(0) Scroll Ultra-Light tonight. I spent six hours visiting my mother in the hospital while we waited for her doctor to come by. She sort of has a Jedi mind thing going on trying to will everyone to send her home to her skilled nursing facility. She’s been progressing well and I thought today there might be a chance. It didn’t pan out.  

As always, if you know things that belong in the Scroll, please do drop them in comments.

(1) TOY STORY PROMO. “This Los Angeles Papa Johns is transforming into a ‘Toy Story’ Pizza Planet pop-up” reports ABC7 Los Angeles.

A Papa Johns Pizza location in Los Angeles is set to transform into a “Toy Story” Pizza Planet pop-up for a day.

The event is scheduled for Friday, June 12, from noon to 7 p.m. at the Papa Johns located at 8180 Melrose Ave.

Visitors can expect exclusive collectibles, merchandise and giveaways as part of the event.

Pop-up Pizza Planets are also planned to be held in London, Seoul and Madrid.

The pop-ups are part of the promotion for Disney and Pixar’s upcoming “Toy Story 5,” which is set to hit theaters on June 19.

Reservations for the Los Angeles event can be made starting May 29 at 9 a.m. on Eventbrite.

The event is limited to guests 18 and over.

The Eventbrite page gives more details:

… The experience begins curbside with the iconic Papa Johns Pizza Planet truck, providing the ultimate nostalgic photo opportunity. Once you pass our Robot Guards at the Spaceport Entry, you’ll enter a world of Pixar lore. Visit the Sector 12 Counter to fuel up with our new Toy Story 5 personal pizzas inspired by fan-favorite characters, capture memories in our Toy Story 5 Photobooth, and participate in our “Countdown to Launch” as we ramp up energy to the film’s release in theaters June 19.

Looking for an interactive challenge? Don’t miss our claw machine filled with exclusive Toy Story 5 prizes, giving you the chance to win limited-edition items from Crocs, Adidas, Pandora, Belkin and more!…

(2) USE THE CLOCK, LUKE! “50 Years Ago, Marcia Lucas Saved Star Wars’ Most Crucial Scene” remembers Inverse.

… Marcia Lucas wasn’t initially going to edit Star Wars. George Lucas initially hired John Jympson, who previously directed A Hard Day’s Night, but his work left him (and film executives) unimpressed. Jympson was fired, and Marcia Lucas jumped in halfway, editing the most important part of the entire movie — the Battle of Yavin, where Luke Skywalker makes an impossible shot to destroy the Death Star. What did she change here? What was so important? Well, the idea that the Death Star had a set amount of time — 30 minutes to be cleared to fire on the Rebel Base. This ticking clock was not in the script, nor was anything filmed to reflect the idea that the Imperials had to wait to fire the superlaser at the Yavin base. What Marcia Lucas’ editing did was create a clever voiceover, along with well-placed close-ups of characters reacting to the ticking clock (Leia, Tarkin, et al.), to give the battle and Luke’s eventual trench run much higher, nail-biting stakes.

She left the project in 1976 to work on Martin Scorsese’s New York, New York, but her work and advice ring through the memory of countless people who worked on the movie.

There were other light touches that the late Marcia Lucas added to the first film:

“I know for a fact that Marcia Lucas was responsible for convincing [George Lucas] to keep that little ‘kiss for luck’ before Carrie [Fisher] and I swing across the chasm in the first film,” Mark Hamill told Film Freak Central. “‘Oh, I don’t like it, people laugh in the previews,’ and she said, ‘George, they’re laughing because it’s so sweet and unexpected’ — and her influence was such that if she wanted to keep it, it was in.”…

(3) EARLY SANDERSON. “Ken Jennings Opens Up About His Famous College Roommate” at TV Insider.

Who knew that Brigham Young University would produce two superstar students? Ken Jennings attended the Utah college with a famous author and the Jeopardy! host opened up about their friendship.

Jennings attended college with Brandon Sanderson from 1996 to 2000 after transferring from the University of Washington and a two-year Mormon mission in Spain, according to his website. Jennings and Sanderson both majored in English and roomed together. During that time, Sanderson was the editor of the school magazine, according to his website.

While Jennings took a different route for his career, Sanderson never stopped writing. He is the author of the Cosmeere books, which are being adapted for the screen. The Hollywood Reporter shares that his Mistborn series and The Stormlight Archive series are being turned into TV shows. The fantasy series will air exclusively on Apple TV.

