George Lucas may have exited the Star Wars universe for good when he traded his signature creation not called THX for a Star Destroyer full of money… but that doesn’t mean he still doesn’t have stuff to give to everyone hidden deep in the archives. With the “launch” of Disney+ earlier today, the dozens of people that were actually able to log in were treated to a few surprises in the Star Wars movies that now available on the streaming service.
Surprises like yet another change to the infamous at this point scene between Han and Greedo. You know, the one that fans have (okay, I’ll admit, kind of rightfully) been up in arms about since it was changed way back in 1997 with the release of the Special Edition, and later made worse with the DVD release where it was revealed that Greedo was a fantastically terrible shot.
Tragically, we would later learn that Maclunkey was just a nickname for Greedo’s bartender friend.
Apparently, he never meant to shoot Han at all, it was all an involuntary reaction that unfortunately included a blaster and what I can only assume is some sort of severe muscle spasm… and then shouted “Maclunkey.” Han didn’t know that, though, so he had to blast poor Greedo. There’s at least a little bit of irony here, since the whole point of Solo, and in particular his actions towards the end, were to show that Han could absolutely be a stone-cold killer.
In the Disney+ version of Star Wars Greedo now shouts "MACLUNKEY" before getting shot. This is now my favorite version because why the hell not? MACLUNKEY! #starwars#maclunkeypic.twitter.com/k1XmP8wAZT
Before you jump and blame Disney for this, based on their initial statements, they’re punting it right back to George. Apparently it was an unreleased changed on the 4K/3D remaster that never happened when Lucas sold the company – that’s the version that’s up on Disney+ now. Dear Disney… if you want to get a bunch of goodwill with fans, why not release all of the various versions of the movie up on the streaming service. Or maybe let’s go all Bandersnatch and choose your remix version of the trilogy.
I would particularly be interested in the options that could be added to make this movie not tedious and boring
Let’s go ahead and file this to bring back up when the manbaby brigade cries about Lucasfilm leadership or the direction of the franchise and demands that Lucas be brought back to make more Star Wars. That being said… this is still not as bad as the Noooooooooo added at the end of Return of the Jedi. At least we can laugh about this…
Well, the day of Streamageddon has finally come, with Disney+ officially launching to demand everyone’s time – at least if you can get it to work, which few people seemingly can. There is an absolute boatload of content coming to the service, but as of launch day, the only “new” content that’s exclusive to it is a live action Lady and the Tramp (… really), and of course, PCU’s Gutter’s live-action Star Wars show, The Mandalorian.
Early impressions of The Mandalorian have been cautiously optimistic among people I know, so we’ll have to wait and see how it shakes out. Disney isn’t releasing them to binge, instead taking the same approach CBS All-Access took with Star Trek Discovery and doing weekly releases. Honestly, I’m fine with that, since I skip a lot of shows these days simply because I don’t have time to commit to bingeing them all.
Outside of the exclusives, a lot of content is making its streaming debut, or finding a new home. All 30 seasons of the Simpsons are now a Disney+ exclusive, thanks to the Disney-Fox deal. All of the MCU and Star Wars movies are available on the service as well, and will be exclusive to the platform as deals expire with Netflix and Amazon. Same with James Cameron’s Avatar… remember that pretty-but-boring tech demo for 3D? Plenty of other titles will be coming in the near future, but for now, there’s plenty there to occupy your time.
I’m not even a cook; I don’t even know the first thing about using this thing. But I placed my order. And I am 100% fine with it. The strange thing is I have a hard time spending $100 bucks on a LEGO set, one that’s not even intended for me. But buying this roaster is no problem. Yeah, I’m not sure what that’s all about.
I mean, Deadline is calling this a setback, but if you’ve seen the last few seasons of Game of Thrones or watched their quickly notorious panel in the last week, the exit of D.B. Weiss and David Benioff from any project related to Star Wars can only be seen as great news.
Were you listening to the feedback to your fans as things went along?
Dan: “We really did not.â€
Dan doesn’t see the value of considering other people’s reactions.
