Yesterday it was announced that the next, as yet unnamed Star Wars movie, Episode VIII, will be pushed back from Summer 2017 to Christmas 2017. This set off a rescheduling frenzy among studios with Spider-Man, Terminator, Pirates of the Caribbean and Jumanji all getting moved around. I wasn’t a bit surprised at the move: 18 […]
The sisters Stephenson live in their humble vicarage with their father, brother and Stepmama. Eldest Elissa is soon to be foisted off to old Sir Neville in the name of bringing some much needed money to the family. Elissa is long suffering and realizes that this is to be her duty and her fate.
Middle sister Angeline and youngest Kat don't understand why Elissa has to be so good about everything...always doing her duty, never getting into trouble. Kat constantly finds herself in trouble, as manners and ladylike things are not her forte. Angeline herself has gotten into a bit of trouble as she has been using her Mama's magic book (strictly forbidden) and has managed to cast a love spell on the unsuspecting Frederick Carlyle.
Mama had been a witch, and it was clearly her downfall. One of the first things that their stepmama did when she joined the family was to lock away all of the girls' mother's things in a cabinet. Kat, being the youngest, is insatiably curious about her Mama as she was so young when she passed. One evening Kat dares to steal the key to unlock the cabinet so that she can know something of her Mama as her sisters do. If she ever had any questions about her mother's magical abilities they are answered in the darkness.
Before Kat can fully address her realizations and questions about her own magical abilities, she is rounded up with her sisters by her Stepmama to attend a week long house party at Grantham Abbey where Elissa is to meet Sir Neville. Upon meeting the older gentleman, Kat is overcome with a feeling of darkness. There is simply no way she can allow her sister to marry this man. Especially when it is so clear to anyone around her that she actually has feelings for Sir Neville's brother, Mr. Collingwood.
What follows is a wonderful adventure filled with magical orders, intrigue, murder, highwaymen and family loyalty and betrayal. Kat herself is a fierce and feminist character who relies on herself and takes all kinds of risks rather than succumbing to helplessness. The pacing is perfect and the cast of characters compliment each other completely. There is non-stop action and just the right amount of romance. Kat is someone readers will want to get to know further as they cheer her on. Readers of
The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place, and
The Mysterious Benedict Society will likely adore this one as well.
Betrayal is the number one deal breaker, it is one of the most devastating experiences a person will ever endure. It is more than a psychologically damaging event, it is a physical insult to the deep limbic system. Betrayal inflicts wounds to our senses which are played out by the body's chemical response network. Neurotransmitters fall out of balance. Brain chemistry churns out feelings so painful, so devastating, it often seems as if we cannot possibly survive into a new moment because the one we are living in is so hurtful, so filled with suffering, we are too stuck to imagine a new door will ever open. I am dealing with this in my life today. I will have to deal with it for many tomorrows that come, because the injury caused by this kind of event requires an entire overhaul of ones personal life, including plans, dreams,hopes, goals, beliefs, trusts, reality. I will ache and I will heal. I will pause to learn, and I will move forward. I've endured similar pain before, yet never this much betrayal. But I will be okay.
Library jobs booked all last week and next.
Demand is outstripping the time available.
M-u-s-t * s-a-y * N-o!
Homestead on the point of collapse due to disorganization and columns, heaps, piles, infills of clutter and debris.
I've been at junior high and high school this past week. I am dismayed by how much I have not read.
As usual, I learn more from the kids than anyone else.
*__________*
Student #1: "Really, Mrs. P, you NEED to read these
Warriors books."
*__________*
Me: I saw this (
I’d Tell You I Love You, But Then I’d Have to Kill You) was on the
Lone Star list, is it good?
Student #2: You haven't read this yet?
Oh it is SOOO...good. You have GOT to read this.
*__________*
Junior high teacher who will probably have a kidlit blog someday: "Hi, you are back.
Have you read Twilight yet?"
Me: "Uh, no, not yet."
Junior high teacher who will probably have a kidlit blog someday: "I told you to read it. I'm not talking to you until you read it."
an hour later
Junior high teacher who will probably have a kidlit blog someday:"Are you reading Twilight?"
Me: "Uh, no, cataloging these books here.
Oh, thanks, I will read this copy that you just put on the desk in front of me."
Junior high teacher who will probably have a kidlit blog someday: "I'm not talking to you until you read it."
a half hour later
Junior high teacher who will probably have a kidlit blog someday: "Are you reading Twilight?"
Me: "I'm on page 15."
Junior high teacher who will probably have a kidlit blog someday: "I'm not talking to you until you read it."
*****
I will be back there on Monday. I have my assignment for the weekend.
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 1/21/2016
By: Camille,
on 10/20/2007
I’ve heard that Abrams was heavily involved in the story arc for all three, yeah. This does get weirder and weirder the more news comes out, though. OR maybe not weird, because it’s the same story we’ve been hearing from Disney-owner franchises now for a while.
