Another year passed and once again it is upon us. I plan on spending it playing the Sims 4 Journey to Batuu.

I recall fondly the original trilogy but of all it was the Phantom Menace I recall the fondest. My mom came home from work and gave me the money to buy my ticket early. Then watching it in that small theater was special. Even the most hated character ever got applause and the reaction I'm sure George Lucas was going for. Then when the end credits started rolling we all stood up and gave it a standing ovation.

Now while it wasn't as good as the originals for a lot of us it was our first time seeing Star Wars on the big screen. So to all of you May the Fourth be with you.

I have seen them all in the theater.  First runs and special editions.  I don't understand all the fuss about this movie, or that movie, or the other one.  I have loved them all.  Because.  They.  Are.  Star Wars.
May the Fourth be with You.

May the Fourth be with you!!! 8)

This is the May...

MAY THE FOURTH BE WITH YOU!!!

Oh man I love a good star wars rant. The original trilogy were amazing in composite but not in individual pieces. The writing/story/acting are decent but combined with cutting edge special effects and marketing it created an iconic part of pop culture that persists 44 years later and has only grown larger.

Now I  know the Prequelogy gets a lot of hate (and rightfully so). If you're interested in seeing just how bad those movies are check out the "Mr. Plinkett's Reviews". Dude takes 90 minutes to break down why the prequels are such a mess and the best part is none of it has to do with "nerd nitpicks" but instead from the lens of movie making as a craft or art. Things like "Who is the protagonist of Episode I".  That being said as time has gone on I appreciate the things that the Prequels added to the Star Wars universe. Every movie had at least one really good highlight to it. Podracing and Darth Maul from Episode I, the epic battlefield and coruscant chases of Episode II and although it was still a mess Episode III was generally decently put together. Every movie grew the Star Wars universe from Gungans to droid armies to lava planets etc.

The Sequelogies...are just garbage. Just absolute trash. Now Episode VII is a perfectly competent movie but it also doesn't do anything for the series. The empire is back to being all powerful, the rebels are back to being the underdogs (with almost no explanation as to why). You see a desert planet that might as well be called Tatooine. You go to a crazy alien bar and then you have explore Death Star 3.0. I understand they wanted that homage but it was too much of a rip off. It even ran into the same problem of blowing up a bunch of planets that we care nothing about. Honestly in Episode VII there is nothing iconic. Everything feels like it has been done before and they did it worse than it was originally done.

Episode VIII almost adds new things but I get the feeling Rian Johnson wanted to really go off the rails and at the last minute they pulled him back into the box. It feels like the story arcs are going to completely smash the "dark side vs. light side" motif as well as killing off Finn in a big dramatic blaze of glory. And thennn.....last minute nope nope nope nope nope. The movie spends so much time "subverting expectations" and arguing with itself it doesn't produce very much. The sand speeder scene is kind of cool and the hyperspace attack is a VERY cool visual moment but they're all so problematic. It doesn't stick to me because nothing really makes any sense anymore.

And finally the less said about Episode IX the better. It turns out that JJ Abrams is not very good at world building and franchise making. The Star Trek movies work well because they're essentially episodic. There is no grand plot or mystery that connects the star trek movies together so his 'mystery box' bull poopy are kept to a minimum and he can focus on what he does well: cool visuals and fast pacing. The plot lines are very basic standard stuff, no mystery or world building needed and each movie is basically self contained. Perfect. Give him the mandate of creating a trilogy of movies though and it becomes problematic. I don't know what happened behind the scenes but according to JJ, Rain tossed everything he had out the window and according to Rian, JJ gave him nothing to use. /Shrug. Episode IX spends half its runtime undoing VIII and then slamming a big CGI battle in at the end.

I think it is very telling that I am a die hard star wars fan, I mean hell I spent years editing Wookieepedia to document all the old West End Games RPG stuff in there and I have not seen Episode IX nor do I feel like I am missing out on anything at all.

