Latest news with #StarWarsDay
Yahoo
05-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘Andor' Creator on That Stunner 'Genocide' Speech and Its Real-Life Inspiration
Great sci-fi often serves as an allegory for current social and political issues. But never before has Star Wars hit such a topical bullseye — intentional or not — as Tuesday's episodes of Andor season two when a character delivered a stunner speech that warned of rising government authoritarianism, the dilution of fact-based reality, and the reluctance to use the word 'genocide.' More from The Hollywood Reporter 'Andor' Star Denise Gough on Dedra Meero's Worst Nightmare Coming True How May the 4th Became Known as Star Wars Day and How It's Being Celebrated The Best May the 4th Gifts for 'Star Wars' Superfans, from R2-D2 Watches to the Force-Inspired Candles Airing on Disney+ the same day a Drudge Report headline became the latest to warn of 'America's Slide Into Authoritarianism,' the acclaimed drama series featured a sequence where the courageous politician Mon Mothma (Genevieve O'Reilly) risks her life to deliver a speech before the Galactic Senate where she furiously attacked Emperor Palpatine and his Imperial forces. But one can also easily imagine her words being said by a politician on C-SPAN right now. 'I believe we are in crisis,' Mothma says. 'The distance between what is said today and what is known to be true has become an abyss. Of all the things at risk, the loss of an objective reality is perhaps the most dangerous. The death of truth is the ultimate victory of evil. When truth leaves us, when we let it slip away, when it is ripped from our hands, we become vulnerable to the appetite of whatever monster screams the loudest.' And then, referring to a prior sequence where Imperial forces massacred peaceful protesters on the planet Ghorman — a world the Imperials invaded to exploit a precious mineral — Mothma says, 'What took place yesterday… was unprovoked genocide.' At this, the other senators cry out in protest at Mothma's use of the word. 'Yes, genocide!' she repeated. 'And the monster screaming the loudest, that we helped create, the monster who will come for us all, soon enough, is Emperor Palpatine.' It's worth noting that Andor season two began production in November 2022 and wrapped around February 2024. So filming was completed long before the reelection of Donald Trump and just a few months after the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 (the latter having sparked much debate among experts over the last two years — such as here and here — over the right or wrongness of using the word 'genocide' when describing Israel's military response in Gaza). Nonetheless, the scene has some viewers on social media interpreting the moment as pro-Palestinian. Asked about the sequence and its real-life inspirations, Andor creator Tony Gilroy told The Hollywood Reporter, 'The really sorry truth about the about this question — and we get it a lot — is that peace and prosperity and calm are the rarities. Those are rarities throughout the last 6,000 years of recorded history. You could drop this show at any point in the last 6,000 years, and it would make sense to some people about what's happening to them.' Continued Gilroy: 'I mean, the control of truth has always been a scabbard of power. Power dictates the narrative, and always has tried to always do that. Look at what the Empire does to Ghorman with their propaganda campaign. The very first scene [in the season] that Krennic has where he talks about Ghorman, that's based on the Wannsee convention — the convention where the Nazis got together and planned the final solution over a business lunch. You could say all this about the Gulf of Tonkin — which got America into Vietnam — or you could say the burning of the Reichstag [which paved the way to the Nazi's rise to power], or you could say the sinking of the Lusitania [which pushed America into World War I]. You go all the way through history, and power is the control of truth. So I think with that speech, we were looking to be timeless and classic.' Added the creator, a bit wearily, 'And I'm not psychic.' The second and final season of the Star Wars drama has been not pulling punches when it comes to depicting a wartime drama. In addition to that Wannsee convention scene (see the real-life photos and how closely the Andor setting matched up), the show made headlines during its premiere episodes by staging the first rape attempt in Star Wars content in a scene involving Bix (Adria Arjona). 