The Death Star Human Resources Department Newsletter Special Edition: May the 4th, 2025
The revolution will not be televised, but it will be fashionable
Hello there
Good morning and welcome to both May the 4th AND the 100th edition of the Death Star Human Resources Department Newsletter. It’s fun to hit a milestone. I’ve said this a few times before and probably will again next month when Death Star HR hits 2 years, but I am sincerely grateful to every single person that reads and shares and comments and banters about Star Wars. When I started this a couple years ago, I honestly had no idea if anyone would read it or if I’d even keep at it. A couple months ago I was looking at the calendar and hoping the 100th Death Star HR would land on May the 4th. I had been planning on the regular Friday newsletter for the 100th and then a special May the 4th newsletter for number 101, but events in the real world kept pushing Friday’s newsletter back until it made sense to just send it all on May the 4th. The Force works in mysterious ways.
So a sincere thank you to everyone who’s stuck with me through 100 newsletters worth of Darth Jar Jar ramblings, snarky comments from Emperor Palpatine’s #1 Fan, and the random typos to prove that I actually write this and don’t rely on A.I. for this nonsense. Thanks again, and here’s to 100 more.
This Is Where The Fun Begins
If the Death Star is round, how can there be 90 degree angles in the trench? Huh, why don’t you think about it and try doing your own research.
I had to do a little checking on the main Instagram page here just to make sure that Round Earth Slovenia wasn’t really Flat Earther propaganda. It’s not, at least as far as I can tell but there’s also an Instrgram account called Flat Earth Bulgaria. Which maybe they’re doing a bit, maybe they’re serious. I’m leaning towards Flat Earth Bulgaria is just shitposting, but there’s a very fine line between dank memes to get lulz and seriously believing your bullshit. So...in conclusion, the internet was a mistake.
This Is Where The Fun Begins, Part Two
Just give me all the videos of Denise Gough and Kyle Soller.
More Death Star HR Than You’ve Ever Wanted
I’m probably not going to be the next Joe Rogan, but I think I could carve out a career myself as the next guy who goes on Joe Rogan a lot. That is to say I was one not one, but two podcasts last week.
First up, on Tuesday
over at had me on for a live video, first time trying that. We talked about Andor and Star Wars Celebration. Also, I am going to get a better stand for my phone so people aren’t starring up my nose.
Than later in the day, I joined
and of the aptly named Brian Lennon Show for their May the 4th episode. We had a fun chat on everything from Andor and Celebration to the Mavs to bidets to beans in chili. Check it out.I really need to stop saying “um, you know” so much. There actually some software out there that claims it will AI those kind of pauses out. I might try it.
Amateur Hour at the Ghorman Front
It kills me that we’re already halfway through Andor. This show is so good I really wish we had 12 weeks to savor it and stew on it. I get WHY it’s released the way it was. But come on, the show is a slow burn. Let us watch it that way. It looks like Ghorman is going to be the through-line for the show. I wonder if we’re going to wait until the last week to get the Ghorman Massacre or if it happens on Tuesday and the last 3 episodes are dealing with the fallout.
Starting far away from Ghorman, it almost feels like the show can’t decide what it wants to do with Saw Gerrera. While obviously the main characters weren’t all on Ghorman this week, everything more or less revolved around the planet. Except Saw. He’s out there on D’Qar (future home of the Resistance) with the Partisans, his band of merry men. Whilmon is out there as well, on loan from Luthen. Saw has always been the wildcard of any rebellion (small r here) against the Empire. He is unapologetically who he is, a man who will do anything and will go to any lengths to win. He might hide in the shadows, but he shows the galaxy who he is. Mon Mothma and Luthen hide in the shadows as well, but they can’t show their true face.
Saw wants to steal a rhydonium, a spaceship fuel, from a refinery. If you’re not super into the weeds here, think back to season 2 of The Mandalorian when Mando and Bill Burr disguise themselves as Imperials to break into a facility and steal a bunch of fuel. That’s rhydonium. The fumes are also dangerous, but they get you high. The ending shot of Whilmon taking off his respiratory to breathe the rhydonium…I can’t help but think things aren’t going to end well for the boy.
