What If...Mace Windu survived his fight with Palpatine? (Part 4)

Mace Windu survived his battle against Palpatine. Rather than falling to his death and dying from his injuries in the Coruscant under city, he escaped, and with the help of the spirit of Qui-Gon Jinn made his way to reunite with Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda. From there, he journeyed with the two Masters to Coruscant and then to pursue Anakin Skywalker, who had become the Sith Lord Darth Vader.

After a long and arduous battle, Mace managed to talk Anakin down by making the ultimate sacrifice play. Mace saw Anakin collapse under the weight of all he had done, and he and Obi-Wan were able to take the younger man into custody. Seeking to rehabilitate him, three Jedi Masters and the one Knight began to form a plan to stop Palpatine once and for all.

Will they succeed? Or will luck finally run out for the last of the Jedi? Let's find out.

MadCap's Reel Thoughts - "Scooby-Doo! and Kiss: Rock and Roll Mystery"

Now I know what you're thinking.

Yes, this is a Scooby-Doo movie. Yes, it involves KISS. Also, yes, this is technically a "mystery" film given the set up. This film also involves mysticism, an alternative universe that holds a great evil within it that is trying to get out and take over the world, and an order of warriors who fight against him.

Sure, they may not have swords, but they do have axes!

MadCap's Game Reviews - "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King"

Yep. Another Electronic Arts game. Another one by Redwood Shores (aka Visceral Games). Unlike The Third Age, however, this is less of a role-playing game in the Final Fantasy style and more of a hack and slash in the style of Gauntlet. In fact, the developers even referred to it as such when hyping the game up. It features the voices of (almost) all of the actors involved, assets taken directly from the films themselves, and has received extreme positive reviews from both fans and critics alike.

But I know what you're all thinking, is it good?

What If...Mace Windu survived his fight with Palpatine? (Part 3)

Last time, the Battle of Heroes began. In one corner, the former Anakin Skywalker - now Darth Vader - with some broken hand and rage in his heart. In the other corner, two Jedi Masters that are woefully unprepared for what they are about to face.

We return to Mustafar, the duel already in progress.

MadCap's Fiction Corner - "Minos Mayhem, Chapter 12"

It didn’t take them long after that to find a vessel in good enough shape to fly. A lone Lambda-class shuttle was still in somewhat working order amongst the wreckage of vessels in the hangar. It wouldn’t be a comfy ride by any means, but they could at least get off the planet and back to Karideph - in theory, anyway. Niyasa spent some time tearing out the bits of their vessel anyway, when she found better parts in other ones that remained.

“You can fly this, I take it?” She asked as they finally got onboard.

“I can fly anything.” Calen replied. “I did say I was going to be a TIE pilot before, wasn’t I?”

“You probably did mention that before, yes.” Niyasa said, absentmindedly.

“How’d you think I could do that if I weren’t good?” Calen asked. “Those things are basically a seat strapped to an engine. Without shields.”

“Confidence is good. Overconfidence can be a weakness, but point withdrawn.” The Mrlssi held up her claws as if washing them of the whole thing. Calen took his spot at one of the two pilot seats, checking the interface.

MadCap's Game Reviews - "Pajama Sam: No Need To Hide When It's Dark Outside"

...okay, I know what you're thinking. "Children's games?" I hear you cry. Well, we were all children once - yes, even you, Ebeneezer. When I was a kid, believe it or not, I also played video games and I'm pretty sure that you did as well if you're reading this. If not, then I welcome you to the now present day of whenever you're reading this from your time traveling steam engine from the 1880's, Doc Emmett Brown.

What If...Mace Windu survived his fight with Palpatine? (Part 2)

Last time, we posed a question: What would happen if Mace Windu survived his fight with Palpatine during Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith? Rather than falling to his death into the streets of Coruscant below, the heavily injured Mace Windu found himself falling into the cargo hauler of a kindly Duro by the name of Ram who was only too give the Jedi Master a safe haven while he recuperated and fixed him up with a brand new mechanical arm.

On the reverse end of things, the fortunes of the whole Jedi Order had gone sour with Order 66. Escaping from Coruscant, Mace found himself visited by the Force Ghost of none other than Qui-Gon Jinn. Qui-Gon told Mace of coordinates to travel to, so that he might meet up with his fellow Jedi Masters Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda and perhaps undo the damage done by the revealed Dark Lord of the Sith and his new apprentice, the former Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker.

Also, to give you terms of the time scale...this is about the point in the movie where Senator Bail Organa has linked up with Yoda and they are currently heading toward the ship carrying Obi-Wan Kenobi from Utapau, just to let you know what's happening at roughly the same time.

Picking up right where we left off, the ship that Mace had booked passage aboard in exchange for work was being pursued by a Republic...now Imperial...Star Destroyer, demanding that they prepare to be boarded and searched for a suspected Jedi refugee.

MadCap's Trailer Reactions - The Mandalorian (Season 2)

This is the way.

