Hyperspace Theories

Tricia Barr, BJ Priester and Kay discuss Entertainment Weekly's Fall Movie Preview cover article on The Last Jedi.

On this month’s episode of Hyperspace Theories, Tricia, B.J., and Kay delve into the Star Wars news revealed at Disney’s D23 Expo in Anaheim. We begin with our reactions to the Behind the Scenes reel for The Last Jedi shown during the Star Wars segment of the Live Action Movies panel, then break down our highlights and favorite moments from the video. As usual, we also speculate about what the reel might reveal about the film, its story, and the character arcs. Next we turn to the teaser posters revealed online shortly after the panel presentation ended. The color red is certainly a noticeable theme in the art, along with the obscured faces. After talking about The Last Jedi, we talk about the other big Star Wars news from D23: the Disney Parks announcements of the official name for “Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge” at Disneyland and Hollywood Studios, as well as a luxury resort hotel in Florida. Star Wars entertainment will be part of our real world sooner than we think. The Battlefront II videogame and Star Wars

The team from FANgirl Blog planned on discussing a director's role in Star Wars after Colin Trevorrow's The Book of Henry release, and then things started breaking on Han Solo...

In this month’s episode of Hyperspace Theories, Tricia, B.J., and Kay look ahead to the next Star Wars movie and consider how the books have supplemented the previous one. We begin with a brief Spoilers Beware segment sharing our reactions to several items about The Last Jedi in the news recently, including John Boyega showing Finn’s blaster, Oscar Isaac discussing filming a physical interaction with Carrie Fisher, and Rian Johnson’s storytelling tweak to the ending of The Force Awakens. Our meta segment on speculating wisely delves in detail into the Vanity Fair features on The Last Jedi from the magazine’s June issue. We talk about our favorite images from the Annie Liebowitz photo spread, as well as some intriguing nuggets of information revealed in the text of the cover story and supplemental online content. These include Rian Johnson’s approach to the characters and world-building during his writing process, the role of the Story Group in Star Wars storytelling, and Kathleen Kennedy’s latest remarks abou

Tricia Barr, B.J. Priester, and Kay had the pleasure of attending Star Wars Celebration in Orlando last week, so of course we couldn't pass up the opportunity to record this month's episode of Hyperspace Theories in person from the convention. What better topic for discussion, too, than the first teaser trailer for The Last Jedi, which was revealed on Friday morning by director Rian Johnson at the conclusion of the movie's panel. In the episode we share our first reactions to the teaser trailer. We consider the imagery shown, the dialogue included, and the themes and connections to The Force Awakens and other Star Wars stories that resonated with us in the teaser. At the time we recorded this episode, we had viewed the trailer twice at the panel and several more times on a laptop on YouTube. Upon closer review with better equipment, we had more success with determining the words spoken by the whispering in the background audio: just before Rey says, "Light," and underneath the flute motif that introduces R

In this month’s episode of Hyperspace Theories, we discuss Star Wars storytelling from a range of mediums, including books, television, and movies. Kay, Tricia, and B.J. are joined by FANgirl contributor Linda for our discussion and conversation. Before getting into storytelling analysis, we share our reactions to recent officially released Star Wars news. We talk about the toy box character images for The Last Jedi, the announcement of major panels at Celebration for The Last Jedi and the 40th Anniversary of Star Wars, and the beginning of principal photography for the young Han Solo standalone movie, which also included confirmation of several additional cast members. For our meta segment, instead of examining our usual theme of speculating wisely we delve into the ongoing problem of unapproved spoiler leaks made by individuals with review copies of books. The situation garnered widespread attention this month in connection with Chuck Wendig’s new novel Aftermath: Empire’s End. While some amount of leaks on

This month’s episode of Hyperspace Theories continues our discussion of storytelling lessons to be learned from Rogue One. In addition, we look ahead to the next Star Wars film and share our thoughts on the legacy of Carrie Fisher. We begin with our reactions to the newly revealed title of Episode VIII: The Last Jedi. The title has connections to The Force Awakens, of course, as well as to familiar themes from other Star Wars stories and the Legends tales. We also ponder the potential implications of the red lettering used in the title announcement. In our meta segment on speculating wisely, we evaluate the role of movie trailers in speculation on future Star Wars films. For both that film and The Force Awakens, Lucasfilm has released trailers which seek to convey the tone, themes, and feel of the story but which include scenes and dialogue that do not appear in the final film. We discuss the merits and risks of this approach, particularly if the franchise is trying to maintain a lockdown on spoilers. On the

The team from FANgirl reacts to Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.

