Star Wars Episode VIII: Whatever, we'll think of something catchy later...

Andrew’s Post

 I can still remember when I received my first Star Wars trilogy set when I was a kid. I was your basic cool eight-year-old, always playing with lightsabers in my family’s garage and creating my own plays based from Star Wars; when I wasn’t doing this, I was watching a Cartoon Network lineup consisting of Johnny Bravo; Courage the Cowardly Dog; Ed, Edd, and Eddy; Cow and Chicken; and the Power Puff girls. You know, your average cool guy stuff. Anyways, I had had recently seen all of the Star Wars movies at my friend’s house and was all about the new universe I had just discovered. My friends and I were playing the classic “you get to be the Sith this time and the rest of us get to kill you over and over until we switch places” until my mom pulled up in her green Nissan Quest, returning from her nine to five.

My mom got out of the van and said she had a surprise for me, so I rushed over to see whether it was something to create adventures for years to come or an educational dud. It was then I laid my eyes upon the glorious VHS-tape set! It was black around the base with Vader’s face and adorned with gold trim, surely by the gods, around the side with all of the good guys on the front. I was as hyped as a kid on a sugar rush after trick-or-treating for the first time. As I recall I spent the remaining weekend watching all three movies in a row and continued to watch these movies on our VHS player well into my high school years. I traded my love of playing with lightsabers for a love of rap and a bad attitude (not necessarily because of the rap), but my love of Star Wars never died.

Star Wars, to me, is escaping into a familiar yet exciting universe where all are welcome and you never truly have to throw childish things aside. I may sit and watch Texas Chainsaw Massacre without any emotion (a conversation I had with Lukas recently), but every time I hear Darth Vader’s iconic breathing or baritone voice it still sends shivers down my spine. Even though I know what’s about to happen in every movie, it’s still something I never tire of no matter how many times I see it and I don’t think I ever will at this point.

Everyone who is a Star Wars fan to any degree usually has some opinion about the new trilogy and the remastered versions of the original trilogy and I’m no different. While the old trilogy far surpasses any of the new three in my opinion, I still enjoyed getting to go to the theatre and see the new installments from ages 8 to 14 and experience something brand new to the story in my formative years. Going back and watching the new movies now, it’s incredibly hard for me to sit all the way through “Attack of the Clones” as I find it incredibly long and somewhat boring. I get some kicks out of reminiscing with “The Phantom Menace,” but also think it was targeted for a much younger audience; also Jar Jar Binks. My favorite of the three would have to be “Revenge of the Sith,” though unfortunately I still don’t think it lives up to the original three.

As for the remastered versions of these movies, I grew up having only seen the original versions of the first trilogy once until I was in high school and instead grew up watching the 1997 remastered versions; so I had never seen versions without Jabba the Hut in “A New Hope” or that hairy-chested blue alien back up the band in Jabba’s Palace in “Return of the Jedi.” However, as far as I see it, the first remastered versions didn’t change anything vital to the story so I didn’t have a problem with them. It was only when I watched my fiance’s newest editions of the original three movies that I began to get incredibly frustrated with some of the changes that had been made. I didn’t really make a fuss about anything until I watched “Return of the Jedi” and saw that they had replaced the original spirit of Anakin Skywalker with Hayden Christensen and let out a big “what the fuck?!” I was a mess of emotions as I contemplated how George Lucas could just take a big ole dump all over my childhood.

Eventually, however, I came to realize that it didn’t really matter what I thought about the newest editions of the trilogy. Lucas, I believe, is simply trying to create his original vision of the movies using the technology we have available now. While this may be a simple thought to some, it’s really all that matters to me in the long run. I do think that the original versions of the movie should be more widely available to a new audience for nostalgia’s sake, but the older these treasured original versions get the less the new Star Wars audience will actually care how they appeared when they were first released. Maybe I’m biased because I grew up with the first remastered versions in my collection, but I don’t believe George Lucas is personally out to get any of his fans. Lukas Gaines, I’m sure, will have a much more detailed response on this issue than I do considering he grew up with the originals.

All I can say is the first time I watched Star Wars before I had my own collection I had seen the originals, and watching the first remastered versions afterwards didn’t seem to have a long term impact on my life. Don’t get me wrong, I’m sympathetic to those who do feel some type of way about both the new movies and the remastered versions. I imagine if someone put a bunch of new characters and updates into The Godfather, Goodfellas, or One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest I’d be starting a petition to ban said people from any involvement in cinema. I suppose it’s just easier for me to roll with the changes so that I can try to pass on this love of Star Wars to our daughter and a new generation of fans, rather than continuously telling her what she was missing with the original versions. Anyways, may the force be with you all and let us know what your thoughts are on what Star Wars means to you and how you feel about the new versions of the movies.

