lazypadawan's Holocron

Local10 finally posted a somewhat improved apology today, presumably by the original author, for the Celebration VI Mock-A-Thon:

http://www.local10.com/news/The-Force-failed-this-one-A-Star-Wars-fan-says-I-m-sorry/-/1717324/16511424/-/2f9l7oz/-/index.html

I guess that's the best we're going to get from this guy. Oh well.

The issue to me isn't so much "bullying"; I think it has been somewhat mischaracterized as such. I see it as journalistic malfeasance and part of a much bigger problem with the media in this country ridiculing people who are different from them. My undergraduate degree is in journalism and I'm appalled at how the business has gone from at worst mild condescension to naked contempt for its subjects. Ironically this happens after more than 20 years' worth of sensitivity training drilled into newsrooms. Stuff like this really makes me angry and the press just doesn't understand why most people don't trust the media anymore.

Dear Entertainment Weekly,

So you think, based upon the sage advice of notorious prequel-basher Simon Pegg, that it’s “cool to like Star Wars again.” Unlike the mindless pop culture zombies who slavishly follow wherever you lead them, I don’t need anyone’s permission to be a Star Wars fan.

You see, I’ve been a fan 35 years, longer than most of your staff or readers have been alive. I’ve stuck with it through thick and through thin. Do you know when it was really uncool to be a Star Wars fan? Try 1985-1990. Marvel shut down its Star Wars title after writers couldn’t come up with anything more than fat green people menacing the galaxy. The original Star Wars fan club shuttered in 1987, just in time to celebrate A New Hope’s 10th anniversary. Kenner stopped making Star Wars toys. The first attempts at producing an animated t.v. series were gone by the time I started my senior year in high school. It seemed like by then Star Wars had fallen off of the cultural map.

Oh sure, by that time Harrison Ford was the biggest star in Hollywood, but he didn’t want to talk about those movies (still doesn’t). Yes we got the first launch of Star Tours, but that was at only one Disney park. Certainly, there was a 10th anniversary convention in Los Angeles in 1987 but it was far smaller in scale than any of the Celebrations of the past 13 years (and I didn’t go).

Nobody knew for sure if or when Star Wars was ever coming back. The first trilogy was over and remaining fans went underground, and with the exception of a small circle of zine publishers and fan fic writers, had to endure it alone. Read Steve Sansweet’s 1992 book “From Concept To Screen To Collectible.” He talks about how memorabilia and toy shows refused to let dealers sell Star Wars stuff in the late ‘80s. The 1990 edition of Dale Pollock’s “Skywalking,” a George Lucas biography, called Star Wars a ‘70s fad. Meet any other fannish types prior to 1991 and their usual reaction to your Star Wars fandom was, “Why are you still into that?”

By the way, 95% of those old fanboys who claimed they worshipped the holy trilogy back in the day abandoned it the second they got old enough for chicks and cars. Trufax, as your young readers might say.

There always were whispers of interest in the saga, people asking me if I knew anything (“sure, I’ll ask George the next time I see him”) but those were regular people. Not the precursors to today’s professional geeks. The media and Hollywood didn’t give a womprat’s butt about Star Wars. I certainly don’t recall very much about it in the early days of your publication.

When I started my fanzine in 1993, the letters I got from readers were like confessionals at an AA meeting. People were just coming to terms with the fact they still loved the Star Wars films. Over the next four years though, everything changed. The Star Wars bandwagon got rolling again.

But I’m guessing, given the media’s often short memory, the Era of Uncoolness you’re describing began in 1997 and if not with the Special Editions, then definitely with The Phantom Menace.

Guess what? This old school Star Wars fan embraced the Special Editions and the prequels. Just as I didn’t abandon Star Wars when it wasn’t cool in the mid ‘80s, I didn’t abandon it when you guys and your followers turned on it years later. Remember the Clone Wars movie? You people graded it with an “F.” I enjoyed it and saw the show’s potential right away. But four years later the show’s a hit, so it’s “cool” to like it now.

Whatever, EW. You don’t speak for me and you aren’t the arbiters of “cool.”

No Love,
lazypadawan

Let's be honest here: Star Wars Fandom, Inc. is one cesspool of misanthropy. At least it is in many quarters, especially on the internet. All it takes is anything new at all in the universe of films or even on Clone Wars and the whole thing just blows up into seething rage, hate, and fury. It doesn't help that many bloggers and pro entertainment/pop culture sites, publications, and t.v. shows fan those flames of discontent. For something that's supposedly a huge pop culture icon/phenomenon that makes soooo much money, it doesn't seem like very many people who invest so much of their lives into it actually like it. If you came from another planet and what you know about Star Wars comes only from the internet, you could be forgiven for thinking Star Wars is widely despised and George Lucas must be worse than Adolf Hitler, Osama Bin Laden, Charles Manson, and John Wayne Gacy combined.

