The IPC Podcast LIVE #299 | Top Five Battle Scenes

On this episode Zac, Jake and Ben bring about another long awaited Top Five topic, this time asking the question; What Are Your Top Five Battle Scenes? They begin by reading a ton of top five lists submitted by listeners which include a wide variety of scenes from TV, film and more, including battles from Star Wars, Marvel, Lord Of The Rings, Star Trek, Game Of Thrones and many others. Later they dive into their own lists and reveal some expected, and perhaps some unexpected choices. They also take a few more moments to remember the late, great Chadwick Boseman a week after his death. Listen for all this and more!

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The IPC Podcast LIVE #243 | Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (Revisited)

On this episode Zac and Ben are joined by longtime friend and patron Joey Mays to revisit the 2016 fan favorite Star Wars spinoff Rogue One! The guys reminisce about seeing the film for the first time and discuss their thoughts on the film three years later. They break down their favorite moments, characters, and Michael Giacchino's amazing musical score. They also debate Rogue One's groundbreaking efforts to digitally recreate Grand Moff Tarkin and Princess Leia and how well they hold up. Furthermore, they countdown to Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker by discussing some of the latest news, including Kerri Russel's reaction to reading the script, and a leftover element from Colin Trevorrow's version of the film revealed. Listen for all that and more!

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On This Day: July 27, 1963

By Ciaran Duggan,

Donnie Yen, who played Chirrut Imwe in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, was born on this day back in 1963.

The Hong Kong action star appeared in the stand-alone film as one of the principal hero characters alongside Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Ben Mendelsohn, Forest Whittaker, Mads Mikkelsen, Jiang Wen, Riz Ahmed and Alan Tudyk.

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Doug Chiang Talks Designing Vader's Castle On 'The Star Wars Show'

By: Benjamin Hart

Easily one of the most surprising and intriguing scenes in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story was Director Krennic's visit to Darth Vader's Castle on Mustafar. Vader's Castle has its history rooted deep in Star Wars lore and early concepts dating back to the production of The Empire Strikes Back.

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Artwork & Artists Revealed For Celebration Orlando Art Show

"Watchful Guardian" by Chris Dee.

By: Benjamin Hart

One of the many highly anticipated events at each and every Star Wars Celebration is the Celebration art show, which brings together some of the communities' most talented artists to showcase and sell their artwork. Star Wars Celebration Orlando, which kicks off in less than a month, is no different.

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New 'Rogue One' Featurette Takes A Look At The Main Filming Locations

By Ciaran Duggan,

The latest 'Rogue One' behind the scenes feature has been released.

The featurette focuses on the chief locations used in Rogue One.

Cast and crew give their take on the set locations used in the film in a featurette which also includes footage from the locations themselves.

Take a look at the featurette down below:

The fact Gareth Edwards used set locations in this film adds another layer into the making of the film, it shows the dedication that the producers put into ensuring Rogue One was visually depicted as a part of the larger Star Wars film franchise, even if the film itself did not focus on the main 'Star Wars' story.

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IPC/SWU Podcast LIVE Crossover | Rogue One: A Star Wars Story Breakdown

On this very special episode, Zac and Ben are joined by their friends Dominic Jones and Chris Seekell from The Star Wars Underworld to finally break down the long awaited film, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. On this epic, annual crossover the guys come together to work their way through plot of Rogue One, from beginning to end, and discuss what they loved, and what they didn't. Did it work without an opening crawl? Did we learn enough about the new characters? And did [SPOILER] and [SPOILER] look realistic enough? They cover it all and more. Plus, for #BBQWatch, they discuss the best planet to have a cookout on. You don't want to miss this incredible episode!

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'Rogue One: A Star Wars Story' Is Rated PG-13

By: Benjamin Hart

Earlier today a new behind the scenes featurette for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story was released by Lucasfilm. The video gives fascinating new looks at the film including never before seen footage and new dialogue. In addition, there was a bit of an Easter Egg in the featurette that answers a long standing question about the film.

