Peculiar Sleep and Star Wars Stuff
Mar. 21st, 2006 09:54 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
the_gneechI'm sure that anybody out there who actually pays attention to my silly journal has noticed that I've been pretty quiet by comparison the past couple of weeks. Every once in a while, particularly when I'm being bombarded by a lot of stoopid at work, I withdraw from creative endeavors and go into a kind of hermit mode where all I think about is RPGs, sword-and-sorcery, Star Wars, or some combination thereof.
I think my current hibernation is drawing to a close; last night I slept so hard that any deeper sleep would be referred to as "a coma," and today, while I'm still a little groggy this morning, I'm feeling a bit more focused on art and writing. Since I finally got the new scanner last night, now is a good time to reconnect. :)
While off in hermitland, I watched all six Star Wars movies with the commentary track turned on. It had some interesting insights (well, interesting to me, anyway), but to protect the non-SW geeks out there from being traumatized, I'll hide them behind a cut.
The death of Boba Fett: On RotJ, George Lucas commented that he considered Boba Fett's death scene to be a "mis-step." The popularity of Boba Fett completely blindsided him, apparently ... his attitude was basically one of "Boba Fett's a minion ... dispose of him quickly so we can get on to the important stuff." If he'd realized that so many people would be so disappointed, he would have given Fett "a cooler death" -- which is presumably why Jango got to do all those "rocket launcher/flamethrower etc" bits in Attack of the Clones. Fett's backstory in the original trilogy boiled down to, "He's a stormtrooper clone who, for whatever reason, is not part of the Empire." Making him the "son" of the original stormtrooper template was something they came up with when making Clones. Lucas addressed the EU concept that Fett climbed up out of the Sarlacc pit -- "Most fans don't really believe that he's dead. I thought about adding a scene to the special edition of him climbing up out of the pit, but decided it really didn't fit the movie. Most fans assume that's what happened anyway."
The death of Jango Fett: A concept that didn't come across clearly is that when he gets trampled by the reek, it damages his jet pack -- which is why he didn't fly away from Mace Windu. For the DVD release they added sparks on the jet pack and a flameout attempt to take off, but it's still real easy to miss. So if we assume that the wrist-mounted flamethrower only has one shot (which he uses earlier in the fight), Jango's death makes a bit more sense.
Jar-Jar Binks: Lucas still loves Jar-Jar, and presumably always will. To hear him cooing over Jar-Jar in Phantom Menace just makes you groan. But it's not that he loves Jar-Jar as a character, he loves Jar-Jar as a technical achievement.
Making the Kessel Run in 12 Parsecs: Apparently, there was a real reason for this line. Lucas's original concept for hyperspace travel (as expressed by Han's line re: bouncing to close to a supernova) was that to get somewhere quickly you had to have super-precise navigation to "miss" all the stuff in between and still go in as close to a straight line as possible. What makes the Millenium Falcon fast isn't the ship's engines, it's the ship's amazing navicomputer, "peculiar dialect" and all. This is one of the instances of Lucas' "just drop you into an unfamiliar setting and go" philosophy going overboard. If you're going to use a unit of distance (parsec) to describe how "fast" a ship is, you need to make it clear why you're doing it, or it just sounds like you don't know what you're talking about!
Midichlorians: Lucas sayeth that midichlorians were in the first draft and got edited out of the original Star Wars for time considerations. They are supposed to represent the "physical mechanism" side of the Force, i.e., the genetic angle of why it runs in families etc.
Ewoks as disposable distraction: Apparently the idea of the Endor battle was not that 'the Ewoks defeated the Empire.' The idea was supposed to be that they basically stood no chance -- but that they were a distraction so the Rebels could get into the bunker. (Think the battle of the Black Gate so Sam and Frodo could destroy the Ring.) To hear Lucas talk, the Ewoks are decimated and suffer all sorts of heavy casualties -- to which my response is, "Two dead Ewoks do not heavy casualties make." I don't know if they softened it down to avoid freaking out the kiddies, or what ... but Ewok-as-pict is a lot more appealing a notion to my mind than "Aww, da fuzzy widdle bears conquered the galaxy!"
