Invisible Probe Droid
It was an accident! Seriously, you have that many arms and you’re not going to be able to keep track of them! If we’ve jumped the shark, I’m sure its not the first time, but I only decided in the end to upload this strip because it would tide readers over until Monday’s debut of Hoth Leia. 🙂
Couple of things to share. Take a look at this Star Wars Iconoscope, a retelling of the Star Wars movie using only simple iconography. The Star Wars Iconoscope was made by Wayne Dorrington, a UK-based ‘Imperial Web Designer’. Thanks to BMSer “Mark” for sending this our way.
The other thing that I consider to be newsworthy is the announcement that Captain Tarkin will appear in the Clone Wars series. I am a huge Peter Cushing fan. Leanne is a huge Peter Cushing fan. I mean, we seriously are huge fans of all his stuff. We own most of his movies, resorting to bootlegs in many cases, and I personally own one of only 500 copies of the children’s book he wrote and illustrated “The Bois Saga”, signed by the man himself (though sadly I bought it already signed and never had the chance to meet him when I was younger. Certainly a collector’s item, but of personal value to me simply by the fact the man himself actually opened these pages and signed his name!
I improved the image, brightening and adjusting the levels so we can actually see him better
Star Wars.com says: The episode “The Citadel,” which airs at 8:30 p.m. ET/PT Friday, February 18 on Cartoon Network, features the return of a classic Star Wars character from Episode IV. Long before he held the rank of Grand Moff in charge of Death Star operations, he was a Republic officer in the Clone Wars.
But who will voice Tarkin and will they nail Peter Cushing’s eccentricities and charm? The geek part of me hopes so. Yes, we both hated the fact that Tarkin’s cameo in RotS was (as far as I can tell) played by Odo from DS9 and that they completely F-ed up his head and likeness. Obviously, walking out of that movie, having just seen that very scene near the very end of the film, I was not one of the fans walking out of the theater in any kind of celebration.
However, I really like this 3D look. My compliments to the animator. And take note that this will be the first episode of Clone Wars I’ll be watching since attempting to watch the film and failing, and not being able to get through the first episode. Here’s hoping they actually do something with the character rather than use him as the villain of the week. Either way, it’s simply nice to see Tarkin getting some attention. So, why don’t we celebrate by telling our readers to go and read all of his strips in Blue Milk Special (start from the bottom of the list). 🙂
Don’t forget the Carton Competition!
Oh, and why don’t you take a shot at making his milk carton?
Speaking of Cushing.
http://fabfunny.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/funny-celebrity-pictures-peter-cushing-vs-chuck-norris.jpg
That is completely made of WIN.
Not to mention, oh, so true.
I love Wayne Dorrington’s iconograph. The only problem I have with it is that it doesn’t mention the destruction of Alderaan.
Needed to add to the TV Tropes page….
What? Jumping the Shark? I guess it’s not really jumping the shark, unless our readers agree! 🙂
Peter Cushing is excellent in the Doctor Who Movies. I still need to get those on DVD. I haven’t watched any of the 3D animated Star Wars, but Genndy Tartakovsky’s Star Wars: Clone Wars were brilliant. Much better than the prequal films!
Great news! I’m delighted that a great character from the original and best SW movie is to be featured – and like you, gratified that they’ve done a proper design job on him. Tarkin’s evil really comes accross in the radio drama – absolute cavalier attitude toward genocide – and the actor who played him sounded very Cushing-like indeed.
Ah, Rod if this is your first time watching the CW, then let me fill you up on what’s going on so far: Anakin, Obi-wan and Ashoka (the new fairly-annoying CW padawan to ani. Yoda thought having one would help hubling him) is currently battling one of three ancient human-like force-beings: The father, representating the “grey” middle-path of the force, The Daughter, representating the light side and The Son, representating the dark side. this family all have high hopes for ani’s future as the chosen one / darth vader, as if you read between the lines, they have probably had a future vision of ani before even meeting each other. the father is dying of old age and wants ani to replace him, the son just killed the daughter for helping obi-wan, AND to make things worse, the father and qui-gon jinn’s force-ghost (thankfully voiced by the great Liam Neeson himself) said that the status of the family represents the balance between the dark and light side’s influence in the universe (a hint to palpatine’s quick rise to power later). meanwhile the republic is investigating a new sithspawn irridonian created by the nightsisters to infiltrate Count Dooku (still Chris Lee, phew), stronghold as his new assassin after Sidious demanded a test of loyalty by killing his earlier sith assassin, assaj ventress (who was born a nightsister before being sold into slavery and eventually ending up with dooku), which he failed. The sithspawn irridonian is looking for proofs that the (in)famous Darth maul (who he is apperently related to) might be alive on the nightsisters leader, “Mother Tau”‘s behalf. My guess is that Tarkin is one of them investigating the sithspawn. hope that helped! 😀
sadly, for us sweeds, I can’t watch the episode on the net until tomorrow 🙁
Thanks for taking the time to do the summary, Mr. Al. If anything, it is interesting to know which OT Star Wars characters have appeared, though even after the summary they are the only thing I can find any excitement about. The Father, Daughter, Son thing sounds a bit… I don’t know. Anyway, looking forward to Tarkin, most definitely. 🙂
Then you will probably not like the latest episode I’m watching, released yesterday: The Son gave Anakin a vision of five things from his future: Choking padme, the aftermatch of his duel on mustafar, the destruction of alderaan, the emperor force-lightning someone (probably Luke), and the Black mask and Heavy breathing of his soon-to-be life-supporting suit. This tunred him prematurely into Darth Vader deep within the planet which looks just like mustafar. Basicly he got the Idea: to prevent this from happening I have to kill the jedi and swear alliegance to The Son to end the Clone Wars and bring peace to the galaxy”. Sounds familiar, but I’m not sure from where…. *cough*trollface*cough*
Well in the end The Father says “For the Galaxy to have balance you must forget what has been seen and erases Ani’s memeory of the vision The Son Showed him”. Simple, easy and a good way to turn a climatic plot’s ending into a real anti-climax. I mean, I had hoped for some fighting between ani and obi, not just vs the son..
