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In the 100 days leading up to STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS, I am counting down my 100 favorite things about Star Wars. Here is today’s entry:

#76: The Star Wars Holiday Special (or, as Jennifer calls it “A Very Wookiee Christmas”)

I will admit it right off the bat: it is mostly awful. But, it is more of the legend around it that I love. It aired one time on November 17, 1978 and then it was gone. Never to be seen again, until bootlegs showed up at Sci-Fi and comic book conventions. Everyone who was alive at the time saw it. I remember being glued to the TV when it aired and I loved it at the time. What 6 year old wouldn’t? It had the main actors in it, plus a few new surprises, like Art Carney, Bea Arthur and Harvey Korman, plus musical guests Jefferson Starship! The gist of the plot is Han Solo and Chewbacca are making their way to Chewbacca’s family to celebrate Life Day (basically Wookiee Christmas). They run into trouble on the way and Chewbacca’s family gets worried. The rest is television history.

Attention Fankind: we will closing a little bit early tonight at 5:30.  But fear not!  We will be open again tomorrow at 11 am.  Sorry for any inconvenience.

In the 100 days leading up to STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS, I am counting down my 100 favorite things about Star Wars. Here is today’s entry:

#77: 2-1B medical droid action figure

This is one cool action figure. It really stood out from all the other figures at the time. For one thing, there was the transparent mid-section. I hadn’t seen anything like that before. Then there is the legs and feet. Not the normal action figure generic leg. This was something special. Plus there was the cool face mask. It was like having an extra part built right in! The claw hands are cool too. I always made him a “medical droid by day, bounty hunter by night” sort of figure. That was one of the great things about the action figures: you could do whatever you wanted. The possibilities were endless.

In the 100 days leading up to STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS, I am counting down my 100 favorite things about Star Wars. Here is today’s entry:

#78: IG-88 The Dancing Robot

I love this song and cartoon. It is a fun little take on what might have happened on the Star Destroyer while the bounty hunters are waiting for Darth Vader.

Happy Wednesday Fankind! Lots of great books out this week, including FROM UNDER MOUNTAINS from Image Comics. In the first issue of this new fantasy series, old feuds and new monsters rise up to haunt the isolated northern fortress of Karsgate. If you are a fan of Game of Thrones, this book is for you.

Here’s what else we have in store for you:

AMERICAN VAMPIRE SECOND CYCLE #10 (MR)
AQUAMAN #44
ARCHIE #3
BATMAN ANNUAL #4
BATMAN ARKHAM KNIGHT ANNUAL #1
BEE AND PUPPYCAT #9
BOOK OF DEATH FALL OF HARBINGER #1
CAPTAIN AMERICA WHITE #2 (OF 5)
CAVALRY SHIELD 50TH ANNIVERSARY #1
CONAN THE AVENGER #18
DIRK GENTLYS HOLISTIC DETECTIVE AGENCY #4 (OF 5)
DOCTOR WHO 10TH YEAR TWO
DOCTOR WHO 12TH #12
DRIFTER #8 (MR)
E IS FOR EXTINCTION #4 SWA
FROM UNDER MOUNTAINS #1 (MR)
GHOST RACERS #4 SWA
GODZILLA IN HELL #3 (OF 5)
GRAYSON ANNUAL #2
GREEN LANTERN ANNUAL #4
HAIL HYDRA #3 SWA
INFERNO #5 SWA
JEM & THE HOLOGRAMS OUTRAGEOUS ANNUAL #1
JUSTICE LEAGUE #44
MANTLE #5 (MR)
MARTIAN MANHUNTER #4
MODOK ASSASSIN #5 (OF 5) SWA
MUNCHKIN #9
NEW SUICIDE SQUAD ANNUAL #1
POSTAL #7
PROVIDENCE #5 (OF 12) (MR)
RASPUTIN #9 (MR)
REVIVAL #33 (MR)
RICK & MORTY #6
SANDMAN OVERTURE #6 (OF 6) (MR)
SEX #24 (MR)
SHIELD #10
SIMPSONS ILLUSTRATED #19
SONS OF THE DEVIL #5 (MR)
SPAWN #256
STRINGERS #2 (OF 5)
SUPERMAN #44
THEYRE NOT LIKE US #8 (MR)
TRANSFORMERS #45
TRANSFORMERS MORE THAN MEETS EYE #45
UNCLE SCROOGE #6
WONDER WOMAN 77 SPECIAL #2
X-MEN 92 #4 SWA
ZODIAC STARFORCE #2

In the 100 days leading up to STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS, I am counting down my 100 favorite things about Star Wars. Here is today’s entry:

#79: Return of the Jedi deleted scenes

I had heard tales of the sandstorm scene in Return of the Jedi, but never saw it until a few years ago. All of these are pretty cool, but I can see why they were left out of the movie. Some of them change the pace of the film or are little expositions that really don’t need to be there. But they are fun none the less. My favorite of these is Luke constructing his lightsaber, but I feel that his entrance in the final cut is much better.

In the 100 days leading up to STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS, I am counting down my 100 favorite things about Star Wars. Here is today’s entry:

#80: Darth Vader walks his AT-AT shirt

This is one of my favorite Star Wars shirts. Jennifer got it for me in London a few years back and I hope it lasts for a few more.

In the 100 days leading up to STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS, I am counting down my 100 favorite things about Star Wars. Here is today’s entry:

#81: Star Wars: the original radio drama

This was great. Beyond the story of Star Wars cassette was the original radio drama. Originally airing in 1981 on NPR, this 13 part serial included music and sound effects from the movie. It also included a few original cast members from the movie Mark Hamill and Anthony Daniels. It also featured some other known actors like Perry King, Brock Peters and also helped start the career of David Alan Grier. There were a lot of extra scenes not in the movie, mainly featuring Luke on Tatooine. Some of these scenes were filmed, but never made the final cut of the film. It’s a lot of fun to revisit.

In the 100 days leading up to STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS, I am counting down my 100 favorite things about Star Wars. Here is today’s entry:

#82: Trading card sets

…as in this brand new set I am about to bust into. I have a full set of Return of the Jedi movie cards and some from each of the other movies, but this new set of cards I got today covers the entire saga so far (plus some preview cards from Episode VI). Trading cards have always been fun, especially pre-internet, where this was one of the only ways to revisit the movies. Now, I am off to check out this new set.

In the 100 days leading up to STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS, I am counting down my 100 favorite things about Star Wars. Here is today’s entry:

#83: Darth Vader’s Entrance in Star Wars

How awesome was this entrance? Amidst the fighting of Stormtroopers and Rebel Soldiers emerges this tall shadowy figure who isn’t afraid of anything. He enters the scene as if he owns the place. And we soon find out he owns ANY place he goes. For this is Darth Vader. One of my favorite memories of this scene was when it first aired on TV. I was sooooo excited and my younger sister had never seen it before. When Vader made his entrance, my sister made her exit, running scared from the room. I was a little sad for her that she was going to miss out, but then I went right back to watching the movie. Rest assured, she has seen the entire movie since.