Despite being the star of the first three episodes, Mon Mothma had her screen time cut for these three episodes. Despite that, we got to see how the struggle is still wearing on her. She’s trying to whip votes to oppose the Emperor and the Public Order Resentencing Directive from season 1, but her old friends aren’t willing to cross Ol’ Palpy. She walks out the Senate during what appears to the the Imperial Pledge of Allegiance. And we’re treated some fun verbal sparring with old friend Orson Krennic.
One more little thing I want to touch on before getting to Ghorman. Syril and Dedra are the weirdest couple in Star Wars and I am absolutely here for it. In a show where everyone’s loyalty is suspect, does Dedra actually love Syril (or whatever passes for love in Dedra’s mind) or is he just a pawn? It’s probably both. I am still pretty sure these are doomed lovers.
The best part of these three episodes was everything in, on, and around Ghorman. First off, Ghorman just looks fantastic. The sets and designs have been top notch this season as it is, but Ghorman really takes it to another level. I loved the almost Mid-Century Mod look of Cyril’s office. It’s like Severance but in color. However, it’s still the Empire so there’s not too much color. The hard white, black, and gray of the Imperial aesthetic is traded for more muted browns and blue/grays. Even Cyril’s computer looks like something Mark S. would have used to work the Cold Harbor file.
Mattias Hoph over at The Beauty of Star Wars Concept Art has a nice writeup on the look of Ghorman.
Even better is how everyone dresses on Ghorman. It’s clearly an upper-class, fashionable planet. After Cassian’s mission there, Bix and Cassian lovingly tease/flirt with each other about Cassian dressing up like a fancy pants for his mission when he’s really an orphan from Kanari raised on the blue-collar place like Ferrix. Luthen is the type of guy who would fit in on Ghorman, not Cassian.
The Ghorman Front is long on passion but short on actual revolutionary skill. Cassian picks up on that pretty quickly. When he’s told that the Front has an Imperial source, his immediate reaction is suspicion, that if the Empire wanted to take over Ghorman, of course they’d plant a double agent within the Front. One little tidbit of good intel is all it takes for the front to think that Cyril is helping them. Cassian says this is a lost cause, the Empire will crush the Ghorma’s. Luthen doesn’t care. Here’s where you see the difference between Luthen and Saw. They’re both true believers, they’re both committed 100% to fighting the Empire, they both willing to sacrifice whoever they have to, both enemies and allies, to win. But Luthen stays in the shadows. Ghorman going up in flames benefits him either way. Heads I win, tails you lose. If the Front actually manages a victory, it can serve as inspiration for the rest of the galaxy. If the Empire crushes the Ghorman Front, it can serve as inspiration for the rest of the galaxy.
Ironically, Dedra Meero and the ISB are looking at Ghorman in a similar way. A few successful attempts by the Ghorman Front and the Empire is justified in taking over the planet to strip it for resources. A few unsuccessful attempts by the Ghorman Front, well better safe than sorry and the Empire is just going to ahve to take over the planet to strip it for resources and serve as a reminder to the rest of the galaxy that even if you have all the spiders, credits, and berets in the galaxy, the Empire always wins.
I mentioned last week that I was positive that Tony Gilroy was inspired by John le Carre. I’m even more convinced of it now. When Andor came out in 2022, it was pitched as a spy show. And while the Ahdani heist was on point, the rest of the show never really felt like a spy show. Just like a Star Wars show but more serious. But now, we’re getting into tradecraft. Secret meetings, informants, double agents, the whole nine yards. The Ghorman Front are even going for the revolutionary vibe with the leather coats and berets, meant to make you think of Che Guevara or maybe the Black Panther Party.
Luthen is ever the puppet master here, pulling the strings. When Cassian says Ghorman is a no-go, Luthen brings in plan B. Vel. And just to make sure Vel doesn’t make the same assessment about the Ghorman Front as Cassian and take a pass on the mission, Luthen dangles Cinta in front of her.
