Ouch. It was bad enough when I had the homos calling me a loser; now I’ve got the nerds too? Truly I am a Man Without a Country.
So I’m only allowed to pick one word? Okay, how about “YOU.” As in:
As in, Ogre comes in and gives a perfect summation of exactly why the Star Wars movies were so cool and hit such a nerve with people of our generation, because they tap into mythology and work as a new mythology. And then you respond with a religous debate. About a work of fiction. And not just a religious debate, but a snotty religious debate.
Do the words “Comic Book Guy” mean nothing to you? How about “ysalamiri?”
Unexplained magic and ancient civilizations and a Hero Cycle and laser-gun battles between Good and Evil, you’ve got a Grand Space Opera and an attempt to create a new mythology. Trade regulations and midochlorians and senate hearings and attempts to apply real science to a mythical universe, you got dick.
Again, I don’t see how the addition of the M word, which was only uttered 3 or 4 times in Episode 1, not at all in Episode 2, and most likely won’t be in Episode 3, completely UNDOES all of that symbolism and magic from the Old Trilogy. They are still consistent. Yoda’s teachings are still consistent, although by the Old Trilogy Yoda had reflected and learned a lot from the Jedis’ mistakes before the downfall of the Republic. Qui Gon had the right idea all along, and the Jedi council had become lazy and bureaucratic.
Maybe you think midichlorians make Star Wars too much like Star Trek. I personally see nothing wrong with it. The Force is still CLEARLY spiritual. There would not be a way to become one with the Force upon your death if it was just some mitochondria wannabe.
I can accept why you wouldn’t like the political aspect of it, and I won’t challenge that.
I, on the other hand, really like the political aspect. It would be kind of hard for the Republic to fall and for Palpatine to work his master plan if their weren’t politics.
So essentially what I’m getting is that people just aren’t happy with the angle taken by the new movies. Which makes sense. But it’s been like that for the last two movies. That’s the theme of the prequels. It’s not going to suddenly change for Episode 3. Knowing that, Lucas is not going to realize the error of his ways if people who are so displeased don’t try to send an actual message. So ultimately the only people who end up unhappy is are those of you who were uphappy when you saw Episodes 1 and 2.
I will be very happy, however, at least until I see all the threads here on May 20th.
A ysalimiri is a like a furry snake with legs, that pushes away the Force, forming a little bubble. (Although if you guys are using this as proof of Lucas sucking, you’re out of luck-THAT was from Timothy Zahn).
I gotta give you that much, at least for Ewan. I’ve been a fan of his since Shallow Grave, and it kills me that such a great performance is being wasted in such inferior movies.
And, Guin, people don’t think that you are stupid because you like the prequels, but because you, well, are STUPID.
Can’t decide if Anaamika is worse for bitching about spoilers when it clearly states that there are unboxed spoilers. Both of you stupid twats should just head back to MPSIMS.
I’m filled with shame as I type this, but: Ysalamiri are creatures from the novel Heir to the Empire. They have the ability to create a “Force bubble” around themselves, in which Force powers don’t work. This is explained in the book as being a result of natural selection, because their natural predators were Force-sensitive animals.
That was the first sign that trouble was brewing in the Star Wars universe, but it was at least limited to novels that only obsessive geeks like myself would read. With the midochlorian nonsense, it just became official that that was the direction the series was going from now on.
Now, on some level I can appreciate the bind the author was in: he wanted to tell this fantastic story (in the sense of “fantasy,” not in the sense of “any good”), and needed a way to explain why a big bad-ass Force-sensitive villain didn’t just kill our main villain outright and be done with it.
But instead of inventing a story-based motivation for it, and instead of just ignoring it in the tradition of Grand Stories, he went to great pains to explain exactly why it wasn’t a plot-hole, attempting to use science and natural selection.
Star Wars shouldn’t care about the evolution of aliens; they should just be there to look cool. It shouldn’t care about how the Force works. Or how a creature that lives inside a deserted asteroid could survive off nothing more than passing spaceships. Or how a creature that lives in the desert could survive off nothing more than bounty hunters and henchmen that happen to fall into it. Or how any life-support system could keep a person alive inside a block of metal.
Nerds can debate that all we want, but it’s not relevant to the story, so it shouldn’t be included in the story.
Aah, so that was from Zahn, eh? I always heard that guy was good.
It’s funny that so many people who disapprove of the prequels love some of the EU, even though the EU are even worse when it comes to “science-ifying” the Star Wars universe than Lucas has been.
Personally, I just stay clear of the whole EU thing.
And yes Guinastasia, and do call myself a Star Wars fan. It begins with Episode 1 and ends with Episode 6.
I agree whole heartedly. That’s why I stay clear of the EU. And it’s understandable that the midichlorians would upset you and many others. But to me there is still enough proof in Star Wars that the Force is a spiritual entity, regardless of the presence of midichlorians.
After reading the script for episode 3, my problem with it (other than the lame dialog) is that Anikan turns on a dime. He goes from “what have I done?” to pledging his allegiance to Palpatine with zero in between.
As for the first 2: 1) they felt like startrek 2)the acting sucked 3) the dialog sucked. I will see the new one for the fight scenes. Oh and the immaculate conception angle is completely lame.
Eh, from what I understand, he’s thrilled (contrary to rumors), because his uncle was in the originals, and he had a lot of fun and he got to keep his lightsaber.
Why, Zhen’ka, I never knew you cared! smooch Love you too, snookums.
Soapbox Monkey, maybe you should have put SW Episode III instead.
Lastly-Zahn is good, but Aaron Allston rules. “Yub yub, commander!”
This is a pet peeve of mine- the doctorine of the immaculate conception refers to Mary’s conception without sin- not the conception of Jesus without benefit of sexin’.
Mary’s conception without sin? I’m sorry, I’m not too clear on Catholic doctrine. Does this mean Mary had yet to sin at all in her life when she conceived Jesus?
Personally, I don’t give a shit what Lucas does with his latest series of movies. I haven’t given him a penny for the first two and I don’t plan on giving him anything for the last one. I saw 1 and 2 at a friend’s house and got a free copy of the Episode 3 graphic novel. They were not good.
As for his changes in the original trilogy? Fine, he can do what he wants. I just wish I could get copies of each of the movies as they were first released.
I paid good money to see Menace, I watched Clones on a fuzzy videotape which had been copied off a Thai bootleg, and I have no intention of seeing the latest one. Diminishing returns, for me if not for Lucas. He started off wanting to remake Flash Gordon, which was A Good Thing, and ended up remaking Dune, which was A Very Bad Thing.
I’ve just been watching the original trilogy with my three year old son, who loves them - kinda neat, since I first saw **Star Wars ** at the age of 9, in 1977 - the originals are still great stories; the later ones are just expensive toy commercials.
