The Death Star Human Resources Department Newsletter: August 8, 2025
Getting scorched by twin suns just leaving the house
Hello there
Hey everyone!
Honestly, a couple weeks off was exactly what I needed. It was nice to just be able to not worry about getting a newsletter done by Friday. Instead, I used my free time to worry about the Detroit Tigers bullpen. No stress there!
Anyway, the Death Star Human Resources Department Newsletter is back. This week we’ve got A New Hope back in the theaters, I’m actually leaving my house, Uncle George visits Comic Con, and a whole lot more. And if you haven’t already done it, now’s the perfect time to put your email in below and smash that subscribe button.
This Is Where The Fun Begins
This is what’s known as “topical humor.”
Housekeeping Update
If you’re someone who enjoys accessing the Death Star Human Resources Department Newsletter through this newfangled World Wide Web, there’s now a new domain. So fire up your favorite internet browsers (Netscape Navigator 2.0 or higher is recommended) and head on over to https://www.deathstarhr.com
Death Star HR is Taking the Show on the Road
It may (not) surprise Death Star HR readers to learn that I am a bit of an indoor cat. The couch, with the cat, is a pretty great place. The outside is fairly overrated if you ask me. August in Texas feels like getting beat down by Tatooine’s twin suns. Driving anywhere in Dallas feels like a combination of a Death Star trench run combined with dodging AT-AT’s at the Battle of Hoth. And too many people have broken brains, you never know when a regular trip to the grocery store will turn into the Ghorman Massacre. But, this weekend there’s a lot of Star Wars going on in DFW this weekend and I’ll be out and about.
Saturday night, the galaxy’s only Star Wars themed metal band invades Dallas. Galactic Empire is playing in Deep Ellum. I’ll be there. I caught Galactic Empire when the came through town last year. It’s a fun show, come check it out. If you want to read my review of last year’s show, check it out below.
Then this whole weekend is Rebel Scum Con up in Frisco. Those who know me know I am averse to the suburbs. But, there are lightsabers involved so I’ll make a trip up the Tollway. Myself and a good friend, known only as the Obi-Wan Kenobi of Tarrant County, will be there on Sunday wandering around. So if you see a nerdy looking guy with glasses wearing a Star Wars t-shirt, say hi! It might be me. I’ll have stickers!
Star Wars on the Big Screen For Its Golden Jubilee
So, I know I’m a little behind here. What you’re going to read this week has been covered. But I kinda feel like I wouldn’t be doing my “job” if I didn’t cover it.
2027 is a big year in the galaxy far, far away. It’s the 50th anniversary of a little movie that at the time, was simply called Star Wars. A little movie about a farmboy, a guy in a suit named Darth, and some weird shit called “The Force.” There wasn’t a holiday special. There weren’t 11 live action movies. It wasn’t owned by one of the largest entertainment companies in the world. It was just a movie that George Lucas made as an homage to the serials he loved growing up. Fast forward 50 years, and Star Wars is now…well…it’s STAR WARS.
And to celebrate, Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope will return to the big screen on April 30, 2027.
Not much else in the way of information on the official site, only that it will be in theaters at least through May the 4th. Back in 1977, the movie was released on May 25th. So why is Disney re-releasing A New Hope earlier? I’m sure part of it is that the combination of the movie and May the 4th might get more attention. Or the real reason, Star Wars: Starfighter will be released on May 28, 2027. Can’t take the risk of the old movie cannibalizing ticket sales of the new movie.
The real question on everyone’s mind is what version of Star Wars will we get? The Special Edition, AKA the “official”version? Or the O.G. 1977 version? As a side note, the Special Editions are turning 30 in 2027 which actually makes me feel older. I wasn’t born yet in 1977, I was approximately negative 3 years old when the movie was released. But I sure was a fully formed human for the Special Editions and remember going to see them in the theaters with my friends.
Disney is playing it coy as to which version we’ll get to see, as Polygon puts it: “Disney won't say which Star Wars cut it's re-releasing in theaters.”
Polygon reached out to Lucasfilm and Disney for clarification (as to which version would be shown) on the announcement. Lucasfilm did not return requests for comment. A representative for Disney said the companies were “not confirming the format of the film at this time.”
I have suspected for a while that in the sale to Disney, Lucas had his lawyers include in the contract veto power, for lack of a better word, over certain things. One of them being showing the non-Special Edition versions of the movies. I would have also assumed anything related to the Star Wars Holiday Special would have been covered. But the fact that Skeleton Crew sorta kinda made the Holiday Special canon makes me think otherwise. Because you will never convince that Disney wouldn’t be showing the originals on May the 4th weekends over the years if they were able to. Disney loves money. And the Gen X fans would be lining up to see the original Original Trilogy if they could.
