I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again.
J.J. Abrams has the passion for Star Wars and the talent as a director to make Episode VII a credible part of the Star Wars film series.
The original trilogy will forever have a place in my heart as one of the key inspirations for my imagination, play time and fun times spent with my brother playing and talking about the films.
We had a lot of the original action figures, and the complete set of the original Star Wars trading cards (which were stolen a few years later by a “friend” who came to visit me – Chris Mathew, wherever you are, I’ve chosen to forgive you, so bite me). We had the soundtrack on vinyl, and I had a cool Darth Vader poster that used to hang above my bed at my parent’s house.
I remember being saddened by the time I went to see Return of the Jedi the first time at the cinemas. My brother Peter and I would share the moment of experiencing the other films and talking about them as we went along. By the time ROTJ rolled around he had a girlfriend. He spent most of the movie sucking face with her so I effectively watched it by myself. In hindsight, fair play mate.
The films were about good stories, lovable good guys, scary bad guys and an authentic depiction of a galaxy a long time ago and far far away.
The experience of watching the “prequels” as an adult was a complicated one. As much as you wanted to be that 7 year old boy again there was no way of approaching them the same way. I watched The Phantom Menace by myself in Dayton, Ohio. To say I was disappointed was an understatement. There was a lot to like – the vehicle design, sound effects, music, the quality of the cast, new characters, and Obi-Wan as a younger man. But it just didn’t work together as a solid whole. Lucas seemed to have lost the ability to write dialogue with room for natural humour, there was simply too much green/blue screen and too much exposition.
Worst of all, it just wasn’t fun. Hindsight says the film was aimed at children but so was A New Hope, and apart from perhaps the pod race, I don’t think kids would have had too much fun with it either. The original trilogy had genuine “hairs on the back of the neck” moments. The only scene that justified that response was the lightsabre duel with Darth Maul, Qui Gon and Obi Wan.
The other two films introduced other characters and scenarios, leading ultimately to Anakin’s conversion to Darth Vader. Once again there was good content but the whole didn’t stack up.
I enjoy watching the original trilogy at least once a year (I’ve probably seen A New Hope 100 times). By comparison I have no great desire to watch the prequels again.
Fast forward to 2014/2015 and J.J. Abrams has a big responsibility to get it right. My expectations? A solid film which kick-starts the new Disney-owned era and returns credibility to the franchise that will run in parallel with the Marvel franchise. Good news for Disney.
View the trailer below…
