Mr. Yoder’s Blog

Having heard great things about the traveling Star Wars in Concert, I was half hoping to go see it.  On the first leg of it’s North American tour, it came to Baltimore, Scranton and Philadelphia.  The timing of each was less than stellar, so I reluctantly let it pass.

Then came the second leg, and I desperately watched the schedule to see if it would swing by.  And swing by it did, right into the Giant Center.  Being that close, I had to go and my wife agreed, the boys had to go as well.

Traveling with the show are some archival costumes and props, arranged throughout the concourse at the Giant Center.  I had seen a similar display at the Franklin Institute a few years back, but this was some new gear, including a New Hope era Chewbacca.  Interesting bit of detail, the silver blocks on his bandoleer are just chunks of 2×4 spray painted silver.

The 501st and Rebel Legion were out in force.  Such great organizations, it’s a shame that Hershey did not know how to properly handle them.  Instead of asking the costumers to spread out throughout the concourse from the start, they were right at the entrance, creating a massive bottle neck.  A milliliter of common sense, or five seconds worth of research would have revealed the popularity these fans endure and a good way to handle their presence.  One way not to handle them:  let a crowd of kids accrue around Chewbacca, then ask him to move 50 yards down the concourse.  I know that’s not the way to handle them because that’s what Hershey security did, and it was a mess.  In the end, we got the picture.  Note:  kids tend to look at the character, not the camera.

After finding our family section seats, we had a short wait until show time.  The orchestra opened with the main theme.  There were no images from the movies, but lots of really cool live shots of the musicians.  After that piece, narrator Anthony Daniels was introduced.  He’s made his living as C-3PO and one of the most visible actors from the films, and who can blame him.  His schtick was good, with the obligatory threepio references, even dropping into the voice and mannerisms when quoting the droid.

Musically the show was great.  Particularly impressive was the meastro keeping the musicians on tempo to pre-arranged video.  He had some help in the form of small video screen with cues on it, but a great job, just the same.  The music selections were good.  I would have preferred to hear the cantina theme as a stand alone piece, not part of a medley, but that’s my only criticism (the old David Spade bit from Weekend Update about the good songs in buried in medleys comes to mind).  Mildly confusing were shots of Jabba’s palace during the cantina theme, but what was cool were the curtains of LED’s to either side of the screen showing musicians as they played.  The musicians with solos were highlighted throughout the performance.

The show concluded with a planned encore, the Imperial March for a second time, this time with video of the musicians.  Overall, a fantastic performance, heavy cream on the milk scale.

I’m going to blatantly steal Rick Reilly’s idea of ‘Too Short for a Column’ and combine a few thoughts.

• It goes without saying the Bud Selig is an idiot, and it also goes without saying that Armando Galarraga threw a perfect game.  Using his ‘In the Best Interests of the Game’ superpower, Bud should have declared it a perfect game.  However, it seems he can only ever use that when his decision clearly is NOT in the best interests of the game.  It reminds me of the old baseball story:  After a particularly bad call, a player turns to the ump and says ‘everyone in the stadium knows that was a bad call,’ and the ump says, ‘but mine is the only opinion that matters.’  I guess it is only Bud’s opinion that matters in this case.  For Mac users, the end is in sight, however.
• Last weekend my wife made a really cool birthday cake for my youngest son:
• I recently finished The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan.  It took me forever both to read it and to start reading it.  I was a bit scared of a double digit series of 600+ page books that wasn’t done because the author died of cancer.  There’s a guy finishing it, which is good.  I’m looking forward to the second book after a break.
• Right after Eye of the World I read Outcast by Aaron Allston.  It is a book in the Fate of the Jedi series and felt so short in comparison, it was like I blinked and missed it.  It was a good book, didn’t require too much thought and only addressed a pair of plot lines.  I really enjoy the interaction between Luke and his son Ben.  I’m currently engaged in Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand, but I look forward to reading the next book in Fate of the Jedi, Allies, soon.  Maybe that way I can remember what happened in Outcast.

