John Hansen

‘Rebel Heist’ tells stories of heroes from point of view of ‘regular guys’ (Comic book review)

One of the pleasures of the TV series “Rebels” is seeing a small Rebel cell do its thing within the growing Rebellion. Hera knows their contact, code-named Fulcrum (the obvious candidate is Bail Organa), but her underlings on the Ghost – including frustrated Sabine, who wants a bigger role – do not. This is so […]

‘Star Wars: The Clone Wars’ goes out on an incomplete, but high, note with ‘Lost Missions’ and story reels (TV review)

While I and most fans will always be irked that “The Clone Wars” wasn’t allowed to bring its character threads to natural conclusions, I have to admit that “The Clone Wars: The Lost Missions”(2014), released in March on Netflix and now available on DVD, hits on several crucial elements and bows out with a beautiful grace […]

‘Star Wars’ flashback: ‘MedStar I: Battle Surgeons’ (2004) (Book review)

In the Season 5 finale of “The Clone Wars,” Barriss Offee goes to the dark side, driven by her frustration with the corrupt Republic and Jedi Order. It came as a surprise to most viewers, who had last seen Barriss as a doting teacher’s pet to her master, Luminara Unduli, in earlier episodes and most […]

All 22 episodes of ‘Gilmore Girls’ Season 6 (2005-06), ranked

TV review: Despite some Bizarro-Rory episodes, Season 6 is a respectable bow-out by the Palladinos.

Carrey, Daniels totally redeem themselves with ‘Dumb and Dumber To’ (Movie review)

“Dumb and Dumber To” opens with Jim Carrey’s Lloyd Christmas revealing his 20-year fake stupor to best bud Harry Dunne (Jeff Daniels) with a “Gotcha!” Harry argues that the gag would’ve been funny after a mere 10 years; Lloyd agrees, with the caveat “But not as (funny as 20 years).”

‘Star Wars’ flashback: ‘Visionaries’ (2005) (Comic book review)

After the hard work of providing conceptual art for “Episode III: Revenge of the Sith,” 11 artists got to cut loose with short stories or other works of their choosing for the trade paperback “Visionaries” (2005), a brainchild of J.W. Rinzler (author of the “Making of” books) that came out right before the film’s release.

‘Star Wars’ flashback: ‘The Clone Wars: The Sith Hunters’ and ‘Darth Maul: Death Sentence’ (2012) (Comic book reviews)

While this year’s “Darth Maul: Son of Dathomir” is a continuation of Maul’s “Clone Wars” TV arc, taken directly from unproduced Season 6 scripts, Dark Horse Comics also released two Maul stories in 2012 that nicely filled in the gap between Seasons 4 and 5: “The Clone Wars: The Sith Hunters,” the ninth of the 11 […]

Darth Maul’s ‘Clone Wars’ storyline continues in ‘Son of Dathomir’ (Comic book review)

“Darth Maul: Son of Dathomir,” a four-issue comic series now available in trade paperback, is both very cool and kind of disappointing. It’s the first continuation of “The Clone Wars” outside of the canceled-too-soon TV series, but it also screams to be seen on TV.

Gideon Crew series kicks into high gear with ‘The Lost Island’ (Book review)

I’ll probably always be more partial toward the mystery-oriented Pendergast series than the action-leaning Gideon Crew series, but Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child step up their game in a big way with the third Crew entry, “The Lost Island” (August, hardcover). And it looks like there’s more good stuff to come in this series.

Star Wars Top 10 Song Parodies

The top 10 ‘Star Wars’ song parodies of all time

Music commentary: After the prequels wrapped, YouTube burgeoned with parodies and original “Star Wars”-inspired songs.