Seven Days of Star Wars: Day Three – Attack of the Clones

December 12, 2015June 19, 2025 Michael Falkner4 Comments

Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones
(PG, 142 minutes, 2002)

This is the third installment in a series of looks at each of the wide-released theatrical Star Wars films leading up to the premiere of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. This includes each of the films that comprise the saga’s story after the 2012 purchase of Lucasfilm by the Walt Disney Company and the April 2014 canon reset.

Day one examined 2008’s Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Day two looked at Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith. Today’s entry is for the second of the Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones, which is set 22 years before the events of Star Wars: A New Hope.

I was still in college when this came out, and it was a special trip to The Gateway in Salt Lake City with my future wife, my sister, and a friend of hers. It was one of the first times I was able to get advance tickets for a movie. While it was an exciting movie for the saga’s mythology, it has become my least favorite of the Prequel Trilogy.

The acting chemistry issues I discussed with Revenge of the Sith apply more heavily here. I get Anakin being a hormonal teenager, and I get the courtly love story elements, but it’s just Hayden Christensen and his lack of chemistry with Natalie Portman that grates on me.

The bigger issue I have with Attack of the Clones is the Jedi Order.

Anakin’s issues with attachment are noticed as early as the first reel when he and Obi-Wan are going to Padmé’s apartment. Anakin is obsessive – and actually downright creepy – about Padmé’s safety. Being near her, in his own words, is intoxicating. So, when the Order decided to send a Jedi with Padmé back to Naboo, they should have sent a completely different Knight. Send Anakin with Kenobi to investigate the assassin, or even place him on library duty while Kenobi’s away. As trite as it sounds, remove him from the temptations away from his oath to the Jedi Code.

If the Council thought it appropriate to send Anakin as a protector to further his independent study as a budding Knight, then it should have been painfully clear to Kenobi at the Battle of Geonosis that this attachment was a problem. Yes, the Clone Wars were beginning and every able-bodied Jedi was needed on the front lines – interpreted at this point as a defense of the Republic – but every effort should have been expended to keep Anakin separated from Padmé.

Even Yoda knew it was a problem. This wasn’t the Dark Side clouding things; this was arrogance and ignorance, and it pervades the entire film. The Jedi truly brought about their own downfall because of it, and it frustrates me because I’m watching intelligent people make stupid choices without recognizing just how stupid they are.

So, yes, I’m hard on the movie. But there are things to like about Attack of the Clones.

The Rumble in the Rain

With a lot of the character drama being downright irritating, the action sequences pick up the tab, and one of the coolest sequences is the “Rumble in the Rain” on Kamino.

We got a small taste of Jedi versus Mandalorian in Return of the Jedi, but this really showcases how badass both Jango Fett and Obi-Wan Kenobi were. It also comes up again when Kenobi tails Fett’s Slave I to Geonosis and they face off again in the planet’s rings.

Foreshadowing Vader

There are a few elements in Attack of the Clones that foreshadow Anakin’s descent into darkness. The first is his discussion with Padmé in the fields of Naboo about how politicians should be made to agree with the common good. While he is joking with Padmé, it feels like he actually believes it, at least in part.

Another element is after Anakin’s dream on Naboo when he’s meditating on the lakefront. His stance echoes back to The Empire Strikes Back and Vader’s meditations on the Super Star Destroyer’s bridge.

Finally, the obvious foreshadowing for Anakin’s fall to the Dark Side is his vengeance against the Tuskens after his mother dies. He walks straight down the path detailed by Yoda in The Phantom Menace – “Fear is the path of the Dark Side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.” – and creates a disturbance so large in the Force that it even shakes the spirit of Qui-Gon Jinn. This leads Yoda to question and explore life after death, which is a key element of the Original Trilogy.

The Wedding

While the chemistry between Natalie Portman and Hayden Christensen gives me trouble, the wedding scene at the end of the movie is one of the most beautiful of the franchise.

Natalie Portman’s costumes in Attack of the Clones were, for the most part, very elegant and elaborate. The wedding gown was a nice change of pace, and calls back to the peasant disguises that the character wore during the return flight to Naboo. The wedding dress maintains the elegance of the character, but delicately melds it with a simplicity that reflects the monastic Jedi robes of her husband. It also calls back to the concepts of courtly love by bringing in medieval and typically Arthurian elements.

The ceremony takes place in the same place where the pair were in hiding on Naboo, which is where they shared their first kiss, and the bright sunset behind them over the water is symbolic of the crucible yet to come.

The Battle of Geonosis and the Lightsaber Duel

The Battle of Geonosis finally delivers on the promise of stories set in the Golden Age of the Jedi Order by showing a lot of Jedi doing Jedi things. In this case, it’s a massive lightsaber battle, and it’s the moment where I sat up in my chair and really engaged until the end of the film.

On top of being a showcase of Jedi talent, The Battle of Geonosis is the start of the Clone Wars, which was only a whispered legend in the Original Trilogy. The movie shifts genres to a war epic, and while the CG effects are a bit dodgy, they are also a test bed for the technology that drives a lot of the blockbusters a decade and more later.

The feather in the cap of this sequence is the lightsaber duel with our heroes and the duplicitous Count Dooku. It was fantastic to watch Christopher Lee fencing with a lightsaber – the long shots were a double with Lee’s head digitally replaced, but all of the close up work was his alone – and watching him dispatch powerful Jedi like Kenobi and Skywalker was amazing. I did not expect what followed, but I cheered for the first time in the film when Yoda dropped his walking stick and ignited a lightsaber to battle Dooku, and it says a lot that the Sith Lord had to effectively cheat to escape.

