Julius

Watched Part III of Obi-Wan Kenobi twice now, thoughts: This episode had some great moments, like the first two, but once again I just think it's missing the themes we'd expect to hear here. There are hints of the Imperial March time and time and time again in the episode...and it never arrives. I think the Kenobi theme is fine, the one melody I highlighted in the spoiler tag is good (but still, pretty forgettable and not at all driving the scene home), but like I mentioned last time, it's felt incredibly generic by Star Wars standards. It's all just fell a bit flat for me musically so far, and while I'm holding out hope we get some familiar themes by the end of the show, we're not halfway through and as someone who loves the music of Star Wars, this could be one of the weaker Star Wars soundtracks in recent years by some margin. So far I've just been left wanting in terms of the music. I think there were ample opportunities where the episode was begging for certain themes to be blasted, and they weren't. Compare the lack of Imperial March in this episode to what Michael Giacchino did in Rogue One (which is a very underrated Star Wars soundtrack), which geniusly weaves together the Imperial March and Episode IV's Vader/Empire theme: It genuinely makes me wonder if they set limitations on Natalie Holt where she couldn't use familiar themes. Anyways, talking of music, I might as well talk about the main theme for the show a bit: • the opening of the piece sounds like a heavily slowed version of Qui-Gon's theme from The Phantom Menace. And yes, Qui-Gon absolutely has a theme in The Phantom Menace, just don't ask why it doesn't turn up until halfway through the film the string at 0:40 also sound very Qui-Gon. • funnily enough, it's the same French horn section being blasted a few times throughout which sounds similar to the Spider-Man PS4 theme. A coincidence, obviously, but it's a funny one! • can definitely hear echoes of the Force theme (aka Obi-Wan's original theme) and the Main Title (aka Luke's theme in the OT, tying Obi-Wan to his mission) throughout. • I'm also hearing subtleties which sound very similar to Jedi Steps (The Force Awakens) and The Spark (The Last Jedi). • one or two moments definitely hinting at Leia, specifically her theme and her shared theme with Luke, Brother and Sister. • a hell of a lot of French horn. So, this, but change cowbell for French horn • when it starts hitting heavier minor key stuff, you start to get really small hints of the Imperial March and Anakin's Betrayal, maybe even some of Anakin's Dark Deeds. Anakin's descent and transformation is definitely hinted at musically a few times throughout the theme. • the rocking back and forth at 1:05 reminds me a lot of the rocking back and forth we hear several times during the Kamino/mystery theme from Attack of the Clones. I like to think it's John Williams hinting at Obi-Wan's discovery of Anakin's current position.

Obligatory: Huh, that is interesting. I caught onto what they were doing with Miraidon's name, but not the others. I doubt there's any real link to Black/White here, but I think it's worth pointing out that Unova's version differences also had a heavy emphasis on the past and future: one location was a city in one game but a forest in the other, and the final gym leader in Black/White is different in each version in line with focusing on the old and new. It's just curious considering the similarities in the legendaries to Reshiram and Zekrom, too. Having Koraidon be something like the Master Cycle Zero in BOTW and Miraidon offer a modernised version of the soaring we saw in Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire would be awesome, though I'd wonder if they'd go through the trouble of having traversal methods be version exclusive? Or maybe there'll be other "lesser" and slower traversal methods in each game, for example Miraidon could be faster than the Pokémon you could soar with in Scarlet, whereas Koraidon could be faster than the Pokémon you could ride in Violet, or maybe even just limited to Key Items?

No I'm not (I mean, we've had version exclusive gym leaders before Sword/Shield in Black/White), I just think having version exclusive professors is leaning into it more than before in terms of differences that go beyond version exclusive Pokémon -- it's the starting point of your journey. And I also wasn't a fan of version exclusive gym leaders in Sword/Shield (because it was handled so much worse than it was in Black/White, which is to say they were very forgettable), so yeah I'm not surprised I'd feel that way It's also a national dish of Portugal. And Cuba, and Puerto Rico, and the Philippines (ahem, who make it best, totally no bias here), though they'd been roasting pigs long before the Spanish arrived and the name just kind of got adopted (notably they use adult pigs rather than young pigs as you'd expect to see elsewhere). But yeah, the dish as you'd expect (based on it being a big dish pretty much everywhere they once had a presence) has origins in Spain and Portugal. Hopefully we get to see more food puns

