A Look at Star Wars Homages in TV & Movies

Star Wars is awesome!! It’s truly amazing how much a part of pop culture this franchise is. Especially considering it’s not really that old. Well, compared to others anyway. It’s such a part of pop culture it only makes sense that references and homages find there way into movies and TV that have NOTHING to do with Star Wars at all. For instance, Toy Story 2 is about as removed from Star Wars as you can get but that doesn’t stop them from referencing it especially since Emperor Zurg is sort of a Darth Vader knock off:

That’s what I wanted to go thru today. These aren’t little Easter eggs you can barely see, but scenes referencing lines and characters from the movie all the way to flat out homages and parodies! It was supposed to be just ten but..yeah, right. To be honest this list almost ballooned out of control! Let’s begin, in no particular order :

Ferris Bueller’s Day Off

This may be the most out there one. During the movie we cut to a scene showing what the garage guys were doing to Cameron’s car. They needed a big fanfare in this scene. What did they choose? What else!!!

My Favorite Star Trek Mistakes

Like any other show, Trek has made lots of film mistakes. Some are editing errors, others gaffes that slopped through post production. I’ve watched hours and hours…and hours of Trek and have seen some of these episodes a million times. Making the little mistakes that pop up even more fun. Especially when you didn’t see them until they were pointed out (thank you Nitpicker’s Guides!).

Now by mistakes, I don’t mean continuity flubs like forgetting that you can’t beam someone through shields or something. I mean honest filming errors you can see on screen, which were never caught or corrected.

Here are ten Trek mistakes that slipped past the creators and remain on film to this day (unless the BluRay version fixed them anyway).






Amok Time
One of my all time favorites. Watch this scene from Amok Time, and check out something interesting. During the scene, Spock is in “Plak Tow” or blood fever, and is supposed to be in a deep meditative state. So then why is it in the long shots we can see Leonard Nimoy casually leaning against the wall waiting for his next cue?

Ten Back to the Future Plot Holes Explained

I love these movies!

In a previous article on Back to the Future II, I asked why it was necessary for Marty to get the almanac back so fast, didn’t he have all the time in the world? One commenter pointed out, not really. Yeah true the longer Biff had it the bigger the damage. Fair enough. A movie like this is so much fun because of nitpicking apart the little plot holes and inconsistencies. It’s even better because of how tight the writing is. I have my own theories to these plot holes, and thought it would be fun to share them. Course I am just a fan and this is all 100% opinion. There are others smarter and wiser that can breakdown these nits, and others, much more thoroughly than I. This is all in fun.

For this to work, no alternate time lime nonsense since that’s getting convoluted. It’s also an easy answer, and what fun is that? Let’s assume everything happens on the same linear time line. And I did a rant already on why Clara from BTTF III not dying in the ravine would have been a huge screw up to the tine line, so I will spare you that one. I am simply taking ten common BTTF arguments and giving my two sense.

Why Doesn’t Doc Know He Will End up in the Old West?

It’s clear in these movies that the changes don’t happen in the time line until someone makes the change. Like how Marty was never in the old west until he actually went there. Or how George and Lorraine were changed after Marty went to 1955. One question that often comes up is, how do you explain 1955 Doc learning about his fate in the old west, but 1985 Doc doesn’t see it coming?. I always had a theory that he did know what it was going to happen and had to let it play out. The last we see of Doc in BBTF II is him struggling to get the time machine under control. A car he could have landed right away but didn’t. Then it took him seven months to write the letter and get it to Western Union. Why? Because he knew Marty was going to get it and the date of the letter because he read it himself. I think he knew what was going to happen and let history run its course. We know this Doc was altered by the events in the first movie because he wore the bullet proof vest. That means his 1955 counterpart did read Marty’s letter, the same counterpart who would read Doc’s letter from the past. Some say Doc taught himself how to build the time machine, and that seems logical to some degree. The one thing that hurts this argument is when in 1885 Doc has no idea why Marty is wearing the silly cowboy outfit 1955 Doc had him in. But we can chalk that up to him simply forgetting.

Five Not So Notable Obscure Superman Villains

So after talking about the more obscure Batman villains the other day, it was only fair to cover Superman.

The big difference is Batman’s were all spun off into animated and live action media, so people were aware of them to some degree. Not so true with Superman, his rogue’s gallery is kind of lame and the obscure villain’s are reeaally obscure. In fact while Batman’s obscure villains are still impressive enough to be liked, the more I looked into Superman’s the more I found..not so much. It makes sense, it’s doable to stand toe to toe with Batman. But in order to be a true Superman villain you need to challenge him on some level. And that’s not always easy.