Thank goodness for the Mandalorian. Hey look, the Empire is actually dirty and struggling to keep together. The first six movies actually meant something! Hey look, lets explore not just new planets but also new facets of planets. When you go to Tatooine you can go someplace other than Jabba's Palace or "bar full of aliens". You can have a villain who ISN'T a sith lord!!! Oh wow! Such innovation! Better yet you can have comedic elements without turning everyone into cartoonish charicatures (Finn/Hux).

Man this is already too long. I don't have a point with this. Just my normal Star Wars rant. Thank goodness for the Mandalorian showing that there is still good in the franchise because JJ Abrams and Rian Johnson very nearly killed star wars completely for me which would have been just impressive. Just mind blowing to tell me 5 years ago even.

May the Fourth be with you - always

May the Schwartz be With You.

Sorry. I'm a Mel Brooks fan. (At this point, I fear I may need Slim Pickens to take a hand)
This message was last edited by the user at 20:05, Tue 04 May 2021.

In reply to locojedi (msg # 4):

*nods* This is the May.

Now, it's the Revenge of the Fifth....

In reply to phoenix9lives (msg # 9):

Also a good name for a hangover

In reply to praguepride (msg # 5):

I don't agree with all your points...but I agree with a lot of them.  I think Abrams and his "Gotta make it bigger and badder and more threatening than the original" ruined the sequel trilogy for a lot of people and definitely tainted large parts of it for me.  I still love them, and I'm slowly growing to appreciate the prequels for the things they got right as far as storytelling goes.

I do think a lot of people are unjustly harsh on everything after the original trilogy because the prequels and sequels don't inspire the same sense of wonder (speaking for those old enough to have seen the original release in the theater and to remember how painfully cheesy sci-fi was prior to Star Wars).  I don't think you can recreate that...Star Wars was a paradigm shift in how movies were made.  It was sci-fi unlike ANYTHING we'd seen before.  The closest I've come to feeling that same sense of "this is redefining the movie experience" was when The Matrix came out and we suddenly had all this incredible wire-work and bullet-time camera work and this weird blend of post-apocalyptic and almost-steampunk and super-sleek and stylish and biomechanical and...

The other one was Avatar, but only because of how immersive they were able to make the 3D imagery...the story was over-used and thread-bare.  But it launched a wave of movies with 3D releases that were incredibly well done and took 3D out of the "cheap gimmick" category.

But I can't help but wonder what we would have gotten for sequels if they'd managed to get Jon Favreau to helm the sequels, instead of the piecemeal mess that got delivered.  There were brilliant moments, yes, but you could tell there was, at best, a vague outline of a plot for the trilogy and no single voice calling the shots on how that outline got fleshed out.  That, in marked difference to how The Mandalorian has had a very clear central plot while still engaging various directors and writers to spin out the individual episodes.

So many happy memories tied to Star Wars and the old EU. Never really got into the Disney Star Wars thing but I am grateful that we had over twenty years of the old Star Wars books, comics and video games.

I remember watching (and VHS recording) the original trilogy on HBO right after Return of the Jedi.  I still have them saved somewhere.  Plus the THX Digitally Mastered.  Plus the Special Edition.

I remember working security on site at a large facility, driving around in the car and finding an AM station playing old radio shows.  This introduced me to the Star Wars Radio Dramatization, and I soon owned the box set.  I still listen to it multiple times per year (though I do alternate with Hobbit/Lord of the Rings/Chronicles of Narnia/Wizard of Oz/War of the Worlds/Abbott and Costello radio shows).

I remember calling off work and waiting in line all day for opening day Episode I tickets.  I packed a backpack with food and a few things to do and just sat in the mall.  By myself.

I remember challenging my college friends to a game of Star Wars Trivial Pursuit just after Episode I came out, me versus all of them (can't remember how many were there, but 3-5 at least).  I only lost because they required me to answer an entire card of Episode I questions (there was a pack of them as a bonus in the game) and I could only ever get 5 out of 6 right - there was always some obscure question included on the card about costumes or some such thing.

I remember buying and reading almost every Extended Universe book (excluding comics) and writing a set of trivia questions about it (I have them saved SOMEWHERE - the books AND the trivia questions).

I remember diving into Star Wars Galaxies (post-NGE only) and spending hours living in and exploring one of my favorite universes, world by world.

