The Battle of Hoth

We had to go to the basement this afternoon to look for some toys - more on that in a bit.  But while there, there was an irresistible pull towards the arcade cabinet we have down there, and an opportunity to play old school Street Fighter II once again.  Yep, that just happened.  Madison was down there with us, and before you knew it, she was battling the guys for a few matches.  The one you see pictured here was significant because she won her first game here, legitimately.  Meaning, we always throw things a bit or handicap the game in such a way to make it easier on her.  But not here.  What you see here is Madison as Chun Li, laying down some smack.  What helps is that poor Kellan wasn't quite sure how to do much on the game.  But Madison isn't an expert either.  However, she did discover the lightning kick.  And that was pretty much that for Kellan, who was playing as Ken.

Now, what exactly were we doing with toys?  The idea was to make a video using a lot of Daddy's Star Wars action figures, particularly the ones dressed for the Battle of Hoth.  We set up this table upstairs and wrote a script and everything.

It was kind of fun bringing the figures up from their boxes, and filming a bit too.  In fact, here's the script for the quick video.

KidPak Adventures:  Northern Lights
Hoth Unity

CUE SLIDE:  SNOWY BACKDROP

CUE TRACK:  EMPIRE STRIKES BACK

CUE SOUND EFFECTS OF BATTLE

CUT TO SHOT OF REBEL ACTION FIGURES, SHOT OF APPROACHING AT-ATs, possibly a flying SNOWSPEEDER. 

• REBEL I is on swiveling laser cannon. 
• REBEL II is on ICE BRIDGE
• REBEL III is under a grey structure.
• REBEL IV is inside a large turret.
• REBEL V is on a TAUN-TAUN

CLOSE UP ON GENERAL RIEEKAN and OTHER ACTION FIGURES

REBEL I:  “Prepare for ground assault!”

REBEL II:  Yes, totally!  Right now I feel like I could take on the whole Empire myself!”

RIEEKAN:  “NEVER say something like that in a Star Wars movie.”

REBEL II:  “Why not?  We got this thing!  We… ARGH!”

CUE EXPLOSION SOUND EFFECT as ICE BRIDGE collapses, taking REBEL II with him.

REBEL III:  “I will avenge you!  If I have to, I will take on the whole Empire myself!”

RIEEKAN:  “WHAT did I just say?”

REBEL III: “Uh….”

CUE EXPLOSION SOUND EFFECT as the structure REBEL III is standing inside collapses.

REBEL I:  “I think he said …”

RIEEKAN:  “DON’T say it.”

REBEL I:  “Sorry.”

REBEL I swivels back and forth firing his laser cannon.

REBEL I:  “There’s… too many of them!”

REBEL IV: “This is crazy!  What is it going to take to win this battle, laserbrain?”

RIEEKAN:  “I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”

CUT MUSIC

CUT SOUND EFFECTS

AT-AT cockpit opens up – standing inside are AT-AT PILOT and GENERAL VEERS.

GENERAL VEERS:   “I say!  What’s all this nonsense below bad feelings and so forth?”

RIEEKAN:  “I was just stating the obvious.  We’re not going to win this battle.”

AT-AT PILOT:  “That’s just weird.  Don’t you know the obvious?”

REBEL I:  “What’s that?”

SIDE OF AT-AT opens up, and there’s a bunch of SNOWTROOPERS INSIDE

SNOWTROOPERS:  “ALWAYS STICK TOGETHER!”

GENERAL VEERS:  “Good show!  Good show!”

REBEL V (riding in on TAUN TAUN):  “So you’re saying if we stick together, we can do this thing?”

GENERAL VEERS:  “Yes, that’s exactly what I was saying.  Isn’t that what I was saying earlier, Carl?”

AT-AT PILOT:  “Yes, precisely.”

GENERAL VEERS:  “Exactly.  In fact:  just listen to Rothchild the Wampa.”

ROTHCHILD the WAMPA steps in.

ROTHCHILD:  “Like every flake of snow, we’re different.  But we can pack together to make something even greater.  Why, I was just reading in my Bible about how it tells us to do our best to remain as one.  In unity!”

GENERAL VEERS:  “Here, here!”

SNOWTROOPERS:  “Yaaaaaaay.”

REBELS:  “Yaaaaaaaay.”

PROBOT:  (insert PROBOT sound effect)

AT-AT PILOT: “Well I guess we have to go back to fighting.  I wish there was some other way.”

REBEL V:  “Hey I got an idea.”

PAUSE

REBEL V:  “DANCE PARTY!”

CUE MONTAGE OF ACTION FIGURES DANCING

DARTH VADER:  “Stop this!  Stop this!  What are you doing?”

CUT MUSIC

MONTAGE of REBELS and STORMTROOPERS looking on.

DARTH VADER: “ That’s not how you do the robot.  THIS is how you do the robot!”

CUE MUSIC AGAIN, as DANCE PARTY RESUMES

CHANTING:  “Unity!  Unity!  Unity!”

This battle scene from the real movie was actually filmed in Norway, so it all ties together there in a pretty subtle way.  Really subtle way.  I don't expect anyone to notice it, in fact.  But the video was fun to film, and Madison was with us this afternoon for the setting up.  She helped move the characters around when they were on film - her hand is even seen a few times in the little video!

She was at school today, nailing her spelling test as always.  She had words like "appreciate" and "recreate," which remind me of lyrics to an old INXS song.  But I digress.  She did well.  And she did well on her homework, and her piano after school also.  She was playing while we were filming, and doing quite well with her new songs.  It helps that we are focusing more on a few songs versus a more spread-out collection of songs.  It helps because each song is a bit more complicated now.

So you may be wondering why she's dressed up as Dorothy in the picture.  The reason:  we watched "The Wizard of Oz" tonight.  She's been looking forward to this one, and honestly so have Mommy and Daddy.  It's been a while since we've seen the movie, and each time we see it, there's something new to appreciate.  Of course, the tornado scene is pretty amazing when you consider the special effects available back then.  But the costuming is pretty outstanding too.  It's just a classic movie, one that seems as timeless as the music within it.  We had our popcorn, our blankets, and our snuggling as we went back to Oz tonight one more time.  There'll be one last visit this weekend, with "Return to Oz."  Madison has not seen this one yet, so it'll make for an interesting visit.

Tonight we had prayers, reading, and sleep.  It's Friday, and everyone is ready to jump under the covers and take a long winter's nap...