“Across the Stars”

The one part of the entire love story that I do really enjoy is the theme “Across the Stars”. The theme is both elegant and tragic, and feels inspired by the classical waltz music one would typically hear in a Victorian or Edwardian period piece such as Pride and Prejudice. The piece has a courtly innocence that is layered with the darkness yet to come from the forbidden love affair, and is one of the highlights when I watch this film.

Tomorrow, I’ll finish off the Prequel Era with my favorite moments from 1999’s Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace.

My Rating: 7.0/10
IMDb rating: 6.7/10

For more creativity with a critical eye, visit Creative Criticality.

Seven Days of Star Wars: Day Two – Revenge of the Sith

December 11, 2015June 19, 2025 Michael Falkner5 Comments

Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith
(PG-13, 140 minutes, 2005)

This is the second installment in a series of looks at each of the wide-released theatrical Star Wars films leading up to the premiere of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. This includes each of the films that comprise the saga’s story after the 2012 purchase of Lucasfilm by the Walt Disney Company and the April 2014 canon reset.

Day one examined the 2008 animated feature, Star Wars: The Clone Wars. For the second entry in the series, I’m looking back on the last of the Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, which is set 19 years before the events of the first Star Wars film.

I caught this in theaters on opening weekend, which was a bit difficult given the time and place. It was while I was still in the Navy, stationed at the submarine base in Connecticut, and preparing to leave in a couple of months for a deployment. It was easily my favorite of the Prequel Trilogy, and one of the most emotional. Also, of all of the novelizations, the adaptation by Matthew Stover is amazing and the best written of the Prequel Trilogy.

One issue I have with the film, the chemistry between Hayden Christensen (Anakin Skywalker) and Natalie Portman (Padmé Amidala), is minimized in comparison to Attack of the Clones, which is odd since the story tightly revolves around these two star-crossed lovers. Both of these actors are fine on their own, but their scenes together don’t sell me on the affection between their characters. The relationship is more of a courtly love instead of a modern love, and that follows since Star Wars is built on the trappings of knights and princesses. The mistresses are independent souls, and the lover tries to prove his worth through acts of bravery and nobility. It’s an awkward relationship built on innocence, impulse, and an idolatry of the very concept of love, but there’s also an element of chemistry missing from the acting side that makes me question their compatibility.

Christensen’s acting has also been a thorn in my side as far as interpretation. Back in April 2011, I wrote “Tragedy of the Heart” for ForceCast.net, in which I discuss the literary trope of the broken heart. Of the 1200 words in that essay, I get the most e-mail about how I interpreted Anakin’s reaction when Padmé reveals her pregnancy.

At the time of her death, Padmé had been experiencing a great degree of sorrow. First, toward the beginning of Revenge of the Sith, she had been trying to decide if she should tell Anakin about her pregnancy and seemed dismayed by his rather apathetic response to her news.

The feedback indicates that Christensen came across as being surprised or shocked followed by being thrilled at the news. From a certain point of view, I can see that, but the first thing I see in this scene every time I watch the movie is apathy. Maybe it’s because apathy and shock look similar on the surface, or maybe it’s because Christensen couldn’t sell me on it. I’m not entirely sure.

As far as Padmé is concerned, this film sets her back from the progress she made over the previous two installments. The once strong and proud Padmé Amidala who liberated her planet and fought in the Clone Wars takes a back seat to a stereotypical hormonal pregnant woman. No, really. She spends practically the entire film fawning over Anakin and moping about his emotional issues before dying in the final act. She was most powerful in the deleted scenes where she stands up against the tyranny of Palpatine’s machinations, but that doesn’t even make it to the film. What this story does to Padmé is inexcusable.

The last big thing that irks me about Revenge of the Sith is the birth of the twins. Since Star Wars deals significantly in mythological and literary elements – and, hey, I did write an essay about it – I can buy the death by a broken heart or loss of will, but not from the vocoder circuits of a medical droid.

Finally, the future of Star Wars in cinema needs more Alderaan. Simply gorgeous.

What about the things that I love about Revenge of the Sith?

The Battle of Coruscant

While the films skipped right over the Clone Wars in the three years between chapters, the climax of the epic confrontation was fantastic. The Star Wars main theme fades away into pounding taiko drums as two Jedi starfighters race across the hull of a Venator-class Star Destroyer, and swells into a very martial version of the Force Theme.

It reflects where the Jedi are at this point. They’re no longer the defenders of peace and justice, but are actively waging a war as generals on behalf of the Republic, and even though the name (and the theme) still mean something, it’s tainted by their aggression and loss of balance.

While the George Lucas vision of Star Wars wasn’t so much about spaceships as it was a soap opera about family conflict, the opening siege of the Republic capital made a lot of sense to me as a major step toward the downfall of the Jedi.

Political Connotations

Even though Lucas denies it, Revenge of the Sith was timely in the sense of world politics. After the events of September 11, 2001, the world embarked on the Global War on Terror, and the United States passed broad and sweeping surveillance and security legislation with the USA PATRIOT Act. In the United States, public support was extensive, and speaking out against events or leadership was nearly heretical.

Lines like “So this is how liberty dies—with thunderous applause” and “If you’re not with me, then you’re my enemy” brought the reality of the age directly to the silver screen and to the galaxy far, far away. In the tradition of science fiction acting as an existential metaphor, Revenge of the Sith reflected the human condition of the post-9/11 era and provided a warning of our possible future.

Individual science fiction stories may seem as trivial as ever to the blinder critics and philosophers of today — but the core of science fiction, its essence has become crucial to our salvation, if we are to be saved at all.”

