Rekindling My Nerd Heritage

1.

The news came down recently that George Lucas sold his control of his Star Wars properties to Disney for a tidy sum. Fanboys, nerds, and regular fans of the Star Wars franchise started to imagine what having Disney in charge of the characters and universe meant in the big picture.

Surprisingly, the news was met with mostly good vibes. Really, as I told my mother when she was surprised that my brother wasn't more upset, Disney didn't invent Jar-Jar Binks, they seem to be able to make pretty good big action films (The Avengers was big hit, right?), and they seem to be able to find people who truly love the material. Did you ever get that feeling from Lucas, the High Lord of the Far Far Away Galaxy himself?

A website I follow had a movie sequel contest this summer, and in the finals were The Godfather Part II vs The Empire Strikes Back. That struck me a bit. I hadn't really ever considered The Empire Strikes Back as a great sequel before, but that's mainly due to my lack of intellectual attention paid towards the original trilogy after I became "too-cool" for Star Wars.

During my time collecting comic books, back when it was still a hobby you didn't talk about at school, I started picking up a series of Dark Horse books from the Star Wars universe called "Tales of the Jedi". It took place a thousand years before the events of the the movies, and was the last thing I think I genuinely and authentically cared about from the Star Wars universe.

2.

Summer 1976. An annoyed group of young nobody actors are busy running around Tunis, talking about some magic, er, stuff. They think they're making a science fiction movie, at least that's what they're being told, but there's also a space pirate and a guy in big dog suit and a old wizard, there are swords that are made of light (people have a hard time imagining that), and annoying robot sidekicks. The old wizard is a real actor, though, a well respected British guy.

Up until then, science fiction movies were either 2001: A Space Odyssey or Flash Gordon, with very little in between, and maybe a Planet of the Apes thrown in for good measure.

The crew and actors working on this strange project end up over budget and over schedule. The release date was supposed to be Christmas of 1976, but that's moved back to Summer 1977. Eventually, in order to avoid another movie, the release is moved up to Memorial Day weekend, at the end of May in 1977. 

All the post-production work has been finished, a whole new kind of special effect is about to be unleashed on the movie-going public, a mythology lesson is about to be interpreted anew, and the symphony will be making a triumphant return to film scores. Who knew?

3.

The filmmakers knew that if the opening of the film worked, they would have the audience. If the audience bought that first scene, the whole ride might just work. 

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...

Then the score starts. I know John Williams is a thieving conductor--this has been established--but the tweaks that he implemented on his major scores (Superman, Indiana Jones, and here, maybe the greatest of his ever) made what he was thieving so much better, turning them into icons of big-action cinema.

But the score starts, the scrolling words setting up the universe's main conceit--badguys vs rebels--and then we get a planet. A ship flies by, dodging laser blasts, and is tailed by another ship, a larger ship, a much larger ship, a ship that keeps going and going and the audience's eyes widen as it continues to fill up the screen, the dread of just how bad the badguys are starts to be crystallize.

The audience bought it. Fully.

4.

Between the sequel contest online and the news of the property rights changing hands, I decided I wanted to go and watch the original trilogy again with fresh eyes. I was going to watch them as if I knew nothing about the history, as if I grew up with none of the toys, as if I only was only aware of the sci-fi that was around in 1977.

We all know the story, right? Maybe? Lucas had a story that was too long, figured he could get the first act of his big story done, and figured he could retain the rights to his sequels if he figured out how to fund it himself. Lucas got that first installment down to two hours, the first act of a larger story.

One of the remarkable things about the structure of all three of the movies is their rigidity of form. Star Wars: almost exactly two hours. Ditto for The Empire Strikes Back. The Return of the Jedi is just a few minutes over, like maybe 126 minutes. Now, the fact that  they're only two hours each is important for this reason: act breaks.

Two hours is 120 minutes, and if you break that up into thirds, you get 40 minutes. George Lucas breaks up each of the moves into three almost exactly forty minute acts. I used to think that Star Wars, the first film, was slow. I came to this conclusion in 1997 when the newer version was released. After seeing it again, just recently, I realized that I was mistaken. The first act of the first movie gets a lot of the universe explained without having almost any direct expository dialogue.

What am I getting at? Check out Star Wars: at the exact 40 minute-mark, Luke finds the corpses of his guardians. End of Act I. He still needs to meet Han Solo and take off for Alderan, but that's structure for you. They end up in the trash heap at the 80th minute, but by minute 93, they're off the Deathstar and Obi-Wan is dead. End of Act II. And how about the end of the film? Deathstar get's blown up, they get the medals, and then the credits roll. No lingering.

Empire Strikes Back: 36th minute has Luke done with Hoth and heading to Yoda's, and at the 40th minute, Han and Falcon find their hiding spot on the big asteroid. End of Act I. At the 78 minute-mark, Han enters Bespin, the cloud city, and we're introduced to Lando in exactly minute 80. A few minutes later, at 85, Luke is leaving Yoda, against the tiny puppet's wishes. End of Act II.

Return of the Jedi: Jabba's dead and Han's rescued by minute 37. Luke heads off to meet up with Yoda while Han, Chewie, Leia and Lando go to the new rebel base. End of Act I. Guess what happens in exactly the 80th minute? Luke tells Leia they're siblings. End of Act II.

It's a pacing clinic.

5.

Star Wars went on to be the biggest money maker ever in Hollywood's history up til then. Lucas knew that now since held the rights to the sequels, he could do them how he wanted, and he knew that he could get the money he would need to make the movies he wanted to make. This sets up the sequel, 1980's The Empire Strikes Back.

How could George Lucas keep the audience intrigued and not cynical about a cash-cow movie franchise? Well, by making probably the most daring and dark sequel ever. People would have gladly paid to go see a rehash of the themes from the first movie. After seeing it they might be upset that Lucas caved and barely updated the first movie, but they would have gone.

