The Problem with Star Wars

[mojo1701]

Oh, come on. Is you son a slave on a dustball in the middle of no where? Pretty much anything was better for Anakin than growing up a slave. It was a chance for him to be free, and his mother believed that he was meant to help the Jedi, anyway. Sure, it didn't turn out all that well, but that's Anakin's fault, not his mother's.

That, and I see that there was a certain romanticism about the Jedi. THEY were the Heroes of the Republic; the Good Guys.

 

[barsoomcore]

We're forgetting the main point of the Star Wars films, and that is that they tell a story that entertains the audience.

Who's "we" in that sentence? I mean, if you forgot, then I'm glad you remembered, because that's an important thing to remember, for sure. But I haven't seen any evidence that anyone else has forgotten that.

Other than Jar Jar most of the people I talked to have enjoyed the first movie as well.

It's too bad Jar Jar didn't like the film. Did he say why?

He had a lightsaber.

Okay. Identity proofs are apparently a little more relaxed in the Old Republic than in our current world.

Good thing some guy with mad tinfoil skillz hadn't come along earlier and said, "Hey, I'm going to take off with your son, is that okay? Oh, and gimme the keys to your house, while you're at it. You can trust me, here's my shiny lightsaber hilt."



Look, I'm just goofing around on this, it's not a very serious problem with the film. I think it's kind of amusing in a typical Lucas-sloppiness fashion, but it's by no means anything very important.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Okay. Identity proofs are apparently a little more relaxed in the Old Republic than in our current world.

Good thing some guy with mad tinfoil skillz hadn't come along earlier and said, "Hey, I'm going to take off with your son, is that okay? Oh, and gimme the keys to your house, while you're at it. You can trust me, here's my shiny lightsaber hilt."



Look, I'm just goofing around on this, it's not a very serious problem with the film. I think it's kind of amusing in a typical Lucas-sloppiness fashion, but it's by no means anything very important.

Oh, I know its nothing major. But people don't go around impersonating Jedi. It can get you into some trouble if a REAL Jedi does find you.

Jedi are essentially the Knights of the Round Table for the Republic. Instead of shining armor, horses, and titles, they have lightsabers. Simple? Yep, but its never been claimed that it wasn't.

 

[Vigilance]

Or does this mean your defense of Lucas is "He's as crappy as he's always been"? I wouldn't argue too vociferously against that.

Well, I am a fan of many movies Lucas has been involved in so I wouldn't say crappy.

However, if you scroll back, you will note that I have, in fact VERY SPECIFICALLY made the argument that Lucas has not changed.

He wrote, directed and edited American Grafitti, using technical achievments to make a stunning film. As you point out, that technique had been used earlier and you could either call it an homage or a ripoff.

In SW he wrote, directed and edited, using techniques adapted (or lifted if you prefer) from David Lean (for the Tatooine sequences) and Kurosawa (the Death Star sequences).

And now in the prequels he is writing, directing and using techniques adapted from other directors.

So I have made the argument that he hasn't changed, in fact, it's central to my belief that Empire was a VERY different movie from any of the other five SW movies, and many people who rate that as their favorite bitch about any of them that are different (which is all of them).

Now, I like them, because I like what Lucas does, so him having a lot of control is just fine with me. If you don't like him, then I don't expect you to like these movies.

Chuck

 

[mojo1701]

Who's "we" in that sentence? I mean, if you forgot, then I'm glad you remembered, because that's an important thing to remember, for sure. But I haven't seen any evidence that anyone else has forgotten that.

Well, when I said "we," I mean everyone who's arguing that the Star Wars films are ruined because of so-called "crap" writing or directing.

 

[Vigilance]

Okay. Identity proofs are apparently a little more relaxed in the Old Republic than in our current world.

I think it was the whole scenario, not just the sword.

Qui-gon shows up out of nowhere. He's huge and obviously (in my eyes) tough as nails, but he's gentle and polite.

If you remember everything we have seen of Tatooine, the big tough people aren't nice and gentle.

She also knew that her son had "special powers" as she calls them, and Qui-gon surprises her by picking up on it right away. *HE* mentions Annakin's powers to the mother first. Now remember, Watto had owned the boy since birth and didn't really see much special about him. A valuable slave sure, but he didn't seem to think the boy had any magical powers.

And if Jabba or the Hutts had become aware of Annakin's powers, they would have taken him.

So here's a badass who arrives out of nowhere and sees things those around the boy haven't noticed for years.

And he has a lightsabre.

Chuck

 

[Flyspeck23]

Let's just say this: until I wrote this post, I hadn't considered Star Wars in quite a while. After seeing TPM, I can tell you with 100% certainty that I plan never to spend another second of my life watching, thinking, or writing about anything related to the series.

Mission accomplished

 

[John Crichton]

Oh, I know its nothing major. But people don't go around impersonating Jedi. It can get you into some trouble if a REAL Jedi does find you.

Jedi are essentially the Knights of the Round Table for the Republic. Instead of shining armor, horses, and titles, they have lightsabers. Simple? Yep, but its never been claimed that it wasn't.

I always saw them like marshalls in the Old West, myself. But point taken. It's all fancy fiction.

No matter how much any of the Star Wars movies mistep or triumph I always come back to: no one has done this kind of thing on this scale, ever. 6 movies with a storyline that directly crosses from one to the next like 6 straight months of comic books. Evil, evil men and goodly good men doing battle with glowey swords and crazy wizards cackling during it all. Old sages handing out fortune cookie wisdom and ghosts warning not to repeat past mistakes. Good fairy-tale stuff.

I find it increasingly hard to truly judge the 2 newest films because I have not seen the film the links them to the originals. I view them with a careful eye as a fan of the originals to catch more insights to the story that already has an ending. So, to me it's all about the journey. With all of the films I push the stuff I didn't care for to the back of my mind and let the amazing sequences take me along for the ride. Overall, the movies are pretty darn fun.

I am damn interested to see how they all play out when put together on the chain. I'm even more interested to see how jarring the transition from this 3rd film is to watching the 4th film as a follow-up to it. The quality can be (and is) debated up and down from all directions. Doesn't change the fact that this third film is movie history in the making simply by virtue of the numbers, scope and worldwide attention. For every person who doesn't care about Star Wars there are 5 more people to do to take his/her place. Even if just midly interested.

So, what again is the problem with Star Wars?

 

[mojo1701]

So, what again is the problem with Star Wars?

What is that, a stand-up routine, like, "What's the deal with airplane peanuts?"

 

[myrdden]

So, to me it's all about the journey. With all of the films I push the stuff I didn't care for to the back of my mind and let the amazing sequences take me along for the ride. Overall, the movies are pretty darn fun.

I have to admit I do the same thing. Good stuff to the front of the brain; bad stuff to the back. I'll agree that the movies have been fun, but they seem to be missing the spark from the first ones for me. A spark I am very willing to attribute to my age at the time of watching them. Honestly, I think if the love story had been better done in AotC I think there would be less criticsm for Lucas. Take out the romance scenes and AotC is an improvement over TPM. He really did drop the ball on the that one I think (the romance I mean).

I am damn interested to see how they all play out when put together on the chain. I'm even more interested to see how jarring the transition from this 3rd film is to watching the 4th film as a follow-up to it.

Me too. I have been giving Lucas a lot of slack over the downsides in the first two prequals because I thiknk the overall plot is great (and the visuals have been pretty satisfying as well). I hope things come together in the next movie.

I also think the series is not meant to be seen as sequential order. I still believe it is meant to be seen in chronological order.