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Kathleen Kennedy Sends Special 'Rogue One' Message To Japan

By: Benjamin Hart

This past week was an exciting one thanks to some amazing international trailers and TV spots that were revealed for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. In addition to that, it appears our friends at Jedi News have uncovered something to go along with one of the trailers.

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Terminally Ill Fan Granted His #RogueOneWish

By Ciaran Duggan,

Terminally ill Star Wars fan Neil Hanvey, who was admitted to St Michael's Hospice back in April 2016, was granted his dying wish: to be allowed to see Rogue One: A Star Wars Story early.

In a similar fashion to the #ForceforDaniel social media campaign, which sought to allow terminally ill Daniel Fleetwood the opportunity to view The Force Awakens before its official December 2015 release, sparked significant fan interest. Thankfully, Daniel Fleetwood was given the chance to watch the film in November 2015, just days before he tragically passed away. He was given huge support from the stars of The Force Awakens - Mark Hamill, John Boyega, Daisy Ridley and Carrie Fisher. 

It is sufficed to say that Hanvey's family was equally successful with their campaign endeavors, as the likes of Mark Hamill and several media outlets, including the Metro, generated further awareness about the campaign to the world. On August 22 2016, St Michael's Hospice posted this update on their Facebook page:

"On behalf of Neil Hanvey, his wife Andrea and all his family, we want to thank everyone who supported the #RogueOneWish campaign. The director of Rogue One, Gareth Edwards did all he could to make Saturday a very special day for Neil. Neil, his family and everyone at St Michael's Hospice would like to say thank you to Disney, Lucasfilm and especially Gareth Edwards. 

The next day, St Michael's Hospice then posted about the tragic passing of Neil Hanvey:

"A message from Neil Hanvey's wife, Andrea. 'On behalf of all our family we would like to thank everyone who has pssed on their condolences following Neil's death last night. We would also like to thank the tens of thousands of people who supported the #RogueOneWish campaign. All the messages of love during the past week have given us real comfort during a very difficult time. We would also like to thank everyone at St Michael's Hospice, especially Amy Duncan, without who #RogueOneWish would not have happened. All donations at Neil's funeral will go to the Hospice's Family Support team and will be used to fund work with children and young people. An online donation page will be set-up shortly."

Here at the Star Wars Underworld, we offer our deepest sympathies to Neil's family.

Source: Star Wars News Net

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EW Releases High Quality Versions Of 'Rogue One' Photos

By: Benjamin Hart

Last week Entertainment Weekly made major waves with a plethora of reveals from Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Among the them were galleries of images from the film giving us glimpses at the various new characters, vehicles and locations that will be seen in Rogue One. Now EW has gone the extra mile to provide us with high quality versions of some of the previously released images with less intrusive watermarks. These images are great for wallpapers, Facebook cover photos, or you can just simply stare at them and zoom in to to see the finer details of the shots. A few of them can be seen below, and the rest can be found over at EW:

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story hits theaters on December 16th!

Source: Entertainment Weekly

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Opinion: 'Star Wars' Without John Williams?

By Ciaran Duggan,

Yesterday, a number of mainstream media outlets reported that John Williams will score another Star Wars film. In an interview with Variety, John Williams essentially confirmed that he would score the next installment of the Sequel trilogy, Star Wars: Episode VIII.

The announcement of this news is welcome, and as a fan, I can't help but be excited about this. It is hugely difficult to envision a live-action Star Wars movie without the so-called 'oxygen' of Star Wars (i.e. John William's musical score). Audiences tout John Williams as one of the greatest movie composers of all time and some fans have levelled serious concern about the future of Star Wars in a post-William's era. However, this is something that Star Wars fans will have to get used to, starting with the new Rogue One anthology movie.

The anthology film, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, is set to hit theatres this year on December 16. The film will be scored by Oscar winner, Alexandre Desplat. Desplat's bio speaks for itself, having scored some titanic blockbuster hits, including The King's Speech (2010), The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008), Argo (2012) and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Parts One (2010) and Two (2011). Desplat is best known in the industry for his ability to compose a full film score in a short time span.