The battle of Coruscant is NOT a space battle: The ship battle at the beginning of Revenge of the Sith is supposed to be taking place in the upper reaches of Coruscant's atmosphere, rather than out in space. That's why, for example, the inert buzzdroid is pulled off of Anakin's wing by wind resistance -- because there is actually supposed to be wind. This is another one of those "Oooooh! Well you coulda made that clearer!" moments, at least for me.
Wooden dialog and awkward love scenes: Lucas sayeth that these elements were intentional as part of the throwback to '30s serials. In particular he comments about Han & Leia's love scenes, "In those old serials there wasn't a lot of romance. It was basically 'Oh, you're the heroine? Well, I'm the hero, let's be in love now.'" Having watched some serials, I can see that. But I can also see it being a smokescreen. So who knows?
What interests me the most about it all is that from the POV of a writer/creator, I can totally sympathise with Lucas on some of these points -- "Boba's kinda cool but he's not important" coincides nicely with thought's I've had along the lines of "Dover's a funny gag but not that interesting a character" for instance. At the same time, from the POV of a fan, I want to say to him, "Are you crazy? Of COURSE Boba Fett has to have a cool death -- it totally undermines the heroes if you just sweep an important foe under the rug like that!" We creators have to remember that the story we're trying to tell, is not necessarily the story the audience will connect with, nor necessarily the story they want to hear ... and be prepared to deal with that one way or another.
-The Gneech
I think my current hibernation is drawing to a close; last night I slept so hard that any deeper sleep would be referred to as "a coma," and today, while I'm still a little groggy this morning, I'm feeling a bit more focused on art and writing. Since I finally got the new scanner last night, now is a good time to reconnect. :)
While off in hermitland, I watched all six Star Wars movies with the commentary track turned on. It had some interesting insights (well, interesting to me, anyway), but to protect the non-SW geeks out there from being traumatized, I'll hide them behind a cut.
The death of Boba Fett: On RotJ, George Lucas commented that he considered Boba Fett's death scene to be a "mis-step." The popularity of Boba Fett completely blindsided him, apparently ... his attitude was basically one of "Boba Fett's a minion ... dispose of him quickly so we can get on to the important stuff." If he'd realized that so many people would be so disappointed, he would have given Fett "a cooler death" -- which is presumably why Jango got to do all those "rocket launcher/flamethrower etc" bits in Attack of the Clones. Fett's backstory in the original trilogy boiled down to, "He's a stormtrooper clone who, for whatever reason, is not part of the Empire." Making him the "son" of the original stormtrooper template was something they came up with when making Clones. Lucas addressed the EU concept that Fett climbed up out of the Sarlacc pit -- "Most fans don't really believe that he's dead. I thought about adding a scene to the special edition of him climbing up out of the pit, but decided it really didn't fit the movie. Most fans assume that's what happened anyway."
The death of Jango Fett: A concept that didn't come across clearly is that when he gets trampled by the reek, it damages his jet pack -- which is why he didn't fly away from Mace Windu. For the DVD release they added sparks on the jet pack and a flameout attempt to take off, but it's still real easy to miss. So if we assume that the wrist-mounted flamethrower only has one shot (which he uses earlier in the fight), Jango's death makes a bit more sense.
Jar-Jar Binks: Lucas still loves Jar-Jar, and presumably always will. To hear him cooing over Jar-Jar in Phantom Menace just makes you groan. But it's not that he loves Jar-Jar as a character, he loves Jar-Jar as a technical achievement.
Making the Kessel Run in 12 Parsecs: Apparently, there was a real reason for this line. Lucas's original concept for hyperspace travel (as expressed by Han's line re: bouncing to close to a supernova) was that to get somewhere quickly you had to have super-precise navigation to "miss" all the stuff in between and still go in as close to a straight line as possible. What makes the Millenium Falcon fast isn't the ship's engines, it's the ship's amazing navicomputer, "peculiar dialect" and all. This is one of the instances of Lucas' "just drop you into an unfamiliar setting and go" philosophy going overboard. If you're going to use a unit of distance (parsec) to describe how "fast" a ship is, you need to make it clear why you're doing it, or it just sounds like you don't know what you're talking about!
