THE PROTON TRANSMOGRIFICATION

THE BIG BANG THEORY STAR WARS “MAY THE 4^th” 

TV SPECIAL TO AIR ON MAY 1^st 2014

A few years ago I was working 60 hour weeks and didn’t have time to watch much television.  My wife kept telling me about this show that she thought was a hoot because it reminded her of many of the funny geeky things in life she had been introduced to by marrying me.  One night my wife heard me laughing while watching television and asked me what I was watching.  “Oh it’s this great new show called The Big Bang Theory,” I told her. “That’s not new, I is  the show I’ve been telling you to watch for a few seasons now.”  As usual she was right, I love this show and have become a big fan.  We bought the DVDs for the first few seasons I’d missed that weekend and had a The Big Bang Theory viewing marathon.  I’ve been watching the show ever since.

The show follows the lives of Cal Tech scientist with a comedic focus on the scientific and geek culture aspects of their lives.  Over the last few years, the characters have appeared in shows with comic book and science fiction themes, sometimes even dressing in costumes associated with Star Trek or Super Heroes.

This season, The Big Bang Theory is going all out by creating an extensive replica of the Empire Strikes Back Dagobah swamp set for a special episode to celebrate  STAR WARS DAY “May the 4^th”.  The Proton Transmogrification episode of The Big Bang Theory is an episode that any Star Wars fan isn’t going to want to miss.  It won’t be airing on May the 4^th though, but rather on the Big Bang Theory’s regularly scheduled broadcast night of May 1, 2014.

For more information about MAY THE FOURTH, visit http://starwars.com/news/the-history-of-may-the-4th.html and if you don’t mind SPOILERS and want to know more about the upcoming Star Wars themed episode keep reading.

**SPOILERS** I haven’t seen the upcoming episode yet myself but have gathered the following information from several sources about its script. In “The Proton Transmogrification” , while planning Star Wars activities for May the Fourth two of the show’s main characters Sheldon and Leonard discover their childhood hero, PROFESSOR PROTON, has passed away.  Bob Newhart played the role of Professor Proton in an appearance last season which won him a Prime Time Emmy Award.  Professor Proton’s (aka Arthur Jeffries Ph.D.) funeral is going to be held on May the Fourth (be with you) Day.  Leonard decides to put off his Star Wars plans to attend the funeral while Sheldon says mourning for someone is a waste of time and refuses to go to the memorial service.

While Leonard is at Arthur Jeffries funeral, Sheldon is holding a Star Wars movie watching marathon with his friends Amy, Bernadette, Howard and Raj.  Sheldon becomes upset about Professor Proton’s death as they begin to watch the movies and storms to his room where he falls asleep.  In Sheldon’s dream he is transported to Dagobah where he encounters Professor Proton as Bob Newhart makes his third and possibly last guest appearance on the show.  I hear that The Big Bang Theory’s producers teamed up with  Disney’s LucasFilm division to go all out in recreating the original movie set.  Bob Newhart appears in normal clothes, but when questioned by Sheldon on whether he is supposed to be his mentor “like Obi Wan”, his clothes transform into Jedi robes.  A funny sketch comedy scene is supposed to follow involving Professor Proton and a light saber.  I was somewhat surprised with the Obi Wan outfit as with the Dagobah set and Bob Newhart involved I’d thought they would portray Dr. Proton as Yoda.  Maybe Newhart vetoed that idea as he didn’t want to be too silly in his appearance.   

Sheldon starts to talk with Professor Proton about death and how he lost his father.  Professor Proton tells Sheldon that people may leave us, but he should cherish and appreciate those who are still with us.  Sheldon says he does appreciate his friends, but the Professor questions him on whether that really is true.