The mission, to rob an Imperial transport to prove the Empire is building an armory on Ghorman, is a success until it isn’t. Even knowing that their mission will be successful because the ISB wants it to be successful, it’s still suspenseful. The Ghorman Front, again long on passion but short on talent, are actually pulling it off. Vel and Cinta look like they’re going to lead Ghorman to freedom! Until a one of the Ghormans, cosplaying as a revolutionary accidentally shoots Cinta.
No one in the Andor-verse, besides Mon Mothma, is getting out alive. The struggle is real, it has real human costs. The greatest thing Andor has going for it is it takes a galactic struggle for freedom and boils it down to how it affects individual people. In A New Hope (more on that below) you don’t see how the average galactic citizen has to live under the Empire. Except maybe the Alderaanians and you really don’t even see them. Mostly because they are vaporized. But here in Andor, the oppression is real and in your face. Can’t wait for the back half of the season.
Party Like It’s 1977…err…1997
There are some who would (wrongly) say that Oak Cliff is the Mos Eisley of Dallas. A wretched hive of scum and villainy. Really it’s pretty chill and really it’s best the rest of DFW thinks that way so they’ll leave Oak Cliff alone. It’s also the home of the best movie theater in Dallas, the Texas Theatre. Which for this weekend is also home to the galaxy far, far away. If you’re into history, the name “the Texas Theatre” may ring a bell. Since Dallas is only really known for three things - the Kennedy assassination, the Cowboys, and the TV show Dallas - you know it had to be tied to one of those. The Texas Theatre is where Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested. Every November 22nd, they show the films that were playing on November 22nd, 1963.
The Texas Theatre was the first movie theater in Dallas with air conditioning1, it changed ownership a number of times since 1963 but after a fire and several years of neglect in the late 90’s, it has been continually operating as a movie theater since 2001.
For May the 4th weekend, they’re showing the Original Trilogy. A New Hope on Saturday the 3rd and then Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi on Sunday the 4th. This actually wasn’t the first time I’ve seen some or all the of the OT at the Texas Theatre. Back in September 2022, the OT was screened over a few days. I’m not sure why. It wasn’t May the 4th. I guess it would have been the 45 anniversary of A New Hope, but there wasn’t any fanfare surrounding it, and A New Hope was released in May. Who can say, the Force works in mysterious ways and I wasn’t going to pass up a chance to see the OT on the big screen anyway.
With the 20th anniversary of Revenge of the Sith and it being May the 4th weekend, I wonder if this was the first chance to see Star Wars films from two different generations on the big screen within a week of each other. It once again just reinforced that Star Wars was meant to be seen on the big screen.
It was, of course, the 1997 Special Edition. As I wrote a few weeks ago, even though Disney is allowing the original cut of the original movie of the Original Trilogy to be screened twice for the British Film Institute’s Film on Film Festival next month, I still have a hard time believing it will even see the light of day here any time soon2.
A few quick notes from the show today.
The upstairs theater at the Texas Theatre seats 165. I would say it was almost completely full. Probably 150 people there, which lead to some good energy. Lots of people wearing Star Wars t-shirts, one person was wearing a Grogu-ears hat. But nobody in full cosplay which I thought was a little surprising. I wasn’t expecting the 501st to be there, but figured there’d be at least one person in Jedi robes.
People were a little more interactive, I would say, than when I saw Revenge of the Sith. Everyone cheered pretty loudly when the fanfare hit. Not too mention there was some clapping and cheering when Han came back to save Luke, when the Death Star exploded, and when he credits rolled.
I’m going to credit the MC from the Texas Theater for the energy in the theater. He introduced the movie and got some audience participation before it started. It was also a nice story, he had his 11 year old daughter with him who had never seen A New Hope, so she was getting to see it for the first time on the big screen.
There were several people in the crowd who raised their hand when the MC asked if anyone there was seeing Star Wars for the first time. For the first time! There were also some people who had already seen the OT but this was their first time seeing A New Hope on the big screen.
The Texas Theatre was the only movie theater in Dallas showing the OT. As it was explained, they got permission from Disney to show them because they’re an old theater. Interesting that Disney wouldn’t let an AMC or a Cinemark show the OT. I’m not sure why. The other time I’ve seen the OT has a back to back to back showing at the Majestic Theater, which is also a historical theater. I wrote about the OT marathon back in September 20233.
