You disappoint me, Disney

I was told I was too young to see Star Wars when it premiered in 1977, but I was overjoyed when I discovered it was being re-released the following year. That announcement was conveyed to me through a magical image on the local theater marquee, a masterpiece of bright colors and bold lines, born from collaboration and error (the poster was actually done by two artists, and a miscommunication led to the original painting be done too small to fit all the necessary titles, so it was mounted to a larger board and the extended space was painted in with images of other “flyers” to create the now infamous “Circus Style” poster.) and to this day, I have a stronger memory of seeing that art for the first time than actually seeing the movie itself.

Honestly, it is that way for most of my favorite movies. If the subject of Raiders of the Lost Ark comes up, before I even visualize Indiana Jones running from the boulder, or Toht’s melting face, my mind goes to a single image: Indy and Marion standing behind the glowing ark, with vignetted portraits of allies, foes, and snakes filling out the corners of an iconic movie poster. When I think of Back to the Future, the first thing that comes to mind is Marty McFly looking at his watch, his foot in the door of the Delorean, streaks of fire burning bright orange against the deep blue night sky.  As a child, when I saw that one sheet image with no context as to what the movie was about, I had no idea what it meant. Except that I HAD to see that movie!

Throughout my childhood (which includes up to right now, by the way) movie posters were such an important part of the entertainment experience. They offered a promise of the magic that was about to come, a hint to the worlds that lie behind the red velvet curtain. Whether it was kismet, or really good marketing teams, all of my favorite movies had the best posters. And as my appreciation for this art form matured, I soon realized that all of those posters were created by the same artist, Drew Struzan.

You may not recognize that name, but you know the art. You may not even like the same kinds of movies I like, but I can guarantee Drew created the poster art for at least one of your favorite movies. He has done hundreds of them, and every one is as breath taking and awe inspiring as the next. His resume basically reads like a Hollywood hit list: Star Wars, E.T., Back to the Future, Indiana Jones, Harry Potter, Shawshank Redemption, Big Trouble in Little China, Hellboy, The Great Muppet Caper, Coming to America, The Thing, Batteries not included, Hocus Pocus, if you can think of a film with an iconic poster, Drew most likely illustrated it.

So it is no surprise that I was completely taken aback this morning when Disney released the first image of the “official” Star Wars: The Force Awakens one sheet and it was a photoshop montage! After almost two years of publicizing how director JJ Abrams begged Drew to come out of retirement to do the poster, and then teasing us with the magnificent promotional art Drew created for the film at D23, I was shocked that I wasn’t looking at a hand painted masterpiece from the man himself.

It was clear that whoever executed the final product definitely took their cues from Drew’s oeuvre, most likely in the form of endless comps the artist created to design his version of the poster. There is an attempt to recreate the daring color palette Drew is famous for, hints of bold outlines, some blown out highlights…but none of it rings true.

For months, I have been hearing about people exclaiming that they cried when they saw the new trailer, or almost fainted when they saw a new character design in toy form. This time around, I haven’t let my guard down to get that emotionally connected yet. I want to see the movie first before I buy in 100%. I want to know who these characters are before I fill my shelf with 3 ¾” plastic effigies to them. The trailers have definitely shown me that John Boyega and Daisy Ridley have brought their A-game, but it was seeing Drew’s D23 promo art that really endeared me to them for the first time. It made me want to go on an adventure with them. Looking at that art allowed me to believe that “this is going to be great!” And it was for that reason today I actually did shed tears for The Force Awakens, sitting at my desk, staring at my lifeless computer at a soulless photo montage movie poster. Tears of utter disappointment.

                                     Drew's promo teaser art painted for the D23 convention

I was affected so deeply by the decision to use a photo comp poster over Drew’s art that I actually took the time to write this, and for those of you who know me or follow me, you know that I NEVER do anything like this. I have my opinions, as everybody does, but I don’t go plastering them all over the internet. But I felt like this had to be said. This isn’t about Star Wars, or Drew, or my childhood. This is about art, American culture, and Hollywood heritage. This is about tradition and integrity. I’m sure that whatever reasons where brought up in some big executive round table discussion about why it was valid to go with photoshop over a painting made perfect sense to those involved, but why? Why even discuss it in the first place? Why remove the human element out of such a human story? And if you are hell bent on going with photoshop, why not make it unique? Why try so hard to make it look like a Drew painting!?!? He was right there! I know hundreds of filmmakers who would give anything to have a Drew Struzan poster to accompany their film. I’m one of them! You had it and you threw it away? But only AFTER you showed us the possibility of how great Drew’s version would have been with the D23 art? It’s like serving filet mignon for an appetizer, and hot dogs for the main course. Like, 99¢ store deadstock hot dogs, not even Carney’s!

