Thursday, October 2, 2008

Time Travel Back to 1978 with Star Wars

Over at SFSignal.com, there is a link to an old filmstrip version of Star Wars. For those of a certain age, you will know what I mean by the word "filmstrip." The artwork in this strip doesn't seem to be the Marvel Comics version of Star Wars so it must me newly-commissioned art. It's fun to see what the narrator leaves out.

Man! The nostalgia!

Minor Rant (fueled by Nostalgia) - There will be nothing like the feeling most of us kids had in that wonderful time between Star Wars (1977) and The Empire Strikes Back (1980). In those years, the sense of wonder, the sense that we were in the middle of something "new," that the story had so much more to tell us, was palpable. It was so simple. Vader killed Luke's dad. Period. Greedo shot first. Period. And what was cool for us with imaginations is that we were able to fill in all the blanks that we wanted to. I am one who likes all those details in the SF and fantasy worlds I enjoy (Star Wars, Tolkien, Narnia, etc.). But there's also a part of me that doesn't want to know. I just want to make it up myself. That way, you can never be disappointed, like with midi-chlorians or having to have Kenobi, in Return of the Jedi, parse the words he spoke in the first movie, giving Luke a grammar lesson regarding "it's true from a certain point of view." [sigh]

4 comments:

pattinase (abbott) said...

Scott-Are you doing a forgotten book, a banned book or neither tomorrow?

pattinase (abbott) said...

Scott-Saw your comment re: the Millar novel and had to come over. She was Ross MacDonald's wife and some regard her as the better novelist (His real name is Kenneth Millar. My favorites are A Beast in View and How Like an Angel. She's a real treat.

Chris said...

Cool film strip.

Did you ever eat the C-3P0's cereal?

Michael W Ford said...

I think those of us (of a certain age) who were profoundly affected by the original release of the Star Wars movies will never be happy with anything Lucas currently puts out. Obvious examples are the recent SW films or the horrid Clone Wars movie. It's easy to blame Lucas for a misguided attempt to continue these story lines in the manner he did but ultimately the fans are to blame. The fans consistently wanted to know more about the SW universe and Lucas pandered to that need. Admit it, when you were younger you DID really want to know. It's just now that you know, you don't want to know. ;)