to make Han cranky, would you?)

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Angela is a hybrid author who writes as both Angela Korra'ti and Angela Highland, and she is also a gigantic geek. You can find her and everything you'd like to know about her books on angelahighland.com, or follow her on Facebook or Twitter.