Dave acknowledged that he googled the show and it upset him. Dan, no. @dndgoogling
There’s plenty of Star Wars in the pipeline still, with Rise of Skywalker coming out in a month and The Mandalorian starting on Disney+ in a few weeks. Rian Johnson is also still working on his stuff (please let it be some Old Republic love, oh please oh please), and Kevin Feige is working on a project as well (rumored to involved a non-CGI Asoka, which I am all about).
This is the best joke at the expense of GoT, while also being the best description of what went wrong.
I know a lot of people who loved Game of Thrones, but I’ve never met a fan who was happy with the final season or how it all ended. And, I mean, outside of this show, the duo has done precisely nothing in entertainment. Yes, GoT was a hit beyond measure, but it’s become more and more clear that it was in spite of the showrunners, not because of it, and it’s clear that they need to earn their way into handling anything else.
The title of this article will make sense once you watch the trailer. I… don’t have a whole lot to add to it. I was fairly excited for the last one, but this one mostly just has me indifferent. It looks amazing, but doesn’t tell us anything or really add much to latch on to. I don’t feel the need to just go and break down everything about it, which is kind of a shame. However… Yeah? Good. will henceforth be used to describe so many… many… things.
The Mandalorian starts streaming on November 12th with the launch of Disney+.
Williams Sonoma is selling some pretty neat Star Wars-themed cookware. There’s a wide range of stuff from pots to utensils to aprons to small appliances. I’ll list some highlights:
Millennium Falcon Waffle Maker
I am not a cook by any means. I can heat stuff up in the oven. But if I were to cook something and that something was to be waffles, this is what I would want to make them with. This Millennium Falcon waffle maker is $49.95 but you can get 20% off with code THANKS (not valid on items ending in .99) that seems to applicable to just a few things, this being one of them.
Darth Vader Dutch Oven
Darth Vader must dutch oven himself constantly in that suit. And now you can do it to him as revenge for all the bad things he’s done. Le Creuset is not cheap, and the price of this cast iron pot reflects that, $395. The THANKS code doesn’t seem to work on this even though it doesn’t end in .99. The price is about inline with other non-branded Le Creuset dutch ovens at the same size at $350, so you’re really not paying that much more for way cooler one.
Alliance Droids Mini Round Cocottes
If the 12lb 4oz Darth Vader Dutch Oven isn’t for you, then maybe the three-pack of the Rebel Alliance droids mini round cocottes is more to your liking. I have no idea what a cocotte is, but they look like small pots. Each cocotte is about a pound in weight and holds about 8oz. The set of three is just $90, but you can get BB-8, R2-D2, and C-3PO individually too for $30 each.
Darth Vader Dad Apron Gift Set
My biggest complaint about this Darth Vader Dad apron gift set set is that the kid’s Stormtrooper apron is not sold separately, but the Vader apron is. A better combo might have been Vader dad apron with Jedi Luke son apron. It’s regularly $64.90, but on sale for $59.95.
Han Solo in Carbonite Block Roaster
I don’t even know what a roaster is for but i wants it. This is featured pretty prominently in the YouTube video, but as of right now it is a no-show on the website nor is it available in store. So either it’s not available yet or plans got completely scrapped. I’m hoping for the former because after checking the site today and comparing it to a few days ago, there are things there now that weren’t on there before like…
Star Wars Toasters
These showed up on the website more recently. But I have a feeling these aren’t exactly new due to this one picture of the packaging for the Darth Vader toaster. That’s a Star Wars Rebels era branding on the box, so I’m guessing these were leftover inventory from years ago. There are three different toasters that each burn a unique pattern onto the bread: Death Star that burns Darth Vader’s TIE Advanced, Stormtrooper that burns the Imperial symbol, and Darth Vader that simply burns “Star Wars” onto your bread. I use the term “burns” with all seriousness because toasters like these usually end up doing just that in order to show the pattern. Still, you may be fan enough to want of them. The Death Star one is the best out of the three.
There’s a ton of other stuff like spatulas, ice cube molds, a Porg pie hole thing. Take a look at all of the Star Wars merch Williams Sonoma has to offer. Be like me or don’t be like because I may or may not have ordered a bunch of stuff I don’t need.
