A More Civilized Age of Star Wars...now an Evil Empire in Dark Times - What to do?

There was once a “More Civilized Age”…a time when the Star Wars Trilogy was like The Iliad, the Odyssey, and the Aeneid _all together _to America’s cultural mythology.  Few could criticize it negatively without well-deserved backlash.  A time when _Star War_s seemingly had the very world by its earth.

Now Star Wars has become the dark backstory the Original Trilogy depicts.  What was once a great and noble science-fantasy series (ala “The Old Republic”) has become a mutated, altered, overly computer-generated, unadulterated mess (ala “The Dark Times”/“The Empire”).  The man who was once the hero of fanboys the world over (ala “Anakin”) has now become our worst nemesis (“Vader”).  It almost seems as if the black-haired, bearded, thick-bespectacled, plaid-shirted young film-maker no longer exists, and has seemed to have been utterly devoured by a turkey-necked, evil mind, surrounded by his “Yes-Men” cronies.  (To be more exact, and geeky, Lucas is now more like how Alan Dean Foster described The Emperor in the Star Wars novelization…which was oddly ascribed to none other than…we all know who!).

Today, it is a struggle trying to find a Star Wars discussion not all about “Why Luke doesn’t have the Padawan haircut in Episode V” or “Why Yoda isn’t CGI in the OT yet” or “How many midi-chlorians did Obi-Wan have…”.  Everything is being ret-conned, re-assessed, and re-thought in favor of the horrendously out of place Prequels.  Children now see Episode I as their first taste of Star Wars and grow up with Ani Skyguy and Ahsoka (I won’t even bother to learn how to spell that name correctly).  I thank the Force each and everyday that I lost my Star Wars “virginity” to the 1995 Faces VHS Trilogy set.  It wasn’t ideal, in hindsight, in comparison to the 93 Laserdiscs or the 92 VHS sets or, of course, the original theatrical prints…but it was Star Wars as it was, more or less, (and I couldn’t even read when I first saw them (I was 3) so I missed the '81 crawl!).

I remember watching Episode I when I was 6 and just being dumbfounded.  It wasn’t right.  Anakin here didn’t seem to be leading up to the smiling, grandfatherly ghost at the end of Return of the Jedi.  No.  Jar-Jar wasn’t right either, and Obi-Wan wasn’t leading up to the Sir Alec Guinness Obi-Wan I knew and admired.  It was wrong.  Very Wrong.  I was briefly swindled by Episodes II and III, but after watching them all in order…I realized it…doesn’t work, and I grew up more and with each passing re-watching of the O-OT I hated the Prequels even more.

And the 2004 DVDs were horrendous.  They angered me so much.  Little cartoon rats and giant dewbacks everywhere on what was supposed to be a quiet, “used future”.  Hell.  That one dewback totally covers up a good portion of one of the most famous scenes in cinematic history…the Jedi Mind-Trick.  And when I lost the good old Original Emperor and the old Anakin…I lost it (among the plethora of other injurious alterations).

Then came the CGI Clone Wars film and series, and having to hear the old movies and continuity re-crafted into the new terrible Star Wars.  “In Episode IV, watch Luke Skywalker, son of Anakin and Padme, face-off against the now-evil Anakin, Darth Vader, and save his sister from certain destruction from Darth Sidious’s minions!”…I read doggerel such as this all too often (sans this wonderful website).

What can we do to more successfully combat against the Evil Empire that is Lucasfilm and the new face of the Star Wars franchise?

In my opinion…We must spread the O-OT and the knowledge of the horrific changes to those who we know and love…and even to those we dislike!  We should start our children out on Star Wars, in as close to its 1977 original theatrical experience as possible, and then follow up on Empire and Jedi, each also emulated as close to their original experiences as possible.

If we can, we should try to ignore the prequels…at all means.  Talk of them negatively.  As excuses to cash in even further…as “after the fact” additions to the franchise…movies mostly of the worst quality one can imagine.  Laugh them off, scoff them, and IGNORE them from any serious Star Wars fandom.

