We all learned a few hours ago that Carrie Fisher passed away today, following a heart attack on Friday. Photo by Riccardo Ghilardi My initial response — on social media and off — was that I had no words. In fact, I probably have too many. I will try to organize a few now. It probably won’t help, but it’s better to do something than nothing. This has been a …
I was saddened to read of the passing of Ralph McQuarrie this evening. There are many remembrances on Facebook and Twitter, as there should be; his artwork helped make Star Wars into what we know and love. I prized my copies of The Art of Star Wars and The Art of The Empire Strikes Back as a kid — they were my first real chance to see a lot of …
My thoughts on Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic #43, now online, gave me a chance to reflect on my own interest in space — and so it was ironic that the news of Walter Cronkite passed just as I was writing them. For you see, he’s the man in the moon. And I’m not speaking figuratively. Here’s how: I was far too young to pay much attention to …
A dreadful stretch of days for fans of classic television continues: After My Little Margie‘s Gale Storm and Streets of San Francisco‘s Karl Malden, now we’ve lost Mollie Sugden, star of one of my favorite Britcoms, Are You Being Served? (Her cohort at the ladies’ counter, Wendy Richard, passed away earlier in the year.) A TV critic once said that the reason Cheers worked so well is that it was …
Very sorry to see the passing of Farrah Fawcett. She was everywhere in the 1970s — Charlie’s Angels, of course, and innumerable T-shirts and posters — and even if you were too young to pay much attention to girls, you knew she was (then) married to the Six Million Dollar Man, so she had to be cool. But she’s also got a pivotal role in the film version of Logan’s …
My condolences to the friends and family of Kevin Black, the cyclist killed in a terrible accident Friday in the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle. Kevin was a close friend of my extended family in Seattle — we had a good conversation about comics on my last trip out there, and he seemed like a really nice guy. As an impromptu memorial, a bike and jersey mysteriously appeared on a lamppost …
Some spookily ill-starred timing below in mentioning Star Trek characters frozen in time — with the loss today of Ricardo Montalban. ABC, CBS, and NBC each had segments on Montalban in tonight’s evening news broadcast; both ABC and CBS mentioned Fantasy Island and the Chrysler commercials — only NBC also included a Star Trek clip (which sort of makes sense, as Island was ABC and Trek was NBC). NBC also …
Just a few notes today: I’ll be on the Fictional Frontiers radio show this Sunday — it airs 11:00 AM to 12:00 Noon EST on WNJC 1360 AM-Philadelphia. A few days after, the podcast goes online here. My segment is prerecorded and was an enjoyable interview to do — covering both both my past and future Star Wars work with an interviewer who knew the series really well. It’s part …
I was very sorry to learn this morning of the passing of Michael Crichton. The first movie that ever gave me nightmares was the original Andromeda Strain, which I saw on TV at age eight — it’s still the better of the two adaptations, I think. I read both The Andromeda Strain and The Terminal Man in junior high, one summer working (or when I should have been working) in …
Still too busy catching up after Chicago for a proper Chicago post, but fun was had by all — and I didn’t lose my voice this time. More later. While catching up I heard this morning about the passing over the weekend of Don S. Davis, who played General Hammond on Stargate SG-1 and also had a role in Best of Show. I met him briefly at one of the …