Sith '08
If you bumped into Lucas at the local deli, would you:A) Cock-punch him
B) Hug him and say "Thanks"
C) Dance a little jig and hum the cantina song until he left
D) Give him your script for a porn-flick starring Aayla the jedi and yourself as a confused but well-endowed droid.
I don't remember the first time I saw Star Wars, but it was shortly after it debuted in theaters in '77. I was 6.
My first memory of the movie involves attending second grade and seeing the other students playing with Star Wars figures, talking about the movie, drawing pictures of the Millenium Falcon, and cutting out the pictures from the packaging their Star Wars figures came in.
I remember a conversation where some kids were talking about when the sandpeople knocked down 3PO and how cool that was. I remember thinking that it was an odd part of the movie to recall, they were so many other great moments, like Vader force-choking that dude in the Death Star Operations board meeting. "I find your lack of faith disturbing."
I'll admit it, even then I thought Vader was cool, ...and a bit scary (he did scare me as a child). But my favorite characters, I'll admit it, were the droids. 3PO had the best lines.
So, like seemingly all children alive at the time, I was a Star Wars nut. I saw the movie repeatedly in the theaters, and listened to the album nightly. Yes, the album.
Not the soundtrack, mind you. But the album that contained a shortened version of the movie in audio form. All the scenes with dialog were represented and it told the entire story faithfully. I listened to that thing every night as I fell asleep. In the morning the needle would still be bouncing on the inner record label.
On the Star Wars fan scale, 0 being someone who doesn't know who Obi-Wan Kenobi is and 10 being someone who can identify the parents of Bail Organa, ...I'm a 7.
Tonight I'll be viewing episode III and I'll post my thoughts on the movie here later, but I wanted to say that since the prequels came out I think most fans would opt for option A in my quiz above, but wouldn't feel good about it.
We're conflicted.
It's AMAZING what he has accomplished. Truly amazing. The Star Wars universe is enormous and still growing, and it all came from him. He's created a movie reality that has captured generations of hearts and minds, revolutionized movie making, marketing, and technology. He created a saga that we care about. And because we care, we have to say
but ...
So much more could have been done this time around. What he got so right before, he got so wrong today. He didn't learn from his Ewok mistake or his Empire success.
In these movies he is re-exerting his will and control on a universe that no longer consists of just him and his imagination.
All of our imaginations are now involved, and we take exception to his seemlingly calculated decisions. In seeing interviews with him on this newest film, he has repeated that things are being done the way "he wants" and the story is being finished to suit "his vision".
The only problem is that his vision is not (and never was) as good as his ideas.
An "idea man" he is. A storyteller, a writer, he is not.
The person behind the camera in these films should have been more concerned with "what will work" than "what I want to see".
My greatest hope is that he lets someone else direct and write the next three movies (I hope they are made). I hope Lucas is the Executive Producer, I hope he oversees the special effects, I even hope he lays out the initial script, and I hope he does not pen a single word that makes it into the actual films.
Incidentally, I choose option D from my quiz above. Seriously, have you seen that chick? Wow.
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