And, more radically.  Could we try to get Lucas’s attention even more?  Could we try to attract the attention of pop culture?  I hear shows like Chuck Lorre’s Big Bang Theory (I haven’t ever seen it) reference Wars and Trek all the time. Do they ever make jokes against Lucas and the changes, scoff against the Prequels?  Or do they just ignore the Prequels and only speak of the OT? If not could we try and ask the show-runners to have the geeky characters speak like…us?  (haha).  One of the most beautiful things in my life was seeing the Family Guy specials on Star Wars.  Say what you will about the show, (I mostly prefer the pre-cancellation episodes…yadda yadda yadda and detest the excessive cut-away gags…) but Seth McFarlane is a tried and true O-OT fan.  He had Yub-Nub at the end of the ROTJ parody! He had the characters scoff at the idea of parodying the Prequels!  Is Family Guy not the current “King” (in terms of stature) of Pop-Culture (mocking and making it)? This is a good sign!  The Robot Chicken specials, oddly supported by Lucas, mostly dealt with the OT, and hilariously spoofed the bad direction the franchise took and Jar-Jar’s irksome ways…We need more of this!

We are all trying hard.  But we need to collectively gather and try even **HARDER.  **Do we want Star Wars to stay the joke it is now?  The “CGI Kid’s Crap” so many ignorant people tell me I “love”.  NO.  I do not want this.  I want Star Wars in its truest and purest form to remain the touchstone to our culture…the Greek Myths to our Modern Rome…Help it before it becomes our mockery…our greatest degradation.

Could we not redeem George Lucas?  Could he not be turned?  His greatest friend, Steven Spielberg, is speaking against his own former alterations and has even directly criticized what his boy George has done!  Matt Stone and Trey Parker weren’t so right about him after all!  It COULD be done.

But we must help, and do something about it if it doesn’t.

P.S.

I apologize for being such a purist fanboy.  That is all.

Star Wars is a big dumb movie about space wizards.  It was in 1977.  It was in 1983.  It was in 1997.  It was in 1999.  It was in 2005.  And it still is today.  Elevating it to the level of some mythic form of art that must be be cherished and glorified like some holy text while shunning all other gospel as blasphemy is just a little bit silly. 

I think the original Star Trek is leagues better than any of the other series but I'm not out trying to incite a crusade against Voyager.  There are people out there who like the "new" Star Wars and you really don't have any right to be offended by those people's right to express their fandom. 

I think you are confusing your sense of nostalgia for divine truth that ought to be spread like jihad. 

Guess what, if I ever have kids.  I'll show them Star Wars, all of Star Wars and let them make up their own minds about what's good and what sucks just as we did when we were growing up.  If they come to the movies on their own, awesome.  If not, and I have a choice in the matter I'll show them 4, 5, 1, 2, 3, 6.  I'm not going to attempt to indoctrinate them with all my pent up nerd baggage from the last 15 years over which set of space wizard movies is better than the other. 

TV's Frink said:

This won't end well.

Well, twooffour is still gone so it could have been worse...a lot worse.

Darth Bizarro said: I'll show them 4, 5, 1, 2, 3, 6. 

 your kids may end up thinking the tusken raiders were trying to settle some score with anaklin by going after luke.

I'm not as "radical" as I sound.  Star Wars may be a simple series of films of "space wizards" and adventure, but they are more than what you make them out to be as well.  The original films are cultural touchstones.  Amazing classics in American cinema.  Have they not inspired countless people?  Is the OT not representative of long standing culturally induced elements of American culture? Doesn't the "Evil Empire" and its regression from the great Old Republic just ring of the disillusionment Americans generally felt with their government in the late 70s?  Isn't it notable as being America's modern "fairy tale" and myth?  I can't see how it isn't of that regard.  I definitely did hyperbolize and make some faulty analogies by comparing them to the mythic works of Ancient Greece and Rome, which were accepted as religious dogma and were much more universally read and accepted in their respective societies and eras.  However, one cannot underestimate the influence, impact, and sheer meaning of the Star Wars Trilogy, and honestly, I kind of find your dismissal to be slightly disturbing! 

