A Day, A Week, Hemant, A Year

I am going to pose a question - was E.T. a Jedi? Some of you may be thinking, WTF? This may sound like an outrageous question with an obvious answer, but there is evidence that he was in fact, a Jedi. Let me take a moment to state my case as to why I would answer this question with an unequivocal ‘yes’.

Srong evidence exists in both ‘Star Wars : The Phantom Menace’ and ‘E.T. The Extra-terrestrial’. Fans with a keen eye would have noticed that E.T.’s race is represented in the Galactic Senate of the Star Wars universe. In ‘Phantom’ this is seen when a motion for a vote of non-confidence is raised during a session of congress. If you haven’t noticed this, look to the bottom left of the screen once the motion is raised.

Such evidence also exists in ‘E.T.’ When E.T. and the kids are out for Hallowe’en in the movie, E.T sees a child dressed up in a Yoda outfit and is drawn towards him, repeatedly saying, ‘home’ and pointing at him. So this would suggest that E.T. recognized Yoda. Obviously he didn’t know Yoda personally since E.T. was set in the late 20th century, and the events of Star Wars took place a long time ago. But it is safe to say that E.T. simply knows of Yoda since he is legendary. It may even be possible that E.T. has communed with Yoda after he became one with the force.

The last piece of evidence is that E.T. clearly has Jedi powers. In the movie he is able to do fantastic stunts such as levitate objects and influence people with his mind. If you ask me, that sounds awfully similar to the Jedi we have seen in the Star Wars movies. The assumption was that all of E.T.’s race had such powers, but now that assumption may not be warranted.

This question is really up for debate since there is no documentation to support the ‘E.T. - Jedi’ theory. I just ask that you open your mind to the possibility. The evidence is there for everyone to see.

As I sit here watching the Toronto Raptors get completely demolished by the Detroit Pistons, I’m tempted to get back to what I have spent the entire day doing. I bit the bullet last night and decided to watch ‘Revenge of the Sith’. There was a couple reasons really; first, neither my parents had seen it and I thought it would be nice to experience it with them; second, I haven’t seen it since at least June, and quite frankly was having withdrawal. Seeing it six times in the theatre clearly can be classified as an addiction.

I woke up this morning excited to get to the bonus features of the ‘Sith’ DVD. The disk is packed full of documentaries, deleted scenes, and other great stuff. I thought I would watch a couple features today and slowly work through the disk during the coming week. Well, lets just say that isn’t going to happen. As I watched the deleted scenes I found myself completely hooked. As I finished of the cut scenes, I moved onto the first documentary, then the next, then the next, and so on. Everything on this disk is completely fabulous.

The deleted scenes have been completed just for the DVD as if they were left in the movie. The side story that was cut of Padme, Bail Organa, and Mon Mothma conspiring to start the Rebel Alliance would have been cool to see in the final film, but I do understand Lucas’s reasons to leaving them out.

The highlight of the disc is the full-length documentary ‘Within a Minute’ that follows the complete production of 49 seconds of the final battle between Vader and Obi-Wan including everything from the catering team providing food to the crew to the guys at ILM putting together the digital shots. Something like 70,000 man-hours was put into this 49 second clip and you really get a sense of the scale of this movie.

Once I made my way through the rest of the bonus features, I decided I couldn’t stop there. I threw the first disk back in and watched the movie again with the audio commentary by George Lucas, Rick McCallum, Rob Coleman, John Knoll, and Roger Guyett. I love the audio commentaries on DVDs that are done properly. Sometimes you get a bunch of fluff and nonsense, not getting any real information or insight into the movie. ‘Sith’ definitely delivers giving you some great information including everything from backstory to pointing out a kitchen sink flying into a space cruiser.

Now that I have completely exhausted everything on this fine DVD I am now left feeling anxious to view everything on my home theatre system. Seeing the movie again definitely was sweet, but it just doesn’t do it justice when watching it on such a small screen with weak sound. This movie is big and is meant to be experienced in a big way. Since my abode isn’t going to be set up for another three weeks I guess I can look forward to watching my Raptors this NBA season. And as they are currently down by 31 points with just a few seconds left, I can definitely say that watching the Raps is not going to be as enjoyable as watching ‘Star Wars’. Hey, what can I say? Sith happens.

I missed Blogging for the last couple days due to my current dilemma of not really having an address. On Tuesday I felt a great disturbance in the force and decided I better stay in Saskatoon. I managed to get a hold of Jason and Cheryl and they were generous enough to take me in for the night. Right out of the office I headed for Futureshop since the greatest movie in the history of movies was released on DVD that day - ‘Star Wars : Revenge of the Sith’. I had been waiting for that day for quite some time, and now the complete saga is in my possession - furthering my journey to unstoppability.

Once again my Jedi senses paid off - Wednesday morning was brutal due to snow and freezing rain. That could have made for treacherous drive. As the day neared a finish fatigue had set in, killing my desire to drive back to Wilkie, plus the Toronto Raptors season opener was only an hour away (Wilkie was at least 90 minutes away - you see the problem). Once again I placed a call to my billets and they graciously obliged to take me in. The Raps game was good, even though they picked up a loss.

Thursday at the office was good as I continue to settle into my new job. Day’s end arrived and I found myself back in Wilkie. As I was unloading my car the last thing I grabbed was the unopened ‘Episode III’ DVD I had bought only two days ago. At this moment I found myself in a serious predicament - do I watch this fine piece of cinema on my father’s 27 inch bargain television with stereo sound, or do I wait another month to watch it in proper fashion on my 50 inch LCD rear project Grand Wega television in glorious 6.1 digital surround sound? What would the Jedi Council suggest?