UNITE the Jurassic Crew!

I've spoken to the main resources behind the Ranger Corps production and everyone is back on board. We've decided to shrink the size of the production and instead focus all our effort in a much more intense easily manageable piece of pie. Better to not bite off more than we can chew. I've promised to start work on the script, an early first draft drawn from the previous versions of Ranger Corps. It's a little sad to see all that work we did fleshing out characters get trimmed and cut, but in the end it's really the direction we have to go.

I've already made a decent amount of progress. The 'intro' of the film has essentially been edited together and only a few special effects are left in the way of finishing it off. The speed of which this has been accomplished can be attributed to a few 'advertiser' tricks up my sleeve, namely b-roll. But using this footage has increased production value, by showing aspects I would never be able to film myself (like areal shots over Hawaii). Thankfully, with a lot of animated models previously being created, this means production time is going to be a lot faster in general. This does however provide us with a certain challenge. The script is being condensed and much of the 3D models I've created can and will be utilized. But in a sense it's almost like building this film around a checklist. Does it include 'this, this and this'? Good. That's not necessarily bad and if anything opens up doors to new animation possibilities- without the concern of over burdening myself.

The rest of the crew is on standby until I can produce the first draft of the script. I'm excited and terrified all at once, as every scene and word spoken has to directly feed into the story and move it along in a very direct manor- time is our limiting factor this go around.

In my last post, I spoke about consumerism and how much of a role it takes in Jurassic Park. It was an aspect we previously had in prior versions of the script, but perhaps until now it wasn't fully understood. I'm really excited to see where this line of thought will lead us down the road. In particular, I'd like to offer audiences a certain twisted humor, or dark irony in how this plays out in reality. 'When shit hits the fan- save the park, in the most economic form possible.'

Star Wars Rebels meets The Force Unleashed?

If you're avoiding spoilers, turn back now. However, if you've managed to watch the entire first season of Star Wars: Rebels come with me to bask in it's twist and turns. To really appreciate SW:R you have to rewind the clocks to the days of Star Wars: The Clone Wars. In my opinion Dave Filoni can be credited to reviving the SW prequels as actually entertaining. While many have expressed their opinions over the movies, there's really no denying that Filoni took a shamble of storytelling and made sense of it all. Of course he had help, but Filoni pioneered The Clone Wars in a way that mended broken Star Wars fans and brought them back to the prequel table. I was one of them.

Then the day came- Disney took over and suddenly the expanded universe was shattered, it was like as if a thousand voices screamed out at once... Needless to say I was pretty nervous, but I was happy to hear that The Clone Wars series along with the films would be be canon moving forward. While many of the story arcs remained unfinished, such as Asajj Ventress, Darth Maul, Ahsoka Tano and numerous others. We're now starting to see a ray of sunshine in what many fans considered a disservice by canceling the show. There's already reports of novels being written that will close the arcs on characters such as Asajj Ventress and season one of Star Wars: Rebels started a new arc for one very important character: Ahsoka.

As fans of The Clone Wars will tell you, Ahsoka started as the young, whiny kid nobody wanted following Anakin around. But as time went by and her character developed into a young woman fans started to grow fond of her character. In a sense, she complemented Anakin. She grounded him like most kids ground and mature normal people here on Earth. Suddenly Anakin had someone to take care of, to show what was right and wrong- and why. Things weren't always easy and Anakin learned a lot about himself along the way. But their relationship came to a sudden end when Ahsoka, disillusioned by the politics of the Jedi Order, left to follow her own path. It was a heavy blow to Anakin, but honestly I don't think anyone could blame her for leaving. Doing so however, saved her from the Jedi Purge and Order 66.


