Star Wars in Beijing

finally caught SW3: ROTS last night. It was my first big screen experience in Beijing. went to a cineplex in Oriental Plaza, a spankingly modern shopping mall like our Taka or Suntec. put on my own Star Wars t-shirt and paid RMB60 (or about S$12) for each ticket. but first, I must make sure that the screening was in english since some screenings are dubbed in Chinese (horrors!).

***spoilers warning***

I thot this round-up episode was much better that the two previous ones, at least no prolong screen time for Jar Jar Binks (Robina differs tho). Lucas managed to tie up all the loose ends that leads up to SW4: A new hope. The opening star fighter sequence was breath-taking but still could not match up to the stone-aged special effects of the 1977 trench attack on the death star or the evolving ROTJ attack on the second death star. you can spot the design siimilarities in the Republic star fighters with TIE fighters, the Republic Cruisers and the Imperial Star Destroyers, the "early" version of X-wing. R2 kicked some droid asses, which went down well with Robina. I liked the glimpse of Kashyyk, the Wookies and Chewbacca. I think Lucas copped out on a forest battle (Kashyyk is supposed to be a forest planet) and settled for a lake battle. the final scene was well done and was similar to Luke's scene in the same setting ANH.

***spoilers cleared***

suffering from withdrawal or the prospects of no more Star Wars henceforth? don worry, there are fan films that can cure that!

some are positively hilarious and highly creative. my favourite is TROOPS, all hail Kevin Rubio. If you haven't seen it before, it's like COPS and the theme song is infectious. but it's totally un-PC with stormtroopers blasting jawas and civilians "all suspects are guilty, otherwise they wouldn't be suspects..." Kevin is coming up with a sequel...

check out a spoof of the ROTS trailer. "Pink 5" is another hilarious fan film, a 90210 bimbo takes on the death star with other rebel x-wings while complaining about helmet hair and chatting up Han Solo on the intercom. What do SW fans do when the projector chonks out in the theatre? it's a highly refreshing and creative tribute to all SW fans. What if Boba Fett was like Steve Irwin the Croc Hunter? crikey!

A simple idea but very funny nonetheless: Cheap Seats. "Sith apprentice" is a solid spoof on Donald Trump's The Apprentice. I liked the part when Jar Jar was "fired".