2007 Topps Star Wars 30th Anniversary

Brian chose the new Artifacts pack for the last post, then Steve threw a curve and selected the Star Wars pack. I got this pack sometime last year and forgot about it, but figured it deserved a little APAD love. I unfortunately got screwed out of a card and to add insult to injury there was no insert in the pack. Between the parallels, magnets, die cut puzzle cards and animation cels in the product, it's dang near impossible not to pull an insert, but them's the breaks. The cards themselves are pretty nice though, with good photos, spot UV coating on the front and judicious use of foil. Plus it's freakin' Star Wars. Ya can't go wrong with Star Wars cards. Here's the pack.

65 The Death of Dooku

Christopher Lee is a bad mothersucker. The recent movies catch a lot of deserved crap, but Dooku's character helps to justify their existence. It's also another notch for Lee in his rivalry with Ian McKellen for the most bad-ass old dude on the planet. Ian has been Gandalf, Magneto, Hitler, will play Number Two and has been damn near every Shakespeare lead including a fantastic Richard the Third (Best Shakespeare movie ever in the history of everything), while Lee has Saruman, Dooku, Death, Willy Wonka's dad, Sherlock Holmes and DRACULA on his resume. That's a tough choice, I say let 'em fight it out.

76 Muppets and Merriment

I don't know what's more fantastic about this card, Mark Hamill flirting with Miss Piggy, or the "surprise! buttsecks" look on Kermit's face. Yoda's having none of it though and appears to be checking out Miss Piggy's rack and I'm not talking about spare ribs. Dirty old alien. This seems like a good a time to link to the Muppets Star Wars episode, eh?

92 Old and New Friends

Other than a couple clips here and there I've thankfully managed to avoid the horror that is the Star Wars Holiday Special, but any card with Carrie Fisher on it is all right in my book. According to the text on the back, she is singing the Star Wars theme with Thanksgiving themed lyrics. Ok, curiosity's gotten the better of me. I gotta hear this. YouTube to the rescue.

Oh Dear Jesus MY EYES. MY EARS. THEY BURN.

97 Charal the Nightsister

I don't know who the heck this character is, but she's sorta hot in a Goth cougar kind of way. Read all about her here, I'm moving on to the next card.

100 Introducing Boba Fett

Another Star Wars Holiday Special card, but this is supposedly the lone good thing to come out of that debacle. When I first saw the card, the drawing reminded me of early Ralph Bashki cartoons (please don't click on Ralph Bashki cartoons at work), but the sequence was actually directed by Ken Stephenson. He went on to direct episodes of Ewoks, Droids and the first clip of Heavy Metal, which is way way too filthy to link. That's probably why I recognize the very '70s style artwork. Here's the Boba Fett cartoon, which actually is pretty damn good...


119 Sneak Peek: New Animation

Speaking of animation, this here is a sneak peek at the new Clone Wars cartoon that is debuting on Cartoon Network this fall. It looks like a video game to me. I'll take the old crappy 70's animation with the goofy faces and rubber Artoo any day of the week. But, yeah, I'll be watching it anyway.