Tricia Barr, BJ Priester and Kay ponder the imminent possibilities for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, out December 16th. Looking ahead to Episode VIII, they consider Rian Johnson's impact on the franchise, including a look at his film camp. Star Wars Rebels Season 3 gives us a chance to discuss fan service versus character growth.

For the third consecutive year, I was delighted to moderate a panel on the Heroine’s Journey at GeekGirlCon in Seattle. Inspired by The Force Awakens and its breakout heroine Rey, we titled this year’s panel “The Heroine’s Journey: Awakening Its Potential.” Tricia Barr and Jennifer K. Stuller returned again as panelists, and we were joined for the first time by Teresa Jusino, a feminist pop culture critic and an assistant editor at TheMarySue. After introducing the panelists and our respective backgrounds and interests in analysis of the Heroine’s Journey, we briefly reviewed the contexts of our prior discussion for those attendees who hadn’t seen the previous panels. We emphasized that Joseph Campbell’s famous Hero’s Journey framework has its roots in historical myths that arose from patriarchal, misogynist, and unjust societies – yet many storytellers today continue to reflexively rely on its familiar elements without considering the implications for contemporary characters and audiences. The goal, though,

This month Lucasfilm released the full-length theatrical trailer for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. After our first recording of our reactions to the trailer was mangled by a pack of electronic gremlins, we sat down to record them again. In the meantime, several more interesting comments about the film emerged in the entertainment press, so we were able take those into account in our comments on the trailer this time. This trailer for Rogue One is notable in several respects. For one, it continues the trend we've discussed previously: portraying Jyn much more as an inspiring leader taking charge of a mission against the Empire, rather than the belligerent criminal reluctantly conscripted into the Rebellion we saw in the first teaser. This also calls to mind Kathleen Kennedy's description of Jyn back in June, but with more emphasis on Jyn as "a kind of Joan of Arc in the story" rather than as a "streetwise delinquent." In addition, this trailer has marked differences from the trailers for The Force Awakens la

Maybe you don't need an excuse to re-watch Star Wars: The Force Awakens, but we'll give you one any for #InternationalPodcastDay! Hyperspace Theories had its origins in significant part in the excitement of the buildup to Episode VII, when our interests in storytelling and informed speculation converged. At that time, we were endeavoring not only to sift credible rumors from less plausible ones from among the reports in fandom and entertainment media venues, but also to work through the storytelling decisions necessarily involved in crafting the movie's characters, world-building, themes, and plot. From that dual exercise, the format of Hyperspace Theories was forged, and we have since explored numerous aspects of informed speculation, storytelling, characterization, and world-building in Star Wars. Given that origin story, then, it only makes sense that our first movie commentary track episode is The Force Awakens. In addition to sharing our thoughts and reactions to our favorite aspects of the film, we also

We’re beginning to learn more about the production and story of Rogue One, and these developments are the focus of this month’s episode of Hyperspace Theories. Whether based on information revealed previously or the newer details, speculation about Rogue One has to take into account the involvement of a significant new player in the movie’s production: Tony Gilroy. The Hollywood Reporter disclosed his prominent role in both the filming of reshoots and the editing of the film in post-production. Subsequently the latest teaser trailer confirmed that Gilroy also is a co-screenwriter – Rogue One has “story by John Knoll and Gary Whitta” and “screenplay by Chris Weitz and Tony Gilroy” in the credits. Under the WGA’s rules for awarding writing credit, this means Gilroy made major additional contributions to the screenplay after Weitz’s version, which itself was a complete reworking of Whitta’s draft. Gilroy is highly regarded for his work on the Bourne movie series, produced by Frank Marshall, as well as his own p

For the July episode of Hyperspace Theories, our topic of discussion naturally is Star Wars Celebration Europe, held in London on July 15-16, 2016. Tricia Barr and B.J. Priester attended the convention, and Kay caught up on all the excitement with the official livestream from The Star Wars Show and the other great video content shared on the official Star Wars YouTube channel. The show opens with overall reactions to Celebration. In the end Tricia, BJ and Kay agree with the assessment of Graeme McMillan’s article in The Hollywood Reporter that the convention focused on the fans and their engagement with and passion for the franchise, rather than on breaking news or seeking coverage in the entertainment media. One major theme of Celebration, like last year’s convention in Anaheim, was how much Lucasfilm understands and appreciates the importance of the fans to Star Wars’ success. Another interesting theme at Celebration was Lucasfilm’s goal of leading the push into the future of storytelling mediums. Tricia a

The team from FANgirl Blog dive into the New York Times Bestselling novel Star Wars: Bloodline by Claudia Gray.