Anyway, what you said about Star Trek is totally different.  Star Trek: The Original Series has not been re-evaluated or re-assessed in any major ways against it's original continuity or meaning.  People don't retroactively call the female officers, such as Uhura, of TOS "Sir" as the Rick Berman era shows will address the female officers.  No current sources do this.  The only thing really close to a ret-con with Star Trek is the whole "Trouble with Klingons" and the retroactive explanation given as to the changed appearance in Enterprise.  Also the later Trek shows, besides TNG and DS9, have in no way, shape, or form entered pop culture in any major degree, and despite its' former great success, DS9 rarely finds itself parodied or mentioned on Family Guy or South Park, for example.  Also, Star Trek, (not counting the more recent "remastering") hasn't seen any major changes against it, and even the new (amazing) Blu-Ray sets include BOTH the original broadcast and CGI remastered versions of each episode...both in VERY high quality...and with the mono mix.  Viacom/Paramount. etc is in no way keeping the original purity of the original Star Trek away from the public.  Heck.  The versions up on Hulu and the franchise's official website are of the original versions!  In other words...it's not the same thing.  Voyager and any later lackluster shows don't change the old ways.  Things aren't canonically explained by being caused by the Borg or the Q (The Squire of Gothos won't even officially be said to be a Q), so the Gene Roddenberry and Gene Coon era of Star Trek remains almost entirely separate from the Rick Berman and JJ Abrams eras of Trek. 

Lucas "prequelizes" the originals seemingly as much as possible with each chance he gets.  Characters are now spoken of in their prequel names more than not ("Darth Sidious" rather than The Emperor), prequel plot devices are frequently in discussion with respect to the originals, and of course so much of the original films are changed beyond recognition.  

I don't want a huge idealistic crusade, but I do want something to be done to preserve these beloved films and to not have to deal with all the mediocre prequel crap now drowning out the integrity of the originals.  

walking_carpet said:

Darth Bizarro said: I'll show them 4, 5, 1, 2, 3, 6. 

 your kids may end up thinking the tusken raiders were trying to settle some score with anaklin by going after luke.

Haha!!  I'm surprised Lucasfilm hasn't adopted that as a canonical explanation for their attack.  Btw, if you ARE going to accept the prequels, Bizarro, your order is the best way to do it, and is what I followed for a while.  It works pretty well for what it is, I must admit.  

I see where you're coming from with wishing things could go back to the way they were.  There are times when I just want to experience the original trilogy in their purist form without the prequels evading my senses. 

But at the same time, the "new" Star Wars still isn't all bad and I would be just as upset about it disappearing as I am currently that "old" Star Wars is disappearing.  Fans have a choice in the matter and a campaign to change opinions is just pointless. 

It's sad I know, but there really isn't anything we can do about it without crossing a dangerous line that I'd prefer not to cross.  There are countless ways purify the Star Wars experience for yourself, but calling for an entire cultural purification isn't the answer.

And Clone Wars is still badass.

I know what you're saying.  Star Wars used to be cool, and now it isn't cool anymore.

There would only be one way to change it.  No Star Wars movies for 20-30 years.  No rereleases, no TV broadcasts, nothing. 

Then, restore and release the original versions of the trilogy restored in Blu-Ray and on 35mm film. 

That would get a whole generation hooked, the prequels would be forgotten, and Star Wars would be cool again.

[deleted]

I feel often that I'm siting in an odd place with my fandom because I grew up during the 90s when Star Wars was making it's come back and the prequels came out when I was in junior high and high school.  I had the original versions on VHS and my friend down the street had the special editions, and I use to always consider those versions to be some sacred treasure because I couldn't watch those whenever I wanted.  I remember running out and spending my allowance to buy the junior novelization of Phantom Menace and reading through it before the movie was released because I was to excited.  In fact, me and my friends actually went to see Revenge of the Sith on the same evening we had our last day of school.  So for me growing up, it was the classic version, the special editions, and the prequels that informed my youth.  I have a sense of nostalgia for both "old" and "new" Star Wars that I'll never be able to break.  As a gamer too, my favorite Star Wars games were the classic Super Star Wars games for SNES and the N64 era Shadows of the Empire, Rogue Squadron, Episode 1 Racer, and Battle for Naboo.  Both versions of Star Wars are there, and they are never going away, and I never want them to.

