This edition we feature what happened when a guy wielded his lightsaber in a retail store, a new kid featurette advertising Phantom Menace 3D and a new Star Wars Volkswagen Super Bowl Ad.
You may remember last December the case of a Portland Oregon man who went into a Toys-R-Us and started attacking people with the plastic toy lightsabers they have on sale there. He hit at least one, but since they are pretty light, he didn’t really do any bodily harm. When the police arrived to take down the Jedi (or is that Sith), he used his quick and “well trained” skills to avoid being tased, smacking the impending shock bolts down with the saber. He was finally arrested, after having been put on the ground by the cops, where he admitted that he’d been seeking help for mental health issues. He pleaded guilty to the assault and resisting arrest charges back then. Today, he was sentenced to 45 days in jail and a psychiatric evaluation by the judge.
In order to assure Star Wars merchandise and re-releases will be sold into the next generation, Lucas is pushing Phantom Menace 3D directly to the kids in their newest trailer. Now as an adult, I will admit, I find the marketing to be really bad, but then I’m not a 10 year old who probably enjoys seeing the antics of Jar Jar and a kid like Anakin. Perhaps if they’d had a youngster doing the voiceover, it might not seem so misguided, but the adult announcer trying to fake his excitement over various scenes is stomach turning. “It’s not all fun when Darth Maul is around” is probably the worst line in trailer history. Not only does it degrade the actual plot of the film, but it misguides parents in relation to the fight scenes, making it seem like there is no violence at all. Even if it is for the young folks, they deserve better IMO.
Last year, Volkswagen made waves with the little boy who thought he was Darth Vader, especially when he was able to get the car started with his mind (and a little help from his parent’s remote control). That ad was all over the place and this year is looking to be about the same for the German car company. Their ad with the dogs barking out the Imperial March (Vader’s Theme) has already hit the net by storm, becoming one of the most watched ads ever. And now they’ve followed up with another cute ad about a dog who trains and loses weight in order to get through the doggie door to chase cars (of course a Volkswagen). At the false end of the ad, those in Mos Eisley spaceport are watching the monitors and having a discussion about the ad itself. Kind of an odd ending, but a bit funny too. But these are said to only be previews of those shown during the big game, so stay tuned.
And that’s about all the news we have at the moment, thanks for reading…