Pawmi absolutely looks like they've just blended the designs of Eevee and Teddiursa, and I don't know how to feel. I don't think it will be a pre-evolution, but I'm definitely getting major Sunkern vibes from Smoliv (well, besides the little stumps for legs). Also, for the box art legendary Pokémon, Koraidon and Miraidon: besides the colours, am I the only one getting Zekrom and Reshiram vibes in terms of their designs? Reshiram notably has a jet engine-inspired tail, and Miraidon has two jet engines incorporated into its design, and then there's just the general physiology of the pair. Anyways, love their designs, my immediate reaction was to go for Scarlet for Koraidon, but I quite like Miraidon too. True open world not dictated by story is great, sneaking up on Pokémon is good fun, this game is going to be cosy as all heck in November! Seems like they're really trying to lean into version differences more than they have recently, what with the different professors, which, eh...isn't a decision I particularly like.

You didn't mention the best part: it's name! Immediately one of the best names in Pokémon

18th November, no surprises there. Loving the box art, feels like they're making a bit more use of the space they've got!

Wait, wouldn't it be at 14:00? We're 8 hours ahead of Pacific

Yeah, I was more just highlighting that the Star Wars community and it's actors haven't really come together like this to take a stand before, but of course it's great to see support pouring in from people in other corners of the industry! The one I'm still struggling to understand is casting Sung Kang as the Fifth Brother. I'm fine with not absolutely nailing the look they have in Rebels (even if I do think Star Wars, if any franchise, is best positioned to do that in terms of budget and tech, they're limiting themselves to a TV budget because they want to drive The Volume and other aspects further into the mainstream TV creative process), but the Fifth Brother looks like a poor cosplay, and this is a character out of all of the Inquisitors who was kind of a giant amongst them. Sung Kang just isn't even remotely close to the Fifth Brother in height, size, etc., so I'm wondering why he couldn't have just been an original character instead? In a film the Fifth Brother would absolutely be a CG character, so I'm a bit puzzled on why they decided to go ahead with using that character specifically here. While the species designs and certain features of the Inquisitors in Rebels were highly stylised for the medium, I think their designs could have been translated to live-action better than they have been. I think a massive part of why it might feel inconsistent is less so to do with the characters innately not being able to translate well to live-action, or even their designs (other than their faces/bodies/etc., their costumes are fairly generic black leather and plastic, like Vader's) and much more so to do with the lighting. Whereas this can easily be adjusted in animation, having an all-black live-action costume heavily contrast against softer colours like we've seen a lot so far in Kenobi (dark greys, sandy creams, etc.) makes it look almost like a fan film to me at times? To contrast with this show, I think back to the OT and how particular they were about where they put Vader: • in A New Hope, Vader was entirely aboard ships; white walls of the Tantive IV offered a stark contrast to his all-black costume, as did the light greys of the Death Star's interior, and the lights bouncing off his get-up in the cockpit of his TIE during the Trench Run. • in The Empire Strikes Back, Vader spends a lot of time aboard his ship the Executor, is amongst the white snow-packed walls of Hoth (again, heavy contrast to his suit), and seen on Bespin (which besides it's whites and greys also uses smoke, orange and blue lighting in the carbon-freezing chamber to skilfully give us his instantly recognisable silhouette). • in Return of the Jedi, his time is split between the Executor (again), the Death Star II (similar greys as mention with the original Death Star, as well as the incredible darkness of the throne room which gives some great opportunities to bounce light off his visor through sparse scene lighting and the duel), and even though he ends up down on Endor, we don't actually see him step foot outside of the well-lit greys of the landing platform. I've just finished Part III and there's one location we've seen in the trailers where the Inquisitor costumes match well with the lighting, but otherwise I think they have the same issues as before. Something that probably also doesn't help in this instance, weirdly, is The Volume, because while they do attempt to simulate the light you would have in certain locations, it fails to do so in a way at all times which is natural. Yep, absolutely this!

Keighley's stepping on E3's throat while he stares them in the eye: Summer Game Fest will be running a media-only game preview event called Play Days. Sounds like their own version of Judge's Week.