Oh sure some can do it. Take Silver Banshee, she had a cool look, a different and unusual power, and a very well thought out backstory so she not only stuck but became very popular with all sort of appearances not just in the comics but live action and animated DC productions. Not all are so lucky, and here five examples of what I mean :


Amazing Grace

Not everything John Byrne created turned to gold. In a storyline where Superman is sent to Apokolips and ends up with amnesia she convinces him they are a couple. And that’s it, she didn’t last long for obvious reasons. She was G Gordon Godfrey’s sister and had the same powers he had, so what did they need her for anyway?

Five Favorite Obscure Batman Villains

It’s really hard to do a Top 5 Batman Villain’s list, because not only are there a ton of them but thanks to the movies and the animated series even the lesser known one’s are pretty well known. I mean, gee I wonder who #1 would be? So I decided to go a different way.

I talked before about Batman #412 which I consider a great done in one. We get introduced to The Mime, and she is defeated and never seen again after that issue. But the issue is so well written and paced it’s still memorable. Then you have Anarky, who was such a popular badass he made a bunch of appearances and even got a solo book…which was so awful it killed the character’s popularity and the character all but vanished. Mime and Anarchy are those minor Batman villains which a real Batman fan knows but is mostly unknown or forgotten.




Some are one shot’s who appear once and never again, and others do get other appearances but nothing ever elevates them to be one of the premiere members of Batman’s Rogues Gallery. Sometimes they will be popular after being reinvented, for example Floyd Lawton aka Deadshot was a joke villain before Suicide Squad changed that. Here are five Batman villain’s that aren’t so well known, but I still love them. And yes I know I am on a limb saying these are “unknown” or “obscure”, most if not all have appeared in some form in various media I am just saying they’re just not as popular as the main baddies like Joker or Bane. And I am only going by comic appearances here.





Magpie

When John Byrne gave us the new Superman in 1986, he made sure to give us the “first meeting” of him and Batman. Where they did not like or trust each other. Course this didn’t last forever, but in that story the two ended up tangling with Magpie. She was a former museum curator who wanted to possess the gems she watched but could never own. She killed a lot of people before Batman and Superman finally nabbed her. She did kind of appear here and there before being killed off.

Five Favorite Villain Comeuppance’s (in movies)

Five Favorite Disney Villain Death’s

I talked about villain defeat’s that don’t work out well before. So it’s only fair to discuss the other side of that coin, villain defeat’s which are awesome. And no one knows how to memorably kill off their villain’s like Disney. Even when it’s not done big, it’s always memorable. I’m surprised I haven’t done this one yet, though I did discuss Disney death fake out’s which Disney does also sadly love to do. Too much!




Now obviously I am limiting this to five so a TON will be left off. These are just my favorites from the Disney movies I have seen over the years




Maleficent (Sleeping Beauty)
Needed one older movie, and it was harder than you would think to come up with one. Who was the villain in Pinocchio, the whale? Dumbo gets a little revenge at the end but nothing satisfying,. We don’t care about the deer in Bambi to care when Bambi wins. And while I LOVE how Cinderella wins the day at the end of that movie, it’s doesn’t count here. So I was left with this one. I remember catching this movie years ago, and I don’t know if I had forgotten the end or what but damn that climax is amazing! The only other ending that comes close is maybe Jafae, and of course in Little Mermaid Ursula goes out in a very similar way but Maleficent is the one I remember.

10 Favorite Comic Book Couples

 

The big news has been Batman’s marriage to Catwoman in Batman #50. To be fair it was done before in the Silver Age but that’s ok. I guess this has been hyped huge and fans were really looking forward to it. Unless you read the New York Times anyway (thanks for that guys!). So I thought I’d discuss weddings in comic books, but that’s been covered elsewhere.

 

So instead, let’s talk couples. Comic Books are no different than a TV show or drama when it comes to relationships. Our main characters often get in and out of relationships and when done right, we care about them as much as any fictional couple out there. We cheer their success, and are crushed by their failures. They even transcend the medium to be popular outside comics.

 

Here my ten favorites, no order and they don’t have to have been married just been in a relationship if some kind at some point.



Superman & Lois Lane

Let’s start with the obvious one. I mean is there anything new I can say here that I haven’t? I think they are awesome together. There was a point in the comics while I was reading when Lois was an ice queen, mostly because she was being jerked around by Clark. But once they got engaged and married, what a different dynamic. It’s nice for Clark to have some to talk to and she’s a big help too!