Novastream Issue 7 by Novastream

EDITOR’S NOTE Hey guys!

IN THIS ISSUE: MOVIES:

Merry belated Christmas and Happy New Year! We’re back from holidays and into the swing after watching a tonne of Christmas-themed specials with loved ones, whiskey and chocolate. (I write this sentence and I realise it could either be that I had whiskey and chocolate with my loved ones or that my loved ones are whiskey and chocolate). Two festive specials really stood out. The first was Netflix’s A Very Murray Christmas - which pottered along nicely with Amy Poehler, Chris Rock and Maya Rudolph before knocking it out of the park with a George Clooney/ Miley Cyrus finale. The other was the Flash - which included the return of Mark Hamill’s Trickster, Captain Cold, Wally West, Zoom and Jesse Quick to name but a few. In amongst the silly season a few ideas got left on the cutting room floor. In preparation for Star Wars I sat down to watch the series again. To sum up the eight hundred words I would have wrote: Liam Neeson makes the first one watchable, and while I don’t want to sound like a cliche, if Jar Jar Binks was manually edited out of each movie the series would improve by tenfold.

4. STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS

10. STAR WARS: BATTLEFRONT

The PopCulturists have a very spoilery video on Star Wars: The Force Awakens online for those that have seen the film. Worth a watch. Was Star Wars your favourite movie of the year? We clearly loved it, but we did an office poll and it turns out one film pipped it at the post. Read on to find out, as well as which TV shows to add to your bingelist. Ooh and I forgot Doctor Who came to a very divisive finale before sweeping it under the rug for the Christmas special. Merry Christmas and May the Force Be With You,

MARK HALYDAY, EDITOR

12. THE NOVASTREAM 9

A SPOILER-FREE TALE FROM RYAN BETSON, FAN OF STAR WARS

IN THE FINAL MONTHS OF 2012 STAR WARS CREATOR GEORGE LUCAS SOLD LUCASFILM AND THE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY OF STARS WARS AND INDIANA JONES TO DISNEY FOR $4.04 BILLION. BEFORE THE INK WAS DRY ON THE DEAL A THIRD TRILOGY WAS GREENLIGHT. I was tearing up. Before the movie even started my eyes began to glisten. Whether it was from excitement brought on from hype, or nervousness from the unknown, whatever the case I was holding back the tears. But then that John Williams score kicked in. Like a force push to the chest that iconic theme kicked in and I held back no more. I have such an emotional tie to the Star Wars saga that I knew I would have this reaction (as it’s happened before when I finally was able to see the original trilogy in the cinema). Similar to every other fan of the series I was hesitant, but secretly optimistic, for what J.J. Abrams would bring to that galaxy far far away. Well, to put it simply, there is nothing to worry about. This is the Star Wars movie we have been looking for.

Order and the new big bad Kylo Ren, a masked man with a bit of a Darth Vader obsession. As all this goes on we meet Rey, a scavenger from the Tatooine-esque Jakku, where she runs into the exFirst Order Stormtrooper Finn. From here they set off on an adventure where they run into the infamous smugglers Han Solo and Chewbacca. That is where I will leave it. This movie has done the unimaginable. It has been able to open with no one knowing the overall plot, the story beats, or act structure, and there is NO WAY that I am the one to ruin that mystery for the people. Oh my god was it a pleasure to see Han, Chewie and Leia on the screen again. That chemistry is so strong it is like it never left. Harrison Ford provided one of the best performances I have seen from him in years. He was able to bring back everything that was Han. The charisma, the wit, all of it. Carrie Fisher is magical with her small screen time. The scenes she shares with Ford are just emotion filled beauties. As they look at each other you can see a lost love, a sadness, and a hint of remorse for unseen events between Jedi and Force Awakens. Chewbacca is back is as loveable as he was before. Although slightly aged he still is a force to be reckoned with. C3-PO and R2-D2 make incredibly small cameos which is interesting. But the biggest question is: Is Mark Hamill in this? The answer is yes. Can’t say more. Spoilers and such.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens is the seventh film in the saga and is directed by J.J. Abrams (Star Trek, Lost) and the first under the hands of Disney. To the pleasure of every Star Wars fan ever almost all of the original cast return with the likes of Harrison Ford (Han Solo), Carrie Fisher (General Leia Organa), Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker), Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca), Anthony Daniels (C3-PO), and Kenny Baker (R2-D2) . With the old comes the fresh new faces: Daisy Ridley (Rey), John Boyega (Finn), Oscar Issac (Poe Dameron), Gwendoline Christie (Captain Phasma), and Adam Driver (Kylo Ren). Along with mo-cap performances from Andy Serkis (Supreme Leader Snoke) and Lupita Nyong’o (Maz Kanata). But where this movie shines is with its new blood. Daisy Ridley steals the movie as Rey. Out of the new It’s been almost 30 years since the Battle of Endor cast she is by far the one I felt for the most. She in Return of the Jedi. Luke Skywalker is missing is brilliantly written and performed. Ridley is so and the Resistance, the once Rebel Alliance, are real and natural, it honestly feels like she isn’t even desperately looking for the Jedi Master. From the acting. If you have a daughter Rey is a character remnants of the destroyed Empire comes the First that she should look up to. She is an incredible