Not at all unexpected: Obi-Wan is the most-watched premiere on Disney+. Elsewhere, the minority of the Star Wars community continues to embarrass us all, as Moses Ingram has been the target of racism since the premiere of Obi-Wan, which she shared in her Instagram Stories. Every time I see things like this I can't help but think that these people clearly aren't Star Wars fans, and shouldn't be considered as such. Thankfully, her colleagues and the community have reacted in kind: While I'm grateful that the wider community seems to be learning - you never really saw this for the prequels, or even the sequels - and though it was awesome seeing so many get their dues during Celebration (Kelly Marie Tran got an overwhelmingly great reception during the livestream!), the stupidity and malice of others never ceases to surprise me. I'm not at all saying this would be okay otherwise, but the show isn't even close to done as we're only two episodes in (of six!), still setting things up and having just completed the first act of the show -- so what the hell are they even reacting to?! It's got absolutely nothing to do with her work, or her presence on the screen, it's just racism for the sake of racism. As it pretty much always is. Clearly, these assholes never watched the prequels, otherwise they would've known Qui-Gon called them out back in 1999:

Curiously, this event is now being branded by PlayStation themselves under the Summer Game Fest banner: With the focus here described as being third party and VR games by PlayStation, I wonder if there's a chance that, in partnership with Geoff, they've given him one of their big games to show off at Summer Game Fest Live next week? I think they could easily sneak in Ragnarök trailer and release date at the end of this State of Play (even if the entire State of Play isn't centred around first party), but I think there's just a good chance that Geoff turned up at Hermen's door with all of the analytics from last year's event, when they got to close Summer Game Fest Live with the Elden Ring trailer, and has tried to convince him and PlayStation that a game like that could close their show. The main reason I highlight Ragnarök is that there's just been a whole lot of noise around it the last 4 - 6 weeks, but I could also imagine something like The Last of Us remake turning up there. Guess we'll just have to wait and see

The game will be the focus of the next IGN First cover story, and even got a little teaser on SEGA's channel: The story will be up at 17:00 BST tomorrow.

Keighley is starting to begin the hype cycle in earnest for Summer Game Fest:

Shinji Hashimoto is retiring today:

Disney+ Day returns on 8th September, leading into D23: As you'd expect, it's also been posted by the Marvel, Star Wars, and Pixar accounts, so expect news from them too.

Rumoured games for June: Yeah, if God of War is included in the lineup I definitely think we're warming up to that Ragnarök blowout

Yeah, I'll definitely be looking into it! Would prefer to drag some friends along, but if I can't convince them, then I'll just go solo It was funny, I didn't even think about the possibility of it coming over to London next year initially. When Ewan came onstage during the Doug Chiang panel on Saturday (by the way, not sure if you see, but they cut away in the middle of Doug's panel on the stream for Ewan to say bye -- which felt a little disrespectful to Doug?) he said something to the effect of "I'll be back next year, hopefully I'll see you guys in San Antonio or Edinburgh" which is when I started thinking about the possibility. Then during the closing ceremony you hear one of the guys whisper to the other guy about "Europe" and I was sitting there like a kid going "...Celebration Europe? ", and once they brought out Rupert Friend I immediately looked him up to figure out where they were going with this. From a place in Oxfordshire, went to an acting academy in London...oh it's going to be London! So yeah, very excited! What makes it even better is that it's over the Easter weekend next year too, which is genius, as those in the UK attending could potentially go without booking time off (head down on the Thursday after work and come straight back on the Monday evening after it wraps up), though I'd probably want to book time off all the same Curious to see how things are handled next year in terms of the livestream, but even more so how the big panels are handled at Celebration itself. I think lotteries are the smart way to go in terms of who gets into the room, but from the sounds of it they could definitely do a better job of ensuring everyone present at least gets eyes on what's being shown? Either way, I'm just excited by the thought of being surrounded by Star Wars fans

The map shown highlights that episodes of Visions Vol. 2 will come from Japan (as before), the UK (seems like Ireland may have been specified?), France, India, South Africa, Chile...and did they just highlight California as a country? So, fingers still crossed for Cartoon Saloon as they were before! Eh, if you're basing that on your experience with Visions, I'd try not to let it cloud your opinion of anime too much. On the whole it still might not be for you, and if you decide to not check it out based on what you've seen its fair, just think you'd be missing out a bit as at the end of the day, it's a medium and not a genre, so I can pretty much guarantee that there's at least one thing out there that's anime that you'd like. Films are shorter and generally higher quality, so they're normally the better place to start. No idea if you've ever watched it, but Avatar the Last Airbender is a great gateway as far as series go (it's not actually anime, for starters), as it's a Western made show which can help you get used to the style and sensibilities of anime (which it drew heavy inspiration from). It is also basically the Hero's Journey meets Asia, meaning a loooooooooot of overlap with Star Wars themes with some great writing across the board. Oh, and Dave Filoni directed about half of the first season before Lucasfilm picked him up. I'm crossing my fingers that it means we see more of a focus on culture in the GFFA, I feel like that's definitely the reason to get so many studios from different places onboard.

