Star Wars
For many years it has been a dream for numerous fans that the actor Keanu Reeves (The Matrix, John Wick) would make an appearance in the Star Wars universe. This dream could soon become a reality - at least if the well-known leaker and YouTuber Mike Zeroh has his way, who has built a certain reputation in the fan scene in recent years.In the latest episode of his YouTube Series, Zeroh claimed that producer Jon Favreau (Star Wars: The Mandalorian) allegedly hired Keanu Reeves for a big role in the Star Wars universe. According to the report, Revees is supposed to play an aging Sith monacher named King Valar, who Disney and LucasFilm are initially introducing in the form of an animation series and thus want to introduce them to fans. Their start is supposedly planned for the year 2023 on the streaming channel Disney + and should have a very own and above all unique drawing style that is more reminiscent of CGI sequences from a video game. After this introduction, according to rumors, a large-scale trilogy with the new character and thus Keanu Reeves is on the agenda.
Recommended editorial content At this point you will find external content from [PLATTFORM]. To protect your personal data, external integrations are only displayed if you confirm this by clicking on "Load all external content": Load all external content I consent to external content being displayed to me. This means that personal data is transmitted to third-party platforms. Read more about our privacy policy . External content More on this in our data protection declaration. However, you should be careful with Mike Zeroh's statements. He knows his way around the Star Wars universe very well and has been correct several times in the past with his prognoses. However, confirmation of the rumors surrounding Keanu Reeves from Disney or Lucasfilm has not yet been confirmed. It could well be just speculation with no real background. We will of course keep you up to date.
Source: YouTube
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Vintage Star Wars Film ‘Caravan of Courage’ Shows Just How Brilliant ‘The Mandalorian’ Really Is
Contrary to popular belief, The Mandalorian is not Star Wars‘s first foray into live action TV. Yes, there was that cosmically weird Holiday Special, but there were two earnest attempts to expand the Star Wars universe on the small screen in the mid 1980s. Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure and Ewoks: The Battle for Endor took audiences back to the Ewoks’ homeworld (er, homemoon?) of Endor. There we follow new human characters like Mace (Eric Walker), Cindel (Aubree Miller) and Noa (Wilfred Brimley) as they team up with the Ewoks to survive.
What’s interesting about these two films made-for-TV in the wake of Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi is how much they anticipate the popular parts of The Mandalorian, and how far off the mark they are. Specifically, Caravan of Courage. Like The Mandalorian, Caravan of Courage follows new and lesser known figures in a familiar Star Wars setting. There is a cute kid in peril and deep familial themes running through the story. However, where The Mandalorian gets a heathy boost of charm from Grogu, aka Baby Yoda, Caravan of Courage hopes cute is all you need to get hooked on the story. Watching Caravan of Courage on Disney+ in 2021 just proves how brilliant The Mandalorian really is.
Caravan of Courage: An Ewoks Adventure premiered on ABC on November 25, 1984. The film was originally conceived by George Lucas and Bob Carrau as a half-hour special that would be half “Hansel & Gretel”/half Tarzan. However when they learned that networks for more interested in two-hour made-for-TV features, they expanded the story. The film opens on two parents played by Fionnula Flanagan and Guy Boyd calling out for their children, Mace and Cindel, in the dark forests of Endor. A narrator (Burl Ives) sets the scene for us like this is a children’s fairy tale and after that, we watch Wicket (Warwick Davis) and his Ewok family search for his two elder brothers.
Photo: LucasfilmThere are two problems already in Caravan of Courage. One, a narrator is telling us the story instead of the film showing us. The second issues is related to this. Instead of watching Cindel and Mace interact with their parents before their separation, we are just told they’re missing and that’s…it. We don’t know who the children are. Just that they are missing. That’s it. There are low emotional stakes because we have no emotional reason to be invested beyond our knowledge that it sucks when kids are missing. The film banks on young Aubree Miller’s cherubic presence to sell us on loving these kids. The child actress playing Cindel has glowing features, angelic curls pulled back with a halo-like headband, and great chemistry with Warwick Davis’s Wicket. But that’s not enough.
The Mandalorian, in contrast, opens using stark visual language to ground the audience. At first the Mandalorian (Pedro Pascal) has no name, but we immediately understand who he is: a ruthlessly bounty hunter cut from the same cloth as Western cowboys, Arthurian knights, and Japanese Ronin. He is taciturn, but communicates through his actions. So when he learns at the end of Episode 1 that his bounty is a seemingly helpless child, Mando’s reaction tells us everything else we need to know. He turns on another bounty hunter and protects the adorable child. There is an instant emotional bond here so profound it can soften a heart forged into beskar.
Photo: Disney+When Wicket’s family meet the frightened Cindel, we already know they are good, clever little Ewoks. We also know they are family-oriented. Her reveal is met not with instant affection, but curiosity. So when the next hour or so follows a ton of miscommunication and low stakes trials, it’s all just…boring. It never feels tense in the way The Mandalorian does. That’s because the connection between the characters can never be as profound. We don’t really know them as people, nor do we understand how radically different they are for meeting each other.The new addition of vintage Star Wars TV specials like Caravan of Courage and Ewoks: Battle for Endor on Disney+ give modern fans a chance to both appreciate the storytelling of the past and admire how far the franchise has come. While these two live action specials are charming, they lack the narrative thrust of today’s hit series, The Mandalorian. That series understands that story and character are best conveyed through actions over words and that you need way more than “cute” to tell a compelling story. Caravan of Courage is a sweet throwback, but it’s also a template for how not to introduce your new characters to the Star Wars universe.
Where to stream The Mandalorian
Where to stream Caravan of Courage