Midichlorians: Lucas sayeth that midichlorians were in the first draft and got edited out of the original Star Wars for time considerations. They are supposed to represent the "physical mechanism" side of the Force, i.e., the genetic angle of why it runs in families etc.
Ewoks as disposable distraction: Apparently the idea of the Endor battle was not that 'the Ewoks defeated the Empire.' The idea was supposed to be that they basically stood no chance -- but that they were a distraction so the Rebels could get into the bunker. (Think the battle of the Black Gate so Sam and Frodo could destroy the Ring.) To hear Lucas talk, the Ewoks are decimated and suffer all sorts of heavy casualties -- to which my response is, "Two dead Ewoks do not heavy casualties make." I don't know if they softened it down to avoid freaking out the kiddies, or what ... but Ewok-as-pict is a lot more appealing a notion to my mind than "Aww, da fuzzy widdle bears conquered the galaxy!"
The battle of Coruscant is NOT a space battle: The ship battle at the beginning of Revenge of the Sith is supposed to be taking place in the upper reaches of Coruscant's atmosphere, rather than out in space. That's why, for example, the inert buzzdroid is pulled off of Anakin's wing by wind resistance -- because there is actually supposed to be wind. This is another one of those "Oooooh! Well you coulda made that clearer!" moments, at least for me.
Wooden dialog and awkward love scenes: Lucas sayeth that these elements were intentional as part of the throwback to '30s serials. In particular he comments about Han & Leia's love scenes, "In those old serials there wasn't a lot of romance. It was basically 'Oh, you're the heroine? Well, I'm the hero, let's be in love now.'" Having watched some serials, I can see that. But I can also see it being a smokescreen. So who knows?
What interests me the most about it all is that from the POV of a writer/creator, I can totally sympathise with Lucas on some of these points -- "Boba's kinda cool but he's not important" coincides nicely with thought's I've had along the lines of "Dover's a funny gag but not that interesting a character" for instance. At the same time, from the POV of a fan, I want to say to him, "Are you crazy? Of COURSE Boba Fett has to have a cool death -- it totally undermines the heroes if you just sweep an important foe under the rug like that!" We creators have to remember that the story we're trying to tell, is not necessarily the story the audience will connect with, nor necessarily the story they want to hear ... and be prepared to deal with that one way or another.
-The Gneech
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no subject
Date: 2006-03-21 03:12 pm (UTC)He seems to, since the advent of the prequels, be "revising history" a good deal. It doesn't matter if, for example, Midichlorians were in the first draft of Star Wars or not. With no previous mention of them in the original trilogy, they just come off as some weird thing added in later. What, by the time of Luke's story, Obi-Wan and Yoda are senile, and have forgotten they exist? If one writes something out of the movies in the first place, then they probably weren't worth bringing into the prequels.
You can't insist to your fans that you meant "this" even though, on the screen, it looks like "that" happened, because what's important is the work itself, not the creator's rantings, I'm afraid. It's what's on the film that has stuck around for nearly 30 years, not the editorial comments by Lucas.
What if (and I'm not making a comparison in everlasting quality here, mind) Leonardo da Vinci had spent the remainder of his life insisting that The Last Supper had a woman in it, but you couldn't really tell cause his execution of the art was imprecise...
Oh - and I'm glad you're feeling more focused. I think most creative-types have cycles like this, where they need to recharge the creative batteries.
no subject
Date: 2006-03-21 03:43 pm (UTC)Well, I'd hardly put it that way ... jumping up and down is not his style. ;) He doesn't address the Han/Greedo thing at all in the commentary, actually.
Well, I'd take him at his word, because I've been in the same position myself. I'm not sure what else one would be expected to do. Intention trumps interpretation, AFAIC.
There's a difference, tho, between something being changed, and something being unclear. The Han/Greedo thing is a revision, and not a good one in my opinion; it's not the same as a point that just wasn't made clearly (e.g., the Ewoks or Jango's jetpack).