Back in 1977, Star Wars (prior to being called A New Hope) was shown at the Texas Theatre as well. I did a little bit of Google searching to see if I could find a picture of the marquee in 1977 or anything like that, but no such luck. The MC did ask if anyone in the audience today had seen Star Wars at the Texas Theatre back in 77. It would have been pretty cool, but nobody raised their hand.
A few notes about the movie, and how different A New Hope is from the rest of the OT. Darth is treated as Vader’s first name. It’s also pretty clear Vader is not Luke’s father. The Force and/or the Jedi are referred to as a religion several times, but the OT doesn’t do that in the next two movies. I’ve talked about this before (and wish I could take credit for the observation), but in A New Hope, Vader is more of the Emperor’s weird Rasputin buddy that’s hanging around and most of the Imperial officers merely tolerate him because they have to or they get Force choked. Like Tarkin is clearly in charge, not Vader. In Empire and Jedi, he’s an overbearing middle manager.
Going back to the people who were seeing Star Wars for the first time, I would have loved to know just how much they knew about Star Wars. If any one of them had been sitting closer to me, I would have tried to score an exclusive interview. Did they do know Vader is Luke’s father? Or that Luke and Leia are brother and sister? The MC made a comment about Vader/Luke, and then immediately worried that he ruined it for the handful of people who said they had never seen Star Wars.
Mace Lives! At Least For One Day
I wrote last week about seeing Revenge of the Sith in the theaters and just how great it was to see Star Wars on the big screen again. I also noted how there was a little pre-recorded introduction from Hayden Christensen. For viewers at the El Capitan Theatre in Los Angeles, Hayden Christensen and special guest Samuel L. Jackson gave an in-person introduction.
I have a bone to pick with Star Wars here. They have the video of Christensen and Jackson the official Star Wars Twitter, but not on their YouTube channel. It’s a little bit of inside baseball here, but you cannot embed a Tweet in Substack. I believe this is because Elon is a whiney baby who just needs to launch himself to Mars and stay there. Normally I just screenshot Tweets, but that doesn’t do you, the reader, much good when it’s a video. YouTube videos are able to be embedded, so there’s no reason for Star Wars to have the video clip on the rotting corpse of Twitter but not the fully alive but riddled with really annoying ads YouTube.
Anyway, please enjoy the video from user “Gamorrean Size” which honestly is a pretty great user name.
It’s a little tough to hear in the video, but at one point Jackson says “And for the record — Mace lives!”
For the record, canonically Mace Windu is still dead. However Jackson has been beating the “bring back Mace” drum for a little while now. Even going so far as to get Uncle George involved.
We then asked Jackson about his theory/wishful thinking that Mace was still alive when he stopped by Entertainment Weekly Radio (SiriusXM, channel 105) on Wednesday morning to chat with us on EW Morning Liveand here’s what he had to say. “Of course he is! Jedi can fall from amazing distances. And there’s a long history of one-handed Jedi. So why not?”
So what then has Mace been up to since falling out of Palpatine’s tower — laying low like Obi-Wan did on Tatooine? “Exactly,” says Jackson.
Has the actor shared his views with the creative forces behind the Star Wars franchise? “Only George [Lucas],” says Jackson. “But George doesn’t have anything to do with it anymore.” And what was Lucas’ reaction? “George is like, ‘I’m okay with that. You can be alive.”
I’ve always wondered just how much sway Lucas still has with Disney. Obviously he has no real power, he sold all his interests and rights to Disney years ago. But he is still Star Wars to many people. Like if Disney announced they were going to release the Holiday Special in 4K, something Lucas basically disavowed and allegedly said he’d smash every copy with a hammer if he could, could George call up Kathleen Kennedy or Bob Iger and tell them to cut that shit out?
