What bugs me…
quote:
Originally posted by Aleck:
…most of all?Well, there are a lot of things in sci-fi that bother me. There are the completely wrong-headed remakes ([i]Godzilla[/i] and [i]Lost In Space[/i] deserve special mention for extra offensiveness), but that’s true of every genre. There is the over-reliance on special effects over character development, but that happens all the time. There is the fact that James Cameron still works.
But most of all…
…I’d have to say it’s that lousy Luke Skywalker kid. Man, what a whiny little schmuck. He only stops being a complete baby in [i]Jedi[/i], and that film is irrevocably tainted by the presence of Ewoks (and the stupid notion that a *second* Death Star is somehow a *good* idea). I mean, the guy is obviously in his 20s, yet he acts like an emotionally-stunted 15-year old in [i]A New Hope[/i], and doesn’t really improve much in [i]Empire[/i].
…And while we’re at it, what is the deal with Boba Fett? What is the appeal of this guy? Let’s not go into the books or tangential texts, let’s focus on the first 3 films (Episodes IV-VI). Boba Fett doesn’t do *anything*. He gets Han, and gets killed. He’s just a bounty hunter with something like 3 lines total in all of his screen time (which is miniscule at that). It’s like if people went around saying “Dang, that Admiral Ackbar is one cool guy!”
(Just an attempt at levity, and at changing the topic)
I myself don’t understand many [i]Star Wars[/i] fans’ Boba fetish. Sure, he’s got cool armor, an he’s kinda creepy with the nasty, unfeeling voice, but he’s unbelievibly popular for his peripheral role in the films. His number of lines in [i]The Empire Strikes Back[/i] and [i]Return of the Jedi[/i] is 5, actually. In a poll the “Star Wars Insider” ran he was ranked the second favorite character from the original trilogy, second only to Han Solo. [img]images/smiles/icon_eek.gif[/img] He’s like the Kai of [i]Star Wars[/i], and he didn’t even take his helmet off! I don’t see why Boba Fett’s so great.
Luke Skywalker, on the other hand, seems fine to me. The character is immature in [i]A New Hope[/i], but that’s the idea. He’s a simple person who’s lived a sheltered life in the beginning (in contrast with Han Solo, who is sort of a ready-made hero), but undergoes great spiritual growth over the course of his adventures. In [i]A New Hope[/i] he began to follow in his father’s footsteps, to become a like him and thus fulfill his birthright as the son of the Chosen One. In [i]The Empire Strikes Back[/i] he is confronted with a dilemma: he can either continue to follow the path of his father (as he now better understands it), or he can go in a new direction. Now he has lost his guide and has to make his own decision for the first time in his life(in the past he had always been pressured into doing something by the situation, or went along with someone else, like his uncle or Obi-Wan). He chooses his own path, and that is what leads him to true greatness. By [i]Return of the Jedi[/i] he has achieved arête, perfection. Of course his character started out imperfect, the hero is never great at the beginning of the story. By the way, Luke Skywalker was either 18 or 20 at the time of [i]Star Wars: A New Hope[/i].
James Cameron was great in his prime, but he’s sort of sold out. Gone mainstream. Lost his edge. You know what I mean. [img]images/smiles/icon_rolleyes.gif[/img]
I’ve already posted plenty about what I think of the [i]Lost in Space[/i] and [i]Godzilla[/i] remakes, so I won’t go into that topic now.
[ 21-11-2001: Message edited by: DalekTek790 ]