Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler Star Wars Question.

hey, i'm a prequel trilogy apologist too, but come on. do the new flicks invoke that same sense of wonder and adventure as the old ones? hell, we already knew what was gonna happen, but we watched it to see if the journey to get there was gonna be good. the answer: sure it was. but it wasn't great. i'm just ecstatic that it wasn't like Titanic, we knew the ending and everything getting there was mind-numbingly boring. they prequels weren't Han Solo great, but they weren't Ewok bad either!

The sense of wonder was there from the original because you were a kid then (most of us anyway). I would be curious which trilogy kids today, watching all the movies for the first time, would like better. I'm not sure that the original 3 are so much better then most recent three, or if the greatest movies of all time couldn't compare to the original 3 because of the way some people have built them up because of that original experience of wonder and adventure they remember watching them as a kid.

This is not directed at anyone in particular - just something worth thinking about.

When Lucas was trying to get a studio to run with "Star Wars", he was turned down by EVERYONE. Finally, Alan Ladd Jr. from 20th Century Fox approved the deal for a single movie, with a $5 million budget. At the time, Lucas was "pitching" Star Wars as a single Space Epic movie - not "Episode IV", so Fox thought it was just going be a single movie. Even the "screen crawl" at the beginning did not have "Episode IV, A New Hope" in it.

It came in at about $10 million - and Lucas was sweating bullets, as 20th Century Fox was really nervous about even breaking even. Lucas was also having a hard time with the cast, who mostly wanted to make the movie more "campy". Alec Guiness really saved Lucas during filming, when he pretty much told Ford, Hamil, Fischer, etal... that this was a serious movie, not a 50's sci-fi flick.

Of course, the movie was a huge hit, and we know the "rest of the story" ...

I only wonder how, thirty years from now, with whatever technology will then be available, the entire six episodes will look like; all tied seemlessly together in one "superflick" in "Surround Everything"?

Hey! They may even add "three more" and the discussions will continue!!

It has often been said that “Things were never as good as you remembered them…or as bad.” Well, said by me anyways. The thing is Star Wars was a phenomenon that will never be reproduced for you child the way it was for you. If you were anything like me, you remember standing in line for HOURS (or minutes, I was young and had a short attention span) and you could FEEL the excitement in the air (or static electricity from kicking your shoes against the carpet). Regardless, you KNEW you were a part of something special. It was the first movie I ever saw more than once in the theater, and my parents had to take me. You would have to go through extraordinary lengths to reproduce that experience for your child…….sooooooooooooooooooooooo.

Now, as a disclaimer, I am not actually advocating that you implement any of the following advice as it could be dangerous, is most certainly illegal, and quite possibly scar your children emotionally and physically for life. Ok, so your boy is 6 and you want them to have an “authentic” Star Wars experience. Hmmm….

You could lock them in a room for a few years with little to no human contact, then release them and give them a long hug while watching the movie. Most certainly be emblazoned on their minds as a positive and life changing experience – but the wife might not approve.

You could sit down and explain to them, in excruciating detail, all the economic, political, and societal factors in play during the time of the movie's original release, and ask them to view the movie in light of all of the contextual cues at work in your life at the time – though who wants to do all that homework?

You could have them watch every sci-fi movie ever made before Star Wars in chronological order of release so to help them understand exactly how groundbreaking it really was – but that would totally tie up your Netflix list for like…a year or something. Totally not worth it.

No, I think the way to go is to send the little one to live with an Aunt and Uncle, have them tell your little one that you’ve been killed, adopt a Cambodian daughter (long hair a must if you are going to tie them up in those buns), then give her away to some politician somewhere, don a black suit, cape, and helmet and take over the Universe…errr…World! The last, and most important, step is to wait 15 years or so and ask your son to join you in Ruling the Galaxy…err…World together as father and son. If he says “No”, you’re golden. Stop right there and let him know that this, THIS is what made Star Wars so great.” If he says “Yes”, slam the helmet down and say, “No, No, NO, you are supposed to say NO! You mess everything up! Go to your room.” Either way, he’ll have an unforgettable Star Wars experience.

Now the real question is whether you should make him watch the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings cartoons before the Peter Jackson masterpieces. That one will keep you up at night!

What scares me,...really scares me, is that I think I understand what you are saying!!!

Right up to the question at the end.......hmmmmm......

Vito got too expensive, so I have to do everything myself now dammit!

I just dont't know... I think what biothers me the most about starting with I is the special effects drop off at IV. You will have this story WOW etc then blam.... silly looking speeders and no camera panning. I always remember watching movies with my Dad and thinking his favorites looked so antiquated. I still like Aliens tons better than Alien. But again is not like the last aliens were than good either...

Ben

Interesting discussion all. Seeing as how Mini-Rock is pretty tight with Mr. Lucas, maybe he could get him over here for an Axiom chat to answer some of these questions? What do you say Rock?

Yeeeah, but then he will expect me to put out, and that's just too much flannel for me.

Ben: I think by the time your son is done with EpIII, he'll be hooked and will want to complete the saga regardless of the change in effects. Personally, I still think the OT FX hold up well even by todays standards.