I get sent a lot of crazy stuff that people want me to review. Some of it gets on the site and some of it doesn’t. I wasn’t sure what to think about the direct-to-Blu-ray and Walmart-exclusive animated short film LEGO Star Wars: The Padawan Menace until I heard Tim talk about it on the podcast, but I’m glad to say I was pleasantly surprised.

Not only am I growing utterly intolerant of prequel-era Star Wars, but I’d never heard LEGO characters talk despite being super cute in silent, video-game form, so I was leery. Luckily, it turns out that whoever wrote and animated this short film had a lot of creative freedom and decided to pump it full of slapstick, tongue-in-cheek humor, and lots of Star Wars in-jokes. Oh, and George Lucas makes a couple appearances.
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This time around on Bubble Pipe Theater, Rob, Tim, and Tommy discuss the NikeMag Back For the Future benefit auctions (read: pricey sneakers), the Star Wars Blu-rays (again), fictional technology we’d like to see in real life, the Walt Disney Family Museum, arcade nostalgia, Wii hacking, our current obsessions, and more.

It’s Star Wars on Blu-ray week! The folks at Wal-mart and Lucasfilm have something additional to spend your money on this Friday when all six Star Wars movies debut on Blu-ray. Exclusively at the discount retailer, you can pick up Lego Star Wars: The Padawan Menace on DVD/Blu-ray combo pack.

The cute 22-minute animated short originally aired on Cartoon Network this July. The Clone Wars-era story stars a special mystery character who is finally revealed at the end. The Blu-ray set includes an exclusive Lego mini figure of that special character.

For less than $20 it seems like a great deal but consider this. That mystery character who’s identified in surprising fashion at the end of the show is named right there on the front cover. Yes, the twist ending of this animated short is revealed by simply reading the front of the box.

It’s kinda like buying the new Citizen Kane Blu-ray edition with a special “Rosebud Sled” toy inside. You read that correctly. I just compared Lego Star Wars and Citizen Kane — and spoiled the mystery of 1941 film in the same sentence. Keeping it in the Star Wars universe, this gaffe is like having a special “Father’s Day” edition of The Empire Strikes Back. No potential spoilers there!

Of course I’m joking around with these analogies but I think the Lucasfilm marketers should consider their young fans when designing the cover art for their releases.

If you want the secret spoiled for you, just head over to Walmart.com for an up-close look.

If you visualized the contents of the Internet in the form of a pie chart, the two largest portions would be cat videos and discussions about Star Wars. This video intersects both subjects with cute and hilarious results.

Via Fotorater Magazine

I haven’t posted anything on the aggravating edits George Lucas is unleashing on us in a couple weeks with the Star Wars Blu-ray sets because it really pisses me off (see last week’s podcast), but I’ll gladly post this hilarious video featuring Chuck Norris taking out a Scout Trooper.

If they decided to add stuff like this in the movies instead of unnecessary ‘NOOOOOOOO!’ hissy fits I might actually be buying these Blu-rays.