The only thing that makes me thing we might get to see Han shoot first again is that in June of this year, the O.G. version was screened for the British Film Institute’s Film on Film festival. I wrote a lot about it.
It’s smart of Disney, strictly from a marketing perspective, to not spill the beans as to what version they’re showing. Announce that you’re showing the Special Edition, and yes people are going to go because it’s Star Wars on the big screen and it’s still fun no matter what. But you don’t get the “showing national wide for the first time in however many years” that you would by showing the 1977 version. On the other hand, if you announce now that moviegoers do in fact get to see the 1977 version, well you get some buzz for a few days and then the world moves on. But make the announcement at Star Wars Celebration 2027 that in a few weeks, Star Wars fans worldwide will get to see the 1977 version? That gets some attention.
Right now, as of August 7, 2025 as I am typing this, I’d say it’s 60/40 that we see the 1977 version instead of the Special Edition. There’s every chance I’m wrong about this. Artoo has been known to make mistakes. From time to time. But I just feel like Disney trying to be cute right now along with it being the 50th anniversary means they’ve got something up their sleeve.
Uncle George Speaks!
It was a few weeks ago, but for the first time in the history of San Diego Comic Con, a guy named George Lucas popped by. Perhaps you’ve heard of him. It’s interesting that he never made an appearance in all the time he was the Emperor of Lucasfilm. I’ve always kind of wondered if George was a little embarrassed by the success of Star Wars. Not that it’s a bad thing, but George’s often-mentioned contemporaries in the New Hollywood movement were people like Francis Ford Coppola and Brian de Palma, serious filmmakers. Lucas is the guy who hit it big with a movie about Space Wizards With Laser Swords. But that’s all speculation on my part.
Lucas as at Comic Con to talk about his soon to be opening museum, the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art. Opening sometime next year in Los Angeles, somewhere near the University of South California. I’m certain it will be open in time for the 2027 Star Wars Celebration in L.A..
The panel, hosted by Queen Latifah was a discussion between artist Doug Chiang, Guillermo del Toro, and Lucas himself.
I love that George comes out looking like he’s about to go work the car or rake leaves. I get that he has a look, the flannel shirt is almost a trademark for him. If I was on a panel, I might actually just wear a Michigan State University t-shirt or hoodie so people would recognize it’s me.
There’s actually very little about Star Wars. It’s mostly about narrative art and how the panelist feel art that tells stories gets forgotten compared to painting or sculpture or whatever other medium you want to think of. We also get to touch on the possible hoarding tendencies of both George and Guillermo in terms of their art collections. The panel, which sort of serves as an ad for the museum, is less about lightsabers and more just about stories and the power of using art to tell stories. If you’re hoping that George will dish about Disney or something like that, you’ll be disappointed. If y
Ezra Bridger and Darth Maul Get a Makeover Montage
Currently the only live-action Star Wars show that we have confirmation of is season 2 of Ahsoka, currently being filmed. Comic Con gave us our first look at Ezra Bridger, back in the main galaxy.
Looks like the New Republic took a lesson from the New York Yankees and made Ezra shave his beard. No long-haired hippies in the New Republic!
The “I still like him better than Steinbrenner” is just such a perfect joke.
One big surprise from Star Wars Celebration earlier this year was the announcement of Darth Maul: Shadow Lord. The animated show features our second favorite Sith Lord who should have stayed dead as he tries to rebuild his criminal empire.
Maul’s new look is a little less “hooded Sith” and more “open buttoned 80’s vibe.” In the tradition of reading way too much into a single photo, one wonders if the red background is a connection to the Crimson Dawn crime syndicate. No official release date yet for Shadow Lord but next year seems like a good bet.
Temuera Morrison is Still Trying to Make Fetch Happen
Alternate headline: Temuera Morrison wants you to follow him on some damn fool idealistic crusade.
Temuera Morrison, best known in the Star Wars galaxy for playing Jango Fett in Attack of the Clones and Boba Fett in The Book of Boba Fett has been trying to get a second season of Book of Boba Fett off the ground for a while now. Disney has been, well, less than receptive.
To be fair, Ewan McGregor has been trying to get a second season of Obi-Wan Kenobi off the ground. And Samuel L. Jackson has been trying to convince everyone who will listen that Mace Windu is still alive and should have a show or movie. Even getting Bryce Dallas Howard in on his craziness. Everyone’s after those sweet sweet streaming bucks.
While at the Tampa Bay Comic Con, Morrison responded to question from Collider’s Maggie Lovitt about a second season:
“No,” Morrison said frankly. “I think we really have to treasure those moments now. All of you need to send a fax, or a letter, or an email, to those powers that be at Lucasfilm. I'm sure they'd love to hear from everyone. Please give Daniel Logan and Temuera Morrison another chance and put them somewhere.”
