Anatomy Of A Scene

Somehow I forgot to post a link to Adam’s essay from 4/18, Anatomy Of A Scene: Grievous Challenges Kenobi. In it he explains in great detail why the scene was set up the way it was (I never had any problems with it and in context of The Clone Wars, people shouldn’t have any problems with it at all).

First off, Kenobi is a Jedi trained to not let his emotions get the better of him. When he moves, he moves deliberately and without letting fear take him. Any Jedi worth his salt would do the same, as Grievous wears in his cloak proof of what happens when you don’t. And as for a non-Jedi character who would be scared pantsless? They’d be deer-in-headlights frozen for at least a moment before screaming to the hills.

And it reminds me of when Hayden was once asked to consult on the ROTS video game. He told the game designers that Anakin would never walk around all tense with a lightsaber in his hand because he’s always ready. Jedi are kinda like that, you know .

Terrific Essay On Padmé

Via LiveJournal is this terrific essay from a series called “The Moral Landscape Of The Star Wars Saga.” This entry focuses on Padmé, making a lot of points seldom expressed elsewhere:

I also suspect that Padmé’s willingness to continue the lie about her marriage was a strong indication of the level of her attachment to Anakin. While many fans might disagree with me, I believe that Anakin’s embrace of the Sith Order and his actions at the Jedi Temple may have taken a terrible toll on Padmé’s psyche. Anakin had been her chance for some kind of personal life, following the fall of the Republic. But his fall from grace and his attack upon her on Mustafar seemed to be the straws that broke her heart and possibly her spirit. And Padmé’s tenacious attachment to her husband may have put her in a very vulnerable state – not only emotionally, but also physically.

Another 10 Ways The Prequels Made A Better Saga

With all of the concern over the fate of our fave t.v. show, the third part of What Culture’s 10 Ways The Prequels Made Star Wars A Better Saga slipped in under the radar. At least my radar, heh heh. The last part focuses on ROTS.

(Do yourself a favor and avoid the comments. You’ll lose whatever shred of faith you have left in humanity.)

Following Up On Rant Of The Day

The rant of the day post from a couple of days ago got a huge response. I’ve responded to some of the comments but I thought I’d put my thoughts out there in greater detail.

What resonated with me the most about Din’s original comment was the part about correcting or getting away from the supposed flaws of the prequels is not a reason to make these films. Because that’s exactly how I see it. There’s only one legit reason to make Episodes VII-IX and that’s to tell a story that will add to the Star Wars mythos in a meaningful way. Not to spackle over what the peanut gallery doesn’t like *now*, not to win brownie points with the media, not to win the hearts of professional geek commentators, and definitely not simply to print money. If the movies do add to the series in a meaningful way, they will make money. No cynical cash grab is necessary.

There is tremendous media pressure being put on Lucasfilm and J.J. Abrams to “make up” for the prequels. Unfortunately, some folks who are likely to be a part of this new trilogy or with the spinoff films are responding to that pressure not so much by trashing the films outright—I’m worried that will come later—but by gently saying they want to bring back the sense of fun and adventure of the first set of films. As though there was no fun or adventure whatsoever in Eps I-III. Whenever anything humorous occurred in those films, haters trashed those moments too. Heck, I think the reason why “Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” got bashed mercilessly was because it was almost nothing but fun and adventure. One might argue that it’s just careful marketing designed to get the press off their backs but to me, even that doesn’t matter. It’s a dog whistle acknowledging the idea the prequels were mistakes and the new guard is going to “fix” them. It’s a huge insult to Lucas, to everyone who worked on those films, and to the fans who enjoyed them. What they should be saying is along the lines of what Din said in his post, “We’re going to take everything you loved about all of the Star Wars films and Clone Wars, throw it into a blender, and create a Star Wars smoothie of awesome!!”

As I posted in response to a comment yesterday, anyone who’s expecting 1977 all over again in 2015 is going to be sorely disappointed. That kind of lighting in a bottle moment only happens once. ANH came out in an era that’s very different from today, an era where there were no movies quite like it. Now you get a dozen or so big tentpole flicks a year and no matter how much money they make, they’re playing on Netflix and iTunes in three months flat. And I think it would be a mistake to try and make these new movies ‘70s-‘80s throwbacks. That would only appeal to moviegoers over 45 and the most desired filmgoers are in the 12-34 age bracket. The demographic Lucas was shooting for was the 10-13 age range. You can’t go back technique-wise. You can only go forward, especially since this is the SEQUEL trilogy. And they should do what Lucas would do if he were making those movies himself, embracing what’s state-of-the-art or even what’s ahead of that.

Star Wars According To William Blake

I’m not an expert on poetry in the least, but Paul McDonald’s latest post combines images from the saga with William Blake’s verse pretty effectively.