When Leonard returns from the funeral, he wakes up his friend.  Sheldon gives Leonard a big hug.  They proceed to watch their Star Wars movie marathon.  The show wraps up with a final appearance by Bob Newhart giving Sheldon some Professor Proton sage words of advice.  With this episode ending the Bob Newhart Professor Proton story arc and including a Star Wars theme it looks to be one of the best shows yet.  The Big Bang Theory showrunner Steve Molaro seems to agree telling CNET that LucasFilm contacted the show about doing a May Fourth themed show and saying “We knew that Bob (Newhart) was coming back and LucasFilm called us, and we realized that this might be an opportunity to mix both stories and come up with something special.” Molaro added that  Lucasfilm’s own SFX company Industrial Light & Magic will be recreating the “Star Wars” swamp planet of Dagobah where Yoda hid from the clutches of Darth Vader and the evil Empire.  “Bob is going to be swinging a lightsaber around and they sent us a real one to use.  They’re going to help make it look and sound right.  It’s an amazing crossover for us.”

I’m going to be watching to see how closely the spoilers I found actually pan out and will also be on the look out to see what other future May 4^th’s may hold for us.  With LucasFilm reaching out to promote the day with The Big Bang Theory and new Star Wars movies in the future it looks like May the Fourth may become a regular franchise promotional tool supported by Disney.  We’ll have to see if it eventually hosts annual events and promotions as interesting and fun as Free Comic Book Day has become. 

I really appreciate how The Big Bang Theory makes geek jokes and references without really making fun of geeks.  You can laugh at the geeky culture rather than degrade it which this comedy does a nice balancing act with.  I enjoy lots of things about the show, its comedy, references to comic book and science fiction, and that its theme song is sung by one of my favorite bands.  Did you know it was written and performed by The Bare Naked Ladies?  Check out this surprise performance of the theme song by the band at Comic Con a few years ago:

The Force is with us all too because a few weeks ago it was announced The Big Bang Theory was renewed for 3 more seasons.  The Big Bang Theory airs at 8pm EST Thursdays on CBS: http://www.cbs.com/shows/big_bang_theory  Enjoy May the Fourth my friends!

BOOK REVIEW: KENOBI

Have you ever wondered what happened between Star Wars Episode III and Episode IV during the period in which the Jedi Master Obi Wan Kenobi lived on the far off planet of Tatooine keeping a watchful eye over " the new hope" as the crazy hermit Ben Kenobi?  Not much has been addressed over the years about that time period in the Star Wars mythos where this key character transitions in life from middle age warrior to elderly wizard. That is the focus though of a new novel by John Jackson Miller titled: STAR WARS: KENOBI.

In Miller's book, a few weeks have passed since Obi Wan battled Anakin on the lava planet of Mustafar.  Kenobi believes Anakin to be dead, not knowing of Darth Vader, and has taken Luke to live with Anakin's step-brother, Lars Owen, on the desert planet of Tatooine.  Obi Wan plans on laying low and keeping a quiet watchful protective eye over Luke but the locals don't make that as easy as that might seem as Kenobi is entangled in a series of adventures despite his best efforts to avoid them.

The story is an entertaining bed time or vacation read that doesn't take a lot of time to devote to finishing. I  read the whole book over the Labor Day weekend.  It takes an interesting angle by portraying the story with a Western theme, with a few gangsters thrown into the mix because you can't be on Tatooine without including Jabba the Hutt's gang.  The focus of the story is on the battle between the settlers of an oasis near where Kenobi sets up his hermit camp, and the Tusken Raiders (Sand People) who don't want humans encroaching on their territory.  The characters fit into the theme of cowboys from the American Western movies and the Native Americans they battled within that genre.  It was an interesting approach to tell a tale from this famous space opera as a Western and the author did an admirable job of replicating a Wild West theme on a distant planet from a long time ago in a galaxy far far away.  Miller develops interesting characters on both sides of the conflict and Kenobi essentially becomes a secondary character until the last few chapters of the book.  You don't mind that Kenobi is essentially a second-tier character in a book with his title on the cover though because the author does a nice job of developing the primary characters and plots of the book to hook you in so you want to know their stories and outcomes. I believe that not having the book entirely focus on Kenobi was actually a nice approach for the novel to take and gives readers a look at the Star Wars Universe from a different perspective which gave the novel a refreshing viewpoint to fans who already know a lot about the central characters from the movies.  Yet the words in print still portrayed to the reader a feeling as if you were watching one of the Star Wars films.

