Reviews by Fardreamer

Fardreamer says "Citizen Soldiers looks at the GI's war after the D-Day invasion" about Citizen Soldiers: The U.S. Army from the Normandy Beaches to the Bulge to the Surrender of Germany, June 7, 1944 to May 7, 1945

Fardreamer — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 19:55:02 GMT

One of the sad things about the public education system is that, for most students anyway, American history courses tend to be so dry and so unevenly taught that it is boring and hard to relate to.

In high school, and later in college, I realized that there are just two types of history teacher - the creative ones who are passionate about the topic and pass on that passion through innovative teaching methods, and the "read the textbook chapters X-Y for a test on Tuesday" types who can put even the worst insomniacs to sleep with their in-class lectures.

I ought to know, because I had teachers from both categories, and unfortunatelly the boring ones outnumbered the creative ones at a ratio of 2:1.

Luckily, I've always been an independent learner, and because World War II held a strange fascination for me even before I was in high school or college, I have been reading books such as Cornelius Ryan's The Longest Day, John Toland's The Last 100 Days and Stephen E. Ambrose's D-Day June 6,...

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Fardreamer says "1978's Jaws 2 is best of Jaws sequels, but is that a plus?" about Jaws 2

Fardreamer — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 19:52:18 GMT

One of the inevitable realities of life is that Hollywood studios, with their play-it-safe attitudes about creativity and their need to maximize profits, often create "series" and "franchises" from movies that were never intended to be first chapters of anything.

Sometimes, as in the case of Paramount Pictures' The Godfather, Raiders of the Lost Ark or Star Trek: The Motion Picture, one successful movie can spin off two or more sequels that might vary in quality but are more or less still watchable. (It helps, of course, if there is a plan to make more movies in the creators' minds, as was the case with the Indiana Jones series.)

Universal Studios, though, has a none-too-surprising track record of milking one film's success to the nth degree by commissioning mediocre-to-bad sequels that then diminish the original movie's reputation. (Don't believe me? Look at what happened with 1970's Airport.)

Considering just how awesomely successful Steven Spielberg's 1975 shark-attack film Jaws...

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Fardreamer says "Ambrose's D-Day captures horrors, heroism of fateful date " about D-Day June 6, 1944: The Climactic Battle of World War II

Fardreamer — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 17:56:45 GMT

Published 15 years ago for the 50th Anniversary of the start of Operation Overlord, Stephen E Ambrose's D-Day June 6, 1944: THe Climactic Battle of World War II reawakened interest in America's participation in the Second World War and in the rapidly dwindling numbers of the men and women Tom Brokaw would later call "the greatest generation."

And after reading this book either for the first or the twentieth time, it's easy to see why Ambrose's World War II books Band of Brothers, The Wild Blue, and Citizen Soldiers have had such a profound effect on the nation's psyche.

D-Day June 6, 1944: The Climactic Battle of World War II begins with a moving prologue that describes the start of the invasion -- the night airborne assault on the far eastern and western flanks of the initial landing zones. Ambrose tells the stories of British Lieut. Den Brotheridge of the British 6th Airborne Division, who landed with Maj. John Howard on the easternmost landing zone, and Lieut. Bob Matthias of the...

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Fardreamer says "Gunner Station version of Darth Vader's TIE: so-so for this fan" about Hasbro Star Wars - The Power of the Force Gunner Station: TIE Fighter with Darth Vader

Fardreamer — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 19:12:59 GMT

Produced in the interim period between the 1997 Star Wars Trilogy Special Edition re-release and the premiere of Star Wars - Episode I: The Phantom Menace, the Gunner Station series of toys was comprised of three sets featuring a 3.75-inch action figure and a partial recreation of a spacecraft's "business end," namely the two quad-laser mounts of the Millennium Falcon with Luke Skywalker and Han Solo, and part of the cockpit of the TIE Advanced x1 with Darth Vader.

Model: Custom Built "Bent Wing" Space Superiority Starfighter
Affiliation: Galactic Empire
Crew: 1 Pilot
Lenght: 9.2 Meters
Weapons: 2 Laser Cannons - from the package of Gunner Station: TIE Fighter with Darth Vader

The Gunner Station: Essentially, the Gunner Station: TIE Fighter with Darth Vader is merely a cutaway section of the TIE Advanced x1's cockpit; the "ball" has been removed from the rest of the fighter and the top has been removed, so all we have is the lower half of the cockpit with its pilot's seat, a moveable...

