Episodes 1-3 are almost all backstory, the stuff good writing profs tell you to cut in favor of pace and dramatic value. As the movies unfolded, I came to believe Lucas should have left well enough alone.
My imagination had already filled in a backstory with the help of Alec Guinness's narration: the Jedi Knights were honorable protectors of the realm who learned to harness the very Force behind life to come to their aid. Darth Vader got carried away with what he could personally gain with his abilities. Using the Force for evil slowly ate away at him until he needed to wear the famous suit to survive. The End.
My biggest beef with Eps. 1-3 is that they do make the Jedi look bad--at least more petty. This image of the Jedi doesn't follow logically from the original trilogy. I'm reminded of Brian De Palma's MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE movie making Jim Phelps a villain--a possibility so beyond the original character's range it was laughable.
Thursday, May 26, 2005
My Final Take on Star Wars I-III
As posted to Lee Goldberg's blog:
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3 comments:
I'm more bouncing off your Jim Phelps comment more than anything else... but, I wonder if these things more for people who are not familiar with the source material. Who is Jim Phelps to someone who's never seen the show? He's just the boss, so it might be effective.
To people who haven't seen the original trilogy, and started with Ep I, I wonder what they thought...
I see your point, but De Palma's movie was clearly another version of the original. Even though I didn't like the changes, there's more room to make them in a "version."
Eps. 1-3 are supposed to be the direct antecedents of 4-6. Less room, if any, for flaws in continuity.
New fans will watch 4-6 and ask, "Where are the midi-chlorians? Where is Qui-Gon? I'm so jazzing for them to mention Qui-Gon! Where are Yoda's Wookie bodyguards?"
Re: Jim Phelps. I never did watch the show, so I couldn't be offended by what they did to any particular character. I was just offended by the bad writing. (Albeit not too much, because I didn't expect much beyond a couple explosions.)
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