Seriously, when was the last time you saw real joy and happiness in Star Wars fandom? *Shrug.* Maybe kinda sorta at the last Celebration?

You can't lay all of this on George Lucas either for making what are really just very minor changes over the years, which have happened almost constantly since 1977. After all, the first version of ANH I saw wasn't called "A New Hope," it was just plain "Star Wars." No, this has always harbored a lot of very reactionary fans. That crowd has only grown larger and louder over time. You see, I've been involved in Star Wars fandom for almost 20 years. My first fannish contact was with the fan fiction/zine crowd. This was years before rumors even surfaced about the Special Editions. Yet I still encountered people who found fault with everything and with Lucas. I never mentioned this before, but the first time I sat down to watch the existing trilogy with some of these folks, I was shocked that some of them were nitpicking all of the films. Didn’t like this person’s delivery. Oh look at that mistake. I never liked this scene. Yadda, yadda, yadda. In all of the years I’d watched the first Star Wars trilogy--in the theater, at home by my lonesome, with family, with friends, etc.—I had never watched the movies with a jaundiced eye like that. I watched them to enjoy them, to get re-immersed in that world, to find little things that made me rethink the story, and so forth. There was a time or two when I’d watched the movies with people who didn’t quite get them and with one wise guy who wasn’t really into that sort of thing, but these were fans. Before there were message boards, there were zine lettercols and there were some headdesk worthy rants in those. I vaguely recall complaints about Lucas’s refusal to “share power,” a whole lot of dumping on the new novels and comics back when I still liked them for no other reason than they were something new, and looking down on fans viewed as too pro-Lucas. There was one zine in particular that was so abrasively anti-Lucas, I dropped it. And this was one small slice of fandom prior to 1995!

When I first got wind of possible changes to the first trilogy during the summer of 1994, my first reaction was, “No, that’s not going to happen.” Changing anything about the existing Star Wars movies was to my much younger self was almost sacrilegious. As I put it at the time, it was like putting a bikini on Goya’s “La Maja Desnuda” (go look it up). It didn’t make any sense…until it made sense. I realized the Special Editions were in many ways a needed dress rehearsal prior to tackling new movies, and that included working with digital effects. If it made Star Wars fresher to younger audiences used to “Jurassic Park” or “Independence Day,” fine by me. In fact, while the fanboys griped about Greedo shooting first, what went unnoticed were the legions of new fans the movies attracted and the opportunity finally given to fans who had only seen the films on t.v. to enjoy them on the big screen. One of the additional benefits of the Special Editions is that the restoration process saved the negatives from total disintegration, which would have made future re-releases difficult if not impossible.

When I first got wind of younger, hot Anakin getting put in as a blue ghostie in the ROTJ DVD, my first reaction was, “Why?” Then I figured out why…it helped tie the movie in better with Eps II-III, which I think was the real problem the complainers had with the tweak because they don’t like Hayden and it ticked them off he was interfering in “their” movie.

To me the little tweaks are part of what keeps Star Wars fresh and alive, not a museum piece. It’s fun to find the little surprises. I think it’s great Lucas is trying to finesse it and have the two trilogies be as cohesive as possible to make an amazing whole. You may not think they are necessary, you may not think they are executed as well as they could have been. The Blu-Ray has tweaked the Greedo/Han shootout further and I think it’s the best execution to date based on a “leaked” clip (you know I have never cared about the whole shooting bit). But the constant meltdowns over fairly small things is perplexing to me, and far more disappointing than any “change” Lucas could ever devise. They're hugely embarrassing to me because it does not reflect well upon anyone who claims to be a fan. Seriously, it doesn’t despite the egging on from i09 or Gizmodo or whatever. When people who clearly aren’t Star Wars fans are referring to the angry bird fanboys as “Star Warstards” and “Star Wars f@gs,” you know folks are really getting sick of this crap. I’m sure the mentally disabled and gays are greatly insulted by the comparison. And well they should be if the best fans can do is to flame Katie Lucas’s or Bonnie Burton’s (!!) Twitter accounts, as though it’s all their fault.

“But, don’t I have a right as a fan to be upset?!” some of you might ask.