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Fardreamer says "Paul Greengrass' United 93 is stark look at events of 9-11" about United 93

Fardreamer — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:27:50 GMT

In 2006, when Universal Pictures announced it was releasing writer-director Paul Greengrass' United 93, there was a mixed reception. While some were anticipating the film, most thought that "five years on" was much too soon for Hollywood to bring the horrific events of September 11, 2001 from the pages of recent history to the silver screen.

Some people thought that the families and friends of the 40 passengers and crew who died aboard the only hijacked plane of four that didn't hit its intended target would be upset. Others said they feared the film would distort the truth. Still others said they weren't emotionally ready to watch a movie - no matter how well-intentioned it was - about the darkest day in recent American history.

United 93, of course, was not the first dramatization of the events aboard the West Coast-bound airliner which crashed in a field outside Shanksville, Pennsylvania as its passengers and surviving crew members fought to wrest control of the plane from...

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Fardreamer says "These are the best Star Wars soundtrack recordings ever!" about The Best Versions of the Star Wars Original Soundtrack Albums

Fardreamer — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 20:20:58 GMT

A long time ago (1978) but not in a galaxy far, far away, on my 15th birthday a friend of the family's presented me with the two-record (LP) album of music from the original soundtrack from the film then simply known as Star Wars.

The two-record album came in a record sleeve with a white-on-black rendering of the Star Wars logo and the words "music composed and conducted by John Williams, performed by the London Symphony Orchestra" on the front, and a stylized rendering of Darth Vader's helmet and breath mask on the back, along with the track lists for both records.

I was 15 at the time and had just gotten my first stereo system, and because I had that youthful ardor for Star Wars that bordered on insane obsession, I listened to the records until they became unplayable due to needle scratches.

What I didn't realize because I didn't keep my liner notes (I was 15!) was that most original soundtrack albums are usually abridged "samplers" of music from movies and television soundtracks rather...

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Fardreamer says "Christian Bale shines in Spielberg's 1987 Empire of the Sun" about Empire of the Sun

Fardreamer — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 18:56:53 GMT

If you've read my Viewpoints reviews in the Movies & DVDs category on a regular basis, you probably noticed that I'm a big fan of Steven Spielberg's movies.

To be honest, there are some Spielberg films I really can't stomach. I fell asleep during theatrical screenings of Always and Hook, and I have never wanted to go see The Terminal even though it stars Tom Hanks.

Most of the time, though, I thoroughly enjoy the films of Steven Spielberg; they can be sheer escapist fun (the Indiana Jones series), sentimental Americana (E.T.), true science fiction (Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Jurassic Park), scary-but-action packed (Jaws), or downright dramatic (The Sugarland Express).

In the mid-1980s, Spielberg's movies began to veer from the crowd-pleasing spectacles to more mature films; 1986's The Color Purple earned Oprah Winfrey her Best Supporting Actress Oscar and really put Whoopi Goldberg on the serious-actors' map, but Spielberg himself was snubbed when he was not even nominated...

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Fardreamer says "Alien 3 is the sadly so-so chapter in the Alien Quadrilogy" about Alien 3

Fardreamer — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 20:42:15 GMT

One of the sad things about the film industry, especially in Hollywood, is the annoying habit in which a successful movie that was written as a stand-alone viewing experience somehow becomes a franchise simply because it made lots of money at the box office.

Sure, you can make a case for it being a case of fiscal conservatism and a fear of risk-taking on the major studios' part (people tend to stick to the tried and true when it comes to movies, no matter how they might argue otherwise0, or you can even argue that in Hollywood original thinking is not to be commended.

I happen to think that though those elements do influence a studio when a "one-off" movie suddenly becomes a series, the biggest factor in greenlighting sequels is greed.

Now, you'd think that the folks at 20th Century Fox and Brandywine Films might have studied what Universal Pictures did with 1970's Airport and 1975's Jaws. Both were intended to be "one-off" adaptations of popular best-sellers by Arthur Hailey and Peter...

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Fardreamer says "Spielberg's take on Jaws still scares me out of the water!" about Jaws

Fardreamer — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 18:34:28 GMT

In 1975, when Steven Spielberg's film version of Peter Benchley's shark-attack novel Jaws was released, I was only 12 years old.

