"The circle is now complete..."
Friday 05/27/2005 11:16 AM
 The front of Alex's Thank You card that he sent us. File Under: Alex; Birthday; Someone Else's Image |
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Well, I saw Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith and I feel kinda weird. For almost my whole life, I've found myself looking forward to the next episode (for better or worse) in the Star Wars saga and now it's over.
Just to establish my credentials sufficiently, I was a Star Wars nut when I was a kid. I had all the action figures plus the Death Star thing with the trash compactor on the bottom. At a slumber party, all my friends swore that in my sleep I recited most of the movie line for line (for all old times sake, these words come rushing to my lips immediately: "Vader was seduced by the dark side of the force." "Aren't you a little short for Stormtrooper?" "The circle is now complete. When I left you, I was but the learner, now I am the master." "If you strike me down now, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine."). I was into it.
I can't say it's been a fantastic trip, but it's been an OK way to pass the time. The prequels were, overall, disappointing. Long on spiffy imagery, but short on clear storytelling. The highlight of all three prequels has to be the moment in Episode I where in the middle of a heated life or death light sabre battle, Qui-Jon sits down on the floor to meditate while his opponent just stares at him from the other side of the force field that has temporarily interrupted their clash.
Foremost in my mind, these are are my complaints now that we've reached the end:
- The ever increasing powers of R2-D2. My buddy Lou put it best when he described it as the Knight-Rider-ification of R2-D2. So R2-D2 can fly, jump out of spacecraft, defend himself with electric shocks, spray oil on opponents and set them on fire. What the heck? Deus ex Machina at it's finest.
- The Tarzan yodel in Episode III when the wookies come swinging across the water to plant charges on the droid crafts. Worst. Ever.
- My greatest disappointment is that Episode III didn't play out like I always imagined it — with Darth Vadar in the black armor hunting down the Jedi like Obi-Wan explained in the very first movie (that would be Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope). I know you Lucas defenders will say that technically Obi-Wan did not lie, but phooey on you. That you only see Vadar in the black suit for maybe five minutes at the end of the movie is a huge letdown after my almost 30 years of childhood fantasies about how those moments would play out.
The last thing I have to say is a big thank you to my dad. Twenty eight years ago, he said to me, "Hey, Pete, let's go see this movie called Star Wars I've been hearing about." I still remember my hypnotic captivation as I discovered the power of movie, fantasy and, most importantly, story.
When we got home after the movie, it was all I could talk about for days. I had to tell Mummuu (my grandmother on my father's side) all about it, so I grabbed a stack of white paper and crayons and such and started sketching out all the key scenes from the movie. After my storyboard re-creation of Star Wars, she didn't need to go see it.
I must have seen that movie at least a dozen times in the theatre before it ran its course.
Thanks, Dad!
Today's image is the front of the thank you card I received from my nephew Alex. Some of you may remember my Anarchy in the UA story and my Kill Your Television follow-up from a while back.
Tomorrow you get to see the message on the other side of the postcard thank you note.
And another cemetery-related Link of the Day. When Candy and I first met, we made plans to visit New Orleans together, but we never made it. Been to Prague twice, but still no Big Easy action — go figure. Check it out ya'll.
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