Forgotten Heroes: Kolchak The Night Stalker

By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues

I was recently made aware of just how many movies and television shows the younger generation have never heard of, never mind seen. So to that end, we look back at some characters you really need to see before you kick the bucket.

In 1972 and 1973, ABC aired two television movies, the Night Strangler and the Night Stalker. Starring Darren McGavin, the movies spawned a full season of adventures for Kolchak between 1974 and 1975. Kolchak ran for one season only but it quickly became a cult favorite. It is no secret that Chris Carter was inspired by the show when he created the X Files. Kolchak’s exploits kept viewers glued and sadly he was yet another victim of ratings culture. If the network weren’t happy, the show was gone. I often wonder how the people in charge ever got their jobs. They just seem shortsighted and reluctant to give shows with potential time to expand and breathe.

Kolchak was a news reporter with an eye for the unusual and bizarre. On the Night Stalker case his ideas that a vampire was responsible for several murders was met with derision from the police and other reporters. Even when Kolchak gave clear evidence that the killer was not just a serial killer he was ignored. Indeed he was exiled to another state just so his ideas would not go out. Like a pitbull, once he got into a story he went after it without regard for rules or his own safety.

The character’s origins began in a novel called The Kolchak Papers, written by Jeff Rice. The plot translated to the small screen while the Night Strangler was turned into a novel following the positive feedback on the movies. His first name was Karel which he changed to Carl but everybody called him by his surname. Over a total of twenty episodes Kolchak would face the supernatural and unexplained, seeing things others turned their heads away from.

Some of the episodes here were recycled on The X-Files. Kolchak faced every monster from popular lore you can think of. We had vampires, zombies and werewolves to name but a few. Like Scully just missing seeing the alien or UFO, so Kolchak’s evidence was lost. Whether it be taken from him by the police or the forces he faced were just not photographic. He would always come away with nothing but the evidence of his own eyes. While some knew what he saw was real like the Hindu monster that took the shape of whoever the person loves before killing them, it was kept in the shadows. Each episode ended with a voiceover from Kolchak and it gave the impression that he quickly resigned himself to the fact these beings would stay in legend never to see the light of what we think as normal society.

Kolchak would also visit the realms of sci fi such as invisible aliens, a powerful force from the Earth itself and killer robots. He met lizard people and killer ape men spawned from man’s meddling in genetics. Even the ghosts of Native Americans turned up played by Richard Kiel. The headless horseman was updated as a deadly headless motorcyclist. He fought witches, doubles and even a vampire victim in a sequel to the Night Stalker. Helen of Troy turned up in a tale about immortality. This secret world had brought Kolchak in and he had to know more. His drive often made him the bane of cop’s existence ending in him being escorted out of a crime scene or being banned from press conferences.

Kolchak’s distinctive outfit made him an icon and one that to all audiences was instantly recognisable. With his hat and crumpled jacket and trousers he never went anywhere without his camera or tape recorder. Although he had a girlfriend in the Night Strangler, the authorities made sure she cut all ties with him and he never saw her again. The closest thing to family he had was his boss Tony Vincenzo (Simon Oakland). They were like an old married couple always fighting and bickering but holding a deep respect for each other. Tony knew Kolchak was right on the money but ignored it keeping his stories in reality for print. In many ways Tony was his protector given as he too was exiled along with Kolchak in the Night Strangler.

The series remained close to McGavin’s heart and he appeared in the fifth season of The X-Files as Arthur Dales. Personally I think his role should have been meatier and not the one he was given especially for being the inspiration for Mulder and Scully. Kolchak would appear in some comic book adaptions and McGavin spoke fondly of the show before his death in 2006.

Fifty years down the line Kolchak remains as popular as ever just as it should be.

Dublin Comic Con Adds Another Starship Trooper To The Gang

Denise Richards is set to reunite with her Starship Troopers costars this August at Dublin Comic Con. Denise played Carmen in the movie. She will attend DCC on the 24th and 25th August along with Michael Ironside, Dina Meyer and Casper Van Dien. GET YOUR TICKETS TODAY   

Doctor Who Voice Actress Passes Away

By Owen Quinn author

Photo copyright bbc

Doctor Who voice actor Ysanne Churchman has passed away at the age of 99. She voiced the alien Alpha Centauri in the third Doctor stories the Curse of Peladon and The Monster of Peladon. The character would later return in the twelfth Doctor story Empress of Mars.