'I get one shot to tell everything I know — or can discover, or that I've learned — about revolution, about battles, with as many incidents and as many colors as I can get in there, without having [the story] tip over,' Gilroy said about the latter sequence. 'I mean, let's be honest, man: The history of civilization, there's a huge arterial component of it that's rape. All of us who are here — we are all the product of rape. I mean armies and power throughout history [have committed rape]. So to not touch on it, in some way… It just was organic and it felt right, coming about as a power trip for this guy. I was really trying to make a path for Bix that would ultimately lead to clarity — but a difficult path to get back to clarity.' Andor Disney+'s acclaimed Star Wars drama series which currently has the highest rating of any Star Wars TV show or movie on Rotten Tomatoes. The show follows the adventures of Rebel Alliance leader Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) and leads up to the events in the film Rogue One. The final three episodes air next week. Best of The Hollywood Reporter 22 of the Most Shocking Character Deaths in Television History A 'Star Wars' Timeline: All the Movies and TV Shows in the Franchise 'Yellowstone' and the Sprawling Dutton Family Tree, Explained
Sydney Morning Herald
31-05-2025
- Business
- Sydney Morning Herald
A drawer full of heads and 30 million bricks: inside the secret warehouse where Lego masterpieces are built
Sitting at tables around the warehouse or standing around models are the Lego builders painstakingly placing bricks, after consulting computer models that show the 'rough shape' of where the bricks go. One group of six are working side by side on a giant model of a beanie, which they are creating for a motor neurone disease charity event. Another Lego builder is working on a model of a dinosaur destined for a Lego store in New Delhi in India. No photographs are allowed that include any of the Lego builds under construction because of strict confidentiality agreements. Overhead cameras film each Lego build on time-lapse, with the footage to be released once the build is finished, and small exhaust pipes hang from each work station to extract the fumes from all the glue. While building Lego might be literally child's play, McNaught and his team take it very seriously. 'Everybody knows how to put two Lego bricks together, that's an easy thing to do,' he says. 'We teach a certain method and style of Lego building.' McNaught says Lego is not designed to be made into giant structures, so there is a lot of skill and technique in the 'artistry of Lego' which needs to be taught. He uses a method called 'north, south, east, west', which means that you alternate direction when building layers of bricks, which helps with strength and stability. 'There's also a technique we use called SNOT, which stands for studs not on top. We turn bricks in different directions, which give us shearing strength,' he says. 'There's a whole heap of things like that. On average, it takes a person about two years before they're proficient in those techniques. Call it an apprenticeship, if you will.' The Lego builders work at adjustable tables to protect their backs, and McNaught says the main occupational hazard is calluses from the hard plastic blocks. 'We have really good calluses on our fingers,' he says. 'If you look at anyone who's a builder, you can see exactly whether they're left-handed or right-handed or both-handed, because of the calluses.' McNaught is one of only 21 certified Lego professionals in the world, which gives him permission to use the Lego brand and to contract to Lego. But this title does not give McNaught any discount on the crates of Lego he purchases. 'We wish,' he laughs. 'We pay a fortune for Lego. We're the No.2 or 3 consumer of Lego in the world.' Loading McNaught estimates he has 30 million Lego bricks in his warehouse, with the Star Wars Lego exhibition alone using more than 8 million bricks and taking McNaught and his team more than 25,000 hours to build. The exhibition opened on Star Wars Day, May 4, and runs until the end of January; 35,627 tickets have already been sold. Tim Rolfe, director of exhibitions and experiences at Museums Victoria, said the exhibition was on track to be a bestseller.
