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One-Man Star Wars Trilogy

Myself, Paula, Chris and Mum went to see the One-Man Star Wars Trilogy at the Chester Gateway Theatre on Friday night. Canadian actor Charles Ross basically condenses the original trilogy (New Hope, Empire, Jedi) into one hour, playing all of the characters (Jabba the Hutt and Admiral Ackbar were my favourites!), humming the music, making the sound effects, throwing himself around on stage like a lunatic doing the spacecraft… you get the idea. No props, no sets, just this one guy.

It was bloody fantastic!

Really funny, probably moreso for the big Star Wars geeks, but I think that most people know the general story beats anyway so it would go down well with any audience. The capacity crowd (350 people?) at the Gateway certainly appreciated it!

The other cool thing was that as this was his last performance on the UK tour they had some people there from one of the costuming fan groups, dressed as stormtroopers, biker scouts, Jedi Knights… even Vader and the Emperor. The costumes were really impressive. Oh, and they had a remote control Artoo there as well! How cool is that?!

Apparently he (Charles Ross, not Artoo, duh) is due to appear in London sometime later this year. If you get the chance to go and see his show, then do: I guarantee you’ll enjoy it 

Han gets to shoot first (again)

So it seems as though Mr Lucas has had a change of heart, and that we will be getting the original theatrical versions of the Star Wars movies on DVD after all, come September. A response to overwhelming fan demand, or a means of generating cash for George’s next project? You decide. Will I be buying them anyway? You’re damn right I will!

I’m kind of ambivalent about the whole Special Edition thing anyway: there’s stuff I like, and stuff I don’t. Continue reading Han gets to shoot first (again)…

Ice Age 2: The Letdown

Paula and I went to see Ice Age 2: The Meltdown tonight. I really enjoyed the first film: it had great one-liners and some really funny visual gags, but it was also quite touching. Unfortunately, the sequel is quite a letdown, having a very thin and predictable plot, a weak script and annoying new characters. The Scrat sequences are funny, but there are so many this time around that even they start to wear thin.

Maybe worth going to see if you’ve got sprogs of a suitable age, otherwise wait for the DVD (or avoid altogether if you didn’t even like the original).