You know what’s crazy? I’ll tell you what’s crazy™
Star Wars 4.
It’s called the Force Awakens?
But to me, it’s the 4th movie.
I know what you are saying, it’s the 7th film.
That’s true, but its story line sequentially follows the 1st 3 films and to me, the 1st 3 films, are the only Star Wars films worth talking about.
I was there in 1977. I sat in a theater and gawked up at that big black screen with the flowing yellow letters and felt the chill go down my spine.
The music the jump to light speed.
I knew that I was watching something special.
The Death Star and the Millennium Falcon and May The Force be with you!
Help Me Obi Wan Kenobi, you’re my only hope.
The 1st movie was a wild ride. Great characters, great action. It was self contained. It could have ended after one film; a one trick pony.
Instead it would launch a revolution.
There was so much more to do, so much more to tell.
The Empire Strikes Back; “Luke I’m your father.”
Classic.
Then the third installment; Return of the Jedi.
Remember the dancing Ewoks and Billy Dee Williams?
Luke and Lea are brother and sister and Han and Lea can hook up.
Yes, Lea was once cute as hell, even with those donuts on the side of her head.
A princess in a bikini chained to jabba the Hut. That was like teenage porn, back in the day.
3 great movies.
Thank you good night everyone.
I loved the 1st three movies.
I hated the next three.
why?
They felt so forced, so foreign.
The last 3 movies predated the 1st three movies.
PREQUELS. YUK.
Suddenly movies one, two and three, were being called four, five and six.
Huh?
That felt like a sneak attack, like a movie pick pocket sneaking up on me and taking my gold watch.
The characters were not interesting to me.
I know there’s an entire generation of new fans who disagree.
I don’t care.
I had given up on the Star Wars franchise, because of the prequels.
The prequels went behind the mask to show me how Darth Vadar got nasty.
The prequel is suppose to show me how he crapped his pants with a mighty cosmic force as a baby dark sider.
Give me a break.
The Phantom Menace and attack of the clones and Revenge of the Sith.
I can’t even begin to tell you what they are about.
In my opinion, the characters were stupid and I had no commitment to them.
Prequels to me can be summarized by the incessant caribbean banter of moronic kangaroo look a like Jar Jar Binks.
Give me a break.
Star Wars was done for me.
It was a figment of my imagination.
Then The Force Awakens ….
I wasn’t going to go. Then people said “you’ll like it. It’s tied to the characters, the stories you remember as a kid.”
So I went.
And….
I liked this latest effort, a lot. It was like the movies I grew up on.
It was shot in a similar style, using a comfortable story telling mechanisms, re-introducing familiar and beloved icons of the silver screen.
Even the dissolves between scenes were old school.
Remember the old fashioned circle wipe?
Man; who would have thought I could have missed a circle wipe so much?
The Force Awakens; it was less about CGI and more about characters.
The story reminded me so much of the 1st movie, set on a barren landscape with strange creatures selling junk on a sand planet all the while running from the 1st Order.
This latest film was a modern day cinematic tip of the hat to 1977.
I was talking to some young Star Wars fans at work, the other day.
“I really loved this movie,” I said. “It flows so nicely, connecting the 3rd movie to the modern day.”
Big mistake. The geeks were all over me.
Suddenly, I’m reminded that the 1st three movies are really the 4th 5th and 6th episodes.
Huh?
I hate that.
That’s like being told Pizza is apple pie, when you know it’s pizza.
It’s an anomaly.
Suddenly I have to hear about prequels.
When Han was put in Carbonite. I cared.
When Jar Jar Binks spoke, I felt bile fill my mouth.
“Your 1st movie is actually the fourth movie,” they will say with a smirk.
“No, you diaper wearing mope I saw it in 1977 and I assure you it was the 1st movie.”
“Yes, but technically, the 1st movie, is the 4th movie in the sequence.”
And so it goes.
It’s a clash of generations.
But now there’s a truce. Something both sides can agree is worthy of the name Star Wars.
The geeks are going back and 2nd and 3rd time.
They are discussing Han Solo’s demise and his son’s fall to the dark side.
And how can a young girl have so much power?
unless she is the daughter of…..
Luke?
The last scene is powerful without words.
Can you say an 8th movie?
I will call that #5
No telling what the geeks will call it.
Like Jar Jar Binks. I won’t care.
Life’s Crazy™