How does Disney not realize that a Drew Struzan poster is a staple of Star Wars? Not to mention the fact that they broke up a set. If there are truly going to be 9 main story Star Wars films, Drew painted 6 of those posters already. When Lucas asked Drew to create a new look for the Special Editions in 1996, the artist insightfully composed a triptych, and then even more cleverly continued the pattern for the prequels, so the whole series lines up like an adventure map. And now we are expected to just slap this computerized design, and those to follow, next to his organic freehand genius? I know I’m ranting now, but I just can’t see the logic. If Drew had remained in retirement, or “lost his touch”, I could see this happening, and there would be nothing we could do about it. . But he signed on, ready and willing, and proved to the world without a doubt that he still “had it” with the D23 teaser.

I have seen all kinds of posts and comments today, and many of you are perfectly fine with the poster. Some of you even think it is “awesome”. All art is subject to opinion, and there is no right or wrong. At the end of the day, it is all about how the image makes you feel. I am just expressing that this images leaves me empty. And like a 30 year Star Wars junkie, I so badly needed a fix. I thought this poster would be it. I thought I would catch a glimpse of it and instantly know I HAD to see this movie. But instead I saw noise, a thin imitation, a backpedal on a promise, and my hopes and dreams were quickly replaced with fear and doubt for what other pitfalls this new film might have in store for me. The saddest part is that it seemed like JJ and all involved were trying so hard to respect the original trilogy, practical effects, design aesthetics, and the majesty of old world artistry. For this reason alone, and I may be in the minority here, but I feel that going with a photoshop poster is the most disrespectful thing of all.

I know we live in the digital age, but we have to keep in mind that a computer is just a tool. I’m not saying its better or worse than a paintbrush, just that it has its applications and a time and place to use them. And this poster was not it. There are amazing digital artists out there, but Star Wars needs a poster illustrator, and Drew is the best. No computer can bring what he does to his art. The compassion, the spontaneity. The pencil on paper, the brush in the hand. The splatters, the random squiggles. You can study a Drew poster for decades and always find new surprises. He doesn’t paint movie stars, he paints characters. When I look at the new digital poster, I see Harrison Ford. When I look at Drew’s D23 art, I see Han Solo.

Even for movies Drew didn’t like, he still loved doing the painting, and you can see that love in the art. You FEEL that love looking at it. If you don’t believe me, do me a favor and look at the new poster again. Really look at it. Let go of worrying about having tickets to the opening night midnight screening, forget about chasing your cat around with your awesome app controlled BB8. Imaging you know nothing about Star Wars, you haven’t been cyber stalking Lawrence Kasdan for hints to Kylo Ren’s backstory. Pretend you are walking past the old one screen theater in your hometown and you catch sight of it… Do you lock eyes with the characters? Are those spaceship leaping out at you? Do you feel the colors flowing over you? Are you mesmerized by the composition? Do you sense there is a greater story just beyond what you see? Does it look rich? Like a dream? Like no matter how long you stare you can’t figure out how it came to exist? Do you picture this poster in a very expensive hand carved frame with UV coated plexi hanging above your couch as you entertain guests 20 years from now? You may see it differently, but my answer to all of the above is NO. And for that I am very disappointed.

Current marketing trends, with giant photos of actors, and heavily filtered images of objects forming logos, have made the once illustrious art of painted movie posters a breed on the verge of extinction. This art form has always been a part of this franchise, and in many ways Star Wars was the last great holdout for art of this kind. By not following in this tradition, Disney has shown me that they don't really understand or care about what Star Wars is at it's core, and have no concerns about letting such a vivid part of American pop culture die. 

I’m certain that the final art Drew meant us to see is crated away somewhere in the Disney vaults, like the ark at the end of Raiders. I believe that art is a horcrux, containing a piece of Drew’s soul. And a piece of my soul, as well as yours and all of us who make up the Star Wars universe. And until that art is out in the world, that universe can never be whole.

Death Star Trench cake on Nerdy Nummies

It was Red5's birthday this month, and I wanted to do something special. Baking was always a hobby of mine, but I thought it was time to step up my cake game and make a birthday cake that would be long remembered throughout the galaxy! I asked my friend Rosanna Pansino, creator of Nerdy Nummies, if she could give me some quick lessons on the use of fondant. I had never really worked with it before, and I knew it was the next step to elevating my baking skills. She invited me on her show, so my lesson turned into trial by fire! Watch below to see how it turned out!

