If you don't like the prequels
Bill Anderson
'Star Wars' prequel vs. original battle continues at Comic-Con
By Scott Bowles, USA TODAY
SAN DIEGO � It took Francis Rowe a decade to accept that there was a
galaxy far, far away with Jar Jar Binks in it.
Like so many Star Wars fanatics gathered at Comic-Con, the annual
convention of comic-book and fantasy enthusiasts, Rowe, 47, of Seattle
was mortified by The Phantom Menace, and in particular the
computer-generated alien in the 1999 film who was widely viewed as a
racist caricature.
But over time, Rowe softened. This spring, he bought Menace on DVD for
his 14-year-old son. "I began to see it as one story," says Rowe, a
cellphone salesman by day and self-professed "Lucas geek" by nights and
weekends.
In the 10 years since Menace and the two chapters that followed, the
gulf that divides fans of the first trilogy and the second may be narrowing.
Friday marks the convention's annual Star Wars Day � a tribute to
filmmaker George Lucas, the patriarch of Comic-Con � and the hope that a
peace will settle over the fiercely loyal Jedi camps.
In one corner: those who remember seeing the first Star Wars episodes in
theaters in the late 1970s and early '80s. In the other: younger fans
who find the first films quaint but corny.
"It's definitely an age thing," says Phil Wise of the website
TheForce.net. "Some older people will never accept the new movies. And
collectors rarely buy memorabilia from the new trilogy. They don't see
them as legitimate Star Wars movies."
But there's a movement to bridge the gap. Some artists and authors are
specializing in stories that focus on a young Darth Vader.
"We want to bring the two camps together," says Star Wars artist Jerry
Vanderstelt. He displays a drawing of a young Vader light-sabering his
way through Princess Leia's ship, a scene found neither in the new nor
old trilogies.
"There used to be such a division," Vanderstelt says. "But it's silly;
it's all the same story."
Wise says that some of bitterness over the new films waned as each
successive film got better.
"I think with each new one, they might have hated (the new trilogy)
less," Wise says. "The last movie (Revenge of the Sith) was generally
pretty accepted. But there's still a long ways to go. I'm not sure
you'll ever completely mend that fence, especially the older fans."
New fans can be just as ardent. Conventioneer Amy Aldanado, 13, of
Sacramento hasn't even seen The Empire Strikes Back.
The older films "are OK, but they dress funny," she says of the
then-futuristic duds of Luke Skywalker and Han Solo. "People that hate
on (the new films) just doesn't like that they're getting old."
--
Bill Anderson
I am the Mighty Favog
Timorous Ewok
enjoyment of them (especially I and II) has went down over time rather
than up. *shrug*
Pork Coffee
<billand...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>It's because you're old:
>
>'Star Wars' prequel vs. original battle continues at Comic-Con
>By Scott Bowles, USA TODAY
>SAN DIEGO � It took Francis Rowe a decade to accept that there was a
>galaxy far, far away with Jar Jar Binks in it.
>
>Like so many Star Wars fanatics gathered at Comic-Con, the annual
>convention of comic-book and fantasy enthusiasts, Rowe, 47, of Seattle
>was mortified by The Phantom Menace, and in particular the
>computer-generated alien in the 1999 film who was widely viewed as a
>racist caricature.
>
>But over time, Rowe softened. This spring, he bought Menace on DVD for
>his 14-year-old son. "I began to see it as one story," says Rowe, a
>cellphone salesman by day and self-professed "Lucas geek" by nights and
>weekends.
>
>In the 10 years since Menace and the two chapters that followed, the
>gulf that divides fans of the first trilogy and the second may be narrowing.
>
>Friday marks the convention's annual Star Wars Day � a tribute to
>filmmaker George Lucas, the patriarch of Comic-Con � and the hope that a
I doesn't like that I'm getting old, but I love the prequels. Always
have, always will.
Still wish they'd focused on more of young Porkins' life. *sigh*
Hanky Huckleberry