STAR WARS: Prelude to a Countdown

   We're heading into that time of year, the season where people look forward to surprises, excitement, the warm feeling of childhood, and squabbling among themselves amid glowing red and green lights.  Yes, friends, we are now getting ready to count down...

   ...to the release of Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens.

     In anticipation of this cinematic milestone, this space will spend most of the next seven or eight weeks getting ready for the release of the first of the films in the Sequel Trilogy, also known as the "It'll Never Happen Trilogy".  To that end, I'll be taking a look at all six of the films (yes, all six) as we head towards the release of the most eagerly-awaited film of the year.  Before I start that, though, I wanted to brush on an overview of the franchise, rather than try to address some points in the discussions of individual movies, since there are several points which come up again and again.

   I've already written a previous post here about the extra-cinematic universe, so I'm going to try and confine my pontificating to the on-screen entries in the official canon.

   Like pretty much everyone else in my generation, I saw the original Star Wars movies as a kid, but I was a little young to have seen the first two in theaters.  (Actually, the original film preceded me into the world by about a year.)  So I caught them on TV, and can still remember the awe I felt at some of the concepts...a space station that could obliterate a planet in a few seconds, or the precipitous spaces of a city in the clouds, or that Yoda sounded exactly like Grover.  I've been in love with the idea of lightsabers since I first saw one.  I didn't really get into the 'world' of Star Wars as such until later, in the late high school/early college span of my life, when the EU novels and a new line of action figures were coming out, and George Lucas was getting ready to re-release the original films in preparation of the forthcoming prequel trilogy.   From there, the rest, as they say, is history.

     It's always fascinated me how stories lead into other stories, and you can trace the influence of concepts across genres and decades.  Ever so often in modern popular fiction - maybe once every fifteen to twenty years, an idea takes hold and so resonates that it becomes a part off the cultural zeitgeist, and Star Wars may be the best example of that to date.  To my mind, the pattern starts with the creation of fantastical ideas as popular literature in Victorian times.  Poe might be a good starting point, leading to the late 19th-century explosion of horror, fantasy, mystery and sci-fi...Stoker, Doyle, Verne, Wells, Lovecraft, etc., into the period of pulp/radio drama/early film serials (The Shadow, Flash Gordon, etc.), into the birth of the superheroes, into the popularization of high fantasy (Narnia, Middle-Earth ), into the dawn of pure science-fiction (Asimov & co) reaching its apex in Star Trek, and then from there into Star Wars.  And for the record, I feel it's certainly continued, with the explosion of toy concepts in the '80s and video games of the '90s, and into Harry Potter.  Star Wars is both the logical extrapolation of the development of the imaginative genres of fiction that came before, and also the cultural pinnacle that has clearly influenced so much of what's come since.  It's a blend of the best of science fiction and fantasy - mystical religions and warrior monks combined with spaceships, alien planets and lasers.  Its concepts are not entirely original, but something about Star Wars just gelled, striking a chord like few other ideas have.  It's Force Lightning in a bottle.

The full main cast, Classic and Prequel, save the departed Alec Guinness and Peter Cushing.

     Of course, none of this would have been possible without George Lucas.  As a young film-maker and peer/friend of the most influential directors of the second half of the 20th century...Scorsese, Coppola, and Spielberg... Lucas' love of the fantastical and vast imagination led him to tap into the core of the the adventure story, with all of its tropes and types, and create something fully iconic.  It's easy to see where Star Wars draws from...if you haven't seen it, I recommend watching the Kurosawa film Hidden Fortress to see a very clear influence, as just one example.  Lucas managed to make a world that was beholden to what came before and yet devise something entirely his own.  I don't think that's always as easy to do as people think, and I feel like people underestimate often Lucas' achievement.  The hero-on-a-quest, the bumbling sidekicks, the dashing rogue, the princess, the wise mentor, the black-clad villain, etc, etc....none of these are original to Star Wars, but yet somehow, I think you'll find that they have come to define their own archetypes.  I think there's a lot of credit due Lucas for that.

