Fan Service

I hear the words 'fan service' tossed around alot, usually meaning something GL tossed into the films as a little 'gift' to the fans. Usually I hear people say this is a bad thing. Here are my thoughts on some of the 'fan service' in the saga.


THE GOOD:

Admiral Piett. This dude is my favorite character in ESB. According to wookiepedia he wasn't supposed to be in ROTJ but Lucas put him in it because of the surprising fan response to our nervous commander. I think it benefits the film a great deal.

The Outrider: Adding the EU ship from Shadows of the Empire into "Star Wars" special edition seems to be controversial. I don't see why. Admittedly we all seem to have mixed feelings on all the additions to the SE, but if Lucas was going to add a CGI ship to Mos Eisly, why not make it the Outrider? It's cool for the few fans who can recognize it, and it's just another ship to the vast majority who don't.

Millenium Falcon in ROTS: Seriously, it's almost invisible but it is kinda cool if you're eagle eyed.

THE BAD:

Chewie in ROTS: Not just because Yoda's awkward namedropping so the audience would recognize him, what really sucks about it is that Chewie never mentions to Luke 'I used to hang with a Jedi master named Yoda. Little green dude. If you ever see him say hi.' If Chewie was personal friends with the greatest Jedi of all time, I think that deserved a mention.

Baby Boba: When I, like all fans, thought Boba Fett was awesome, I never said to myself, "I bet he has a wacky and tragic backstory that needs to be explored." Making him the clone of a bounty hunter so awesome he's the basis for the entire galactic army makes what Boba actually is, a minor villain who forwards the plot, seem anticlimactic. It's weird to give such a minor thug an epic origin. I understand that Boba is ridiculously popular, but this just didn't seem to work.

THE UGLY:
Boba in ROTJ: Boba, a minor goon, was very popular. It makes sense that the hated baddie could get his comeuppance in the next movie. In my opinion, there's no problem with Boba getting offed in Act 1 of ROTJ, now serving as a lacky to Jabba the way he had been Vader's lackey, but I understand the distaste many have for the actual execution of the fan service, with Fett's death being played for laughs.

Did I miss any? Am I deluded, and they're all terrible? Thoughts?

I wasn't a fan of the Outrider simply because "Shadows of the Empire" sucks.  It's unnecessary, and adds a lot of complicated bullshit that makes no sense to a period between films that should have been pretty straightforward.

For example, did we *really* need an explanation for why Chewie's hair looked a little different?  Did we really need a Han Solo clone, just so we could have Han Solo in the book by proxy?

Then there was Xizor ... ugh ... I could go on and on ...

And I do hate Boba in ROTJ, simply because he serves no purpose whatsoever.  Piett in ROTJ was awesome, because he did what he was supposed to do, and it didnt contradict his ESB character.  I can't say the same for Fett.  He does nothing but stand around and get killed.

TheBoost said:

I hear the words 'fan service' tossed around alot, usually meaning something GL tossed into the films as a little 'gift' to the fans. Usually I hear people say this is a bad thing. Here are my thoughts on some of the 'fan service' in the saga.


THE GOOD:

Admiral Piett. This dude is my favorite character in ESB. According to wookiepedia he wasn't supposed to be in ROTJ but Lucas put him in it because of the surprising fan response to our nervous commander. I think it benefits the film a great deal.

The Outrider: Adding the EU ship from Shadows of the Empire into "Star Wars" special edition seems to be controversial. I don't see why. Admittedly we all seem to have mixed feelings on all the additions to the SE, but if Lucas was going to add a CGI ship to Mos Eisly, why not make it the Outrider? It's cool for the few fans who can recognize it, and it's just another ship to the vast majority who don't.

Millenium Falcon in ROTS: Seriously, it's almost invisible but it is kinda cool if you're eagle eyed.

THE BAD:

Chewie in ROTS: Not just because Yoda's awkward namedropping so the audience would recognize him, what really sucks about it is that Chewie never mentions to Luke 'I used to hang with a Jedi master named Yoda. Little green dude. If you ever see him say hi.' If Chewie was personal friends with the greatest Jedi of all time, I think that deserved a mention.