Copyright bcc

With its bizarre appearance and high pitched voice Alpha Centauri became a fan favourite and featured as one of the Weetabix character cards. This was all down to Ysanne’s distinctive voice which cemented her place in our hearts. Big Finish would bring the character in their audio plays including the ninth Doctor. Ysanne is best known as Grace in The Archer’s and leaves behind a great legacy. Rest in peace because you will never be forgotten.

Dublin Comic Con Welcomes Acting Legend to Summer 2024

We are delighted to announce our next guest, Ray Winstone!!

This is Ray’s second ever convention appearance!! A very rare guest signer!

Ray Winstone is an English television, stage and film actor with a career spanning five decades. Having worked with many prominent directors, including Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg, Winstone is perhaps best known for his “hard man” roles, usually delivered in his distinctive London accent.
With over 140 television and movie credits to his name, most recently appearing as Bobby Glass in The Gentlemen and Lord Bayford in Damsel. He’s also well known for his appearances in Scum, Sexy Beast, The Departed, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Marvel’s Black Widow, Beowulf, King Arthur, Quadrophinia and Robin Hood

Photo ops, auto delivery and collection at show presigned will all be live tonight.

Ray will only be in attendance Saturday of the show!

Book Excerpt: Zombie Blues The Zombie Who Would Be King

By and copyright of Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues

“I got outside and realised I only had my hospital gown on which promptly fell off because it wasn’t tied at the back. I was naked…almost. When they do an operation like this, you’re fitted with a catheter. So there I am, naked as the day I was born with a big frigging catheter hanging between my legs. I am scundered, I thought to myself. I tried to remove it but my zombie fingers wouldn’t work.”For far too long zombies have been seen as the monsters they are not so it’s time for a few changes! Welcome to Zombie Blues where you will discover what really goes on behind those dead eyes and shuffling walk. You will meet ten different zombies each with a story to tell. From Vegetarian Zombie to Kidney Trans[plant Zombie to The Zombie who would be King, you will reevaluate everything you thought you knew about the undead. You will finally get to hear their side of the story. What lies behind their tears and how did the apocalypse really begin? Enter if you dare because everything you knew about zombies is about to change.

About half a mile out, the streets were littered with bodies and wreckage to the point I had to abandon the car and go the rest of the way on foot. There was an overturned fire engine blocking the road. I could see an arm moving from beneath it but knew from the guttural sounds it was no longer human. I found a hatchet beside the flailing arm and scooped it up. A woman lurched from a side street. She was no older than Helena but her hair was streaked with silver. She reminded me of a badger despite her pretty aquiline face. She was slobbering like a komodo dragon so I swung at her head. It made a sickening crack as the blade cracked her skull. Her flesh split open and her blood splattered me. I blinked blood spatter from my left eye resisting the urge to throw up. She wasn’t the first person I had killed. I had been in the military and fought for my country but this was different. It was a mercy killing done in self defence but it felt like murder to me. Who was she? What was her name? Did she have a family? Were her children alone in this carnage crying and afraid? I stood chest heaving with the effort just staring down ar her. I could see her brain peeking from the wound on her head and my thoughts flew to all the other people like her. They were my people and I had let them down. But maybe it wasn’t too late to do something about it. I still had a chance to redeem myself. For some reason I heard my mother shouting at me for getting my royal clothes soiled. But I heard Helena equally as loud telling me to fight.

I stormed determinedly down the street.

Another zombie attacked me and another but I managed to fell them all. Without even thinking I smashed their skulls in. The sound of their skulls cracking made me cold but I ignored it knowing the consequences if I didn’t kill them. These were my subjects I was killing. It would stay with me forever but if I got out of it things would be different.

Keeping to the shadows and using the burning vehicles as cover I managed to get to the square.

It was the shambles everywhere else was. Shops and homes were burning or sealed tight, presumably there were some people hiding indoors hoping this would pass. Bodies lay in the flower arrangements blood stained and chewed. The stench of blood filled the air mixed with smoke and fire.

I could hear cries and gunshots in the distance so at least I knew there was still resistance. The city had not yet fallen to these creatures. I desperately looked around. I scanned the bodies, hoping my family were not among them. Surprisingly, I kept my poker face just as my father had instilled in me. But even I could not hold my emotions now. My stomach heaved as I saw people of all ages dead and half eaten. I threw up in revulsion.

They were no longer faceless citizens bathing in my glory. They were the glue that held this country together. They had fought to keep the good name of our nationality alive even in the bad times. They were fighting still.