Photo 1: Ro and I didn't have time on the show to go over every single detail involved in making the Death Star Trench cake, so I thought I would write this post to cover some of the steps that I handled while she was baking the cakes!

I was in charge of putting together the spaceships for the dogfight in the trench. Being that this cake was for Red5, it was only natural that I included Luke Skywalker's x-wing. I wanted the ships to be edible along with the cake, so I gathered as many of my "model parts" as I could from the grocery store. The x-wing mainly consists of fondant, graham crackers, Good&Plenty, and pretzel sticks.

Photo 2: I tried using a pretzel stick as an armature for the x-wing, but the ship is so long and thin, the pretzel wouldn't support it. Particularly with the moisture of the fondant, and the pushing and poking I had to do to shape it. So I gave up on my "100% edible" concept, and justified this plastic armature by telling myself that lollipops and ice-cream bars have sticks in them! I used a piece of 1/4 clear acrylic rod as the "stem" so the final ship would appear to be flying over the surface of the cake.

Photo 3: Then I softened up some fondant by working it in my hands, and wrapped the armature. It took a while to shape it, because fondant doesn't work like clay. I needed to let it sit and firm up for a while, shape it a little, then let it sit again.

Photo 4: Once I had a shape I liked, I cut 4 wings from the graham cracker, and pressed them into the fondant body. I rolled a small coil of fondant and worked it between the wings with a small metal spatula to help keep the wings securely in place.

Photo 5: With the x-wing needing to firm up for a while, I shifted my attention to Darth Vader's TIE fighter. This ship was constructed from a gum ball Ro gave me off the set of Nerdy Nummies, a candy cane, several waffer cookies, and a graham cracker.

Photo 6: I drilled a hole through the gum ball and slipped a length of candy cane through it. This will be the cockpit and wing arms.

Photo 7: Then I cut out the engine housing from a graham cracker. I notched the front to fit around the gum ball, and cemented it to the candy using icing.

Photo 8: Vader's TIE fighter has very distinctive angled, louvered wings. One of my first ideas for this cake was to use chocolate waffer cookies to build those, since they have a similar shape and texture. And, you can eat them! The cookies were the perfect size for the scale I was using, but they were way to thick. So I used an xacto knife to split them in half.

Photo 9: Then I used the xacto to shave off a 45 degree angle where the top and bottom cookie would touch the center panel, er, cookie.

Photo 10: Using the same icing as earlier, I carefully placed a bead of it along the edge of the middle cookie, then placed the top cookie on at an angle. When the icing dried up a bit, and held the cookies together, I flipped it over and did the bottom cookie. This whole process was repeated for the other side, and when they were fully dry, I carefully cut the corners off to make the wings their proper shape.

Photo 11: While the wings set, I mixed some grey-blue fondant, rolled it into a thin sheet, and carefully covered the entire body of the TIE fighter. I used my metal spatula to press in detail lines.

Photo 12: While the TIE fondant firmed up, I made some lasers by cutting a slit in a few sour gummy strips, and placing a thin piece of wire into them.

Photo 13: Now we are into final assembly. The waffer wings are secured onto the body of the TIE fighter with fondant. The wings of the x-wing get a thin layer of white fondant. I used a small piece of the TIE fighter blue fondant to sculpt the x-wing cockpit, and a small piece of the gray we made for the Death Star surface to make R2-D2 and the rear details. I attached pretzel sticks to the tips of the wings with icing, and I wrapped shortened pretzel sticks in fondant to be the thrusters. The engines are simply white Good & Plenties. I pushed the wire of the lasers into the gum ball so Vader would be taking a shot at Luke.

Photo 14: The final detailing for the ships consisted of Ro's edible magic markers for stripes on the x-wing, and blue icing piped on the wings of the TIE fighter.

Photo 15: Everyone in the galaxy if familiar with the intimidating surface of the Death Star, but now you can think of it as a delightful treat!

Photo 16: I pulled images of the individual Death Star tiles from the interwebs, and used them as patterns to craft the numerous fondant tiles for the cake.

Photo 17: Ro and I set up an assembly line to make all the tiles. She cut out tons of shapes using these awesome multi-sized geometric cookie cutters she had, and I stacked up the piece in different patterns resembling the reference.

Photo 18: All in all, we made about 100 unique tiles! It took us all day! But it was a super fun day. Ro is a blast to hang out with. Phew! Phew!

