The Starbird Files

On Screen News Following news that Andor had been filming in Canary Wharf, Essex based Star Wars podcast Star Wars Sessions (some say the UK’s best SW podcast) reported that the Disney+ show had been shooting at the Coryton Oil Refinary on Canvey Island. Essex. [20/4/21] The Droids animated series will join the recently released Vintage Collection on Disney+ later this year, the series which follows the adventures of C-3PO and R2-D2 debuted in 1985 and ran for one season. [2/4/21] The Kenobi Disney+ series adds Maya Erskine (PEN15, Betas) to it’s cast, Fantha Tracks reports that she is set to be appearing in 3 episodes. We lost several members of the Star Wars family this month.  Phil Eason , puppeteer of Yaddle in The Phantom Menace passes away aged 60 [6/4/21].  Ira Keeler , model maker who worked on Return of the Jedi and was Chief Model Maker on The Phantom Menace passed away aged 80 [16/4/21].  Felix Silla , the actor who played the unnamed hang gliding Ewok in...

  To everyone’s surprise DisneyPlus added a Star Wars Vintage Collection section at the beginning of April, including among other things the Ewok TV movies, which I hadn’t seen since I was a kid. So one Saturday night I sat down with my wife and several large measures of Rum to watch a Caravan of Courage and Battle for Endor double header, to sample some nostalgia, ewoks and terrible movies. ©️DisneyPlus A few minutes into Caravan of Courage and honestly it’s better than I had remembered! We’ve already had a ‘Yub Nub’ and the production values were a lot better than I thought although the Ewok costumes are more obviously costumes (no blinking! aarrggghh!) which makes you wonder what happened to the Return of the Jedi costumes? The whole thing is very 80’s fantasy, especially when the kids and Ewoks get given their magical objects before going on their quest, very Willow,    very Dark Crystal, very Dungeons & Dragons cartoon which is very charming. We also get some th...

  BUCKETS OF BLOOOOOOOOOD! We pick up right where we left off with the padawans about to face off against the Nihil, but Yoda and Torban Buck arrive to to help the young Jedi to turn the tide,  and Yoda gets a line of badass dialogue  “If looking for a tiny Jedi, you are...of assistance, might I be”  as well as more moments of badassery through the issue. This chapter of the comic feels like it focuses more on two characters, firstly Krix who seems over his initial shock and anger at Zeen’s secret force abilities and is doubting his people’s anti-force user stance, it feels like he could forgive her but Elder Tromak and Marchion Ro manipulate him using his fear and hurt feelings to keep him onside. Secondly we get to know Torban Buck a little more, first his terrifying nickname, Buckets of Blood (which he gave himself), but he’s a lover not a fighter, preferring to heal than to use violence. Daniel José Older has explained he was inspired by a paramedic from his form...

Issue 3 of the High Republic left off with Sskeer having been taken over by the Drengir, and issue 4 kicks off with a flashback to further build the emotional bond between Keeve and Sskeer which makes what happens to him all the more tragic. This look at them as master and padawan builds Sskeer as not just a beast but a tactician and scholar albeit a little gruff and rough around the edges. We then cut dramatically back to the present with the Jedi captives of the Drengir who speak to Avar Kriss through him, and we then learn more about the history of the botanical killers. This links the Drengir to the Sith and shows that it was the Sith who trapped the Drengir’s leader “The Great Progenitor” on the station we saw in  Into the Dark . The connections to the rest of the High Republic continue as we switch to Starlight Beacon where we find Vernestra and Imri (from  A Test of Courage ) observing the dissection of the dead Hutt, and discovering that the Drengir have used the corps...

  A different kind of post today, but I was feeling inspired, so let me know what you think. The lockdown in the UK lifted yesterday and so non-essential shops are allowed to open again,  and we ventured out for the first time today. I wasn’t looking for anything in particular, in Waterstones I was disappointed to not find any of the High Republic books, the new Dr Aphra or Skywalker: A Family At War books. However I did find The Star Wars Archives Episodes IV-VI 1977-1983 from Taschen which I hadn’t realized had been published in a smaller more affordable ‘40th Anniversary’ edition in February, at £20 I was very tempted and may still go back for it. But I as it turned out I was very glad I didn’t buy it, due to what happened next. On our way home I decided to go into ‘ Books-On-Sea ’ a secondhand book store just about 100ft from our front door, I hadn’t been in before as we only moved into our apartment late last summer and we’ve been in and out of lockdown ever since. The st...

  Up until now I had not read any ‘Young Reader’ (9-12 years old) Star Wars books, so I wasn’t sure what to expect going into A Test of Courage, but I found I really enjoyed this, more than I expected. The premise of the Nihil sabotaging the luxury liner Steady Wing and the group having to survive on an alien planet, is much simpler than the other stories in the High Republic so far. But Justina Ireland really gets into the characters and doesn’t shy away from going dark, with so many people dying in the opening chapters of the book including two of our main characters parent figures. I enjoyed all of our main characters, all of whom are young in order for the target audience of 9-12 year olds to see themselves in the story, although we’ve had animated shows where the main character is young (Ashoka in Clone Wars, Ezra in Rebels and Kaz in Resistance), I’d really like to see a mainly young teens cast in live action, judging by A Test of Courage I think it would be a lot of fun. For...