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selenakSo, that Star Wars thing.
When I watched "A New Hope", aka the original "Star Wars", I was entertained, I liked it, but by no means did I fall in love or even had the wish to watch it again. I had already started to develop my taste for ambiguous heroes, and the literal black and white world of the movie was a bit too obvious for me. No, Han Solo didn't help there, either. He was the Cynic With a Heart of Gold; I never expected him to do anything but make the right decision at the last minute. The only one who seemed interesting once the entertainment of watching the movie was over was Darth Vader, because he used to be a Jedi. Villains who used to be heroes made me curious.
Come "The Empire Strikes Back", I did get hooked. It's a pity that anyone who didn't catch those films in the cinema probably will be spoiled for the "I am your father" moment, because it is such a jolt, and yet makes such sense. It also was the first thing to retrospectively colour that black and white world of ANH in some shades of grey, because Obi-Wan's little chat with Luke, up to then the usual Calling of The Hero, started to look downright manipulative. So while I liked the Han and Leia romance well enough, it was the Vader scenes, and the father/son relationship which made all the difference. Now I really wanted to know not just how the story would end, but how it had begun - Vader's backstory, in a word.
Come "Return of the Jedi", I got part of my wish. The Ewoks didn't irritate me as much as they did others though I wasn't a fan, either; I was more annoyed by the obligatory Lucas chase sequence (i.e. Leia and Luke pursuing the Storm Troopers) which seemed superfluous, and by the fact we got next to no reaction from Leia to the family news. All in all, though, I liked that final chapter, and again, the scenes with Vader and the Emperor and Vader and Luke were what I was really interested in. And I still wanted to know about the backstory.
Years passed, I retained a fond memory of SW but never was as passionate about it as I was about, say, "Blade Runner", or "Star Trek - The Next Generation", "Deep Space Nine" or "Babylon 5", as far as Sci-Fi is concerned. And then came the prequels.
By the time I got to watch "The Phantom Menace", I had managed to remain spoiler-free (except for Qui-Gon's death, which wasn't hard to figure out since one of the tracks of John Williams' score was entitled "Qui-Gon's Funeral"), but had heard vague rumblings of complaints. So, given I had liked but not loved on the one hand, and was about to get my backstory wish on the other hand, I went in with some nervousness but not with the expectations a hardcore fan would have had. I came out delighted and pleased and fired up to look for prequel-era fanfic, and looking forward to the next one. Which was not, shall we say, the average reaction. So, let's get the most obvious question out of the way first: What about Jar-Jar Binks?
Honestly? I thought CPO had been on about the same annoyance level in the OT, especially in ANH. On the other hand, I could see the point of Jar-Jar beyond the comic relief. His scene with Padme Amidala, knowing their world is in all likelihood doomed, which inspires her plan for Naboo/Gungan union, worked better for me as the equivalent "Ewoks and Rebels team up" in RotJ. And the way Obi-Wan summed up him and Anakin as "pathetic life forms" gave us in a "show, not tell" manner a good look at the ivory tower attitude the Jedi (except for Qui-Gon) have at this stage which will contribute to their doom. This being said, yes, I was relieved Jar-Jar had a much smaller part in "Attack of the Clones"; fitting with the darker tone of that movie, it wasn't a comic relief one, either, nor would endless pratfalls have been appropriate there.
Back to "The Phantom Menace". I was absolutely thrilled with Lucas painting the Old Republic and the Jedi Order not as the wonderful past Obi-Wan describes in ANH. The set-up in the OT is as black and white as you get: heroic rebels versus EVIL Empire. No doubt who is wrong. In the prequels, however, things are no longer that simple. To use a Lucas quote, it's not that the Empire conquers the Republic - the Empire IS the Republic. And we see it happening step by step. There were endless complaints about how boring a trade dispute as a movie start is in comparison to the OT situations, or even the invasion of one planet by a bunch of pathetic stooges and their robots. Which is missing the point entirely. Of course they are stooges, and not serious villains. The serious villain is Palpatine, and as opposed to the conventional Evil Overlord in chewing-the-scenery full-throttle we see him as in ESB and RotJ, here he's subtle, smart, and successful. For in TPM, Palpatine creates a win-win scenario for himself, and win he does. The entire purpose of the invasion is to move him into a position where he could become Chancellor of the Republic. The climax, the true point of no return, is not the Darth Maul/Qui/Obi fight, thrilling as this is; it is when Palpatine manipulates Padme Amidala into asking for a vote of no confidence in Chancellor Valorum.