FBTB does NOT get any income from any sales generated from links in this post. Nor did Williams Sonoma sponsor this post. I just ran across it on an Instagram ad the other day and thought I’d share.
The end of the Skywalker Saga is here, for whatever that marketing means. The final trailer dropped tonight, and mercifully, Disney has made it available on YouTube for the hundreds of millions who would rather avoid watching the crime that is the Jets this season.
Tickets are also for sale right now, up on Fandango… find your theater of choice, look forward to the movie, and avoid all the spoilers between now and then.
You can also buy tickets through our affiliate partner, Atom Tickets. Any sales generated from clicking through that link may grant us a small boon of a few pennies. As always, your support is greatly appreciated.
D23 happened this weekend and out of the hubbub came a slew of announcements for Marvel and Star Wars universes, for both the big and internet-enabled little screens. Not much in terms of consumable media, so you’ll have to take some camera phone shots of slides.
They showed a trailer (which should be popping up on the Internet any day now) showing off David Harbour’s character Red Guardian and Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova. I’m not super sure about how neccessary this movie is, but the least I can ask for is some long-deserved character development for Natasha.
Eternals (November 6, 2020)
Three new actors announced, including Game of Thrones’ Kit Harington, Crazy Rich Asians’ Gemma Chan, and Chernobyl’s Barry Keoghan. Based on my limited knowledge of the Eternals, this could crash and burn pretty easily. It has basically every actor of note who hasn’t found their way into the MCU yet. The director, Chloe Zhao, released The Rider in 2017, about a cowboy who gets in an accident. But, I guess if James Gunn can come from Super and Scooby-Doo, anything’s possible with the power of the MCU.
Black Panther II (May 6, 2022)
Nothing special here except a finalized release date. Ryan Coogler is returning, and hopefully he’ll get a bigger budget so the final battle doesn’t look like a PS1 FMV.
Star Wars
The Rise of Skywalker (December 20, 2019)
And then we’ve got this. All of our favorite characters from the original Star Wars and then the other ones that they really want us to care about. I have no doubt that, like the previous two Sequel Trilogy movies, opinions will be split. Probably even between us on staff. We’ll just have to wait to find out. At least the cinematography, as usual, remains gorgeous.
D+ Shows
Disney+ service goes live on November 12, 2019. Pricing starts at $6.99/month or $69.99 for a full year. There is a higher-tier package that includes Hulu-with-ads and ESPN Plus for $12.99. You can save a ton of money on a Disney+ subscription if you follow this article, but need to act fast.
Marvel
Buckle up, because Disney is putting all their chips on hoping superhero fatigue truly doesn’t exist.
Falcon and the Winter Soldier
Sharon Charter (Emily VanCamp) will join Bucky and Falcon here. John Walker (Wyatt Russell) was also announced. It looks like the show will go less Endgame and more Captain America: The Winter Soldier, with Zemo returning and Bucky and Sam hunted by the U.S. Government. As soon as we get some footage, we’ll post it here. I remain skeptical about these shows having the same quality as the movies, but, hey, they are made with Disney money.
Touted as a weird version of The Dick Van Dyke Show, this show will focus on Scarlet Witch’s struggles with Vision’s death. Co-stars include Randall Park, who played Jimmy Woo in Ant-Man in the Wasp, and Kat Dennings’, who played Darcy in Thor 1 and Thor 2: The Worst Thor Movie. They’ll be joined by Kathryn Hahn and an adult version of Captain Marvel’s Monica Rambeau.
Like with Black Widow, I’d sure love for SW to get some actual character development here aside from “I’m sad Vision’s dead :/”. Like, where’s our Wandaquickvision (title pending) show? I feel like no one ever brought up her brother once he was dead.
Loki
And the D23 winner of the worst title graphic is…Loki. Sex Education’s Kate Herron will direct all six episodes written by Harmonquest’s Michael Waldron. It’ll basically be Loki going around, time-traveling and screwing with people. I’d expect cameos.
Hawkeye
Although not announced at D23 or even talked about, I don’t think we ever mentioned the Hawkeye D+ series in the works. It’ll star Jeremy Renner as he trains Kate Bishop to take over the Hawkeye mantle.