hah! classic! The father kills himself to drain all of The Son’s powers, so Ani can stab him. he then Says “you are the chosen one and will bring balance to the galaxy, as you have done here”, and fades away, leaving only his garments behind. Then all the floating crystals and rocks and every other supernatural element o nthe planet begins to crumble. bang! a big flash of Light and they’re back to the spot in space they where before crashing. the venator star destroyer opens a comlink and says “Sir? we lost you there for a minuete. what happened?”. Ani says “a minuete..?” the three jedi smiling, he concludes “you wouldn’t believe me if I told you”. THE END :3
Oh and btw, so-far, five OT chars have starred in the CW: Greedo, Bossk, Wulf Yularen, Jabba and now, Tarkin. I do not count Boba, as he is depicted how he was in ep. II. Same goes for Yoda and palp. They’re just in their prequel-dressups.
IG-88 haven’t appeared himself, but the IG-series of assassin droids have been part of the main and bi-characters in several episodes. I persoally feed on every tie-in to the OT the CW gives as a starved vampire!
do’h. forgot: mon mothma appears several times when she is part of the council mad eup of padme, bail organa and others to overthrow palp if he does not renounce his jar-jar given powers after the war, and scheming about the would-be Rebel Alliance to restore the Galactic Republic. Yummy!
I’ve been reading this comic for some time now and still cant believe that Star Wars fans dis the Clone Wars cartoon. Its gone from strength to strength and trust me, its a masterpiece compared to any of the prequels. Seriously, you guys need to check it out. Each season gets better and more action orientated than the last and BMS, you could get a lot of source material from this. I’ve never posted on here before but had to, I’m sick of the abuse that cartoon gets. Dont judge it until you’ve given it a proper look. Cheers 🙂
I couldn’t help but judge the series after struggling through the CW movie and just not liking it. I just can’t swallow Anakin portrayed as a heroic character because of his Prequel Trilogy portrayal. I also feel that Ashoka’s insertion as his Padawan is forced and rather unlikely given Anakin’s character traits. I guess, the PT tainted everything so bad for me that I can’t do what I probably NEED to do, which is to treat CW as it’s own separate continuity. Perhaps, sans PT, Anakin is in fact a better character and a closer fit to Ben Kenobi’s description of him in A New Hope? Anyway, I have tried CW but was turned off very quickly by not feeling any connection with the stars and finding the early plot convoluted and uninteresting.
If the Tarkin episode does impress me then I will reevaluate and give the show a second chance. 🙂
Good to know Zbam. I started getting into the first series recently with my son Gave it a chance even though the film was UTTERLY excruciating – doing a diservice to all that went before.
Tell me, does Obi Wan end up dong anything? So far he just appears in (over-used) holograms and bores. Yawwwwn…
Love the comic btw, keep up the good work!
Well, they DID cast Wayne Pygram (aka Scorpius from Farscape) as young Tarkin and his bone structure is much different that Peter Cushing’s. I don’t even think they even have a similar head size. I dunno why they decided to cast him. But *shrug*
I think they just didn’t do ANY research. I think someone who didn’t really know what they were talking about and wasn’t particularly familiar with Cushing, just threw Pygram’s name out there, THINKING they looked similar. And I think because the cameo was so small, no one really cared to make more effort than that. 🙁
Wayne Pygram did not play Odo btw. Odo was played bye Rene Auberjonois. He wouldn’t have been a good fit looking at a couple pictures of both without makeup on. Rene’s face isn’t long enough to pull off Tarkin. I hope they get a good voice actor for Tarkin for the CW. I watch the show occasionally when I bump into it. I really should get it on DVD where I can watch it straight through. I’ve enjoyed the episodes i’ve seen. The movie was horrid, I agree.