I know very little about New Zealand. Are fax machines still a thing there? There was a period, even as recently as 10 years ago, where I’d occasionally have to fax things for work. But it’s been years. Still, I do have a working fax number for work. Think my boss would mind if I just started faxing Bob Iger my script for season 2 of Book of Boba Fett?
Honestly, I’m not writing this to dunk on Morrison or Daniel Logan. But rather to say “guys, read the room.” There’s a pivot back to movies. Nobody is guaranteed a season 2 anymore. Morrison clearly treasured his time from playing Jango Fett and Boba Fett and I’m sure he was disappointed by the less than stellar reaction that Book of Boba Fett received. It’s only natural that he’d want another shot at putting on The Mandalorian armor. At this point though, I think his best chance is to camp outside of Dave Filoni’s window and hope for a spot in the Mandoverse movie1.
A Journey to the Roots of Star Wars
I’ve mentioned a few times here at Death Star HR about going to The Texas Theatre, the only movie theater in America with a connection to the JKF assassination. Over the last couple weeks they’ve been showing the movies of famed Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa. I will admit I know of Kurosawa and knew that he was a huge influence on George Lucas (along with many, many others) but had never actually seen any of his movies. So I fired up the landspeeder and headed over to see The Hidden Fortress, the movie that was a big influence on Star Wars.
From right off the bat you can see some of the parts of Star Wars that Lucas took from the movie. The long story short here is that two bickering peasants in war-torn Japan are trying to get back home. They meet up with another man and a woman who are a general and a princess in disguise. After the first few minutes of the movie, watching Tahei and Matashichi fight with each other, I thought to myself “well there’s R2-D2 and C-3PO.” Per it’s Wikipedia page, Lucas based Princess Leia on the film’s Princess Yuki. People far smarter than me about movies probably already knew this, but you can pretty clearly see the influence of The Hidden Fortress in The Phantom Menace. You have a queen and a Jedi master in disguise and trying to make it through enemy territory. Maybe Jar Jar gets subbed in for one of the peasants.
Added bonus was meeting up with fellow Substack author and Dallasite,
, the Dean of the St. Remedius Medical College. If you’re not reading Paul’s work, go check it out.This Day in Star Wars History
August 8th was a slow day in the galaxy far, far away. Two deaths to mention.
Mickey Morton passed away in 1993. In the Star Wars universe, Morton had the honor and distinction of playing two, maybe two and a half characters in The Holiday Special. Morton played Malla, wife of Chewbacca. Tork, a bouncer at the cantina in for the Bea Arthur scene. And assisted with Gormaanda, the four-armed Julie Child.
Tom Palmer passed away in 2022. Palmer a long time comic book artist and the main inker for the Marvel Star Wars series from 1981 - 1985. He was also an inker for The Tomb of Dracula and The Avengers series.
From the Depths of Wookieepedia
While it’s not my favorite category, favorites are food and music, entries where it’s debatable (or not debatable) if there should be a separate Wookieepedia page are up there on the list of things I like. This week we have "Unidentified blue-and-tan species”. Who or what is said species?
This species was a sentient species that existed in the galaxy.
Oh, well. That clears things up. A background character with a couple seconds of screen time in a couple episodes of Andor. Are there no standards for who gets a Wookieepedia entry???
News From the HoloNet
Darth Vader lightsaber worth millions on display
Turning on paid subscriptions…now
Jyn Erso proves Star Wars fans can't love one thing without hating another
Are there really people who love Andor but hate Rogue One?
Liam Neeson Shares How He Really Feels About His Star Wars Character's Death 26 Years Later
Spoiler alert…he didn’t love it.
Land Clearing Underway for New Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge Construction at Hollywood Studios
Coming soon to Disney, Darth Jar Jar’s Wacky Dark Side Adventure ride?
Star Wars' Most Underrated Series Sets Season 3 Release Date
Get ready, Nubs stans!
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.
This is assuming he’s not in The Mandalorian and Grogu which there isn’t any indication that Boba Fett is showing up in that movie.
I had to fax something to a credit card company last month and actually asked the customer service rep if they thought it was 1991 and faxes were still a valid firm of communication. Sigh.
It's rather fitting that Queen Latifah hosted that George Lucas Comic-Con panel since Yoda considered her to be the Queen of Earth.*
*Reference so obscure that I must explain it: at the 2003 MTV Movie Awards, Yoda won Best Fight for his duel with Count Dooku in Attack of the Clones. The award was presented by none other than Samuel L. Jackson and (CGI) Yoda floated to the podium in his hover chair to give his acceptance speech. One of the people he thanked was Queen Latifah, who he identified as the Queen of Earth. Sitting in the audience, she shouted out, "I love you, Yoda!" 😁 (Pardon me as I show off my nerdiness.)