I remember dressing up with my wife and daughters and going to Chick-fil-A for free Star Wars Day chicken sandwiches, as Obi-Wan, Endor Leia, random Jedi, and cute little baby Ewok.  As the baby grew, she also tried Yoda (homemade mask), random Jedi passed down from sister, and BB-8, while my older daughter moved to Rey, and then finally just a Star Wars themed T-shirt.

Having been born just before A New Hope was originally released, Star Wars has been a part of my life throughout.  No matter what missteps may be made along the way, I get immersed in the story and don't worry about anything else.  How could I not?

In reply to DaCuseFrog (msg # 13):

Part of me is with you in the immersion.  Even with all the problems the series has in storytelling, it's still my 'first love' in sci-fi.  Part of me will always love almost anything Star Wars...

But I also studied writing in college, and was good enough at it that I TA'd playwriting for long enough that the professor started making jokes about me earning tenure without even having a Masters degree...

So part of my can't help but cringe at some of the blatant plot contrivances and contradictory continuity issues and poorly-stereotyped characters that turn up (I also cringe at some of the character names).  Star Wars is, for me, kind of like a family member that I dearly love, who has made some really dubious life-choices...*grin*

One issue for a long time was how Leia knew her mother when Padme died at birth. Though through books there may be a explanation or two. First, Leia is a Empath which could've lead to a connection Luke didn't have.

A more logical one is apractice Padme used and in books Leia did also. Handmaidens. One who looked like Padme could've been used to help Leia. Also of course was Bail who knew her well. Sadly Beru and Owen didn't know her too well. Also on Handmaidens is Winter who is a similar type who was with Leia.

Granted the sequels and possibly show(Haven't seen the Mandalorian) dont follow the books at all. In them there is one similarity a son of Han and Leia turning to the Dark Side. Of course they had his twin sister and a younger brother as well.

The Mandalorian-As haven't seen it no clue on Boba. In books no surprise he's around.

I always hand waved that away as just Leia talking about her adoptive mother.

Also, it is now Revenge of the Sixth!

(Darkside gets 2 days because of course they do :D)

A nice touch how both Star Wars days straddle the SS15 landing.

The lights dimmed, the audience stilled, and (after a few moments)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UThXlkJVmS0 (IV opening)

the audience KNEW down into their bones. I know; I experienced it.
This message was last edited by the user at 04:10, Fri 07 May 2021.

In reply to OceanLake (msg # 18):

I'm not embarrassed to say that I still get shivers when the Star Wars fanfare starts.

I was 12 when Star Wars was released. I saw exactly one ad on TV for it, and as soon as I saw it I knew it was MY movie. Of course, I lived in a very small town, with one, single-screen movie theatre (oldest theatre in BC, and still running), the owner at the time was notoriously cheap and would only bring movies into town after the hoopla about them had died down.

Well, by December 1977 the hoopla was not dying down anywhere, it was getting bigger and bigger. Never before, and rarely since, have I experienced an entire theatre, cheer during a movie (Rocky Horror excepted) like what happened when Luke blew up the Death Star. And when the credits started to roll, people simply stood and clapped!

I ended up seeing the original a half-dozen times in theatres (which was a lot of money for a 12 year old). In the "city" (Vancouver) it played at one theatre, (coincidentally the second oldest theatre in BC at the time) for 54 weeks, 2 shows a night, and 4 on weekends. Never before, and never again.

Sure the movie was corny, and the acting wooden at times. But dammit, light sabres, X-wings, tie fighters, Jedi Knights, and frickin' Darth Vader!

The writing wasn't great but I thought the acting was decent. James Earl Jones was perfect as a villain and Harrison Ford and Carrie Fischer were both well suited for their roles.

Possibly an apocryphal story: Anthony Daniels, the guy under C3PO would apparently always go to Lucas and ask things like "What is my motivation?" and Lucas would just be like "You're a robot. Shut up."

I don't remember who said that, possibly Mark Hamill and I can't find the quote or interview now so take it with a grain of salt but knowing what I know about both of them that sounds very much like a conversation they would have had :D