—Isaac Asimov

George Lucas claims that he wrote the basic outlines for Revenge of the Sith in the 1970s during the Vietnam War era, and that President Nixon was an inspiration for those story elements, but historians have also readily compared the GWOT to the Vietnam War, so the parallels exist.

Order 66 and the Battle of the Heroes

It seems strange to count the Order 66 sequence among my favorite moments of the film, but it is a truly powerful turning point in the saga. The lightsaber battle between Sidious and four Jedi Masters is quick but terrifying as it brings the realization that the Jedi were never fully prepared for the retribution of the Sith. Anakin’s betrayal of Mace Windu is shocking and saddening, and while Hayden Christensen’s distraught acting before the christening of Darth Vader is still painful, the effects layered on Ian McDiarmid’s dialogue make it feel like he’s pulling from deep within the Dark Side of the Force.

From Commander Cody opening fire on Obi-Wan Kenobi’s Utapauan varactyl lizard – Boga’s scream as he falls from the cliffs to his death is heart-wrenching – to Anakin’s assault on the Jedi Temple, the first purge of the Jedi Order brings tears to my eyes every time.

It culminates in the Battle of the Heroes where Anakin and Obi-Wan, equally matched in their skills and expert knowledge of one another, fight in a no-holds barred duel of Light and Dark.

Order 66 is the pivotal moment in this movie, and in the saga as a whole, that shows how far the Jedi have fallen and sets up the events of the original movies that are so beloved in pop culture.

Birth and Death

While the circumstances around Padmé’s death are somewhat problematic, the poetry between her end and Vader’s rebirth is elegant. While she is giving birth to Luke and Leia, the Emperor is enslaving the charred remains of Vader into his iconic armor. At the moment that Padmé dies, Vader rises. Her death signals his rebirth, but it also heralds the arrival of the new hope for the galaxy.

It also brings life to a fan theory that Sidious knew how to manipulate the knowledge of Darth Plagueis the Wise all along.

“A New Hope and End Credits”

Last but least is a bonus from the soundtrack. The movie’s end credits start and end with the Star Wars theme, which combines the “Rebel Fanfare” and “Luke’s Theme”. Between those bookends are “Princess Leia’s Theme” and “Battle of the Heroes”, which encapsulates the end state of the story in one of the strongest mediums of the franchise, the orchestral genius of John Williams.

The soundtrack version goes a little extra with an extended version of “The Throne Room” suite from A New Hope, which is basically the “Force Theme”. The extra music strikes me as the concert suite that never was for the Force, and reminds me that the mystical energy field exists outside of the battle between good and evil. It’s always there and always waiting for balance.

Tomorrow, I’ll continue walking back through time to 2002 and my favorite moments from Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones.

My Rating: 8.0/10
IMDb rating: 7.7/10

For more creativity with a critical eye, visit Creative Criticality.

Seven Days of Star Wars: Day One – The Clone Wars

December 10, 2015June 19, 2025 Michael Falkner6 Comments

Star Wars: The Clone Wars
(PG, 98 minutes, 2008)

Today kicks off a series of looks at each of the wide-released theatrical Star Wars films leading up to the premiere of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. This includes each of the films that comprise the saga’s story after the 2012 purchase of Lucasfilm by the Walt Disney Company and the April 2014 canon reset.

For the first entry in the series, I’m looking back on the most recent theatrical release, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, which is set between Episodes II and III.

I caught this in theaters during first run, but not opening weekend, and I still regret selecting it above My Sister’s Keeper. The following television show was phenomenal, but the feature is something I’ve only seen twice. If you’re new to The Clone Wars, I recommend jumping into the series first. Come back to the movie after you have the first (and maybe second) season under your belt.

That’s not to say that the movie is terrible. On its own, Star Wars: The Clone Wars is a mediocre feature. The plot was fairly simple: The Republic and the Separatists are both vying for control over Hutt-controlled trade routes. In an attempt to gain an upper hand, Count Dooku kidnaps Jabba the Hutt’s son, which means that the Jedi are on the hook to recover the little Huttling.

The main problem with The Clone Wars feature presentation is that it wasn’t designed as a movie. The Rotta the Hutt story was originally three completed episodes (“Castle of Deception”, “Castle of Doom”, and “Castle of Salvation”), and the Battle of Christophsis story with the introduction of Ahsoka Tano was a completely separate episode. At a private screening, George Lucas suggested to director Dave Filoni (Avatar: The Last Airbender) that they should make them a feature. Sadly, it results in an uneven presentation with a lackluster story.

But, despite all of the negative points, there are some incredibly awesome things in Star Wars: The Clone Wars.

Ahsoka Tano

The Clone Wars was a dramatic shift for the saga which, to this point, had never discussed Anakin having an apprentice. While some segments of fandom rebelled – ironically, Ahsoka is well-received in fandom over seven years later – I enjoyed the reasoning within the story: After the events of Attack of the Clones, the Jedi Council wanted to help Anakin overcome his attachment issues as Tano became more independent, and that she would also teach him to espouse a greater sense of responsibility. Obi-Wan appeared to be instrumental in bringing this to the Council as well.

This begins the development of one’s the Prequel Era’s most dynamic and interesting characters. While I still like the Prequel Era, many of the main characters are constrained by the original trilogy of films. From the Original Trilogy point of view, we know where Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Yoda end up, and we also know that the days of the Jedi are numbered. Ahsoka, on the other hand, was a wild card, and her character arc added greater interest to her comrades and a greater depth to the Prequel Trilogy overall.

