Making the best of a bad situation

I can’t really argue that the Star Wars trilogy jumped the shark with the prequel trilogies, but at least it Darth Vader overcame Lucas’ best efforts to undermine the greatness of his character. If you gotta jump the shark, at least you should own the shark.

Sure, Darth Vader may be a whiny doofus now, but Shark Vader is pretty great.

10 thoughts on “Making the best of a bad situation

  1. What are these “prequels” you speak of? They sound bad enough that one could will themselves to forget they ever existed, to prevent ruining the awesomeness of the original movies.

    Yeah… that’s the ticket.

  2. Meh, as we get farther away from the prequels, the easier I find it is to just pretend that they never happened in the first place.

    It’s funny how much of my enjoyment in watching the original trilogy in the late 80’s/early 90’s was derived from that irratonal anticipation for the inevitable prequel trilogy most fans seemed to share, but looking back now, it’s worth trying to shove all of the resulting disappointment, cynicism and resentment for the prequels aside in an attempt to enjoy the flicks on their own merits.

    May 21st is the 30th anniversary of the original release of The Empire Strikes Back. It’s a perfect time to go back and watch the film while pretending that Lucas accidentally choked to death on a candy bar in 1984.

  3. If you bought the initial DVD release box set of Star Wars you could always watch the special bonus DVD with the Lucas interview where he reveals he wanted to make Han Solo a green lizard alien and Luke a midget. No joke! It spoils the real life plot twist that Lucas was out to ruin Star Wars all along.

  4. This is where I come in and say A New Hope is boring and Revenge of the Sith is better. So here goes!

    A New Hope is boring, and Revenge of the Sith is better. V > VI > III > IV > II > I

  5. New Hope is kind of boring. But, Revenge of the Sith better? Laughable! Maybe if Vader wasn’t such a whiny girl and wasn’t tricked to easily. He’s like Knuckles always falling for Robotnik’s traps.

    “Anikin, seriously you’re wife is sick. Learn my magic and cure here. But first kill all of the jedi.”

    “She is sick! I will kill of them!”

    Weak. At least we get “scruffy nerve hurter” from IV.

  6. Star Wars is weak from start to finish. The prequels just lack the sense of originality the first ones had.

  7. But… the first ones were a bog-standard hero quest, only with laser swords. They have a lot going for them (revolutionizing special effects of course among them), but I’m not sure originality is the strong point. Unless you just mean originality of setting, which I guess I’ll give you.

  8. There isn’t anything original about Star Wars at all actually. :) The only reason people remember it was that Ep IV was a pioneer of special effects work. (The prequels were just as groundbreaking in their own way, especially in the use of digital photography, but no one wants to give Lucas credit for that it seems.) The idea that Star Wars is the best thing ever and Lucas ruined it is because nerds seem to have an overdeveloped sense of nostalgia.

    I like Star Wars and personally I think the prequels have better characterization and world building than the originals. It was always goofy pulp non-sense and it always had problems, I just like the meatier imagination on display with the newer ones. Beats the hell out of the same ol’ same ol’ that is practically every other movie and video game anyway. :)

    And as for Anakin, well, Hitler was a short, frustrated painter, and vegetarian with a silly mustache and everyone apparently thinks he was the best villain ever. Stalin must be pissed.

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