A long time ago in a cartoon far far away...

I recently have had the time to sit down and binge through the Star Wars cartoon "Rebels", which now is in its 3rd season on Disney XD. Prior to jumping into the show I had always tried to immerse myself into as much Star Wars expanded universe material I could find. I read books, comics, watched other cartoons, video games and even the fan made you tube videos. The big difference with Rebels and its predecessor Clone Wars is that its considered cannon. meaning it was recognized in continuity by all other Star Wars after it. I'll get into it in a second. Between the large gaps of years in star wars films and trilogies there was A LOT of material that was made of content. So after Lucas sold the rights off to Disney a lot of work was cultivating to make a new trilogy of movies and other content. One of those things was this show Rebels. Rebels takes place in between the times of episode 3 and episode 4 and tells the tale of how the rebellion was born. Now normally I'am  a skeptic of any of the prequel material that took place in the cannon universe. Meaning; the prequel trilogy that told the tale of Anakin Skywalker was taken with a grain of salt as "New", when we all knew what happened. We just got to see it played out. I am not going to get into clone wars right now but it did a better job telling a story about the time before episode 4 than the prequels did. It could be attributed to the fact that it was spanned over 6 season and 3 series in early 2005 that were amazing but not part of the final store component. But I'm talking too much about clone wars this is about my adventure with Rebels. So, I figure I should explain what finally made me get my galactic shit together as a Star Wars super fan and watch this show in 2017, considering it came out in 2014.In all honesty it was Rouge One, because Disney had the expanded universe balls to include so much cartoon content into a major live action Star Wars motion picture.  So this will be my first Blog as the notorious "Star Wars guy" among my friends and for season 1.

The Characters. Let's start with Ezra Bridger.

Ezra is for the most part the main protagonist of the Rebels show. He is a Human from the planer Lothal, which ends up playing a part in a lot of the Rebels episodes. He is in his tweens  to teenage years maybe 13 when you first meet him. He has a very Luke Skywalker feel to him, He is clearly there to grab the relation of the younger audience but the do it very well. Ezra is a survivor like many heroes in the star wars universe and he stands out among a lot of characters as someone you can relate to regardless of your age.

Ezra is discovered in the first episode/pilot (which is about an hour or so long)of season 1 by the crew of the Ghost.Which is lead by Captain Hera Syndulla.

Hera is the no nonsense pilot of the Ghost and the leader of a rag tag group of characters who you fall in love with over the course of the 3 seasons. She is an excellent character for the series and I feel the writers hit a home run with the question "What would happen if we combined Princess Leia with Han solo who would we get?" you would get Hera Syndulla. She has all the charm and leadership of Leia and she is the best pilot I've seen since Solo. Plus, who doesn't love the Twi'leks? and if you pay attention in Rouge One they call for "General Syndulla" over the rebel base comm in a scene. Awesome Job on the promotion Hera!

The Next member of Ghost squad that has to be mention is Kanan Jarrus. Kanan is clearly the second in command of the crew of the Ghost and also the assumed love interest of Hera.

 A lot of story line and reactions make them an item with out it being a plot point on the for front. which I like. its almost unspoken. they care for each other and its not a major story point. When you meet Hera's father in an episode its very endearing to see Kanan go from Jedi Knight to nervous boyfriend. Oh, Yeah. Kanan is a Jedi! They do a good job in the pilot leading up to it because Kanan feels like a smuggler at first but the moment shit gets real he pulls the saber out. Kanan also ends up taking on the relucant task of mentoring Ezra once he discovers he is force sensitive. surprise.

Garazeb Orrelios or Zeb for short is a Lasat mercenary companion of the crew of the ghost.

Zeb is a great character that you really see evolve over the 3 season. I'll get into the relation of it more later but he really reminded me of Jayne from Firefly. But, Zeb is also the Chewbacca character in a sense of being the muscle side kick. His species, Lasat have a history with the empire. The interaction between Ezra and Zeb in the first season was a very older/younger bother that I feel is relate-able to a younger audience or even an older one like me who used to pick on his little brother. 

Sabine Wren is the specialist of Ghost squad. She is a teenage Mandolorian girl who has a artistic flair and is just as dangerous as Boba.

Sabine has a lot going on. She is a Mandolorian first and for most which has a lot of clout in the Star Wars universe. She carries a dual pistol blaster combo like Jango and has very customized Mandolorian armor. As the episodes go on she changes her armor style with her art work and her hair. She is a very dynamic character that definitely speaks to a generation and I feel like she is a perfect addition to the show to have a relate-able character for a younger female audience.

