Hello, my happy peeps! A few things really quick before I rant about my childhood movie love. Today I am the featured guest over at the lovely Ms. Myndi’s blog. Please pop over there for a read and share the love with her. She hosts a fabulous site and would love to have you visit.
Also, if you haven’t already seen it, I am participating in a blog scavenger hunt this week. Super fun stuff! Ms. Samantha Warren has really worked her tail off to pull together some great blogs and prizes so I suggest you go check out her blog and the festivities. You might even win yourself a Kindle! How awesome would that be?!
~oOo~
OMG! OMG! OMG! Who doesn’t love Star Wars? You? The tall one in the corner over there? Ok, you can just turn around and leave the room. Come back on Friday. I’m just kidding. In all seriousness, I’m going to talk about Star Wars. Why? Only because I’m low on material (not really) I loved it as a kid and have been reading up on the 3D digital re-mastering of all the movies. I’m not really sure what prompted it. It was probably an advertisement we saw before the movie Hugo over the weekend that piqued my curiosity and got me mildly excited.
I’m not alone in my excitement…
The mere mention of Star Wars and I’m thrown back to a memory of a Sunday morning when my dad took me to the movies, letting me skip church for once. That was a really big deal for me. He bought us a big tub of popcorn, a couple of cokes and found us the best seat in the house, where I sat in awe as ships flew across the screen and over my head. That was old school then, but it was still amazing. I was in love!
But let’s face it, look at the time line. Lucas is due for a re-mastering of some sort where his movies are concerned. He’s always tinkering with the original works of art, as if they needed to be improved upon. I mean, really, did we need to show Han Solo shooting first… or at the same time? No. The story was so much better in its original form. So please, Mr. Lucas – no more changes.
Even my kid is a big Star Wars fan. But he’s what you would call many of the young boys today — “new Star Wars fans”– who are big on the Jedi books and animated television shows. He likes the newer movies. That’s right. Even the grating Jar Jar Binks. Oh, how he ruined Episode I for me. I couldn’t get past that character. Episodes II and III, I can’t tell you. I seem to have blocked them from my memory. Actually, I recall falling asleep during one of them. Oops, my bad.
But newer movies aside and changes notwithstanding, I would love to see the original trio on the big screen again and take my kids to the experience. Even if Lucas is just looking to stuff more cash in his pocket. It’s too bad the movies are currently scheduled at releasing one per year starting with Episode 1 in 2012. That means I’ll be waiting until 2015 for the original movie to hit the big screen. That’s a long wait for me. Let’s hope the Force is with me and I’m still around by then.
In closing I leave you with this little snippet from the past. Happy Holidays for the Star Wars cast in 1978.
Do you have any thoughts on the constant re-mastering of the Star Wars movies? Anything you care to share on the old verses the new?
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All your kind thoughts and comments are greatly appreciated. Thank you!
My hubby came through at the last minute and provided me with a cool Wii starter kit of the brand new game Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure. Check out how you could be entered to win!
I may not be a total Star Wars head like you, but I do remember when and where I first saw it: Tulsa, Oklahoma, 1977. I remember it so vividly because I’d never seen anything like it before. I think it rather sucks about Lucas’ changes, too, but the new 3D versions should be awesome. Back to 1977. My sis and I saw Star Wars in one theater while my parents saw Slap Shot with Paul Newman in another. When we met afterward, my mother said she should have gone to see “that silly outer space movie” with us.
I’m giggling at your mom. How cute is that! My dad was totally into it. I think that’s what got me into it as well. I remember my grandparents wanted to take me to see The Jungle Book and I countered with Star Wars and my grandma said, “Oh all that blasting across the screen will give your grandpa a heart attack.” Okay grandma. I guess we will never know. He live many long years after that.
We saw the signs for this at the theater when we went to see Breaking Dawn. We were more excited about that than the movie we went to see! I’m excited for the 3D, but I hope they don’t get fancy. I hate the “remastered” versions. Some of the changes are okay, but some of them change the movies and that’s just not cool. Like that whole bit about taking out the real Anakin Skywalker and putting in Hayden Christiansen? No, just no. Bad George!
I did read something at one point that made me laugh. “George Lucas’ PR guy has the easiest job. Every few years, he just releases a blanket statement that says: Sometime in the next time years, George Lucas might or might not be releasing a new Star Wars movie.” Job done!
*Ten years, not time years. /editfail
I don’t think George Lucas has made the wisest decisions where the Star Wars movies are concerned. He did great by the first one and then slowly you can see something creeping in to his work. He needs an intervention.
I didn’t know about the remastering. I can see where the transition effects between scenes look a little dated, and 3D might be cool, but I hope they leave the stories alone!
I hope they leave it alone too Jennette. We will see. Lucas is always tinkering with something.
I am an old school Star Wars fan. I remember making up stories in my head where I put myself into the movies, but I didn’t connect with the newer ones. 🙂
I’m with you Coleen, didn’t connect with the newer ones at all. But my kid loved them. Go figure.