-The Gneech
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Date: 2006-03-21 04:19 pm (UTC)I love author/creator commentary, please don't get me wrong. I love to know what the creators are thinking, and what they really meant, etc... but the film is the record, right? It is the finished piece. He seems to be (okay, the jumping up and down was my exaggeration of it) insisting that his intent, even when it doesn't come clear, is all that matters, and that we should all study his notes before we watch the movie so we're seeing it through his eyes.
I couldn't go to my Literature Prof and say "here's my thesis paper. It doesn't really say what I wanted it to say. Here's the additional commentary that explains my paper to you, even when it seems to contradict what's in the paper, the commentary is the correct version. 'k?" They would have laughed at me. The professor would have said, correctly so, that any creative work I did had better stand on its own merit, without a lot of outside interference from me necessary, if I expected a good grade.
Are they fun movies? Heck yeah. Are they consistent with one another? No. So if he was trying to create a fun movie that tells an awesome and often powerful story, with cool action scenes and special effects, he gets an "A" on the merits of the films alone. But if he's trying to use outside influence on how the viewer sees the movie to convince us that consistency is there, when it's not, really.. he gets a "C" no matter how much he talks, because what he insists is in there just isn't supported very well.
You want to show that the jetpack was damaged? Then show it the first time.. or stand by the product you produced, and that millions of people paid money to see. Otherwise, accept your "C" grade and move on to the next project.
I'm all for taking him at his word, and sure, it's nice to know what the creator was thinking/feeling/etc. It can certainly color your perceptions of the art in question more to the creator's way of thinking by adding a "filter," so to speak, based on your knowledge of their intent.
But I'm not going to tell an 8-year-old who's watching the films for the first time that his interpretation of the film is wrong, either, which is what George Lucas seems to be saying, if not loudly, then repeatedly. And that's a shame. It adds drama where there really doesn't need to be any, and takes away from the films by associating negative schmutz where it doesn't really need to be.
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Date: 2006-03-21 04:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-21 03:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-21 03:29 pm (UTC)-TG
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Date: 2006-03-21 03:55 pm (UTC)(Dover in Boba Fett outfit) Set Exclaimation = "Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!";
*THUMP*
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Date: 2006-03-21 04:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-21 03:41 pm (UTC)Lucas may say that now, but that's not what was in the original script. :) The scene, as scripted, was supposed to go something like this:
HAN SOLO:
You've never heard of the Millennium Falcon?
OBI-WAN:
Should I have?
HAN SOLO:
It's the ship that made the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs.
(OBI-WAN REACTS to Han Solo's obvious attempt to impress him with misinformation.)
HAN SOLO:
...She's fast enough for you, old man.
Unfortunately, a bit of badly-timed film editing meant that Alec Guinness' reaction didn't really come through as well as it could have. If you watch closely and don't blink, though, you can still catch a hint of an expression which was meant to indicate that Obi-Wan saw right through Han's boast. :-)
Everything else since then is just ret-conning.
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Date: 2006-03-21 03:44 pm (UTC)-TG
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Date: 2006-03-21 08:33 pm (UTC)This explanation can also be found here (http://www.starwars.com/databank/location/kessel/?id=bts), at StarWars.com, which says:
And since StarWars.com is part of the Official Star Wars Fanclub, which is owned/maintained by Lucasfilm, presumably they would've been in a position to know Lucas' preferred explanation for the error when they put up the page. :) (Presumably, this page was put up some time ago, and Lucas has since changed his mind on the subject...)
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Date: 2006-03-21 08:37 pm (UTC)Apparently he's changed his mind multiple times ... but that's our George. ;)
-TG
no subject
Date: 2006-03-21 03:41 pm (UTC)Jar Jar.. uh... well, yeah, he was sort of a technical achievement at the time, but... did he really have to make him so... I don't know... Jar-Jar'ish? On the plus side, its a good way to torture your PCs in a Star Wars game. Jedi Gungan! "Messa ussa da force!" ;)
As for the Endor fight, yeah, it was probably toned WAY down otherwise it probably would have gotten a worst rating if they'd shown all the other poor Ewoks who were getting mowed down by blaster fire and what not.
