Friday, September 2, 2011

George Lucas: Stop Making Star Wars Stupid

I had some personal matters that came up today that required attention. Everything is ok here but just not in the right frame of mind for the usual Friday Night post. Reader Watchtower had left a comment last post that got me riled up and seeing that I am in a mood anyway I figured I would let one rip.

George Lucas: Stop Making Star Wars Stupid
I think that both Alan Greenspan and George Lucas will share the same final remembrance; both started off brilliant and were hailed as "the maestro" but in the end it is clear as time went on they were both clueless and losing grip on reality.

What gives? Everyone knows I love Star Wars, why am I complaining?

The final straw is the addition of dialogue to the scene when Darth Vader throws the Emperor into the reactor shaft to save Luke. Here is the new version:

So stupid.

To me this scene is one of the most powerful in the film or expanded universe series. While I know not everyone has the same love for Star Wars that I do, allow me to tear this scene apart for a bit, you may even have fun.

So do I want to start simple? Ok, the first "No" in the above clip at the 0:20 mark is a repeat of the cadence and delivery of this "No" from "Return of the Jedi" which can be heard at the 0:50 clip of this video:

See? Does Lucas think rabid fans would miss such a thing? I didn't. The last drawn out "Noooo" is the same from "Revenge of the Sith" as well.

Maybe Lucas was trying to frame Vader's path with the phrases, but instead of allowing the bookends of Vader's transformation first to evil and then back to the light come through by the story Lucas feels you are to dumb for that and need it clearly enunciated. Thanks George. Most of us figured out Jar Jar Binks was a sick joke all on our own.

Anakin Skywalker turned to the darkside out of fear of losing his love, Padme Amadala. When he thought he had killed her and his child, he lost his last tether to his humanity and became the servant to Darth Sidious completely. In this way, Vader was never really a true Sith.

When it is revealed to him that Padme lived for a while, and that his son had survived, a spark was ignited. There is a section at the end of the novelization of "Revenge of the Sith" by Matthew Stover which is written:
The dark is generous, and it is patient, and it always wins - but in the heart of it's strength lies weakness: one lone candle is enough to hold it back.
Love is more than a candle.
Love can ignite the stars
.
Seeing his son alive, what could Vader been feeling? He had lost so much; his wife, his body, his soul to Darth Sidious and yet he was betrayed again by the same man. What did this exchange do to that lone candle inside Vader (sorry for the subtitles, only one embed available):

"I feel the conflict within you, let go of your hate".

So, in the end as Vader scans back and forth between the Emperor and his son, the original version is better (0:50 mark on):

You can see and feel the conflict. The struggle is visual by Vader; fear, love, feeling he has gone to far to ever go back, not wanting to fail his lost loved one for another time, seeing his sure death, sacrifice for his son? Maybe redemption?

And we see it here, as Vader dies:

"I'll not leave you here, I've got to save you!"
"You already have, Luke."


In closing, George Lucas needs to stop. Maybe the new era tech and CGI obsessed people need everything spelled out and fed to them, but most real people can see and feel what they need to from a well done presentation. Lucas should stick to the Clone Wars cartoons for kids or remake the Muppet show as silly creatures and infantile topics seem more his genre now.

Want to make another Billion Lucas? Allow the developers to make this one into a full fledged movie:


Or just allow all the insane talent out there in the expanded universe to take things over and run. Stop making Star Wars stupid. Thanks.

Have a good night.

6 comments:

EconomicDisconnect said...

Indeud.

The Sovereign Bohemian said...

Here. Here.

Jennifer Hillier said...

Word.

GawainsGhost said...

I saw Star Wars when it first came out. We were on our way to Philmont Scout Ranch and had stopped in Lubbock for the night. There was a theater in a strip mall across the street from the church where we were staying, so we walked over there and saw the premier.

We all thought it was a great movie, because really it was a western in space. The Empire Strikes Back was pretty good as well, but Lucas had lost it by the third movie, which I thought was very disappointing. "We're all one big happy galactic family!" Please.

This all started with Star Trek, you know, but that show only ran for three seasons. (Back then a television series produced 44 episodes a year; these days it's been reduced to 22, so you get a half season of new shows and a half season of reruns.)

But look at all the spin offs from Star Trek--Battle Star Gallactica, the Next Generation, Star Wars, the list goes on and on. And the movies, I thought the Wrath of Khan was excellent, the others not so much.

I haven't been to a Star Wars movie since the third, because it was as you say, stupid.

By the way, did you know that Hollywood only produces around 150 movies a year? This out of thousands a scripts submitted. Makes you wonder how bad the rest of them were.

Michelle said...

Word.

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