Star Wars

Star Wars is back in the spotlight with the announcement that there will be more theatrical movies, continuing the story after the events in Return of the Jedi.  I’m cautiously optimistic and excited.  Excited because Star Wars is more than just a movie to me; Star Wars is the greatest work of pop culture ever.  I’m cautious because George Lucas will be less involved in the next movie than he was the previous 6.

Let me say up front: Star Wars, in my eyes, is perfect!!  I see nothing wrong with any of the movies.  They aren’t deep, meaningful stories but they don’t need to be!  If you are watching Star Wars you should be ready and willing to have fun!  Nothing in my life has ever been as much fun as Star Wars.

Sure, I love to over-analyze the characters and motivations and try to figure out the backgrounds of all the inconsequential minor characters.  But I don’t take such over-analysis too seriously.  Still, allow me to do a little bit here.

Initially, my favorite character in Star Wars was R2D2.  It’s really amazing how much character there can be in a non-humanoid who doesn’t speak a recognizable language.  Han was also an early favorite, probably because he’s cool and tough and not very conformist.  But the story in the original trilogy is really Luke’s, and the most interesting character throughout the trilogy is him, at least to me.

When I first saw The Phantom Menace I immediately took a liking to Jar Jar.  For some reason, he didn’t become the ultra-popular character I thought he would, but I still love him!  He’s total fun and an “ordinary guy” in the middle of Jedi and royalty.  However, my affections eventually were won over by Padme Amidala, the tough, intelligent and beautiful leader who is excellently portrayed and it’s so easy to see the qualities of Luke and Leia in her.


A great Walter Simonson cover!

After I first saw Star Wars, long before I knew there would be sequels and had a VCR to watch the movie over and over again, I discovered the Star Wars comic book series by Marvel Comics.  They weren’t always the best written or drawn tales, but they sure kept me entertained waiting for the next theatrical release.  My favorite run was by Dave Micheline and Walt Simonson and took place after The Empire Strikes Back.  And they were great stories despite being at a time when the story possibilities seemed very limited.

I could go on and on and on.  Maybe I’ll come back to this at a later time, but it’s time to end for now.

A little Star Wars meets Cthulhu of my own