I called out to Helena and Elise to no response. I could see great plumes of smoke rise above the rooftops like wraith witnesses to this disaster.

If they could speak I would ask them if they could see my family from their viewpoint. Were Helena and Elise seeing what I was seeing? Or were they trying to get back to the palace and we missed each other amid all this chaos? I didn’t want them to get back and find Frederique at the gates. It was bad enough I had watched my own son die. For a mother to see that….I quelled the thought.

I was about to head down one of the side streets leading to Gactica Street when I noticed a shoe. In that second my whole world funnelled into that sight. There could have a horde bearing down on me and I wouldn’t have noticed. My voice stuck in my throat and I managed a squeak.

“Helena?” I pulled the body of a middle aged woman from the pile so I could see who was underneath. My worst fears were confirmed. I had bought her those shoes on a trip to Paris. It was raining but she thought they were the most beautiful shoes in the world. They weren’t expensive. They were practical and suited my Helena. We had all the wealth in the world but it didn’t matter to her. Practical and elegant, she said when she put them on. Just like you I replied. That was my Helena; so generous with no airs or graces. Happiness was all she craved for her people and that’s why they loved her. She was one of the people just as I should have been. I should have strived to be half as good as her but my pompous side never let me admit it or even try. I fell to my knees as I lay eyes on her broken body.

Classic Heroes: The Thing’s MacReady

By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues

Photos copyright Universal Pictures

I was recently made aware of just how many movies and television shows the younger generation have never heard of, never mind seen. So to that end, we look back at some characters you really need to see before you kick the bucket.

R.J. MacReady is a freelance pilot stationed at the Antarctic Outpost 31 whose life is plunged into a nightmare along with the rest of the outpost’s personnel. He plays chess and drinks Scotch but we know little else about him. He is no superhero with special abilities. MacReady is just an ordinary man thrown into an extraordinary situation upon which the fate of every man, woman and child rests.

He is a natural leader which comes in handy as the nature of the alien threat is exposed and the rest of the crew panic. He knows how to organise the others using the information they have collected and when push comes to shove he realises that the only person he can rely on in this situation is himself.

In the Thing’s most intense scene, the remaining crew are tied up on a bench so MacReady can perform a blood test so he can reveal who is alien. He knows that any alien blood will not stand pain. The individual cells are part of the greater whole. MacReady has been lost in the snow so it looks like he is one of the aliens but his grit and determination for self preservation makes him the most dangerous person alive. He has no problem shooting a defiant Childs (Keith David). Childs backs off seeing that MacReady is not bluffing. When the hidden alien is revealed, MacReady takes lead to destroy the Thing once and for all before it spreads to the rest of the planet.

It has been constructing a ship and MacReady is left alone to blow it up. There is no hope, no rescue coming as MacReady knows what has to happen. In the burning wreckage of the outpost, he sits drinking scotch as the temperature begins to plummet. He will freeze to death preventing the alien from escaping but suddenly Childs reappears. At this point, there is no point in fighting. They will both freeze to death whether they are human or alien. While the ending is ambiguous and leaves you to make your own mind up as to whether MacReady or Childs is the Thing, you sense that if this was real life then it is an accurate portrayal. While there have been many theories and debates as to who is whom, the story did not end there at least on film.

In the Dark Horse comics, the story continues with MacReady rescued from an icy death but Childs is not with him. He steals a helicopter after making sure he isn’t infected and returns to the outpost to destroy what is left of the Thing. He finds two of them but is stopped from completing his mission when a military task force take him. One soldier touches the remains of the Thing causing him to be infected. Childs arrives with a squad of soldiers and they battle a newly formed Thing aboard a submarine. It crashes and Childs shoves MacReady out an icefield to save him. He is found by soldiers and taken to a base. We have some character development here as Macready is now totally paranoid and suspicious of everyone and everything. The base has a flock of sheep nearby which MacReady begins to slaughter before he is shot with a tranquillizer dart. The pilot is proved right as the Thing has infected a sheep, giving us the second cross species transformation. No life form on the planet is safe from the alien and it will consume everything.

While MacReady and soldiers destroy the Things who are again building an escape ship, one escapes which is destroyed by Childs and a squad carrying flamethrowers. They quickly restrain the soldiers for testing including MacReady. To his horror, MacReady’s blood jumps from the dish when tested. But he escapes only to be confronted by Childs later who reveals he is a Thing and falsified the test. The escape ship is almost complete but the military destroys it and a massive spider like Thing. They do not know if the Thing has really been killed once and for all so MacReady warns the survivors to be vigilant.