(As far as Palpatine is concerned, whether or not she is killed afterwards and whether or not Naboo is freed is irrelevant at this point; if Naboo remains occupied, he gets sympathy votes, if Naboo is liberated, he gets sympathy votes as well. And the fact a world of the Republic COULD be invaded that simply further undermines everyone's confidence in the Republic as a state form.)
Meanwhile, the Jedi are living, literary, in an ivory tower. The Queen gets help from them not because her world has been invaded but because a Sith has shown up. They are well aware there is slavery and injustice a plenty in worlds outside of the Republic, but even Qui-Gon, the most open-minded Jedi we get presented with, doesn't think there's anything he can do about this. As an order, they are remarkably unflexible when faced with the unexpected: the first response to the news the Sith might still be around is denial. And apparently nobody has any alternate suggestions about what to do with nine-years-old Anakin; was Qui-Gon supposed to return him to Tattoine and slavery? Apart from all ethical considerations, again, they had just learned about the Sith. One would think it's not the best idea to leave force-sensitive youngsters who might bear a grudge around to be recruited. No, the Jedi, as the Republic itself, are set up as being ripe for a fall. Which is where the whole "balance of the force" thing comes in. It's not just that Anakin, near the end of his life, will kill Palpatine and before that will have genetically contributed to Leia and Luke who are driving forces for the Rebellion. It's also that he will contribute to both the Republic and the Order's fall to begin with, because both was necessary for renewal. In the OT, Obi-Wan goes for a Jekyll/Hyde approach when he finally explains things to Luke in RotJ. Vader is not Anakin, "the good man who was your father died", there is only a monster left, etc. The prequels, however, make it clear that just as the Republic is not conquered by the Empire as an alien institution but grows into it, Anakin does not suddenly turn into Vader; he becomes Vader.
One of the most often voiced complaints, after Jar-Jar Binks issues, was that Anakin was depicted in "The Phantom Menace" as a child. Usually followed by the complaint Jake Lloyd can't act. Both of which made me go "huh"? Jake L. is no Haley J. Osment, true, but he's utterly convincing as nine-years-old Anakin in TPM. Who is no miniature Vader, youthful psychopath, or even an angst-ridden kid. (And there is no reason why he should be. As Lucas pointed out in more than one interview, what makes Anakin's life a tragedy is that it wasn't inevitable.) He does have some issues, and Lloyd conveys this little flare-ups nicely; "I'm a person, and my name is Anakin" when Padme refers to him as a slave, his confrontation with Sebulba (and seriously, Lloyd is better with the blue screen than Ewan McGregor is in this movie; McGregor doesn't get comfortable with GCI-interaction until AoC), the interaction with his owner, the look on his face when Mace Windu dismisses him. Also, I bought his instant crush on Padme, which is crucial. By and large, though, Anakin is simply a spirited kid, and I, for one, found this much better than if we had gotten Damien from "The Omen". And can anyone tell me what's so objectionable about a child crying "Yippee"?
Pernilla August as Shmi had no more lines than Aunt Beru in ANH, and served much the same purpose, but I felt for her, obvious redshirt that she was. "Then we'll see each other again." Her chemistry with Liam Neeson as Qui-Gon was a nice additional touch. Fitting, too, that Lucas chose to make the mother figure crucial for Anakin (as opposed to Luke who is all about father figures).
Speaking of Liam Neeson, he managed to make Qui-Gon my favourite Jedi. Pace Alec Guinness, but in the "mentor who gets the axe" department, I felt for Qui-Gon more than for old Obi-Wan. Young Obi-Wan, otoh, was suddenly way more interesting than I had assumed. He gets saddled with an obligation he doesn't quite believe in, at a point where he's still very young and in grief, and thus it made perfect sense he and Anakin were off on a rocky path from the start.
