I remember a t-shirt I saw once, years ago in the fall of 1980… the fall after The Empire Strikes Back came out, the fall Ronald Reagan was vying against Jimmy Carter for the White House. The shirt was worn by a kid at my middle school, and it read, simply, “George Lucas for President.”

It seemed like a good idea at the time. That was how much we loved the bearded man from Modesto, California, the creative genius (or so we used to think) who’d given Generation X such a bountiful gift, an entire universe in which to let our imaginations roam, and who upended virtually everything about the way movies were made, distributed, marketed, and merchandised. To us, he was like Walt Disney must’ve been for our parents, a benevolent wizard who fulfilled fantasies we hadn’t even known we’d had and changed the world while doing it. We felt like we knew him, and we revered him. He was our hero.

But that was a long time ago… before the Great Disillusionment and the Fanboy Wars. These days, Lucas is routinely dismissed by many, and especially by the most passionate fans of his creation, as a hack… a greedy, no-talent megalomaniac who somehow got tremendously lucky, and whose only interest all along has been in selling the action figures we were all too eager to buy… and that we continue to buy, even as we curse the name of this master mesmerist who’s cast such a powerful spell over us that we can’t stop ourselves from reaching for our wallets.

None of that is true, or fair, in my estimation. As far as I’m concerned, the man still deserves our respect for creating the Star Wars universe (not to mention Indiana Jones), even if we (collectively) don’t especially approve of where he chose to take it.

Look, I’m no apologist. I feel a lot of frustration toward George Lucas, most notably with his obstinate insistence on suppressing the pre-1997 editions of the original trilogy. I’m frankly disappointed by many of the creative decisions he’s made, and many of the things he’s said, over the last 17 years. But at the same time, I cannot condemn him for the sin of being human. For getting older and revealing his limitations. For not taking his creation as seriously as we fans always have. For not loving Star Wars in exactly the same way we do. For feeling bitter at the fans who begged him for more, but then turned on him so viciously when they didn’t get what they expected. I disagree with him on many points, yes, but I also have a lot of sympathy for him. He really is just a guy from Modesto, a guy who created this crazy thing that grew beyond anything he ever could’ve dreamed.

So in the spirit of compassion for a one-time hero who turned out to have feet of clay, but who nevertheless must be given credit where it’s due, I’d like to raise a glass tonight to The Great Flanneled One, the Maker himself, George Lucas, on the occasion of his 70th birthday.

If it were possible for me to speak with him for a moment, I wouldn’t give him shit about Greedo firing first, or about Jar Jar Binks. I wouldn’t even hit him up about getting the real original trilogy on BluRay. Instead, I’d just say, “Thank you, George. Thanks for contributing to my happy childhood, and for providing me with so much pleasure and so much to think and talk about over the years.” Because in the end, no matter where the Star Wars franchise goes in the future, no matter where it is right at this moment, that’s his great achievement, and his legacy. And that’s worth celebrating.

And this ad is pretty fun, too…

Written and directed by Bruce Branit, a visual-effects artist whose credits include the TV series Lost, Breaking Bad, Revolution, and Fringe. He was also one of the cats behind that incredible short film 405 that went viral a few years back. And get this: According to Gizmodo, this ad was done as a spec for his portfolio. On his own time, essentially for the hell of it, in other words…

We live in astounding times, when you think about it. We’re able to realize our fantasies (visually anyhow) to a level of realism we could only dream of only a couple decades ago… and it’s so economical that people are doing it on spec and just for fun.

My previous entry inspired a few remarks over on Facebook, suggesting — gently, of course — that it’s disingenuous of me to complain about people bitching about the Star Wars prequels considering how much bitching I do myself on various other topics (like, say, people bitching about the prequels!), and also that I’m griping about people prejudging Episode VII while doing the same thing myself through my comments regarding JJ Abrams. I’d like to quickly address these points.

First, on the subject of Abrams, it’s true: I don’t care for the man’s work to date and I’ve been pretty outspoken about it. And I am genuinely concerned about what he’s got in mind for my beloved Star Wars franchise. But I hope I haven’t given the impression that I’m already condemning Episode VII before I see it, simply because his name is going to be on the one-sheet. I really am hoping for the best outcome here. I’d like nothing better than to see a brilliant, wildly successful Star Wars movie that’s true to its roots, respectful of the huge legacy that comes with the title, moves the saga forward in some interesting and relevant way, and causes me to rethink my whole opinion of the film’s director. I’m not holding my breath on any of that… but I am trying to remain open-minded while also being honest about my misgivings.

