Coincident with the Tilam-Thew Players Championship (which I have not won in 15 or so years) is the premiere of Episode III, Revenge of the Sith. Thew asked me the other day why hadn't I blogged on Star Wars yet.
Star Wars is an interesting subject for me. I was 14 in 1977 when A New Hope was released and was a big fan from the start. In particular, when I found out that Lucas was set to do two more (with the obvious opportunity for a prequel trilogy), like many a young man, I was hooked.
Alas, 28 years later, I fear Star Wars has outgrown me.
I know the minute it out grew me, though I did not recognize it at the time: when Darth Vader became a good guy, throwing the Emperor into the abyss. I could go on as to why - DV was too evil to become good, Daddy bailing out the kids, it made Luke look like a pussy - but that is beside the point. Further, the prequels have reinforced my disappointment. Anakin goes over to the dark side watching his mother die and comes back watching his son? Pleeeeeease. Too much pseudo psycho psyhit for me.
Star Wars should have been the ultimate 'B' movie; good guy is very good, bad guy is very, very bad, good guy beats bad guy. Simple. Straight forward. Great lessons.
But Star Wars became too cute and complicated. Love triangles, incest, teddy bears, bar bands. So, what I was left with was the good guy always needed to be bailed out, the bad guy turns good and the most interesting characters (Obi-wan, Yoda, Han) where secondary. So when I wanted a "High Noon" what I got was "Peyton Space." (And ultimately, I always thought Han Solo could kick Luke's ass force or not.)
But at least the special effects were super...
While Episode VI was a bit of a letdown (especially with the Ewoks), it was still Jeopardy-esque (or the Hitchhiker's Guide-esque): now we have the answer, but what is the question. Nothing prepared me for Episode I.
Next post, I will talk about where Lucas went off the rails and why.
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