Instead, Lucas grew the universe, then shattered it into pieces, changed the dynamic of the main characters, and dropped a bombshell. The ending didn't have a physical climax so much as an emotional one, and in any case, their universe was a far less settled one than at the beginning of the movie. That, and the entire second act itself hinges on whether or not you believe in a puppet character.

That takes a certain kind of balls to go for it like that. I respect that. The Empire Strikes Back won the contest for Best Movie Sequel, and, as I like The Godfather Part II more, this is a worthy adversary.

6.

I was four years old when The Return of the Jedi was released in 1983. I may have seen it in the theater (maybe not), but, between the toys and the VHS cassettes my brother and I had, if we were going to watch any of the three Star Wars films on a rainy weekend day, it would almost always be Return of the Jedi. The first was a little slow for us and the second was a bummer. The third wrapped up all the shenanigans, Han Solo was back, he was rightfully with Leia, Luke bests Vader, and also, Jabba the Hutt. Leia in the brass bikini slave-girl outfit? How many guys nowadays were effected by that Leia portrayal?

I can say that The Return of the Jedi was the episode that I've seen the most times (episodes II and III I've seen each only once)(well, mostly once, as I was likely pretty toasted before each one and we were late to II).

As a sequel, it again grows the universe. It again pushes forward the technology. And, if we picture the first three movies as an act each of a larger story (the redemption of Darth Vader), then Return of the Jedi is the loose-end tying uplifting third act. 

As a sequel, though, it doesn't stand up to the Empire Strikes Back.

7.

My connection to the films, like many guys my age, stems in part from the action figures and toys.

I dusted mine off for the following photos. This first is one of the older toys in this collection, a beast that wasn't actually, even though it was thought up and designed. Later on, George Lucas added it back during his remixing of his movies:

I'm not even sure what this creature was called. But check out the date on this toy--it's older than the Empire Strikes Back:

Now here's the remnants of my action figures:

How many characters can we name? There's forest walker operator, a storm-trooper, Bib Fortuna, two imperial guards (one with his robe taken off), the Rancor keeper, a version of Han, a headless Adm. Akbar, the squid-faced guy from Jabba's barge. Not mentioned yet is a Leia and a Lando, both from Bespin, the cloud city. Notice how those are the only two characters from Empire..., while all the other figures, besides the big lizard, are from Return of the Jedi? My connection to the toys...

When I showed Corrie what toys I still had, she laughed and said I was spoiled.

Here's one of the forest speeders. It originally had three or four pieces, and a button in the back that would cause it to fall apart, reminiscent of the scene where Luke light-sabers a speeder into pieces as it flies by. Pretty sophisticated:

Funny thing it, I lost those other pieces while I was still a kid playing with them regularly.

I also had two separate Luke Skywalkers from Return of the Jedi. The odd part, though, is that they're different versions of Luke wearing the balck outfit. The first is from the Jabba rescue, and the second is from the confrontation with Vader and the Emperor:

The newer trilogy makes it interesting that we should be alarmed maybe that Luke has decided to wear black. Jedis in black is not good news, right?

The older two action figures:

I did have a Luke from Hoth, the ice planet. But I through it up in the air and then I never saw it again. Don't ask...

8.

So, now, an older guy, me, sitting with his lady, pretending we know nothing about an iconic film franchise, and popping in some sci-fi movie and taking a look.

The music! It blows you away; each main character has a theme, and the themes are different but connected; plaintive longing is beating you over the head, and the badguy music is romping and stomping and chewing scenery like an aged actor. The music is almost silly in how manipulative it is.

There's a rebellion, there's a Rick Blaine-type pirate, who seems like it's just the guy named Harrison Forn playing himself. Actually, everyone seems to be playing themselves: Carrie Fisher was Hollywood royalty--she played a princess; Ford was a smug pretty boy--ditto; Mark Hamil was a wide-eyed goon--he was, eh, a wide-eyed goon...

The story's weird, romantic, and seems like its mythological archetypes are playing out in practice. Funny thing is, it works, pretty much. The technology is old and worn out, lived in. It seems like no other sci-fi movie when it comes to the shabbiness of the space crafts. (Now that's cliche: Firefly?)

The action! Wow! Who cares that space crafts wouldn't fly and operate like that in reality. This filmmaker made a space dogfight that keeps dynamic action going in ever scene with the space background. Good stuff, impressive still; impressive for anytime, really.

9.

The execution of the three movies blew us away once we were done watching them. The sets were big and baroque when they needed to be, small and shabby when that was needed, and just the right touch everywhere in between. Besides some poor "acting", these movies are more entertaining that I remember.

10.

There's a lot of talk about the lack of women in this original trilogy. This is a warranted position. Compare it with Firefly and Serenity...but that's not really fair to Star Wars, but neither is the lack of ladies.

That being said, Princess Leia is a strong woman, a resourceful leader and role model for the ladies. Even in the gold bikini that so bewitched us young boys.

11.

The only stuff that didn't work so well was the new stuff added later, that decades later meddling by Lucas and his computers. I wanted the original singer at Jabba's. I wanted the original celebration song on Endor. What can you do? That computerized graphics added later look bad, at least by today's standard. The old stuff holds up so much better than that plastic cartoony stuff.

Who'd a thought the computer graphics wouldn't fit as well as the models and blue screens?

12.

I spent a long time with a proverbial stink-eye pointed towards Lucas and his meddling in his own properties and his reboots. I ignored as much of the hype as I could, and was derisive at other times. Eventually I decided to check out the movies again, if only to point a more critical eye towards them. I found my nerd heritage being rekindled.

That was unexpected, like how much I enjoyed the movies and their universe this "second" time around.