Watched half of the OG (and best) Star Wars movie (episode IV A New Hope) last night (just half because we’d spent most of the evening trying to get iTunes to work.) It’s still a terrific movie. OK, there is a distinct lack of diversity, and the female characters are few and far between and very traditional, but there are so many scenes where it’s the first time that you see things that are now iconic. Stormtroopers, light sabers, wookies, Darth Vader, The Force (“these are not the droids you are looking for”) – they haven’t dated at all. Even the special effects and puppetry stand up well – the so-called updated special effects George Lucas put in a few years ago are so unnecessary and stand out like a sore thumb. RE the female characters, I’m sure some of you are itching to say “what about Princess Leia?!” and you’re absolutely right, but do you remember the pristine makeup, hair and outfit – a long flowing white dress, no less – even after being captured and tortured by Lord Vader? Feisty but impossibly gorgeous at the same time. Mind you, everyone else looks pretty tidy and well groomed as well.
Anyway, things are looking tough for our friends at the moment (spoiler alert) – stuck trying to save the princess and escape from the Death Star – but the most upsetting thing about the film so far (including the charred corpses of Luke’s aunt and uncle), was the destruction of Leia’s home planet of Aldebaran. The entire planet. It’s gutting in the same way as the sheer scale of death on The Titanic. Really, I didn’t care much at all about the two main characters in that movie (although of course there was room for Jack on the raft), but it was the countless nameless faceless others that kept me awake at nights for a week after seeing it. At least with Star Wars I can console myself that it’s just a movie. No such luck with the Titanic.
On a lighter note, did you know that in every Star Wars movie after the original trilogy, the various actors kept ruining takes because they couldn’t help mimicking the noises of the light sabers and blasters while using them? I love that. My daughter is sitting her driving test in a few weeks, and she’s worried she’s going to make engine noises during it and get failed.