I can’t crawl into your head and tell you what you can and cannot find meaningful, even if I don’t understand why you find it that meaningful. But I have to wonder why anyone who says he or she loves the saga is willing to toss it all aside because of a single liiiittle thing. Don’t buy the Blu-Rays if you don’t want them but I think you’re cheating yourself out of the many POSITIVE things about the Blu-Rays in the bargain. (I will also say the same for those who wholesale reject the prequels or Clone Wars.)

Moreover, try to see it from Lucas’s perspective. It has to be hugely frustrating to have this vision in your head of how everything is supposed to look and what’s supposed to happen, only to find limitations put on that vision by cold hard reality: money, available technology, the collaborative nature of film and all of the egos that go with it, time, etc.. The Star Wars that lives in Lucas’s noggin is probably frustratingly just out of reach but with each new innovation, the reach gets shorter, and I think that is especially true with Eps IV-VI. So whenever he gets a chance to go back to it, he can make that Krayt call closer to the way he wanted it to sound or put in more creatures or something. He can make the connections between his first set of movies and his second that much more readable to the audience. While I’m sure most if not all filmmakers would love to go back and finesse their earlier movies, not everybody can and not every film has enough interest to warrant the effort. And we’re talking about something a little different here than a Woody Allen comedy and something bigger in scale than one-shot blockbusters.

Here’s the only thing I care about: I want people watching Star Wars long after I’ve bought the moisture farm. A century from now. 500 years from now. Only God will determine when Lucas has tweaked enough and perhaps he will, in blue ghostie form, continue to announce changes to whomever’s in charge.

Do read what Randy Martinez and Tom Hodges have to say about the topic:

http://artistrandymartinez.tumblr.com/

http://www.tomhodges.com/2011/09/01/haters-will-hate-always/#.Tl_zH67zZgk.twitter

Producers for the “Oprah Winfrey Show” are looking for someone with “the ultimate” collection of Princess Leia merch/memorabilia, as reported on TFN and Club Jade, to feature on the program. I have no idea what the show is going to be about, but I have read rumors/speculation that Carrie Fisher and mom Debbie Reynolds are slated to appear on a future episode of the show. Maybe this collectors’ search is part of that episode, maybe it isn’t.

But I can’t think of anything more potentially awkward and embarrassing than to have the real person who played the focus of your collection drop by your house to see it. I may as well package up every non-PG-rated fic I’ve written and send them off to everybody who played those characters, CC: George Lucas.

Even if I didn’t mind sharing my collection of stuff in the way Elvis fanboy Nicholas Cage didn’t find anything peculiar about marrying Lisa Marie Presley, I would be greatly concerned about being portrayed as a weirdo, a freak, an obsessive nut, or even a stalker and that there is something creepy or unsettling about my collection.

I do have a large Star Wars collection, with a variety of stuff. But like many collectors not named Steve Sansweet with a big warehouse to store everything, there are certain items or characters that I’ll favor. A good friend of mine will buy anything with Han, Chewie, or the Millennium Falcon. I knew a collector back East whose collection focuses entirely on ROTJ Luke. He has a website and, yes, he did show pictures of his collection to Mark Hamill. I know of another guy who only collects sandtroopers and another who likes Jawas and Tusken Raiders. I love anything with Anakin, so long as the piece doesn’t really suck or it’s not too big or too expensive. I know another collector on the East Coast who collects anything having to do with female characters; I also favor Padme, Leia, Ahsoka, Asajj Ventress, etc.. There’s a woman collector whose focus is on Padme stuff. She worked for Official Pix.

But most of the Corn Nuts-munching couch potatoes out there watching Oprah don’t understand that about Star Wars collecting and I doubt the show’s producers would either. There’s a reason why I’m very wary of dealing with the lamestream media when it comes to fandom.

I couldn't have said it better myself:

http://www.examiner.com/star-wars-in-national/star-wars-3d-a-certain-point-of-view#comment-12271296

The folks at starwars.com have no pride. After over 10 years' worth of trashing all things Star Wars, trashing George Lucas, giving all of the prequel films bad reviews, and rewarding the CW movie with an "F," EW publishes a tribute to TESB's 30th and starwars.com cheerfully promotes it. Remember when things were so bad between EW and Lucasfilm, EW apparently didn't get to go to a press screening of ROTS? Remember when EW claimed that a young boy thanking Lucas at Celebration III was a staged stunt? I do. All of that and more. I've refused to buy a single issue of that magazine since 2000 and this isn't going to change my mind now.

All of those rare pix? You can find them on the internet for free. There's even a Facebook page dedicated to rare vintage SW pictures. The book excerpt will be in "The Making of the Empire Strikes Back," which I'm sure many of you are going to buy anyway. As for the rest of it, who cares what some staffer at EW thinks of TESB? I already know it's the only SW movie they think is worth anything because they've said so over and over.

