My 200th Epinion Began Long, Long Ago....

I saw first saw this when I was 4 years old. Somewhat impressionable age, right? Well, that first moviegoing experience (the first movie I remember seeing in the theatre) broke something in my soft little skull that made me LOVE Star Wars. I became a horrid little monster who ate, drank, slept, and LIVED Star Wars. Christmas of 1978, I got an X-Wing Fighter and TIE Fighter and enough figures to keep me happy; subsequent birthdays spoiled me even more and added to my obsession which still persists to this day.

What is it about this seemingly simplistic movie that has kept me hooked for so many years? Is it just the warm memories of childhood? Is there anything deeper there? Is there anything that can be written about "Star Wars" that hasn't already been said in some forum or another?

Probably not.

I'm gonna say some more about it anyway.

Star Wars came out in 1977, a time that, even more than now, was an age of moral ambiguity. In the wake of various assassinations, Watergate, and Vietnam, there was a general malaise. The division between good and evil was blurred not only in the government, but in people's lives as well. You see the same trend in films of the time, an uncertainty about the future, a lack of real heroes or inspirational leaders.

I'm not implying life IS black and white--there are always shades of grey. But an understanding of good and evil, black and white needs to be maintained in order to comprehend and evaluate the greyer areas of life.

Then along comes Star Wars. A VERY Black and White movie, where the bad guy is as Black as it gets, and the good guys wore white. A simple storyline about a boy farmer who gets called up to fight in a rebellion against an evil empire; he helps rescue a princess, meets some friends along the way, and eventually beats the bad guys and gets his reward. A story that's really as old as storytelling itself--Star Wars incorporates pieces of several ancient myths and legends in its story. For more on that, check out "Star Wars: The Magic Of Myth" (or my Epinion on that book).

The movie was of course groundbreaking in its Special Effects, and continues to be entertaining. The Special Editons released in 1997 made some things better, some things worse about the entire original trilogy; since those are the versions we're stuck with (until the Extra Super-Duper Editions in 2010), we'll just keep them.

Here are my favorite things about Star Wars that set it apart from other Sci-Fi films:

1) It's set "Long, long ago, in a galaxy far, far away." Duh. Of course it is. So what? Most Sci-Fi is set in EARTH'S future, most fantasy is set in EARTH'S past. By completely separating it from our world, Lucas can do whatever he wants with the story. It becomes a story that's not about alien invasions or the limitations of humans and Earth's science...it becomes the stuff of legend. Not sure when, not sure where, but it allows for more freedom of imagination and story than most sci-fi or fantasy.

2) The Music. By using the brilliant John Williams and a classical score, Lucas was actually going against the grain of the 70's....most sci-fi releases of the same period were using disco/electronica/synthesizer music to establish an otherworldly feel--by so doing, they've dated horribly. By using an entire orchestra, Williams and Lucas have made sure these have aged well.

3) The aliens/droids/etc. This is something Lucas seems to have forgotten in between the time he made the original trilogy and this newer trilogy; one of the great things about the aliens and droids of the original trilogy is that many/most of them didn't speak English. Which makes sense. Think about R2-D2, Chewbacca, Greedo, Jawas, Jabba the Hutt, Sandpeople, Ewoks...none of them spoke a word of English. Yet, either through subtitles or through their actions, we understood what was happening. One of the chief criticisms leveled at "The Phantom Menace" was the stereotyping of Jar Jar, Watto, and the Nemoidians. By having them speak English "with an accent", Lucas undermined the realism that had been inherent in so many of the Original Aliens. Anyway, it's just cool that they didn't speak English.

4) The themes of Star Wars. There are a million of these, but something as basic as good versus evil and nature versus technology were things that had pretty much fallen by the wayside, and it was time for a new mythology. Has Lucas succeeded or failed? We'll have to see what happens with Episodes II and III. Hopefully it will all weave together into a marvelous tapestry, and we won't be left thinking, "hunh. He really should have stopped in 1983." The themes of a loss of innocence and listening to your feelings are also strong in the entire trilogy, and the very concept of "The Force" would be out of place in almost any other movie. Revolutionary for the time, and still a potent message today.

5) Princess Leia. Even though there was only one chick in the movie, and it would have been easy to turn her into the token damsel in distress, she's a self-motivated, strong-willed woman who takes matters into her own hands when her rescuers prove less-than capable at saving her bacon. And she wasn't bad looking, even with the buns.

6) Luke Skywalker. I know a LOT of Star Wars fans who have come somehow to hate our boy Luke. They think he's too whiny in the first film, too serious in the last. I think he shows a great progression of character from farmboy to mature hero, but maybe I've misunderstood his story arc. I always wanted to be Luke when I was a pup, and even now, even though we all KNOW Han Solo is cooler (and Harrison Ford still has a career), I still admire Luke more than Han, and given my druthers, I'd rather be able to whip out a Lightsaber than a blaster.

There are really too many things for me to write about in a review of "Star Wars". It's become too much a part of my geekily obsessive compulsive life to just put down in a few paragraphs. Then there are the individual moments, like the garbage masher, the cantina scene, Luke and Leia swinging across the chasm, Obi-Wan confronting Vader, Alderaan exploding, and Luke taking out the Death Star....all of which should be permanently ingrained on your synapses. If not, you really need to watch it again. And again.

That said, Star Wars certainly isn't perfect--I've seen the argument that it has contributed to the dumbing down of movies, and the birth of the pointless action genre. Welp, I personally think there were plenty of lame movies before Star Wars, and there will be plenty more to come. I personally think that Star Wars gave Sci-Fi a shot in the arm--without its success there would have been no Star Trek films or spin-off series, no Aliens films, no E.T....and even worse, no Empire Strikes Back!

The acting in Star Wars isn't always the greatest, but it's always a fun experience to watch the flick. With the release of the Special Editions in 1997, however, I got a whole slew of new stuff to gripe about. In the briefest possible order, here's what I like and don't like about the Special Editions:

Jabba the Hutt: Didn't like it. Looked WAY too cartoony when compared to the Return of the Jedi Jabba, and just served to slow down the pacing of the movie.

Greedo-shooting-first-at-Han: Detracts from Han's growth as a character; it isn't until Return of the Jedi that he would even HESITATE to shoot someone first who he knew had a blaster pointed at him. And it looks too jerky and faked.

Alderaan/Death Star Explosions: Liked it. A LOT. Very cool, and they kept the sparklies at the end of the Death Star's explosion. Nice rings-of-fire too.

CGI X-Wings: Pretty cool, looks fake a few times, but gives us a beautiful shot of the troops on their way to blow up the Death Star.

Sandcrawler: Very nice. I could watch the Jawa's motor home roll through the desert all day and all night and not get bored with it. Geek.

Dewbacks: Like 'em. A nice idea from the beginning, and turned out looking better than most of the additions, and more realistic than some of the CGI in "The Phantom Menace".

....I suppose that's it. This is undoubtedly my longest review to date, and part of me apologizes for that. A bigger part of me could keep typing forever--but this is all you need to know to enjoy the flick. Go watch it.