Tom Kane’s Introductions

Thematically, The Clone Wars takes a page from newsreels of the World War II, Korean War, and Vietnam War eras. Similar to the short films that Disney and Pixar are running before their features today – the practice itself being a throwback to the golden age of cinema – features during those wars were preceded by news from the front headlined by a bombastic announcer.

The Clone Wars replaced the standard opening Star Wars crawl, which provided a slice of background for the adventure to come, with introductions by Tom Kane (also the voice of Yoda in the series) in a caricature of the newsreel announcer. I was in love with this idea from the first time I heard “A galaxy divided!”

Kevin Kiner’s Score

Kevin Kiner did fantastic work with the score in both the movie and the follow-on series. He kept the music in the Star Wars flavor while also keeping it light (for a cartoon show) and unique. He also steered away from simply repeating the themes from the movies over and over again.

Going hand-in-hand with the introductions, he reworked the Star Wars main theme into a brass heavy patriotic march, which kept the feel of the newsreel style and provided the energy to launch into tales of Jedi at war.

Battle of Christophsis

Some of the greatest innovation in Star Wars comes from the battle sequences. Before August of 2008, I had never considered Walkers being able to scale a sheer cliff, but then the AT-TEs did it at Christophsis. My mind was blown at first, but then all I could say was, “Of course they can.”

Tomorrow, I’ll continue walking back through time to 2005 and my favorite moments from Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith.

My Rating: 6.0/10
IMDb rating: 5.8/10

For more creativity with a critical eye, visit Creative Criticality.

Culture on My Mind – Best Day of Television

June 5, 2015June 20, 2025 Michael Falkner1 Comment

Culture on My Mind
Best Day of Television
June 5, 2015

A meme has been making the rounds on Facebook about getting children into nature, claiming that kids “don’t remember their best day of television.” Thankfully, many of the people in my geeky circles have torn it apart with their best life-changing television memories.

Mine was May 23, 1994. The episode was “All Good Things…”, the series finale of Star Trek: The Next Generation. It was the first time I had ever seen a television show do what is now considered a proper wrap-up of story lines from the series, and it still ranks up there with “Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen” from M*A*S*H as one of my favorites farewells in television history.

While the Children & Nature Network has a point in unplugging kids and getting them into the world around them – I spent a great deal of time in nature and away from tech in my youth over many years working on my Eagle Scout award and as a volunteer Trail Patrol member at Antelope Island State Park – this meme easily glosses over the effect that good television has on people. Good stories, regardless of medium, transport your imagination away from the burdens of reality and allow you to dream and hope, and fosters creativity.

Yes, even kids can understand the burdens of the real world and create imaginative wonders to solve them. Anecdotally, I know a successful filmmaker and writer who escaped abuse at home through the wonders of Star Wars. A more concrete example is the duo of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, the high school teens who created Superman to battle the social injustices of the 1930s.

My love of speculative fiction stems from being introduced to Star Trek and Lost in Space by my father, and the plethora of action, adventure, and science fiction that dominated the 1980s television landscape. My imagination is still fueled by those memories to this day.

In the end, kids will remember their best days so long as those days are spent seeking their bliss. The trick is finding out what fuels their passions while guiding them into the world at large. All things in moderation.

Culture on My Mind is inspired by the weekly Can’t Let It Go segment on the NPR Politics Podcast where each host brings one thing to the table that they just can’t stop thinking about.

For more creativity with a critical eye, visit Creative Criticality.

Culture on My Mind – Cleaning Up After the Storm: Reflections on Black Widow in the Age of Ultron

May 14, 2015June 19, 2025 Michael FalknerLeave a comment

Culture on My Mind
Cleaning Up After the Storm: Reflections on Black Widow in the Age of Ultron
May 14, 2015

Natasha Romanoff, better known as Black Widow, is a strong female character and role model in Marvel’s Cinematic Universe.

Throughout the movies so far, she has held her own as an agent of SHIELD and as an Avenger. She has capably stopped threats both on a planetary and galactic scale, ranging from Justin Hammer’s robot army and HYDRA to Loki and the Chitauri. In the aftermath of Avengers: Age of Ultron, her status remains unchanged.

Both critics and audiences have responded phenomenally to the newest installment in the record-breaking franchise, but complaints have still arisen about how Black Widow has been treated by marketing and the film itself. Chief among those grievances is the phenomenon of “Mommy Widow,” a claim that writers and directors are betraying the character by spotlighting her maternal instincts.

In the film, Romanoff and Bruce Banner (human alter-ego to the Incredible Hulk) have developed a relationship. During a peaceful interlude at Hawkeye’s pastoral farmhouse, Romanoff and Banner are discussing their future together, and Banner laments that they can’t have the life that the archer does: a happy nuclear family. The roadblock, he claims, is the Hulk, which is always one angry moment away and, in all likelihood, is now a genetic curse.

To defend her position – a woman who is proactively seeking companionship instead of being the lustful target of the male gaze – Romanoff shares the details of the backstory the audience discovered minutes before thanks to the induced hallucinations of the Scarlet Witch’s mental sorcery.

Natasha became the assassin she is today in a place called the Red Room. In the flashback, we see that her training was intense (to say the least), and that part of that training was taking human life. Romanoff’s graduation ceremony was her own mutilation.

“You know what my final test was in the Red Room? They sterilized me, said it was one less thing to worry about. You think you’re the only monster on the team?”