So there I was, liking TPM and finding out this made me a distinct minority on the planet. There was fanfic, but mostly it was Qui/Obi slash, which, hand on the cheek and Ewan McGreggor's heart-rendering "Noooooo" not withstanding, I couldn't quite see. Lo and behold, though, I found some fabulous stories by a fanfic writer named Fernwithy, who, using TPM revelations as a backstory, came up with a great epic fanfic about Leia and Vader between trilogies. (She remains one of my favourite writers and has added several more prequel inspired stories to her resume, plus some Harry Potter stories which are equally good.)
For AotC last year, I happened to be in the US, which meant I got to see it before reading about everyone else's reaction. Saw it, loved it. Yes, the dialogue in the fireplace scene was cringe-worthy. But then, we get these gems in every single SW movie, even in ESB which had the great Leigh Brackett of classic film noir fame to polish it up. I almost have a nostalgic fondness for them. Also, with Anakin having zero experience with women, it wasn't ooc. (I shudder to think of my diary entries when I first crushed on somebody.)
Fireplace scene dialogue apart, I had no complaints. More politics (did I mention I love politics in Sci-Fi)? Check. Actually, it was downright frightening. Because while watching good old Palpatine engineering a war to get himself emergency powers I couldn't help but notice certain contemporary parallels.
Character development? Check. Apart from McGreggor having grown comfortable with the GCI, Obi-Wan had turned into an immensely likable guy whom nonetheless one would advise to get parent counselling ASAP. By his third "my (very) young padawan", I had no problem understanding why Anakin was not so secretly seething. Issues!Anakin in general made sense, after ten years of this, Jedi Order discipline and Palpatine manipulations, to say nothing of the problem that Anakin as opposed to all the other Jedi did remember his mother and his other life very well. Later, I found out people complained he was whining all the time. Me, I heard just one whine - the archetypical "it's not fair" in Padme's Coruscant apartments, which immediately brought son Luke and his famous "But I wanted to go to the Toshi Power Station!!!" to mind. Which makes both Skywalker boys realistic for their age.
Throughout the movie, Hayden Christensen did a great job incorporating both bits from David Prowse (body language) and James Earl Jones (voice) in the OT, and from Jake Lloyd in TPM. (For example, the way he says "this is a short cut… I think" is Young Anakin; the way he stands on the balcony in Naboo, trying to meditate, is a perfect echo from Vader standing at the end of ESB, looking after the Millennium Falcon. Of course, Lucas also frames the shot the same way.) He was believable both as the character the child Anakin grows into and the character from which OT Vader emerged. His most impressive acting, imo, was the Tattoine sequence, from the moment he saw his old owner (managing to convey that what was unsaid between them weighed so much more than what was said) to his mother's burial. The confession scene with Padme is my favourite scene in this movie, and together with "I am your father" the one which moved me most in the entire SW saga.
Speaking of chilling scenes: in a movie full of great visuals, Palpatine overlooking the troops at the end is one of the most striking, and frightening. He has his Empire now, and they have given it to him. Never mind blowing up Death Stars, or that embarrassing Nuremberg Rally of a Rebel Celebration at the end of ANH: that's what comes to my mind when I think of an SW film using special effects to get a visceral emotional reaction.
I could go on. About loving to see Christopher Lee again, about how Padme's "I truly, deeply love you" before the arena was Natalie Portman's finest hour in the SW saga so far, how I enjoyed the reverse Pieta symbolism when Anakin held his mother during her death scene, or, to my great surprise, watching Yoda fight. How Boba Fett whom I couldn't have cared less about (the Fett cult alwas mystified me, pace Andrew, Warren and Jonathan) in the OT suddenly became of interest via Jango. How I appreciated Lucas letting bad guys (apart from Vader) die on-screen and in pain, and with consequences - Zam the assassin early on; and again, Boba clutching his father's helmet near the end. No more anonymous Storm Troopers. How I have watched the DVD four or five times by now. But I think I've made my point.
In case anyone is as uncool as yours truly and also likes the prequels, here is a site about Anakin Skywalker with a very good message board for debates. This is a site about Anakin and Padme both, and here we have a Qui-Gon centric fanfic archive.
