First Time Flowing » Star Wars

X-Wing Dream

Drey — Fri, 23 Sep 2005 17:31:00 +0000

My dreams were all over the map early this morning. One of them had to do with some kind of private company’s acquisition of an X-Wing fighter that had crash-landed on Earth. I wasn’t actually in the dream, just sort of watching it. Michael Madsen played this billionaire playboy who owned the company that had retrieved the fighter. They were repairing it and retrofitting it so that it worked kind of like a flying car. There was a scene where he took it for a spin around this parking garage/airstrip just beneath his penthouse apartment. He longed to fly it off the edge of the building and into the sky, but he knew it wasn’t ready yet. In another scene, an engineer presented his findings to his peers, showing how the X-wing solved a few design issues that had been plaguing him on the design of his own plane.

Episode 3

Drey — Mon, 23 May 2005 13:52:00 +0000

And so it ends. Having seen very little to spoil any part of the movie, I was able to enjoy a Star Wars movie with a fresh perspective. I’ve come to judge these films in a class by themselves, comparing them to each other. For if they were to set foot into the larger realm of fantasy and sci-fi cinema, they are instantly decimated on several fronts by Lord of the Rings, Firefly, any number of anime series, the list goes on.

From a technical aspect, Episode 3 seemed to be about pushing the envelope in terms of scope, speed and detail. Once you have mastered the massive completely CGI set piece, there is little room for innovation. So when there’s an epic space battle, the results are astonishing and no one does it better than ILM. Lightsaber battles have also been perfected in this film and it is difficult to imagine any improvements in this arena. The fights are almost too fast, an impossible blur of flashing light.

From an acting standpoint, I felt that everyone turned it up a notch since Episode 2. Ewan definitely inhabited the role of Obi-wan this time around. Ian was perfect as Palpatine/Sidious. Even Hayden was tolerable, though slightly stiff. A big disappointment was Natalie Portman who was given nothing to work with and was downgraded to Anakin’s hand-wringing wife.

I’ve always felt that Lucas is more of a technician than a director. He has this vision in his head and at last he has the technology to translate that into a film. This visual translation seems foremost in his mind. The transmission of any kind of story seems to be secondary. While his handling of the overarching story is genius, he falters in the details, writing dialogue heavy with exposition, encouraging only passable wooden performances from his actors. If only the writers from Knights of the Old Republic could have had a crack at the script, we could have seen something more elegant. Instead, the story plods methodically towards its inexorable conclusion, words falling from the character’s mouths simply because they have to.

This is not to say that there are no brilliant moments. The seduction of Anakin, the scene at the opera, Obi-wan’s confrontation with Padme, Vader’s first words… these stuck with me. The sense of descending darkness is also effective, culminating in Obi-wan turning his back on Anakin’s charred and mutilated form.

The visual orchestration of this film was also very powerful, with Lucas quoting scenes from the original trilogy, giving moments a deep resonance. Seeing Palpatine seated on the throne-like chair as Anakin and Dooku crossed sabers in that mirror of Return of the Jedi’s Luke/Vader duel gave me chills. So too the scene of Owen Lars gazing into the twin Tatooine sunset…beautiful.

On the whole, it was a good experience which I enjoyed more than the first two films. While technical excellence won out over passion and artful storytelling, the epic themes of Star Wars were made complete in this film. The nature of Anakin’s fall is revealed and his redemption in Jedi is made much more satisfying now that we know the depth of the descent.

Episode III is PG-13

Drey — Mon, 11 Apr 2005 13:03:00 +0000

Revenge of the Sith has received a PG-13 rating. This can only mean good things. I remain cautiously optimistic. I almost saw a spot they played during Lost with the “Arise, Lord Vader” scene. There was a flash of Vader sitting up from a table before I turned it off. This is going to be great: I’ve literally only seen about 2 second’s worth of images from this movie. I’ll go in completely fresh. It’s the last time I can experience a new Star Wars movie and I want to see if I can recapture the childhood wonder I felt during the original trilogy.

Episode 3

Drey — Fri, 01 Apr 2005 23:32:00 +0000

When I went to see Sin City today, the excellent Hitchhiker’s trailer had just finished when that slightly-too bright digital green of the next trailer warned me even before I saw the Lucasfilm logo. There was a flash of a spaceship before I shut my eyes and tried to cover my ears as best as possible. Yes, my resolve was tested for what seemed like five minutes. I could still hear some of the dialogue, so I had to kind of hum inside my head so as not to disturb the other movie-goers.

I am on a complete media blackout for Star Wars Episode III. I don’t want to know anything about it until I see it. I feel guilty for seeing cereal boxes with Darth Vader on them. I don’t want to see the toys or video games or anything else until after May 19th.

One more chance, George. You’ve got one more chance.

Jedi

Drey — Mon, 02 May 1983 23:52:06 +0000

I see Return of the Jedi.

Begin 5th grade at CHCS.

I try selling my first computer game, “Warriors of Wargoz” to classmates. It involved a warrior of your creation fighting an endless stream of monsters. It was all text-based, of course. I sell one copy.

Seeds are Sown

Drey — Tue, 02 Sep 1980 23:45:47 +0000

I see The Empire Strikes Back.

Begin 2nd grade at CHCS.

My dad brought home our first computer, the Apple II+. I started playing the interactive fiction game “Adventure” (AKA “Colossal Cave”) and my life was changed forever. I decided I wanted to create stories.

And so it begins

Drey — Thu, 02 Jun 1977 23:28:37 +0000

I remember being at school in Mexico. On the play ground, some of my friends said “Hey, let’s play Star Wars.” I asked, “What’s that?”