Personally, I am excited to hear how the oscar-winning composer puts his own 'spin' into the upcoming anthology film. How will it differ from John William's classic score? Of course, I would like Desplat to stay true to some of William's classic themes, including the Imperial March score and the Force theme. However, as fans, I also believe we have to be willing to accept change and expansion in the Star Wars Universe, not just in terms of visual effects and story, but also in relation to the music. Rogue One is a perfect test ground to see how Disney and Lucasfilm will cope with the inevitable future loss of John Williams (whether down to Willaim's personal decision or health reasons). As a result, I implore fans to remain unprejudiced in our judgement of Alexandre Desplat. We should not merely be critical of Desplat because he is a Star Wars film composer who doesn't live up to John Williams. 

As for Desplat himself, this movie could parachute him further into the media spotlight and perhaps make him a contender to be one of the best film composers of all time. IMDB have listed Despat as the tenth best film composer of all time, could he push into the Top five in the years to come? I don't mean to say that this one movie will make Desplat the 'best' current film composer of all time , but a successful musical composition of Rogue One could lay the ground work for Desplat's elevated status as a film composer and Desplat could become a candidate to be a long-term successor to John Williams, when he retires. At the age of 54, Desplat could become a Star Wars film composer for the next decade.

It remains to be seen what will happen, and no-one wants to get ahead of themselves because there are many factors at play (Desplat's musical composition may not be popular with the mainstream masses; Desplat may not want to score another Star Wars movie, or Disney may want to - as is their policy with the directors of Star Wars movies - appoint a different film composer for each Star Wars film).  A strong performance by Desplat would help to settle fan's concerns of imagining a future live-action Star Wars film without the touch of the movie musical talent that is John Williams.

Who do you think should be the long-term replacement to John Williams? Tell us in the comments below.

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Report: Disney Executives Dissatisfied With 'Tone' Of Rogue One

By Ciaran Duggan,

Yesterday, a number of media outlets reported that Disney executives were 'unhappy with Rogue One: A Star Wars Story'. The Hollywood Reporter has today elaborated on the main reasons behind the executive's decision to re-shoot sequences in the movie. 

According to a source of The Hollywood Reporter, Disney executives felt the tone of Rogue One failed to match the tone of other Star Wars films that came before it. The source stated:

"This is the closest thing to a prequel ever. This takes place just before 'A New Hope' and leads up to the 10 minutes before that classic film begins. You have to match the tone!"

There are two interesting things to pick up about this quotation. Firstly, it is intriguing to see that the movie will end just ten minutes prior to the opening of A New Hope. This means we could see appearances of the Tantive IV, Princess Leia and undoubtedly Darth Vader. 

Secondly, this quote reveals that executives are unhappy with the 'tone' of the movie. Undoubtedly, the Rogue One teaser trailer conveyed an explicit tonal shift from any Star Wars movies that came before it. The settings in the trailer looked grittier and the tone seemed darker. In spite of this, there were plenty of signifiers in the trailer to remind the audience that this was a 'Star Wars' film. The re-introduction of Mon Mothma's character, the re-appearance of the Death Star and the echoing sounds of the Death Star alarms, all served to remind audience members that this was Star Wars in the age of the Empire. The central focus of the film has been directed towards the conflict between the Rebels and the Empire, as the Rebels attempt to acquire the secret Death Star plans. Surely, this film should be darker in tone? 

I believe this news can be taken in two ways. Some fans will no doubt be content to hear of the intervention by Disney executives because it shows that Disney will not be afraid to step in if they feel that there is something inherently flawed within the original cut. It conveys that the executives are not idle passerbys. On the other hand, some fans will be concerned about the intervention. The motivations of Disney executives do not match the motives of writers and directors. Some reporters have argued that the executives are far more interested in financial profit than ensuring the 'story' of the films stay true to the mythology of Star Wars. Given The Force Awakens has become the third highest grossing film of all time, some fans fear that the Star Wars franchise will slowly become a mere 'cash cow' for Disney executives. 