Romanoff wasn’t calling herself a monster because she couldn’t have children. She simply wasn’t. The agency behind the Red Room, presumably the KGB, cut her apart in an effort to create the perfect killing machine. As seen in Iron Man 2 and The Avengers, Romanoff is trained to use her sexual allure as a weapon. One can assume that this makes KGB assassins similar to secret agents like James Bond, a man who is famous for having sex in every one of his nearly 25 films just to get to the target.

This is the origin of all that “red in the ledger” that Widow wants to erase. She’s not lamenting the loss of her motherhood, but rather the lack of free agency that chains her to her work. She considers herself a monster that was created the moment her freedom was taken away.

The “Mommy Widow” argument continues in a discussion of her role on the team. In Age of Ultron, she’s racing to the rescue and picks up Captain America’s discarded shield, stating, “I’m always picking up after you boys.”

That snarky line is more of a window to her role on the team than it seems. Since her debut in Iron Man 2, Romanoff has been saving the Avengers or delivering a critical hit in every film. In Iron Man 2, she pretty much single-handedly took out Justin Hammer’s guards and helped to shut down his robot army. In The Avengers, she brought Hawkeye back from his Loki-induced stupor and wielded the scepter to shut the Chitauri portal. In Captain America: The Winter Soldier, she literally guided Captain America to not only avoid capture by Hydra but was also instrumental in stopping their genocidal plan. She is, in every sense of the phrase, always picking up after the team. She’s the deal closer.

From the very beginning, Romanoff and Coulson have been the guardians of the Avenger Initiative. They were the front line, courting and babysitting Tony Stark, pushing the right buttons to incorporate Banner, investigating Thor’s arrival, and integrating Captain Rogers to the current era. In essence, they were the parents of the movement, always working for and reporting directly back to Fury. That is a huge amount of development for two characters who started out as secondary non-solo-film roles. They may not have major leading roles, but they are the heart of this universe, and continue to be in their respective roles as team leaders in different branches of SHIELD.

Part of that character development comes back to the relationship with Banner, a pairing that critics claim is Mommy Widow’s arrival at motherhood with a bouncing baby Hulk to nurture.

In The Avengers, it was plainly obvious that Romanoff had only met Banner on paper. She respected the man and outright feared the power of The Other Guy. She set up a typical martial sting operation, complete with a strike team, to take Banner down if necessary. Admittedly, that’s a 180-degree spin from where they stand in Age of Ultron.

However, the film clearly establishes that the Avengers haven’t just been sitting around waiting for the next movie premiere since we saw them last. They explicitly mention that it has been a long hunt for Loki’s scepter, and that means that the team has been working together for a significant time off-screen. The Avengers have developed a great sense of teamwork, as evidenced in the film’s opening gambit at the Hydra base, as well as a way to tame the Hulk when they need him to “Code Green” against a threat.

This wasn’t the only development that occurred off-screen: Stark built more suits after he “Clean Slated” his entire line in Iron Man 3, and overcame his PTSD from the Battle of New York; Rogers and Stark developed a new uniform for the captain, including a short-range retrieval system for the iconic shield; Stark Industries built at least one new model Quinjet (since SHIELD no longer has the capability) and a series of automated armor-bots; the world has come to resent the Avengers and the havoc they wreak; and Hawkeye had a family.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is so vibrant and alive that it continues to breathe and evolve even though the cameras are off.

The fact that this team picked Romanoff, the character who feared the Hulk the most, to be his handler speaks volumes about her character and role on the team. It is reasonable that the Romanoff/Banner relationship has grown beyond Widow being petrified of the Big Guy because their lives have continued between the films. That makes Widow more than just a swooning love interest with mommy issues and even more than just an ass-kicking blunt instrument to deploy in battle.

Romanoff is three-dimensional, and therefore a truly strong, living and breathing female character instead of the typical comic book trope of a pair of absurdly large walking breasts in spandex waiting for a fridge to fall into.

Even without a solo film outing (which is no excuse for her not to have one), Natasha Romanoff’s status as a strong female character and respectable role model in Marvel’s Cinematic Universe remains intact and promises to remain that way for the foreseeable future.

Cross-published to RevolutionSF on May 13, 2015

Culture on My Mind is inspired by the weekly Can’t Let It Go segment on the NPR Politics Podcast where each host brings one thing to the table that they just can’t stop thinking about.

For more creativity with a critical eye, visit Creative Criticality.

Leonard Nimoy (1931-2015)

February 27, 2015June 19, 2025 Michael FalknerLeave a comment

Culture on My Mind
Leonard Nimoy (1931-2015)
February 27, 2015

It’s difficult to fathom right now, but a legend is truly gone.

Leonard Nimoy, icon of the stage and screen, has died at the age of 83.

Similar to most fans of his work, I knew him best as the stoic Mr. Spock in the Star Trek franchise. In that role, Nimoy portrayed a half-human, half-Vulcan science officer who was (supposedly) devoid of emotions and driven purely by logic. Ironically, he was the lens through which the show could analyze the human condition. His character acted in concert and counterbalance with McCoy’s emotion and Kirk’s authority, and became an Aristotelian trifecta by embodying logos, punctuated by pathos and the ethos of expertise and (later) command. Spock was perhaps the most well-rounded and defined character in the franchise.

Mr. Spock helped me in my youth as a role model for my awkwardness and gracelessness in social situations. Spock was an outsider among the Enterprise crew, but was well-respected for being an expert in his field and was also a valued friend. He was my favorite original crew member.

Of course, Mr. Nimoy was more than Spock. Beyond Star Trek, he was an accomplished actor, both on screen and stage as well as off screen with his fantastic and easily recognizable voice. He also was a director, producer, writer, singer, poet, and photographer.