The Age
31-05-2025
- Business
- The Age
A drawer full of heads and 30 million bricks: inside the secret warehouse where Lego masterpieces are built
Sitting at tables around the warehouse or standing around models are the Lego builders painstakingly placing bricks, after consulting computer models that show the 'rough shape' of where the bricks go. One group of six are working side by side on a giant model of a beanie, which they are creating for a motor neurone disease charity event. Another Lego builder is working on a model of a dinosaur destined for a Lego store in New Delhi in India. No photographs are allowed that include any of the Lego builds under construction because of strict confidentiality agreements. Overhead cameras film each Lego build on time-lapse, with the footage to be released once the build is finished, and small exhaust pipes hang from each work station to extract the fumes from all the glue. While building Lego might be literally child's play, McNaught and his team take it very seriously. 'Everybody knows how to put two Lego bricks together, that's an easy thing to do,' he says. 'We teach a certain method and style of Lego building.' McNaught says Lego is not designed to be made into giant structures, so there is a lot of skill and technique in the 'artistry of Lego' which needs to be taught. He uses a method called 'north, south, east, west', which means that you alternate direction when building layers of bricks, which helps with strength and stability. 'There's also a technique we use called SNOT, which stands for studs not on top. We turn bricks in different directions, which give us shearing strength,' he says. 'There's a whole heap of things like that. On average, it takes a person about two years before they're proficient in those techniques. Call it an apprenticeship, if you will.' The Lego builders work at adjustable tables to protect their backs, and McNaught says the main occupational hazard is calluses from the hard plastic blocks. 'We have really good calluses on our fingers,' he says. 'If you look at anyone who's a builder, you can see exactly whether they're left-handed or right-handed or both-handed, because of the calluses.' McNaught is one of only 21 certified Lego professionals in the world, which gives him permission to use the Lego brand and to contract to Lego. But this title does not give McNaught any discount on the crates of Lego he purchases. 'We wish,' he laughs. 'We pay a fortune for Lego. We're the No.2 or 3 consumer of Lego in the world.' Loading McNaught estimates he has 30 million Lego bricks in his warehouse, with the Star Wars Lego exhibition alone using more than 8 million bricks and taking McNaught and his team more than 25,000 hours to build. The exhibition opened on Star Wars Day, May 4, and runs until the end of January; 35,627 tickets have already been sold. Tim Rolfe, director of exhibitions and experiences at Museums Victoria, said the exhibition was on track to be a bestseller.
Metro
24-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Metro
Star Wars Battlefront 3 needs to have these new features - Reader's Feature
A reader reacts to the sudden popularity of Star Wars Battlefront 2 by making suggestions for how a sequel could improve on it. I enjoyed the recent articles about the best Star Wars games and the iconic TIE Fighter game, which GameCentral did for Star Wars Day recently. I particularly empathised with the bit about not even knowing whether you are a Star Wars fan anymore, given how many poor quality shows and movies there have been. And then, to my surprise, I found myself enjoying a bit of a high with the franchise, thanks to season 2 of Andor and the 20th anniversary of Revenge Of The Sith. Two very different things and you could argue Revenge Of The Sith is not a good movie but it's weird and funny and entertaining in a way bad Star Wars can be sometimes. Because it's a strange series, where you have genuinely good things, cheesy but entertaining things, and absolutely terrible things. And that goes for the movies, the shows… and the games. Obviously, that's what I'm going to try and write about now, because I was inspired by the sudden increase in popularity for Star Wars Battlefront 2, which is being played by more people now (on Steam at least) than when it was released eight years ago. I'm not entirely sure why it blew up like this, but I assume it was because of Star Wars Day and the new releases – and then people just realised that it's actually a really good game. They probably didn't know at first because it was caught up in all the controversy over loot boxes, which EA removed, and a lot of the best maps and characters came with the DLC. Even so, it was not a perfect game. As GameCentral pointed out, the gunplay is not great, and while the ship combat is fine it doesn't integrate into the ground action as well as the old PlayStation 2 game. The hope now is that EA will think about making a third game and apparently a lot of the developers are keen on making it too. Of course, it's not up to them though, especially not given how expensive a game like this would be. But there's so much more Star Wars stuff that could go into a new game now, compared to eight years ago, and it wouldn't have to rely on the awful sequels at all. In fact, I imagine most people would prefer they