It was 30 years ago this week (May 21st to be exact) that The Empire Strikes Back was first released in theaters.  Truly, this is an occasion to celebrate.

I’m not going to name Empire as my favorite Star Wars movie.  I honestly have a hard time picking one.  I know some would say that if you can’t pick a favorite you don’t really know them, but I disagree.  Trying to differentiate pieces of the larger story is a disservice to that larger story.  That’s the moral high ground I will take.

Empire is a crucial piece to the Star Wars franchise beyond the role it plays as Act 2 of the Original Trilogy.  Its release and ultimately its success set the stage for sequels throughout the industry.  It firmly established that ANH was not a fluke and that the story and style had merit.  The character of Yoda was a revolutionary breakthrough not in his personality, but in his physical make up.  And to think that Frank Oz, the man with his hand in the puppet, was not even nominated for any awards is inexcusable.

Personally, Empire holds a special place for me.  Seeing Empire in the theater is one of my earliest memories.  In the style of wispy memories, I only remember fragments:  my Dad was home, so it must have been a weekend.  I had ham and cheese with mustard for lunch.  We went to see a matinee and got there late (Luke was escaping from the Wampa).  And that about covers it.  My mom says I spent most of the movie under my jacket, and Empire wasn’t my first introduction to Star Wars (that came on Christmas at my uncle’s house, watching on HBO with an uneaten twizzler dissolving in my hand).  However, nothing can take away Empire’s first memory status.

Without further ado, my top 10 Empire moments

10.  Han rescues Luke from the cold.  Gingerly using a lightsaber to cut open the tauntaun, Han declares, ‘And I thought they smelled bad on the outside.’

9.  Bounty hunters.  This was Empire’s cantina/Jabbas palace scene.  In a Battle Royal, I think Bossk comes out on top if he can convince the others to unite against Boba Fett and eliminate him first.

8.  Vader revealed as Luke’s father.  Easily the most misquoted movie line of all time.  Vader says, ‘No, I am your father.’  Not, ‘Luke, I am your father.’  Some would say this is low on the list; to that I say I grew up knowing that Vader was Luke’s dad; the shock value was minimal.

7.  Artoo fights Yoda for a flashlight.  I love that Artoo is somehow offended by Yoda’s behavior, and his solution is to defend the sanctity of the flashlight.  This kind of begs the question:  shouldn’t Artoo recognize Yoda, or at least have some idea as to who he is?

6.  Han stumbles across Lando’s name in the galactic phone book he has on the Falcon, prompting the line, ‘Lando’s not a system, he’s a man.’  That should read, ‘Lando’s not a system, he’s the man.’

5.  Vader vs. Luke I.  A great fight; I used to get so mad at Vader for what I thought was cheating, throwing stuff at Luke with the Force.  He redeems himself by offering Luke the role of assistant to the guy that overthrows the Emperor.

4.  Luke’s Jedi training.  The distant ancestor to the 80’s music montage, there were times in my life that I emulated this in my own exercise routines.  I have never successfully done a flip over a fallen log.  I have never successfully done a flip period, but it looks so cool going over an obstacle.

3.  Chewie puts Threepio back together backwards.  The nerve of Threepio here is appalling.  Blasted to pieces after wandering away from the group, he then berates Chewie after being reactivated because his head is on backwards.  Chewie, showing incredible patience, does not re-dismember the droid.

2.  Han frozen in carbonite.  A terrifying sequence, but it includes one of the smoothest lines ever.  After Leia declares her love for him, Han’s answer is, ‘I know.’

1.  Luke regains the whininess of ANH as Yoda explores the camp site declaring, ‘You’re making a mess.’  I use that line frequently, in an attempted imintation of Mark Hamill’s delivery.  It is funny for me, at least.

Happy 30th Empire, here’s to many more.