The Death of a Legend

"It it's not Baroque, don't fix it." - Cogsworth, "Beauty & The Beast"

Someone should introduce George Lucas to Walt Disney. Perhaps some of Disney's animated wisdom would not only rub-off, but also motivate Lucas in his own movie making endeavors. On second thought, Cinderella 2 makes me reconsider. Anyway, the point...StarWars.

I have been a devoted StarWars fans for years. The first movie released before I was born and I was too young to see either of the rest in the theater, yet somehow I was exposed. Now I'm not a fanatic (going as Princess Leia every year for Halloween) but I admit that I am a bit of a StarWars geek [I even own my StarWars special edition Monopoly and Trivial Pursuit]. My VCR tapes are getting quite worn, so I was pretty excited about the DVD's coming available. My excited has been extinguished.

Last night I got to see parts of "Episode Six: The Return of the Jedi". I was anticipating the scenes added a few years ago (when Lucas first discovered CGI and decided to make his movies even longer) but I was not anticipating needless additions and changes to scenes that already worked in the originals. I am desperately trying not to ruin the movies for anyone who has yet to see the them, but Lucas has already ruined them, so why should I try? I want to keep my thoughts organized and not blurt out every evil thing I think about Lucas, so I will summarize.

1) WHY MESS WITH A GOOD THING? The original StarWars triliogy broke box office records; it made stars out of unknown actors; it not only captured the audience of its time, but has harpooned people for generations. I appreciated the clean-up work and touch ups that Lucas did to existing scenes, but was mostly annoyed with the additions he made in attempt to spice things up. Let me put it into perspective:
He took a Ford Escort. The CGI clean-up was adding a nice spoiler. The extra scenes and monsters are cheesey flames on the side, a giant Ford sticker in the back window and LeBra.

2) BE CONSISTENT! I'm gonna spew here, but I just can't help myself. First, I am COMPLETELY against blending the "first" trilogy (4-6) with the "second" trilogy (1-3). With that said, if one decides that it is completely necessary to mess with history and change an already good thing, please be consistent. Lucas not only ruins the originals by incorporating parts of the newest films, but he is inconsistent with how/who/what he brings in!! If you aren't going to ruin the WHOLE movie, why only ruin bits and pieces?

Well, that's all that I can vent for now. I'm getting flustered just thinking about this. I only hope and pray that those of you who have never been able to see the original StarWars movies will find someone with the VCR tapes before those become extinct. If you need to borrow my copies, my sister has my number.