Star Wars and Me

(The alternate title for this post is, “I am a big Geek”, which is true, but we’ll leave that aside for now.)

I haven’t seen the new Star Wars movie yet. In fact it doesn't come out in Japan until July, so if any of you have seen it already, please send me your reviews.  I’m eager for news.

So, while I wait for the new Star Wars movie to come out, I thought I’d just write down a few thoughts about the prequel series in general. Obviously this is somewhat handicapped by the fact that I haven’t seen the final installment, but this these are my thoughts based on what I have seen:

I believe it was Brian Bork who once said (and I’m paraphrasing), “I don’t buy into any of this criticism of the new Star Wars series, because all reviews, either positive or negative, are all based on nostalgia.”

That’s true for me as much as it is true for anyone. I was part of the generation that grew up with Star Wars, and so I was exposed to the movies before I had developed my faculties for critical evaluation. I often wonder what my reaction to Star Wars would have been if I had seen it for the first time as an adult. But as a five-year-old boy I was thrilled with the light saber battles and space ship battles. The new series cannot possibly impress me as much as the old series did at five years old, and so it is bound to disappoint.

On the other hand, I’m willing to forgive a lot simply because it is Star Wars. When I saw the Star Wars title flash across the screen, and heard the music playing, and saw R2-D2 and C3-PO on the screen, I had all sorts of flashbacks to my childhood. In the days before VCRs, it used to be quite an event whenever Star Wars was on TV. Everyone would talk about it all day at school. “Did you hear Star Wars is going to be on TV tonight?” I would be so excited. My mom would make pop-corn, and I’d get to stay up late, and the next day everyone would talk about it all day at school.

I remember collecting Star Wars figures, and the Jabba the Hutt figure I wanted so badly when I was in kindergarten, and playing Star Wars at school with the other kids, and listening to Star Wars tapes on long car trips, C3-PO and RD-2D making guest appearances on Sesame Street, and the moment when I found out that “light-sabers” and “life-savers” were two different words, and that the candy my grandmother handed out had no connection to the Star Wars movies.

I’m rambling a little bit, but I suspect most people my age have similar memories. So no matter how bad the new Star Wars movies are, I can’t help but get a bit of a chill down my spine when I see Yoda or C3-P0 on the screen again.

I know that the statements, “The new Star Wars movies were bound to disappoint me,” and “The new Star Wars movies were bound to delight me” are inherently contradictory statements, but isn't it true that we have complex, contradictory relationships with anything that we truly love?

Anyway, moving on...

It’s not hard to pinpoint where “The Phantom Menace” went wrong. I’d hardly be the first person to point an accusing finger at Jar-Jar Binks. Jar-Jar Binks wouldn't have been so bad, except that from the moment he appeared on the screen he dominanted the whole movie. If he would have just been given a little less screen time, I would have been a lot more forgiving of the Jar-Jar Binks disaster.

The other big flaw with “The Phantom Menace” was the action sequences, in that there was lots of action, but none of it was any good.

In order for a good action sequence to work, I think the director has to make you actually believe that the characters are in some sort of danger. Otherwise you’re just watching people jump and swing around the screen, which is about how I felt watching “The Phantom Menace.”

“The Attack of the Clones” did “The Phantom Menace” one better in both respects. The action sequences were more exciting, and Jar-Jar Brinks was given less screen time. From the reviews I've read of “The Return of the Sith” it sounds like Jar-Jar brinks has even less screen time, and the action sequences are even more impressive.

So I’ll turn my attention to the story instead. Now again, this analysis is handicapped by the fact that I haven’t seen the final chapter, and I’d be interested in the feedback of anyone who has seen it, but without having even seen the 3rd chapter, here is what I think the basic problem is:

There’s too much ground to cover in the 3rd chapter.

The conclusion of the Clone Wars, the birth of the twins, the collapse of the Republic, the transformation of Vader, the deformity of the emperor, and how the twins came to be in their respective adoptive homes, all has to be explained in the 3rd chapter. I’m sure they do a good job of wrapping up all the loose ends, but if I had been in charge of making the Star Wars prequels, I wouldn’t have left everything till the last chapter.

I mean, think about it, pretty much nothing of much importance happens in the first two prequels. Those movies could pretty much be erased completely, because it sounds like any event of any importance has all been left to the 3rd chapter. I think I would have introduced the Clone Wars in the first movie, had Darth Vader turn in the second movie, and have the third movie be about the fall of the Republic and hiding the twins. It seems to me you could tell the story a lot better that way if it was more spread out.

A couple more things that stick in my chaw a bit: The impression that I got from watching the original trilogy (and like many people of my generation, I watched it to the point of memorization), is that Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker were both adults when they met. Obi-Wan tells Luke, “Your father was already an excellent fighter pilot when I met him.” I know Lucas tries to get around this by having young Anakin be a child prodigy at race cars, and accidentally piloting an X-wing fighter into victory, but it seems a bit contrived to me.

Also, the impression I always had from the original trilogy was Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan had a mentor-tutor relationship. The fact that Obi-Wan had been raising Anakin from a little boy changes the relationship somewhat. I guess it still works, but if I had been in charge, I would have had Anakin be full grown when he meets Obi-Wan. I think that would be a lot cooler because…I don’t know, I just think that would have been cooler. It would have been a relationship between two full-grown adults, and it would have had all the complexities as such. Now, when Darth Vader strikes down Obi-Wan in the original Star Wars, it almost seems like patricide.

So, to sum up, if I was in charge of making the prequel movies, and if we could start all over again: introduce Anakin Skywalker as an adult, spread out the important events more, and less screen time for Jar-Jar Binks.

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