(Note: I may or may not continue posting here. The site has begun rejecting my crossposting from Dreamwidth, and of course there are the other obvious reasons. You can follow me to matril.dreamwidth.org; it's the same blog in a quieter location ( Read more... )

It is only for a brief time that the queen and her retinue are at the mercy of the Federation army, thanks to the Jedi. But now she must make a crucial decision: stay with her imperiled people, or plead their case on Coruscant? She is inundated with counsel, both from her advisors and the Jedi. Note the positioning of these figures, all to her left ( Read more... )

Movies are more than a series of still images. The movements of the camera and the juxtaposition of shots are a crucial and unique aspect of their ability to convey a story and a mood. Here's a potent example, entirely free of dialogue.


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While the Jedi navigate the world of the Gungans, we return to the city of Theed. Here we have another lovely shot of the city, a swooping view of the main thoroughfare in front of the palace. An idyllic scene with stately architecture, blue skies, a flock of birds....uh-oh.

Those aren't birds. Those are battleships.


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Amid this mechanized invasion we find our two Jedi heroes, who are no doubt led by the Force to an encounter with the planet's other sentient race, the Gungans. It's rather common in sci-fi to characterize an entire world's population with a single reductive trait, and I can't quite fault that, knowing how complex worldbuilding can be. Still it ( Read more... )

Confronted with an overwhelming crisis at the very start of her tenure, Queen Amidala struggles for a solution. She only knows that she is determined to avoid war at all costs. Unfortunately, these events were set in motion long before she had any hope of preventing them. We transition directly from her staunch declaration of forestalling war into ( Read more... )

While the duplicitous Viceroy scrambles to find out what happened to the Jedi, and hides their existence from the queen, we are treated to a first look at Naboo.


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Time for a new series! I'll be analyzing one image from the films each week. A picture is worth a thousand words, right? Eh, maybe I'll think of a better title for the series later. But let's get started.


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While on hiatus from my weekly Star Wars posts, I thought I'd give a belated nod to this year's Halloween costumes. Remember that series? To be honest, there's not much to say about the creation of our costumes this time. Not that they weren't elaborate! We don't do simple in this family. But it was more a matter of buying components rather than ( Read more... )

The very last line of the Star Wars saga (unless one counts the Ewok yips) belongs to Leia. It's a simple one, offered as the explanation for why Han has no reason to step aside for Luke.

"He's my brother."

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