The commentary I was reading last week, on the other hand, did condemn the movie sight unseen (at least that’s how I interpreted it), based entirely on one narrowly defined parameter and the scant data provided by the cast list. And that rubbed me the wrong way, so I felt compelled to rub back. If, by so doing, I contributed to the general sense of outrage that seems to permeate fandom these days — the very thing with which I am so fed up — then I sincerely apologize, because that’s the last thing I have any desire to do.

Now, as to the prequels, it was further suggested that I’m tired of hearing them criticized only because I happen to like them. Well, yes, I do like them, at least more than most people seem to. But what I was trying to say in that previous entry really has nothing to do with whether or not I personally enjoy those three movies. I’ve just gotten tired of the fact that it’s impossible these days to even raise the subject of Star Wars — any aspect of the franchise in general — without kicking off this whole big thing. I’m tired of the franchise being such a contentious subject. I want to talk about it, I just don’t want to risk another tiresome overheated dialog about it, and I fear that every time I open my mouth or set my fingers to the keyboard, that’s inevitably where it’s going to end up. Maybe I am adding fuel to the fire by even mentioning it… if so, that really pains me. Because I just want Star Wars to be fun again. More precisely, I want it to be fun to be a fan of Star Wars again.

Maybe that’s not possible. Maybe what I’m missing is actually the innocence of childhood, or at least of young adulthood. Nevertheless, that’s what I want…

In case you missed it — as if anyone with an Internet connection could! — DisneyLucas officially announced the cast of Star Wars Episode VII last week. To no one’s great surprise, all of our heroes from the original trilogy are returning, with the notable and lamentable exception of Billy Dee Williams. I think I understand his absence, though, having just met the man at the Salt Lake Comic Con FanXperience a couple weeks ago. He’s had two hip replacements in the years since Lando Calrissian took down the second Death Star, and he’s moving very slowly and gingerly these days, as anyone who caught his recent appearance on Dancing with the Stars can attest. I doubt he could physically endure any kind of action-hero stuff like he did back in Empire, although it would’ve been cool to at least see him playing cards with Han Solo or something.

Among the new cast members are Andy Serkis of Lord of the Rings fame — no word yet on whether he’ll be playing a computer-generated character like his signature role of Gollum, or appearing in his own face — and the great Max von Sydow, a distinguished actor with a lengthy resume, but who is probably best known to my tribe of Gen-X nerds as Ming the Merciless in the 1980 film Flash Gordon. I imagine he’s there to continue the Star Wars-ian tradition of classy older actors appearing in secondary roles (see also Guinness, Alec; Cushing, Peter; and Lee, Christopher). I’ll also bet a Republic credit he’s playing a villain, possibly even a Sith Lord come to make trouble for whatever form the Jedi have taken under Master Luke Skywalker’s guidance.

In addition, the cast includes a bunch of younger actors, none of whom I recognize from anything.

Based on the make-up of this group, I strongly suspect we’re looking at a “passing the torch to the next generation” type of story, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the original-trilogy cast members have relatively small parts, if not mere cameos. Possibly Luke will be more central to the plot; since Mark Hamill is about the same age Alec Guinness was when they filmed the original Star Wars, it’s logical to assume Luke will now become the wizened mentor figure for one of the younger characters. But really, until we get some idea of the movie’s plot, or at least a title or logline, it’s pointless to speculate. And that’s basically all I have to say about Episode VII at this time.

If I sound uncharacteristically aloof about a major new Star Wars project, well… I suppose it’s because I am, for a couple of reasons. First, I am very concerned that JJ Abrams is at the helm of this project. I utterly loathe what he did to my other personal touchstone, my beloved Star Trek, with his flashy-but-empty-headed reboot films, and I fear that he’ll have no better understanding of what a good Star Wars movie ought to be. I dread the possibility of an Episode VII filled with obnoxious lens flares and a storyline that seems to be constantly moving but never really takes you anywhere. At least Abrams jettisoned his usual writing partners for this one and is working with Lawrence Kasdan, who cowrote The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. With Kasdan on board, we might get a screenplay that at least feels like Star Wars, and maybe even has some character development too. We’ll see, I guess.

The other issue that’s keeping me from getting too enthused about more Star Wars  is, frankly, my fellow fans. It only took an hour or so after last week’s news surfaced before I saw the first round of complaints… in this case, that there are only two women on the cast list and how is it possible that the Star Wars universe can still be so sexist after 40 years? Never mind that we know nothing yet about the plot of this new movie, or how much screentime the two women cast members will be getting compared to the males, or who the protagonist of the movie might actually be. Hey, here’s a crazy possibility for you: maybe the new Campbellian hero about to take their great journey is Leia’s daughter and the movie focuses on the two of them, with all the menfolk relegated to supporting roles! Probably not, I’ll admit, but my point is, we don’t know anything yet, so how can we already be complaining?

