Whatâs that rule that says that every subculture eventually gets really bitchy and sarcastic?
What do you feel a âradicalâ vision of a Star Wars area of a theme park would be? Disneyâs proposing to create an immersive area, including a full cantina experience and flying the freakinâ Millennium Falcon, along with wandering around and adventuring with aliens. That doesnât sound like a âwarm bathâ.
âpossibly even âface charactersâ who get to talk and role-play, which is already the best thing about the Jedi Training Academy in Tomorrowlandâ
Oh, absolutely! Thereâs nothing better than walking past the Tomorrowland Terrace with some kids and their light sabres being instructed to âAim for their kegs, thatâs it, now go for the chest, great, now thrust!â
A perfect fit for Waltâs visionâŚ
Just in case anyone hasn´t seen these yet and because it cannot be emphasised enough that anything related to Star Wars is best served by keeping Lucas as far away from it as possible:
Actually, the existence of these reviews is the sole reason I find it hard to claim that humanity would be better off had Lucas never made the prequels. The entertainmant value I´ve gotten out of them exceeds some of my favourite movies.
Btw I´m not saying that whatever Disney does with Star Wars is going to be good but they couldn´t fuck it up worse than Lucas if they tried.
When Disney bought the Star Wars franchise from Lucas, there was a lot of tooth-gnashing from Star Wars fandom. I think it was misplaced.
Of course you do. If Disney did Schindlerâs List, youâd be thumbs-up for that, too. Or the Exorcist as a side area off the Haunted Mansion. The rest of us continue to gnash.
Thereâs going to be a funny looking guy in there who doesnât like you. And his friend doesnât like you either.
Everything Disneyâs done with Star Wars in the past 10 yrs or so has been leagues better than what Lucas has done. Theyâve been extremely respectful and have brought the best folks in to work on the property. Iâve no idea why fans would âgnashâ over that.
You know thereâs going to be talking squirrels.
Because theyâre purists with inflexible minds? Or because theyâve been fucked before and they donât want another Jar Jar?
Thatâs the Marvel side of the park.
Well that seemed to come out of nowhere. What radical vision? After the success of the Special Editions in â97, he decided to go ahead and make those prequels he previously thought thereâd be no interest in. And so he went back to Tatooine for the third time. Made Anakin Skywalker a penniless kid from a dessicated backwater just like Luke. And decided itâd be a nice and plausible coincidence for C-3PO, a heretofore bonestock protocol droid bought off the rack at a dealership in Captain Antillesâ neighborhood, to instead originate as a homebrew project assembled from secondhand junk by a child slave.
Oh, but there was the âradicalâ idea that the Force, that mystical energy field created by all living things, is dependent on microscopic sentient microbes that apparently sired Anakin through a virgin birth. And the idea that the powerful and respected Jedi utterly failed to discover the threat posed by Palpatine, or do anything consequential to prevent the rise of his Empire. Itâs not that itâs a bad idea to have our heroes fail. But the fact that Yoda in particular didnât see anything coming except the vaguest of misgivings about Anakin, said misgivings giving actual rise to Darth Vader, shows a profound inconsistency in how weâre supposed to regard the wisdom of the Jedi of the Old Republic.
Honestly, many writers of the old Expanded Universe books showed more imagination than Lucas did in his latter-year stewardship of his Empire.
Seriously, âradicalâ?!
All that said, Iâm really looking forward to seeing how Disney handles this. Theyâve shown that they can tailor their properties to appeal to young and old alike. No doubt much of StarWarsLand (LongTimeAgoFarFarFarAwayLand? Scum And Villainy Plaza? Mos Anaheim?) will be aimed at the kids, but given the talent among the Imagineers, Iâll bet there will be some really great stuff for us 1st-generation SW fans to enjoy as well. Blue milk at the very least.
Oooooo, cant wait to get my picture taken with Captain Kirk!!!
Anyone whoâs ridden the new version of Star Tours at the Disney parks will tell you that itâs not a âkiddie rideâ at all, and is full of fun stuff for old school SW fans. Flying thru the legs of AT-ATs on Hoth, the jungles of the forest moon of Endor, or even visiting Kashyyyk is pretty awesome.
Thatâs true. That ride was fun 20 years ago, but itâs lots more fun now.
âShiteâ
I see that the announced director of Star Wars IX isnât going down too well. Seems that lots of people donât like Jurassic World (havenât seen it).
I am kinda interested in Gareth Edwardâs spinoff, though.
Yeah, itâs big and loud and a wasted opportunity. Not the worst thing youâd see all year, but certainly not something youâd be tempted to see twice.
I donât think anyone was really itchinâ for an Avatar-themed park. It was a perfectly acceptable summer action movie (even if it was basically Space Pocahontas) but itâs not exactly a cultural phenomenon.
Even people who arenât Star Wars fans can name at least half a dozen major characters from the franchise. How many of us can name even one of the characters from Avatar without resorting to Google? (And I mean actual character names, not âthe blue chickâ or âSigourney Weaver.â)
