Darth Vader is Dead

 RIP Dave Prowse, Sith Lord and Green Cross Man.

Here he is rehearsing the light saber battle with Obi Wan Kenobi (and I think it's delightful that Alec Guinness is wearing slippers here!):

Chewbacca has Died - Goodbye Peter Mayhew

Farewell to Peter Mayhew, who played Chewbacca from 1976 to 2017. He was 74.

RIP Gary Kurtz

I just heard that Gary Kurtz, the film producer who worked on Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back (among many other films) has died.
I remember seeing him as a guest at a British Star Trek Convention in the early 1980s, where he spoke about making the Star Wars films, and was very courteous in answering all the questions he was asked. Back then he had a beard with no moustache, and I'm pretty sure he talked about being a Quaker as well as the film related stuff.

May the Fourth be With You

Carrie Fisher

There has been a great disturbance in the Force....

Goodbye, R2D2

Or rather, Kenny Baker, who operated the droid. He was 83, and had been ill for some time. Here he is at the opening night of the last Star Wars film:

This picture's from the Guardian.

But he was much more than just the operator of R2D2.
In his long career, he worked as the shadow ringmaster in Billy Smart's Circus, and with many famous British comedians of the 1960s and 70s. He was even a Diddyman with Ken Dodd! He also played the harmonica as part of the Minitones musical comedy duo, and he could ice skate, starting off in Holiday on Ice and appearing in ice shows for the next twenty years all over the world. He was one of those old-fashioned variety entertainers who could turn his hand to anything.

Jedi Librarian

My Young Man knows a lot more about Star Wars than I do, so I was surprised when he told me that Jedi Librarians are a real thing in the extended universe. He even found this picture for me:



I love this idea, so this is what I'm going to try to put together as my hall costume for EasterCon next year.

James Hance SF and Fantasy Art

On Facebook, I follow The High Council of Timelords who post, as you would expect, Doctor Who related material. Just recently, they started posting pictures by an artist called James Hance. He was doing a charcoal sketch of each Doctor, in order, over a couple of weeks - and they are just superb! I think my favourite has to be David Tennant, but here they all are:

He's selling them as prints on ebay - under the name "jimjeroodles".

He's also done sketches of Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock - and something else. I knew I'd seen his name somewhere before, and then it came to me - he also drew this:

Can there be many things cuter than a cross between Winnie the Pooh and Star Wars?