DISNEY MADE THE $4.04 BILLION BACK IN MERCH SALES BEFORE A SINGLE TICKET WAS PURCHASED.

strong female character who can hold her own. Similar to Leia in the original trilogy I can only hope that becomes a role model for you female viewers. John Boyega is exceptional as Finn. When in the Stormtrooper suit he was able to portray so much emotion. You could tell that he is someone that is uncomfortable with what he has seen and experienced. Boyega brings such a charm to this film, you can really tell that he is so happy to be a part of it. He brings this warm caring personality to what we previously would have considered faceless soldiers. The personality of Finn brings a lovely light heartedness to the Force Awakens and provides many of the films humorous moments. Po “the best pilot in the Resistance” Dameron was exceptionally performed by Oscar Issac. Po knew that he was the greatest pilot but he never came

boy does Driver deliver this in spades. The one biggest disappointment is Captain Phasma. I’m sure this is just my expectations playing with me but I felt she was really under used. She came off like such a bad-ass and I just really wanted to see that in action. What really sets this film apart is the abundance of real world locations, sets and puppets makes this world feel grounded, something sorely lacking in the Prequel trilogy. The universe feels tactile, lived in, and gritty. Now don’t get me wrong there is CGI in this film, there has to be, but it feels as if 99% of it could be literally touched. I believe this really helped the actors deliver such exceptional performances as they were able to directly interact with the world. The only issue with this is that when CGI is used it stood out and was a little distracting, n particular Supreme Leader Snoke and Maz Kanata.

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THE FORCE AWAKENS REUNITES MORE THAN A DOZEN ORIGINAL CAST MEMBERS, INCLUDING HARRISON FORD, CARRIE FISHER AND MARK HAMILL. off as cocky or arrogant. He was self-assured and Although the motion capture appeared quite welcoming especially when on screen with Finn. seamless having them on screen really took me out of the movie for a short period of time. I think Now that we have covered all the good guys, let’s this just shows the level of effort put into the world look at the evil ones. Kylo Ren. Holy crap was he building. Now, this isn’t really spoilers, but there is a intimidating. You could feel the raw emotion and lightsabre battle in the later section of this movie. It power he had over the force. Although I can’t talk too is so different compared to the previous movies. Its much about it, you know spoilers and stuff. There not as slow and sluggish of the original trilogy or as are some insanely intense moments with Ren. Adam beautiful and elegant as the prequels. Its raw, gritty Driver was able to give a surprising amount of heart and dirty. It feels like each fighter has never battled to this character. What makes an exceptional villain anyone like this before. It feels like each party are is that you can see their motivations. You certainly purely fighting to survive and take down the other wouldn’t agree with their actions but you can see person. Each swing is packed with emotion and where they are coming from. No good villain is evil energy. It is spell-binding. for the sake of being evil. They need that humanity to ground them, to simply make them human. And Visually this movie is so impressive! In particular

the sense of scale. The cinematography in the movie allowed me to witness and be astounded by the size of Millennium Falcon, and then again when the Falcon was dwarfed next to a ruined Star Destroyer. From previous movies I know these ships are huge but there is just something with how this was shot that really made it stand out. The sound design is similarly as impressive. As I mentioned at the start of this review, that John Williams score hits me in such an astounding way. Every piece of music in this movie is beyond amazing. The new and the subtle use of the old ones we know and love. The Force Awakens sounds like Star Wars. The TIE Fighter sounds, the lightsabres, the blasters, it is all spot on.