Don’t misunderstand, I’m not dismissing or belittling concerns about sexism. It’s a valid criticism: Female characters really don’t fare very well in the genre films that dominate popular culture these days, and Star Wars, which looms above everything else in the zeitgeist, is in a position to take the lead and set trends for years to come. A new entry in the series really ought to reflect the changes we’ve seen in our society since 1977. And chances are, it’ll fail in that regard. But we don’t know yet that it will. And I’m troubled that people who supposedly love this franchise are already bitching before we see even one frame of film. But really that’s just par for the course these days, isn’t it?

I remember another time, before the prequels, before the Special Editions, when the original trilogy was beloved by pretty much everyone of my generation. It was the closest thing to a lingua franca we had. Stuck for something to make small talk about? There was always Star Wars. When I met my best friend 21 years ago on the streets of Cambridge, England, two young guys from different parts of the U.S. who didn’t immediately seem to have much in common, we bonded by sharing our memories and thoughts of Star Wars over pints of Guinness. It was something special, something we both treasured. Something we all treasured.

Then came the Disillusionment of 1999, and the long period of darkness I think of as The Great Fanboy Wars, when everybody had an opinion and was determined to make damn sure everyone else knew what it was. And suddenly, this wonderful, cherished thing became a source of never-ending contention and argument, something you really didn’t want to bring up anymore. Whatever else you may say about it, pro or con, the prequel trilogy sucked all the fun out of being a Star Wars fan.

Long-time readers may recall an entry I wrote shortly after Revenge of the Sith, in which I declared that I was tired of the rancor and hostility that now surrounded something I just wanted to love, tired of feeling like I had to defend my opinions all the time, or at least listen to everyone else’s. That was nearly 10 years ago… and nothing has changed. You still can’t mention the prequels in mixed company without someone going off on a spittle-flecked rant about Jar Jar Binks, or what a hack George Lucas is. Worse yet, all that animus has started to spill over to the original trilogy, as well; a lot of people now believe it really wasn’t that good either, which is a worse piece of revisionism than all the CG dinosaurs Uncle George ever dreamed of inserting into Mos Eisley. It’s no wonder George finally just wanted to wash his hands of the whole damn thing.

When Episode VII was first announced, I briefly hoped that it might somehow heal the rift that was torn open by The Great Fanboy Wars, that people might come to love Star Wars without reservation again. But the moment I found myself sourly thinking I couldn’t enjoy the casting news for even a full hour before somebody started bitching about something, I knew. Ep VII is going to be more of the same. Even if it’s the greatest entry in the entire series, the fans will whine and moan more than they’ll praise and enjoy. And I just can’t allow myself to get too swept up in all of that. I don’t need the rage, I just don’t. There’s too much of it out there these days, directed at and coming from too many things…

I’ve written before about one of Salt Lake City’s hidden treasures, a nifty little establishment called The Organ Loft, which is a monument to one man’s lifelong fascination with an outmoded technology:

So the story goes, Lawrence Bray fell in love with the sound of the pipe organs that once provided musical accompaniment for many old-time silent-movie theaters and, beginning in the late 1940s, he started acquiring components of these old organs as they were scrapped out of Salt Lake moviehouses. He assembled them in his uncle’s chicken coop, adding onto the building several times over the years as his instrument grew. Today, that much-enlarged (and improved) chicken coop is The Organ Loft. Owned and operated by Lawrence Bray’s nephew, Larry, it is one of the few venues in this country, and probably in the whole world, where you can see a silent movie in something close to the way our great-grandparents must’ve experienced it.