Photo 19: This cake involved a lot of fondant! We had to mix the gray to get it to be the right shade for the Death Star by adding small amounts of black to the white fondant. Then it had to be worked a ton to get it all mixed evenly. I may have worked this batch too much!

Photo 20: When the fondant was the perfect color, Ro rolled it out and draped it over the cake. She is such a pro! It went on so smooth, the cake literally looked like metal. I had seen it done before on shows and stuff, but never in person. On the second cake, she had me do it! I was so nervous about messing it up after all that work baking! She is an excellent teacher, so I got it right the first time. But not without my fair share of freaking out! Luckily, that part was cut out!

Photo 21: There are lots of things you guys don't get to see in the final edit of the show. Like how the top of the cake, which was cut off to level the final cake out, looked like a deranged Minecraft creeper! It looks a little weird, but was it ever tasty! You may wonder how everyone involved in Nerdy Nummies doesn't constantly want to eat EVERYTHING on the show...

Photo 22: It's simple! Ro just keeps a huge supply of chicken wings around so no one has room for dessert!

Photo 23: As you saw in the video, we adhered the finished tiles to the body of the cake, and it was ready for the party!

Photo 24: The cake made it safely to San Diego, and while everyone was out on the dance floor at Felicia Day's Geek & Sundry party, Ro and I snuck back to the greenroom to do the final assembly of the cake. We slid the ships into the trench, secured the laser towers, and adhered all the additional base tiles.

Photo 25: Then we pulled Red5 off the dance floor to surprise her. All her friends were there, including the Yellow Lion from Voltron!

Photo 26: Happy Birthday, again, Red5! May the force be with you always! And thank you Rosanna, for the lessons, the extraordinarily generous amount of help, for having me on your show, and for being an awesome friend!

San Diego Comicon 2012 Schedule

It's that time of year again! Comicon is a week away, and I have a full schedule this year. I thought I'd post the events I will be part of so you can join me and we can celebrate our love of all things geek together!

Comicon is starting early this year, and it's starting with a bang! The Nerdist Chris Hardwick with helming a relay race from the Santa Monica pier to the San Diego Convention center to officially open this year's festivities. And he's doing it Star Wars style! The Course of the Force starts Saturday, July 7th, but Chris has already started his journey. I gave him a hand, literally, to help him on his way. Check it out...



Learn more about this exciting charity event here.

Check out more of my blog for the other events I will be part of at this year's Comicon. I'll be updating this list as things are added and shifted, so keep an eye on it. Hope to see you in San Diego!

THURSDAY, JULY 12TH:

I am creating a sculpture from all of the trash the Roddenberry dive team pulls from the beaches and ocean in order to help create awareness for the conditions of our sea life. I would really appreciate if you could join us on the clean-up. Every bag of trash collected helps so much!

Comic-Con Dive & Cleanup

“Come Boldly Explore the Underwater Universe at La Jolla Shores!”

WHERE: La Jolla Shores 

DATE: July 12th, 2012 (First Day of Comic-Con) 

TIME: 5:30am Early Bird Gathering. 7:30am & 9am Dives. 9am-10:45am Beach Cleanup.

NOTE: A Comic-Con Pass is not required to attend this event.

COST: FREE 

RSVP REQUIRED: Click Here to RSVP! 

To all Scuba divers, ocean lovers and Comic-Con attendees, come join Rod Roddenberry and the Roddenberry Dive Team for a morning of adventure as we dive La Jolla’s Underwater Ecological Preserve and cleanup the beach. We have joined forces to provide our out-of-town aquatic brethren an unforgettable dive and beach cleanup opportunity. Prizes will be awarded for our above and below water “Trashy Diver” winners. Divers and non-divers are welcome! 

Special effects and art director Greg Aronowitz will be on hand to oversee the cleanup for the “Roddenberry Art Project”, and an Aquarist from the world famous Birch Aquarium at Scrippsto talk about the local marine life. 

Donuts & Coffee: 

For the early birds; a few of us will be arriving at La Jolla Shores (next to “Kellog Park”) around 5:30am to enjoy the sights and sounds of the ocean as the sun pours onto the pacific (Sunrise = 5:50 am). Coffee, juice, yogurt, donuts and muffins will be available to the first 50 (approx) people that arrive. We plan on gathering at one of the beach-side fire-pits for a bit of warmth and camaraderie. 