   I also think Lucas is a phenomenal storyteller.  (I am drawing a very definite distinction between 'storyteller' and 'writer', though - more on this in a minute.)  His characters are clear and memorable, and the story manages to reach Shakespearean proportions...and yes, I'm being serious with that comparison.  On a conceptual level, Anakin Skywalker and his family, are very much in keeping with the great tragic protagonists.  Lucas's work is visually stunning, with incredible set pieces, props, costumes and aliens that dazzle.  From a visual perspective, the narratives flow with grace and style.  I have a theory that the Star Wars movies - all of them - would work beautifully as silent movies, accompanied only by John Williams' magnificent scores.   In all seriousness, try to picture any of the movies, whatever you may think of them, without the dialogue, and just try to picture how the movie would unfold onscreen accompanied only by the music.  You'd be able to follow them just fine, as would, I contend, someone not already familiar with the story.  I wish I had the means to test this theory.  It cannot be argued that Lucas has imagination, and both the desire and means to put the images in his head on screen.

"Yes, Sir Alec, I know you hate it, but look at it like this - fifty years from now, people not yet born will watch Bridge on the River Kwai purely because they know you as Obi-Wan.  So stop being so friggin' ungrateful."

     Now, that said...

    "You know that little voice people have that tells them to quit when they're ahead?  You don't have one, do you?"

    George Lucas is an excellent storyteller and conceptualizer.  He is, however, a pretty lousy writer, and at best a mediocre director.  He is also, I suspect, fairly convinced of his own perceived genius.  I guess when you're responsible for a huge hit, and you allow yourself to fall into the stereotypical Hollywood image of wealth and influence, you start to believe your own hype.  From there, it becomes something of a vicious cycle, as you become further insulated from reality, and more shielded from (and strangely, more hurt by) criticism, to the point where you find yourself stumbling around in a bewildered haze, declaiming at length to a hallucinogenic, bug-eyed floppy-eared pseudo-Caribbean cartoon character about how no, really, Greedo always shot first.

      At least, that's what I imagine to be the case.

     George Lucas wrote and directed the original Star Wars film, as well as the prequel trilogy.  Most fans, however, will point to the latter two films in the original trilogy as better, more solid work, and I think the reason for this is clear:  Lucas had to work with others.  He's been on the record frequently talking about how he felt limited by the technology of the time and had to make compromises along the way, but honestly, I think that was for the best.  The compromises he says he had to make have forced him to collaborate and listen, so to speak, and invent new ways to go about getting his ideas out there.  Often, that came through a filter...in the form of Lawrence Kasdan or Irvin Kershner, for example, or from oversight from the studio.  It's pretty clear that Lucas is not an actor's director...quite frankly, I've long suspected that Lucas views actors as a necessary evil that he'd like nothing more than to be done with so he can go home and play with his computer.  Honestly, I think if Lucas could have disposed with actors entirely, he would have.  I think not having the technology in the late '70s and early '80s to rely on CGI forced him to rely on the actors, which ended up in better performances and more memorable characters than Lucas at his own devices would have given us.

Hokey dialogue and midi-chlorians are no match for a good blaster at your side.

    The biggest problem with the prequel trilogy is that Lucas couldn't get out of his own way, and no one tried to stop him.  By that point, he was so revered that whatever he said went, and it wasn't until the first two movies in the new trilogy got so badly drubbed that he finally started listening to advice for the final entry.  With the original series, he was forced to heed editors, and constantly had to revise his ideas, whereas with the prequels, whatever popped into his head tumbled onto the page regardless of the wisdom therein.  I don't think there was any actor/director development in the prequels...if the actors weren't committed, they weren't given guidance, and it shows.  The dialogue is rough and in many cases, flat out awful, the chemistry is lacking, and the heart and charm that so enlivened the original films is entirely lacking - but the visuals are as stunning as ever - and I contend the blame for all of this can be laid at the feet of Lucas.  His "I know best" attitude coupled with disinterest and an over-inflated belief in his own directorial talent led to an absolute mess, and it was aided and abetted by 'suits' interested only in the potential profits.  (If you care to, look at some of the interviews from the era of the prequels, and if you can find me a more sycophantic, egregiously self-important yes-man than Rick McCallum, I'll be very impressed.)  When Lucas has the benefit of cooler heads that can temper his impulses, we get better product.  When Lucas is allowed to run amok, well, weesa see what happens.

