Tuesday, February 5, 2013

On Star Wars

When I was a child, Star Wars was life-changing for me.  I was eight when it came out in the theatres.  I remember all of the hype about it and LOVED it.  It was the first movie that I was allowed to see twice.  It was incredible. 

When the first movie came out (Episode 4), we didn't know there would be three prequels (crappy ones) made later.  We also didn't know that Darth Vader was Luke's father until The Empire Strikes Back.  We didn't know Luke and Leia were sibs until Return of the Jedi

My husband is incredibly critical of the Star Wars franchise.  His favorite thing in life is to go on and on about how badly it was done.  But he's a little younger than me and was just a baby when it came out.  He didn't have that same life-changing experience.  He was born into the culture it created and wouldn't be the amazing nerd he is today without it.

Earlier this week, my boys were watching Episode 4, which I still simply call "Star Wars" before inevitably having to clarify:  "the first one," then "the original first one," and finally "episode four."

When I walked  into the room, Obi Wan was telling Luke about his father.  He refers to him in positive terms and says he was a good friend.  He tells Luke that Darth Vader killed his father.  Immediately after (or maybe during) that scene, R2-D2 plays the hologram of Leia talking about her father, but it's not her father she's speaking of - she's talking about her adoptive father.  It's brilliant writing. 

I demanded that my husband watch that part of the movie - he agreed, the writing was genius.  Go watch it now.

Long live George Lucas.  All hail George!

19 comments:

  1. One day. Today, I've got some writing to get in and later I'll be with the grandbabies.

    Hugs and chocolate,
    Shelly

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I didn't mean that literally - check out that scene when you get a chance. It's awesome.

      Delete
  2. The first three were great. I was a teen when I saw them and they had a huge impact. And the next three movies almost ruined that memory...

    ReplyDelete
  3. I recently read an article about how Lucas didn't really plan for Vader to be Luke's father or for Leia to be Luke's sister, not until they were almost shooting. It said too that the Vader-Luke thing was largely based on Lucas's own daddy issues as his father was not supportive of his decision to be a filmmaker. So I guess Daddy was pretty far off the mark there.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's funny. Maybe they did the last three on the fly too and just got them wrong. :/

      Delete
  4. I am critical of Star Wars only because I love Star Wars.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Boo! for your husband! lol I'm an unapologetic Star Wars nerd, and am definitely biased. (They WERE my childhood in many ways...)

    And I like the way Xeno put it above: I complain because I care. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Replies
    1. I've seen it hundreds of times probably but never really paid that much attention to that one scene. It sets up everything.

      Delete
  7. Love *love* the first (original) three. Jar Jar Binks? Not so much.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It bothers me how they made it so easy for Annakin to turn into Darth Vader - I think he needed something more traumatic to have happened. A little mental illness maybe. It can't just be a tiny bit of anger that can turn you evil. We should be able to feel angry.

      Delete
  8. I refuse to refer to the first trilogy with episode numbers. I just say Star Wars, Empire, or Jedi... I'll use 1, 2, or 3 when I'm talking about the prequels though. I don't care too much for them either, I more or less think of them like they don't exist now, time has not treated those films well, I was an early defender of Phantom Menace, but that was because my kid was only 4 or 5 and I wanted so much for him to love them like I did... his Star Wars (you know, his life changing movie experience) is LOTR... I'm okay with that.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That would be cool to be a kid when LOTR came out. I can see where that would be really a similar experience.

      Delete
  9. I remember seeing it numerous times. Except for the stupid hair cuts, I still enjoy it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The whining of Luke really bothers me in the first one.

      Delete