Star Wars Confession
All right. For years I haven't admitted this to anyone, barely even myself... but I think the time has come to just face the facts and own up:
I don't like Star Wars very much. There, I said it.
Now, before you begin writing those death threats, I'm not here to say "Hey, Star Wars suck and you suck for liking it!" Really, I don't care. If you love Star Wars, good on ya. We all have different tastes.
And it not as though I hated the original trilogy. I didn't love it, but it was okay, I could certainly see why it was so popular. Granted, I only saw it once, and I think I was sixteen or seventeen -- no golden nostalgic memories of being a child and watching the movies, in other words -- and even then I missed the first third or so of A New Hope. But the last two thirds were entertaining enough that I watched the two other movies in their entirety, and despite Emperor Palpatine being supremely annoying I liked them well enough.
(Much later, I discovered the radio dramas based on those three movies -- same story, but a lot more detail, backstory and character, and Mark Hamill and Anthony Daniels reprising their roles and Luke and C-3PO -- and I still hold that those radio dramas are the best Star Wars material ever. Especially the A New Hope one.)
So yeah, I can sorta get behind those first three films. Decent effects, some good visuals, really nice music, a few fun bits of dialogue, okay pseudo-religion, and Harrison Ford. I can dig that.
The problem came with the rest of the stories. The expanded universe, the comics, the novels, the cartoons, the prequels, the video games. I tried to get into it, I really did. Some of those stories were critically acclaimed and fans loved them. The Clone Wars series, the Dark Empire comic. (I'm not counting Knights of the Old Republic, because I never played that.) No matter what it was, I tried to watch it... and with two notable exceptions, the result was always the same: I was so bored.
(The two notable exeptions were the Star Wars gang's guest appearances in Muppet productions, because Muppets are awesome -- and the dreaded Holiday Special, which was awful but in a hilarious way!)
The prequel trilogy; I made honest attempts at watching it, but even the RiffTrax commentary could hold my interest for more than about half of Phantom Menace. (Paradoxally, and completely unlike the Star Wars fans I found Jar-Jar Binks to be the sole saving grace of that movie; he was the only character present who wasn't duller than dishwater.)
I tried listening to more radio dramas, made by the same people that made those cool original-trilogy radio dramas. Exploring the distant past and the near-future of the Star Wars universe. Boring, boring, boring. I tried to get into it, tried to pretend I was at all interested when Generic Jedi #23 had turned out to join the Dark Side and was suddenly incapable of completing a sentence that didn't have the words "power" or "Dark Side" in them, but the only thing I got out of it was a new insight into why the Dark Side is doomed to lose in that universe: it makes you incapable of having a normal conversation. At least the good guys are allowed to occasionally talk about things that don't involve the power of the Force.
I really, really, really tried to like it. I tried to see what fans were so geared by. I couldn't.
What led to my final and total acceptance of my status as a non-Star Wars fan was, in fact, a fan.made production; a podcast audio drama called Codename: Starkeeper. I read several fan reactions, which were almost unanomiously positive, and it was agreed that this production really captured the feel of the original trilogy -- the action, intrigue, and campy humor worthy of the name Star Wars, to use a direct quote. Besides, several podcasters whose work I quite enjoy were involved, such as Chris Lester and Philippa Balentine. Besides, hey, it was free.
So i downloaded the audio drama to my iPod, eight episodes... and I managed to listen through four of them before I realized that I really couldn't say what had happened up to now, who was involved, what was at stake or why I should care. It wasn't that the show was poorly-done, it was just that... I had zero interest in it.
And that's when I fully got it. That was when I had to face facts, and admit it to myself: I really have no interest in the universe of Star Wars.
To me, any charm or interest found in Star Wars was there in that initial story, and only in that initial story, of Luke Skywalker becoming a Jedi, and the colorful cast of characters that help or hinder him along the way -- possibly the most unashamedly archetypical version of the "Hero's Journey" myth ever to be put on screen. But when that myth had been told, there wasn't much left to hold my interest. I didn't care what happened afterwards, or what had happened before, or what was happening in other places at the same time, because the universe and the setting was one I had zero interest in.
I don't know why, but if it's set in the Star Wars universe, and it's not that original story, it just doesn't hold my interest. The Force? Jedi? Sith Lords? Yawn, call me when we get to something interesting.
Maybe it's just that everyone else seems to have watched the original trilogy as kids. Maybe the franchise catches your interest and imagination as a child in a way it can't when you're introduced to it as a teen. But then again, I never really held much stock in nostalgia -- all that stuff I loved as a kid, I now know exactly how horrible a lot of it was, and it doesn't have much nostalgic value for me. (Though I do try to be fair-minded, because even the most horrible childhood entertainment might have something of value.)
Or maybe it's just that my tastes run so contrary to so many "geeks." I don't like Star Trek. I didn't like The Matrix. I found The Dark Knight mildly boring (I actually thought Batman Begins was better, and as you might have caught by now, I'm not even a fan of Batman to begin with.) I haven't seen much Doctor Who, but I haven't liked what I've seen of that either. I haven't been able to watch more than a couple of episodes of A Game of Thrones, and the books the series is based on hold no interest for me either.I managed to stick with Supernatural for six episodes before I realized I hated it.
(Is there any fanbase left I haven't ticked off now, I wonder?)
Whatever the case, I decided that there was no point in trying to pretend anymore. So: Hello, I'm Roo and I'm not a Star Wars fan. And I'm not ashamed of it.
Who knows, maybe Disney's purchase of the franchise will turn out to be a good move, and maybe future Star Wars movies and projects will turn out to actually be able to hold my interest. But I'm not holding my breath.
