Exclusive to Tesco in the UK, Lucasfilm and 20th Century Fox have released today the first LEGO themed Star Wars animation, named The Padawan Menace. IF you’ve ever played aLEGO Star Wars video game before, you’ll know from the cut-scenes that these are aimed at younger viewers and are steeped in more humour than normal. This adventure is no different.

It costs £5 for the DVD and £8 for the Blu-Ray – the latter comes with an exclusive “Young Han” Lego figure. There’s also a few extras to make up for the fact that the main feature is just 21 minutes long.

None-the-less, on Blu-Ray it’s the full 1080 resolution and looks brilliant – the LEGO brick animation is very well done. Sounds and music from the original movies are also used to good effect. It has a U (Universal) certificate.

I was not expecting a great deal for something cheap that’s aimed at younger kids but thoroughly enjoyed it.

Here’s the “official” description and a trailer video…

A routine Jedi Academy field trip is turned into a rip-roaring comic adventure in LEGO Star Wars: The Padawan Menace. Tour guide Master Yoda leads a group of rambunctious Jedi Younglings through Senate chambers when he senses a disturbance in the Force. Summoned to help save the Republic, he discovers that one of the Younglings, Ian, has secretly boarded his ship…and young Ian has a taste for adventure! Meanwhile, C-3PO and R2-D2 are put in charge of the boisterous group and find themselves in over their heads. As the evil Sith prepare to wreak havoc, it’s up to Yoda and the Droids to ensure that their young charges aren’t torn to bricks!

Summary of LEGO Star Wars : The Padawan Menace

It only has a short feature but it looks and sounds gorgeous. The story is fun and there’s an entertaining cameo too. Star Wars fans and kids will really enjoy it. Maybe a filler for Christmas?

Reviewed by David Artiss on 7th November 2011.

Due to air for the first time tonight, Currys / PC World have new Star Wars ads. However, due to an unsubtle tip off from their PR pretending to be a member of the general public, they are available to view now…

I’m not quite sure what impression they’re trying to give – that their staff are trained by the dark side – but you can also see them on the Currys website.

Having recently moved home – and to a much larger home – I realised I was going to have a problem with my internet connection. I need my router by my main PC, but that was upstairs. How was the signal going to be through multiple stories and thick walls? In addition, downstairs was my PS3 which is notorious for not liking wireless connections.

I’d for some time been considering HomePlugs, having tried the ZyXEL before, and knew this might be the solution. In the end I came across Solwise – they produce some excellent value-for-money solutions.

Therefore I bought 3 of their HomePlugs – each a different type. One was the basic model which I connected my router to. The other was in the living room and has 3 Ethernet ports – this satisfied my home media requirements. Lastly, I had one which extended my wi-fi.

What each have in common is their reasonable price, white plastic appearance and basic (but appropriate) packaging. I bought them directly from Solwise, as their prices are competitive. Delivery was also swift.

There are a choice of speeds – I went for the 200Mbps, as that is a good price point for AV (there are quicker 1GB and 500Mbps available, though). Again,in all cases, configuration is incredibly simple – plug 2 sockets in together next to each other and they will automatically configure themselves. This worked in all cases and I had to do nothing further. They have buttons to allow for them to resync and software to allow you more advanced configuration, including firmware updates.

The 3 I bought were…

NET-PL-200AV-MINI – This is a simple single Ethernet ported compact HomePlug. Priced at £25.74.

NET-PL-200AV-3PE – This is a 3 Ethernet port HomePlug. Priced at £34.49.

NET-PL-200AV-PEW-N  – This is 2 Ethernet port Homeplug with 11n Wifi capability. Priced at £46.94.

The latter has additionally configuration software to allow you to set the SSID, channel, etc. What this does is pick up your internet connection via your Homeplug and re-transmit on a different signal. In my case this means I have 2 SSIDs – one for upstairs and one for downstairs. Each are on different channels too, selected (via an Android app) to be the least congested in each area.

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Summary of Solwise AV HomePlugs

They’re simple to use, good value for money and, essentially, work – my home network issues have been resolved without a single cable between rooms!

Reviewed by David Artiss on 3rd November 2011.