Best. Star Wars. Parody. Ever. (with subtitles in Spanish!)

[A_Volpe]

oops, see next post, sorry

[A_Volpe]

An excellent point that a good friend of mine told me on a long road trip back home, being a HUGE Star Wars fan, is how the first 3 movies totally changed his persepective on characters like Darth, how when he saw IV when it first came out, he wanted to be Darth when he grew up, Large and In Charge, then after seeing I and II, figured out that really, Darth was totally messed in the head and totally out of control. "He can't even get through a buisness meeting on the Death Star without strangling someone who disagreed with him"

He also pointed out the scene with Yoda vs Dooku in II, whereas he sacrificed his chance to end the Clone Wars by taking out Dooku, instead choosing to save his friends (Obi and Ani) ~ Years later, when Luke is trying to justify going to save his friends, or to stay and continue his training, Yoda berates him, and demands he NOT choose his friends, but instead choose The Greater Good for All - To sacrifice what he holds most dear...This is BECAUSE Yoda had that tragedy facing Dooku.


And as another friend put it, Darth/Ani always was a "Whiny Little Bitch" who was utterly manipulated by Sidious - Think of it, the most dangerous person is a Teenager thinking he has nothing to lose and everything to prove, tack on the abilities of the Force - Obi is telling him he's the Chosen One, but the Jedi Council holds him down, because they fear his incredible potential, and his obvious lack of maturity, which just backfires in the end because Ani is given the chance to "prove them all wrong" with near limitless power, which he ultimately abuses and goes overboard, destroying everything he holds dear and becoming the monster which he always despised - only to be locked inside a machine, trapped forever and now having to serve someone else. (and to offer my own Geek theory, I think that Palpatine was using some serious Mind Control on Ani, viciously so in III; and General Grievous was the prototype for Darth Vader)

There is also this complaint about how I II and III aren't even close to being on par with VI V and VI...Well, of course not. Yes, I agree that I-III just don't have the "hook" that IV-VI have, and I think that's largely due to what Lucas suffered physically and emotionally from making IV-VI, he nearly had a nervous breakdown and an anyerism from fighting FOX and Hollywood itself to make his movie. I think it totally drained him, and he never was able to fully recover, and years later had to essentially start from scratch for I-III.

Also, the premise of I-III is to show the development of HOW IV-VI became so important and epic to us...Yes the Political stuff is rampant, but it's a cursed blessing...You look at how Ani is pulled into becoming Palpatine's Bitch in II and III, and you see the exact same attempt by Palpy on Luke using Darth as his tool in VI. I-III is more about the rise of the Empire and why it IS so evil, because Palpy, being the Sith lord, wanting to bring back the age of darkness ~ similar to say, the Third Reich....Ani went overboard with his immaturity and complete lack of control, Palpy thinking he could harness Ani's near endless power for Palpy's own devices...Then Ani, being Ani, makes a compelte fool of himself and gets himself nearly destroyed. Palpy obviously is dissapointed in Ani's thickheaded ways...But what better way to preserve your new toy than to encase it in a machine and make it your personal servant for the rest of eternity...And what better way to make use of this near worthless tool is to get him to convince his son to turn to the Dark Side...Palpy said it himself, "take your father's place".

Ani from the very beginning was used and manipulated, but in the end was rescued and shown the Light by his own son....That was incredibly powerful, but Lucas had to develop all of that somehow.

I'm not going to say Lucas is Genius, but he knows exactly what he was doing with I-III. I do agree that Ep. I and II were pretty weak, and III tried to make the best of it, but suffered...But really, can you really top Ep IV V and VI? I think the critics ask too much...I know I'm looking forward to Lucas' next project - which will hopefully fill in the gaps between III and IV. Perhaps the development of Darth Vader will be much better than it was done in III.

[tlclark]

Dudicus,

all good points to consider. A laudes to you.

But the first rule of storytelling is don't start telling one story and switch to another.

We thought we were getting a spiritual epic and got political theater.

That's a big mistake and ultimately a failure of story-telling (the same that happened with Matrix matter of fact!) but that's life.

I just pretend that Lucas had a stroke between VI and I and then I'm ok.

:wink:

[Robert Vermaat]

[Robert Vermaat]

[A_Volpe]

Travis -

Yep, I thought I-III really didn't have the same feel as IV-VI, but if you do go back and look really critically at IV-VI, really it's not mind blowing work, but for when it came out and how it developed, that you certainly can't deny, and you can't buy that (well not *entirely* apparently)

I did also enjoy the Clone Wars cartoon series, those were fun. I'm eager to see what Lucas has in store for the "TV Series" he's mentioned.

I'm sure in the meantime he'll release all 6 movies in various styles and combinations and sets to drive us all mad. :roll:

One thought occured to me - The idea of the Force being reduced to a biological phenomenon...Yeah that was a hard pill to swallow...But at the same time, the transition from the first 3 to the last 3, remember the Jedi had pretty much been wiped out thanks to Darth et al, and as the Empire took over everything, so did thier doctrine and ways...The Jedi and the Idea of the Force quite litterally became the stuff of mystery and legend - If some knucklehead started bragging about his Force powers in some Cantina, I bet any Stormtroopers would shoot [him] full of blaster holes, since they remained under that order in the last 3...So in a awkward sort of way, it does set the tone for the Force to be this incredible power that only a few are capable of using...It all makes sense, but it certainly was a major buzz-kill....Fer sure....But I know I pretty much dismissed the idea and still held true that the Force is MORE than just some microorganisms and whatnot.

