It’s been another long year of great entertainment. It’s time for the eighth annual round of new honorees for the borg Hall of Fame. We have several honorees from 2020 films and television, plus you’ll find many from the past, and a peek at some from the future – 44 new borgs or updated variants in all, bringing the borg Hall of Fame total to 265.
You can always check out the updated borg Hall of Fame on our home page under “Know your borg.”
Some reminders about criteria. Borgs have technology integrated with biology. Wearing a technology-powered suit alone doesn’t qualify. Tony Stark aka Iron Man was named an honoree because the Arc Reactor kept him alive, not because of his incredible tech armor. The Spider-Man suit worn by Tom Holland is similar to Tony’s, but it’s not integrated with Peter Parker’s biology.
Also, if the creators tell us the characters are merely robots, automatons, or androids (as in Westworld, and as in the Synths of Star Trek: Picard, and the new Dark Troopers of The Mandalorian), we take their word for it. Again, integration is key, but in the Hall, once a member, always a member.
Peter Mayhew, the actor known best for playing Chewbacca in all three Star Wars trilogies, passed away Tuesday, April 30, 2019, according to a message distributed by his family yesterday.
I was lucky to have gotten involved in the past 20 years with the convention circuit. It allowed me to meet some interesting people, including the gentle and soft-spoken actor. I saw him at five conventions over this time, and he was always that friendly gentleman you’d expect the man behind the furry suit to be. My first encounter was shaking his hand at the opening of an early Planet Comicon show. Unless you’re also 7 foot 3 inches tall, your hand was immediately lost in his King Kong-sized hand. When I met him he was either late or early to the show and had no helper so I offered to help him set up his table. His conversation getting ready for a line of fans eager to meet him was generous and warm.
I next saw him in that lull between the prequels and the current trilogy at San Diego Comic-Con in 2011, when nothing much was going on in the Star Wars universe and for all intents and purposes the movies were done for good. Folks wrongly accuse San Diego Comic-Con of being too busy to have meaningful experiences with others, but I always have found the opposite true. I spun around in one of the wide floor walkways to see Mr. Mayhew alone, leaning back in his chair, nobody around at all, just watching the attendees walk around, walking past him and not even realizing they’d passed by one of film’s greatest icons. It seemed sad that he didn’t have the longest lines of all, but I also felt lucky to get that much more time to chat and get his autograph. He wasn’t bothered by not being swarmed, just an older gent enjoying a day of people walking about. But the limelight would return only three years later after George Lucas sold Star Wars to Disney and J.J. Abrams tapped Mr. Mayhew to return to the role literally billions have loved him for over the past 42 years. And there he was again, back in the thick of it at the table read for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, only five years ago. Over the past five years his health gradually left it more difficult for Mr. Mayhew to do appearances, but I would see him three more times, each time still showing up for fans with a smile, happy to take a photograph or sign whatever nostalgic keepsakes fans brought to share with him.
My favorite memory of Mr. Mayhew was asking him about his experience working with Jim Henson on The Muppet Show in the famous Star Wars episode that aired February 21, 1980. He had been answering questions from the crowd at a Planet Comicon panel, questions he’d clearly answered hundreds of times before. But he lit up when I mentioned the Muppets. Watching the show as a nine-year-old, I found the episode to be the perfect, rare event (like the Holiday Special), with Mark Hamill being featured with R2-D2, C-3PO, and our favorite Wookiee, not just another guy in the suit but the real deal, Peter Mayhew, along with Kermit and friends. When TV shows aired in 1980 you had your eyes glued to the screen, because the idea you’d ever be able to watch the episode again was still a pipe dream. Mr. Mayhew said he hadn’t been asked about that episode before and it had been years since he even thought about it, but details all snapped back for him. He remarked about the joy of working with Jim Henson and said he was amazed that the Muppets above the floor were real characters that could interact with him and Hamill as if they were as real, as if by magic, and yet he stepped back and looked down to see a dozen people underneath, intertwined and synchronized to make it all appear so seamless to the audience. You can imagine what that giant, usually soft-spoken fellow looked like when he was excited about something. And anyone who ever met him could attest to the twinkle in his eyes that was part of who he was, those same eyes that revealed plenty of the real Mr. Mayhew behind the Wookiee suit that made it onto film and became part of his famous character.