During a fan Q&A on the set of Jeopardy!, Jennings talked about his college roommate and how Sanderson might be the more successful of the pair. Jennings famously went on a 74-game winning streak on Jeopardy!, cementing himself as the greatest player of all time, and now hosts the game show.

A fan asked, since Sanderson got the TV deal, could Jennings make an appearance on any of the shows. The host laughed and then explained to other members of the audience who his roommate was.

“My college roommate is a fantasy author. If you know that world, he is actually one of the biggest names in epic fantasy — Brandon Sanderson,” he said. To that, an audience member said, “Whoa!” Jennings joked that fans weren’t that into him, but more into Sanderson.

“At the time, Brandon was just working at the Best Western near our house. He was the night-shift desk clerk, which I guess leaves you lots of time to write 1200-page novels with 78 characters in them, ” Jennings said.

“He would come home from work every morning, and if I was making breakfast, he would just be standing in the kitchen reading us the next events of King, whatever Sir, whoever killing whatever dragon.”

“I was like, ‘Well, at least I’m not the nerdiest guy in the apartment for a change. That was very nice,” Jennings joked….

(4) TODAY’S BIRTHDAY.

[Written by Paul Weimer.]

June 2, 1915 — Lester del Rey. (Died 1993.)

By Paul Weimer: For me, first and foremost, Lester del Rey was a publisher and an editor. Many of the books I first encountered reading science fiction, back 4 decades ago, were published by Del Rey, which he founded with his wife Judy Lynn del Rey.  And for a good while, that’s all I thought that he was (although his legacy and influence as a publisher is huge). 

The Science Fiction Hall of Fame anthology was a gateway to a number of authors for me. Theodore Sturgeon. Murray Leinster. Fritz Leiber (for “Coming Attraction”, although I would soon discover Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser).  And Lester del Rey, for “Helen O’Loy”.  I had read enough Greek Mythology by that point to get the idea that this was a Helen of Troy story, and it was perhaps the first story I read where a robot was an object of romantic interest. Helen’s story, and the tragedy of it moved me deeply.

I soon came across other del Rey stories, here and there, randomly, sprinkled in best of collections and favorite science fiction stories and the myriad other SF anthologies that I read in the first decade of my science fiction reading.  

But it was Harlan Ellison® who turned me onto perhaps the best and my favorite of the Lester del Rey stories. In one of his own collections about the relationship between men and Gods, he mentioned a Lester del Rey story “For I am a Jealous People”.  I could see the biblical allusion in the title, and I decided to seek it out.

I recently re-read it, and it still slaps, hard.  “For I am a Jealous People” is a kicker of a story, where the Abrahamic God is real, has always been real. But now, God is angry with humanity and fed up with us, and basically has sided with aliens invading Earth and its possessions. That is a smash to the face to begin with, but it’s humanity response to this revelation in the story that really brings it home to me, the power of a del Rey story at its best.  Humanity’s response could have been any number of plausible results. Regret. Sadness. Despair. Resignation. Anger.  Del Rey goes for “Good. Bring it!” It’s a muscular answer to the question of what to do when even God is against you, and it remains powerful to this day.

(5) COMICS SECTION.

• Saturday Morning Breakfast Cerealruns marshmallow tests.
• Thatababy remembers the Bat phrase.
• xkcd knows when to stop investigating.
• Tom Gauld teases:

(6) A SATISFIED CUSTOMER. Cliff Ramshaw says, “I followed up on those Argonath book ends you featured recently. All my nerdy stuff all in one place!”

(7) THE HALL NINE YARDS. The Guardian lists “The 20 best corridors in film – ranked!”. Several are from genre films. For example:

7. Galaxy Quest (1999)

On their way to abort their spaceship’s self-destruct sequence, Tim Allen and Sigourney Weaver have to consult the fans back on Earth to talk them safely through a utility corridor full of gratuitous choppy, crushy things, dutifully copied from their TV show by unwitting aliens. “It makes no logical sense, why is it here?” Weaver’s character complains in a lovely Star Trek spoof that can make you laugh and cry, sometimes both at once.

[Thanks to Mark Roth-Whitworth, Kathy Sullivan, Steven French, Paul Weimer, Mike Kennedy, Andrew Porter, John King Tarpinian, Cat Eldridge, SF Concatenation’s Jonathan Cowie, and Chris Barkley for some of these stories. Title credit belongs to File 770 contributing editor of the day Daniel Dern.]