EVERYBODY WANTS TO BE IN STAR WARS.

HERE’S SEVEN OF THE BIGGEST CAMEOS YOU MAY HAVE MISSED

SIMON PEGG (STAR

The Force Awakens had a very difficult line to balance on. Do they really play on the nostalgia and do a Gotham and just ham fist every throwback we can to the original trilogy? Or do you sprinkle it in ever so slightly? Abrams has decided to go towards the later and damn am I happy for it. There are so many things in this movie that could be seen as straight up pulling from the trilogy (i.e. Starkiller base essentially being another Death Star) but there is mostly little nods that are ever so perfect. You can really feel the love and respect that Abrams has towards this series. None of it feels like making movies just for the money, there is a passion present that helps me know that Star Wars is in the right hands.

TREK, SHAUN OF THE DEAD) AS FOOD VENDOR ON JAKOO

Star Wars: The Force Awakens is not just a great new Star Wars movie, it is also a great film in general. It is well shot and well written with the cast that delivers performances that are so full of emotion that they will melt your heart or move you. J.J. Abrams was able to bring in the old with such a love and respect that only he could bring but still be able to make a new incredible space adventure. This movie brought me to tears multiple times. I felt for the new characters as if I’ve known them for years, while the characters I had known for years fell back into my heart. I simply love this movie. It is the Star Wars sequel I wanted, and I cannot wait for more of it.

BILL HADER (INSIDE

DANIEL CRAIG

(SKYFALL, SPECTRE) AS A STORM TROOPER

THOMAS BRODIESANGSTER (MAZE

RUNNER, LOVE ACTUALLY) AS FIRST ORDER OFFICER

KEN LEUNG (LOST) AS

RESISTANCE OFFICER

OUT, TRAINWRECK) AS VOCAL CONSULTANT ON BB8

WARWICK DAVIS

(HARRY POTTER, AN EWOK STAR WARS: RETURN OF THE JEDI) AS PINK-SNOUTED CREATURE IN MAZ’S CASTLE

BILLIE LOURD

(CARRIE FISHER’S DAUGHTER, SCREAM QUEENS) AS RESISTANCE OFFICER

LIST OF AWARDS BROKEN BY STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS Most Box Office Records Broken : 37 Fastest movie to $1 billion: 12 Days Second Highest Grossing Movie of All Time Biggest Opening Day of All Time Biggest Single Day in US History: $119.1 million Biggest Opening Weekend Worldwide: $529 million Biggest Opening Weekend of All Time: Australia, Russia, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Austria, Poland, Denmark, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, Croatia, Ukraine, Iceland, Serbia and New Zealand. Widest Worldwide IMAX release: 940 screens Fastest to $100 million in IMAX sales – 12 days Biggest gap between first and second highest grossing films in a weekend – over Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip And many, many more...

WHERE’S LUKE? MARK HAMILL COSTARRED IN THIS YEAR’S SURPRISE HIT KINGSMAN. HE PROVIDES AWARD-WINNING VOICE WORK FOR BATMAN’S ARCHNEMISIS THE JOKER AND CONTINUES TO GUEST AS THE VILLANOUS TRICKSTER ON THE FLASH.

The amount of press Mark Hamill has been doing lately is ridiculous. He’s told news outlets that while he loves the new film and all the passion for the series he does miss the anonymity he’d cultivated over the years. Obviously as Luke Skywalker there was never going to be total silence, but at least he could duck down to the shop for some milk. He recalls being asked to dinner with Carrie Fisher and George Lucas. When his wife suggested Lucas was going to pen a sequel trilogy he laughed it off - never considering Lucas would sell his company in a million years (or rather $4.04 billion). Fisher was in. Hamill was nervous. Then Ford confirmed and Hamill signed on the dotted line. A big shiny announcement followed. Lots and lots of press followed, including a spectacular couple of Comic-Cons. Hamill was clearly on the inner circle, although a hefty bonus was on the way if he didn’t give away any plot points. Good incentive. Disney had a tight lid of it’s newest acquistion. Unlike brothercompany Marvel there were not releasing any secrets early. When the first trailer dropped it blew everybody’s mind. A crashed ship. A black stormtrooper. BB8. Daisy Ridley. A new villian with a new lightsaber in the snow. The Millenium Falcon, Chewbacca and Han’s now infamous line “We’re Home”. But where was Luke? The saviour was nowhere to be seen. And in the next trailer, only a metal hand on R2D2. The internet was ablaze. Was our hero evil? A 2005 meet between JJ Abrams and Hamill joking about evil Luke came to light. Everyone was hooked.