Lukas Post

Ha Andrew knows I feel some type of way about the remastered versions of the originals, I’ll cover that later. You know, I don't remember the first time I saw Star Wars. I remember when my eldest sister got the VHS set of the original trilogy for Christmas one year. I distinctly remember looking at Vader's helmet on the cover and finding myself entranced. I remember the first Star Wars action figures I got, though. There was this store called Roses in the tiny town in Virginia where my family and I lived until I was 12. I think it was like a franchised branch of KMart or something. Anyway I remember my mom and sisters coming home from Roses with my very first Han Solo, R2D2,  Chewbacca, Luke Skywalker, and Darth Vader action figures. I remember reading the Star Wars book series when I was a kid about Qui Gon and Obi-Wan’s relationship in the years when Qui Gon first took Obi as his apprentice; I distinctly recall one evening where my dad was grilling dinner on our deck and I sat outside reading Star Wars while my mom and sisters sporadically came out to hang with us. Good times.

Star Wars is so much more than a movie series. I have some pretty significant memories that involved Star Wars. The aforementioned evenings when I was a kid, having a 6-person lightsaber battle at my friend’s birthday party, the first girl I dated who liked Star Wars. After she and I parted ways, I watched the original trilogy (for those unfamiliar, episodes IV, V, and VI) on a loop for two weeks straight. There's a familiarity about these films that never fails to comfort or soothe me. As I grew up, they became more and more a part of me and how I think about life. Yoda, especially, has some lines that stick with me. “Luminous beings we are; not this crude matter.” “This one, a long time have I watched. All his life has he looked away. To the future. To the horizon. Never his mind on where he was! What he was doing!” Little snippets of dialogue that I like to reflect on from time to time. Star Wars shaped the hell out of me.

I suppose now I’ll get on with hating on the prequels and remastered editions. The prequels are chock full of shitty performances from every actor involved except Ewan McGregor (who, interesting tidbit, is the nephew of (cousin to? he’s somehow related to) the actor who played Wedge Antilles in the original trilogy). George Lucas traded any notion of decent storytelling for showy effects and a cheesy love story in Attack of the Clones. The parts involving Obi-Wan and/or Jango Fett are pretty cool, as my friend Caleb and I often mention when we talk about the ‘Wars, and the huge battle at the end is cool until the clones come. Yoda’s lightsaber battle, while cool when I first saw it, was decidedly showy and, in my opinion, unnecessary. Revenge of the Sith is decent as far as entertainment value goes and I still enjoy Phantom Menace from time to time.

There's a pretty great documentary that you should check out called “The People vs George Lucas.” It talks about just why die-hard fans of Star Wars love to hate ‘ol George. I'm actually watching the remastered version of Empire right now for the first time in years (I was lucky enough to pick up the versions of the movies that included the theatrical versions as bonus discs back in 2008), and I have to say, it looks much prettier remastered on Blu Ray than it does on regular DVD. My issues with the remasters are minor, compared to a lot of people I know, but I do take issue with a few things. One of them, perhaps surprisingly, is not Greedo shooting at Han and missing (in the theatrical version Han shoots and kills Greedo before the latter fires off a shot); if anything, it makes Han seem cooler in my opinion. The editing was fairly choppy though. No, my issue is with minor changes that don't affect the story greatly but which matter nonetheless. Boba Fett’s voice, for example, was changed after the prequels came out to match Jango’s since he's his clone. I don't like it. I think Boba Fett’s original, gruffer voice was more mysterious and added much more to the character's badassery. Little things like that become big things when you think about growing up associating a different voice with a character and they change it up on you. Same thing applies to Anakin Skywalker’s ghost at the End of Jedi. In the theatrical version, his ghost is in the form of him after he defeats the Emperor  (spoilers!!), now clothed in Jedi robes rather than his black suit. In the remastered, his ghost is switched out with the image of Hayden Christensen (for anyone unfamiliar, the actor who played Anakin in the prequels). Ridiculous. I get what they were doing - it was a fun little continuity Easter egg type deal for kids who saw the prequels first. But it also, in my opinion, affects the message of Vader’s redemption. A friend of mine likes Revenge of the Sith and likes the Skywalker ghost change (I know, gross). To be fair she argues that it's because H. C. is cute. Hard to argue with that. But to me, it signifies that Hayden Christensen’s Skywalker was the best form of Vader; his ghost, through his redemption, becomes good again and takes the form of Skywalker before he fully became Darth Vader. I call bullshit. The whole point of Vader's redemption is that he proves Luke right; he had good in him all along, even through all the heinous things he did. You don't just redeem yourself and then change back in to a purer version of yourself. I think the goodness is there all along, whether you choose to tap in to it or not. And so I think Vader's ghost should have been left as old Skywalker; weathered by a life of passion and rage and hate, redeemed through his son’s faith in him.

Well, that's what I have to say about Star Wars. It's a life-changing universe that I wouldn't be the same without. Thanks for reading. And please - share your memories and stories about Star Wars or comment and tell us what it means to you. Remember - the Force will be with you. Always.