Oh 1977, how I miss thee...
I've been watching the original Star Wars movies recently, trying to get into the zone for our SAGA game on Tuesday.
I know nostalgia plays a big part in it, but 1977 seems so far away now. Watching Luke stare into the twin suns of Tatooine, it's hard to imagine that this is the same universe that once contained Count Dooku, General Grievous, Darth Maul, Battledroids, Darth Revan, Admiral Thrawn... the list is seemingly endless. It all seemed so simpler then, slower and more tactile.
I find the prequels largely unwatchable these days. Elin was laughing at me the other night because despite all my whining, I still put one on occaisionally, just to see if it's, you know, changed. It feels different, even from the opening shot of the Phantom Menace, so it's a precarious beast to straddle anyway, but as soon as Jar-Jar opens his mouth, Or Anakin, or Watto, or the Podracing commentator or even C3PO, I just fall out of it completely and start pining for the simplicity of the originals.
The prequels are gorgeous looking films and I always joke that I'd love them if you could isolate and turn off the dialogue track. Just have the visuals, sound effects and music and they'd be great films. I mean, it's not like you'd miss the story. Maybe I should get a copy of the French or Japanese dubs :)
But even then, there's something wrong. They're just too slick, too polished and soulless. The originals, particularly the first one, were nailed together on a shoestring budget using what was to hand. It gave the universe a genuine, battered, lived-in feel. There was some liberal interpretation of the designs too, on the part of the props department. If you look at McQuarrie's concept art, it's all very Flash-Gordoney. The props built from it were less so and that, I think helped a great deal. With the prequels, everything was exactly by design. In the original, Luke's landspeeder looked like it'd be knocking about the desert for years. It looked like it had genuinely had the shit kicked out of it. In the prequels, the weathering, scratches and dents appeared to be carefully and lovingly reproduced exactly from the officially approved concept art.
There are things I like about the prequels. Indeed, I thoroughly enjoyed the Clone Wars TV shows - Cartoon and 3D - but as I told several of my friends who watched it, I find it easier to completely disassociate it from the orignal movies rather than give myself a headache trying to reconcile them. I think of it as a reboot with Anakin Skywalker instead of Luke. The future is unwritten. The prequel movies don't exist. I find I can enjoy it much more.
Wayne
I know nostalgia plays a big part in it, but 1977 seems so far away now. Watching Luke stare into the twin suns of Tatooine, it's hard to imagine that this is the same universe that once contained Count Dooku, General Grievous, Darth Maul, Battledroids, Darth Revan, Admiral Thrawn... the list is seemingly endless. It all seemed so simpler then, slower and more tactile.
I find the prequels largely unwatchable these days. Elin was laughing at me the other night because despite all my whining, I still put one on occaisionally, just to see if it's, you know, changed. It feels different, even from the opening shot of the Phantom Menace, so it's a precarious beast to straddle anyway, but as soon as Jar-Jar opens his mouth, Or Anakin, or Watto, or the Podracing commentator or even C3PO, I just fall out of it completely and start pining for the simplicity of the originals.
The prequels are gorgeous looking films and I always joke that I'd love them if you could isolate and turn off the dialogue track. Just have the visuals, sound effects and music and they'd be great films. I mean, it's not like you'd miss the story. Maybe I should get a copy of the French or Japanese dubs :)
But even then, there's something wrong. They're just too slick, too polished and soulless. The originals, particularly the first one, were nailed together on a shoestring budget using what was to hand. It gave the universe a genuine, battered, lived-in feel. There was some liberal interpretation of the designs too, on the part of the props department. If you look at McQuarrie's concept art, it's all very Flash-Gordoney. The props built from it were less so and that, I think helped a great deal. With the prequels, everything was exactly by design. In the original, Luke's landspeeder looked like it'd be knocking about the desert for years. It looked like it had genuinely had the shit kicked out of it. In the prequels, the weathering, scratches and dents appeared to be carefully and lovingly reproduced exactly from the officially approved concept art.
There are things I like about the prequels. Indeed, I thoroughly enjoyed the Clone Wars TV shows - Cartoon and 3D - but as I told several of my friends who watched it, I find it easier to completely disassociate it from the orignal movies rather than give myself a headache trying to reconcile them. I think of it as a reboot with Anakin Skywalker instead of Luke. The future is unwritten. The prequel movies don't exist. I find I can enjoy it much more.
Wayne