I couldn’t read past the hysterical cat! I’m still LMAO! Will read the rest later. And we’re a Star Wars family. 🙂
Aren’t the kitties awesome?!?! Love the kitties!
My husband and I love the animated Clone Wars, good writing, great action, they capture the fun essence of #4 through #6. And you get to hear the classic line “I have a very bad feeling about this” in almost every episode. I can appreciate, but not love #1 through #3. I saw Phantom Menace the same day we had to put our oldest and best loved sea lions to sleep. It’s forever tainted. I cannot like Hayden Christiansen’s acting, sorry dude! And don’t get me started on Jar-Jar! Remember, it’s thanks to him that Palpatine was able to rise to power. Thanks for the post, Debra, great job! And I love the Jedi Kittens!
My son was watching it for a while -pre-Halo days, I caught a few episodes while I multi-tasked. That’s how I watch anything anymore. I’m so sorry about your sea lion. That would have put a damper on anything you did that day, even if it was a good movie.
The kittens ROCK!
Loved the original! It’s an oldie but goodie! A Keeper! 🙂
I ❤ the original. It doesn’t get better than that.
I’ve only seen the original movies, none of the remastered ones. About once a year, we pull them out to watch them all again. Great memories of seeing the first one on the screen. The sound of the ship flying overhead was mind blowing. 🙂
Sounds like a fun family ritual Shelia. We do that with the Christmas Story every year. 😀
I’m glad that you still love the movies because I had the opposite expereince last Thanksgiving. My family was all at the beach for the whole weekend and the Star Wars series was on cable (at least all the movies that have been out a while). I remembered how much I loved the movies as a kid, so I sat down to watch. I couldn’t believe how bored I was as an adult. The sets seemed so fake and I didn’t remember Luke being such a whiner. I actually fell asleep. The one good thing I noticed was that some of the syles are coming back around. Han Solo’s fur trimmed jacket and boots are totally in style now!
Oh no Emma. It’s actually been a long while since I’ve seen the movie. Will I feel that way when I see the film roll? I hope not. Although I do recall Luke being a whiner. Even the guy who sings his part in the video attached sort of whines. LOL As for the fashion, I think you stated it in your post the other day, all fashion eventually rolls back around. It’s the nature of the fashion business. Just with a few slight variations.
I love the original Star Wars but the new ones with Natalie Portman were great too. I’m not sure what the remastering will do to “the legend” but why to fix something that’s not broken? On the other hand, 3D movies are cool so who knows? Maybe it’s worth a try.
I am all for the 3D. It’s just every time he does something like this there’s a tweak or change to the movie script somewhere. Let’s hope there’s not. But I’m with you, why fix something that’s not broken?
I never even got to see it on the big screen. 🙁 We saw lame movies LOL! I would love to see it on the big screen now though 🙂
It sounds like you’ll get your chance. But you’ll have to start with episode I or wait till 2015!
LOVE Star Wars! Unlike you, I enjoyed the first (last?) three as well. I even like Jar Jar (stop throwing things at me!). For me, Eps I, II, III are a love story and I’m all about that. Plus, I like the costuming. The plot was always suspect for me, so I concentrated on what I liked. Hayden Christensen is quite yummy, too. Even if he’s a bit wooden. (no pun, stop throwing things!)
I don’t know if I’ll be so enthused to see the remastered 3D stuff. I like my old, untouched, VHS movies. We’ll see.
The only thing anyone is throwing at you is hugs and kisses. 😀 The costuming is fabulous, I’ll give you that. Sorry if I don’t remember Eps II and III much. But I am sure I’ll get to see them again anyway. Gamer will probably want to go.
My husband is pretty much one of the biggest Star Wars fans you’ll ever meet, but he couldn’t stand the new movies (neither could I). They felt sort of cluttered and unfocused and I kept wanting Jar Jar Binks to take a lightsabre to the heart . . . oops, did I say that out loud 😛
We still regularly watch the originals. My husband also has shelves and shelves of Star Wars books. He just loves the world.
LOL! I felt the same way. We may not have shelves and shelves of all the books but we did get married to Darth Vader’s theme. Does that count for something? Yeah, total geeks here. Neon signs pointing to our heads. My son was really into the Jedi books for a time.
I don’t like the remastered versions either, and Lucas needs to LEAVE THE MOVIES ALONE now!! I am also a HUGE Jar Jar Binks hater and will never watch Episode I again because of him. Episode II was just bad because the acting was SO. PAINFUL. Episode III was okay and I could probably stomach watching that one again.
But really? Any Star Wars movie without Han Solo is just a little bit… blah. Lucas lost sight of the fact that you need the plucky comic relief. Episodes I-III were too serious and too political (read: boring).
Too many movies, in my opinion, were going overboard on the dumb kid humor. It was/is very unappealing. Even Transformers II was guilty. They lost sight of what made them good. It’s so sad.