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LEXX vs Star Wars

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4th November 2001 at 10:07 pm #50268
Flamegrape
Participant

quote:

Originally posted by uberfrosch:
But, DT, most of the things that you list were established conventions in pulp space opera a very long time before Star Wars. Ever heard of E.E. “Doc” Smith? How about Edmond Hamilton? Maybe his wife, Leigh Brackett… yes, she died working on the script of my favorite of the Star Wars films, The Empire Strikes Back, long after writing such books as The Sword of Rhiannon and such films as The Big Chill.

This is a very, very good point.

quote:

Originally posted by uberfrosch:
And the second thing you’re failing to take into account is that Lexx is satire. The first scene of IWHS seems to me a dark inversion of the end of Star Wars (eep! they killed Luke Skywalker in the first five minutes!). His Divine Shadow in all his megalomaniacal glory is a parody of all those Evil Overlords who are too stupid to follow the sound advise of Peter Anspach. (link here for those unfamiliar…[url=http://www.eviloverlord.com/lists/overlord.html]Evil Overlord List[/url]) The obvious continuity errors, the counsel of talking (and all too often whining) evil brains… Lexx exposes the conventions of space opera in order to demolish them (and at the same time, somehow manages to be gripping and moving in between the laughs).

Peter’s list was hilarious! Thanxx for post a link to it! If I ever get around to writing that space-opera movie script, I’ll adhere to it’s teachings as holy scripture!

I had almost forgotten, but the satire of space-opera that [i]Lexx[/i] presents was one of the big reasons i became interested in the show. It made me take notice of it and realize that it wasn’t “just another space-opera.”

quote:

Originally posted by uberfrosch:
Star Wars simply revels in those conventions, and there’s nothing wrong with that, but how you can claim it’s ground breaking in any way except for the special effects is beyond me.

You are right. The stories and plots of the [i]Star Wars[/i] movies are standard. These standards of the “hero and his quest” dates back to [i]Gilgamesh[/i] and beyond. But [i]Star Wars[/i] accomplished this story-telling feat very well. Countless other movies have failed miserably. (e.g. [url=http://www.scifi.com/mst3000/experiments/910/]The Final Sacrifice[/url]) If any one of Peter’s Overlord rules were adhered to in a [i]Star Wars[/i] movie, I would be disappointed!

[ 04-11-2001: Message edited by: Flamegrape ]