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Assorted Star Wars Tidbits
The hype machine keeps on rolling: jarv writes "CNN has an article where George Lucas talks about how the Star Wars hype has gotten out of hand. "
and an anonymous reader sent us a link to an article over
at DVD resource where Lucas
talks about DVD Star Wars and how it looks like it'll be
a loooong time before we see it. Lastly
jkottke wrote in to tell us
that the Fray is running a thing about Star Wars memories. There's some good
stuff there... my first Star Wars memory is seeing Jedi with my Dad-
its the first movie I remember seeing on the silver screen.
Then there was watching SW blipped out on HBO, watching Empire
and being scared so bad that I had to be reminded that I had
already seen Jedi, so Darth couldn't kill Luke.
And more recently, watching the trilogy almost every
weekend for 2 straight years with Dave while doing homework in
our dorm room.
Warning: I am not trying to slam Star Wars here,
as I do enjoy the original 3 movies, and I am
looking forward to the next 3. However, there
comes a time that reality does need to step it.
This weekend at that special preview of SW:TMP,
many of the critics that were invited came out
with somewhat negative reviews of the movie,
somewhere between 2 and 3.5 stars out of
4 overall. (This including magazines likle
Variety, Rolling Stone, and the NY Times).
The reviews give TPM the same treatment as they
would the batch of summer blockbusters in the
last few years, saying it's technical merits
are outstanding, but without plot and character.
I've heard that Lucas has responded to this
by saying that Star Wars was and always meant
for kids.
Pause a moment. While I certainy think that
Lucas is truthful in that statement, given
my own childhood enjoyment of the movies,
and seeing the next generation of children
with big smiles on their faces after seeing
the Special Editions in theaters, there is
just a bit of hypocritism to that as well.
I find it very hard to justify spending
well over $100mill to make a movie that
is aimed at kids. Yes, the kids will see it,
the kids will buy the toys, and in general
will provide a large chunk of the expected
$500 mill in worldwide profits that this movie
will make. *BUT* that certainly is not a
majority of the money that will be made.
Look at the number of restrictions Lucas has
put on the sale of tickets to TPM. Look at
the sales of TPM action figures and other
stuff that started at midnight last week
(*midnight*! How many kids are up then?)
Look at the number of people expected to
call in sick next week for the opening
day. Look at the sales of one-day airtrips
to the US from Europe just to see this movie.
There are more than just kids that will
fall to the TPM spell come May 19th. People
will be shelling out big bucks for anything
Star Wars after that, and I very much doubt
kids are providing those funds.
Surprisingly, I think that TPM mania is just
the same as the mania before any Trek movie,
but at a very larger magnitude. The difference
in size is due to the less-scientific nature
of SW (where you don't care how a lightsabre
works, you just enjoy the action) which allows
a large crosssection of the population to
enjoy the movie, and the media buildup. The
latter makes me wonder if this was delibrate
on LA's part, or if the media/hollywood
built it themselves.
What would have been the reaction to the movie
if it was only annouced to be in theaters last
week (as with most other movies, notably
The Matrix)? Would the hype be there? I doubt
that it would disappear, but it certainly
would not have been as large as it is now.
If anything, it would have been as much
as a Trek movie opening under the same
conditions.
So this all begs the question of Lucas' motive.
Is he truly making the most expensive children's
entertainment in history, or has LA manipulated
the market to make it as big as it is? I
certainly hope it's only the former, as Lucas
is a great storyteller, but the amount of
hype for this one movie is beyond belief.
"Pinky, you've left the lens cap of your mind on again." - P&TB
"I can see my house from here!" - ST:
Yes, I remember finding Jedi thrilling and slowing learning to appreciate ESB for the great movie that it was, and spending spring break one year watching the trilogy time and time again. I still sometimes get chills when I see Lando disguised in Jabba's palace.
:) Perhaps while he was writing, he subconsciously didn't want to make anything that would frighten or bother them, and then when Episode One was completed, he realized that he had to repackage the hype.
But I can't help but wonder if George Lucas's current "backtracking" regarding the hype is a result of the fact that he realizes that perhaps he made a slight misstep. I mean, only a month ago he was on the cover of _Wired_. What was he expecting regarding hype?
Perhaps the previews made the movie look darker than it really will be, but the problems people are mentioning about it are now all becoming clearer, in retrospect-- a 9 year old in the lead part, Jar-Jar sounding suspiciously similar to Elmo from Sesame St., etc. I'm beginning to think that George Lucas has realized, now that the movie is finished, that this isn't the "mythic epic space opera" that he intended it to be and is trying to re-package it as a "childrens' movie... fun for the whole family!"
It's the influence of having young children, I tell you! If only Lucas's children had already been grown up by the late 90's, this wouldn't have been a problem!
Well, maybe Episode One will be "candy", and then Episodes Two and Three will be better.
-Dean
Why are there (apparently) no Wookies in SW:TPM?
I can attribute this to nothing but latent anti-Wookie racism. First, you slowly write them out of the trilogy. Then, they're nothing but a bunch of lazy Wooks who will rip your arms out of your sockets if you so much as breathe wrong. Of course, you wouldn't want them living in your neighborhood and marrying your daughter. Unless you live in Kentucky, in which case your daughter probably has more hair than a wookie.
This wookie racism has to stop! Remember, Chewbacca is hundreds of years old by the time of SW:ANH. Why shouldn't he be in the first trilogy? I am going to write Lucas a letter and explain to him my feelings on this subject. Just as soon as they let me out of the Institute.
Thank you for your time.
Speaking of hype for episode one, how will this affect the reaction to episodes two and three? Episode one is really special because it is the first new Star Wars in 15 years, so can episode two possibly generate as much hype when it comes out? And by the time episode three rolls around, it will be "here we go again" sort of attitude among most of the media. Just think of all the attention the first "special edition" release got, and how the other two paled in comparison as far as public responce goes.
Just out of curiosity, does any one know the REAL reason why George has decided not to do the last three films? I remember when the SE's were comming out and StarWars.com had anigifs for 7,8,9. This seemed to imply that he was going to work on them.
We all know that the story was intended to continue on to 9 full movies. How are we expected to find out what happens afterwards. Please don't tell me that it's going to be in book format. Some of the after Jedi books have been ok, but now I think it's just overkill on most of them. Nothing seriously wrong can ever happen to any of the major characters because some other book has all ready been written that takes place after it.
But I digress. Plain and simple, what happened to 7, 8, and 9???????
----
"War doesn't determine who's right, just who's left"
"War doesn't determine who's right, just who's left"
Steven Wright
I plan on seeing Star Wars many times, but I'm also expecting that it will garner few if any good reviews. Our society has become so jaded, cynical and arrogant in the past 10 years, and it loves to see the fall from grace of major figures. Because of this, there will be a concerted effort to utterly trash The Phantom Menace (it's already started - see David Ansen's perfunctory review at Newsweek. However, the kids will love it, just like we did when we were young. And that's all that really matters.