We will have to wait and see on whether the decision to reshoot additional scenes pays off. The results of the intercession of the executives may well be seen as early as July, as speculation mounts about the possible release of a new Rogue One trailer at Star Wars Celebration Europe 2016. 

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

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Opinion: Who Is The Mysterious Robed Figure Present In The Rogue One Trailer?

By Ciaran Duggan,

It has been two days since the highly anticipated trailer of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story was officially released by Lucasfilm and Disney. One of the segments from the trailer that has got fans talking is the scene which can be seen in the above image. The central question asked by fans has been: who is the hooded and cloaked figure who appears in this scene? Is it Maul or Ezra? A young Snoke or another inquisitor?

It is almost undeniable that the cloaked character is a 'villanous' one. That can be corroborated by the fact the colours of the environment and the character are both black and red. One can assume that this location is based on the Death Star, or on an Imperial Star Destroyer. In addition, the inclusion of the red Royal Imperial Guards is striking. In the canon universe, the Royal guards have only ever appeared in the presence of Palpatine, in both the Prequels and Original Trilogy. The appearance of the Imperial Royal guards signifies that this scene is important and that the figure entering the room is also a significant character. There are a wide number of candidates for who the hooded figure could be. My hypothesis is that the character above is a villainous 'force user', and that forms the basis for the reason why I will critique just three possible candidates. 

Palpatine

As stated in the aforementioned paragraph, the appearance of the Red Imperial Royal guards has led to speculation, from some fans, that the mysterious figure is in fact Palpatine. As Chancellor of the Republic, Palpatine was seen in the presence of his Royal militia, and the only other time we saw these guards was accompanying Palpatine on the Death Star in Return of the Jedi. 

This is an interesting thesis, however, the physical appearance of the character does not seem to match the Emperor's. The height of the robed figure seems marginally taller than Emperor Palpatine. In addition, the cloak this individual wears is not so reminiscent of the style of Palpatine. Personally, I would look to discount the possibility that this figure is Palpatine. 

Chance: 4/10

Grand Inquisitor

Some fans have speculated that the individual is in fact the Grand Inquisitor. The Grand Inquisitor was a title bestowed to an imperial inquisitor at the top of the hierarchical, inquisitor, pyramid. Jason Issacs played the only Grand Inquisitor, we have seen to date, on the Television Show: Star Wars Rebels. His character was killed off at the end of Season One, and since then a power struggle has emerged among the other inquisitors. These inquisitors have looked to fill the void of the Grand Inquisitors' death and assume the 'Grand Inquisitor' title themselves. None of the inquisitors have managed to succeed thus far.

As far as speculation goes, this isn't an unfeasible idea. The Grand Inquisitor was subservient to both Darth Vader and the Emperor. We see the cloaked individual bow down to a sentient in the Chamber, which certainly signifies that the character who has entered the room, is a subordinate individual.  Notwithstanding this hypothesis, it seems overall to be unlikely. The central characters in this movie are Rebel soldiers, and therefore less emphasis has been attributed to force-user characters. It seems hard to imagine that this film would introduce a new force-capable character, when that is not the emphasis of this movie. In addition, we have heard rumours about the fact that James Earl Jones will be reprising his role as Darth Vader in the upcoming film, because of the importance of the mission at hand - the fact the Rebels are attempting to sequester the Death Star plans. 

This idea sounds interesting, and certainly feasible in principle because it would be a nice tie-in to Rebels and if one believes Darth Vader is in the cylinder chamber, then it could be the inquisitor bowing to Lord Vader (similar to the image above). However, I have doubts about the degree to which this hooded figure will in fact be a new Inquisitor.

Chance: 5/10

Darth Vader 

Wild speculation from fans has been that the hooded figure, seen in the trailer, is in fact the Sith Lord himself: Darth Vader. 