I had the chance to see him on a panel at Dragon*Con, and his candor and humor was admirable. He sparred quite well with William Shatner on that stage, and his passion for life was palpable.

He was a quick wit, a true artist, and a kind soul.

It’s easy to say that he will be missed. It’s hard to quantify just how much.

Culture on My Mind is inspired by the weekly Can’t Let It Go segment on the NPR Politics Podcast where each host brings one thing to the table that they just can’t stop thinking about.

For more creativity with a critical eye, visit Creative Criticality.

Culture on My Mind – Goodbye, Robin Williams

August 13, 2014June 19, 2025 Michael FalknerLeave a comment

Culture on My Mind
Goodbye, Robin Williams
August 13, 2014

Few celebrity deaths in recent times have hit me as hard that of Robin Williams. Unless I have met them in person, I usually see celebrities as people who entertain me for a living, but not as friends or family. It’s a nice touch to wave a greeting, shake hands, or even exchange a few words at a convention, but in general, they are strangers that I invite in for a few hours to make me laugh, cry, or think.

Robin Williams was different for me.

He made a mark with his unique style of original, lively, rapid-fire wit and delivery. His one-man stage shows were always fantastic – Live on Broadway had me in stitches for the entire duration – and his films were a centerpiece of my childhood’s cinematic awakening. He wasn’t family, but he was loved for the impacts he made on my life.

I first encountered him in Good Morning, Vietnam as he portrayed Airman Adrian Cronauer, a DJ for the Armed Force Radio Service. The film has always been my benchmark for his humor and zany voices, as well as his dramatic skills as the horrors of war caught up with Cronauer.

The second major slice of Williams in my life was in Disney’s Aladdin, where his mostly improvised on set lines were the lifeblood of one of my favorite entries from the Mouse House. The third biggest influence on my life from his catalog is the oft-maligned Hook, which grabbed me with the transition from Williams acting like a responsible adult to embracing the bang-a-rang child that is Peter Pan. Robin Williams made Hook work for me.

I adored his comedic turns in films like Happy Feet and Mrs. Doubtfire, and enjoyed his dramatic roles in Dead Poets Society and Good Will Hunting. I deeply enjoyed catching re-runs of Mork and Mindy, and even though his darker roles like One Hour Photo never clicked with me, I was glad to see him trying to break free of comedic typecasting.

Robin Williams made a major impact on both the industry and audiences, and the world is a much darker place without the light of his genius and wit. His death is both tragic and heartbreaking, and has come far too soon.

Godspeed, dearest genie, for you are free. You will be deeply missed.

May you rest in peace.

Culture on My Mind is inspired by the weekly Can’t Let It Go segment on the NPR Politics Podcast where each host brings one thing to the table that they just can’t stop thinking about.

For more creativity with a critical eye, visit Creative Criticality.

Culture on My Mind – Shelving the Star Wars Expanded Universe Makes Sense

May 4, 2014June 19, 2025 Michael FalknerLeave a comment

Culture on My Mind
Shelving the Star Wars Expanded Universe Makes Sense
May 4, 2014

I’ve been thinking about the recent shake-up in the Star Wars expanded universe, and it’s taken me some time to really sort out my thoughts both in relation to my emotions and good business sense. I agree with the decision, and believe that it makes sense to do it.

Part I – The Books and Me

It seems fitting that this decision was made public around this time of year. I was introduced to the post-Return of the Jedi adventures of Luke, Leia, Han, and Chewie on Easter Sunday of 1992. My parents surprised me with a paperback copy of the Star Wars Trilogy 10th anniversary omnibus, which combined the novelizations of each of the original films, along with a paperback copy of Timothy Zahn’s Heir to the Empire. They realized that I had a deep attachment to the original trilogy, which I had only seen on well-loved and rewind-worn pan-and-scan VHS tapes at that time, and they fed that passion with what they understood to be the continuing story. They were right on the money, as confirmed by the hardcover version’s inner jacket blurb.

The three Star Wars films form a spectacular saga of bold imaginations and high adventure. But the stories of its characters did not end there. Now for the first time, Lucasfilm Ltd., producer of the Star Wars movies, has authorized the continuation of this beloved story. In an astounding three-book cycle, Timothy Zahn continues the tale of Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Han Solo, and the other characters made world famous by Star Wars, as he brilliantly expands upon George Lucas’s stunning vision, “a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.”

I rapidly devoured the original trilogy omnibus, and relished the differences between the novels and the films. Obi-Wan knew about ducks, Luke’s uncle Owen was really Kenobi’s brother, and Vader was created when Anakin and Obi-Wan battled on the edge of a volcano. It was a wealth of information that expanded beyond the cinematic journey, and it primed me for the more dedicated reading of the continuing saga. I say dedicated, but I don’t mean meticulous; I flew through Heir to the Empire and loved every minute. In June of 1992, I reserved a copy of the second book, Dark Force Rising, at my local library and flew through it as well. It was a long year until The Last Command was released, and after that epic conclusion, I satiated my desire for more Star Wars by reading Brian Daley’s The Han Solo Adventures, L. Neil Smith’s The Lando Calrissian Adventures, and Alan Dean Foster’s Splinter of the Mind’s Eye.

It didn’t matter to me how bad Splinter was because, by the Maker, I had new Star Wars in my hands. The Truce at Bakura, The Courtship of Princess Leia, and Kevin J. Anderson’s Jedi Academy trilogy started me down a path of buying the books and comic trade paperbacks when they came out and enjoying every one of them. My palette has matured a bit since then, and stories like The Crystal Star (ah, Waru) are hardly ever revisited by my eyes, but at the time, they were precious, precious gold.