Now that you’re all recovering from your Star Wars Day activities and readying for Free Comic Book Day today, let’s look at the latest from Solo: A Star Wars Story. We seem to be transitioning from the high of the Avengers: Infinity War in April and heading toward the premier of Solo on May 25. And there seems to be no stopping the marketing folks at Lucasfilm. If you’ve been a fan of Star Wars since the beginning, you may find a new Lucasfilm video the greatest thing since blue milk. It’s the beginning of the scene where Lando and Han play cards, and Han offers up ships as the stakes. Is this the exact scene we’ll see in theaters, or one pretty close to it? It seems pretty likely, although don’t rule out last-minute edits as was done with Rogue One–the other awesome Star Wars Story–where much of the trailer footage ended up on the editing room floor. Check it out below, unless you want to wait to see it in the theater, but you’re not going to see it in this “virtual reality” 360 degree way in the theater.
Does this sneak peek hint at the future of the theatrical experience? We’ve seen the 360 degree clips before for other films, and some home video formats do allow the viewer to take control and move around during a film to some extent. How will that translate to the theaters years from now? Something like you’d find in a high-end theme park ride? Never before could moviegoers have such a detailed look at a film, in advance of release. Take a look at those aliens, like the two-headed fellow to Lando’s right, or the arthropoid with chelipeds to his left (that’s Therm Scissorpunch). These aliens are exquisite, instantly evoking the original Star Wars cantina where most of us first met Han and Chewbacca. We’re in for a great ride.
But there’s more: a new clip featuring the first scene with Chewbacca and Han flying together, backed by some of John Williams’ best music: sweeping, evocative cues from his “The Asteroid Field” music from The Empire Strikes Back. And another clip from director Ron Howard features some new looks at Chewbacca in front of and behind the camera. It just gets better and better.
In case you missed it yesterday, we have two highlights of this year’s Star Wars Day, both out of the UK. First up is the latest Abbey Road album cover homage. The Beatles albums have been parodied and honored in thousands of ways over the decades, but we love the above image of the original four cantina action figures from Kenner incorporated into the famous zebra crossing (if you know the source, let us know and we’ll credit it). And Heathrow airport went above and beyond for May the Fourth, with this fantastic flight schedule. Bravo! (But Alderaan? Too soon!).
Our new Lando, Donald Glover is hosting Saturday Night Live tonight. The show released a revised Solo poster for him. Take a look at it, plus a dozen new Solo posters and marketing image updates below (glasses, collectible tickets, buttons, and three trading card sets of 28 cards, too!), and the latest great clips, and don’t forget it’s Free Comic Book Day! Glover recently provided a tour of the Millennium Falcon (we’ve included that below, too):
A few hours ago Lucasfilm released a new, very long trailer for Solo: A Star Wars Story. If you’re not already all-in for this next Star Wars adventure, this may get you there. Lucasfilm also released a new, retro style movie poster. But be forewarned: We’re getting to the point in the cycle of a coming summer blockbuster where Hollywood starts showing audiences too much of the film. So if you have the patience, you may want to move along. It’s doubtful any major spoilers are given away in this trailer, but it seems likely we’ve had a peek at at least 90% of the key environments in the film already.
What? You’re still here?
If you’re like us, you can soak in all the Star Wars goodness as Disney & Co. is willing to serve it up, spoilers be damned. The most exciting bit from this new look is Chewbacca. We hoped and expected he would be key to this film, and so far it seems director Ron Howard is going to deliver on that expectation. The other bit of note is Donald Glover’s assimilation of Billy Dee Williams’ performance from The Empire Strikes Back as Lando Calrissian, his summoning of all that cool from the actor now frequenting conventions across the country, his transmografication into the suave character we want to see. Everyone else looks great, too, including new Han Solo, Alden Ehrenreich. If you don’t think he evokes Harrison Ford, so what? Consider if you’d seen this Solo movie in chronological order, before 1977. From the trailers Ehrenreich’s entry into the franchise seems more like Mark Hamill’s back in 1977. We hadn’t heard of Hamill either, yet the unknown actor jumped in nicely to lead the way in the new galaxy, far, far away.
So get ready, if you dare, for the next dive into the past world of Star Wars in this new trailer from Solo: A Star Wars Story:
It is three years before Star Wars: A New Hope. Jahan Cross is posing as special envoy for the diplomatic service. His preferred companion is a feminine-inspired android named IN-GA 44 or “Inga,” adept at researching corrupt officials’ computers and uncovering just what they don’t want uncovered. Cross reports to the director of Imperial intelligence, Agent Cross’s very own “M,” who sets him out on a dangerous mission.
Next week Dark Horse Comics is releasing a compilation of its take on dropping James Bond in the Star Wars universe with Star Wars: Agent of the Empire, Volume 1– Iron Eclipse, reprinting Issues #1-5 of the monthly comic book series.
Earlier this season Hollywood Treasure, Syfy Channel’s “reality” series about auction house Profiles in History, featured the Dreier family collection of screenused props, costumes and nostalgic toys. Now the auction house has announced the first part of the Dreier collection will be auctioned off, scheduled for July 28, 2012.
