I don't know. You grow up with a movie series being a huge part of your life, and then as time goes on and the business vultures destroy it, it just kind of . . . I don't know. It's not like I hate any of them, but the falloff from the original three movies was just so dramatic. I've decided to label the nine films this way. The first three are the Book of Luke, the second three the Book of Vader and the third of the trilogy the Book of Rey. The two outliers about the Death Star and Han Solo I will call the Apocrypha.
We begin with the Book of Luke. I remember seeing the first Star Wars, now known as Episode 4. It had Luke, Leia, Han, Wookie, Obi-Wan, C-3PO and R2D2 in 1977. Unforgettable, charming, wonderful characters. Plus, there was one of the greatest villains in film history, Darth Vader. I had come from a wedding (they have long since divorced). I was 17 or 18 and stood in a very, very long line (back in the days when movie theatres hadn't figured that out yet how not to have ridiculously long lines), and finally got in. My sister had told me, you have never seen a movie like this, and she was right. None of us had. I did fall asleep during one of the opening scenes (Luke was bored himself on his desert planet), but my sleep disorder probably had a lot to do with it. But, right from the opening fly-over of the Empire ship pursuing Princess Leia's and the scroll-like text flying into the future, you knew this movie was different. Not only was movie-making never the same, it got better. At least, the movie-making part, like the production and special effects. Not so much the writing.
I went home and told my Dad, you have to see this movie. You've never seen anything like it. He said, "I've seen it." But, he didn't mean Star Wars. He meant old movies that he felt were the same as the new ones in many ways. And, he was somewhat right. The technology was different, but the plot was the same as many before it. And, that is what Lucas was aiming for. To take an epic serial and modernize it.
But, though Star Wars revolutionized film technology, it really wasn't that which held my attention. It was the writing. Special effects have never captured me the way they have some others. I admire the art of it, but without a great story, great writing, it didn't mean much. It was like some of the modern symphonic music where they use all kinds of revolutionary technology and fireworks, but lack a melody you can lock onto. If there is not a great story and writing in a movie, I rarely have much interest. Almost all of my favorite movies had brilliant writing. Casablanca, The Outlaw Josey Wales, Miracle on 34th Street, etc. The second and third movies in the Star Wars series also had great writing. A sentence or two was ad-libbed, but I'll count that as writing by an actor. Great lines don't have to be very long or fancy. "Never tell me the odds," "No. I am your father." "I love you" - "I know," "Get out of my way, you walking carpet," "If money is all you love, then that is what you'll receive." All simple stuff. And when Darth Vader revealed he was Luke's father . . . oh, may the force be with you.
Imagine my disappointment when the prequels of the Book of Vader came out, focusing on the rise and fall of Darth Vader before he blossomed into one of the universe's great villains. It's as if the powers that be had come to a decision. No more great writing. And though there were some great scenes - it was all visual. In fact, I can't remember one great line from those movies. I can't remember one average line. And though the last three in the Book of Rey were better than those in the Book of Vader, they were deliberately reminiscent of the original three, without being fresh. Just derivative. Frankly, I thought one of the Apocrypha, Rogue One, which told the story of how the plans for the Death Star were gained before The Book of Luke began, was the best of all outside of the initial trilogy. And Solo, the other Apocrypha, was pretty good too, though not that well regarded by the public.
Along the way, during the Book of Vader - they created a plot device which ruined the whole spiritual aspect of the Force, a notion not unlike the Tao, that allowed extra-human powers. I should say, extra-being power, because there were other beings besides humans who could use the Force to great effect. The plot device was midi-Chlorians, sometimes without the hyphen. Midichlorians are essentially super-mitochondria (if you don't know what that means, google) which connects otherwise mortal beings with the force. And it turns out some people and creatures are filled with midichlorians and others aren't. This hurt. They took the quasi-mystical spiritual side of the Force and just made it about biology, or something like royalty. Han, in other words, could never develop the Force, however much he developed as a person, nor Finn, but Luke and Leia could because Poppa Darth's DNA was in them. They should have kept a tao-like concept, which would have made it more interesting to me, and I thought more in line with spirit of the Book of Luke. Supposedly, Lucas had the idea for midichlorians back in '77, but I go by the actual movies, not Lucas's memories. I've never trusted what he claimed he always intended or had thought of long before. There have been too many inconsistencies.
I will skip the ending of The Last Jedi, which was so internally inconsistent with prior plots, and upset so many fans, and jump to the end of the last episode in the Book of Rey. I was a little put out by how it ended. Kylo Ren, Darth's grand-son by Leia and Han, having killed his father and millions of others (he was part of the wiping out of an entire star system), has a last episode change of heart (after trying to kill Rey again or make her his queen). Yet, this just-this-minute-reformed incredibly evil guy actually gets to smooch Rey before he dies, while Finn, who just happens to be one of the few black characters, who has fought with her the entire way, doesn't even try to make a move, despite the obvious personal connection between the two, and just stands by. Why is that? Was it just old-timey racism resurfacing through the "woke" aspects of the movie that required a black and a woman as the leading characters in the first place? Or was it just that Kylo Ren and Rey (Reylo as they have been dubbed) both have a lot of midichlorians (supposedly they have some kind of Force synergy) and poor Finn didn't? Maybe.
Just as Finn seemed a token nod to blacks, the character they created just to be in love with Finn was Asian, also seemingly token. For some reason, some woke Star Wars fans were upset that she got left behind in the plot, sniffing out racism, as usual these days, yet didn't notice that the evil white guy (a super-duper serial killer) got the girl in the end, while the decent black guy was stuck with the not-so-hot Asian chick. That's exactly what happened. A minority had to be with a minority - even though they were all space aliens. Honestly, I don't care about the racial part that much, only because it is so prevalent in phony bologna Hollywood, but I do care that the nice guy didn't get the girl and the freakin' serial killer did. I understand the allure of the prodigal son and all that, but he wasn't just a murderer, he was a sick, vicious murderer of millions. Maybe some other movie I wouldn't have minded it so much, but not Star Wars.
I'm not going all woke on you. I'm actually pretty anti-woke, because it has taken normal aversion to racism and the like and made it a pathetic fetish, where even any normal conversations about newly taboo subjects are now considered offensive. But, that doesn't mean that there isn't any truth to Hollywood so white. Not enough to choose winners based on race, but there's something to it.
And, I can't rest there. The idea of Siths, creatures who seemed not to be a race, but what happens to those who become masters of the dark side, morphed into a planet filled with a specific race that could fill an arena as faceless monsters at the coliseum. Faceless - they wouldn't even spend the money to individualize them.
Star Wars is still a great series. But, 6 of the last 8 movies (excepting the Apocrypha) rested on the greatness of the first three. It's not unheard of. Rocky 2, 4-6(?) rest on the greatness of 1 and 3 (although Creed was fantastic). The Hobbit, all 3, rests on the greatness of The Lord of the Rings. And the last Raiders (and probably the next one) rests on the greatest of the first four. The way it is. Eventually, Hollywood ruins almost everything. Wish it didn't ruin Star Wars.
We begin with the Book of Luke. I remember seeing the first Star Wars, now known as Episode 4. It had Luke, Leia, Han, Wookie, Obi-Wan, C-3PO and R2D2 in 1977. Unforgettable, charming, wonderful characters. Plus, there was one of the greatest villains in film history, Darth Vader. I had come from a wedding (they have long since divorced). I was 17 or 18 and stood in a very, very long line (back in the days when movie theatres hadn't figured that out yet how not to have ridiculously long lines), and finally got in. My sister had told me, you have never seen a movie like this, and she was right. None of us had. I did fall asleep during one of the opening scenes (Luke was bored himself on his desert planet), but my sleep disorder probably had a lot to do with it. But, right from the opening fly-over of the Empire ship pursuing Princess Leia's and the scroll-like text flying into the future, you knew this movie was different. Not only was movie-making never the same, it got better. At least, the movie-making part, like the production and special effects. Not so much the writing.
I went home and told my Dad, you have to see this movie. You've never seen anything like it. He said, "I've seen it." But, he didn't mean Star Wars. He meant old movies that he felt were the same as the new ones in many ways. And, he was somewhat right. The technology was different, but the plot was the same as many before it. And, that is what Lucas was aiming for. To take an epic serial and modernize it.
But, though Star Wars revolutionized film technology, it really wasn't that which held my attention. It was the writing. Special effects have never captured me the way they have some others. I admire the art of it, but without a great story, great writing, it didn't mean much. It was like some of the modern symphonic music where they use all kinds of revolutionary technology and fireworks, but lack a melody you can lock onto. If there is not a great story and writing in a movie, I rarely have much interest. Almost all of my favorite movies had brilliant writing. Casablanca, The Outlaw Josey Wales, Miracle on 34th Street, etc. The second and third movies in the Star Wars series also had great writing. A sentence or two was ad-libbed, but I'll count that as writing by an actor. Great lines don't have to be very long or fancy. "Never tell me the odds," "No. I am your father." "I love you" - "I know," "Get out of my way, you walking carpet," "If money is all you love, then that is what you'll receive." All simple stuff. And when Darth Vader revealed he was Luke's father . . . oh, may the force be with you.