But sure to form in Eternal Vows, the Thing has survived. MacReady follows a trail of suspicious murders to a Wallace Harbour New Zealand, MacReady is at first arrested by a policeman, Rowan before they team up. They track down a Thing which MacReady burns. As it does the Thing as it shows all the forms it assimilated before it does. Both men recognise a local woman, Jenny, who was not one of the murder victims. Before long the town is infested and the Jenny Thing burns the town down to kill her competition. Rowan saves MacReady by giving his life. He gets aboard the trawler ship Gettysberg where he finds another Thing which he destroys by blowing up the ship. Part of Jenny Thing attacks him on the beach but he manages to destroy it before falling and knocked unconscious when he hits his head on a rock.

And that’s where we leave it. We never know what happens to MacReady. Did he survive or become a victim while unconscious?

MacReady in the movies was realistic as the world would never know the sacrifice he made to keep us safe but the comic gave us an unsung hero that never receive a medal for protecting the human race.

Magic TV: Buffy Finds Her Mother Dead

By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues

Photos copyright Mutant Enemy

It is traumatising enough to lose a loved one but when you are the one that finds them dead, it is an experience that never ever leaves you. I won’t say it will haunt you for the rest of your life but you will consciously and subconsciously go over it in your head forever trying to make sense of it.

In a show like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, death is a constant but it is a different kind of death. Usually deaths in Sunnydale are at the hands or claws or scalpels of some supernatural force. Living like that, characters thoughts will automatically go to the supernatural explanation when they hear someone has died.

But in the fifth season episode The Body, Buffy gets a stark reminder of the realities of life and that outside the supernatural drapings, normal life goes on as it has done for centuries. Death does not discriminate and when Buffy comes home to find her mother lying on the sofa dead, her immediate thoughts are that some villain or bounty hunter has targeted the Slayer by killing one of family.

In a world where death is an almost every day occurrence, the realisation of a normal death is an oddity.

Buffy comes home and calls for her mother before realising she is prone on the sofa. You can see the adult Buffy revert to the child Buffy when the word “Mom” becomes “Mummy”. Joyce has raised her daughters alone since their dad walked out on them so she is Buffy’s world. I remember when my parents died; it’s the shock that numbs you straight away. I remember my sister trying to get my dad to wake up. The burning tears as your head tries to reconcile what you are seeing; waiting for an ambulance, the stumbling words.

Joss Whedon wanted to do this specifically to show the impact of losing a loved one. You are just a kid again trying to conceive that your mummy or daddy has gone and will no longer be around. You need to phone people, the family just so someone else can share in this horror. Maybe they have the answer; maybe thy can give you an answer. You have no power; you have physically no power at all. You rely on the ambulance men or the police. In your head you still see them. They are going to wake up any second.

An unexplained death will throw you into a deeper limbo as it my take time to carry put that autopsy before you can take the body home in order to give your final farewell. Or the undertaker will arrive to take this corpse that hours or minutes before was laughing and talking. The would is spinning and yet it is from in time. You look at others and wonder why this is not happening to them. Why me? Why us? What do we do? What are we going to do?

Anya sums it up beautifully. She doesn’t understand what she should be doing? She’s watching the others to see what is the best thing? Should she change clothes a lot? Will they cut the body open? Why is Xander crying a lot and not speaking? How does someone go from living to dying without warning? No one can explain why? There must be something wrong a doctor may have missed. They must have an underlying condition they never knew about. We look for reasons in sudden death and take comfort that they died to go to a better place after suffering. If they die in their sleep then it is a relief they went peacefully. If it is a tragedy then we seek to lay blame.

Your loved one is now a body rather than a person. If it’s your mother, she changed your nappy and fed you as a child now you cannot do anything except stand and watch while others make them presentable for the coffin. You touch their face or hands while you are waiting and suddenly you know what cold is. This isn’t the cold of a winter’s morning; it is the cold of future days gone where you will walk alone only with the memories of your loved one. You scramble to recall every memory you can; wonder where the photos are and home videos.

But there are so many photos but not enough. Even they betray an ephemeral existence because once you find the last photo that is it. And you think I should have taken more photos and not rushed out the door. I should have rang every day; I should have texted more. Oh shit did they remember the day i snapped at them? Did I hurt them more than i thought? Did they die with that memory?