Baby Boba: When I, like all fans, thought Boba Fett was awesome, I never said to myself, "I bet he has a wacky and tragic backstory that needs to be explored." Making him the clone of a bounty hunter so awesome he's the basis for the entire galactic army makes what Boba actually is, a minor villain who forwards the plot, seem anticlimactic. It's weird to give such a minor thug an epic origin. I understand that Boba is ridiculously popular, but this just didn't seem to work.

THE UGLY:
Boba in ROTJ: Boba, a minor goon, was very popular. It makes sense that the hated baddie could get his comeuppance in the next movie. In my opinion, there's no problem with Boba getting offed in Act 1 of ROTJ, now serving as a lacky to Jabba the way he had been Vader's lackey, but I understand the distaste many have for the actual execution of the fan service, with Fett's death being played for laughs.

Did I miss any? Am I deluded, and they're all terrible? Thoughts?

Piett is a good character. Having him in ROTJ was good. Though I'd have preferred if he'd survived.

The Outrider being stuffed into ANH pisses me off. EU stuff does not belong in the OT. This is another SE insult to Star Wars as far as I'm concerned. 

Chewie in ROTS was stupid. One of these make-the-galaxy-smaller things. It's bullshit.

The whole AOTC Boba Fett story was stupid bullshit. Also, if you know what Jango is like in the EU, he's really annoying. Jango is supposed to be so awesomely superhumanly cool that he kills a whole load of Jedi with his bare hands.

Boba Fett in ROTJ was cool, specifically him getting killed off. Very satisfying. Though I'd have liked it more if Han had beaten him in a proper fight.

ChainsawAsh said:

I wasn't a fan of the Outrider simply because "Shadows of the Empire" sucks.  It's unnecessary, and adds a lot of complicated bullshit that makes no sense to a period between films that should have been pretty straightforward.

For example, did we *really* need an explanation for why Chewie's hair looked a little different?  Did we really need a Han Solo clone, just so we could have Han Solo in the book by proxy?

Then there was Xizor ... ugh ... I could go on and on ...

I agree with all that. Shadows gets on my nerves.

vote_for_palpatine said:

 

Supposedly, in AOTC they had a X-Wing pursuing a TIE, or vice versa. I never could see the damn things.

The ET's in the senate...no comment necessary.

I consider Darth Vader in the OT suit twenty years before Star Wars and towel-faced Palpatine to be fan service, both of them shitty. Ditto Yoda's fighting and constantly talking backwards.

I can't imagine what Yoda's introduction would have sounded like in PT-speak:

"Still...I feel like-"

"What, feel like?"

"Like we're being watched!"

"Away put your weapon! No harm, I mean you! Wondering, I am - here, why are you?"

***

Or, as Obi-Wan and Yoda discuss Luke's future:

"Teach him, I cannot. No patience, the boy has."

"Reckless, ARE YOU!!!"

Off-topic, there's an ad for a Rifftrax SW Holiday Special. I hate when they take on such easy targets.

Yoda talking backward worked in the OT, when there was some fun to the character. But the dour pompous PT Yoda was just annoying when backward he talked.

Yoda's fighting is described on wookieepedia as being "popular" with people. Wtf? That's a disturbing thought. People actually LIKED Yoda bouncing around howling? And why was he howling? That doesn't fit the character at all.

The Emperor's makeup in ROTS was crap. They got it right in ROTJ, so they could get it right in ROTS, if they had to do it at all.

Anakin being reconstructed as the suited Vader was done in a very artificial and unintelligent way in ROTS. I do think he would have been in some form of the suit back then, though.

Well, I remember people actually saying that Yoda fighting in AOTC was one of their favorite parts when it first came out. And yes, the emperor's makeup in ROTS makes him look like some lizard creature, plus I found it jarring that the emperor had a lightsaber in the first place. It's like one second, he is sitting in his chair, and then he's running around like some bigger version of Yoda! The real icing on the cake when both the emperor and Yoda were in a lightsaber duel together, which should have never happened in the first place; it simply indicates lazy writing when you have one pointless fighting scene follow another pointless fighting scene. Oh Well, ROTS was nothing more than a vanity project for Lucas...

...essentially making Yoda a greater villian than Palpatine by letting the Empire run for 20 years.