Thanks to Anne’s and my long patronage of the Loft, I’ve developed quite an appreciation for these theater organs myself. They’re amazingly complex instruments, capable of generating sound effects and taking the place of an entire orchestra. But the sound they produce is decidedly old-fashioned. When you hear one, you immediately think of a more buttoned-down age, when automobiles had crank-starters and men always wore hats. One consequence of that effect is that more modern, familiar pieces of music become unexpectedly novel when played on a theater organ. Case in point: the Main Title from the Star Wars Symphonic Suite, played on an absolutely beautiful Wurlitzer at the Sanfilippo Foundation‘s “Place de la Musique” in Barrington, IL. Give this a listen and tell me it doesn’t make you smile to imagine my favorite movie as it might have looked in hand-cranked sepia tone, with no spoken dialogue and inter-title cards explaining what’s going on:

Incidentally, Anne and I were lucky enough to see the organist, Jelani Eddington, in person at The Organ Loft a number of years ago. He’s an incredibly talented young man, who was honored by the American Theatre Organ Society when they named him the 2001 Theatre Organist of the Year. I can’t remember what film he accompanied when we saw him, though. I love middle age…

Hat tip to our colleague Jaquandor, who first posted this video over on Facebook…

Nothing much to say here, I just wanted to repost some cool artwork I encountered over the weekend, when “Star Wars Day” was generating a feverish amount of related material:

Click to see it in its full-sized glory.

If it’s not immediately obvious to you, what we have here is a fleet of Imperial Star Destroyers in orbit around Coruscant, the galactic capital world seen in the prequel trilogy (“…the entire planet is one big city”). Besides being a wonderfully rendered piece of kick-ass imagery (pretty much anything featuring a Star Destroyer is going to kick some ass), it’s also a nice visual bridge between the two trilogies… certainly more elegant than the ham-fisted revisionism that substituted Hayden Christensen’s youthful self for the more venerable Sebastian Shaw in the “holy trinity” of Force ghosts at the end of Return of the Jedi!

I imagine the more casual fans in our audience might be wondering about the ship in the bottom left of this picture, the one that looks like a Star Destroyer suffering from boils. Unless I miss my guess, that’s an Interdictor, a class of ship that’s appeared in a number of Expanded Universe novels and comics. Interdictors are capable of generating an intense gravity field that yanks passing starships out of hyperspace, so they can be easily detained or destroyed by Imperial forces. Of course, postulating such technology opens a big old can of worms, namely, why didn’t Darth Vader’s battle fleet have an Interdictor when it was trying to blockade Hoth? Things would have gone very differently for Luke Skywalker and Friends if they’d been unable to jump to lightspeed! (God, I’m such a nerd!)

Sadly, I don’t have any info on who created this image, whether it’s digital or a painting, or what context it originally appeared in, so I don’t know if it’s a fan-made piece or a licensed piece created for Lucasfilm. It’s cool, regardless…

Tip of the hat to Jaquandor for posting this one, along with a lot of other fun stuff, on the Fourth.

…this made-up fanboy holiday in celebration of our favorite space-opera movie saga of all time. As our colleague Jaquandor points out this morning, it would actually make more sense to reflect on the glory that is Star Wars on May 25, the day the original film was actually released. But hey, who am I to rain on the parade? People like their puns, after all, so…

I’m sure this is what many of my Loyal Readers imagine whenever I mention that it’s snowing at the Bennion Compound:

I ought to talk to my friends in the 501st about getting one of those outfits, just to see what my redneck neighbors would do…

Image source.

I long ago lost track of how many times I’ve seen Star Wars — or Episode IV: A New Hope as the Damn Kids(tm) insist on calling it — so it kind of shocks me that I’m just now thinking about this, but then my recent viewing of that Despecialized bootleg the InterWebs have been buzzing about really was almost like seeing the movie for the first time again…

Anyhow, you know those four Imperial guys Han Solo (presumably) kills aboard the Millennium Falcon while it’s held captive on the Death Star? Remember, the Falcon has been captured, and the initial Imperial boarding party fails to find our heroes because they’re hiding in the smuggling compartments under the floor. So Vader insists on sending a couple of guys in with heavy scanning equipment… we hear that equipment fall to the floor, and then Han’s voice calls down to two stormtroopers at the foot of the ramp, asking for help. They go inside… and we hear blasterfire. So, four (most likely) dead Imperials… whom we never hear about again. What do you suppose happened to their bodies?

I think it’s a pretty fair guess that Han dumps them in the secret compartments for safekeeping until after the Falcon escapes from the Death Star… but I find myself wondering if, in all the excitement, maybe he forgot they were down there. Did Han haul them all the way to the rebel base? And did he remember them there, or was he too eager to get the heck out of Dodge before the DS showed up and turned the fourth moon of Yavin into a new ring around the gas giant? It’s sort of amusing to think that maybe he didn’t get around to dealing with them until well after the movie’s final battle and the award ceremony were over, when all of a sudden a lightbulb went on in his head — no, in Chewie’s head! — and… well, let’s hope the rebels had a hose somewhere in that big hanger.

Yeah, I’m thinking maybe I need to turn in now. It’s been one weird-ass weekend.