The last member of the Crew is Chooper or C1-10P (Chop) their Astromech droid.

Chopper is clearly the R2D2 of the group and he offers much of the comic relief but always comes out in the right. Chopper can also be seen in Rouge One in the background at the rebel base.

So this is the crew of the ghost. The rag tag group of characters who decided to take harassing the empire to a full time job. It takes a few episodes but they join the small growing rebellion. Season 1 does a great job of getting you to fall in love with all of these characters and hope they can thwart the empire. The show does a great job of bringing in villains such as Grand Moff Tarkin and Lord Vader himself (voiced by James Earl Jones) to create a real sense of threat and tension for these new characters and place them on playing field with Luke, Han and Leia. Each episode builds on the legacy of the rich history of Star Wars with new characters you fall in love with as some of the stories stand alone and some bring you back into a world already flushed out with characters like Captain Rex and Ahsoak Tano returning to the fold to tell their story after the Clone Wars. At 22 min an episode it is a must watch for Star Wars fans.

Passion
Strength
Power
Victory
The Force shall set you free.

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Crazy Wall Post!

"I told you to track Phil Collins."

Everything is connected! It all means something! Red String! Someone has taken the time to lay out a bunch of possibly connected material on a wall using their arts and crafts skills to the fullest.

On the most recent episode of Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, cool robot arm haver, Agent Phil Coulson, walks into a room in which a wall is covered with all sorts of events that supposedly have him at the center of it all (which is very likely for a guy who's job is to run towards the strange and dangerous). This was left by a bad guy for him to find and to point the way towards the next piece of the puzzle.

Two things occurred to me:

1. A text message (or an evite) with the directions to the location where you want to have your showdown is just more efficient and effective in 2017. And probably just more polite.
2. I will never be so cool as to drive someone batty enough to devote an entire wall to me. 

TV Tropes calls this specific kind of display: String Theory. This appears to be mainly a creation of storytellers to show a brief glimpse into the working of a character's mind. With today's technology, I don't think this kind of set up would be needed when you can just save it all to the cloud or make a nice Power Point presentation to show other crazy people. You might be hell bent on revenge or getting to the bottom of a bigger mystery, but that is not an excuse to not get organized! 

I wanted to take a moment and look at a few of my favorite String Theory maps.

5.) Memento's Memory Wall Map 

The first photo is to remind him to put the map up.

This is actually the most practical of the maps I will be talking about as it serves a an actual purpose: Leonard can't make any new memories due to a blow to his head from an attacker the night his wife was murdered. So he has to take photos and write notes on their backs every time he gets a new piece of information. This seems like a good idea in theory, but what if you can't remember why you wrote something down in the first place? I can barely remember what I walked into a grocery store for as soon as I step foot in there, let alone key information about tracking down a murderer that I keep forgetting about. Good luck Leonard, I am sure this will all work out in the end without any sad ramifications.

4.) The Flash's Dead Mom Map 

This isn't an actual map, it is the CW's weekly broadcast schedule for all their super hero shows.

Barry Allen got into forensic science so that way he could one day catch his mother's killer (I would say and he and Leonard should be friends, but I don't think that would work out) that caused his innocent father to go to jail. This map is hidden behind an ACTUAL map of Central City (as DC has a hard time with geography) that he happens to keep in his crime lab at the police station he works at. No one else is supposed to know it is there, as the case is technically closed, but a janitor could bump the map and Barry would be in hot water. Also, as Barry is a scientist, he should have a better way to store and sort through his information. And he would know that newspapers degrade. This is all supposed to point towards The Man In Yellow (sorry, this one). I don't think this map actually helps at all as the Reverse Flash finds Barry. Maybe he had a more organized map.

3.) Deadpool's Rampage Map

Two Guys, A Girl, and a Murder Place.

This one I can let slide as Deadpool as a character is chaotic and all over the place. Trying to map his thought process would be like to trying to herd cats. Props to Wade for trying to keep track of all this information when all he wants is Francis. For someone that can break the fourth wall at will, why didn't he just look at the end of the movie for Francis? Would have saved him some time but I think he would have been bummed to miss out on all the killings and the Zamboni ride.

2.) Who is Mysterion?

Still a better line up than the upcoming Justice League Movie.

Clearly Professor Chaos has been doing his homework about who the new masked vigilante is in town as you can see he a bunch of research photos to left and a wall map to the right, but I appreciate his attention to detail by keeping his main cork board free of needless clutter...

