When you saw Star
Wars, you honestly felt that you would give anything to find out what
the Clone Wars were and to see Obi Wan Kenobi in the days when he was
a hero and all the Jedi Knights had Swords and the Old Republic.
But that
"honestly feeling that you would give anything" is
precisely the emotion that made Star Wars the Best Movie Ever, and
actually telling you what the Clone War were like removes that
"honestly feeling you would give anything" feeling and
actually ruins Star Wars forever. Watching a lady not quite taking
her clothes off is far more sexy than being on a beach where no one
is wearing anything at all.
The Star Wars prequels were just a very bad idea. As it was, they were a very bad idea poorly executed but they would have been an equally bad idea even if they had been very well executed indeed. Their one redeeming feature is that they were George Lucas's really, really bad idea. It was George Lucas who created Star Wars to begin with. He didn't just dream it up: he actually thought up the characters and wrote the script and worked with the actors and model makers. So of course I was interested to find out our George Lucas imagined the Jedi Knights at the height of their powers and the Imperial Senate and the pre-lapserian Darth Vader because he created the whole idea of the Jedi Knights and Imperial Senates and Darth Vaders in the first place. If the movie had been made by Some Other Guy then it wouldn't even have had that excuse. I like the Jedi Council scenes because they tell me what George Lucas thinks the Jedi Council should look like. Some Other Guy's version would have exactly the same validity as the version of the Jedi Council that me and Jeffrey made up in the playground of East Barnet Lower school in 1978 with airfix spacemen and toy action figures. (Less. Less.) Even if the films had actually been really rather good. Especially if the films had been actually really rather good. Especially if the films had been actually really rather good and George had specifically said that he thought they were a really, really bad idea.
The Star Wars prequels were just a very bad idea. As it was, they were a very bad idea poorly executed but they would have been an equally bad idea even if they had been very well executed indeed. Their one redeeming feature is that they were George Lucas's really, really bad idea. It was George Lucas who created Star Wars to begin with. He didn't just dream it up: he actually thought up the characters and wrote the script and worked with the actors and model makers. So of course I was interested to find out our George Lucas imagined the Jedi Knights at the height of their powers and the Imperial Senate and the pre-lapserian Darth Vader because he created the whole idea of the Jedi Knights and Imperial Senates and Darth Vaders in the first place. If the movie had been made by Some Other Guy then it wouldn't even have had that excuse. I like the Jedi Council scenes because they tell me what George Lucas thinks the Jedi Council should look like. Some Other Guy's version would have exactly the same validity as the version of the Jedi Council that me and Jeffrey made up in the playground of East Barnet Lower school in 1978 with airfix spacemen and toy action figures. (Less. Less.) Even if the films had actually been really rather good. Especially if the films had been actually really rather good. Especially if the films had been actually really rather good and George had specifically said that he thought they were a really, really bad idea.
XIV
Whenever I re-read
Watchmen, Doctor Manhattan's very tactful phallus reminds me of the enormous anatomically correct cock in the movie. Something that I hardly
noticed in the comic has become funny, or embarrassing, offensive or whatever the hell the socially approved way of reacting to an enormous blue willy is.
The movie changed
the comic. It did. It just did.
Read Frankenstein
without thinking of Boris Karloff. I dare you.
XV
Does DC comics
appalling opportunistic piece of shit corporate Watchmen rip off
really matter?
No. In the total
scheme of things, of course it doesn't.