The Fandom Menace
This weekend marks the opening of Star Wars Episode I in 3-D. Now there's a lot of online hate for Episode I, and there's a lot of hate for 3-D movies in general, so this should amount to a perfect storm of suck. But I for one have never appreciated being told what to hate, any more than being told what I have to like. Some people want to send George Lucas to The Hague for everything he's done since 1983, and I think they really need to get over themselves.
There are certainly flaws to the movie, but most of my personal objections are different from those voiced so strongly in the public forum. I actually don't mind Jar Jar Binks at all. Know what I do despise? That two-headed sportscaster in the podracing scene. Yeah, I'd like to see him suffer. The opening crawl sequence is boring, going on about taxation of trade routes. There's a scene in the palace, where 8 or 10 people with grappling guns line up perfectly on a window ledge, and slide up to the next floor with unnatural precision, looking like dolls on strings. While the final lightsaber battle sequence is spectacular, there's no reason for those red glowing force fields to be there (except as a plot device). Makes me think of that scene in Galaxy Quest, where a character faces a corridor of chomping machinery and complains, "What is the point of this!?!? Why would this room even exist on a ship!?!?"
But yeah, I just go with the flow of it. In dealing with the prequels, I think it's important to remember: don't take 'em all that seriously. These are essentially movies for the kids. But if we're honest with ourselves, we realize: the originals are too.
On Friday night, some folks from the Rocky Mountain Fan Force were out in costume at the theater lobby. We scored two pairs of souvenir 3-D glasses in Darth Maul red, and a one-sheet that I'll probably frame at some point.
On Saturday I went out to another theater with my good camera and got more photos of costumed characters.
