How did Spike TV do?

I managed to catch TPM, bits and pieces of AOTC, and ROTS over the weekend on Spike. Of course, like most of you I have the movies on DVD and can watch them in commercial-free, widescreen glory any time I like. But I wanted to see how Spike handled it, and there are other reasons I'll get to in another post.

The only drawback to Spike's broadcast is that the movies are in (shudder) pan-n-scan. It's too bad I don't have Spike HD on my current HD service, because that almost would've made up for it. Otherwise, nice job, Spike! They treated the movies with respect. I hated how Fox, which previously had the broadcast rights for TPM and AOTC, hacked out parts of the movies to make them fit its primetime schedule. Even though there were commercial breaks, all of films were uncut. Better yet, the version of TPM Spike broadcast is the DVD cut. Yay! I liked how before some of the commercial breaks, they would preview upcoming scenes with concept art from those scenes. Cool. The tag lines and commercials for the "whole freakin' saga" were fun too, such as the Spike logo made to look like the overhead Star Destroyer shot from ANH. I particularly liked "there is much to be learned." Think I'll steal that one ;). I also liked a commercial with Padme and Leia with the caption "there's just something about a girl with a gun." Heh heh. I don't know if The Force Unleashed segment I saw between AOTC and ROTS on Sunday will be repeated at other times or if they'll have new ones.

It was worthwhile, even having to endure that creepy robo Burger King ad several times. If this past weekend was any indication, the SW movies have a good home with Spike.

The SW part of your soul

Many years ago, I scrawled out a piece for my old zine BH about how SW was "Chicken Soup For The Soul," like the series of essays popular in the 1990s. I wrote "To most people out there, SW is 'just a movie.' They don't understand the meaning it has held for millions of fans around the world." There really is a SW part of your soul and you may not even notice or remember that it's there unless you do something like not see the movies in a while and then watch them again. In spite of what you might think, I don't watch them all of the time. Part of it is Darth Real Life. I have places to go, things to do, and people to see. You get caught up in the grind, including spending a couple of hours a day online, and watching stuff on t.v.. For some strange reason, it's easier to squeeze in 13 viewings of a movie in theatrical release than to squeeze in even one viewing of the film at home. Part of it is self-imposed. I guess I don't want to get burned out and bored with the films.

Watching what I could of Eps I-III over the weekend touched that indefinable part all over again. It's hard to describe, only to say you know the feeling when you experience it. Even though you know what's going to happen and you can recite the lines along with the characters, it's still there. Besides that, it's fun to notice things you'd never picked up on before or had forgotten. For example, have you noticed there's a dog or something that runs in front of the Gungans grouped in the "sacred grove" in TPM? There's always more food for thought (how much did Palpie know about Anakin's crush on Padme in AOTC?). And ROTS still packs a punch. I still get sad during the Order 66 scene or when Padme dies. I still want Anakin to reject the dark side.

This is why even a regular, pan-and-scan t.v. broadcast of the movies is a welcome sight. It may not be quite up there with a theatrical experience but still enough to bring out the warm fuzzy feeling.