When things like this happen, people will tell you your stories. It is an attempt to make you feel you are not alone but it doesn’t help. That was their loved one; they could not possibly understand how their loss can be compared to your loss. It’s your limbo, gold gilded just for you.

It is almost like the world is spinning round you as you stand in the eye of the storm. Everyone is helping but your head is shattered into a thousand places.

You will look at this cooling body trying to think of all the sandwiches to be made and that the house needs cleaned because you know how fussy they were over the state of the house. Imagine the neighbours coming in and seeing dirty cupboards; they talk forever. Your head fills with these because it is better than imagining the moment that lid will go on the coffin forever. It is better than imaging them lying under the ground and what happens to things that are no longer alive. What if they wake up and die of suffocation because we got it all wrong. Could it be a coma from a bee sting? A puffer fish?

In the end you ask where did they go? Are they watching and proud of the choices we are making for their send off. Aw, sure they would have said, light a match and throw me out the back, they laugh. Wheel me to the graveyard in a shopping trolley. Your face creases into a smile but it is a mask as this turmoil storms behind your eyes. Others will examine how grief stricken you seem and criticise you for not wallowing 24 hour tear fests. Even then when you think you have no more tears to cry, you will break at some point. The slightest thing will trigger it and you will be overwhelmed. After that you will carry it with you forever when it will surface from time to time. 

Standing over the open grave as the coffin is lowered, your heart thuds still waiting for that spark of hope that they will tap that coffin lid or a misdiagnosis will suddenly appear reversing everything. As the family toss single flowers down the hole before handfuls of dirt are tossed in, the crowd are a dull drone in the background. Your grief is a solo trip where others will hold your hand if you let them. You are alone yet surrounded by love; it just depends if you put a wall up and keep that loving help away.

This is what happens when you lose someone you love; welcome to Buffy The Vampire Slayer episode, The Body.

If you identify with this and need to talk, reach out; there is always someone there ready to listen. Watch the episode because you will see yourself in it. No matter where we are or whom we lose, grief is universal; tears are all transparent like an opens sky where our loved ones are looking down from; you hope.

Message me if you want; you’ll be helping me as much I’ll be helping you. Stay strong.

A Wookie Wasted: The Sad Tale of Kelnacca

By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues

Photos copyright Disney

So as of episode four of the Acolyte, I will not be reviewing it. I had no idea of the behind the scenes rubbish about R2D2 being a lesbian and C3P0 being gay. Lead actress Amandla Stenberg seems to think all Star Wars nerds are gay; at least the ones she knows. The amount of disrespect I am seeing towards long time fans is disgusting. I am rarely shocked or taken aback by anything but those attitudes just suck. The more Disney does with Star Wars, the more it diminishes the magic of the originals and I count the sequels in that sphere.

Apparently the Acolyte was described by critics as the gayest Star Wars yet but I never saw that. All I am seeing is something that started promisingly but had reduced to lazy writing, cliché and woke claptrap. If ever there was a saga that real world agendas should never be allowed in, Star Wars is it. There is a timeless fairy tale quality about it that dissolved the minute Osha asked was their tracker creature a he or a they. It jarred so badly and brought the galaxy far, far away slap bang into our front doors.

But the purpose of this article is to highlight that these writers and directors actually have no idea what they are doing. When the idea of a Jedi Wookie was put to Director Leslye Headland she was all for it. It is also something fans have wanted to see as it would be fascinating to see how a volatile Wookie fits into the Jedi way.

The idea of a Wookie Jedi in live action is pure gold but, like the actor Charlie Barnett that plays Yord who thinks that Anakin Skywalker blew up the Death Star as does his co-stars who never corrected him, it is clear the writers and director had no idea what to do with such a character

We have had Wookie Gungi who has appeared in the animated shows The Clone Wars and The Bad Batch. But the idea of a live action Wookie Jedi is too good to resist. Given the anticipation we were sure that the showrunners would deliver in spades.

We should have known better.

Kelnacca played by The Force Awakens Chewbacca, Joonas Suotamo is mentioned and revealed as a Wookie early on in the show. Now the smart money would have been to keep his Jedi heritage a secret and just promote that there would be a new Wookie character. The drama and reveal would be carefully drip fed until he whipped a sabre out in battle but sadly no. He was just there. Other characters spoke about the Wookie Jedi openly spoiling the secret. If it was meant to get us excited then it failed badly. We learn that after the events of Brendok, Kelnacca cleared off in shame to the planet Kohfar to get away from people because of his shame.