As Death Star HR is tangentially a Dallas Mavericks newsletter, I see some parallels between that scenario and the worst trade in sports history earlier this year. If you are a fan of sports, the best type of team owner is either one you don’t think about, or one that is in the news because they care so much about their team. The worst kinds are ones that are in the news because they’re addicted to attention. Here in Dallas, for a while we had both kinds. Mark Cuban was the former. Sure, he was in the news but he loved the Mavs. Jerry Jones on the other hand…well…the less said the better. We already talk about Emperor Palpatine here at Death Star HR. It would be redundant to talk about Jerry. But anyway. After Cuban sold a majority share of the Mavs, he still expected to have some kind say in basketball operations. Maybe not veto power, but he’d have input. And he did. Until Jar Jar Nico decided to trade Luka, and suddenly Cuban found he actually didn’t have any input. Maybe it’s like that with George and Disney? I don’t know.
And he apparently has The Mandalorian, Book of Boba Fett, and Skeleton Crew director Bryce Dallas Howard on his side.
“Sam Jackson has been incredibly supportive of me and has told me many times that he would act in something I directed, which is like, ‘I’m not worthy,’ basically,” Howard said of her Argylle co-star on the Happy Sad Confused podcast.
Howard, who has directed episodes of the live-action Star Wars series The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, and Skeleton Crew, then “went straight to Dave Filoni and I was like, ‘So, let’s just talk about Mace Windu and where he is. Can we just talk about this?’”
“Because is he dead?” she added. “Is he?”
Samuel L Jackson is rightfully a legendary actor. He clearly looks back on the Prequels with fondness. Jackson, like many Star Wars actors is getting up there in age. I certainly came blame him if he wanted to put on the Jedi robes and pick up the purple-bladed lightsaber for one more adventure.
The logistical problem of a Mace Windu show or movie is when is it going to take place? A Prequel era setting is a big problem. Jackson is 76 years old. Figure you want to take 30- - 35 years off him, depending on when the show will be set; it’s going to take a lot of computing power to de-age Jackson and make it remotely believable. The other option there is recast the role. Which…those are some big shoes to fill. I would certainly prefer recasting to de-aging every day. But considering Jackson wants to play Mace again, that makes it tougher.
The other option is that Mace Windu survived getting his hand chopped off, zapped with Force lighting, fell out the window, and still managed to survive and live unnoticed all these years. It solves the problem if casting, Jackson can easily play him. It just presents the problem of, well, Mace is dead.
Jackson has long insisted Windu survived the seemingly fatal fall, written as such in creator George Lucas’ script for Sith: “As blue rays engulf his body, he is flung out the window and falls twenty stories to his death. No more screams. No more moans.”
One of the guiding tenants (if there is such a thing) here at the Death Star Human Resources Department Newsletter is taken directly from The Last Jedi. “Let the past die. Kill it if you have to4.” Nostalgia is a toxic impulse, it comforts you with false memories. It sells you hope to return to a time and place that never existed. Let the dead stay dead. And that includes Mace Windu.
Lights! Camera! Ahsoka Season 2 Shadows!
I mentioned a couple weeks ago that it seemed like Ahsoka season 2 had started filming based on Eman Esfandi’s Instagram account. This week we got confirmation from Ahsoka Tano herself, courtesy of Rosario Dawson’s Instagram.
Still no release date yet but it seems pretty safe to say Fall of 2026 at the earliest. The release schedule of Star Wars shows has been frustrating, to say the least. Three years between seasons of Andor. At least three years between the first and second seasons of Ahsoka. Obviously COVID and the Hollywood strikes screwed up scheduling, but you would think Disney wouldn’t want to let that much time go in between seasons. Three years is an entirety in pop culture years.
Also, Loth-Kittens!
Loth-Cats are #3 on the official Death Star HR rankings of Cute Little Guys. There’s probably going to be a re-ranking after Loth-Kittens are unleashed.
The Death Star Human Resources Department Book Club: New Jedi Order #17
The end is in sight. I don’t want to say the New Jedi Order books have been a slog, they’ve been a fun read and I really admire how Lucasfilm put together such an ambitious project. There were supposed to be even more books that were scrapped for whatever reason. But I think I’ve had enough of the Yuuzhan Vong for a while. Still, just two books left.
Title: Force Heretic III: Reunion
Series: New Jedi Order. Book #17
Author: Sean Williams and Shane Dix
Date published: July 1, 2003
Pages: 390
Status: Legends
Summary in 20 words or less: Luke and company finally make it to the Zonama Sekot fireworks factory and Tahiri Veila finally gets it together.