More Ways The Prequels Made Star Wars A Better Saga

What Culture is back with its second installment, More Ways The Prequels Made Star Wars A Better Saga. In it, the author focuses on AOTC.

While you’re at it, read the same author’s take on AOTC’s 10th anniversary.

H/T Lin.

PT A Guilty Pleasure?

According to Adam at Jedi News, the answer to that question is, “No.”

10 Ways The Prequels Made Star Wars A Better Saga

Someone on my Twitter feed had retweeted a link to this post at What Culture, “10 Ways The Prequels Made Star Wars A Better Saga.” It’s only part one, focusing mostly on TPM with more on the way. I don’t agree with everything the guy wrote but overall a good piece that shows the benefit of actually thinking about how the movies fit together for a change.

Darth Vader Is Not The Main Villain

Another great read from Adam on Jedi News, “Darth Vader Is Not The Main Villain Of Star Wars.” It’s about how the prequels changed perception on who really was the most evil character in the saga.

“Badass,” there’s the key. And boy, do I loathe that word. I never really understood the appeal. Oh, the appeal of awesomeness, I understand. An awesome stunt, a great one-liner, on the right character and setting it’s great. But “Badass” to a lot of people simply means a heroic sociopath. He doesn’t care, he’s emotionless; it’s just machismo, and it can’t deal with any perceived weakness, despite the fact that this sort of behavior usually stems from some kind of character flaw.

So Anakin Skywalker isn’t a “badass” because he whines like his kid and loves his wife a little too much? Let me tell you something, the only difference between Anakin and Vader was that Vader lost what little respect for living things Anakin had. You call strangling your underlings for their failures a cool approach to problem-solving? I call it a temper-tantrum. That’s breaking your toys when you don’t get your way. Face it, Darth Vader didn’t change with I II and III, his true nature simply became clearer.

Further Thoughts On 3D-Gate

And the more I think about it, the more I realize what a clusterfark this whole thing has been.

Here’s the first problem. Apparently Fox still holds distribution rights to the six existing Star Wars films and will until 2020. (It’s sort of referred to in this TFN item about Clone Wars possibly moving to Disney XD next fall.) For some reason this was not worked out in Disney’s purchase of Lucasfilm. Could it be that Fox doesn’t want to re-release films it no longer has long-term investment? Could it be that Disney pressured Lucasfilm into cancelling the re-release, because it now wants people to think of Star Wars as a Disney brand?

Here’s the second problem. 3D re-releases haven’t been doing as well lately. “The Little Mermaid 3D” was just taken off Disney’s schedule because “Monsters 3D” didn’t perform as expected. Could it be all parties thought it wasn’t worth the expense and effort? Well, what does that mean for plans of releasing Episode VII in 3D?

The next problem is this business about having to focus on making Episode VII. As one commenter put it, are they going to shut down Clone Wars and not do effects on other movies for the next two years because all hands must be on deck to make Episode VII? He also pointed out that most of the conversion work is being done out of house anyway (although I remember that a couple of guys at ILM were also in on the process). The real issue may not be so much AOTC and ROTS but simply not having the time and resources to start the conversion process on Eps IV-VI. I can’t imagine they would just put out the prequels and not the other movies prior to Episode VII’s release.

Whatever the reasons are, I don’t think we got the truth in that short press release. Why? If George Lucas knew a year ago he was planning to sell to Disney and if many of the key players at Lucasfilm knew since June 2012 they were going to work on new movies, why bother with converting AOTC and ROTS, then promoting them at Celebration VI? Why weren’t any of the legal kinks worked out with the Disney deal? They had packaging ready to go, they had merchandise ready to go, they had promotional partnerships ready to go. Now it’s all abruptly flushed down the toilet.

And they blew a great opportunity. The Special Editions, released just two years prior to TPM, made a lot of money in 1997. People were excited because a new movie was around the corner. It was a time to celebrate Star Wars and to get ready for more. When TPM 3D came out a year ago, there were no known plans for more movies. Joe and Jane Sixpack are interested in Star Wars again. What better way to introduce a new generation to the joys of seeing Star Wars in the theater instead of just waiting for Episode VII on Blu-Ray? It was a penny wise pound foolish decision.

I have no idea when we’ll see these movies re-released. It could be whenever Disney acquires distribution rights…maybe as late as 2021. It’s probably going to be never. With a new trilogy beginning in 2015 or whenever (supposedly Abrams hasn’t committed to a 2015 deadline), and new spinoff movies every 2-3 years after that, it doesn’t leave a whole lot of time open on the release schedule, does it?

I didn’t think it would only take three months to shake whatever confidence I had in the future of Star Wars in light of Disney’s acquisition and it was very shaky to begin with.