Imagine my disappointment when the prequels of the Book of Vader came out, focusing on the rise and fall of Darth Vader before he blossomed into one of the universe's great villains. It's as if the powers that be had come to a decision. No more great writing. And though there were some great scenes - it was all visual. In fact, I can't remember one great line from those movies. I can't remember one average line. And though the last three in the Book of Rey were better than those in the Book of Vader, they were deliberately reminiscent of the original three, without being fresh. Just derivative. Frankly, I thought one of the Apocrypha, Rogue One, which told the story of how the plans for the Death Star were gained before The Book of Luke began, was the best of all outside of the initial trilogy. And Solo, the other Apocrypha, was pretty good too, though not that well regarded by the public.
Along the way, during the Book of Vader - they created a plot device which ruined the whole spiritual aspect of the Force, a notion not unlike the Tao, that allowed extra-human powers. I should say, extra-being power, because there were other beings besides humans who could use the Force to great effect. The plot device was midi-Chlorians, sometimes without the hyphen. Midichlorians are essentially super-mitochondria (if you don't know what that means, google) which connects otherwise mortal beings with the force. And it turns out some people and creatures are filled with midichlorians and others aren't. This hurt. They took the quasi-mystical spiritual side of the Force and just made it about biology, or something like royalty. Han, in other words, could never develop the Force, however much he developed as a person, nor Finn, but Luke and Leia could because Poppa Darth's DNA was in them. They should have kept a tao-like concept, which would have made it more interesting to me, and I thought more in line with spirit of the Book of Luke. Supposedly, Lucas had the idea for midichlorians back in '77, but I go by the actual movies, not Lucas's memories. I've never trusted what he claimed he always intended or had thought of long before. There have been too many inconsistencies.
I will skip the ending of The Last Jedi, which was so internally inconsistent with prior plots, and upset so many fans, and jump to the end of the last episode in the Book of Rey. I was a little put out by how it ended. Kylo Ren, Darth's grand-son by Leia and Han, having killed his father and millions of others (he was part of the wiping out of an entire star system), has a last episode change of heart (after trying to kill Rey again or make her his queen). Yet, this just-this-minute-reformed incredibly evil guy actually gets to smooch Rey before he dies, while Finn, who just happens to be one of the few black characters, who has fought with her the entire way, doesn't even try to make a move, despite the obvious personal connection between the two, and just stands by. Why is that? Was it just old-timey racism resurfacing through the "woke" aspects of the movie that required a black and a woman as the leading characters in the first place? Or was it just that Kylo Ren and Rey (Reylo as they have been dubbed) both have a lot of midichlorians (supposedly they have some kind of Force synergy) and poor Finn didn't? Maybe.
Just as Finn seemed a token nod to blacks, the character they created just to be in love with Finn was Asian, also seemingly token. For some reason, some woke Star Wars fans were upset that she got left behind in the plot, sniffing out racism, as usual these days, yet didn't notice that the evil white guy (a super-duper serial killer) got the girl in the end, while the decent black guy was stuck with the not-so-hot Asian chick. That's exactly what happened. A minority had to be with a minority - even though they were all space aliens. Honestly, I don't care about the racial part that much, only because it is so prevalent in phony bologna Hollywood, but I do care that the nice guy didn't get the girl and the freakin' serial killer did. I understand the allure of the prodigal son and all that, but he wasn't just a murderer, he was a sick, vicious murderer of millions. Maybe some other movie I wouldn't have minded it so much, but not Star Wars.
I'm not going all woke on you. I'm actually pretty anti-woke, because it has taken normal aversion to racism and the like and made it a pathetic fetish, where even any normal conversations about newly taboo subjects are now considered offensive. But, that doesn't mean that there isn't any truth to Hollywood so white. Not enough to choose winners based on race, but there's something to it.
And, I can't rest there. The idea of Siths, creatures who seemed not to be a race, but what happens to those who become masters of the dark side, morphed into a planet filled with a specific race that could fill an arena as faceless monsters at the coliseum. Faceless - they wouldn't even spend the money to individualize them.
Star Wars is still a great series. But, 6 of the last 8 movies (excepting the Apocrypha) rested on the greatness of the first three. It's not unheard of. Rocky 2, 4-6(?) rest on the greatness of 1 and 3 (although Creed was fantastic). The Hobbit, all 3, rests on the greatness of The Lord of the Rings. And the last Raiders (and probably the next one) rests on the greatest of the first four. The way it is. Eventually, Hollywood ruins almost everything. Wish it didn't ruin Star Wars.
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