As with the vast majority of you, I saw The Force Awakens last week. For those that haven't seen it, there are no spoilers in this week's entry. Maybe later, but I'll give some warning about it.
So, I had a great time with the movie and enjoyed it. I made some initial comments on a special spoiler filled edition of the Order 66 Podcast. You can listen to it here, if you're so inclined. The show included a number of guests, including mapmaker Christopher West and actor Sam Witwer.
I have not, as yet, picked up the ebook novelization or the new Visual Dictionary, but plan to do so in the near future. Both contain more information that should fill in a few gaps. I may wait for the actual hardcopy novel, but we'll see. I did a good job avoiding movie spoilers, so I have a bit to catch up on.
Before the movie....obviously. I had an interesting and good moviegoing experience. We avoided the lines by securing reserved seating at an AMC theatre that also served dinner during the movie. We knew going in it wasn't going to be IMAX, but it was Real3D. In the frustrating scramble to get tickets right when they went on sale, we were going for a seat first, knowing we could follow up with a different theatre for a later showing.
It worked reasonably well. Avoiding the giant lines in the cold outside the building was very satisfying. The food was pretty good. Some of it was just a step above concession fare, but a few choices were above that. I hadn't been in this type of theatre before. I think it would be fine for most casual movies. Fortunately, everyone including the servers was there for the premiere, so there were probably less distractions than a typical show.
The view proved to be ok, if a bit far back from the screen. The more noticeable issue was the sound. It was very definitely a step down from the IMAX sound system in the theatre we typically see the big movies in. In fact, this would be the main reason I wouldn't chose to see films here first (well, that and the driving distance).
We did, in fact, go to the IMAX theatre the very next day. It was the superior experience by far. Remembering the lines from the night before, we got there Friday morning and found the lines were slower to fill. In fact, the theatre was full but not sold out. We figure the movie is on so many screens, it wasn't maxing out every show (even IMAX). It was also still a school day. We ended up in our preferred seating location, which was a surprise.
Afterwards, I finally found some time to play some Star Wars Armada with a friend of mine. I lost. Now I need more time for X-Wing.
Speaking of, FFG announced the release of the Imperial assault carrier this week. Its the most recent addition from the Rebels show, and it looks great.
Just to cram in some more Star Wars over the weekend, Saturday was Star Wars night at the Missouri Mavericks hockey game. Unfortunately, I totally forgot my phone, so no pictures at the moment. The costumes were great, including THE BEST C-3P0 costume I've ever seen, including those few at Celebration.
For those looking for some answers to certain questions or unclear items in The Force Awakens, Lucasfilm story group member Pablo Hidalgo has covered the most popular questions on his twitter feed (but as he points out, they are all already included in other products). Start with this tweet:
Okay, frequently posted answer time. Top 10.
— Pablo Hidalgo (@pablohidalgo) December 22, 2015
And, I almost made it through this entire post without mistakenly writing Force Unleashed instead of Awakened. At least I saw it now.