HE’S IN THE MOVIE. RIGHT? HE IS IN THE MOVIE?

Then the text from the opener was released and it appeared we played directly into their marketing efforts. In the film’s narrative Luke was missing and his sister was leading the search for his return. And it remains a mystery long after the first act. Just like the characters in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, we were all asking “Where’s Luke?”

WITH LUCASFILM NOW AT DISNEY THE GAMING DIVISION LUCASARTS HAS GONE THE WAY OF THE DODO. AS SUCH, EA GAMES IS THE NEW HOME FOR QUALITY STAR WARS CONSOLE GAMES.

BUT ARE THEY STILL QUALITY? ZAHRA EMILY INVESTIGATES.

Nostalgia is both a powerful and destructive force when it comes to gaming. Like many others, I have fond memories of the old Battlefront games. It takes me back to a time of mystery, of being enamoured with the Star Wars Universe and a discovery of shooters. They weren’t my thing back then, but playing with my brother, firing through the campaign missions and the promise of light sabers was enough to get me hooked. It was also enough to get me excited about the series now, so much so that I even decided to pre-order it. But the new Battlefront is not what I remember and its intrinsically shaped how I’ve responded to, and how I’ve played this version. For others, it has turned them off the new title entirely. So what has changed in ten years? For starters you’ll notice that there’s no longer a single player campaign, your options are limited to a selection of multiplayer game modes, as well as single player (v AI or a friend) standalone training, missions and battles. There’s a huge focus on the multiplayer elements, with players able to customise their own rebel soldier or imperial trooper and gain experience and credits to unlock more customisations. There’s enough to unlock to keep you busy for a very long time, but unfortunately you won’t earn any experience from your single player pursuits so you’ll have to spend a lot of time in multiplayer. Completionists will want to unlock everything, the different appearances, weapons, blasters, the diorama and all the single player objectives.

Mutliplayer works on a card system, you choose your hand based on items you’ve unlocked and use them in game. For example you might have a scout rifle or ion cannon attached to L1 and a thermal detonator to R1, as well as a special bonus like a cool down or focus fire on triangle (or Y for you Xbox players). These operate on a timer and you’ll need to wait for them to reload to use them again. These options aren’t necessarily open to alteration in single player, where your character will be based on a class appropriate to the mission. Haven’t heard that name in a while have you? Remember when classes used to include people like engineers, marines, commanders and the decision was very tactical based on how you played the game and what each mission required. The classes are still around, mostly in single player battles where you can’t use your own. The choices don’t feel particularly significant aside perhaps from playing as a shock trooper or imperial guard for someone playing as a hero in multiplayer. You’ll also note that as yet there’s no battle droids, perhaps to come in a later DLC. By focusing so much on the mutliplayer game modes the franchise has alienated a huge portion of the fanbase. Battlefront has always had that mutliplayer element but there was a campaign and a story you can play out yourself. Forcing (no pun intended) players into multiplayer is unproductive. Experience should be earnable in any way you choose to play and it is strange that there’s so many chances to customise your character and so much

to unlock, but essentially only if you play MMO style. If you’re looking for that seamless MMO/FPS cross over that you can play how you choose, you’ll find it in Destiny. Bungie managed an open world, a mix of elements and the RPG customisation that Battlefront is grasping at with relative ease.

people occupying the same space. While other game modes become repetitive quite quickly, I found Supremacy continued to hold my interest. My experience with the beta clearly went great Other multiplayer game modes include blast (a more traditional team battle), fighter squadron (for some aerial fun – you can even play the millennium falcon), droid run (these are the droids you’re looking for… Sorry I couldn’t help myself), cargo (basically Star Wars capture the flag), hero hunt (a kind of tag match where everyone gangs up on a hero, whoever wins becoming hero next), as well as heroes v villains (played over rounds so everyone gets in on the action) and finally walker assault and cargo drop, which I won’t discuss because they’ve been extensively covered already since the beta.

