Did Lucas plagierize from 'Dune'?

     In 'Dune', written by Frank Herbert, "Fear is the mindkiller".

     I do not know how much material George Lucas consciously stole from Herbert's masterpiece of science fiction, but it seems like a lot.
     'Dune' a.k.a. 'Arrakis', is a desert planet.
     "Hey!  So is Tattooine!"
     Paul Atreides has some special powers.
     "Hey!  So does Luke Skywalker!"
    
     Both Dune and Star Wars involves a princess.

     Shall I continue?

     Dune was first published in 1965, but Star Wars came out in 1977,

     Dune has an Emperor, and so does Star Wars.

     Being a sci-fi geek, and into Star Trek, I would imagine that George Lucas would have read Dune, but I can't be sure.

     Dune has mammoth sandworms, and 'Empire Strikes Back' has a mammoth worm living in an asteroid, which makes no sense.  How can a worm live there with no air?

     The other thing I keep thinking about is, "Hey!  Lord of The Rings has a little green guy, and so does Star Wars!"

     Last but not least, "Hey!  Flash Gordon has scrolling type in perspective and so does Star Wars!"   ( I'm not kidding.  It's true.  Go watch Flash Gordon on youtube.  You'll even see electricity out of robot's hands. )

     I'm getting tired of this eighty credit crap.  What the hell is eighty credits gonna do?  Geez.
     One friend I talked to said, "I Hate Daily Spin!".
     I'm starting to hate it, too.

  This line is a bunch of b.s.

  The whole idea of heroes if overdone, and I'm sick of it.

  After 'Mad Max 3: Beyond Thunderdome', I agreed with Tina Turner that we didn't need another hero.

Stormtrooper Unemployment

                          A lot of Stormtroopers were out of work when The Death Star blew up.

     I never liked the name 'Dooku'.  It sounds too much like 'DooDoo'.
     Basically, the name is a derivative of 'Dracula' since Christopher Lee played Dracula in Hammer films from the fifties.
     Maybe Dooku just wanted to make a living, and joining the Dark Side and The Seperatists was a better career move.
     Maybe being on the same side as Anakin and Padme was just too boring, schmaltzy, and douschy.

     This quote is from Yoda, who is supposed to be a character that is wise, but he doesn't have smart enough writers working for him.

                                            "Balance is found in the one who faces his guilt."

           Well, most people never do that, is all I have to say.  I have trouble facing my own guilt for all kinds of things, so I don't know how other people do it.

            Maybe most people just sweep things under the carpet, and hope they go away, but I don't think it ever does.

           Guilt is just a thing you have to live with.

           I don't think the U.S.A. will ever get over the guilt of Vietnam, for example.  Yet, we all have to live with it.

                                              "Fear not for the future, weep not for the past."


     To this, I add, "Mope not for the present, sulk not about the guy who stole the lights off your bike, fuss not over details that don't matter, cry not for Argentina, sneeze not when pepper is put into your nose, pee not into your pants, and change not your attitude if it is working for you."

     "Laugh not at other people's misery....haha."

     "Joke not when someone slips and falls into the mud."

         "The Force can have a strong influence on the weak-minded."

         Well, that brings up a good question.  Are stormtroopers stupid?

      I am sick of the crappy pay-outs on the daily spin.

      What the hell does this really mean?  The most dangerous beast is the beast within?  A rancor is way scarier than me in my worst mood.  I get what they are saying, but not really.

      Hanging out on Felucia.

   It is hard to get a picture of Ray because he moves around a lot.

  I like that because the chat box sucks that people call this droid 'Ray' because it is impossible to type in 'RA-7'.

                                            Savage Oppress, Darth Maul, and Asajj Ventress.

                                            Sometimes Clone Wars names for characters get a little goofy.

                                            Oh well, so be it.

                                            Most of them are fun to say.

My Fiftieth Post on This Blog

     Wow, I've made fifty of these posts?  Wow, I had no idea.

     Here's to fifty more.

     I am still exploring what to do on this blog.

     I want to watch the cartoon and animated series all over again, and that will give me ideas, as is just being more familiar with the content.

     The prequels aren't much help since they are so painful to watch, with all of the bad lines of dialogue, the lack of acting, and the omission of a real story.
    
     The cgi series keeps getting better and better, and I find it very watchable.  Basically, I like it.  I am looking forward to new episodes.

     My main goal is to cover all aspects of the 'Clone Wars Adventures' video game, though.