Despite my love for the franchise, it became apparent to me that the universe was getting too large too fast. At that point, stories in what became the Star Wars Expanded Universe (SWEU) ranged from approximately 5,000 years before to around 20 years after A New Hope. One person at Lucasfilm, Leland Chee, was charged with keeping the chronology straight and smoothing over any conflicts amongst the novels, comics, video games, television series, and movies. He did an admirable job, and it’s one I don’t envy.

By 1994, Lucas Licensing had defined what made up Star Wars canon, and publicized it in issue 23 of Star Wars Insider, the fan club’s magazine.

Gospel, or canon as we refer to it, includes the screenplays, the films, the radio dramas and the novelizations. These works spin out of George Lucas’ original stories, the rest are written by other writers. However, between us, we’ve read everything, and much of it is taken into account in the overall continuity. The entire catalog of published works comprises a vast history—with many off-shoots, variations and tangents—like any other well-developed mythology.

To help sort out the chronology, multiple tiers were established between 1996 and 2000 to solve conflicts between stories. Anything that directly involved George Lucas, such as the films, their novels and radio adaptations, and statements from Lucas himself trumped everything. Under that were the television shows, followed by the combination of novels, comics, and games. As the prequel movies dawned and Lucasfilm started developing The Clone Wars television series, more and more continuity problem started to crop up and it was apparent that something had to give. In the time-honored tradition of the SWEU, George Lucas won.

Part II – The Dawn of a New Era

The decision on April 25th to essentially shelve everything except the six core films and The Clone Wars isn’t a big surprise. In fact, it’s been a long time coming. As much as George Lucas has changed his mind on sequel films – at first it was a twelve-film series, then nine, then six. As recently as May 2008, he told TotalFilm that, “There will definitely be no Episodes VII–IX” – he has been consistent since 2001 that his vision trumps everything else. During an interview on the official site in March 2008, he explained his point of view.

It’s a certain story about Anakin Skywalker and once Anakin Skywalker dies, that’s kind of the end of the story. There is no story about Luke Skywalker, I mean apart from the books. But there’s three worlds: There’s my world that I made up, there’s the licensing world that’s the books, the comics, all that kind of stuff, the games, which is their world, and then there’s the fans’ world, which is also very rich in imagination, but they don’t always mesh. All I’m in charge of is my world. I can’t be in charge of those other people’s world, because I can’t keep up with it.

Fans have been complaining that this move invalidates the established canon, but what really has been canon before now? The Thrawn trilogy was “authorized” as a continuation, and multimedia events like Shadows of the Empire and The Force Unleashed had some direction from George Lucas, but aside from that everything else seems to have been handled by a licensing department.

You know what else fits this pattern? The Star Trek novels. The Marvel Cinematic Universe. 1978’s Superman film. Any of the various DC and Marvel reboots. All of them violate the established “canon” of the material that came before, and yet they exist and are still enjoyed. Just like those examples, and countless other franchise tie-ins, the stories established by the SWEU still exist. Disney and Lucasfilm aren’t burning every copy they can find or raiding public libraries for toilet paper. In fact, the existing SWEU is being republished as the “Star Wars Legends” series to guarantee their availability for the future.

Star Wars fans can learn a very valuable lesson from Star Trek fans, as author Keith R. A. DeCandido explained in his comments on this whole affair.

Two of the most highly regarded Trek novels are Imzadi and Federation. The former novel was heavily contradicted by a TNG episode (“Second Chances”); the latter was totally nuked by the movie First Contact. Yet the two novels continue to be well regarded — and so does that episode and that movie, even though they contradict each other. If you think that contradictory versions of stories in the same universe ruins one of the contradictory ones, then you don’t understand how storytelling works.

I totally get the concept of having a huge personal investment in this franchise. I owned every novel in the series before the Navy lost half of my household goods shipment back in 2005. That incident hurt, but only because of the material loss. My consolation was that the books were still out there, and someone would be selling them when I was ready to rebuild.

More importantly, this move guarantees the future of the Star Wars franchise, which cost Disney over $4 billion. That’s one hell of an investment, and they needed a way to make it accessible to general audiences again, including the newest generation of children who haven’t experience the galaxy far, far away. As much as we cannot expect audiences to read every book between Return of the Jedi and Episode VII, we cannot expect scriptwriters and directors to limit their vision to decades of contradictory stories. Those limitations would only hinder the movie and hurt the investment.

Take the example of Disney’s other major acquisition, the Marvel franchise, and their approach to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. General audiences don’t need to read the comics to get the stories, and if they need to know something, it’s presented to them. If you haven’t had a chance to read the Bloomberg Businessweek article about the MCU, I highly recommend it. There are a lot of parallels between Marvel and Star Wars.

Before this announcement, I was optimistic but skeptical about the sequel movies. There was just too much story to dance around if the EU was left intact, and I wasn’t keen on the movies being cleverly wedged between chapters or pages of a novel just to make a timeline work. This move tells me that Disney is serious about their investment and the vision they want to bring to audiences. By making this story easily accessible to everyone, which means removing the stumbling block of the now Legends stories, Disney and Lucasfilm win. That means that Star Wars fans win.

Disney and Lucasfilm helped reignite the magic of my childhood. Warm up the Falcon, Chewie, and calculate the hyperspace jump to December 2015. I’m ready to believe again. Star Wars truly is forever.

Culture on My Mind is inspired by the weekly Can’t Let It Go segment on the NPR Politics Podcast where each host brings one thing to the table that they just can’t stop thinking about.

For more creativity with a critical eye, visit Creative Criticality.