By the finale of Rebels (14 years later for those who are counting), we learn that Ahsoka is back and a member of the still fragile Rebellion. What position and if people even know she's a former Jedi is unclear. But we know that the spark has been lit. It's important to note that Bail Organa was there too and seemingly in a leader position. This is important, as Bail previously in the old canon- was a founding member of The Rebellion. It's also rather interesting to see that they decided to bring back Ahsoka at all, rather than simply finish her storyline in a novel or comic. Not to say that any of those sources have less merit, but simply because Rebels has a much larger audience at the end of the day. Bringing her back was certainly not an oversight, it's a very calculated move.

What's even more exciting is to see Darth Vader's arrival on the scene. With the Inquisitors exit from the show (or at least we're led to believe), it means bringing Darth Vader into a much more prominent role for the show and much grander scope to the Rebellion movement. Truthfully, I don't see the Inquisitor returning. While it's possible he may return as a supporting character of some sort, perhaps rebuilt like Darth Maul- his death marked a transition in the show. The Ghost Crew wasn't a real rebellion force, nor was the Inquisitor a real Sith. But the finale changed all that- suddenly what wasn't, now is. Which brings me to the future of the series.

We're moving into pretty touchy old canon territory. The formation of the Rebellion has already been covered through numerous sources, most prominently in The Force Unleashed. While many fans disdain the overpowered abilities of the central character: Starkiller- I still loved the narrative. While an overpowered character such as Starkiller does seem a bit much for today's new narrative, that doesn't mean there couldn't be a restructured telling of the old canon and this is why I think we're about to.

For those who don't know, Starkiller was Darth Vader's secret apprentice. Promised to rule the galaxy with Vader once they overthrew the Emperor, things went terribly wrong and Vader was forced to turn on Starkiller, using him as bait to bring the enemies of the Emperor together to be exterminated.

First, there's this rumor that has emerged, in which actor Sam Witwer (Starkiller) is interested in playing a role in season two. The article points to him voicing the Emperor. A good choice, considering his experience voicing the Emperor in The Force Unleashed, but I think it's a little odd he's been overlooked as reprising his role as Starkiller. There's really two reasons beyond the rumor that could make sense. For one, the return of Ahsoka is too good of an opportunity for her to reunite with Anakin- now as Darth Vader. As his former apprentice, this just begs for a very uneasy confrontation between the two. Something I'm sure the writers will drag out for a while.

More importantly, Starkiller was Darth Vader's secret apprentice. It's important to note that this notion of a secret apprentice was created before Ahsoka's character was ever conceived. But from a story telling perspective, it would make for a really amazing narrative to see Darth Vader, now evil- with a new apprentice, one in which he tortures physically and mentally as a dark reflection of his relationship between Anakin and Ahsoka.

The best reason to bring back Starkiller is because the writers killed off his character at the end of The Force Unleashed. While his character returned for the sequel, I'd be just as satisfied if they left that story to 'legends'. But it means no loose ends to worry about down the road.

So is any of this possible? Discuss in the comments!

DLC /Rant

I love the Total War franchise. But I can't even begin to tell you how much I hate the DLC for it. It's not the DLC itself, while I'm sure the majority of it is solid content. But it really annoys the piss out of me when I'm paying an additional $2 for a 'Blood & Gore' pack, when in reality this should have been included in the game. This isn't even a new feature by any extent- as Shogun 2 provided it as DLC (and possibly Empire?). I'm not even against DLC in terms of extending the gameplay- such as Gameplay Campaigns. But when it's frivolous money hording that's another story.

Take The Sims 4 for instance. Here's a game franchise in which has been gutted and strung up for the player to purchase as a full game. But to many gamer's surprise, what they got was nothing short of 'core gameplay' without any of the bells and whistles the franchise had become known for. Admittedly I haven't played it due to the reviews. But in investigating Sims 4, I was shocked to discover the developers left out such things as dishwashers, the toddler stage of growth, or even swimming pools- and their excused for why they choose to simply aren't that great. I fear we are moving into a poorly motivated system where gamers are being exploited for their pockets and love of the entertainment. The problem that I foresee is this becoming far worse before it gets any better. With any luck, the community as a whole will respond in force.

/Rant