     Lately, I've been playing a lot of 'Card Assault'.  I am starting to get a little burned out on that game because of slow players making me wait.  It really sucks to lose on that game, I'll tell you that.  And some people win all the time, because they have better cards and decks.  It's war, and some of those kids really annoy the bleep out of me with their incessant talk in a chat box that barely allows English to be typed into.
      But I've met some nice people, too.

      To be honest, I can't get enough of Ahsoka.  I care about her as a fictional character.  Her life interests me.  I want to see what happens to her.
      I would imagine that she eventually dies before Episode IV.  She would have to, what with the Empire killing off all remaining Jedi.
     
      It almost seems incredible to me now that The Empire would never find Luke as a 'force-sensitive' child that they would automatically capture or kill, especially since he had the same name as the second-in-command of the entire Empire.  It is a story glitch that hurts my head.  Especially since he was on an 'Empire-controlled' planet, living near an Imperial controlled big city like Mos Eisley.

     I learned from 'Star Wars Galaxies' that the Imperial capitol of Tattooine is Mos Espa.  Pretty interesting, huh?  One could go there if you wanted to join The Empire.  However, there were terminals in all Empire-controlled cities to register to join the Empire if you wanted.  It was like 'Big Brother' at every corner.

     Anyway, I gotta go, talk to you guys later.  Thanks for the support, and I'll see you in-game.
     

Vann Blazebreaker's racing video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTeKU3xz9UU

I thought he did a good job on the video, splicing in music, and adding a duel with Yoda.
 
I've never seen anybody combine two 'video capture' videos together before.  I don't know how he did it.  Well, it isn't too hard for me to figure out, but it is the first time I've seen anybody do it.

Then there is the quality of the graphics he has filmed.  In addition, he races very well on this track.  I have enough lag on my computer because of various things that it affects my racing.  Vann races very well.

The funny thing is that during the Yoda battle, some kid sends a message saying, "I'm jumping.  I'm being eaten. lol."
      I emphasize with this because I have made countless videos with some kid chiming in with a random thought through chat.  It can't be helped, it just happens.  They always say something while you are filming, as if they know that you are trying to do something.

     Anyway, I need a nap....laters....

Jedi Knight Ana Zett

 
     I took these pictures because I thought she looked cool, and I liked her name.

     This hairstyle in Clone Wars, based off of Mon Mothma, I assume, always amuses me.

Mace Windu

     Mace Windu is one of my favorite characters.
    
     It is too bad they didn't do too much with him in the prequel movies.

     His character was left kind of undeveloped, and then they killed him off.

     Certainly they had the talent of Samuel L. Jackson to work with, but the writing on those films was not very good.

     Luckily, Mace is with us on the Cartoon Network show, where he can have more of an opportunity to shine.

     Let's face it.  A purple lightsaber is fierce.

      Clone armor is pretty cool looking.

      I wish I had some clone armor in real life.  Maybe I'll have to make some.

     In Clone Wars Adventures, you can stand next to fires and explosions, and not get hurt at all.

     Real war is a lot different. 

     The missions are fun to do on Felucia.
      It helps when you have people go with you.
      Otherwise, death is inevitable.

      Earning tokens to acquire gear is enjoyable.
      It gives you goals to work towards.

      As far as crafting goes, I've hit a wall with it.
      I am at a point where I can't seem to make progress.
      I go into 'Plans' and create more items.
      Then I go into 'Discovery', but I don't have enough components.
      So then I go hunting for more components, but it isn't always easy to get the rare stuff.
      I recommend hunting on all three battle zones, because some resources might be more available on some planets than others.
      Silver nanites cost ten credits each, and that is no problem to get enough of these to craft items.
      Gold nanites cost sc, and it is hard to know if investing in gold nanites are worth it.
      
      Crafting in CWA can get tedious, so it is best to do it in small bursts.




       I was a 'Star Wars Galaxies' player when CWA came out.  The funniest thing was that I had more fun playing Clone Wars than I did with SWG.

       At this point, I'm an everyday player of CWA. 
       I am completely addicted to the sound of the footsteps when I walk or run.  It feels solid to me.

       It is funny that the footstep sound doesn't change when you run on dirt.

Some Felucia Photos

      Here is the new Felucia helmet.

      I like to mix up the gear combinations, just for fun.

      The new Mission Terminal is actually a lot cooler than the one they had in Star Wars Galaxies.

      The General Grievious speeder is one of the best rides ever.  I wish I had one in real life.

      Felucia is a dangerous place.

 B2 Soldiers are nasty, and hard to kill.

      Rancor bone and crap pile.

 B8-CT8 Medical Droid.  He is a good companion.

      Being on alien worlds is what science fiction is all about.

