joannejacobs.net

"The trailers are now released and they look spectacular."

You misspelled "pretty but vapid".

Seriously.

Demosthenes

Am I the only person that thinks that 'Close Encounters" took the song "Fly Me To The Moon" just a little too far?

Demo - yes, but I'm trying not to be cynical at this stage.

Stephen - well, given the theme music and classic 5-tone communication in Close Encounters is a variation on the Disney signature tune "When You Wish Upon a Star", I'd have said that it's probably more like exploring the Magic Kingdom a little too far but I get your point :-)

I always thought 'Silent Running' was superior to some on that list, particularly the 1953 version of War of the Worlds

Hang on, hang on. What "redeem"?


Granted, the prequels (and for that matter, a lot of the surrounding novels) don't look or sound a lot like the original "holy trilogy".


Who says they HAVE to?


For various reasons, I gave up fantasy fiction some years ago (and I've a shelf of TSR et al materials with enough dust on them to prove this); since then, I've just stuck with the harder SFs. Granted, also, that the "holy trilogy" has characteristics much in common with the fantasy genre.


But "Star Wars" is now a tad like "Doctor Who" or (sweet mother of mercy) "Star Trek" - it's become a vehicle for other genres. Trek frequently has its quests, or (up to a point) its romances or (sigh) westerns. Even Who had westerns and musicals.


"Star Wars" too now has its genres; the prequels are trying to at least somewhat broaden its payload of genre styles. So a little (alright microscopic and fractional) bit of hard science has been included. My regret is that they DIDN'T get more than two incidents to explore midichlorians. It's less of a fantasy and more of a technology if there's an entire group with "swords of light".


(Well okay, I do have one more regret. Ewoks. Gungans and Neimodians looking {sounding} like bad racial stereotypes. Wookies looking like annoying little Ewoks on steroids :-) .)


Even my bias against the fantasy genre aside, there isn't any requirement that the whole of "Star Wars" remain firmly mired in the squelchy grip of fantasy. In the recent "Clone Wars" novels, there's a duology called "Medstar" which basically came off as murder mystery set in a "Star Wars" MASH unit. Obvious parallels aside, it actually came off surprisingly well.


Jedi morality versus guerilla tactics in the jungle is another illustration that came off quite well in "Shatterpoint" (Matthew Stover?), a novel focusing on Mace Windu (who, admittedly, sounds much less like a Jedi and WAY more like nearly any given Sam L. Jackson character :-) ).


And pretty near all of the Timothy Zahn novels are far more about the protagonists trying to outwit each other with insights rivalling the greatest detectives than "fantastic" quests.



The two of Jo's points I've mentioned here so far aside, I agree with absolutely everything else she's said. Mr Soymonoff, it wasn't "Close Encounters" but "Neon Genesis Evangelion" that took "Fly Me To The Moon" way too far :-) .


But why in the name of sweet mercy should "Star Wars" remain so philosophically static? Why limit it to a stereotype which has traditionally (if falsely) been perceived as childish wish fulfilment? On a side note, if SOME of the audience are feeling disconnected and lost because they haven't grasped political subtleties (which could become as involved as those in the Herbert "Dune" novels as opposed to the movie)... but others HAVEN'T... is that the fault of the films' makers?


Whoops. Late for a training class. Good morning to all and to all a good day. I'm outta here.