Diving & Discovery: 

Around 7:00/7:30 am Scuba divers will begin suiting up for our adventure to the La Jolla Underwater Canyon. Another group of divers will go out around 9:00am. Once geared-up and ready, we’ll do a surface-swim out about 100 yards to where the depth is approximately 40+ feet. After a final buddy/gear check, we’ll descend to bottom where we’ll continue west to a maximum depth of 100’. From there, each buddy team, while monitoring their depth, time and air, will explore this magnificent underwater realm and gradually work their way east back to the shore. 

Trashy Diver Underwater & Beach Cleanup:

We encourage you to be a "Trashy Diver" and join us for an underwater cleanup and a shore cleanup to keep our beach and ocean healthy and safe. The Beach Cleanup will take place from 9:00am - 10:45am. Comic Con Trashy Diver Awards will be given for trash "Most likely found on the USS Enterprise" and the "Most Amount of Trash" for both the underwater and shore cleanups. 

RDT has commissioned famed special effects and art director Greg Aronowitz to create a life-sized sculpture made from trash collected by RDT members and volunteers at underwater, beach and river cleanup events. Greg will be on hand to coordinate the cleanup. The trash collected will be used in the “Roddenberry Art Project” sculpture.

La Jolla Shores Parking: 

La Jolla Shores has an extremely convenient parking lot located next to the beach and only a few yards from where we’ll be gathering and doing our dives. The cross-streets are “Calle Frescota” & “Camino del Oro”. Click HERE to see a map of the dive site and parking lot.

CLICK HERE TO RSVP!

11:45-12:45 The most action packed hour of the weekend, Stan Lee's World of Heroes announces a new line up of shows, and lets you meet legendary talent like Mark Hamill of Star Wars, Adrianne Curry of America's Next Top Model, My favorite craftsperson, Bonnie Burton, and Monster High's America Young. Jeff Lewis and Sean Becker of The Guild will be in attendance to debut a trailer for a brand new show I helped them put together, filmed right here at the BarnYard. you won't want to miss it!

I will be at booth #2543, promoting my new company, Floppets. I will be having all of my coolest friends joining me throughout the weekend so you can meet them, get autographs, and of course, get a hold of all the new Floppets! We will be premiering tons of new product, like our Munchkin Monsters, so make sure you come by!

Thursday, July 12th:

2:00-3:00 Meet the cast of White Room:02B3, including Tony Janning and Milynn Sarley.

3:15-5:00 Meet the cast of Legend of Neil, with director/co-creator Sandeep Parikh. Get your hands on an exclusive poster featuring the new DVD cover art I created!

I directed a film for Roddenberry Entertainment called White Room: 02B3. It is making it's US premiere at Comicon this year. Please come see the film, and meet the amazing cast. Plus learn all about the new and exciting 360 technology we used to film it!

TREK NATION & WHITE ROOM SCREENING

WHERE: The Birch Theater in North Park, San Diego, CA

                   2891 University Avenue, San Diego, CA 92101

DATE: Thursday, July 12, 2012  

TIME: 7:00pm

Friday, July 13th:


10:00-Noon Geek and Sundry hosts duel panels for two shows I designed, The Jeff Lewis 5-minute Comedy Hour, and Save the Supers. This is sure to be the most halirious panel of the entire weekend!

Noon-1:00 I will be on stage with Felicia Day, crafting something entertaining during her live Flog broadcast for YouTube Live! Come be part of the fun!

2:00-3:00 Come meet Felicia and the cast of the Guild at my booth.

We have Guild Floppets, and I will be signing Team Cawkes posters and Dark Horse covers along with Felicia, Sandeep, Jeff, Amy, Robin, and Vince.

Saturday, July 14th:

12:00-2:00 Brent Spiner is signing with me at booth #2543. Come talk to us about Star Trek Floppets and Fresh Hell!

3:00-4:00 The Roddenberry Panel in room 7AB. I will be joining Rod to talk about White Room:02B3, Trek Floppets, the Dive Team Trash Sculpture, and we will see some awesome behind the scenes footage and learn more about amazing Roddenberry projects like Trek Nation. 

4:30-5:30 Save The Supers panel at YouTube. Come meet the heroes from Super Force, stars of the new web-series, "Save the Supers." I Executive Produced and designed the show with creator/director/genius Sandeep Parikh. Find out more about this incredible show on Facebook. Be sure to like us, and definitely follow us on Twitter to get all the minute by minute details as these Supers take over Comicon!

Sunday, July 15th:
11:00-12:00 Team Unicorn joins me at the booth. Come meet these amazing ladies, get an exclusive TU Floppet and a signed poster I created for them!

More to come...