Star Wars 30th huh… After the horrendous prequels, I don’t feel much in the mood for celebrating. Sure the first movie had a big impact on me. I collected the toys, read the comics, and played the RPG, but with the new trilogy, all the joy I had for the franchise was washed away. I’ve got lots of problems with the prequels but the biggest one is Darth Vader’s origin. What SHOULD have happened was the depiction of an evil apotheosis, a dark revelation. Kinda like St. Francis of Assisi in reverse. What we got was a whiney brat and Jarjar Binks in a video game you couldn’t play. All this proves is that the Howard the Duck movie was not a fluke.
I remember two weeks before the Phantom Menace came out I was sitting in the lunch room at work joking around with coworkers about how much money folks were spending on the Star Wars action figures and merchandise. Right then another coworker, as she was cleaning her stuff in the sink, piped up and said “Yeah, and what if it’s not any good?” I froze as I processed her comment. My first thought was “of course it’s gonna be good. It’s Star Wars.” My second thought was: “oh my god this movie is gonna totally suck” …and thus it was so.
The prequels broke Star Wars’ hold on me, and maybe in the end that’s a good thing as I moved on to other pop culture pursuits… the golden mean proves itself true again. I find the only appreciation I can muster beyond advancing movie-making technology, is that Star Wars saved Marvel Comics' ass. Yup, that’s right. If Star Wars hadn’t come along when it did, Marvel would have gone bankrupt in the 70s. The Star Wars comic was the huge boost to the bottom line that it needed to survive. Without it, all my favorite stories of the 80s would never have happened. Alter Ego # 68, out this month by TwoMorrows Publishing, has a nice article all about it.
Marvel Rescued from the Deathstar of Bankruptcy….
May “what ever floats your boat” be with you.
-Swinebread
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11 comments:
Just like with Iraq, it was your pessimism that made Phantom Menace go bad. If you had just clicked your heels 3 times, and said...
I remember thinking to myself before going into the movie that I didn't care if it was good or bad, I would like it no matter what. When I walked back out into the light I was just stunned. I didn't know what to say. It took me a while before I realized that I HATED the movie. I so badly didn't want to hate it.
Also Swine, keep in mind that the Star Wars Comic also saved Marvel so it could bring you Mary Jane killed by Spider Man's spunk. And that sexist statue. ;)
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Chinga Rodrigo's madre.
Spanish Spam....it has a nice alliterative ring to it
As for Star Wars, the first one is the best one, but I like all the first 3.
Haven't ever seen the next 3, so can't comment on those, just glad I never "went there"....
Wow, I’m sure H would be happy to hear from you. Post an email address, and I’ll make sure H gets it. Then I’ll delete your post ASAP.
Post it like:
name[at]mail.com
where the [at] stands for @ so you don’t get lots of computer spam.
I did my best to give Phantom Menace the benefit of the doubt, and after a while I realized that, if I did my best to ignore Jar-Jar, it can actually be a fun movie to watch. It's still the only one of the prequels that I feel like watching from time to time.
Attack of the Clones has a cool background, a cool story, cool visuals, cool action, and potentially cool characters, but the screenplay is just so annoyingly bad. (I don't blame the actors so much as the directing and the script.) I still probably could've forgiven that if it weren't for that thing with C-3PO's head winding up on a droid soldier's body, and vice versa; can you say, "Wayyy the hell over the top?"
Then there was Revenge of the Sith. I actually saw a spoiler website more than a month before it hit the theaters, and it just looked SOOOOO cool! But then I actually saw it. Oh my GOD... That whole rescue sequence at the beginning!!!! Droid soldiers are panicky and twitchy? Super droid soldiers talk trash in cute, cartoon voices and can be easily taken out by flaming oil spit out of an astromech droid? General Grievous, who seemed so ominous and threatening in the Clone Wars cartoon, is like an asthma-ridden reject from a Muppet Show sketch? And even worse, a space ship in a parking orbit tips over, and its contents all start sliding...?!?!?? I was sitting there in the theater with my mouth open thinking, "For f*** sake, Lucas, WHY???!?"
He says that he made the prequels with his own children in mind. In other words, he went out of his way with the whole project just to make his own kids laugh. I guess now we know why the original trilogy was so much better; no goofy dad at the helm.
The only really memorable lines and acting all come from Palpatine. In other words, evil steals the show. What does that tell you?
(Yes, I AM bitter!!!!!)
Hey moody it was the prequels that made me realize that maybe Star Wars really isn't that important. …sad but true ☹
I tend to remember Star Wars as a stand-alone work of genius. If I ignore the other films, it is still a wonder to me.
maybe that's the best way to look at it...
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