Moon Knight
Or white Batman. This one could be interesting. Nothing solid announced, but Moon Knight’s always been one of the more intriguing Marvel characters.
She Hulk
Same as Moon Knight, with no details discussed. I wonder how they’re going to bring this into the MCU. “Oh, by the way, Hulk’s always had a cousin”. Especially now that he’s permanently Hulk. It’s going to make the whole blood transfusion plotline a little tricky.
Ms. Marvel
And, probably the newest hero who gets her own show, we’ll get a D+ show with Ms. Marvel. Considering how heavily a role Captain Marvel plays in the comics for Ms. Marvel, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Brie Larson show up in this.
A series of animated shorts just asking “What If?” What if Peggy Carter had received the super soldier serum instead? What about Marvel Zombies? What if T’Challa had actually gotten the Power Stone on Morag, not Star Lord? These are all concepts discussed at D23. I’m serious.
Don’t let this graphic scare you, there’s nothing new on here.
The Mandalorian
We got the trailer for The Mandalorian, which we posted earlier. Not one clue about the story, but it’s got some great directors behind it, including Jon Favreau and What We Do in the Shadows’ and Thor Raganarok’s Taika Waititi.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock the past few weeks or months, you should be somewhat familiar with a new streaming service coming out from Disney called Disney+. We’ll start with the most expensive bundle because this post isn’t about that but I’d do this post a disservice by not mentioning it.
The $13 Bundle
For $12.99 a month, you can get Disney+, (ad-supported) Hulu, and ESPN Plus. This is an especially good deal for someone who is considering cutting or recently cut ties with a cable TV service provider. You can get the ad-supported Hulu for a lot of network and select cable stations, some sports with ESPN, and all of Disney’s content. It’s a lot of TV and pretty cheap for the content you get. But, again, we’re not here to talk about that.
The $7 Subscription
The regular Disney+ subscription without Hulu or ESPN Plus is just $6.99 per month. You can get a price break if you pay annually at $69.99 year, which breaks down to $5.83 per month, which is about a 17% discount.
The $4 Deal
You can bring that $5.83 price down further if you do three things: 1) sign up for a free D23 membership, 2) redeem their offer for Disney+, 3) pay for three years in advance. Doing so will cost you $140.97. Per month, that’s just $3.92! Pay once and you won’t have to worry about renewals or price hikes for three years!
This deal was first offered to D23 expo attendees last weekend. This offer is extended to all D23 members, new and old. Act fast as this offer expires on September 2, 2019. After signing up, it may take up to 36 hours for you to receive the offer.
We make no money from any clicks on this post. This is a deal worth sharing.
This trailer came out of D23 and posted over at YouTube this morning. There’s a bit more Rise of the Skywalker footage in the last half but the first half is a highlight reel of some of the better moments of the Skywalker Saga. It was like they’re saying, “Hey, remember how awesome these movies were?”, like an amuse-bouche to what will eventually culminate into Rise of the Skywalker. Rian may have driven it into the ground with what he did to Last Jedi, but he’s got nothing on the power of nostalgia.
One of the most interesting things to note is that the clips used in the montage are shown in theatrical release order, and not story order. It shows clips from A New Hope, then Empire, then Return, before showing clips from Phantom Menace, and… whatever the other two were called. And I’ll be honest, I’m not even sure clips from II and III are even in the trailer. The majority of the flashback was weighed heavily on the OT. Then it comes full circle back to Force Awakens and Last Jedi scenes. So if there’s any question as to how the proper way to view the Saga, it’s answered by this trailer: 4, 5, 6, 1, 7, 8.
Anyways, the last half has some stuff from Rise. The very last scene is of course meant to titillate the fans. Or infuriate them.
Gif lifted from Yarn.
Take it for what it is. I think my ambivalence is stemming from The Last Jedi being ever so unsatisfying. The bar is set pretty low so hopefully it won’t be any worse. I wouldn’t put it past them to do just that though.
Star Wars Episode IX, Rise of the Skywalker comes out this December.