be left out as much as possible, especially given the upsurge in appreciation for the prequels recently. But other than the six main films I'd like to see more from The Clone Wars and Rebels, as well as The Mandalorian, Ahsoka (she's barely in the current game, beyond one set of skins), Skeleton Crew, and Andor. You'll see a lot of fans saying the game should have a 100 maps or whatever, as a reaction to the current game not launching with much content, but that's just silly. It just needs variety. With all the good stuff we've had lately you can go from prequel era sci-fi fantasy, to space pirates, to weird Force temples, to grounded fights on Coruscant, and jetpack battles on Mandalore. All of these shows have brough their own new vehicles and mounts too, so it doesn't just have to be the same old, and it doesn't matter if you've seen the shows or not because it's just cool designs at the end of the day. I'd also like to see the ability to travel from the ground to space in one map, which is something that was planned for a cancelled PlayStation 2 game but which we still haven't seen in the modern day. Basically, I want to see every possible aspect of the mechanical side of Star Wars in one game, from the weapons to the vehicles to the ships. More Trending I've nothing against Jedi being in it but I think it's important that doesn't over overwhelm. This needs to be the definitive Star Wars combat game and I really hope EA makes it. By reader Gabbo The reader's features do not necessarily represent the views of GameCentral or Metro. You can submit your own 500 to 600-word reader feature at any time, which if used will be published in the next appropriate weekend slot. Just contact us at gamecentral@ or use our Submit Stuff page and you won't need to send an email. MORE: 5 reasons why I'm not buying a Nintendo Switch 2 this year - Reader's Feature MORE: Nintendo Switch 2 is going to be a third party port machine – Reader's Feature MORE: PS6 is Sony's chance to wipe the slate clean and forget the PS5 ever happened - Reader's Feature
Forbes
16-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
‘Star Wars' Music Dominates The Billboard Charts
As Star Wars Day renews interest in the franchise, multiple Star Wars soundtracks return to ... More Billboard's Classical charts, with one new debut among them. CANNES, France: Soldiers of the Empire stand guard at the entrance of the Festival Palace as photographers wait for US director George Lucas and his cast to come out, at the end of the screening of their film "Star Wars : Episode III - Revenge of the Sith", 15 May 2005 at the 58th edition of the Cannes International Film Festival. The seminal sci-fi saga "Star Wars" comes to a rousing close 15 May when the final episode in the six-part series gets its international premiere at the Cannes film festival. The Cannes film festival, the world's top showcase of cinema, started 11 May with a slew of veteran auteurs lining up for the prestigious Palme d'Or prize, and Hollywood muscling in to promote this year's blockbusters. AFP PHOTO GERARD JULIEN (Photo credit should read GERARD JULIEN/AFP via Getty Images) May 4 is internationally recognized as Star Wars Day, as the date is a play on the iconic phrase "May the force be with you," which is a hallmark saying of the hugely successful franchise. Each year, fans honor the vision of George Lucas vision by rewatching the many films — and, apparently, by returning to the music that accompanied them. This renewed interest is reflected on the Billboard charts this week, as several collections from the brand become hits again. As Star Wars surges in popularity again, multiple albums have returned to various charts — and there's even a new arrival. John Williams: The Star Wars Trilogy debuts on two Billboard rankings this frame. The full-length, credited to Varujan Kojian and the Utah Symphony Orchestra, opens at No. 4 on both the Classical Albums and Classical Crossover Albums charts. It's the second-highest rising new title this frame, landing just behind Gems by Josh Groban, which leads both lists. Several other projects from the Star Wars universe return to both tallies this frame. Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back reappears at No. 11 on the Classical Crossover Albums list and No. 12 on the Classical Albums chart. Star Wars: A New Hope is only a few spaces further down, landing once again at No. 13 on the Classical Crossover Albums ranking and No. 16 on the all-encompassing Classical Albums roster. In total, Star Wars music fills four spaces on both Classical Albums charts this frame. Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith dips slightly from where it stood last time. That film — and its accompanying score — has returned to the spotlight following a theatrical re-release in celebration of its twentieth anniversary. While fans continue to support the score, there's more competition now as Star Wars becomes a trending topic all over again. Except for the brand new arrival, all three albums are credited to both John Williams and the London Symphony Orchestra. Star Wars Episode III also credits a group called London Voices. Though Williams doesn't earn a new win on the charts with the debut, his name remains front and center in the album title, as it's his music that fuels this lasting success.