Let’s have a look at some of the game modes you can try in the new edition. My favourite by a long shot is supremacy. In this style of play each side fights for control of keys areas on the map, effectively pushing the other back until you control all five. Failing total control, the side with the most zones will win the match when the timer runs out. What’s so great about this game is the tactical control of the zones. You can’t advance without also defending, and you also can’t jump ahead more than one zone in enemy territory. It resonates because it makes sense, and is so fun because of the challenge in taking and maintaining zone control. It’s a full blown battle The first piece of advice I can give you is to complete with the maximum players (40) in multiplayer, some of the training missions before launching with the unpredictability that comes with so many into multiplayer, some of the controls are a little

unwieldy and it will get frustrating fast unless you have a handle on them first. Some game modes can be very satisfying or not at all, hero hunt in particular has some major faults. With everyone gunning for the hero it’s rather haphazard as to who actually gets the final shot and despite being in the mix you may not ever get a chance at playing a hero. The heroes themselves aren’t fairly matched, as you’d expect, force wielding heroes fared much better than those with blasters, you can practically hear the groans when you get stuck with Leia or Boba. What’s that Palpatine? You can make your own health and hide in tree trunks shooting lightning at anyone brave enough to go near you… and Leia, that’s a great shield, I guess… Other frustrations included being dropped in randomly into a load of enemies and immediately dying, trying to jump over terrain (don’t even bother without a jump pack, it’s pathetic) and the fact that teams aren’t shuffled in multiplayer. If your team sucks you appear to be stuck with them unless you quit the game mode and load into it again, but hey if you’re winning make the most of it I guess? My personal pet peeve was anything that involved flying because I’m just not good at it, kamikaze runs into crowded battlefields or AT-ST’s was more my thing. At times I felt the controls were counterintuitive and despite looking fantastic, the

the multiplayer in particular just felt like it lacked substance. If you really want some time as a hero you’ll want to get into the single player modes. There’s training missions with their own series of achievements that get increasingly harder. Don’t even get me started on the walker assault training. Not being very good at flying, this was a form of torture I have no wish to repeat. The real fun is to be had in the battle modes, particularly hero battle, where you can be the Hero or villain of your choosing for the ENTIRE game. I loved this game mode because it allowed me to play how I wanted, but it also wasn’t without faults. The spawning of enemies was haphazard, and as a timed, first to 100 tokens mission, not being able to find enemies wrecks your numbers. Survival mode was also fun and the increasingly challenging waves of enemies kept it entertaining. If you’re wondering why you should play this game despite its faults, the answer for me at least was simple, it’s Star Wars. It holds the same appeal to me now as it did then, the universe it immerses you in is infinitely appealing. Buy it for this reason and enjoy it for this reason. It isn’t what it was, but for me at least the fascination with Star Wars is enough. At its most basic level we all want to run around with lightsabers in a galaxy far far away and Battlefront allows us this opportunity.

BEST OF 2015 SAW A LOT OF GREAT STORIES BE TOLD THROUGH MOVIES, TELEVISION, STREAMING AND GAMING.

AUSTRALIA’S INDEPENDENT

2015 OUR STAFF HAVE VOTED AND HERE IS THE COMPREHENSIVE LIST. THE NOVASTREAM NINE.

ENTERTAINMENT DESTINATION

#2 #3

THE FILM THAT KICKED ‘THE AVENGERS’ FROM THE THIRD BIGGEST MOVIE EVER AND BROUGHT JURASSIC PARK INTO THE 21ST CENTURY.

#5 #4

GRANT GUSTIN LEADS AN INCREDIBLE ENSEMBLE THAT CAPPED OFF IT’S DEBUT SEASON WITH CLASS BEFORE DIVING INTO AN EPIC STRING OF NEW ADVENTURES. CONSISTENTLY AMAZING.

#9 #8

#5 #4 #3