This, of course, meant that if I wanted to go see Jaws in theaters - as many as my friends did or claimed they did - I had to go with either my mom (on her day off from work) or with my older sister, who was then 25 and wasn't too keen on the idea of going to the movies with her pest of a younger sibling.

Now, my mom isn't one of those narrow-minded parents who reject everything that is new or "in" as far as movies go; she even got into Star Wars when she went with me to see Star Wars - Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back in May of 1980.

But Mom, like most of us, isn't too keen about sharks even though the chances of being attacked by one are very remote, so when I asked her if she would go with me to see Jaws she said, in no uncertain terms, "No. Ask your sister if she'll go with you, but I'm not taking you or dropping you off to see it on your own."

I asked my...

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Fardreamer says "Luke Skywallker in Stormtrooper Disguise: cool collector's item" about Hasbro Star Wars - The Power of the Force: Luke Skywalker in Stormtrooper Disguise

Fardreamer — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 17:44:48 GMT

Disguised as stormtroopers and fighting off a regiment of Imperial troops inside the Death Star, the escaping band of heroes finds refuge in a garbage receptacle. The Rebels realize their problem has changed when the walls begin closing in. - From the package blurb.

The One That Got Away

In 1985, when Kenner Toys was still a General Mills-owned but still viable toymaking company, it closed down the movie-specific product line based on Star Wars - Episode VI: Return of the Jedi and created a catch-all one called The Power of the Force Collection.

Two years had passed since the release of the conclusion of the Classic Star Wars trilogy and Kenner's sales strategy had to evolve if it was going to keep on selling figures to a consumer base that seemed to be less and less interested in a movie series that probably would never be finished and more interested in college, jobs and the opposite sex.

1985 was also the year during which I started college; I had $2,000 in my savings account when I...

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Fardreamer says "Luke Skywalker from deleted scene still gets an action figure!" about Hasbro Star Wars - The Power of the Force: Luke Skywalker (Flashback Figure)

Fardreamer — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 16:53:49 GMT

Bored with the mundane life of a moisture farmer on Tatooine, Luke Skywalker dreamed of being a great pilot. He targeted womp rats while racing his T-16 skyhopper through the steep and narrow walls of Beggar's Canyon. Many years earlier, Luke's father also raced over the surface of Tatooine in his podracer. Anakin evntually turned to the dark side and became Darth Vader but was finally redeemed by his son Luke. - From the package blurb

Although my favorite character in the six-Episode Star Wars saga is the dual-natured Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader, his son Luke isn't too far behind. Other fans might call him "whiny li'l Jedi" and criticize actor Mark Hamill for hamming it up in some scenes (especially in the "I am your father" scene from The Empire Strikes Back), but I agree with director Irvin Kershner and acknowledge that Luke is the emotional center of the Classic Trilogy. For me, therefore, any figure of the character was, when I was actively collecting the 3.75-inch scaled ones,...

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Fardreamer says "Despite "sticky" issues, Sebulba's Pod Racer is still cool!" about Hasbro Star Wars - Episode I: Sebulba's Pod Racer

Fardreamer — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 16:51:05 GMT

It is said that in all of Mos Espa, there is no better pod racer than Sebulba. A member of the Dug species, Sebulba is feared by his competitors for his aggressive racing tactics and nerves of plastisteel. Sebulba's success is due much to the fact that he will do whatever necessary to win, even if it means resorting to dirty tricks. His high performance pod racer is packed with certain "illegal" modifications used to eliminate fellow racers. On Boonta Eve race day however, a young competitor named Anakin Skywalker will give the infamous Sebulba a run for his money. - From the package blurb

I've been collecting Star Wars action figures and their various accessories for over 30 years, and like most fans of George Lucas' space-fantasy tale set "a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away," I have to say that the space and ground vehicles used throughout the saga make for the most interesting collectibles.

Although I prefer the space-crossing vehicles, I also have a veritable motor pool of...

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Fardreamer says "Ripley and the Marines go to war in 1986's Aliens in fine sequel" about Aliens

Fardreamer — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 16:33:06 GMT

in my review of Ridley Scott's 1979 sci-fi/horror movie Alien, I pointed out that I didn't get to see that film in theaters until the videocassette was released in the mid-1980s.

