May the Fourth be with you!

On May Fourth I was invited by the Centro Cultural Sampedrano to give a lecture on Star Wars.
I took the opportunity to discuss the arc of the story on cinema's most iconic villain. I mean of course, Darth Vader, the Jedi formerly known as Anakin Skywalker.

Staying out of the Star Wars Stories, I concentrated on Episodes I through VI, starting from the cute little boy who casually murdered countless people by destroying a space ship. Granted it also saved the lives of his friends during the battle on Naboo. Visited the bad decision making during Episode III and culminated with his sacrifice in Emperor Palpatine's throne room aboard the Second Death Star.
A full path that led to redemption as envisioned by George Lucas.

I had a blast with the public because they had seen the movies, so no spoiler alert was necessary, and the discussion went into such mind-bugling details like "Why did Leia kiss her brother in Empire?" My response, beside the obvious that George dropped the ball there, was to point out that Leia was not kin on kissing her unknown brother, but rather to make Han Solo jealous.

May the Fourth be with you....and tomorrow, remember the revenge of the Fifth!

Revisiting Episode 1, except this time wearing glasses

Last night I took my youngest kid to see Star Wars Episode 1. Or should I say I used him as an excuse to see the movie again, but in 3D. Well, it was the first time he saw it in a movie theater.

The oldest boys have already grown out of the franchise and the youngest is only one who still likes it. When he was four or five years old, I set “starwars” as the password for my sons’ Windows account. Since he wasn’t exactly reading then, every time he wanted to play with the computer, he’d bring the DVD box to see the title and then type the password matching the letters one by one. Needles to say, it was a big event for him.

I remember the movie garnered really bad reviews when it was first released in 1999, hardcore fans in particular were really disappointed. Now it is different and people has gotten used to it. The new generation even likes it.

Now about this 3D version, for a change, George Lucas refrained himself from adding, expanding and/or changing the movie. I was afraid he’d digitally superimpose Hayden Christensen’s face over Jake Lloyd.

So, the movie was pretty much as I remember it, although the pod race scene felt a bit longer. Maybe George did play a little bit with it, after all.

On the other hand, I think the flick has aged really well. The story is still entertaining even if it kills a few sacred cows (what’s with the midi-chlorians?) and introduced some of the most hateful characters (Jar Jar Binks stubbornly survived all 3 episodes, go figure.)

Getting re-acquainted with Qui-Gon Jinn was nice treat. He’s my favorite old-republic Jedi. It was a shame he didn’t last more than this entry, although by Episode 3 were learn he discovered a way back even if we couldn’t seen him.

Spoiler Alert (just in case there is still somebody left in the planet who has not seen it):

Near the end of the duel scene, Darth Maul has the higher ground. How come Obi-Wan was able to beat him? In Episode III when the situation is reversed, Anakin jumps up as a near-complete individual only to land a crippled. Why did the same trick worked fro Obi Wan but not for Anakin? Somehow I think the only reason is because the screenplay said so.

I leave you with this picture that is meant to be an angry Darth Vader. Why he is angry or why do I relate it to this movie is beyond me. :-)