Tag Archives: Star Wars

This n’ that

First: Hope everyone out there who reads my ramblings had a great holiday and very happy New Year’s.

May all the weight you’ve no doubt gained be quickly lost!

Now, for a couple information nuggets I found intriguing…

First up, and published by Reuters but found on HuffingtonPost.com:

Spotify Hit With $1.6 Billion Lawsuit From Publisher Representing Tom Petty, Neil Young

I’ve long wondered about the various streaming services out there and how exactly they operate.  I assumed it was akin to a radio station in that they play the music you want but you are forced to put up with their advertisements.

However, in this day and age and unlike radio stations, you can specify exactly which music and songs you want to hear and which you do not, an advantage over radio stations but also another source of head scratching for me.  How does the advertisement work then?

What about new music?  Some people may be comfortable with the old standards and are adverse to seeking out or listening to new music.  Finally, how much does a service like Spotify pay the artists whose songs/albums they play?

Apparently, the answer is not nearly enough, at least according to the article I’ve linked to above and hence the reason for the lawsuit.

In this day and age when so much entertainment is available free but illegally online, it’s high time artists fought back when they feel people are listening to their music or reading their books or watching their TV shows/movies without proper compensation.

If Spotify is indeed stiffing the people who make them their money, I hope they lose.  Big.

****

Secondly and though I promised not to dwell on this much more, I just headed over to Rottentomatoes.com and, curious to see where audience reaction was regarding Star Wars: The Last Jedi, I clicked on the movie’s specified link and found…

The movie is now listing an audience reaction of exactly 50%.

In other words, this film has apparently (there are those who feel a concerted effort is being made to bad mouth the film) very evenly split audiences, even as it makes Disney a ton of money.

Still, I wonder if, like Warner Brothers and their handling of the DC properties, the fact that the movie has engendered so much negativity may make them reconsider some of their future plans regarding the franchise.

I’ve been hearing rumblings that the next Star Wars related film, the “young” Han Solo feature whose original directors were sacked and Ron Howard was placed in charge, may be in trouble as well, though the same word of mouth came prior to the release of Rogue One.

As with so many things, we’ll see how this works out.

Is Luke evil…?

So my hunch following seeing the full trailer for the new Star Wars film that Luke Skywalker might be evil was (shock of shocks) not a terribly original idea (you can read those mutterings here).

Forrest Wickman for browbeat has also heard the fan musings and offers a strong rebuttal against the idea that Luke Skywalker is evil in the upcoming film.

Incredibly, he bases his idea on… Luke’s clothing?!?

I kid you not…read for yourselves:

Sorry, Star Wars fans, Luke Probably Isn’t Evil in The Force Awakens.  Here’s How We Know

While on the surface the idea that we can assume Luke isn’t evil in the new Star Wars film based on his clothing -more specifically clothing color– may seem a silly thing, I have to give Mr. Wickman all the credit in the world for his forceful (pardon the pun) argument.

For the color of clothing plays a strong role in the Star Wars films.  It allows viewers to instantly identify evil and good characters not unlike the westerns of yesteryear, where characters in black were evil while those in lighter colors were good.

Mr. Wickman’s strongest argument, to me, in that respect revolves around this leaked picture of Mark Hamill as the older Luke Skywalker:

Screen Shot 2015-08-13 at 5.49.25 PM

As Mr. Wickman states: Have you ever seen a Star Wars villain wear a robe like that?

Kudos, Mr. Wickman.  I say this without tongue in cheek: I believe you are on to something!

Star Wars Audition Tapes

For the fans of the original 1977 Star Wars film, here is a real treat: Actor auditions for the roles of Han Solo, Luke Skywalker, and Princess Leia:

http://io9.com/star-wars-audition-tapes-feature-a-very-different-origi-1702308808

Fascinating to see some famous faces pop up here (particularly Kurt Russell!), but in the end I guess they got the right actors to play the right roles.

Still, a most curious “what if”!

Why are the Star Wars Prequels hated so much?

