I’m glad to see the trailers for the new Star Wars movie. Indeed, I found myself rather emotional about the whole thing. Which is something I haven’t felt since 1983 and Return of the Jedi.
I have, over the years intervening, seen most of the three prequels. (I have never sat through one from start to finish. Mostly I’ve watched them on HBO in hotels while traveling.) Not a single one of the three has engaged me like the original trilogy. The story that George Lucas puts out about how he had all nine movies plotted out in his head before he ever made Star Wars (today subtitled “A New Hope”) sounds like utter bullshit to me and always has. In my considered opinion, I’ve always thought this:
1) The original Star Wars was a one-off, with no real thought given to sequels. It’s a complete package, tied up in a bow at the end. Typical Western-style theme; one-dimensional characters taken straight out of the cellophane and stuck up on a storyboard. Bad guys are busting up the Old West, er, Republic, good guys (few and far between, ill-equipped, hiding in jungles, etc.) take them on. A female is in peril and a kid and a ne’er-do-well and his furry sidekick thrown in for laughs go rescue her. They all become part of something bigger than themselves, and the kid and the ne’er-do-well end up heroes of the piece. Medals are handed out to the heroes, cut to black.
Well, yeah, there is that bit with Darth Vader spinning off into space. But that didn’t necessarily signal “sequel”. Lucas could have chosen to have his TIE fighter explode rather than escape with damage. Point is that the movie was self-contained, and even if Lucas was thinking sequel, he was smart (or cynical) enough to wrap it all up just in case it bombed.
2) Obviously the movie didn’t bomb, and Lucas came up with too much story for a single movie, so it went to trilogy. After Return of the Jedi, which AGAIN wrapped things up with a nice tidy bow, he made it pretty clear that he wasn’t going to make any more movies in the franchise. It was only later that the nine-movie “plan” emerged (and frankly, I may be misremembering that).
3) Lucas decided to do the prequel trilogy because he imagined Anakin as an extension of himself. (I have heard this. Don’t know if it’s true.) But the fact is, the prequel trilogy was an entire waste of time, and probably was entirely unnecessary to move the story along.
Note that Lucas wrote nothing for the current film and is apparently not doing much. He’s got a writer credit for “characters” (probably meaning, he invented the characters back in 1977, thanks, George) and he’s got a creative consultant credit (probably meaning, “We’ll call you if we need you, George”). Lucasfilm is now owned by Disney, so he’s not even involved at that level anymore.
As far as I’m concerned, and given the almost universal panning that one reads about the Episodes I, II, and III debacle, just about everyone who stood in long lines starting nearly 40 years ago for the first three films would have been a lot happier if George had just moved on and made the next film in chronological order. He’s certainly made no money off of me since 1983; I saw the first three films at least 10 times each in the theatre (remember the old Eastwood Theatre?).
Things being what they are, it’s problematic whether or not I will ever see the new trilogy in the theatre. Easier at fifty-mumble to wait for the Blu-Ray and watch it at home; I don’t care for 3D pictures anyway so flat-screen is fine by me. But, depending on ticket availability and my general get-off-my-arse factor coinciding, I might — just might — go see it at the IMAX. Once.
But if George had made this movie in 1986, wild horses wouldn’t have kept me away from the theatre. What a lost opportunity.