Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter

[ceebeegee]

Doug, Alex, Don and I are going to see Revenge of the Sith tonight!

I'm a BIG Star Wars fan, and have been ever since the first movie. I saw it several times that year--I remember coming out out the old State Theater in Falls Church in December after having seen it, and it was snowing. I remember Empire in 1980--I promptly fell in love with Han Solo and started writing my own fan fiction. (Which should all be dug up and burned--I still have them down in Virginia. Gads. GEEK.) I even tape-recorded the script (which I received for Christmas) with my friends and my copy of the soundtrack playing in the background. Although I still prefer the original movie, I concede that Empire is better, with a really fantastic script. I saw Return of the Jedi on opening day--I was about to get braces, and had those rubber bands between my teeth to loosen them up, so it was HELL trying to eat popcorn! I missed The Phantom Menace on opening day because I was on the cruise ship then--I still have only seen it on the small screen. But I saw Attack of the Clones on opening day three years ago and really enjoyed it. Didn't understand it, but I liked it.

I remember last fall, I found out that Paula had never seen the original Star Wars--I was truly shocked. A bunch of us were out--it was after an Eternity rehearsal--and Jason and I were trading lines from it.

I think George Lucas wrote the first--I really like that script. The dialogue is hilarious, especially Han's and C3PO's stuff, and Leia is such a wonderfully realized female character. So what happened between then and Phantom? My big problem with that one is that, as I've said, the geek factor is off the hook. Two major geek hallmarks--unnecessary complications (midichlorians and the Trade Federation shit) and bizarre female costumes that render them alien and unapproachable (because to a male geek, females ARE alien and unapproachable). Keep it simple, George. That's what made the first one so great--although it was set in space, it was a recognizable, well-loved story: Peasant boy saves the world, gets the Princess. The world was recognizable--sleazy bars where "their kind" isn't served here, boring honky-tonk towns where nothing ever happens, crappy vehicles that aren't worth what you pay for them ("what a piece of junk"). Keep it simple, George. If you want to explore some complexity, get psychological as in Empire but don't make the the world too alien.

(Oh, and he needs to stop with the weird names, another big geek thing.) A lot of the names in the original were normal--Luke, Owen, Ben, Leia. Qui-Gong and Ani and names of their ilk are taking over; too many of them and again, it's too alien.)

One of my favorite scenes is in the original, when Luke is viewing the double sunset on Tatooine, with the Jedi Knight theme being played mournfully in the background on a French horn. Lovely shot that seems to sum up why we love these movies--there's something more out there. There's a whole other world out there. Wouldn't it be great if we could go there?

Comments

[planga.livejournal.com]

On the commentary on the DVD, director Irvin Kershner (who, by the way, is the biggest joke boater of all time) said that the wampa scene worked as a way to explain Hamill's face, but I recall him saying it was something more of a coincidence.