Marc Alan Fishman: Star Wars Sucks – For Now
Yup. I said it. I’ll say it again. Star Wars? It sucks. Of course I should clarify: I respect the Intellectual Property. I admire George Lucas for spinning a billion dollar franchise out of a single movie – appropriated from so many better films, novels, and concepts. And hell, I own a fair share of Star Wars merchandise (a run of John Ostrander’s Way Better Than Anything On Film comics, a lightsaber, and a handful of vintage videogames). But this past weekend, whilst looking for something to keep on in the background of yet-another drawing marathon, my dial ended up on Episodes I, II, and III.
Given that I recall astutely not liking them in theater, on DVD, or rebroadcast in any incarnation, I’ll freely admit I let them play because I was jonesing for a one-sided fight. And you, my dear readers (who I can plainly see unlocking the safety on your blasters under the table, and preparing to force-pull the ceiling down on top of my head…) get to listen to me rant a wee-bit.
First off, let me parry the obvious incoming attack. Episodes I, II, and III are canon. One is simply not allowed to pretend they didn’t happen. Midichlorians? Happened. Anakin acting like a whiny bitch? Happened. Padme acting worse than a CGI droid? Happened. And no amount of jamming ones fingers in their ears and screaming will make them disappear. Therein lies why I am so adamant at being so blunt in my opinion. By their very nature, this new trilogy drags down the series for me. I think I might be safe to say for many others… this may also be the case.
No matter how good the Clone Wars cartoon may have been… when it ends, you still end up with Episode III. Yes, John Ostrander and a plethora of other amazing writers have contributed to beautifully written comics, novels, and other in-canon fiction. Either way? Episode I, and II are there in living-breathing-CGI. Jar Jar exists, and no comic, video game, or brilliant fanzine will remove him from my mind.
Let me also sidestep your obvious escalation attempt. What about The Matrix, Star Trek, or any number of other brilliant-at-one-point-but-obviously-tainted-by-my-asshat-logic franchises? Perhaps I’m just being a dick, but somehow? I forgive them both. For what it’s worth… the least successful jaunts in each of those large franchises had a given quality to them that still made their respective parent properties still feel valuable. Sure Neo is Jesus, but at least he’s a badass Jesus, right?
The key to my argument comes from Lucas’ own love of technology. In every aspect, those episodes embody what can be so wrong with modern movies and our culture. Lucas opted to slight the artisans who once took his black and white screenplay and made a visceral universe in lieu of videogame artists. Not to slight those who make pixel-art mind you… but even with all the advances of computer-aided movie-making, there’s nary a person I know who doesn’t look at the The Phantom Menace, The Clone Wars, or Revenge of the Sith and not make a fleeting comment on how “it looks like a video game” in a very negative way. Combine with with absolutely wooden performances (from Oscar nominated actors and actresses mind you!), and the new trilogy clearly chose spectacle over heart.
The best examples of Star Wars all share a commonality; they present the fantastic grounded in very human emotions. Lightsabers are cool. X-Wings are too. But find me one person (over the age of 13, to be fair) who prefers Yoda backflipping like a crack-addled spider-monkey to the soul-filled voice and puppet work of Frank Oz? I’ll gladly argue them into submission. The crapulence of I, II, and III degrade IV, V, and VI in ways I wish weren’t true. As I said: you can’t ‘unmake’ them, and therefore everything they set up feels tainted to me.
The fact that they were the product of Lucas, and his team of yes-man make it feel all the worse. It wasn’t as if he’d handed the reigns to a new writer and director, wiped his hands of it, and shrugged off three profitable but largely uncelebrated films. Here, he presented what set up an amazing series of adventures, and pulled back the veil of mystery to uncover a story so dull, it actually weakened existing canon! How I wish I could fear Darth Vader, but now all I see is a whiny douche who had sand in his boots.
Well, they say time heals all wounds. So now, we sit at the event horizon. J.J. Abrams has been given the keys to the castle. While some find his new take on Trek to be more boom-boom than think-bam… it may very well be what Star Wars needs to really move on. A mix of practical effects and CGI (perhaps light on the lens-flares, mmm kay?), blended with original and new casts that take time to put themselves into their roles, and a story that dares to challenge its audience with more than trade politics and council debates could very well be the blaster-shot in the pants the franchise needs to be back on top. For the sake of all who are presently seething at me? I sure hope so.
May the force be with you… ‘cause it certainly ain’t with me.
SUNDAY: John Ostrander
MONDAY: Mindy Newell
Let’s hope J.J. Abrams can do better with VII, VIII and IX. Gird your loins, for they art on the horizon!
You know, I successfully managed to avoid watching anything past the original STAR WARS movies. When I introduced STAR WARS to my wife, I also only watched with her the classical trilogy. So yeah, it’s possible to pretend bad movies didn’t happen. People still haven’t invaded my house and hooked me to a Clockwork Orange-style chair to make me see Jar-Jar Binks.
Also, even for bad movies that I DID have the displeasure of watching, well… time passes. Time passes for everything, even for ruined franchises. In the last couple of years I re-watched a lot of movies that I first saw almost 20 years ago. I own the DVDs of ROCKY and JAWS, and no one forced me to buy the sequels at gunpoint. It was glorious to re-live the acting of Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw, and Richard Dreyfuss, without having to worry about voodoo curses and stuff.
Now, you can say that I’m like those old men that only relive the good moments from the past, but I see it more like allowing bad memories to die a natural death. I see no reason to re-live bad stuff I saw 15-20 years ago and barely remember.
I think too many fans accentuate the negative. Either for masochism or because they feel pleasure in savaging bad stuff. I think I’m happier the way I am, watching and reading only the good stuff.
The biggest crap in the STAR WARS prequel was the introduction of the Midichlorians–which sounds like something you put in your pool to destroy the algae and bacteria. Switching from a Buddhist idea of the life “Force” to itty-bitty microscopic biological (symbiotic?) organisms that enable the individual to “feel the Force” was just incredibly stupid. There was no reason to come up with a “reason” to explain why some people are Jedi candidates and others are not.
I get that Lucas wanted to explain the rise of the Empire–but doing a “Foundation” riff was not the way to go.
Personally I would have started the sequels with Annakin already a teenager and in Jedi training, and the Empire already in charge.
And killing off Padame was simply another huge mistake. Lucas simply ignored his previous cannon–in RETURN OF THE JEDI, Luke asks Leia if she remembers her real mother, and Leia answers “She was very beautiful…kind…but very sad.” How the hell does she remember her mother if she died giving birth? (And don’t tell me that it was the Force!)
I agree about video-game Yoda. That was simply unnecessary. But it showed that Lucas had lost his interest in using actors to tell a story and that he was (is?) more involved with the technical aspects of today’s moviemaking. But all the CGI and digitalization in the world “don’t mean a thing if you ain’t got that swing.”
Abrams has said that he was a fan of STAR WARS waaaay before he ever got into STAR TREK. I’m thinking that we’ve got a good chance of seeing STAR WARS come back to its roots–May the Force be with you, J.J.!
Kate and i watched “The Phantom Menace”. We never felt the slightest urge to watch the other two prequels.
I still have not watched the “Greedo shoots first” versions of “Star Wars”.
(*”Star Wars” – not “Episode IV – A New Hope”)