For the most part I enjoyed reading KENOBI, but there were some things I found disappointing.  The biggest disappointment in the book was that a mystery so many die hard Star Wars fans have, how does Kenobi learn to vaporize himself during the Death Star duel with Darth Vader and subsequently communicate with Luke from the dead, isn't answered. Kenobi meditates throughout the book in lengthy passages trying to communicate with his dead Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jin, from Episode I, and the reader is waiting for an eventual response.  We never get one it essentially is Kenobi just rambling to himself throughout the book. He is caught doing this by the settlers and gets the name "Crazy Ben" for talking to himself.  We know from the movies and also this story that Kenobi doesn't have these skills at this point in his life that he has later on in the original trilogy movies. So the question remains unanswered.

Also I always pictured the Sand People as might warriors from the first time I was startled as a kid as they ambushed Luke Skywalker and made me jump out of my seat in surprise, they are portrayed that way in all the movies, but Miller takes the approach of presenting them as a dying race in a similar scenario as unfortunately the American Indians faced in our United States history.  While that is an accurate historical portrayal of how unfortunately things were for native Americans in the Wild West it really diminishes the image of Tusken Raiders for fans.  I can understand why the author did this to develop the story and character for the Sand People's leader but he could have had just that one tribe be down and out rather than the whole race of beings on the verge of extinction.

Additionally the whole story only involves the first few months of Kenobi being a "hermit" on Tatooine and his dealings with a select group of settlers and Tusken Raiders.  It would have been nice to have had a broader story detailing more about Kenobi's more than a decade watching over Luke Skywalker as the child grows up.  I guess though writing it this way open up more possibilities for sequel books for the author.  Plus you probably don't want to read a war and peace length novel on this topic so breaking this time period into short stories is most likely the best approach.  I have to say though I had such high hopes and looked really forward to reading this book and afterward it just seemed to be lacking.  The story was just a little too simplistic for me in the end.

That being said, I did enjoy reading the book overall.  It was a nice distraction from the stress of everyday life taking me away to a fantasy world for a few hours during my Labor Day weekend.  If you are looking for a book that you can just sit back and  just enjoy the adventure, I would recommend picking up STAR WARS: KENOBI.  This book will keep your attention and amuse you during a long plane ride or while sitting by a pool and when it comes to a paperback that is my primary objective for picking out a fantasy novel...will it take me away ... and KENOBI does complete that mission.

Check out this book profile from the publisher for more info about this new Star Wars story:

The Republic has fallen.
Sith Lords rule the galaxy.
Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi has lost everything . . . 
Everything but hope.
 
Tatooine—a harsh desert world where farmers toil in the heat of two suns while trying to protect themselves and their loved ones from the marauding Tusken Raiders. A backwater planet on the edge of civilized space. And an unlikely place to find a Jedi Master in hiding, or an orphaned infant boy on whose tiny shoulders rests the future of a galaxy.
 
Known to locals only as “Ben,” the bearded and robed offworlder is an enigmatic stranger who keeps to himself, shares nothing of his past, and goes to great pains to remain an outsider. But as tensions escalate between the farmers and a tribe of Sand People led by a ruthless war chief, Ben finds himself drawn into the fight, endangering the very mission that brought him to Tatooine.
 
Ben—Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi, hero of the Clone Wars, traitor to the Empire, and protector of the galaxy’s last hope—can no more turn his back on evil than he can reject his Jedi training. And when blood is unjustly spilled, innocent lives threatened, and a ruthless opponent unmasked, Ben has no choice but to call on the wisdom of the Jedi—and the formidable power of the Force—in his never-ending fight for justice.

DISCLAIMER:  I received an advance reviewer digital pdf copy of Kenobi from the publisher.  The thoughts and opinions in this post are my own.