I didn't actually do a review of The Mandalorian's first season, I did make a few qualifying statements as to the quality of the final product - which I found to be pretty damn good. It is proof that Star Wars can still be good even after Rian Johnson had diarrhea all over it and JJ Abrams came by to wipe up the mess with a terrible retcon that made no sense. Also a terrible film that made no sense, but that's neither here nor there.

We're here to talk about something good. Namely a series that was good both because of and in spite of it's setting and is now rightfully getting a second season.

MadCap's Mod Mondays - "The Bat of Skyrim"

"Bruce...you are a disgrace!"

"No! No! You are not my father! I am not a disgrace! I am vengeance! I am the night! I! Am! BATMAN!"

...and now, so can you!

MadCap's Game Reviews - "The Sims 4 - Star Wars: Journey to Batuu"

I normally don't cover expansion packs. I did in my early days when things like New Vegas and Fallout 3 (and indeed even Fallout 4 to be more recent) had campaign-length DLCs to be found. I usually only do it if there's content to be found beyond just what the base game or just minor aesthetic changes can bring. I certainly wouldn't deign to do so for The Sims 4, seeing as the Sims series is riddled with them. You'd have to be insane to try to go through and review any of them!

...

...so, anyway, here's Journey to Batuu.

What If...Mace Windu survived his fight with Palpatine? (Part 1)

Alright, so a thought occurred to me, inspired by this Twitter post of my own.

Maybe? But then the question becomes where is he by the time of Return of the Jedi? I cannot imagine that Mace would not have been heavily involved in the Rebel Alliance. https://t.co/NGlTCOPGu1

— MadCapMunchkin (@MadCapMunchkin) August 28, 2020

After I tweeted that I thought to myself, "Well, the series is called What If, not The Doctor Who Grand Funk Railroad Experiment." Besides, What If is an idea with so much potential around it that it really shouldn't be stuck to just one fandom or even one part of one fandom. Thus, I have decided to pull out the golden goose that Disney slit the throat of and had no idea that you couldn't do that and still expect it to do anything - Star Wars.

Also, yes, I'm aware that I've gone on record as saying that I'm not really a fan of the Mace Windu character. However, I know a lot of people are and I have a feeling I can make this work within the confines of the Star Wars mythos.

So, let's do some set up.

MadCap's Reel Thoughts - "Red Sonja" (1985)

...well, look! We're still doing this! Whaaaat?

This still isn't the worst film in Sword and Sorcery 2020, but it is damn near close.

Dungeons & Dragons was bad.

Highlander II? Baaaaaaad.

Deathstalker was a war crime never to be matched. If The Last Jedi didn't exist, it would be the worst film I've ever seen.This isn't a statement I make lightly, I guarantee you.

So...no, Red Sonja isn't the worst movie on this list, but it is definitely bad. Multiple and terrible varieties of bad. In concept, it's not a bad idea. I mean, Conan managed to work and Red Sonja is a Robert E. Howard creation...sort of.

You see, Red Sonja was a character created by Roy Thomas, Jr. and Barry Windsor-Smith while they were working at Marvel Comics. Rather than being a heroine of the Hyborian Age, Red Sonja's two composite characters - Red Sonya of Rogatino and Dark Agnes de Chastillion - were both from stories set in the 16th century. Because of this...this movie is technically a COMIC BOOK MOVIE.

Oh. Oh, the joy!

MadCap's Game Reviews - "Lithium City"

To quote one Yahtzee Croshaw (if you're not watching Zero Punctuation, then why aren't you?), it's time for a Steam bath! Of course, the only game I picked up besides this was FightCrab from last week, but that was enough to be reasonably sudsy for me, I thought. Where FightCrab was a surreal experience more akin to an anime or indeed a kaiju film with the wacky turned up to over 9000! (and believe me, some of Godzilla's films are pretty wacky on their own), Lithium City is "a stylized isometric action game in a neon-drenched world of electricity and violence" to quote its blurb on its page in the Steam store directly. Is it fitting? Well, the title card looks like someone took the neon lights from Tron and the main character looks like she's clad from head to toe in Matrix-leather and a full on cyberpunk chic aesthetic and she spends a good majority of her time punching things, so you tell me.

What If...Ian and Barbara never investigated Susan Foreman? (FINALE)

Last time, the Imperial Daleks had landed at Shoreditch en masse with the bulk of their already landed forces attacking Ratcliffe's base of operations in order to seize the Hand of Omega. Also, Mike had taken Susan and the Renegade Daleks' Time Controller hostage. However will we resolve this four part episode that is a weird mix of An Unearthly Child and Remembrance of the Daleks?

Let's wrap up this what if scenario!

From MadCap's Couch - "Star Trek: Voyager" (7 Worst Episodes)

So here we are again, after the best that Voyager had to offer, let's get into the worst.

This is...the 7 worst episodes (by season).

Like with DS9, there are no runners up (expect for Season 6, but I'll get to that). This list was significantly easier to compile than the Best list.