I’ve had a couple of people ask me when I intend to pick up the new Star Wars Trilogy DVDs that came out last week. Honestly, I’m not sure I’m going to, for a number of reasons. That surprises a lot of people, especially those who have known me for a long time and know that my basement is full of all kinds of fascinating junk that bears the SW logo. It surprises me, too, actually. I never thought there’d come a day when I wouldn’t be the first in line for any new Star Wars product. But then a lot has happened in the SW scene during the last seven years, and I now find, to my great surprise, that I’m more excited about buying the new collector’s edition of Footloose than I am the Trilogy box set. (I’ll discuss my reasons for loving that silly little ’80s relic some other time.)

Basically my hesitation boils down to three issues:

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Sorry the fresh content has been so sparse around here lately, but there’s been a lot going on in the Real World. I hope to have a few pieces up within the next couple of days, so keep checking back.

In the meantime, I’d like to share a bittersweet article about Anthony Daniels, the man who occupied the C-3PO costume and provided the lovable robot’s voice in all six Star Wars films. Daniels recently completed his final scene as the character for Episode III and, presumably, will never again don the gold-plated fiberglass torture armor that he’s so associated with.
The article quotes some of his very sweet remarks about everyone’s favorite fussbudget ‘droid as well as his surprisingly honest appraisal of the prequels:

“George’s devotion to digital effects over-balanced the films. Too many digital funky characters become a little bit wearing. The storytelling always gets subsumed.”

Right on, Tony.

Incidentally, I met Tony Daniels a few years ago and found him to be a charming, friendly, funny, and very thin man who has managed to remain open to fans despite having to put up with a lot of silliness. One of these days I’ll get around to scanning the photo I have of myself with him for the site.

Oh, in case you’re wondering about this post’s title, the name “C-3PO” is usually spelled out in the Star Wars novels as “See Threepio.” Given all the years I spent reading and re-reading the novelizations of the original films, it’s become second-nature for me to think of the character’s name in that form. And in case you’re still wondering about such trivialities, R2-D2 is “Artoo Detoo” in the novels…

CNN is reporting this morning that the official title of the next (and presumably final) Star Wars movie will be Revenge of the Sith. Representatives of Lucasfilm made the announcement at this weekend’s massive gathering of comic book and science fiction fans in San Diego, Comic-Con International, where the crowd’s response was reported to be generally positive. My own response? I’m not sure yet. I sorta like it and I sorta hate it, which I guess is fitting because that’s been my reaction to the Star Wars prequels in general.

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