Anyone who knows me in real life or has read Death Star HR for a while knows that my other pop culture love is The Simpsons. I’ve mentioned a few times when I decided I wanted to do something on Substack and was kicking around ideas, I did consider one reviewing Classic Simpsons episodes. It’s not my favorite Simpsons episode, but Itchy and Scratchy and Poochie is a pretty good meta-commentary about the lengths shows go to stay on the air. I also always reference getting to the fireworks factory when the setup just takes a bit too long.
So as I mentioned above, Luke, Mara, Jacen, Danni, Saba, and a few others have finally made it to Zonama Sekot, a living planet that Luke thinks is the key to defeating the Yuuhzan Vong and getting the galaxy back to normal. Unfortunately as they arrived at Zonama Sekot, the Vong showed up at the same time but Sekot has it’s own defense forces. Luke and company make contact with Ferroans, the humanoids who live on the planet. Some of them are fine with seeing the Jedi, they remember Obi-Wan and Anakin from the events of Rogue Planet. Others are not happy, as outsiders usually mean trouble.
The ones that are really displeased about Luke showing up decide to kidnap Danni Quee, a quasi-Jedi and quasi-love interest of Jacen Solo’s. Jacen and Saba attempt to rescue her only to be quasi-captives of the renegade Ferroans. Sekot, the planet manifests itself to both Luke and Jacen. Appearing to Jacen as Vergere and to Luke as Anakin (Skywalker not Solo). Living Force planets have all sorts of fun powers. Sekot asks both Jacen and Luke if they want the planet, which is hinted to be a very powerful weapon, to join them. Jacen being Jacen, doesn’t want to have the weight of using a planet to kill the Yuuzhan Vong on his conscious and says no. Luke realizes that there’s no fighting to a stalemate here. They either win the war or get wiped out the Vong. And based on that, Zonama Sekot has joined the Galactic Alliance.
Meanwhile the other main character, Han, Leia, C-3PO, and Droma (being generous calling him a main character even though I like the guy) are once again, in some trouble. It’s taken the Yuuzhan Vong a while but they’ve finally seemed to realize that if they stop the Galactic Alliance from being able to communicate with each other, in this case, the Vong are trying to stop the Galactic Alliance stationed on Mon Calamari and the Unknown Regions where Luke and company are. The Galactic Alliance and Imperial Remnant battle the Vong over Esfandia, where the baddies are attempting to knock out the communications station. Unfortunately for the good guys, when they try to land the Falcon on Esfandia, they accidentlly kill a bunch of the Brrbripp, the native species are are amebas that look like flowers. Ff the Imperials and the Vong have had the chance for some genocide, it seems only fair that Han and Leia get their chance as well.
The most interesting of the storylines was Tahiri Veila, who finally got her personality expanded on other than the fact she doesn’t like to wear shoes. Way back in Edge of Victory I: Conquest, Tahiri was captured by the Yuuhzan Vong and one of their Shapers basically tried to use Vong magic to turn her into a Yuuhzan Vong. She was rescued by Anakin but had a split personality, half Tahiri the human Jedi and half Riina Kwaad a Yuuhzan Vong. Tahiri has been going through some stuff. Anakin was killed, she’s half Vong and the Riina personality has been trying to push her way through. Very much a Fight Club situation.
Jaina has been mean girl’ing Tahiri for a while not, but eventually she realizes that she has to help. Jaina mentally joins the Tahiri/Riina duel via Force-meld somewhere in their minds and helps Tahiri win. Of course, winning is not that simple. Tahiri is still part Yuuzhan Vong and realizes that if she kills Riina, she dies as well. Very Tyler Durden. Instead, Tahiri mentally joins with Riina to create the new and improved Tahiri. The skills of the Jedi with the pain tolerance of a Yuuzhan Vong.
In the Yuuzhan Vong storyline that really, really, REALLY is taking its time getting to the fireworks factory, old friend Nom Anor is still trying to lead an uprising of the lower caste Vong against the Supreme Overlord while really scheming to actually just get back into the good graces of the Supreme Overload. I haven’t checked yet, but I am going to guess that Nom Anor might be the only character to appear in every book so far. It’s a fun story line and I’ve enjoyed it, but I do wish the books would move it along.
