Re-watching the Star Wars Trilogy, or ‘Trilling it up’ as it’s referred to in some circles, has become a strange experience. Ever since the subsequent Trilogy-Which-Must-Not-Be-Named was released fans have had a hard time consolidating the two series. On the one hand, the original Star Wars movies are imbedded into so many fundamental levels of the popular subconscious that it’s hard to find anything that doesn’t make reference to it in some way. On the other hand, the newer, or lesser, trilogy found a similar fame in its infamy; its not that it was bad (which can be argued) it’s that it was so different from its source material as to be bad in comparison. In essence it felt like fan-fiction: anyone can write a star wars story but only George Lucas can make it real. But even that’s not true anymore.
So with the promise of a new trilogy, or stand-alone movie, everyone is beginning to look at what made the first trilogy such a classic. J.J Abrams is set to helm, which is great news: this guy knows and loves his sci-fi. Promising story ideas being thrown around already and Disney overseeing it all. What could go wrong? Well hopefully nothing but it’s still a good time to take stock of the things that have become so beloved about the original trilogy and so reviled about its prequels.
One of the key elements, which made it so good, was how it dated itself: painted sets, plastic maquettes, computer screens the size of Polaroids. The rebel headquarters looked like a plundered radio shack and soldiers ran around in shamelessly impractical plastic suits of armour. An x-wing fighter looked like more of a cause for public concern than a viable means of warfare. Most of the actors were a contingent of unnamed British extras dressed in Nazi regalia and whose sole purpose it was to be blown up in a shabbily built Imperial Star Something-or-Other (Death, Destroyer, etc) only to be strangled by an angry shift manager if they survived.
Droids moved around like Romero zombies and who cares? What do people expect from a guy in a metal straight jacket and a tiny person unceremoniously crammed into a garbage can. And every single classic frame was lovingly captured on film. Film! Can anyone believe it? Audiences are so used to digital now that everyone has forgotten what film looks like and what a difference it can make (Although it is true that industry cameras are quickly catching up to that kind of quality). For all of this, Star Wars was real.
Now we live in a time where computer technicians throw a basketball across a tiny green room and tell us its master Yoda cartwheeling his way through a monolithic Senate. And if a character isn’t a CGI rehash, he’s portrayed by a star: you’d be hard pressed to find even an extra in the recent trilogy that didn’t already have some kind of staying power, hell, for his amalgamated screen time of 15 minutes in all three films even Mace Windu just had to be played by Sam Jackson.
And then there’s the fact that everyone, from the Galactic Senate to renegade bounty hunters, seem to have access to the latest in technology and even gushing love notes are sent via hologram.
Fight scenes have to be a fireworks display and gone are the days when two Jedi masters could sincerely face each other in a duel to the death only to throw 2 or 3 stiff blows before one of them disappeared forever, leaving all his clothes behind.
The smallest skirmish now involves a minimum of 15 backflips before a Jedi Knight can turn on his lightsaber (which now for some reason come in every shape and colour imaginable) in my day you had blue, green or red and you couldn’t even think about getting to green until you’d had your hand lopped off by a strangle-happy cyborg claiming to be your dad.
There's also the little case of the script. The original, though a little operatic, worked perfectly for its subject matter. The recent trilogy didn't pull it off so well.
These are some of the things expected from a fan's perspective to return to the trilogy’s former glory. So to recap:
1-Dilapidated, out-dated technology for the rebel alliance and the Empire to use
2-Maybe not everyone has to be CGI
3-Lightsaber duels don’t need to last 15 minutes and involve Cirque Du Soleil professionals
4-If cutting back on CGI is a viable option; maybe some real sets as well
5-Would be nice to have film back instead of digital
6-A writer
7-Boba Fett please.