Culture on My Mind – Earworm: Hardware Store

April 3, 2014June 19, 2025 Michael Falkner1 Comment

Culture on My Mind
Earworm: Hardware Store
April 3, 2014

I have a small earworm that is making this week’s commutes a little easier. It shuffled up on my iPod during Monday evening’s drive, and I’ve used it for the last couple of days.

There is no official music video, and Weird Al refuses to play this song in concert due to the rapid-fire description of “all that stuff” in the store. Nevertheless, it’s a fun song.

They’ve got allen wrenches, gerbil feeders, toilet seats, electric heaters
Trash compactors, juice extractors, shower rods and water meters
Walkie-talkies, copper wires, safety goggles, radial tires
BB pellets, rubber mallets, fans and dehumidifiers
Picture hangers, paper cutters, waffle irons, window shutters
Paint removers, window louvers, masking tape and plastic gutters
Kitchen faucets, folding tables, weather stripping, jumper cables
Hooks and tackle, grout and Spackle, power foggers, spoons and ladles
Pesticides for fumigation, high-performance lubrication
Metal roofing, waterproofing, multi-purpose insulation
Air compressors, brass connectors, wrecking chisels, smoke detectors
Tire gauges, hamster cages, thermostats and bug deflectors
Trailer hitch demagnetizers, automatic circumcisers
Tennis rackets, angle brackets, Duracells and Energizers
Soffit panels, circuit breakers, vacuum cleaners, coffee makers
Calculators, generators, matching salt and pepper shakers

Culture on My Mind is inspired by the weekly Can’t Let It Go segment on the NPR Politics Podcast where each host brings one thing to the table that they just can’t stop thinking about.

For more creativity with a critical eye, visit Creative Criticality.

Culture on My Mind – Phoenix Rising: In Which Tee and Pip are My First Steampunk

June 10, 2011June 19, 2025 Michael FalknerLeave a comment

Culture on My Mind
Phoenix Rising: In Which Tee and Pip are My First Steampunk
June 10, 2011

Imagine the gritty world of Blade Runner, with all of its fantasy and science and punk vision of society. Now change the setting from a future Los Angeles to Victorian-era England. Now take the replicants and hovercars and weaponry and imagine if they were all powered by pressurized steam instead of electrons.

That’s the way I’ve been able to understand the subgenre of steampunk.

I’ve been curious for some time about the allure of this science-fiction/fantasy subgenre, from buzzing on the internet to the plethora of costumes at events like Dragon*Con. When authors and podcasting giants Pip Ballantine and Tee Morris released their new novel, Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences: Phoenix Rising, I decided to take the plunge into the world of cogs, corsets, and airships.

The story itself is rather simple and linear, but that’s not a bad thing. In fact, it’s quite refreshing for what is essentially a spy novel, complete with action, suspense, and a hearty degree of intellect. Modern espionage tales try to layer double-crosses and intrigue to the point that all those plot twists shroud the very essence of the plot. I never felt that Phoenix Rising was trying to mislead me or confuse me at any point.

The tale focuses on our two heroes, Wellington Books and Eliza Braun, both secret agents in a clandestine branch of the Monarchy that investigates the peculiar, be it the occult or the supernatural. I thought of it as Indiana Jones and the Torchwood Institute combined with Her Majesty’s Secret Service from the James Bond series.

Agent Books is the embodiment of Q, a master of gadgets and gizmos, working as a librarian—pardon me, Archivist—in the bowels of the Ministry. Agent Books doesn’t seek action or adventure because he finds it in the case files he meticulously organizes like clockwork, nine to five, Monday through Friday. He’s prim and proper head-to-toe, armed with a dry wit, and sips a lot of tea. On the surface, Wellington Books is a rather boring guy.

Books is balanced with the spirited Agent Braun from New Zealand, who is the James Bond of the story. Quite honestly, she starts the story as more of a Daniel Craig than a Sean Connery. She goes into action like she’s a one woman wrecking crew, armed to the teeth while wearing a bulletproof corset, and takes no prisoners. She loves her drinks and loves her job, but she’s scarred by the loss of her former partner and her methods get her in trouble with her boss.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the Crown’s fate rests in the hands of a renegade and a librarian.

The story revolves around a secret society that threatens the sanctity of the Empire. Eliza has firsthand knowledge of the case because it was what drove her former partner—with whom she was incredibly close—to become a permanent resident in the local asylum. After her scolding for the events of the first chapter, she’s relegated to the less action-packed Archives to learn about the other side of the Ministry from Agent Books. While there, she discovers that the case that claimed her partner is still unsolved and that both she and Books are linked to the happenings. The plot elegantly progresses from there.

The story shifts into high gear from the very beginning and stays there for 400 pages. Tee and Pip swap chapters, bouncing points-of-view from Books to Braun while including very deep character development and growth. The story is also presented in more of the proper British English format, keeping the U in “flavour” and really immersing readers in the Victorian setting. It also keeps the reader in the same mindset as the protagonists, discovering each clue as they do. The only breaks from that formula are the short chapters that expand on the antagonists and their shadowy machinations. These interludes also lay down hints and threads for potential sequels, which are rumored to be in production now.

For my first foray into steampunk, I’m very impressed. I’ll definitely be picking up the sequels as they arrive.

Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences: Phoenix Rising is available in bookstores everywhere in both physical and digital formats. This review is based on a personally-purchased copy.

Culture on My Mind is inspired by the weekly Can’t Let It Go segment on the NPR Politics Podcast where each host brings one thing to the table that they just can’t stop thinking about.

For more creativity with a critical eye, visit Creative Criticality.

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