(no subject)

[fancycwabs]

Before Lucas potentially takes another giant crap on my childhood and ruins it for me, I suppose I ought to reminisce. Star Wars came out when I was six, and while I went to see it, my memories of it were informed more by later re-releases and sequels than by what I actually saw on the screen in 1977. At six years old, having seen little more than Disney rereleases and nature documentaries, I was barely aware that Han actually shot Greedo at all in the sensory overload, much less who shot first.

Things were different at age 10, when Raiders of The Lost Ark came out. I saw it several times over its run in Mobile (without competition from home video, it played for well over a year). I wrote a horrible (and thankfully lost forever) Mad-magazine-style parody of it (well, if Mad Magazine wrote prose) in the sixth grade. I found Temple of Doom to be a lighter, fluffier entertainment--in spite of its supposed "darkness"--filled with ridiculously contrived moments that really didn't ground the series in reality, a problem they solved somewhat in Last Crusade. I was as dissappointed to hear that they'd started referring to the first film as Indiana Jones and The Raiders of The Lost Ark as I was to suddenly be expected talk about Episode IV, the film that had always been simply Star Wars to me, as "A New Hope." When I heard about a sequel, I wasn't particularly excited, because the folks who felt about Star Wars the way I felt about Raiders were, um, just a little pissed off about what Lucas had done to their beloved series--but I figured I didn't actually have to go watch it. It's not as if the story was missing something.

That said, buzz has been pretty good from what I understand. Spielberg, in the intervening years, has moved from an excellent action film director to an Academy-Award winning director, and someone who might be able to rein in some of Lucas' more baroque impulses--and so I'm approaching it with cautious optimism, although I probably won't actually see it until Saturday unless I take some time off work.

THAT said, while it's technically possible, I do NOT want to see Indiana Jones stop in at a Burger King. *shakes fist* You have a couple days to cut any Burger King related scenes from any print I may watch, Speilberg. Consider yourself warned.

Comments

[skatiemom.livejournal.com]

I saw Star Wars at age 12 and Raiders at 16. Harrison Ford, as Indy, was my first crush that shaved. If they've screwed with Indiana Jones, I'm gonna be PISSED.

That said, I may go see this by myself because Mr. Skatie is going camping this weekend. I don't think I can wait until next weekend to see it. *slight fangirllady*

[redtheblue.livejournal.com]

I saw that Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark thing. It's a good call because after allowing 30 years to reconcile that Raiders is about Indiana Jones even though his name isn't perched on the title like Horton on an egg, we're still SOOO CONFUUUUUSED. I hope soon they'll help us out with the re-release of Hannibal Lecter and the Silence of the Lambs.

About the Star Wars thing... I'm torn. I understand what Lucas is trying to do, even if I don't agree with everything he's done to get there. He's hoping that when the next generation of Star Wars fans sees all six films they'll get it. What I don't understand is why he thinks CGI characters are so far superior to puppets. Irving Kershner said that during Empire he caught himself a few times giving direction to Yoda rather than Frank Oz. That kind of chemistry is never going to happen with a tennis ball on a stick.

[phonemonkey.livejournal.com]

If I can find a cinema that's showing it with subtitles rather than dubbing, I think I want to see it.

I still can't stop thinking "But isn't Harrison Ford a bit old for that kind of thing?" but you know, it's Indy, he's always going to be cool.