     Moxin Adeptshock is my mortal enemy on Card Assault.  He always kills me with his General Grievious Droid deck, and it pisses me off.

Clone Wars Kid loses youtube account

Clone Wars Kid:           Dirk!  I lost my youtube account!
Dirk:                             What did you do?
CloneWars Kid:            I used copyrighted material and I was mean to people!
Dirk:                             Somebody probably complained about you.
Clone Wars Kid:           But it isn't fair!  I had over a hundred subscribers!
Dirk:                             It isn't my problem.  It looks like you will have to start
                                     a new youtube account, and maybe not be mean to people.
Clone Wars Kid:           If I do that, will you sub to me?
Dirk:                             You have a lot to learn, kid.  See you, I'm outta here.

     Umbara and Carlac are ridiculously easy now.
     Felucia is so difficult that if you wander off the home base, you can get killed within ten seconds.

     What is up with that?

     Anyway, the game is still fun, which is amazing to me.  I still like it.

     CWA, little by little, is becoming more like 'Star Wars Galaxies'.  There are now quests and missions on Felucia, which is really cool.  It gives you something to do, and to look forward to.

     Even with the new battle zone, there aren't a lot of worlds you can go to.  A glaring omission is that you can't go to Tattooine.

     It would be nice if there was an Outer Space combat zone.

     CWA still has a long way to go before it is a fully realized online game.  I guess that is part of the fun.  Every week there is new content, though I didn't seem to see any last Friday.

     Someone informed me that you can no longer get a lifetime membership.  What is up with that?

     The battlezones are kind of small.  Maybe over time they can introduce worlds that have more room to run around in.

     Yet, with all of the limitations of CWA, I still play every day, and I have a good time.

     I'm just sayin' is all.

     Here is my Toy Princess Leia standing guard at my napkin art table.

     There is one thing I have learned in life.  Never mess with a pissed off woman, especially if she has a laser assault rifle.

     Feel The Power of a Tusken Raider, also known as a 'Sandperson'.

     Here is what looks like a taun taun riding a speeder.  I saw this on Umbara one day.

     Star Wars is based on male fantasy, for the most part.  The Empire is loosely based on the Nazis.  Note the similarities between the Nazi uniforms, and those of Imperial officers.  This was not an accident.

     George Lucas told Carrie Fisher not to wear a bra in Episode IV.  He said, "There are no bras in space."

     Torture is always a factor when you deal with evil Empires.  Just ask any good Catholic about their history.
     A person would go into confession, and sometimes they would end up getting tortured.  It isn't always a good idea to tell your priest everything.

     "Anakin, you're breaking my heart!"
     Just kidding.

     Episode III was amazingly dark.

     Anyway, here is my napkin art off Ahsoka Tano...

     I covered her up so I would meet Blogger policy, plus I know that a lot of young people look at this blog. 
     I can be a decent person from time to time.
     By the way, this Ahsoka drawing sold, so you can make money off of your art, if you work hard at it.

     All I wanted to be when I grew up was either a baseball player or an artist.  The first one didn't work out.



     Here is my latest Clone Wars video...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KLuDYOeeL0

Felucia is a tough battle zone, I have found out.

     Holding two guns while wearing a helmet that looks like death is always very cool in CWA.

     No one can explain exactly why Boba Fett's armor is so cool.  It just is.

     Padme is a nice looking woman, but I am not too impressed with her political skills.  She needs a better speech writer.
     It has happened in both the prequel movies, and in the cgi television show where she talks as a senator, and it isn't impressive at all.
     Yet, she is able to win acceptance and approval.  It is amazing.
     Well, it makes what I'm watching unbelievable, like it is all a big joke.

     Also, it is difficult to believe she would really fall for Anakin.

     Also, it is hard to believe she would die in childbirth.

     As an actress, I've never been too impressed with Natalie Portman.  She is interviewed by David Letterman as a teenager, and she is kind of annoying.

     Anyway, here is Padme's husband.....haha.

     AT-AT's are based on elephants.

     This is just too funny.

     Here are some pictures from a Card Assault game that I used for a video.

     Card Assault is a fun, but annoying game.  I love to play, but I hate to lose.  A lot of people now have some real tricky cards which I can't stand.  I'll have to get those cards so that I can do the same to them as they have done to me.

     Anyway, while I'm thinking about it, the chat box on Clone Wars Adventures is atrocious.  They have done a good job of slaughtering the English language.  I can understand editing out the swear words.  Numbers have to be banned because of credit card fraud possibilities.  But there are lots of common household words I can't say at all, and it sucks. 
     For example, you can't say 'sucks'.  It just comes out as '*****'.  That really sucks.