The Good:
I’ve only got two more books.
I liked Tahiri’s story because it felt like the series finally found something to do with her. Maybe it was always planned all along to slow play her, but you had a half-human/half Yuuzhan Vong Jedi who loved Anakin, and it felt like she just moped around for 5 books.
The Bad:
The Force Heretic trilogy kind of reminded me of The Book of Boba Fett or Obi-Wan Kenobi. An idea that got stretched out longer than it needed to. I’m not saying there isn’t room to let a story breath, but it really feels like the three books could have been two.
Wild Card:
Great Moments in Star Wars Merchandising
Do you have a love of Star Wars, a lot of spare money, and a desire to support some random charity in England? Then good news, the Force has come through for you. Comedian/actor/writer/director Stephen Merchant is auctioning off his Star Wars collection.
Merchant, probably best known as a co-creator of the British version of The Office, shows off his comedy chops by suggesting you buy some OG Star Wars figures “for your kids.” Can you even imagine? The auction goes live on May the 4th so start getting your Republic Credits together.
This Day in Star Wars History
It’s May the 4th. What more do you need? So rather than run down a list of comics that were released today, you can read the list yourself, here’s a bit of May the 4th trivia.
The phrase dates back to at least 1979, on the day Margaret Thatcher was elected the first female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Her party took out a newspaper ad in the London Evening News that said "May the Fourth be with you, Maggie. Congratulations."
For formatting purposes, I generally remove the links from a Wookieepedia entry unless I think they’re relevant to what I’m talking about. If you look at the actual Wookeepedia page for May 4th, you’ll see that Margaret Thatcher is highlighted and there’s a link. I honestly thought for a second she had her own Wookieepedia entry because maybe as Prime Minister she was able to provide Uncle George tax credits or something for filming over there. But not, it’s a link to her regular Wikipedia page.
If anyone here is a Wookieepedia editor and wanted to change Maggie’s link from her Wikipedia page to Emperor Palpatine’s page, that would be a pretty good joke.
From the Depths of Wookieepedia
Good news for anyone in the galaxy far, far away looking to just drop out. You don’t need to risk melting your face with rhydonium to get high. You can just get some Polordion smootdust.
Polordion smootdust was a drug used in Coruscant's underlevels. Slythmonger Elan Sel'Sabagno once attempted to sell Polordion smootdust to the bounty hunter Boba Fett.
I’m pretty sure part of the contract between Lucas and Disney states that George is not allowed any input on naming characters. Elan Sleazebaggano was up there was Darth Icky.
News From the HoloNet
Darth Vader’s Andor Absence Fundamentally Misunderstands Star Wars
I get his point but don’t necessarily agree. Star Wars can be bigger than Vader. Even in a story focusing on the Empire.
It's a protest. It's a Star Wars hang. On May 4, it's both
As Maarva said, “FIGHT THE EMPIRE!”
Revenge Of The Sith Is Star Wars Creator George Lucas' True Masterpiece
Stating the obvious? Maybe.
Star Wars: Tales of the Underworld Is A Step Back For This Animated Anthology
This seems to be the general consensus, at least as far as I can tell from headlines. Watching it later.
That’s it for this week. If you like what I’m doing, please subscribe. I’ll catch you next week, and may the Force be with you.
Absolutely crazy that people lived here without AC.
I also speculated that maybe, just maybe, there might be permission to show it for the 50th anniversary in two years.
That’s a pretty good Death Star HR. If you’re a newer reader, check this old edition out.
Interestingly, when I was confirming what Kylo Ren’s quote was I found a Reddit Thread of people with a different interpretation, but yet still positive about The Last Jedi.
I won’t watch Andor for no reason other time and a hatred for endless spinoffs (I’m working on this!) but my husband and his friends have been talking nonstop about it so I am sure I’ll find my way there sooner rather than later.
I loved learning about the Texas Theater. I feel like we must protect institutions like this at all costs!
Loth. Kittens!!!