EW can kiss my butt.

After raising heck yesterday on Twitter and on SWPAS about starwars.com's Twitter re-tweet of a PT-bashing cartoon, starwars.com deleted the retweet and today there seems to be a curious uptick in PT-related tweets.

Just a coincidence, right ;)?

I'll have more posted on SWPAS later but thanks to any and all who helped score this victory for fair-minded, saga-lovin' fans everywhere!

Power to the people!

Now that starwarscelebration.com has hotels available at its convention rate (hint: check other travel/discount hotel sites before booking), you'll have start thinking about what you're going to wear.

ShopStarWars.com has for sale several costume items that are movie-accurate and have prices to match. Some, like the Imperial officer's cap isn't too bad ($39.95), while others are crazy expensive (Obi-Wan Robe: $294.99). I saw a pair of shoes that are replicas of Padmé's shoes from AOTC. I don't plan on buying a whole outfit but the shoes are cute and I could use them IRL. They were $74.95 or something, which is pretty reasonable for a good pair of leather heels, which these are. When I first tried to pre-order them, the price on the drop-down menu shot up to $350! What? Who made these, Jimmy Choo? Manolo Blahnik? Which was the right price? After contacting ShopStarWars.com, it turns out the price was $74.95 after all.

If you head over to http://starwarsprequelappreciationsociety.wordpress.com/2009/12/19/the-ongoing-jihad-against-tpm/, you can read my lovely little rant du jour.

Spread on the internet today was a rumor that they're going to make a third SW trilogy (all new) in glorious 3D.

Guyz, PLEASE.

Yours truly has been on the SW fandom bus for 32 years. Unlike the troglodyte knuckleheads who were all born 1980 something and whose knowledge about SW has been based on distorted rumors, assumptions, tropes, and urban legends, I actually have read just about every major interview and article about the topic. Lucas mentioned nine movies only once or twice, waaay back when. As time marched on, he never mentioned anything about a story post-ROTJ. Why? He had never really planned on it. If he ever talked about future Star Wars films, he only mentioned doing movies that took place prior to ANH. Why do you think they let those Timothy Zahn books and that "Dark Empire" comics series take place post-ROTJ? Because there have never been plans to make movies in that time period, while the prequel era was off-limits until there were actual films.

Use common sense here. Right now, Lucas is involved with Clone Wars and with getting the live action show off of the ground (which is about two or three years away), as well as producing the upcoming "Red Tails." He doesn't have time to bug with a whole new trilogy and even if he woke up tomorrow with an idea, it would be several years before anything would hit the screen. Lucas didn't start writing TPM until 1994 or 1995, even though he knew by about 1992 or 1993 that he was finally able to make the movies. Then came about two or three years of pre-production work, principal photography, and then about two years of post-production work. All told, 5-7 years, at least. And what would they be about anyway? The six part series is about Anakin's rise, fall, and redemption. Any new movies without Anakin/Vader would really be their own cycle, not true sequels to ROTJ.

Besides, I'm not really sure why the same people who hated every second of the prequels and spend every breathing moment of their lives complaining about them want to see more movies. What makes them think things will be different this time? No amount of wishful thinking is going to get whoever's flavor of the moment to magically sweep in and turn SW into whatever some jerk fanboy thinks it ought to be.

Now we all know that Lucas eventually would like to convert all 6 SW films into a 3D format but that little project is years away, if it ever happens. We don't know if in a year or two, 3D turns out to be yet another incarnation of a 1950s cinematic fad that keeps making comebacks.

People, we're more likely to see a Beatles reunion tour with all of the original members than to see an Episode VII show up in theaters. Just get it through your heads.

With New!Trek upon us, the ugliest rivalry since the Yankees and the Red Sox could flare up again. First to light a fire and throw in some kerosene is our old buddy Simon Pegg, who plays Scotty in the flick. Pegg is famously a PT basher but now he thinks SW has no integrity!! From an interview with New York Timeout's website:

Star Trek, in the end, seems to have won the war, because it maintained its integrity, and now the effects are catching up as well. So you sort of get your Star Trek cake and eat it, too. I'm sure Star Wars fans around the world will want to kill me for saying that, and see me as a traitor, because I've always been a very outspoken fan of Star Wars, but I've never been publicly keen on the new ones.

It makes you want to look up at the ceiling and yell, "KHAAAAAAN!!!" Integrity? WTF is he talking about? Lucas made the movies he wanted to make, not kowtowing to fanboy nation or movie critics or internet dweebs. That's integrity.

Please tell me again why do people at Lucasfilm suck up to this guy?