Now that the new Star Wars sequels are coming out and they feature the welcome return of Harrison Ford’s Han Solo, Mark Hamill’s Luke Skywalker, and Carrie Fisher’s Princess Leia, there is much rejoicing along with some serious anticipation among the Star Wars fanbase.

Of course, there was similar rejoicing not so very long ago when word came that George Lucas, the director and writer of the original Star Wars film and the overseer (until these sequels) of the Star Wars empire, was working on a Prequel Trilogy.

My how things went sour so quickly!

Today, there are few who would argue the Star Wars prequels are worthy of much. Of the three prequel films, perhaps the final feature, which finds a young Anakin Skywalker becomiing the fearsome Darth Vader, is the one that people may like the most.

Or perhaps the one they hate the least

I’ve made my opinions of the original Star Wars films evident over the years (in short: I never liked them all that much, even though back in 1977 I was of the proper age and was crazy about sci-fi,  For whatever reason, these films never really clicked for me).

Even though I’m not a fan of the original trilogy, I find the prequels far worse.  Why?  Because while they feature some truly fantastic special effects, the story presented within them is alternately boring, childish (especially that first movie), silly (some of the dialogue goes beyond silly and into cringe-worthy territory), and boring (did I mention this already?).

Anyway, David Steward delves a little deeper into the why’s regarding fan hatred of the Star Wars prequels:

Why Does Everyone Hate the Star Wars Prequels?

I think he nails it.  The Prequels, unfortunately, were a victim of being not very good films that were released to a legion of fans who hoped for -nay, demanded!- new Star Wars films that were on par with the previous films.  Expectations, alas, have a way of being overblown.

But here’s the thing: Most people who grew up loving Star Wars are older, wiser (yeah, right!), and -I’m especially guilty of this- view things through nostalgic eyes.

There are things that, as a child, I absolutely loved.  Then, many years later and as an adult, I would go back to them and find they didn’t live up to my original nostalgic conceptions.  I loved Ron Howard’s first directed film, Grand Theft Auto (it has nothing to do with the video games), but when years later I bought and started watching the DVD release of it, I couldn’t last more than 15 minutes before shutting it off.

Time has a way of changing our enjoyment of certain things.  Movie pacing, for instance, has changed considerably.  Further, CGI effects have quite literally opened worlds to filmmakers and allowed them to present things there was no way they could back in the day.

I strongly suspect today’s 11 year olds will not see the original, untampered Star Wars as an 11 year old did back in 1977.

But the bottom line remains as always: For a movie to be successful, you have to present a good, interesting story along with interesting characters that draw viewers into your work.  While I can acknowledge the original Star Wars trilogy did this, the prequels failed to do so.

Are the prequels worth all the hate?

Perhaps not.  While they are, in my opinion, worse than the original Star Wars films (films I didn’t like all that much to begin with), I’ve certainly seen far more inept works in my lifetime.  The prequels, when you get down to it, are mediocre to below mediocre films that unfortunately focused on boring subject matters (trade deals?) to fill out their storyline and give their makers an excuse to show us some (then) state of the art CGI effects.

Those who lived and breathed all things Star Wars probably felt/feel the prequels were nothing less than a betrayal of their long held -and nostalgic- love for the original movies, and anything that trampled on those cherished feelings hurt them all the more.

Will the new Star Wars films defy or at least reach fan expectations…or will they fall like the prequels did?

Only time will tell.

Get off my lawn…!

Rather…um…interesting article by Lewis Beale arguing that Star Wars “ruined” science fiction:

http://www.cnn.com/2014/05/02/opinion/beale-star-wars/index.html

As you can tell by this blog’s title, I do indeed accuse Mr. Beale of being a fuddy-duddy regarding this article.  And, unlike him, I was never a big Star Wars fan.

For those who haven’t read my blogs before, I was a very ripe 11 years old when the original Star Wars came out in 1977.  I distinctly recall the hysteria at the time and wound up seeing the film to a very packed house upon the very first week of its release.  The theater was filled with other boys roughly my age (it was an early showing) and they were whooping and hollering at every gee-whiz effect and clapping at every near escape…

…and when it was over, the whole experience left me cold.

