I'm going to take some time here and discuss one of my favorite movie legacies of all time: Star Wars, Episodes 4, 5 and 6. Let's face it, you either love it or you don't. I was old enough to remember seeing 'The Empire Strikes Back' (Episode 5) as well as 'Return of the Jedi' (Episode 6) in the theater. I remember after watching 'Empire' that I was left with a feeling of shock and awe, as well as confusion. Is Darth Vader really Luke's father? How could someone that evil have had a child? Or two, for that matter? I also remember that you could've heard a pin drop in the theater when Luke finally removes Vader's mask in 'Jedi.' How is it that a creator of a story can instill so much anticipation into an audience? Simply remarkable.
I hear people talk a lot about why George Lucas presented the movies in the backward fashion that he did. (Showing Episodes 4-6, then following up with Episodes 1-3.) Some like it...some think it's retarded. Personally, I thought it was brilliant. But there is a real answer to this backward monotony, and I'll try and give it the best I can....
...Imagine a story. Got it? Okay. Now, imagine that same story being 270,000 years long. That's right. That's not a typo. 270,000 years! Most of us don't even own cars with mileage that high. So, you've got this story...it has its high points and its low points; its sovereignty and its wars. You want to make this story into a movie. How could I possibly do that? Easy. I'll take the best segment of the story only and make that into a trilogy of movies. (The character redemption story.) And viola. Star Wars was born. A few years of production pass by and your movies, surprisingly, are a huge hit. You're making a ba-zillion dollars. More years pass by. Technology evolves. You realize you can now show the audience the backstory. (How our character falls.) Out comes another trilogy. A prequel trilogy. People are obviously going to want to see how Vader takes a turn for the dark-side. Your market is cornered. Cased closed. It works. Why? Because the way in which the story was told. Backwards. Think about how many Friday the 13th's were made. I know after 3 or 4, it got old and tired. People didn't care any more. Fortunately, it wasn't that way with Star Wars. People still, to this day are yearning for more, including me.
In the next few days, I'm going to post my thoughts on each movie, in the order that they were released, (George Lucas style) starting with Episode 4: A New Hope. And also, will George Lucas continue his legacy by making another trilogy? Episodes 7, 8 and 9 perhaps? What about the rumored live action television series? Find out those answers, right here...soon.
May the Force be with you...
1 comments:
He didn't sell out. While I agree that he should've just left them alone, I don't think by remaking them into what he originally intended them to be resulted in him selling out. He had the money and the resources to make the films how he wanted them to be seen. The problem was that they didn't have that CGI technology in 1976 that they do now. I don't care for the remade versions either. But it was cool to see the movies back on the big screen in the mid 90's though.
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