..and when to separate topics.

1.) Charlie's Conspiracy Room 

Charlie, who has always struggled with the written word, gets a mail room job. He believes he has found out some big conspiracy that is costing the company a lot of money. He tries to make it all make sense in the only way Charlie can, by not just mapping his 'facts' onto a wall, but the entire mailroom. He destroys the other entries on this list for just how passionate he is about trying to figure who PePe Silvia is. 

To his credit, his theory does go down the rabbit hole further than he would know. 

What are some of your favorite String Theory moments from pop culture? Hit me up below and I may make a wall map of the responses.

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Introductions, Nostalgia, and a new Friday the 13th

I’ll be honest. I’m terrible with introductions. Seriously, just ask my wife. If I had a nickel for every time I screwed up an introduction I’d have… Well, I’d have less than a dollar. I mean it would be a larger amount but I just don’t know that many people. You’ll just have to trust me on this one. I’m awful when it comes to the formalities. Hell, I didn’t even start this with a proper greeting. Let me start over. 

Hello! 

That’s better. I added an exclamation point so you know I really mean it. 

My name is S. Louis King. The S stands for Steven but I prefer to go by Steve. I am the writer and half of the art team of the horror webcomic The Saturday Night Slasher. However, if you’re reading this you might know me from my two guest appearances on Invasion of the Podcast. If not then let me just say that I’m just a guy who loves Star Wars, horror movies, and comic books to a possibly unhealthy degree. Joe and Paul were nice enough to ask me to contribute to the Invasion of the Podcast blog. From time to time I’ll be chiming in here with whatever is on my mind. I hope you’ll join me here and check out all the cool content Paul and Joe are putting together. 

Oh, I almost forgot. It’s very nice to meet you. 

See, I told you I was terrible at introductions. 

Earlier this past week there were reports that production is ramping up on a new “Friday the 13th” movie.  As someone who considers himself a fan of the series I was excited to hear the news. Now, I won’t lie here. I don’t love every movie. In fact if I was to average the series out as a whole it would most likely have a pretty dismal overall rating. Still, there’s something about another return to Camp Crystal Lake that excites me. If hard pressed as to why it excites me I suppose it would be because I find the movies fun. At their heart they’re thrill rides. But that’s really just the surface level. Under that surface my desire for another Friday is really based in nostalgia.  A desire to return to the days of my teenage years when many of my late Saturday nights were spent watching these movies on basic cable. As someone who was once told he was Mr. Nostalgia I guess it’s a fitting enough reason. Nostalgia however, or too much of it, can of course be a bad thing. I don’t watch “South Park” but the term “member-berries” has become a part of the cultural lexicon. I can’t help but wonder though if there is there a way that nostalgia can be a good thing. Can that nostalgia benefit new works in the series? If you’re still reading this then you probably already knew my answer would be yes. With that in mind let’s take a look at how nostalgia could work for this new Friday the 13th.  

Oh, I should also mention that these are just observations I’m making as someone who enjoys the movies. I’m not looking to play armchair producer here. I think there is way too much of that out there as it is. The movie is in production and running full steam ahead. Whatever this new movie is going to be has already been decided. So this really is just for fun at this point. Let’s get started, won’t you?  

1. Own your nostalgia. Right from the start I say own up to the fact that you’re a child of the eighties. There’s equity built into the era from which that hockey mask and machete come from. Instead of worrying about modernizing the character and/or the story for contemporary audiences I say set the movie in the 1980s. Put Jason (and possibly Pamela) in the time where they were at the height of their cinematic dominance. Don’t use it to wink at the audience but treat the film as a period piece. Look at Netflix’s “Stranger Things” use of period and how it informed the story they were telling. From a production standpoint I imagine most of the story will take place at Camp Crystal Lake which probably would look the same in 1987 as it does in 2017. The wardrobe and props department might have to work a little harder to match the era but it could be worth it. Think of it like a long lost sequel that no one has seen. The marketing possibilities alone could make it worth doing.