When I watched "A New Hope", aka the original "Star Wars", I was entertained, I liked it, but by no means did I fall in love or even had the wish to watch it again. I had already started to develop my taste for ambiguous heroes, and the literal black and white world of the movie was a bit too obvious for me. No, Han Solo didn't help there, either. He was the Cynic With a Heart of Gold; I never expected him to do anything but make the right decision at the last minute. The only one who seemed interesting once the entertainment of watching the movie was over was Darth Vader, because he used to be a Jedi. Villains who used to be heroes made me curious.
Come "The Empire Strikes Back", I did get hooked. It's a pity that anyone who didn't catch those films in the cinema probably will be spoiled for the "I am your father" moment, because it is such a jolt, and yet makes such sense. It also was the first thing to retrospectively colour that black and white world of ANH in some shades of grey, because Obi-Wan's little chat with Luke, up to then the usual Calling of The Hero, started to look downright manipulative. So while I liked the Han and Leia romance well enough, it was the Vader scenes, and the father/son relationship which made all the difference. Now I really wanted to know not just how the story would end, but how it had begun - Vader's backstory, in a word.
Come "Return of the Jedi", I got part of my wish. The Ewoks didn't irritate me as much as they did others though I wasn't a fan, either; I was more annoyed by the obligatory Lucas chase sequence (i.e. Leia and Luke pursuing the Storm Troopers) which seemed superfluous, and by the fact we got next to no reaction from Leia to the family news. All in all, though, I liked that final chapter, and again, the scenes with Vader and the Emperor and Vader and Luke were what I was really interested in. And I still wanted to know about the backstory.
Years passed, I retained a fond memory of SW but never was as passionate about it as I was about, say, "Blade Runner", or "Star Trek - The Next Generation", "Deep Space Nine" or "Babylon 5", as far as Sci-Fi is concerned. And then came the prequels.
By the time I got to watch "The Phantom Menace", I had managed to remain spoiler-free (except for Qui-Gon's death, which wasn't hard to figure out since one of the tracks of John Williams' score was entitled "Qui-Gon's Funeral"), but had heard vague rumblings of complaints. So, given I had liked but not loved on the one hand, and was about to get my backstory wish on the other hand, I went in with some nervousness but not with the expectations a hardcore fan would have had. I came out delighted and pleased and fired up to look for prequel-era fanfic, and looking forward to the next one. Which was not, shall we say, the average reaction. So, let's get the most obvious question out of the way first: What about Jar-Jar Binks?
Honestly? I thought CPO had been on about the same annoyance level in the OT, especially in ANH. On the other hand, I could see the point of Jar-Jar beyond the comic relief. His scene with Padme Amidala, knowing their world is in all likelihood doomed, which inspires her plan for Naboo/Gungan union, worked better for me as the equivalent "Ewoks and Rebels team up" in RotJ. And the way Obi-Wan summed up him and Anakin as "pathetic life forms" gave us in a "show, not tell" manner a good look at the ivory tower attitude the Jedi (except for Qui-Gon) have at this stage which will contribute to their doom. This being said, yes, I was relieved Jar-Jar had a much smaller part in "Attack of the Clones"; fitting with the darker tone of that movie, it wasn't a comic relief one, either, nor would endless pratfalls have been appropriate there.
Back to "The Phantom Menace". I was absolutely thrilled with Lucas painting the Old Republic and the Jedi Order not as the wonderful past Obi-Wan describes in ANH. The set-up in the OT is as black and white as you get: heroic rebels versus EVIL Empire. No doubt who is wrong. In the prequels, however, things are no longer that simple. To use a Lucas quote, it's not that the Empire conquers the Republic - the Empire IS the Republic. And we see it happening step by step. There were endless complaints about how boring a trade dispute as a movie start is in comparison to the OT situations, or even the invasion of one planet by a bunch of pathetic stooges and their robots. Which is missing the point entirely. Of course they are stooges, and not serious villains. The serious villain is Palpatine, and as opposed to the conventional Evil Overlord in chewing-the-scenery full-throttle we see him as in ESB and RotJ, here he's subtle, smart, and successful. For in TPM, Palpatine creates a win-win scenario for himself, and win he does. The entire purpose of the invasion is to move him into a position where he could become Chancellor of the Republic. The climax, the true point of no return, is not the Darth Maul/Qui/Obi fight, thrilling as this is; it is when Palpatine manipulates Padme Amidala into asking for a vote of no confidence in Chancellor Valorum.