Immediately fans will look to refute this speculation by pointing out that this character is not wearing the attire of the "more machine than man" Darth Vader. That is very true. However, we have seen in the films that Vader can take his mask off (as seen in the Empire Strikes Back), and no doubt can take his suit off, even if for a brief time. Vader sustained a facial injury in the fight against Ahsoka, in the Rebels S2 finale, with which a portion of his mask was cut from his face. This conveys that, in spite of the fact the suit is used to power and sustain Vader, he can survive without wearing his attire, for a brief duration of time.

In addition, as mentioned previously, the cloaked individual bows down to a sentient in the Chamber, which certainly signifies that the character is a subordinate individual. We have seen a couple of occasions where Vader has bowed down to his master, Palpatine. Moreover, the appearance of the Royal Imperial Guards could mean that Vader is communicating with the Emperor, either in person or via hologram. It would explain why the Royal Guards are present in the chamber.

Finally, we have yet to see the fallout from Star Wars: Rebels. Will Vader engage in another duel with Ashoka? Will Vader fight Maul? And if Vader does engage in a lighsaber fight, will he sustain injuries? Rebels could yet bridge the gap to Rogue One at the end of the next season. This would make particular sense, as there has been speculation that Season Three of Rebels will be the final season of the animated TV series, Rumours have also speculated that the end game in mind is the Death Star. Dave Filoni has also expressed that the Rebels' storyline will be moving closer in line with the events of A New Hope, and Rogue One. 

Consequently, I believe that the hooded figure is more likely to be Darth Vader, without his suit on.

Chance: 7/10

Conclusion

To conclude this, I would like to ask people to give their own opinions on who they believe the mysterious character is. Do you agree with my conclusions? Do you think it is in fact Palpatine, or the Grand Inquisitor? Do you think its another villainous character that we have previously seen in the Saga, but not mentioned? Or do you think this is a new character?

Speculate and leave your comments below.

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Detailed Photos Of 'Rogue One' Costumes Revealed

By: Benjamin Hart

We're still about 11 months out from the release of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and news from the film is already leaking beginning to leak out. Nuremburg Toy Fair has been the source of some really cool news lately as costumes from the film were spotted on display at the event. Photos have been sporadically hitting the web in various places, and the newest batch comes from our friends at Making Star Wars who received a handful close up shots of a few of the costumes. In them you can get detailed looks at Donnie Yen's costume and gear which includes a wrist gauntlet, some interesting gadgetry on his chest, a weapon(?) on his back and some type of stick. You can also see a different angle on Jiang Wen's costume as well. You can see all the photos above and below:

These costumes are especially interesting considering we no almost nothing about the characters that will be wearing them. Hopefully we will learn more very soon!

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story opens in theaters on December 16th.

Source: Making Star Wars

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Donnie Yen Briefly Discusses His 'Rogue One' Role

By: Benjamin Hart

While we're still reeling from The Force Awakens and anticipating Episode VIII, we've got a completely different Star Wars film to look forward to in the meantime. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, the first of what we presume to be many stand alone Star Wars Anthology films, hits theaters this December. We know little else about it's story or characters apart from the fact that it will revolve around a group of Rebels stealing the Death Star plans, thus leading into Episode IV: A New Hope. Just recently one of the stars of Rogue One, Donnie Yen, spoke with USA Today about his newest film IP Man 3 and briefly spoke about his role in Rogue One.

USA Today reports:

"Yen already is ensconced in the Star Wars cone of secrecy. All he’ll spill is that his character “is definitely an important guy," he had fun doing it and “I will get some action.""

Yen's character has inspired much speculation since being revealed in the cast photo released at last year's D23 expo. He appears to be blind and his clothing and gear seem to invoke the Japanese Samurai, which initially inspired George Lucas to create the Jedi. Rogue One is said to focus on characters that are not Jedi, so Yen's character could be some type of other Force user, or simply a skilled physical fighter, thus putting that actor's martial arts expertise on display.

Donnie Yen will star alongside Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Mads Mikkelsen and others. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story opens in theaters on December 16th.

Source: USA Today
Via: Star Wars News Net

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