Darth Bizarro said:

I feel often that I'm siting in an odd place with my fandom because I grew up during the 90s when Star Wars was making it's come back and the prequels came out when I was in junior high and high school.  I had the original versions on VHS and my friend down the street had the special editions, and I use to always consider those versions to be some sacred treasure because I couldn't watch those whenever I wanted.  I remember running out and spending my allowance to buy the junior novelization of Phantom Menace and reading through it before the movie was released because I was to excited.  In fact, me and my friends actually went to see Revenge of the Sith on the same evening we had our last day of school.  So for me growing up, it was the classic version, the special editions, and the prequels that informed my youth.  I have a sense of nostalgia for both "old" and "new" Star Wars that I'll never be able to break.  As a gamer too, my favorite Star Wars games were the classic Super Star Wars games for SNES and the N64 era Shadows of the Empire, Rogue Squadron, Episode 1 Racer, and Battle for Naboo.  Both versions of Star Wars are there, and they are never going away, and I never want them to.

I have good memories of seeing Revenge of the Sith about 50 times during the Summer it came out too, and it was, undoubtedly, the best of the Prequels and does have its good moments.  Furthermore, Episode I did have some spectacular video games released with it.  Especially the arcade pod-racer game which I forget the name of.  However, as a child, the originals were always my favorites, and were never questioned as the pinnacles of cinematic entertainment in my youth.  I thought the Episode I film was really weird and unusual at the time, and when I first saw it at 6 I didn't really think it was "real" (as in part of the canon storyline), more like an alternate past or kid's movie showing a "nice little boy Darth Vader".  For Episode II, at that point I...well "awakened" so to say and found Natalie Portman/Padme to be quite...palatable... 

I genuinely loved ROTS, but the excessive CGI, awful Grevious, and the bad acting from old Hayden just doesn't work for me.  Does it lead up well to the original 1977 Star Wars...no.  Do I imagine Hayden beneath the helmet in the classic movies? Heck no.  I tried...but it just isn't there.  The OT and the PT are totally separate vehicles...never intertwining very well.  Sadly, Lucas thinks they do and tries to refit the OT to fit in with the much lesser PT. Sorry, but that's just not going to flow for me! 

DuracellEnergizer said:

Restore the OOT and make the EU more like it was pre-AOTC, and I'll be happy.

Couldn't agree more! Phantom Menace didn't really change the EU too much for the worse. How about prequel reboots? With minimal to no CGI and near-perfect accordance with the OT? And, of course, Star Wars OOT on Blu-Ray in 35/70 mm versions/mono/stereo/and 7.1 options...AND versions with the deleted scenes inserted? How about that? 

kamalayka said:

I'm only 23, and I've only been a Star Wars fan since around '97 or so, but even when I saw Ep. 1 I was disappointed.

The ending of Episode 3 was epic, though. For the first time, there was a sense of internal cosmetic consistency between the a prequel and the originals. (The computers were "old-fashioned" looking, with all the bells and whistles! Why Mr. Lucas. . . why couldn't that have been the look for the entirety of the prequel trilogy???)

 

http://youtu.be/c6bEs3dxjPg?t=3m48s

Mr. Lucas isn't a fan of Star Wars.  Plain and Simple.  Of course he likes his own creation and work, if not loves it.  But he can never sit down and watch Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi and sit and be "wowed" and entertained in the scope of the story.  For Lucas, I'm sure he watches the films and thinks "The team had a lot of difficulties getting this frame right...oh that landspeeder really didn't come out well...oh, why did I make a film this violent?" and so on and so forth.  He slavishly labored on Star Wars as a director, and even nearly had a heart attack with all of his pressure and hard work.  He doesn't have memories of seeing Star Wars for the first time in 1977 like some of these "original" SW fans have, or seeing it later on VHS or DVD as a kid (like me).  He remembers, dealing with actors who didn't get his creation, great budgetary constraints, production difficulties, and huge limitations in time, effects, and so much else.  