I don't like Star Wars very much. There, I said it.
Now, before you begin writing those death threats, I'm not here to say "Hey, Star Wars suck and you suck for liking it!" Really, I don't care. If you love Star Wars, good on ya. We all have different tastes.
And it not as though I hated the original trilogy. I didn't love it, but it was okay, I could certainly see why it was so popular. Granted, I only saw it once, and I think I was sixteen or seventeen -- no golden nostalgic memories of being a child and watching the movies, in other words -- and even then I missed the first third or so of A New Hope. But the last two thirds were entertaining enough that I watched the two other movies in their entirety, and despite Emperor Palpatine being supremely annoying I liked them well enough.
(Much later, I discovered the radio dramas based on those three movies -- same story, but a lot more detail, backstory and character, and Mark Hamill and Anthony Daniels reprising their roles and Luke and C-3PO -- and I still hold that those radio dramas are the best Star Wars material ever. Especially the A New Hope one.)
So yeah, I can sorta get behind those first three films. Decent effects, some good visuals, really nice music, a few fun bits of dialogue, okay pseudo-religion, and Harrison Ford. I can dig that.
The problem came with the rest of the stories. The expanded universe, the comics, the novels, the cartoons, the prequels, the video games. I tried to get into it, I really did. Some of those stories were critically acclaimed and fans loved them. The Clone Wars series, the Dark Empire comic. (I'm not counting Knights of the Old Republic, because I never played that.) No matter what it was, I tried to watch it... and with two notable exceptions, the result was always the same: I was so bored.
(The two notable exeptions were the Star Wars gang's guest appearances in Muppet productions, because Muppets are awesome -- and the dreaded Holiday Special, which was awful but in a hilarious way!)
The prequel trilogy; I made honest attempts at watching it, but even the RiffTrax commentary could hold my interest for more than about half of Phantom Menace. (Paradoxally, and completely unlike the Star Wars fans I found Jar-Jar Binks to be the sole saving grace of that movie; he was the only character present who wasn't duller than dishwater.)
I tried listening to more radio dramas, made by the same people that made those cool original-trilogy radio dramas. Exploring the distant past and the near-future of the Star Wars universe. Boring, boring, boring. I tried to get into it, tried to pretend I was at all interested when Generic Jedi #23 had turned out to join the Dark Side and was suddenly incapable of completing a sentence that didn't have the words "power" or "Dark Side" in them, but the only thing I got out of it was a new insight into why the Dark Side is doomed to lose in that universe: it makes you incapable of having a normal conversation. At least the good guys are allowed to occasionally talk about things that don't involve the power of the Force.
I really, really, really tried to like it. I tried to see what fans were so geared by. I couldn't.
What led to my final and total acceptance of my status as a non-Star Wars fan was, in fact, a fan.made production; a podcast audio drama called Codename: Starkeeper. I read several fan reactions, which were almost unanomiously positive, and it was agreed that this production really captured the feel of the original trilogy -- the action, intrigue, and campy humor worthy of the name Star Wars, to use a direct quote. Besides, several podcasters whose work I quite enjoy were involved, such as Chris Lester and Philippa Balentine. Besides, hey, it was free.
So i downloaded the audio drama to my iPod, eight episodes... and I managed to listen through four of them before I realized that I really couldn't say what had happened up to now, who was involved, what was at stake or why I should care. It wasn't that the show was poorly-done, it was just that... I had zero interest in it.
And that's when I fully got it. That was when I had to face facts, and admit it to myself: I really have no interest in the universe of Star Wars.
To me, any charm or interest found in Star Wars was there in that initial story, and only in that initial story, of Luke Skywalker becoming a Jedi, and the colorful cast of characters that help or hinder him along the way -- possibly the most unashamedly archetypical version of the "Hero's Journey" myth ever to be put on screen. But when that myth had been told, there wasn't much left to hold my interest. I didn't care what happened afterwards, or what had happened before, or what was happening in other places at the same time, because the universe and the setting was one I had zero interest in.
I don't know why, but if it's set in the Star Wars universe, and it's not that original story, it just doesn't hold my interest. The Force? Jedi? Sith Lords? Yawn, call me when we get to something interesting.
Maybe it's just that everyone else seems to have watched the original trilogy as kids. Maybe the franchise catches your interest and imagination as a child in a way it can't when you're introduced to it as a teen. But then again, I never really held much stock in nostalgia -- all that stuff I loved as a kid, I now know exactly how horrible a lot of it was, and it doesn't have much nostalgic value for me. (Though I do try to be fair-minded, because even the most horrible childhood entertainment might have something of value.)
Or maybe it's just that my tastes run so contrary to so many "geeks." I don't like Star Trek. I didn't like The Matrix. I found The Dark Knight mildly boring (I actually thought Batman Begins was better, and as you might have caught by now, I'm not even a fan of Batman to begin with.) I haven't seen much Doctor Who, but I haven't liked what I've seen of that either. I haven't been able to watch more than a couple of episodes of A Game of Thrones, and the books the series is based on hold no interest for me either.I managed to stick with Supernatural for six episodes before I realized I hated it.
(Is there any fanbase left I haven't ticked off now, I wonder?)
Whatever the case, I decided that there was no point in trying to pretend anymore. So: Hello, I'm Roo and I'm not a Star Wars fan. And I'm not ashamed of it.
Who knows, maybe Disney's purchase of the franchise will turn out to be a good move, and maybe future Star Wars movies and projects will turn out to actually be able to hold my interest. But I'm not holding my breath.