So cold, in fact, that I didn’t bother seeing Empire Strikes Back when it came to theaters a couple of years later.  It wasn’t until the film aired on TV that I first saw it…and found it was about on par with the original, IMHO, that is to say: It left me cold.

Please don’t think me some kind of snob.

If you like Star Wars and its sequels, more power to you.  I love science ficiton (which should be obvious given my novels) and certainly loved, loved, loved it with a great fervor back in 1977.  Yet Star Wars didn’t connect with me.  I didn’t hate the film, but just didn’t like it all that much.  Different strokes, I suppose.

Fast forward to Mr. Beale’s article and…come on, Mr. Beale.  You seriously think there haven’t been attempts at more serious science fiction in cinema since Star Wars?  The advent of this film and series certainly has had an impact and, yes, I agree that there are many 1940’s-like cliffhanger serials on steroids released nowadays, but there are also plenty of more cerebral sci-fi works.

Most recently we had Interstellar (still in theaters!), but in recent times and on TV there have been works like Battlestar: Galactica and Lost, both series which ended on a whimper yet delivered some fascinating storylines in their prime.  You mention The Matrix but one can list many recent vintage films that weren’t just about action-action-action, movies like Donnie Darko (forget the “director’s cut”) up to last summer’s fabulous Edge of Tomorrow (a film even Tom Cruise haters will surely like).  Even the absolutely unnecessary (and, in my opinion, failed) Robocop remake eerily probed into the idea of how much humanity a person retains when most of his body is gone.

The point is that culture has a tendency to move along and release a broad range of works which you may like and which you may not.  I suspect there will always be the modern version of those old cliffhanger serials just as there will appear works that try to stretch the genre and offer food for thought.

Just because Star Wars was successful and led to many imitators doesn’t mean the genre is ruined.

Lost “Return of the Jedi” Scene Answers Questions…

By now most Star Wars fans have probably heard about the laserdisc bought on e-Bay containing cut scenes/bloopers from Return of the Jedi, among other original trilogy Star Wars films.

The person who bought the laserdisc has a Facebook page wherein they’re posting all the scenes, and it can be found here:

https://www.facebook.com/rotjeditdroid

Now, the scene I’m referring to above involves Yoda making mention of the fact that both he and Obi Wan perhaps lied to Luke Skywalker about the identity of his father…

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/06/return-of-the-jedi-yoda-deleted-scene_n_4224976.html

I’ve mentioned many times before that the Star Wars features were never my cup of tea, despite the fact that I was of the right age and a big fan of sci-fi when the original feature film came out.  The fact is the film should have been right in my wheelhouse.

Yet the original Star Wars didn’t register and, while I knew everyone around me in the theater was going absolutely crazy about what they were seeing, I was/remain curiously indifferent about the whole thing.  So much so at the time, in fact, that I didn’t bother seeing Empire Strikes Back until it aired on network TV (I did, however, catch Return of the Jedi in theaters…go figure).

Upon seeing Return of the Jedi, what struck me was the revelation of Luke and Leia being twin siblings.  It was proof that much of the Star Wars saga was “made up” as it went along. After all, when Luke first sees the hologram of Leia pleading for help in the original Star Wars, the expression on his face is one of absolute love at first sight, not a feeling of “oh, I must help this damsel in distress”.  Even in the original theatrical cut of Empire Strikes Back it is obvious the idea that Luke and Leia are brother and sister is still not there, evident from this (amusing) clip:

Anyway, I still found the Yoda clip linked to above interesting, at least to show that the creators of the series were considering some of the ramifications of the unfolding story line they were creating.

All stories, after all, are “made up” as you go along.  Unfortunately for Mr. Lucas and company, some of the ideas they choose to follow invalidated previously created material and, I suspect, this in part was what made Mr. Lucas go back to the original films and edit out parts of it.  It’s a short step from that to “fixing” the effects or adding things that weren’t originally there.

The danger, of course, lies in spoiling what others cherish…even if the material is yours to begin with.