Yeah but in terms of what filmmakers usually say and also in general terms I think I’m mostly on the mark. He’s not entirely wrong mind you I don’t think, but he’s definitely not right either, lol.
I think it’s hilarious and kinda charming that he saw SW at 10 and loved it, TESB at 13 and loved it, and then ROTJ at 16, hated it, and never thought to reconsider his angry teenage opinion, lol. Makes sense he pivoted to Dune, aka ‘proper adult sci-fi’. Anyway it’s such a specific opinion that only really people his age have. Those slightly younger than him love all 3, those much younger love all 3 and the prequels, the kids now love all 9, and it goes on…
A film should work within itself regardless of what Episode it is or something. ROTS is quite competent at establishing their relationship and what is it that falls apart - ditto for Anakin!s relationship to Padmé. Not a surprise it was reviewed more positively than all other Lucas SW films upon release - with the exception of the original.
Yes.
“Close the blast doors!” is a 1977 mono mix change by the way, which is in some respects the “final” mix.
Here’s a direct quote from J. W. Rinzler’s “The Making of Star Wars”:
In enlarging the treatment to what became a nearly two-hundred-page rough draft, Lucas was continually aided by the transference of his Apocalypse Now ideas to the fantasy realm. Some of his notes scribbled on yellow legal pads are: “Theme: Aquilae is a small independent country like North Vietnam threatened by a neighbor or provincial rebellion, instigated by gangsters aided by empire. Fight to get rightful planet back. Half of system has been lost to gangsters … The empire is like America ten years from now, after gangsters assassinated the Emperor and were elevated to power in a rigged election … We are at a turning point: fascism or revolution.”
This is from when he was piecing together what the movie would be about, and is pre-rough draft, so around Spring 1974. You must remember that Lucas wanted to make Apocalypse Now after THX 1138, and the only reason he dropped it was because no studio would make it. But Lucas really wanted to make it, and while I won’t say Star Wars is Apocalypse Now in space, to deny Lucas’ politics and ideas at the time and how they influenced Star Wars is just incredible. It’s definitively kept as subtext - the best part of Star Wars is how it’s so many things at the same time right, not just a western, or just sci-fi, or just fantasy, etc. - but it’s undeniable subtext I think, especially when viewed through the lens Lucas provided with his prequels.
It was always about the very technological imperial US, who at the time happened to be fighting Vietnam. Lucas talks about how the Empire is “10 years after Nixon makes a coup in America and becomes president forever” and stuff. In earlier drafts there’s even annotations like “Make Rebels more like the Viet Cong”. Leia’s hairstyle is reminiscent of Mexican revolutionaries, when it came time to pick an astronaut outfit for the Rebels Lucas decided to go for the Soviet orange versus the American white. Honestly baffling anyone would really dispute any of this, Lucas has been saying/writing/etc about all of this since forever. Not at all a contradiction or a rewrite of history.
Pretty sure Leia was 16 or 17 and Luke 20 - 22.
A perspective that can kind of make it all work for me is that Anakin does this stuff and hates himself for it.
We do see him struggle with guilt over the sand people (albeit in a badly written, painful-to-watch scene), so it’s in the text. But what’s crucial is that he wants to be a good Jedi and hero, that he knows what his responsibilities are, what’s expected of him. He isn’t overtly sociopathic - he cries about having done these monstrous things, and even in ROTS, just about his unbecoming feelings.
I think the evil he ends up doing - while contradictory to - can still inform, the colder more balanced Vader we get in the OT.
Anakin throughout the first half of ROTS defends the Jedi council and their doctrine to Palpatine; looks to it first, to Yoda, when having a crisis of faith. He performs The Hero, and his relationship with Obi-Wan is great: brothers with someone who thinks him to have grown wise, a good friend worthy yet to be a master. There is something re: his ambition for power there, but I think importantly with the context of his original sin (the Tusken massacre), a question also of absolution. And he clings to all of it. He yearns to be validated by the Order and find in himself that “hero” (to his 9 y/o self’s eyes) - up until it’s clear they would never let him in. Not because Mace doesn’t take him seriously, but because of what Anakin comes to accept about what he’s hiding.
When he chooses Palpatine, he’s making a deal with the devil to “save Padme’s life”, liberating himself from the [Jedi-informed] conscience he did have. It’s not that what he does from here “doesn’t count” but it’s not a reflection of who he is (well, idk, loaded philosophical question) or who he wants to be. Hayden crying is some of the most striking imagery in ROTS and it happens several times.
I think after burning down all that has caused him strife - good and bad - more than just an empty shell, is the motivation to meaningful affect control on his world. It is kind of a reset into the dignified agent of justice he wanted to be as a Jedi, just without the guardrails. And once again performing that role in cover and self-loathing of what more he’s done.
Absolutely excellent post.
Well if you’re taking requests hahah, I’d love to see the OUT-sync’d SE “Look sir, droids!” bit, I think what was accomplished there was really something, and I’d love to have this for a quick edit I’m putting together to watch with my girlfriend’s family.