The photos released gave the impression of a wise Jedi master different in nature to Chewbacca from the design alone. A trait they did share we would discover is that Wookie’s are good mechanics. These photos merely stirred the pot. however his first appearance at the end of episode two fell flatter than a pancake.

We see scavengers looting from some type of settlement before Kelnacca runs out of the forest and scares them off by using the Force. The audience, including me got excited as would meet him in a fully fleshed manner in episode three but that didn’t happen. Kelnacca is one of four Jedi being hunted and murdered by Mae for what happened on Brendok; something so terrible that Kelnacca went into self imposed isolation. Mae is on the way to find him as are Osha, Sol, Yord and other Jedi but episode three was a flashback to the events on Brendok. Kelnacca is finally seen in full Jedi robes yet contributes nothing to the story at all. He is simply wallpaper. Ok we thought, episode four will put him front and centre.

All we get is finding his dead body sitting upright slain by a lightsabre. And that’s it.

Never have I seen such a wasted opportunity to create a character that will impact the Star Wars universe. Why was Leslye Headland so excited about this inclusion yet did nothing with it? The writers delivered nothing new, creative or never been done before with a character that has never been done before in live action. We have seen Chewbacca, his family in the Holiday Special and the Wookie army in Revenge of the Sith. Kelcanna was a character that could open up the Wookie species even more letting the audience explore and learn about a new aspect of their existence.

But am I surprised? No not really. The Acolyte writers have done a lazy job on the show; pace and the buildup of drama is sorely missing. We have cliché after cliché with twins divided by good and evil, space witches that cackle just like the ones out of Hansel and Gretel and the Jedi council who refuse to act even though they know there is something brewing out there that is killing their kind. It is very sloppy and in Kelnacca’s death episode characters switch purposes at the drop of a hat.

Are the writers not excited by the possibilities to do something new and evocative? Do they see Star Wars characters in a certain way and are afraid to let them step outside what has gone before? Or have they been censored in some way to keep things as fans “expect” them to be? Sorry but just having a Wookie walk in wearing a Jedi robe and adding nothing or participating in the action is criminal. We know Disney’s vision of Star Wars has been sinking fast under a wave of woke nonsense, causing them to lose billions with the Mandalorian being only the real runaway success story. Ahsoka also suffered from plodding storylines that led to a end of season cliffhanger that nobody got excited by. But at least their characters get to do things.

Poor Kelnacca got to do nothing and his onscreen time in four episodes has been less than ten minutes, if he returns in flashback in the remaining episodes it will be case of so what?

A Wookie walking the line between following the Jedi way and their volatile nature is TV gold. What would that lightsaber battle look like? Down to basics, it is Bigfoot using magic. Shame on you Disney and shame on you headland and co for showing the world just how little you know about interesting characters and creating drama.

Kelcanna the Jedi Master Wookie: rest in peace. You were nothing but an unfulfilled promise.

Amendment: Kelnacca did indeed return in flashback in episode 7. He cooked and did a spot of metal detecting. He was also possessed by the coven and tried to kill Sol and Torbin in a sabre fight. I thought for a moment I had been premature in my article but no. The chance was there to see a Jedi Wookie in full bloodthirsty battle mode being controlled by witches but it wasn’t taken. It was just a standard sabre fight with nothing spectacular about it. Now if it had been Kelnacca that slayed every witch in a possession gone wrong because they underestimated a Wookie’s rage then I would have deleted the above. If nothing else episode 7 proved my point. I rest my case.

TW Out & About: Princess Leia & Celebrity Murals In Belfast

By and photos copyright of Owen Quinn author

So one day when I was heading towards the Titanic Quarter, we were driving across the dual carriageway when I looked down to my left and saw Princess Leia looking up at me. I had seen other celebrity faces there before notably Jack Nicholson on another trip.

I had to see it close up simply because of the Star Wars connection so made a point of finding out exactly what part of the city this mural was in. And lo and behold it was closer than I thought. So I finally got down and had a look for myself and was surprised to find she was joined by another Star Wars legend, Harrison Ford and some other legends. These murals are the work of the talented students up at the Art College. Check them out on Corporation Street Belfast. Check the photos out below and vissit if you can but be warned, do it on a quiet day as there are cars parked in front of them during the week making it hard for photographs.