2. Don’t reboot and just forget about continuity. Really this goes hand in hand with owning your nostalgia. While it is yet to be confirmed I believe that this film is another reboot. Whether it's a soft or hard reboot will be the question. But does it have to be rebooted at all? I say no. If I go back a bit to my introduction to the franchise I started with Part 4 which at the time was unironically titled The Final Chapter. I can unequivocally say that I was undeterred by not having seen the first three movies. More importantly, the campfire montage at the beginning of that movie was the most effective introduction I could have had. It told me everything I needed to know and made Jason out to be the ultimate boogeyman. The opening to Freddy Vs. Jason used a similar device to reintroduce us to the character and set up that film’s premise to great effect. And let’s not kid ourselves here. One of the more ridiculous aspects to the series was its half hearted attempts to keep continuity between its entries. Instead of worrying about retelling the origin or trying to fit both Mrs. Voorhees and Jason into the story like the 2009 reboot, take a note from part 4 and use the 12 existing films cache to your advantage. You have over thirty years of brand recognition. Use it. 

3. Jason is your star!  I’m going to jump genres here for a second but if you look to 2015’s “Star Wars: The Force Awakens," whether you loved the film or not, you can’t deny that the film gave its characters great introductions. From “Chewie, we’re home.” to ending the film with nothing but the silent gaze of Luke Skywalker; the returning characters were given wonderful reveals to the audience. Jason deserves the same in this new film. People should cheer when they first see his face. Or rather mask. In retrospect I think the best example of this was the teaser for “Jason Takes Manhattan.” A genius piece of marketing to be sure yet I can’t think of a moment in the films with a payoff like the one in that trailer. When it comes to this new film keep that teaser trailer in mind. Seriously, Jason is your star. Treat him as such. 

4. Leave the origin alone. Part of using nostalgia to your benefit is realizing that some things should be left alone. Many of the reports about this new film seem to indicate that Jason’s father - Elias Voorhees - is going to be a part of the movie. Again, I realize these wheels are already in motion. Nonetheless I feel this is a mistake. Perhaps this new film will prove me wrong on this point. The history of similar film series however say otherwise. Remember when Michael Myers went from being the shape to having a convoluted backstory involving the cult of Thorn? Or when Freddy Krueger suddenly had a daughter and we found out that his true origin involved him making a deal with some poorly animated dream demons? How about when Jason was blown up and started possessing people and could only be stopped by… Oh you know this one? I’ll leave it alone then. The point I’m making here is that Jason already has a pretty good origin. Leaving it alone may be for the best.

5. Let your effects crew go nuts! This seems like it should go without saying but one of the hallmarks of the series was the inventive ways in which Jason dispatched his victims. One might even argue the same could be said for the way his final girls (and Tommy Jarvis for that matter) dispatched Jason. Nevertheless, even the weakest entries in the series had at least one great special effects moment. “Jason Goes to Hell” starts with our goalie obsessed maniac being blown up so spectacularly it would make Michael Bay hard. Part 8 features a wonderfully tongue in cheek boxing match that ends like a game of Rock’em Sock’em robots gone terribly wrong. And who could forget that awesome liquid nitrogen head dunk from “Jason X”? Say what you will but these were memorable moments that stand amongst the best in the franchise. I realize that its fashionable these days to scream for the use of practical effects. I also realize that it’s just not that simple to do. The cost of practical effects is high. It makes the life of your cast and crew significantly harder. If I can play devils advocate for just a second though maybe just consider the benefits to using practical effects.  Look at Fede Alvarez “Evil Dead” remake. That movie pushed the limits of in camera effects. There’s no CGI in that movie. That decision worked not only artistically but it also excited horror fans to see the movie when they might not have otherwise. “Evil Dead” made triple its budget domestically and almost matched that total overseas. Sounds pretty good doesn’t it? My point is that there are many talented effects people out there who would knock this movie out of the park. Take a chance (ie spend the money) to see what amazing work they could pull off. You might even get more than one of those memorable sequences I was talking about above. I for one am looking forward to see what they can come up with.

The thirteenth “Friday the 13th” movie is slated to be in theaters on October 13th 2017.* 
I’ll be in the theater that night. I hope to see you there. 

Okay, that about wraps up my first blog here at Invasion of the Podcast. I don’t know when my next blog will be going up but I hope that I’ve made enough an impression that you find yourself wanting a little more. 

If nothing else we at least got the introduction out of the way.  

Sincerely, 

Steve

Shameless plug time! Don’t forget to head to www.thesaturdaynightslasher.com to check out the webcomic from myself and Ryan Kacsandy. We’re on a break right now but we have the first thirty pages of the story up on the site to read. 

Also…

You can also reach me at slking13@gmail.com or yell at Paul and Joe. They’ll pass it along to me I’m sure. 

*UPDATE: Two days after this blog was posted the film was canceled and put on hold indefinitely. If the film goes back into production the next available date specific opening would be April 13th, 2018. 

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