Very interested Hal, thanks for sharing. By the way, I no longer see OT clips for editors on the Drive, do you plan to put those back up soon? Thanks.
Wishing you all the best ady! Hope you feel better soon. MTFBWY.
Loved seeing him up there and reading through all of the quotes, great stuff.
Finally saw it, unfortunate. After not caring about the Morgan ones for one second, I expected to really enjoy the Barriss ones much like I didn’t like the Ahsoka ones and liked the Dooku ones last time around. Sadly they were also a disappointment and the whole thing seems like such a big waste. Filoni is just seemingly terrified of going anywhere near any character that Lucas created, I guess he felt more comfortable with Dooku having written him/around him so much in TCW (ditto for Barriss which in this portrayal is a TCW OC in all but name) but I mean, Morgan?! Just do someone else! Bail Organa was right there, weirdly his appearances have been odd in Kenobi and non-existent in Andor, so there’s so much potential. Or like, Galen Erso escaping, some interesting Saw stuff. After seeing him in Bad Batch, Krennic! Heck, even Yoda or another missing Jedi. There were tons of options here, I think even if it was like Yularen and he ran into Filoni’s dear Ahsoka I’d still appreciate it more than this uninspired disappointment. What a waste.
Lucas is one of the great writer/directors of his generation, his two greatest films having 16 Oscar nominations between them, four for the man himself, both also running for Best Picture. It was when he was in Cannes in 1971 because his feature THX 1138 was competing in the Directors’ Fortnight category that he got the funding to develop and eventually make American Graffiti, which also eventually led to Star Wars. Not to mention his exceptional writer/producer record. It’s a shame we’re not allowed to watch the original cuts of his movies because of him at this day and age, but that will always only ever really be an asterisk for me at the end of the day when thinking about what he’s done and what he means to so many people, so I’m very happy to see George being honored like this, he really and truly deserves it.
As much as Lucas says they should be watched chronologically he made those movies with the OT in mind. Half of the interesting aspect of the PT is knowing exactly where everything and everyone will end up.
PixelJoker’s upcoming Kenobi edit might join the pantheon of greatest edits, we’ll see. Could also be too ambitious for its own good, but I hope not.
- Andor
- Rebels
- The Bad Batch
- The Mandalorian
- Clone Wars (2003)
- The Clone Wars (2008)
- Tales Of The Jedi
- Visions
- Obi-Wan Kenobi
- Resistance
- The Book Of Boba Fett
Updated with Ahsoka
I would argue it was either in TESB with Yoda, or definitely in ROTJ, with Ghost Anakin.
Wholeheartedly agree that Tartakovsky’s Clone Wars is the perfect 2.5, it fits with the movies better than Lucas and Filoni’s TCW, too, imo - though I recognize and respect what TCW does in terms of just playing with those characters and putting them in stories that maybe shares something interesting about them, with not that much care for an absolutely linear story to go along neatly with the movies.
But yeah, short answer, Tartakovsky micro-series.
Sabine doesn’t have solid Force potential, she has trash potential. Huyang states this multiple times in the show. But potential means very little.
Sabine had no hidden potential. Potential is overrated, and means very little. Training, will, belief and balance are everything. Always have been.
Paul Duncan has this sort of character profile on Boba Fett up on his YouTube channel: The Creation of Boba Fett - A detailed timeline of the character’s creation by Paul Duncan, but it does stop right at TESB. Boba is a weird character that only gets weird/worse the more he shows up, starting with ROTJ, then the prequels, and now in the Mandoverse. Quite odd.
Hi Nev, I PMd you about this a while ago and you mentioned it wasn’t available outside of the Spleen (which I don’t have
access to), has that changed?
I actually feel like this show is in a lot of ways trying to be for people who didn’t watch Rebels, though. It pulls this trick where there’s a new status quo as a refresh. The previous backstory becomes incidental exposition in service of a New Story.
For example, Sabine and Ahsoka’s history isn’t something Rebels watchers would be familiar with. New audiences and Rebels fans got that information at the same time. Functionally, the reception of that isn’t going to be that different between the two audiences. It’s a whole new dynamic we’re all on the same page of being introduced to.
This becomes the excuse through which the creative team can adapt and change certain things. Sabine is a slightly different character in these new dynamics. Ahsoka’s balance and zen is re-interpreted as overly detached; a character flaw as opposed to culmination. All of a sudden Thrawn isn’t just a smart Imperial who won battles, he’s Palpatine’s heir apparent. These things aren’t being worked through off of Rebels nor are they just picking up where it was left, they’re retcons in context, entirely new material out of it.
I think this is all a bad thing, btw. The show’s dialogue is overly expositional in service of this storytelling mode, and if the characters don’t feel entirely familiar, they’re play acting long-term relationships that haven’t been fleshed out anywhere, just told to us existed at some point. It’s more unnatural as a continuation of Rebels than it is as its own thing.
Excellent post.