(As far as Palpatine is concerned, whether or not she is killed afterwards and whether or not Naboo is freed is irrelevant at this point; if Naboo remains occupied, he gets sympathy votes, if Naboo is liberated, he gets sympathy votes as well. And the fact a world of the Republic COULD be invaded that simply further undermines everyone's confidence in the Republic as a state form.)
Meanwhile, the Jedi are living, literary, in an ivory tower. The Queen gets help from them not because her world has been invaded but because a Sith has shown up. They are well aware there is slavery and injustice a plenty in worlds outside of the Republic, but even Qui-Gon, the most open-minded Jedi we get presented with, doesn't think there's anything he can do about this. As an order, they are remarkably unflexible when faced with the unexpected: the first response to the news the Sith might still be around is denial. And apparently nobody has any alternate suggestions about what to do with nine-years-old Anakin; was Qui-Gon supposed to return him to Tattoine and slavery? Apart from all ethical considerations, again, they had just learned about the Sith. One would think it's not the best idea to leave force-sensitive youngsters who might bear a grudge around to be recruited. No, the Jedi, as the Republic itself, are set up as being ripe for a fall. Which is where the whole "balance of the force" thing comes in. It's not just that Anakin, near the end of his life, will kill Palpatine and before that will have genetically contributed to Leia and Luke who are driving forces for the Rebellion. It's also that he will contribute to both the Republic and the Order's fall to begin with, because both was necessary for renewal. In the OT, Obi-Wan goes for a Jekyll/Hyde approach when he finally explains things to Luke in RotJ. Vader is not Anakin, "the good man who was your father died", there is only a monster left, etc. The prequels, however, make it clear that just as the Republic is not conquered by the Empire as an alien institution but grows into it, Anakin does not suddenly turn into Vader; he becomes Vader.
One of the most often voiced complaints, after Jar-Jar Binks issues, was that Anakin was depicted in "The Phantom Menace" as a child. Usually followed by the complaint Jake Lloyd can't act. Both of which made me go "huh"? Jake L. is no Haley J. Osment, true, but he's utterly convincing as nine-years-old Anakin in TPM. Who is no miniature Vader, youthful psychopath, or even an angst-ridden kid. (And there is no reason why he should be. As Lucas pointed out in more than one interview, what makes Anakin's life a tragedy is that it wasn't inevitable.) He does have some issues, and Lloyd conveys this little flare-ups nicely; "I'm a person, and my name is Anakin" when Padme refers to him as a slave, his confrontation with Sebulba (and seriously, Lloyd is better with the blue screen than Ewan McGregor is in this movie; McGregor doesn't get comfortable with GCI-interaction until AoC), the interaction with his owner, the look on his face when Mace Windu dismisses him. Also, I bought his instant crush on Padme, which is crucial. By and large, though, Anakin is simply a spirited kid, and I, for one, found this much better than if we had gotten Damien from "The Omen". And can anyone tell me what's so objectionable about a child crying "Yippee"?
Pernilla August as Shmi had no more lines than Aunt Beru in ANH, and served much the same purpose, but I felt for her, obvious redshirt that she was. "Then we'll see each other again." Her chemistry with Liam Neeson as Qui-Gon was a nice additional touch. Fitting, too, that Lucas chose to make the mother figure crucial for Anakin (as opposed to Luke who is all about father figures).
Speaking of Liam Neeson, he managed to make Qui-Gon my favourite Jedi. Pace Alec Guinness, but in the "mentor who gets the axe" department, I felt for Qui-Gon more than for old Obi-Wan. Young Obi-Wan, otoh, was suddenly way more interesting than I had assumed. He gets saddled with an obligation he doesn't quite believe in, at a point where he's still very young and in grief, and thus it made perfect sense he and Anakin were off on a rocky path from the start.