This explains a good deal of the alterations he has made from '97 onwards.  I can personally see him having re-done the Death Star sequence and Luke's landspeeder and the X-Wings in the background of the lone watchman on Yavin IV.  However, even these were unnecessary and didn't flow well with the film.  As for changes like the horrendous digital Jabba, "Han Shoots Second" (ugh), and all the Mos Eisley CGI and ridiculous over-expansion went completely against the scope of the film and destroyed much of its integrity. Replacing actors (Clive Revill and Sebastian Shaw) and so forth in the sequels (and much of the terrible ROTJ changes) don't make much sense and show that he may have had a personal resentment over much about his films and a possible (no longer) not-so-secret distaste for his initial fan base (the "original" fans who there from the beginning).  

Later on when making the Prequels, he abandoned all of his old methods and "tactics" and was self-admittedly all about crafting a totally new Star Wars for a totally new generation.  Did he really attempt to make Episode I for the fans who watched Star Wars in the May of 1977?  Or even us "prequel generation" kids who had already seen the O-OT a million times over already?  No!  We both knew that movie was an ugly duckling in a wider franchise when we first saw it.  We may have initially liked it, or later tried to accept it, and then completely discarded it (I did...I can't believe I found it better as an early teen than when it later came out...ugh...I was a "G-Canon" slave...).  

ROTS came close to looking like...how Star Wars should look.  But besides a few scenes and all (or parts thereof) it too didn't fit well, and ROTJ had to have the beloved Old Anakin replaced by the new to fit it in...

George Lucas, in the past two decades, has proven himself to be a near-tasteless fool.  I still sit back and try to reconcile the "Young George" and "Old George" as the single person "they" are, but it's just too difficult.  Someone who directed what is, in my opinion, the best film ever made, along with writing it along with its two great sequels....and then how he could trash them and make mediocre prequels...it's just all beyond me.  The Prequels should have been the cinematic highlights of the "Turn of the Century"/Early 2000s. It shouldn't have been Lord of the Rings that was the trilogy of that era, but the second set of Star Wars movies...No one expected such poor quality (except for SW haters to begin with...but he just dropped the ball).

And now we all have to live with the mistake(s) and are being forced to accept them as being equal to or greater than the Star Wars Trilogy.  

And I say...

NO 

kamalayka said:

I'm only 23

 2012 - 23 = 1989

:'(

once again, my heart aches for those that were not born early enough tp experience the glory years...never to know what they missed.

Exactly how I feel about it. (except The Clone Wars, as I have never seen it).

So true, Star Wars is taken much too seriously sometimes, personally I never have or do care about all the hoopla surrounding the films, my Star Wars interest starts and ends with mostly two films. And all the crap outside of that I couldn't care less about.

I agree that Star Wars has always been merchandised to death and was a "sell-out" from "year one" of the franchise.  However, is that not "American"? Wouldn't America's biggest modern myth be merchandised and sold like crazy?  As nutty as it sounds, I believe this element to Star Wars makes it even more of a quintessential element to America's cultural and "mythological" (if I may use the word) heritage...we are a bombastically consumerist culture after all, are we not?

Yes, The Holiday Special and much of the marketing-related products from Star Wars are just outright terrible.  However, Lucas pretty much denounced the Holiday Special nearly the second after he saw the finished product (if I remember correctly) and it was never ever aired again (officially) besides it's original TV broadcast in 1978.  Yes, it's a huge black-hole in the franchise, perhaps worse than anything Star Wars that has come since (besides Boba's introduction), but it was only on for one-day. 

The Prequels and The new Clone Wars show have been on...repeatedly and are very much a part of Lucas's canon.  They are not going away anytime soon...

Star Wars will always be merchandised to death as long as the franchise is alive.  I just hope the action figures, oven mitts, dolls, replicas, and undergarments represent characters, vehicles, planets, and settings of quality television shows/films/books/comics!  

To clarify, Star Wars isn't art.  I don't consider it that way in the least.  But it is a definitive film series to this nation's cultural history, and, as I see it, our modern myth.  I would rather it not continue to degrade (as I believe it is).  

I greatly appreciate the added history about how Star Wars wasn't always "perfect" or utopian even in the beginning.  It's vital any fan of the franchise know of the "early bird box", The Star Wars Holiday Special, the campy cast interviews and specials, and of course, the excessive merchandising and tie-ins.