Volume 2 of Visions is coming in Spring 2023: End of this year and start of the next is looking absolutely packed between Andor, Bad Batch S2, Tales of the Jedi, Mando S3 and now this.

Trailer for the second season of The Bad Batch, airing this Fall:

Tales of the Jedi officially revealed, coming this Fall: Ahsoka and Dooku will each have three episodes, with Liam Neeson returning to voice an older Qui-Gon and his son voicing a younger Qui-Gon. Seems from the images shared that it will look a lot like The Clone Wars and Rebels. Looking forward to seeing how this shakes out! Well it's certainly an opinion, and hey, everyone's got a right to voice theirs. I think the thing with Star Wars Celebration is that despite being a globally beloved franchise, 10 of 14 Celebrations have been held in the US (with the other 4 being split between 3 across Europe and 1 in Asia), so once they started spreading it out and streaming the whole thing at SWCA 2015 building up to The Force Awakens, it seemed the smart thing to do. Not everyone can afford the £1.5k+ to put down on a return flight, 4 day SWC ticket, hotel, etc., but more importantly - and the part which for me just pushes it all a bit further to "what the hell were you thinking?" - is just the period we're in that they're doing this; we're "post"-COVID, how many people a few months out from the event want to face the financial risk of these things potentially falling through, not to mention the risk of getting COVID, and so on? It just seems like we're going backwards as quickly as possible. It's a real shame, and it seems disrespectful and tone deaf considering how they kept quiet about the livestream for so long. This should be an opportunity to connect to the fans, not make anyone feel guilty for attending or feel left out for not? I do have to ask out of curiosity though - was the guy who sent you the Mando+ ticket based in the US/North America by any chance? Because, if so, I imagine that might have coloured their opinion somewhat. Like I said before, I think it makes to keep some things exclusive to SWC. Obi-Wan premiere, Mando S3 extended trailer (think the first one could've been shown) and any clips, Ahsoka footage (only three weeks in), Tales of the Jedi premiere, and very likely the Bad Batch S2 premiere...that's quite a bit, and I think all of those could have been kept exclusive. But not showing the panels at all? It's just so weird. Maybe it's just because I've been watching them for so long, though, that like you say it almost becomes the expectation that these things will be streamed The thing that doesn't add up to me, like I said above, is that they aren't even trying to leverage this content elsewhere. There's an argument that people have paid to attend and so on, but why would you not try to get people at home to pay too? The smart business thing to do - surely - is to have a livestream which is basically as it is now (missing all of the big and important panels) on YouTube, but then have some exclusive Disney+ pass that you pay for (say £30 or something - not too high, but definitely premium) and which they advertise a load on YouTube and elsewhere to give those at home the chance to catch all these big panels too (like I said above too, it'll help blur the line between more casual and hardcore fans if something as hardcore as Celebration is pushed more and easily accessible through Disney+). As it is they're just pissing off fans and losing out on money, and that's the part I don't understand. They could then do the same for D23 and other events. To sum it up: Disney are weird

The more Courtois speaks the more I hate him Also reminder that Ancelotti has as many UCL's now as Pep and Jose combined And Raúl bringing out the trophy was a great moment

Unlucky Liverpool, you just so happened to catch Courtois on the day of one of his best ever performances. He was imperious and he's the reason Real won today, but Liverpool did also fall away as the second half went on. Real now have double the number of UCL/European Cups as the next team with the most UCL wins (Milan with 7). Insane. They've put in some crazy performances this season, Carlo is a champ, most UCL's won by a manager (4) and very deserved. Ronaldo must be seething now that some of these Madrid players are joint level with him for second most UCL's at 5 after he left thinking the dynasty was over. That's nice to think about at least

Oh my goodness Courtois WTF Hate him but what a game he's having Also @Hero-of-Time yeah you're right, hadn't thought of that! Crazy to think about, but then again, both times you were up against the almighty Chelsea