I suspect it’s less a question of the new characters as a whole and more a question of WHICH hew characters– everything we’ve heard out of marketing is this whole travesty about them thinking Rey toys wouldn’t sell well, and expecting Kylo Ren to be the breakout hit. So they are most likely retooling what was going to be a whiny white boy villaiin redemption story into something more about the characters people actually liked. There’s also some speculation that people were SO fond of the idea of Poe as gay or bisexual that they may be rewriting his character slightly to make what Oscar Isaacs already admitted to doing under the radar more explicitly part of his character. I’m still not sure I believe Disney would do that, but here’s to hoping?
Anyway, even if it’s about assuming Darth Whiny was going to be the breakout character, I agree with you that it really says so much about what Disney still assumes about their market/demographic. And it’s kind of pathetic because I don’t remember ever having trouble finding Leia toys in the 80s. This divisiveness in gendered marketing and ideas about what audiences are supposed to like is killing good storytelling.
“These “rewrite” rumors make it sound like the plot for the whole trilogy wasn’t entirely set in stone when TFA was made, which would just be….stupid.”
It may be stupid, but that’s par for the course. While “Revenge” of the Jedi was being planned during the filming of ESB, there was no script. There wasn’t even a second Death Star yet. Even for the prequels Lucas didn’t plan out the story past the film he was working on at a time. Sure, there were basic ideas, plus some narrative elements that were a given (spoiler: Anakin becomes Darth Vader!), but there was definitely no script for each film until after the previous film was finished.
In March of 2000, just three months before the start of principal photography, Lucas finally completed his ROUGH DRAFT for Episode 2. That was almost a year after Episode 1 came out. Episode 3 did have more advance planning, but the summer after Episode 2 came out he still hadn’t settled on the final plot. He did film one scene, the scene on Tatooine at the very end of Episode 3, during filming of Episode 2, but that’s really the only story element that was figured out beforehand. Everything else that was planned in advance was art department stuff: ships, costumes, battles, locations.
Lucasfilm clearly has a grand outline for these next films. And they clearly have at least a draft or two of Episode 8. But them not having a final SHOOTING script until after the last film is released is not out of the ordinary.
Yeah, I think you might be misunderstanding how the scripting process works. Obviously, they knew the new characters were going to be popular. I doubt this is about Rey and Finn. It’s more about how large a role to give, say, Phasma. She was a huge fan favorite who didn’t really get a lot of time in the first film. So maybe they’ve decided to give her an actual character arc, rather than just have her play a generic baddie. Or maybe they’re struggling with where to go with Poe as a potential romantic lead. Remember, Poe wasn’t even originally supposed to survive the first film. The idea that the whole Finn/Poe romance would become a huge fan favorite was probably not on anyone’s radar. Now, they have to decide whether to play that up, or to go some other direction. But they’re definitely going to want to capitalize on Oscar Isaac’s status as “the Internet’s boyfriend” and build up his part in the next two movies. I doubt that the basic shape of Rey-Finn-Kylo will change much. It’s the other breakout characters that they have to look out how best to use.
“…and filming hasn’t even begun.”
This actually isn’t accurate.SHooting had actually started on this back in September. Principle actors were supposed to report to start shooting this month, which obviously has been pushed back now.
I agree with Niska and think the retooling has less to do with the leads and more to do with other characters. I also think DIsney/Lucasfilm was likely very conservative with what they initially gave RIan Johnson to work with as far as budget and production, and are likely telling him now to go for broke. I also think the huge opening of episode VII and only having an AVatar sequel to contend with as opposed to tentpole movies every week off three months has a lot more to do with them moving the date than the script re-writes.
I’ve been anxious since JJ was announced for the project. Endings are not his strong suit (Lost, Super 8). I’ve simply not found myself feeling like any real resolution has been effected by the end of his stories, and see plenty of missed chances (esp. with the Star Trek films). He builds MASSIVELY HUGE, lush stories though, so if someone else is taking his placement and taking a Happy Gilmore style swing at it, I could definitely be ok with that.
There was recently some interviews with Gary Kurtz, who worked on A New Hope & Empire before parting ways for Return of the Jedi. He mentioned that the first draft of Return of the Jedi didn’t even have the second Death Star. That they were looking to kill off Han Solo in the middle of the movie and that it would be a lot darker. However, after how dark Empire got, Lucas wanted Jedi to be less serious and “more rollercoaster ride”. Gary Kurtz didn’t like the direction they were going and so he left.
I imagine with such an important franchise that there has been a lot of talk about where these 3 movies are going storywise. I doubt they would have been limited to just the single movie. Gwendoline Christie has talked about her character Captain Phasma being in all 3 movies and having a story arc. That said, the plan can and obviously will change just as it did with the original trilogy.
“JUST WHO IS RUNNING THIS FRANCHISE.”
From what I’ve read, Kathleen Kennedy is in charge. She’s overseeing the episodes, much like the showrunner on a TV series, as directors come and go.