A FAN’S PERSPECTIVE

A friend of mine has never seen “The Empire Strikes Back.”
That strikes me as strange, not only because he’s an otherwise well-rounded individual, but because the “Star Wars” franchise has been such a cultural touchstone since its release in 1977.
I was about 1½ years old when the first Death Star was destroyed and that most famous of movie quotes — “May the Force be with you” — was first uttered.
My dad took me to see the original film a few years later, and the Sand People and Darth Vader haunted my nightmares and imagination afterward.
By the time “Return of the Jedi” came out in 1983, I was a devoted fan. I had the action figures, the lightsaber, the trading cards, even the lunchbox. It struck me then (and still does) as unfair that I never owned the Millennium Falcon toy.
My brother and I would play with the toys for hours at a time. We’d watch the movies on VHS tapes whenever we were sick. We forced our parents to sit through those awful Ewok movies.
And then Star Wars began to fade into the background. Sure, they were cherished childhood memories, but they were aging as we were.
When George Lucas began tinkering with the original trilogy again in the 1990s and announced he’d be making three new films, it was for me and so many others in my generation the best news we could have heard.
We had grown up on Star Wars, and the tantalizing possibility that we could recapture the feelings of adventure and excitement that had fired our imaginations so many years ago filled us with anticipation.
But it turned out to not be such a good thing. Suddenly Han Solo wasn’t the shoot-first rogue he once was. And then there was Jar Jar Binks and the entire fate of the universe hanging on the piloting skills of a 10-year-old kid.
Sure, there were some cool lightsaber duels and space battles, but the story strained even a diehard fan’s willingness to suspend his or her disbelief. The galaxy far, far away had lost its lived-in feel. It was too clean, too impersonal.
George Lucas seemed to have forgotten that special effects don’t make up for a thin storyline, stilted acting and annoying characters — the very things he had left out of the first three movies.
The prequels were a disappointment because they were bad movies and because they could, and should, have been great.
That’s not to say the franchise is a complete loss. Cartoon Network’s “Clone Wars” series was excellent. The books, I’m told, are pretty good, and the video games are awesome.
Lucas is reportedly preparing a new “Star Wars” television series. and those same reports say that he’s letting other people do a lot of the work.
That gives me a new hope for the future of the franchise, but if it doesn’t work, well, all least I’ve got my memories.
Contact Brad Dicken at 329-7147 or bdicken@chroniclet.com.

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