Star Wars Bits: J.J. Abrams Fulfills The Wish Of A Dying Fan And Jar Jar Binks Gets Exposed As An Evil Mastermind

You want heartwarming Star Wars stories? We've got 'em. You want new posters? We've got 'em. You want insane fan theories about how Jar Jar Binks is actually a super villain? We've got that too! In this edition of Star Wars Bits:

In July, Star Wars fan Daniel Fleetwood was diagnosed with spindle cell sarcoma and given two months to live. With Daniel worried that he wouldn't live long enough to see The Force Awakens in theaters, his friends and family took to social media, using the #forcefordaniel hashtag to see if they could arrange for him to see the movie early. Soon, Mark Hamill, John Boyega, and Peter Mayhew had joined the cause. Now, Daniel's wife, Ashley has taken to Facebook to reveal that director J.J. Abrams came through and arranged a screening:

To all our wonderful supporters, friends, family and awesome strangers: Daniel's final dream was just granted!!! Today the wonderful Disney and Lucasfilms made his final dream come true, in the amazing typical Disney way, they really do make dreams come true! Daniel just finished watching an unedited version of Star Wars: The Force Awakens!!! We would like to thank the awesomely talented J.J. Abrams for calling us yesterday to tell us Daniel was getting his wish granted! We also would like to thank Lynne, Ben and Anahuac for coming to our home and screening the movie for Daniel. Lastly I want to thank ALL the amazing people who helped make this happen, thank you beyond words!!! May the force be with you all ?#forcefordaniel !!!!

This isn't the first time Abrams has helped grant a dying wish. In 2012, he arranged an early screening of Star Trek Into Darkness for a terminally ill Star Trek fan. No matter how the finished film turns out, this was an amazing thing for Abrams, Lucasfilm, and Disney to do.

Nothing says "the Star Wars marketing is in full swing!" quite like a large cardboard standee! This one is cooler than most. Note how the art from the one-sheet is integrated into the negative space of the iconic Star Wars font. It's slick enough that you want to rescue it from your local cinema's dumpster in a few months and store it in your closet because you don't have room to display it in your home!

And speaking of posters, extremely high resolution versions of those Star Wars: The Force Awakens character posters have shown up online (via Stitch Kingdom). This is your chance to zoom in and examine every spark flying from Kylo Ren's lightsaber, to pore over ever pore on Rey's face, to submerge yourself in the crags of Han Solo's aged visage! Check out the hi-res versions in the gallery above.

Speaking of Han Solo, a few months back, Marvel's (in-canon) Star Wars comic series introduced Sana Solo, the supposed wife of everyone's favorite roguish space smuggler. Fans debated back and forth about whether or not she was lying – after all, the comic takes place between the original Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back. Now, in the most recent issue, the truth has been revealed: Han arranged a fake wedding to cover big job he pulled a while back... but Sana decided that their nuptials were real. Bleeding Cool has scans from the comic, if you want to hear Han's whole side of the story.

Speaking of Marvel, the publisher is assembling a free, 56-page "sampler" that will allow new readers to get a taste of their various comics set in the Star Wars universe. The Hollywood Reporter says that the Star Wars Sampler will be sent to comic retailers on December 9, but don't be surprised to see these being handed out at movie theaters and fan events. Included will be previews from Marvel's ongoing comics like Star Wars, Darth Vader and Star Wars: Kanan as well as glimpses at miniseries like Princess Leia, Lando, and Shattered Empire. Marvel's been on-point with their Star Wars game (each of those series has either been good or great), so you're going to want to pick one of these up.

A high-end replica of Kylo Ren's helmet has been revealed and it's our best look yet at the Sith fanboy's headgear. It certainly looks like it's been through a few fights and has taken a few beatings. What do you think? Could this be Darth Vader's helmet, recovered and repurposed? [io9]

If you're planning to see The Force Awakens in 3D at a Cinemark theater, you're in luck. The theater chain will be selling exclusive 3D glasses for five bucks a pop, rolling out four unique designs over the next few weeks. The Stormtrooper glasses are available right now, Captain Phasma will go on sale on November 13, Kylo Ren on November 20, and BB-8 on November 27. [Making Star Wars]

The nest of vultures over at TMZ have footage of Mark Hamill being cornered and questioned while he's leaving a grocery store. The whole video is a testament to Hamill's Jedi-esque ability to stay calm and reasonable while having a camera pointed in his face by a total stranger. He's an old pro at being polite and courteous to people who think he owes them a conversation. Anyway, this is slightly noteworthy because Hamill admits that he can't watch the Star Wars movies because he doesn't like watching himself on screen:

I just don't like really watching myself ... because you see all the flaws.

Perhaps this is why he spends most of his time doing voice work these days?

Acclaimed sculptor Brian Muir, best known for building the original Stormtrooper uniforms and Darth Vader's helmet, has begun work on Rogue One. We know this because he took to Facebook with the news. Prepare yourself for some more iconic uniforms you can recreate in your garage and wear to Comic-Con!

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Started work on Rogue One today at Pinewood Studios

Posted by Brian Muir on Monday, November 2, 2015

A truly bizarre fan theory has been sweeping the internet these past few days. Apparently, Jar Jar Binks was a Force-using mastermind who was in league with Palpatine throughout the prequels. Here's only a tiny taste of the insanity:

I posit that, instead, this is a deliberate facade on the part of Jar Jar as a character, and on the part of the writers and animators. As we know, the Jedi themselves are inspired by Shaolin Monks, and there's a particular kung fu discipline that Jar Jar's physicality is purposefully modeled upon which allows him to appear goofy and uncoordinated even as he lays waste to his enemies; namely, Zui Quan, or Drunken Fist wushu. This discipline seeks to imitate the "sloshing," seemingly random foibles of a drunkard, but in reality the staggering and stumbling is the use of bodily momentum, deception, and unpredictability intended to lure and confuse opponents.

The whole thing is totally bonkers, but if you're trying to kill some time at the office and don't want to get work done, it's worth a read.

And speaking of Jar Jar showing up in places he doesn't belong...

The Force is strong with this character poster, just released online by that reoccurring nightmare you keep having pic.twitter.com/OmcPvdQpGP

— Erik Davis (@ErikDavis) November 5, 2015