JIMMY

Don’t we all sometimes? I’m enjoying this. A blog debate where no one is angry. What a great idea.

I remember Lucas saying that when I was a kid on my bike. That’s why he started with episode IV. I also remember (as a kid) Lucas saying that he wanted to wait on doing them because FX weren’t able to do the things he had in mind yet. He’s crazy, but I still believe that he’s an artist. Just because he likes to make money, it doesn’t mean he’s in it just for the money.

I suppose you’re correct … but I think the spin doctoring gets me steamed … that Lucas would even bother with it, instead of just saying “we decided to do prequels instead of sequels.” And that some Lucas fans so slavishly lap it up … Ultimately, though, I suppose the movies stand or fall on their own, and everyone is gonna have their favorites.

Although, I am glad to hear that RAIDERS has the Indiana Jones jag added only to the packaging.

Can you be more specific about what makes them week?

“Each of them have their moments, certainly, but Jar-jar is so annoying I can’t watch Phantom Menace again.”

I don’t mind him, but I can see how others wouldn’t like the voice they used for him. Other then that, he’s no more or less annoying then any other person or alien in that film.

“And in Revenge of the Sith, Anniken goes dark awfully fast, even to quickly moving on the butchering children.”

But that was not the first time he had butchered children. He said he killed all the women and children of the sand people (who he also killed) in episode II. Anniken had gone to the dark side long before anyone, even himself, had realized it.

Regarding the Star Wars films, I really disliked Return of the Jedi and the prequels aren’t any better than that, weak scripts and too many special effects meant to distract you from the weak script. Each of them have their moments, certainly, but Jar-jar is so annoying I can’t watch Phantom Menace again. And in Revenge of the Sith, Anniken goes dark awfully fast, even to quickly moving on the butchering children.

Raiders is still the best of the 4. I noticed that it was on a Spanish language channel recently so I watched the open and there’s so little dialogue in those first few minutes that nothing is lost even watching it in another language.

Raiders has been digitally cleaned up, though, as I still remember when it was originally released you could see the cobra’s relection in the pane of glass separating it from Harrison Ford, but that reflection has been digitally removed.

In the end, the only thing that matters is whether or not the story holds up as one coherent whole. And as flawed as the story may be, I think that it does hold up quite well.

As far as adding “Indiana Jones and the” to the “Raiders” title, I don’t think there’s any argument that that was for commercial purposes. It simply makes it easier for retailers and others to catalog the series together.

Well, he deserves credit for creating a lucrative franchise. I don’t think audacity had anything to do with. He created a series, did three movies, and then wondered, “Where do I go from here?” *SNAP of fingers* “I got it! Let’s do three prequels!!”

Lucas claims that he decided to begin the series with part four and then go backwards — that’s just something designed to sound creative instead of commercial. RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, for instance, only recently had the obligatory “Indiana Jones and the ___” added to the title. And Jabba the hut was originally a human, thus the costume worn by the actor in the deleted scene — but Lucas claims the “technology” wasn’t ready for that character, who later became a blob-like beast. A little spin-doctoring of his company’s history goes a long way, since the fans eat it up.

I loved the original trilogy as a kid, and Empire, on its own, continues to stand out as an exemplary film in and of itself. But the original trilogy was made by a young man whose world view hadn’t yet coalesced. For better or for worse, George Lucas is a more complex individual now than he was thirty-odd years ago, and those extra three decades of growth are visible in the point-of-view he presents in the prequel trilogy, whether you personally agree with that point-of-view or not.

What’s most interesting is how the prequel trilogy has made me fall in love with and appreciate the original trilogy all over again by reshaping the prism through which I see it. Lucas has repeated over and over again that the story of Star Wars is really the story of Darth Vader, not Luke as everyone originally assumed. Viewed this way, the entire story takes on a tinge of sadness and melancholia that wasn’t there when the films were originally released.

I also think Lucas deserves credit for the audacity of his experiment: telling such a long, complex story over the course of thirty years, and essentially telling it in reverse. And all the while presenting such a rich and complicated story in the framework of a children’s fairy tale. That, to me, is brilliantly subversive.

I understand that this is not a popular opinion, but I respectfully offer up that much of the anger directed toward the prequel trilogy is due to the nostalgia most people hold toward the original films. In the end, though, the series is meant to be seen as a whole (all six parts), and as such, flawed though it is, I think it succeeds quite well.

Hey, we did, didn’t we? I remember now. I just forgot your name. Sorry. There are a lot of people to meet during Comic Con. Well, I’ll just have to meet you again.

Your a good man, Matt. I hope to meet you at a con one day.

Yeah, we’re just not gonna agree on this. Intelligent people can disagree and be civil, however.

and for dave ziegler…

watch SEXY BEAST with ray winstone. no benny hill there! (and a kick ass/scary ben kingsley).

No, it was Heidi. She whited it out, after my post. It’s been a Hell day for her and she didn’t realize that she hadn’t done it before hitting send. We’ve talked about it already and she’s going to fix it when she’s done putting out what ever other fires are in her day. I’m sure that you can show her the same forgiveness that you would show me.

No, it was Heidi. She whited it out, after my post. It’s been a Hell day for her and she didn’t realize that she hadn’t done it before hitting send. We’ve talked about it already and she’s going to fix it when she’s done putting out what ever other fires are in her day. I’m sure that you can show her the same forgiveness that you would show me.

Try to be considerate of *others*….

Please?

I’m not sure I fallow your line of thought.

If you did not see what made the originals good films, how can someone show you what makes the new ones bad films?