Anyways, it would have been nice if Boba Fett had lasted a little longer though. Getting hit in the back by a blind Han was just sort of sad for the poor guy.
Now if only they'd put poor Lak Sivrak, the Shistivanian Wolfman, back into Ep 4. -.-;
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Date: 2006-03-21 03:48 pm (UTC)Well, like he says, Boba Fett was "just a minion" in his mind. The story was about Vader, Luke, Leia, and Han, not about one of Jabba's lackeys. I have visions of some fan writing to him wanting all the details of Boba Fett's backstory and Lucas getting a confused look and responding, "Why do you care about this?"
It was also made 15 years after Return of the Jedi ... not exactly a meaningful comment. ;)
-TG
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Date: 2006-03-21 03:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-21 04:14 pm (UTC)No love for 4-LOM? *cries* And what about poor Dengar?
Actually, IG-88 shows up in Shadows of the Empire, IIRC.
-The Gneech
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Date: 2006-03-21 04:53 pm (UTC)--Salen
PS: Saw this article, you might find useful. ^_^ http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=starwars/article/sw20030626tips Heh. Just something to read perhaps. Anyways, lunchtime. ^_^ OBLIVION! *runs off to the store*
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Date: 2006-03-22 08:44 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-21 10:09 pm (UTC)"Meesa gonna keel you now, okiday? Meesa gonna freeeeeeeze you in caaabonite, take you to Jabba!"
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Date: 2006-03-21 03:58 pm (UTC)Could I request, should you do it, that us fans get to see Dover walk back up out of the Sarlac pit? ^.^
I love commentaries/behind-the-scenes stuff too, always gives me renewed apprectiation for the film when I see how much thought went into it. This is particularly true for Underworld, Dune and Mission Impossible (or was that MI:2...the one with the motorcyles).
Afraid I#m waiting for them to release the original SW trilogy without Greedo-shooting-first. ^.^
Spaced made some wonderful anti-Episode-1 moments in the second series...a recreation of the funeral pyre scene in RoTJ, with Tim setting fire to boxes labelled "Star Wars Stuff", and his flatmate telling him that episode one came out 18 months ago. "It still hurts"
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Date: 2006-03-21 04:11 pm (UTC)...
Gonna be waiting a long, long time. :)
-TG
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Date: 2006-03-21 04:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-21 05:53 pm (UTC)-TG
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Date: 2006-03-21 07:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-21 08:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-22 01:54 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-21 08:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-21 11:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-22 01:56 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-22 11:40 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-21 04:46 pm (UTC)Yes, they're his movies. Yes, people make mistakes. But people who will cheerfully ADMIT to mistakes are much higher in my estimation.
cheers,
Phil
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Date: 2006-03-21 05:50 pm (UTC)Lucas doesn't have half the emotional investment in the "reality" of the Star Wars universe that "the fandom" does. If the parsec thing was a mistake, my reading of Lucas's character is that he'd say, "We were making these movies in the style of Saturday matinee serials, so we didn't pay that much attention to whether parsec was a unit of distance or a unit of time," and laugh it off. There are plenty of little bits that he does laugh off ... why would parsecs be different?
-TG
no subject
Date: 2006-03-21 06:50 pm (UTC)The overall impression comes off, to me at least, kind of prima-donna-ish and a little ... childish? spoiled? I guess, although that's not precisely the connotation I want.
Of course Star Wars fans are a bit rabid, and can take a bit of the fun out of the whole thing by obsessing. I'm a fan, but not (by any means) a rabid fan - I never even had the lunchbox (ha!), etc. I don't care about the 12 parsecs or the midichlorians (although I do dislike JarJar immensely). The sour taste this leaves in my mouth doesn't even really have to do with the inconsistencies between the trilogies.
I take exception to all of this because what I see is basically poor behavior on a human level, not to mention (if we're talking products and sales - and to a certain extent we are) that it's horrible customer service.
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Date: 2006-03-21 10:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-21 10:17 pm (UTC)cheers,
Phil
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Date: 2006-03-21 05:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-22 08:45 am (UTC)