11 thoughts on “Thirty Years Ago”

  1. Which means it was almost good.

    I’m going to take the routine “Star Wars is not good sci-fi/it’s sci-fantasy/bla bla bla” as read, and just point-out that the reason it’s the best of the bunch is because it was directed by Irvin Kershner instead of Lucas. Because the Director’s guild has silly requirements regarding film crediting, all subsequent films were doomed to be directed by Lucas and the results speak for themselves.

  2. 30th anniversary for Pac-Man too. Google’s celebrating with a playable version in on their main page.

  5. The original is still the best. But I confess I’m not that big a fan of any of the Star Wars movies; I grew up on a diet of classic print SF (Heinlein, Asimov, Niven, Sheckley, Ellison, Harrison, etc) and as such the vast majority of film SF (and TV SF for that matter) leaves me at least mildly disappointed.

  7. 30 years?!! Now I really feel old. . .

    Cthulhu, you’re right. I also grew up reading the classic SF. I’ll add Hal Clement to the list. His “Mission of Gravity” was one of my favorites, and all his books are still great reads.

    Modern film SF seems to be politically correct crap, for the most part.

  8. Interesting, Tom. Maybe not DGA member? IIRC, they were very peeved with Lucas and wouldn’t let him use another guild director. My reading was of an old sci-fi mag, and related to the original trilogy, but it seems Marquand worked on Return of the Ewoks, too…

  9. I think in order to judge the movies, you have to look at them from the perspective of the target demographic. I was right in the middle of that demographic at the time, and swooned over the first one. The second one had some cool stuff. The third one… what is this, muppets in space? But, the Princess’ brass bikini made up for any other flaws.

    Can’t really judge the latest three… I just can’t project myself back that far anymore. There was some nice CGI scenery. I wouldn’t have minded seeing Natalie P. in that brass bikini.

  10. I wouldn’t have minded seeing Natalie P. in that brass bikini.

    Natalie’s bare midriffs and other implausibly erotic wardrobe selections (“Anakin, stop trying to seduce me while I’m wearing designer lingerie!”) enhanced the experience, but there’s just something Woody-Allen-grade creepy knowing that old man Lucas was there with his *cough* “hands all over it.”

  11. Actually, Return of the Jedi can be a good movie. Just cut out all the scenes on the “forest moon” including those miserable little rat-creatures, and you’ve got a good hour movie right there.

    For once Lucas’ terrible writing was an advantage, as his stilted prose gave a sense of ceremony to the scenes between the Emperor, Vader, and Luke.

    But -as you say- good for Star Wars is mediocre for the rest of the world.

    …And no one’s mentioned Anderson, Dickson, Laumer, Pournelle, or Vance yet. 🙂

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