    There's also the question of artistic credibility.  I remain somewhat torn as to whether or not an artist, author, creator, etc, has the 'right' to go back and alter their works, whatever their motivation.  On the one hand, it's their work, and if they feel it's not what they wanted, then an argument could be made for allowing the ability to correct what they feel is a miss.  On the other hand, STOP BLOODY TINKERING - YOU'RE MAKING IT WORSE!!!   When the films were re-released in 1997, they featured not only some cleaning up of the sound and picture, but also some outright changes to the films.  Some of these, I loved, such as the addition of Ian McDiarmid as the proper Emperor into his one scene in Episode V, or the celebrations around the galaxy at the end of Episode VI.  Some I disliked (the Han vs. Greedo thing has just become absurd, moreso as I still have the original VHS releases of the movies and can disprove Lucas' idiotic assertions), and some are just plain questionable.  I was content to allow Lucas to fix and adjust a few things to bring them in line with the prequels and to polish up a few effects that were sloppy or dated or just off.  It'd been twenty years, and I was OK with a bit of a brush-up.  The problem is, he keeps doing it - there have been at least two subsequent re-releases, and every time he's still mucking about, as though he just cannot get out of his own way.  (Movie-making tip:  It's never, ever necessary to add a character screaming "NOOOOOOOOO!" over the existing audio track.)  I don't think Lucas does it for the money, though - I think he does it because he just gets these bizarre impulses, along the lines of "Hey, wouldn't it be cool if..." and up until recently, no one stopped him.  Ultimately, whether such adjustments are accepted depends on the author and the work.  Some writers can continue to spend their lives contributing to their own oeuvre, enhancing and deepening it with respect and pride (such as Professor Tolkien), whereas others seem to be so madly in love with getting attention that they simply cannot learn to shut the hell up (I'm looking at you, J.K. Rowling).  Quite frankly, I think Lucas is closer to the darker end of the spectrum, and I really hope he'll be forbidden from further dabbling.

"Go on, make another Jar Jar joke.  I dare you."

  When all was said and done, we ended up with three iconic films, another reasonably decent one, two of debatable merit, and an incredible five-and-a-half season animated series under Lucas' stewardship, so he's batting better than .500, at least.  I can't fault the man entirely - he is the font and wellspring that birthed Star Wars, after all, and he's also as big a fan of the franchise as most of the rest of us.  And there are some elements of the prequels to like, which I'll get into in subsequent posts.  But frankly, I'm kind of relieved that he's no longer shepherding the saga.  In 2012, Lucas sold off the property to Disney, putting the Mouse firmly in control of Star Wars' future...hence the new trilogy, the new spin-off movies, the new animated series, etc.

    Of course, that's a whole different can of worms.  I think what we've seen so far of Episode VII is promising and exciting, but I know there are people who have doubts.  Some feel that without Lucas' direct involvement, the movie is doomed.  Some mistrust J.J. Abrams.  Some mistrust Disney, which I can certainly understand.  We'll see what comes of it.  Personally, I'm extremely excited; as much as I mourn the loss of certain elements of the Star Wars lore, I'm really intrigued to see what comes next.  I'm also excited about new ideas...I love looking at the new creatures (some of which are incredibly toyetic), and if the EU is gone, well, then...please, tell me what happened instead!  What happened to Threepio's arm?  Who is Kylo Ren?  Where is Luke Skywalker?  And so forth.

   So, starting with the next blog, we'll take a look at the movies.  I'm going to do this in narrative order, not order of release.  That way, I get the benefit of building weaker to stronger, and can slide right from Return of the Jedi into whatever the future may hold in December, when The Force Awakens opens.  I hope you'll stick around, as I tour the pillars of the Star Wars universe, and revisit the iconic legends of the past before we turn to the future, and boldly go where no one has gone before...

    ....crud, maybe I do need to refresh my memory after all...

Coming soon:  a look at Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace