A New Sith, or Revenge of the Hope

[km_515]

Reconsidering Star Wars IV in the light of I-III

[I originally wrote this piece in 2005 and a friend posted it on his website. That site has recently gone down, so I'm reposting it here, as it still gets a lot of interest.]

If we accept all the Star Wars films as the same canon (as it seems we must) then a lot that happens in the original films has

Comments

The official word is...

[ext_540991]

Officially speaking, only the movies are canon. The whole life debt between Han and Chewie is never spoken of during the 6 movies. The "Expanded Universe" does make mention of this, but as much as I love the extra stuff, not one single sentence of it is official in any way, shape or form. I loved the Timothy Zahn novels, really, but the instant that George Lucas decides to contradict anything in them, it has to be ignored.

This whole piece is written by extrapolating the depictions in the movies, and nothing else is acceptable. The movies never specify that Chewbacca spent time as a slave. The movies never specify that Solo was a cadet of any kind. The movies never specify that Jedi shun material possessions. The movies never state Obi Wan's mission is NOT to dispose of Luke if things start going bad.

The lack of material posession? It is hinted at, kinda, but unless outright stated by Lucas, it's pure speculation. And in fact, the 20 gazillion "EU" books out there, are pure speculation as well. It's all a bunch of "maybes".

This dissertation is just as valid as anything else, barring George Lucas' commentary.

The ultimate point is that while we can skewer the storytelling today, when Star Wars was released, it heralded a new chapter in movie-making history, drawing in theatrical crowds for an ENTIRE YEAR! Could you imagine James Cameron's Avatar being in theatres for an entire year?

Yes many of the devices are over-used, the dialog now seems dated, but that is because Star Wars spoiled us. We now all know what an Ion Cannon is, we all know what hyperdrive is, because Star Wars dragged all of that stuff out of "Amazing Stories" and threw it in front of a (mostly unprepared) world audience.

Star Wars broke new ground, and amazed an entire world of moviegoers. Making that kind of effect today, I do not believe is possible.

Re: The official word is...

[ext_540991]

I know it's not your main point, but the reason Star Wars ran for an entire year in theaters is that there was no home video market. If it were released today, under the same circumstances, entertainment-wise, as 1977, with the only difference being that VHS or DVD exists as it does today, then there's no way it would run for an entire year.

Re: The official word is...

[ext_540991]

A lot of it has to be run through Lucas (or at least his office) to be published officially, so it's got a bit of credibility. You can bet Lucas would've okay'd the story of Han saving Chewie and Han being in the imperial army, those are kind of big.