This month on Hyperspace Theories, we discuss how the music of Star Wars enhances the storytelling in The Force Awakens. Joining Tricia, B.J., and Kay for the episode is Sarah Woloski, who co-hosts Fangirls Going Rogue with Tricia and Teresa and Skywalking Through Neverland with her husband Richard. All four of us have instrumental musical backgrounds, and we share how our experiences learning and performing music have shaped our appreciation of the music of Star Wars. In previous episodes, we’ve used the meta segment – where we talk about how to speculate wisely – to analyze the impacts of some of the foundational figures in Star Wars storytelling, including George Lucas, Dave Filoni, Kathleen Kennedy, J.J. Abrams, and more. This month, we add maestro John Williams to the list. Of course, his amazing career spans dozens of famous movies and numerous famous musicals themes – Jaws,Indiana Jones, Superman, E.T., and Jurassic Park, to name only a few – but just as Star Wars is in a class by itself in cinema hist

Star Wars: The Force Awakens has been a record-smashing box office success, a reinvigoration of the movie side of franchise for longtime fans, a launching point for new fans of all ages – and the origin story of a fan-favorite new character in Star Wars, Rey. The film’s plot structure and protagonist’s character arc also provide an excellent touchstone for examining one of the iconic features in discussions of storytelling: the Hero’s Journey. In this special edition of Hyperspace Theories, we use the prominent Hero’s Journey frameworks by academic Joseph Campbell and screenwriting consultant Christopher Vogler to analyze the elements of Rey’s progression from Jakku scavenger to Jedi apprentice over the course of The Force Awakens. Along the way we compare Rey’s story to other well-known examples of the Hero’s Journey, including Luke Skywalker, Katniss Everdeen, and Dorothy Gale. This episode will appeal to fans of Star Wars intrigued by the deep storytelling themes in The Force Awakens, as well as anyone int

After last month’s episode sharing our initial reactions to The Force Awakens, this month’s episode begins our analysis and discussion of the new movie, as well as the lessons about storytelling and speculation that can be learned from it. Needless to say, we’ll have plenty more discussion of the movie to come in future episodes. Before turning to The Force Awakens, though, we start off the show with a different topic for our meta segment on how to speculate wisely – the Star Wars Rebels midseason trailer for the back half of Season Two. We consider some elements of the trailer that make connections to The Force Awakens to increase interest in Rebels, such as the Jedi crossguard lightsaber, a Jedi temple site, and the appearance of Princess Leia. We also discuss the trailer’s links to prior Star Wars lore, such as a Sith holocron, Twi’lek freedom fighters and Mandalorian warriors from The Clone Wars, and the “Old Master” Ezra encounters. Another feature of note was the social media message shared by showrunne

The Force has awakened. In the December episode of Hyperspace Theories, Tricia Barr, B.J. Priester, and Kay from the popular Star Wars critical discussion site FANgirl Blog share their initial reactions to Episode VII. We discuss the characters, plot, and more after multiple viewings of the film, with minimal additional information from opening-weekend creator interviews or the opening-day book releases. We also address the storytelling decisions to withhold certain key information from the audience in the first movie of the new trilogy, as well as the trailers and other marketing containing imagery and dialogue that do not appear in the final film. This episode contains discussion of all of the major spoilers from The Force Awakens from the opening minutes of the show, so steer clear if you haven't yet seen the movie. You can also subscribe on iTunes. If you listen, please rate us and write a review as a simple offer of gratitude. Hyperspace Theories is on Twitter @HyperspacePod! Tricia Barr is @FANgirlcanti

Johnamarie Macias from The Wookiee Gunner joins Tricia Barr, B.J. Priester, and Geek Kay for a wide-ranging discussion on storytelling in Star Wars. We continue our exploration of the individuals influencing the future of Star Wars storytelling with Diana Williams, a member of Lucasfilm’s Story Group. In October, Johna attended “A Conversation With Diana Williams” at the New York Film Festival, in which Williams talked about her upbringing, her path into the entertainment industry, and her perspective on transmedia storytelling and other technological changes altering the ways people can tell stories. At Lucasfilm, Williams is the Story Group’s lead on videogames, including the recently released Star Wars Battlefront, which offers a wide variety of gender and ethnicity combinations for players to use. She is vocal on Twitter about her criticisms of Hollywood for its problems with diversity, inclusion, and representation, and she no doubt speaks her mind within Lucasfilm’s creative team, as well. Thank you to