Most of us geeks of course know Christopher Lee as a pivotal character in two of the most popular movie series of all time (Count Dooku in Star Wars, and Saruman in The Lord of the Rings/Hobbit). But like most casual fans, I had no idea his list of accomplishments was so much more extensive. In fact it reads like notes for a movie script: War, spies, blood, love, Hollywood and… heavy metal.
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Imperial Fleet Hors d’Oeuvres

When you are in the habit of making food “art”. You are in constant search of appropriate food “glues” that last and don’t need to be refrigerated right away. Marshmallow cream, soy or peanut butter, and melted chocolate have been the go-tos up to this point. But my new favorite is spray cheese!
Have a Heart (DIY General Grievous Costume)
IV, V, beyond great! VI, pretty great. Then there are I, II and III… well…not my favorite movies, but the prequel trilogy did give us some great moments and characters. My faves in no particular order:
General Grievous Perler Bead Coaster
In the midst of all the terror, there is something tragic and vulnerable about General Grievous.
Despite being such a fearsome villain, we can’t help but feel sorry for him. The credit has to go his designer Warren Fu. When Grievous was introduced to us in Episode III, we really didn’t know much about Grievous’ back story. Later, in the canon, we of course find out that his transformation was triggered by the death of his dear (female) friend Ronderu lij Kummar. However, through Fu’s choice of making Grievous’ chest cavity open (and heart exposed), we feel that loss and humanity, without knowing anything about him. We get a sense of vulnerability, in a way entirely unexpected of a Jedi-killing cyborg.
That back story also foretells Anakin’s descent into darkness. Here is George Lucas’ take on who Grievous is…
Love in a (BB-8 Water) Bottle! (DIY)
They say spring is for new romances, and indeed, in April of this year we all fell in love! BB-8 is one of the cutest movie character to come along in years. And of course we all really, really, really wanted one of our own! Since the lab at M4P is equipped to make any full size robot, as long as it can be built with duct tape… a full-size, working BB-8 was out of the question. However, these M4P exclusive mini-versions were well within our abilities.
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A Day at the Races (DIY Anakin at the Podrace Costume)
Kids grow so fast! We quickly realized that if we (the parents) wanted maximize our (never mind the kids’) amusement at Halloween we had to plan ahead. We needed to do all the short characters while the objects of our amusement were still small. Yoda, at about 2 feet, is the size of a pretty young child, so Yoda was our very first. R2D2, check. We still need to tackle Ewoks and Jawas. Then there is young Anakin, another shorty! So a couple of years ago, our little guy got recruited as a podracer pilot.