I know that. I was joking that the Tarkin face in RotS looking more like the alien shapechanger, Odo, from DS9. 🙂
Delinquent me! A pox on me for not leaving comments sooner. Hm, maybe that’s why my acne’s breaking out lately. Anyway, that’s kinda cool that Tarkin’s making an appearance on Clone Wars; luck willing, he’ll be involved beyond a simple cameo. Since I’m sure Lucas is a fan of the guy, this will indeed be a worthwhile appearance. Do you think the episode will start with him getting out of bed and putting on his slippers before his uniform boots?
3 cheers for the Hannas for posting today’s strip! (Hip Hip HURRAY, Hip Hip HURRAY, Hip Hip HURRAY!!!!!!)
I’m never going to be able to look at my TaunTauns or Probe Droid toys, without cracking up (maybe I should leave them in the boxes for a while longer).
If Luke gets back to Echo Base with saddle sore, we all know what really happened!
Heh, I just noticed today’s comic is in fact new (I appear to be out of it, whatever “it” may be). Yeah that would explain a lot from the movie.
OMG a Tarkin carton! *squee!* X D Bunny slippers and all! And Tarkin in animated form, complete with the essential, iconic Cheekbones of Doom! Very nice likeness – my compliments to the artist.
And you and Leanne are a couple of cheeky monkeys with today’s strip! You naughty pixies, you. ; ) I’m glad you opted to post this strip. It was an inevitable joke, it had to be made. There. Done. What’s next???
Thanks.
Not exactly the reason I’d like to make a woman squeal with pleasure, but I’ll take it 😉
BTW-lots of new cartons are now posted in the downloads section (Thanks Rod).
I haven’t braved the attempt at making them, but Tarkin just might nudge me into giving it a try.
Wow, that is a serious close-up of something I hope never to see again. :p
The facial expression in the last panel makes up for it, though.
I know. It’s so wrong.
Rod reference “The Bois Saga”, since I’ve never read it;
Dose it, at any point, note the usefulness of the construction of a super battle station weapon of mass destruction, in order to gain the compliance of masses of undesirables, or was Peter Cushing actually a really nice guy?
Peter Cushing is a really fascinating man. I have both versions of his autobiography and some of the very rare footage available through a contact of mine, such as his 80th Birthday party and even footage fans caught of him on his bicycle in Whitstable. I felt really uncomfortable watching the footage of him which was basicaly a couple of fans who traveled to the small seaside town in which he lived and basically followed him around the town, without his knowing and filmed him. To be honest, it pisses me off that they did that without asking him and I feel like I’m sharing the guilt by even having viewed it. On the other hand its fascinating to see how normal his life was, how humble he was and to realize he was one of the old guard of classic era gentleman actors. A band named the Jellybotty’s made a song about Cushing’s frequent trips from his house to his favorite cafe in Whitstable “Tudor Cafe” where he would drink and read the newspaper. This song was referenced on the excellent British comedy panel show, QI a few years ago. They even made a music video to the song and as a result the Jellybotty’s remixed the song and released a new versio. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EoFYDlUMGqA
I really can’t begin to say what a kindly, polite, sweet gentleman Cushing was. His wife, Helen became sick in the 60s and died in 1970 having a profound affect on him as their love was very very close. Afterwards his life was defined by this loss and he frequently spoke publicly of his looking forward to being reunited with her upon his own passing. He unfortunately got cancer himself and suffered through the late 1970s and 1980s, making it difficult for him to continue making films after Star Wars, until finally succumbing in 1994. So many people only know him as Tarkin, but Cushing was famous in the late 1950s and 1960s as both the hero and villain of numerous horror fantasy films to come out of Britains final hey day of cinema before the industry collapsed in the 70s. Love the guy. You just have to watch some of those classics because they really will keep you entertained. But go with my list first before watching anything willy nilly.
I enjoyed your excellent post there Rod. Surely there are films that the newbie to Cushing should avoid? – like most of the Hammer ones? His talent was so often wasted. I wonder if he accepted the Star Wars job as just that: another job on a rubbish film but it keeps a roof over our heads?
Kenneth Williams was severely depressed over the dreadful ‘Carry On’ films but kept on doing them. He was way better than those.
Awesome! I LOVE BMS! I actually cringed and giggled at the same time!
I don’t think it’s jumping the shark though! I think it’s grabbing the shark by the fins and telling him you wears the Taun Taun in this house! :lol
Can’t I just recycle my anal probe comment?
LOL
I laughed. Tauntaun gets probed by the probe droid (I wondered why in the side bar it had been called the Anal Probe Droid). Wasn’t the beastie that had alarmed it, but was in fact an overly familiar droid!
Rotflmao. I horked my blue milk when I got the fight scene (#25) in the iconograph.
And now we know the truth, there never was a Wampa, Luke got those injuries fighting off an over zealous “probe” droid…..
For what it’s worth, I’m just DIEING to see Leia in Boushh Gear!
Also Slave Leia, but really, does anybody actually have to say as much?