That's not to say that I didn't know what transpired; I did get Alan Dean Foster's novelization that same year by ordering it through my junior high school's Scholastic Books Club program and read the "young adult" edition (presumably Foster wrote one version without all the F-bombs and S-based swear words from the screenplay). Later, I found the graphic novel and read it so many times that it fell apart. (No fooling!)

I eventually did see the entire Alien Quadrilogy on DVD, but to date I've only seen two of them in theaters: James Cameron's muscular Aliens and David Fincher's "disavowed" Alien 3.

Aliens: Vietnam War in Space

Released in the summer of 1986, Aliens takes up Lt. Ripley's (Sigourney Weaver) story after the space tug Nostromo's ill-fated encounter with a single alien lifeform that resulted in...

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Fardreamer says "Anakin's Pod Racer is a nifty Star Wars collectible" about Hasbro Star Wars - Episode I: Anakin Skywalker's Pod Racer

Fardreamer — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 15:22:31 GMT

Ever since my ex-neighbors Sheila and Chuck Blanchard presented me with the original Kenner Toys Landspeeder as part of my 15th birthday present back in 1978, replicas of the various Star Wars land and speace vehicles have been important additions to my large - if never totally complete - collection of Kenner/Hasbro Star Wars action figures and their accessories.

Considering that a great deal of the appeal all of the Star Wars movies have is based on how nifty the vehicles used by the heroes and villains are, it's not surprising that a semi-serious collector such as Your Humble Correspondent would make room in his (or her) house for the very detailed replicas of X-Wings, A-Wings, B-Wings, TIE Fighters, Imperial Walkers and, yes, even pod racers from the Prequel Trilogy made by first Kenner, then Hasbro.

Anakin Skywalker's Pod Racer

The high speed, adrenaline-packed pod races in Mos Espa are immensely popular events for the local populace. The pilots of these pod racers must have...

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Fardreamer says "Splinter of the Mind's Eye: The Star Wars film that never was..." about Alan Dean Foster - Splinter of the Mind's Eye

Fardreamer — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 15:52:13 GMT

In 1978, when I was still a junior high student caught up in the excitement over Star Wars, my then-best friend, Raul Fonseca, came up to me with a most astonishing revelation.

It was during home room, where Mr. Coats would take attendance and make sure we had all of our books and materials ready for our classes, so this was one of the few times during the school day when we could say "Hi" and chit-chat about stuff that interested us.

Most of the time we'd talk about pretty girls in school (I was extremely girl-crazy in 1978), Saturday Night Live and how the Miami Dolphins were faring. But because Raul had been one of the guys who had most pushed me to see Star Wars and was almost a bigger fan than I was, we also discussed that movie in depth, with most of our talks centering on whether or not there would be a Star Wars: Part II.

On this particular morning, Raul (who was confined to a wheelchair because he had muscular dystrophy) looked like the cat who had swallowed the proverbial canary....

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Fardreamer says "Power of the Jedi Ketwol sheds light on cantina alien" about Hasbro Star Wars Power of the Jedi Ketwol

Fardreamer — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 18:10:43 GMT

A long time ago (30 years ago, actually) in a city not too far away (my home town, to be exact), I was given my first Star Wars collectibles - a Landspeeder and the action figures depicting C-3PO and R2-D2 - as birthday presents.

Though I hadn't planned on becoming a collector at age 15, Kenner's action figure collection was one of the few means available back in 1978 for Star Wars fans to take home some of the fun and wonder of George Lucas' galactic saga of good and evil. Videocassette recorders were still pricey then, and though books and soundtracks can often satisfy some fans' need to "own" a part of that "galaxy far, far away," the little replicas of Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Ben (Obi-Wan) Kenobi, Han Solo, Chewbacca, and - of course - the villainous Darth Vader were kids' favorite gateway to the Star Wars universe.

One of Star Wars' (or, more correctly, Star Wars - Episode IV: A New Hope) most famous sequences is the "bar scene" at the Mos Eisley cantina on Tatooine, which...

