ROTS

Another Victoria Day Long Weekend has come and gone, and once again, I was over-booked, and didn't get much time to relax. There were numerous times when I knew there were things to be done, and I could barely find the motivation to do them.

I did however, manage to find enough time to watch Revenge of the Sith in the theater. To say I enjoyed the movie would be an understatement. The movie does live up to all the hype. If this movie is not the second-best, then it is the best Star Wars feature film ever released.

It is unfortunate that this movie is receiving a lot of bad hype; it doesn't deserve it. But when you are dealing with a franchise such as Star Wars, with its' countless legions of fans, it is impossible to meet or exceed everyone's' expectations. Sure, there are some corny lines, and some scenes that are not quite believable. So is Science Fiction as a whole genre. Compare the original Star Wars trilogy to today's blockbusters, and they come across corny as well.

So what if some of the acting was poor in Episode III. Mark Hamill never gave a performance deserving of an Oscar in his life, and these fans who are critical of this movie will still swear by the original trilogy, citing it superior to the prequel trilogy in all respects.

It is a very difficult feat to create a successful trilogy out of a backstory. George Lucas had to basically write a backstory to the backstory, so he could effectively tell the tale of Anakin Skywalker. In addition, the prequel he wrote tells a bigger story than Anakin's fall from grace. It also tells the all-important story of the emperor's rise to power -- a tale that takes place over the course of many years. Lucas might have been able to tell a more exciting story about Anakin's role as a Padawan Jedi if the story didn't have to include his early years, but to historically document Palpatine's rise to power, Lucas had little choice; he had to tell the whole story, or else his millions of fans would be screaming for another series of movies that would document Palpaintes' training in the ways of the Sith, and his rise to power.

The movie must have been well-received. Revenge of the Sith has broken all the opening-weekend box office records, and has already given all other movies released this year a run for their money. With The Return of The King winning the Academy Award for best picture a few years back, and given the fact that there hasn't been much worth seeing at the theater this year, Revenge of The Sith might just get an Academy Award nomination.

I don't know what all these critics are griping about; it was a very good movie. I am glad to see closure on a franchise that has lasted almost three decades, and I am happy to get answers to a number of the questions I had been asking about the Star Wars universe for more then 25 years.

Another Reason to Watch The Tube

Here's another reason for Star Wars fans to be really cranked this spring: On April 25 2005, George Lucas announced that in the near future there will be not one, but two Star Wars spin-off television series. Very few details about the overall themes of the two series are available, though one is an animated feature that will be very similar to Clone Wars, which hit select television networks in 2003.

The second series will be a live-action spin-off that will feature "familiar characters", though excluding major charachers such as Anakin, Obi-Wan, etc. It is expected that this series will fill the gap between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope.

By now it's no secret that Lucas is planning to re-release the original trilogy (episodes IV, V, an VI) in 3-D to commemmorate the 30th anniversary of the theatrical release of the original 1977 Star Wars. It sounds like an interesting idea, but I thought the release of the "Special Editions" in 1997 was to realize Lucas' original vision for the film. It sounds to me that he's trying to milk this franchise for all it's worth. What's next? Star Wars IMAX?

I'd rather see George Lucas focusing his efforts on completing the entire Star Wars Saga, and produce Episodes 7, 8, and 9.