Chad Dreier and son Doug amassed a broad collection of costumes and props after Chad’s company Ryland Homes was successfully turned into a multi-billion dollar enterprise. The collection itself covers a lot of bases of primarily movies from 2000 onward, with some key pieces from the 1970s and 1980s. There is not a lot of focus to the collection–the Dreiers seemed to acquire several mid-range pieces from movies as opposed to going for the key hero piece from any particular film. For whatever reason they stopped midstream, and the result is that many buyers will be able to fill in their collections from a wide range of productions.
The key pieces?
First off there is an exquisite original Chewbacca head/mask from the original Star Wars. I could be wrong but it looks just like one that circulated the Planet Hollywood theme restaurant chain before they went bankrupt and sold off their collection via Profiles and other outlets. It has an auction estimate of $60,000 to $80,000 and I expect this will sell for at least triple that. Profiles calls this “the finest screen-correct Chewbacca costume head from the Star Wars trilogy known to exist.” I’d guess George Lucas’s Skywalker Ranch has one or two just as nice, but the statement is probably not far from the truth. For everyone’s favorite lovable Star Wars hero, some folks with big pockets will duke it out for this crown jewel. Some background original series weapons and prequel lightsabers are up for auction, too.
The Dreiers appeared to purchase everything they could get their hands on related to Gene Wilder’s Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory from 1971. Their collection includes Wilder’s key outfit and hat and a bunch of lesser known but recognizable props and production ephemera. Annoyingly his hat and costume are being auctioned separately; the hat is expected to fetch between $20,000 and $30,000 and the costume $60,000 to $80,000. An Oompa Loompa costume has an estimate of $6,000 to $8,000.
A Bob Keeshan costume from the 1960s has an estimate of $30,000 to $50,000. If you’re like me you grew up with Keeshan in his nearly 40 year run as Captain Kangaroo. No Mr. Green Jeans?
An easily identifiable jacket of the type worn by Matthew Broderick as Ferris Bueller carries an estimate of $20,000 to $30,000.
The Dreiers were also fans of Christopher Reeve’s Superman from 1978. More interesting than one of the hero Reeves suits expected to sell between $60,000 to $80,000 is the rarer costume worn by his father Jor-El, played by the great Marlon Brando.
Although the estimate for the silver blingy Brando costume is the same as for Reeve’s supersuit, if legend status is any indication, expect the Brando to go the way of contemporary Marilyn Monroe’s costumes last summer. Despite some four-figure estimates, expect some Christopher Reeve Clark Kent suits and kryptonite to reach five figures–screen-matched kryptonite doesn’t come up for auction every day.
The cover piece is an original set of cylon armor from Battlestar Galactica. Whether or not you liked the original series, you cannot deny how neat the original cylons looked in 1979. The suit carries an auction estimate of $40,000 to $60,000. Equally cool, and a nice jewel for some sci-fi TV fan, will be the Colonial Warrior costume from that series.
In particular, the helmet is a great looking piece, and if you watch the TV series Psych, you’ll have seen a colonial helmet as a story element in the entertainment memorabilia episode starring Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s real-life hubby Freddie Prinz, Jr. as a mega-sci-fi collector.
Iconic for sure. The lot carries an estimate of $12,000 to $15,000. (Profiles is also auctioning off a Geordi LaForge visor from Star Trek: The Next Generation!).
Many of the items are familiar, having sold in other recent Profiles auctions. Look for a quarter scale Batmobile from Batman Returns as well as a deteriorating Batsuit worn by Michael Keaton. The auction includes several X-Men outfits and props, including Wolverine and his claws, Magneto, Cyclops, Storm, and Rogue. For recent films they carry pretty hefty five-figure estimates (except Rogue), but I’d expect the Wolverine to sell for a high amount as the standout of the franchise. Other costumes and props have been seen recently at auction but may be interesting to some bidders (and are certainly just fun to browse through in the catalog), including pieces from Star Trek, such as familar borgs Seven of Nine, Data in First Contact-style uniform, and a Next Generation member of The Borg as well as a Klingon warrior, also pieces fromthe Indiana Jones movies, Austin Powers, The Hunt for Red October, G.I. Joe, Gladiator and Dances with Wolves.
One sleeper item of note is the original comic art for the Battlestar Galactica oversized comic book. With an estimate at only $2,000 to $3,000, expect this full color beauty to easily exceed $10,000. This comic book is likely to tug at the nostalgia of many a kid from the 1970s. Every other kid I knew had this comic book–it was published and reprinted several times–and who wouldn’t want to own the original cover art now?
For those with smaller budgets, some great toy lots from Star Wars, Pez, and G.I. Joe are being auctioned, too.
, reprinting Issues #1-5 of the monthly comic book series.