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Fardreamer says "Dagobah Darth Vader is a keeper, but tends to lose its head!" about Hasbro Star Wars - Power of the Jedi Darth Vader (Dagobah)

Fardreamer — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 18:43:07 GMT

Taking the form of Darth Vader , the Dark Lord of the Sith, this spirit is the embodiment of the dark side of the Force. It dwells in a cave on the swamp-covered planet of Dagobah. Although defeated by Luke Skywalker in combat, its unmasked face revealed that Luke has yet to master the ways of the Force and become a Jedi. - From the Jedi Fact File

When I was still a geeky and introverted teenager, I used to spend hours arranging my Kenner Star Wars action figures on shelves and a few Action Playsets in rough approximations of famous scenes from the Classic Trilogy. Using the Dagobah Action Playset, the original 1978 Darth Vader and the 1980 Luke Skywalker (Bespin Fatigues), I created a crude but somewhat satisfactory diorama recreating the beginning of the "Force vision quest" scene. Vader and Luke stood on little pegged stands which could be moved back and forth to simulate the short duel. Of course, in those days one had to imagine the end results of the encounter, for there was only...

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Fardreamer says "Princess Leia in Ceremonial Dress finally gets her action figure" about Hasbro Star Wars -The Power of the Force: Princess Leia in Ceremonial Dress with Medal of Honor

Fardreamer — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 17:16:02 GMT

When Kenner Toys (which was absorbed by its archrival Hasbro in the early 1990s) first introduced its 3.75-inch Star Wars action figures in 1978, it only released one-figure-fits-all renditions of the main characters from Star Wars - Episode IV: A New Hope, even when they wore different outfits in the movies.

This practice was acceptable with such figures as Chewbacca, Darth Vader, Imperial Stormtrooper, Tusken Raider and the various droids and aliens which didn't need different outfits.

But for characters such as Luke Skywalker, Ben (Obi-Wan) Kenobi and Princess Leia Organa, who wore at least two outfits or subtle variations of one in the film, the one-figure-fits-all approach was limiting. Older kids (10 and up) had to suspend their disbelief when placing the Tatooine-clad Luke figures in their X-Wing Fighters when they knew that Rebel pilots wore flight suits, and teen-to-adult collectors (such as Yours Truly) wondered why Kenner wasn't making variants that looked more authentic...

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Fardreamer says "Grown-up Star Wars fans will love this Princess Leia collectible" about Hasbro Star Wars - Princess Leia in Ceremonial Gown 1999 Portrait Edition

Fardreamer — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 01:57:21 GMT

If you've seen George Lucas' six-episode Star Wars film saga, you may have noticed that each of the movies ends with an almost all-musical coda with all - or some - of our heroes in the center of the frame before the "iris out" to the End Credits roll up.

The first of these, of course, was the sequence in which Luke Skywaller, Han Solo and Chewbacca are awarded the Medal of Valor by Princess Leia Organa after the battle of Yavin and the destruction of the Death Star in Star Wars - Episode IV: A New Hope.

Here, to the strains of John Williams' triumphant Throne Room march, Carrie Fisher's character was beautifully attired in a John Mollo-designed ceremonial gown that seemed more fitting for a member of the Royal House of Alderaan than the simple white outfit she wore throughout much of the movie.

Although most of Hasbro's Star Wars lines of 3.75-inch action figures and their larger 12-inch counterparts are normally recommended for children 4 and older, it has released a series of collectibles...

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Fardreamer says "Despite a few flaws, Hasbro's TIE Interceptor is still cool!" about Hasbro Star Wars Power of the Jedi TIE Interceptor

Fardreamer — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 17:15:11 GMT

Back in 1984, six years after Kenner Toys introduced its then-revolutionary Star Wars toy and collectibles line and one year after 20th Century Fox and Lucasfilm Limited released Star Wars - Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, the Cincinnati-based company rolled out its version of the dreaded Imperial TIE Interceptor.

Based on the Empire's speedy and heavily-armed starfighter seen during the Battle of Endor sequence in the climactic third movie of the Classic Star Wars Trilogy, the TIE Interceptor vehicle was an adequate toy/Star Wars collectible which had its share of strengths and weaknesses.

Like the first (and unsatisfying) version of Darth Vader's TIE Advanced x-1 starfighter, the original TIE Interceptor was essentially a standard TIE sphere with the new dagger-style bent-wings.

Of course, this is not a design cheat (unlike Darth Vader's first TIE fighter), and at least the coloring was Imperial gray rather than the 1978 white TIE Fighter and it was accurate as far as the proportions...

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