The show Star Wars: Rebels (2014–2018) begins with the conventional Chosen One story: Darth Vader announces, “The Jedi Knights are all but destroyed, and yet your task is not complete, Inquisitor. The Emperor has foreseen a new threat rising against him, the Children of the Force. They must not become…

Star Wars: Ahsoka certainly took off running! Ahsoka herself is introduced doing the Indiana Jones temple grab, complete with calling on her sidekick to start up the plane and barely leaping aboard as the temple explodes behind them. Hera arrives to reveal where the characters have been left after the…

The cartoon Star Wars: Rebels (2014–2018) followed close on the heels of Clone Wars after Disney’s purchase took the franchise in a new direction. The stories make different choices. Ahsoka is Anakin’s protégé — younger and subordinate to him, literally and figuratively. Both are born to be Jedi — gifted…

Okay, live-action Ahsoka showed up in Mandalorian season 2 as a survivor of the Emperor’s purge, insisting she’s no Jedi and has left that life. She grew up in the temple and calls herself a “family friend” of Luke and his Jedi Academy. There were murmurings that watching 7 seasons…

As school begins, whether in-person or (increasingly) homeschooled, I find myself teaching a spectrum of light and silly classes. SAT never gets a big turnout, but kids and their parents are battering down the imaginary door for Write and Publish a Book (even with my big warnings on how the…

Poster for Deadpool So the famous R-rated Deadpool came out, offering a far different kind of Marvel. And with it, some unusual twists. Deadpool, out fighting a world of bad guys, finds himself confronting one who’s female — a bit of a surprise in the traditional comic book world of…

My Parodies Free Selections from Spoofs of The Hobbit by Valerie Estelle Frankel Now on Sale: Henry Potty and the Pet Rock An Unexpected Parody: The Unauthorized Spoof of The Hobbit Introduction What’s the only thing better than parodies? Free parodies! Along with plenty of commentary on pop culture (usually serious…

Having watched the newest installment of the Dragons, sequel to the incredibly popular Game of Thrones, one word comes up front and center. Exposition exposition exposition. Okay there are a lot of new characters to introduce. But when we’ve reached the point of saying “I know you don’t like your…

Marvel doesn’t have a lot of heroines. Black Widow is a humorless super-spy who never had fun of any sort before her epic death. The Wasp tends to yield the stage to Ant-Man, however unwillingly. Now Scarlet Witch has gone full Daenerys in her irrational fury (ugh). Most of the…