So there I was, liking TPM and finding out this made me a distinct minority on the planet. There was fanfic, but mostly it was Qui/Obi slash, which, hand on the cheek and Ewan McGreggor's heart-rendering "Noooooo" not withstanding, I couldn't quite see. Lo and behold, though, I found some fabulous stories by a fanfic writer named Fernwithy, who, using TPM revelations as a backstory, came up with a great epic fanfic about Leia and Vader between trilogies. (She remains one of my favourite writers and has added several more prequel inspired stories to her resume, plus some Harry Potter stories which are equally good.)
For AotC last year, I happened to be in the US, which meant I got to see it before reading about everyone else's reaction. Saw it, loved it. Yes, the dialogue in the fireplace scene was cringe-worthy. But then, we get these gems in every single SW movie, even in ESB which had the great Leigh Brackett of classic film noir fame to polish it up. I almost have a nostalgic fondness for them. Also, with Anakin having zero experience with women, it wasn't ooc. (I shudder to think of my diary entries when I first crushed on somebody.)
Fireplace scene dialogue apart, I had no complaints. More politics (did I mention I love politics in Sci-Fi)? Check. Actually, it was downright frightening. Because while watching good old Palpatine engineering a war to get himself emergency powers I couldn't help but notice certain contemporary parallels.
Character development? Check. Apart from McGreggor having grown comfortable with the GCI, Obi-Wan had turned into an immensely likable guy whom nonetheless one would advise to get parent counselling ASAP. By his third "my (very) young padawan", I had no problem understanding why Anakin was not so secretly seething. Issues!Anakin in general made sense, after ten years of this, Jedi Order discipline and Palpatine manipulations, to say nothing of the problem that Anakin as opposed to all the other Jedi did remember his mother and his other life very well. Later, I found out people complained he was whining all the time. Me, I heard just one whine - the archetypical "it's not fair" in Padme's Coruscant apartments, which immediately brought son Luke and his famous "But I wanted to go to the Toshi Power Station!!!" to mind. Which makes both Skywalker boys realistic for their age.
Throughout the movie, Hayden Christensen did a great job incorporating both bits from David Prowse (body language) and James Earl Jones (voice) in the OT, and from Jake Lloyd in TPM. (For example, the way he says "this is a short cut… I think" is Young Anakin; the way he stands on the balcony in Naboo, trying to meditate, is a perfect echo from Vader standing at the end of ESB, looking after the Millennium Falcon. Of course, Lucas also frames the shot the same way.) He was believable both as the character the child Anakin grows into and the character from which OT Vader emerged. His most impressive acting, imo, was the Tattoine sequence, from the moment he saw his old owner (managing to convey that what was unsaid between them weighed so much more than what was said) to his mother's burial. The confession scene with Padme is my favourite scene in this movie, and together with "I am your father" the one which moved me most in the entire SW saga.
Speaking of chilling scenes: in a movie full of great visuals, Palpatine overlooking the troops at the end is one of the most striking, and frightening. He has his Empire now, and they have given it to him. Never mind blowing up Death Stars, or that embarrassing Nuremberg Rally of a Rebel Celebration at the end of ANH: that's what comes to my mind when I think of an SW film using special effects to get a visceral emotional reaction.
I could go on. About loving to see Christopher Lee again, about how Padme's "I truly, deeply love you" before the arena was Natalie Portman's finest hour in the SW saga so far, how I enjoyed the reverse Pieta symbolism when Anakin held his mother during her death scene, or, to my great surprise, watching Yoda fight. How Boba Fett whom I couldn't have cared less about (the Fett cult alwas mystified me, pace Andrew, Warren and Jonathan) in the OT suddenly became of interest via Jango. How I appreciated Lucas letting bad guys (apart from Vader) die on-screen and in pain, and with consequences - Zam the assassin early on; and again, Boba clutching his father's helmet near the end. No more anonymous Storm Troopers. How I have watched the DVD four or five times by now. But I think I've made my point.
In case anyone is as uncool as yours truly and also likes the prequels, here is a site about Anakin Skywalker with a very good message board for debates. This is a site about Anakin and Padme both, and here we have a Qui-Gon centric fanfic archive.
