May The Force Be With Us
This past weekend Sonya & I did a Star Wars marathon, starting with episodes I and II (The Phantom Menace & Attack of the Clones) on Thanksgiving evening and episodes III-VI (all the rest) on Friday.
I feel the Star Wars films are a cultural background of my life. They were made over a period of my life ranging from when I was 14 to when I was 42, so I experienced the wonder of each installment as they were released. It is interesting watching the series in the order of the story timeline rather than the order in which they were made. They say great films are those that you get something different from each time you see them, and this time watching the last three films (the first three film made), I appreciated more than before the interactions between Darth Vader, Obi-Wan and the Emperor, this time knowing more of the backstory.
Here are some other observations one makes when seeing all six movies over a 30 hour period:
George Lucas must have grown up with fears of having his hands & arms cut off. Appendages are sliced off left and right in all six films. He also has a fear of high, exposed places.
Sonya is more of a Star Wars nerd than I realized. During a break in Revenge of the Sith, we had a visit from her friend, her brother and his girlfriend, and Sonya excitedly explained to them what she had figured out regarding the metaclorians.
The light saver fight between Qui-Gon, Obi Wan and Darth Maul is the best such fight in all six films. This was due to the cool double bladed saber, Darth Maul's Satanic makeup, and the apocalyptic choral score.
The Phantom Menace and Empire Strikes Back have the best original music. Considering how dramatic and memorable the music is in these two films, the themes from the other films (A New Hope aside) is surprisingly forgettable.
In the Empire Strikes Back DVD version, the original Emperor was replaced with Ian McDiarmid, who was the Emperor in Return of the Jedi and Palpatine in episodes I-III. I think I watched this DVD when we first bought it, but I don't recall noticing the switch.
I'm wondering if any of the dialog referring to the backstory in episodes IV-VI and been re-edited or re-looped to conform better to episodes I-III. I'm sure someone who's a bigger SW geek than I has watched the DVDs and VHS versions side by side and posted notes on the Internet. Ah.. found it here!. The only such change noted here is from Empire where the Emperor indirectly refers to Luke being Darth Vader's son, prior to the Big Reveal at the end of the film.
I love the politics of the first three films, which address how a democracy can be led by the nose into a dictatorship. The Revenge of the Sith DVD contains deleted scenes that deal more with the politics of the Chancellor Palpatine's ascension to the evil dark emperor. If those scenes had been left in the film, it would have been a stronger film. Some people have read comments about George Bush into this, but I believe Lucas's inspiration was the rise of Adolph Hitler. Episodes IV, V, an VI mostly lack this political depth.
I don't find Jar-Jar so annoying now, but I'm still turned off by the Ewoks.
I'm predicting that the norm for future generations will be to watch them in sequential order rather than the order they were made. The Star War fans of the future will experience the story in a very different way than those of the current generation.
I feel the Star Wars films are a cultural background of my life. They were made over a period of my life ranging from when I was 14 to when I was 42, so I experienced the wonder of each installment as they were released. It is interesting watching the series in the order of the story timeline rather than the order in which they were made. They say great films are those that you get something different from each time you see them, and this time watching the last three films (the first three film made), I appreciated more than before the interactions between Darth Vader, Obi-Wan and the Emperor, this time knowing more of the backstory.
Here are some other observations one makes when seeing all six movies over a 30 hour period:
George Lucas must have grown up with fears of having his hands & arms cut off. Appendages are sliced off left and right in all six films. He also has a fear of high, exposed places.
Sonya is more of a Star Wars nerd than I realized. During a break in Revenge of the Sith, we had a visit from her friend, her brother and his girlfriend, and Sonya excitedly explained to them what she had figured out regarding the metaclorians.
The light saver fight between Qui-Gon, Obi Wan and Darth Maul is the best such fight in all six films. This was due to the cool double bladed saber, Darth Maul's Satanic makeup, and the apocalyptic choral score.
The Phantom Menace and Empire Strikes Back have the best original music. Considering how dramatic and memorable the music is in these two films, the themes from the other films (A New Hope aside) is surprisingly forgettable.
In the Empire Strikes Back DVD version, the original Emperor was replaced with Ian McDiarmid, who was the Emperor in Return of the Jedi and Palpatine in episodes I-III. I think I watched this DVD when we first bought it, but I don't recall noticing the switch.
I'm wondering if any of the dialog referring to the backstory in episodes IV-VI and been re-edited or re-looped to conform better to episodes I-III. I'm sure someone who's a bigger SW geek than I has watched the DVDs and VHS versions side by side and posted notes on the Internet. Ah.. found it here!. The only such change noted here is from Empire where the Emperor indirectly refers to Luke being Darth Vader's son, prior to the Big Reveal at the end of the film.
I love the politics of the first three films, which address how a democracy can be led by the nose into a dictatorship. The Revenge of the Sith DVD contains deleted scenes that deal more with the politics of the Chancellor Palpatine's ascension to the evil dark emperor. If those scenes had been left in the film, it would have been a stronger film. Some people have read comments about George Bush into this, but I believe Lucas's inspiration was the rise of Adolph Hitler. Episodes IV, V, an VI mostly lack this political depth.
I don't find Jar-Jar so annoying now, but I'm still turned off by the Ewoks.
I'm predicting that the norm for future generations will be to watch them in sequential order rather than the order they were made. The Star War fans of the future will experience the story in a very different way than those of the current generation.
posted by Dancar | 8:10 AM
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