And wait a minute - but wasn't the idea of the organism a sign that the Force was present in a being? Kind of like a Virus or a vaccine - If the Anitbodies are in the bloodstream, that's an indication that the person is suffering the virus/that it exists in the body - I seem to recall Qui Gon telling Yoda (?) that he just had a very high count, which "indicated" a level of the Force?

[tlclark]

Dudicus.

It's a valiant rearguard effort you are fighting here, but...let it go man, let it go.

George Lucas is just not the genius we thought he was.

[Narukami]

The animated Clone Wars series is much better than any of episodes I-III, so I do agree with you there Didicus.

As to the midicloreans ("Qui Gon sir, what is a midiclorean?") it is interesting to note that almost all mention of them ends with Episode I. The idea that admittance into the Jedi Order would be based upon biology and not skill, or nobility of heart but by purity of blood smacks of the worst of the Nazi pseudosciences. That one might see the Clone Troopers as a SciFi equivalent to the Waffen-SS, their battlefield exploits forever tainted by the evil of cause they served (in this case Emperor Palpatine) is, I think, beyond what Lucas had in mind.

I believe it was Matt, or perhaps you TLC, who mentioned that something in Lucas changed between the two trilogies. Indeed, Lucas did change -- he got older, became a father, and was (after Star Wars) one of the most powerful men in Hollywood. The original films display a certain rebellious streak to them and a lot of youthful exuberance (in humor and attitude) both of which are lacking in the prequels.

And it is true that although most people pick Empire Strike Back as the best of the Star Wars films, that in fact, for me at least, the first two work but by the third film, Return Of The Jedi, the story was already in trouble. The third film is a re-hash of the first, blowing up the Death Star, now with more ships and better effects. ("Now with 50% bigger explosions!")

He missed some great story possibilities in both trilogies, and that is a shame.

However...

Lucas is a genius. He will sell more Star Wars action figures this year alone than most films will sell tickets & DVD's in their entire lifespan. For better or worse (and many critics believe worse) Lucas changed Hollywood. He has spawned an empire that has created many cultural icons and some art as well.

I'm still a big fan. One need but look in my garage, or my grandson's room, at all of the Star Wars items assembled there to see how "invested" I am in this mythology. Even so, I find it difficult to watch the prequels but remain optimistic that his next chapters will be better.

Hope springs eternal.

:roll: :wink: :? oops:

Narukami

[Robert Vermaat]

He missed some great story possibilities in both trilogies, and that is a shame.

However...

Lucas is a genius. He will sell more Star Wars action figures this year alone than most films will sell tickets & DVD's in their entire lifespan.

Hi Narukami,
Yes, Lucas is a finacial genius, he's filthy rich from what he created - good for him!

However, he's NOT a good storyteller. And after part V he was 9as you noticed) already finished...

[taira1180]

I think that both trilogies reflex his life: the first (episodes IV,V and VI) the struggle from someone outside of a system, the second, the struggle from someone who is inside a system, and see how things work. By manipulation, scheming and corruption.

[Narukami]

Quite right Vortigern, though I would say that Lucas is a Hollywood Producer, in the best sense of the word, more than a financial genius in and of itself. I think his genius was in seeing the potential for Star Wars and giving up part of his director's fee for the sequel and merchandise rights. (Fox still regrets giving up those rights. They figured that T-shirts and Sequels to a B SciFi film would never amount to very much. Boy were they wrong. No one in Hollywood will ever make such a deal again.) He has parlayed this one film into a media/merchandise empire that no one could have predicted.

Perhaps that very empire is the problem with the later films.

I remember after the first film the story possibilities seemed absolutely limitless. I wonder if perhaps Lucas got caught up in his own mythology and lost touch with the roots of his story, and in becoming self-referential the story lost its universal mythic appeal.

Or perhaps I am over thinking the entire matter. Perhaps Lucas is simply not much of a story teller, American Graffiti and THX1138 not withstanding.

Taira1180, you make a good point. How could Lucas not be changed by his own success.

Star Wars was very much of its time. Had it arrived several years earlier or later I do not think it would have been the hit we all know now as cinematic history.

And with that I'm off to find some Clone Troopers as stocking stuffers for my grandson's very "active" collection.

Remember: You can never have too many Storm Troopers. :wink:

Narukami

[tlclark]

Remember: You can never have too many Storm Troopers. :wink:

Narukami

1 or a million, what does it matter? :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :wink:

[Narukami]

I know what you mean TLC.

However...

My grandson is still at that age were more is better, so he would vote for the million without hesitation.

Now...

If they would just start selling the Playmoble Romans here in the US perhaps I could start him on collecting an entire legion.

Hmmmm....I may need another job. :? cry: :roll: :wink:

Narukami

[tlclark]

Hmmm.

Evidence early on that George Lucas was no genius...

http://www.fanpop.com/spots/star-wars/links/13501

I had forgotten about this but I remember seeing it as a kid. Notable only for the first ever appearance of Boba Fett.

Enjoy...if you can.

[Narukami]

Oh no you don't.

You're not going to sucker me into watching the Star Wars X-mass Special again.

Notable indeed for the first appearance of Boba Fett, but look how he ended up -- as the Lunch Special at the Sarlac Pit BBQ Grill.

I have to hand it to you TLC, you've found a real winner. And we all thought Howard The Duck was the worse thing Lucas had ever done.

:oops: :oops: :oops: :roll: :?

Narukami