The Silver Screen Oasis

With the HUGE, and unexpected success of Star Wars and its sequels starting in 1977 there seem to be two trains of thought as to the effects it had on the genre.

Some would say that it "dumbed down" the genre for decades due to the tickets sold for this serial approach to a space opera. The financial success of this concept led to rocket-loads of imitators and took genre dollars away from more serious, cerebral approaches to science fiction.

Others would debate that any success within a given genre will generate more interest in that genre and result in more science fiction productions getting a green light.

What effects do you think that this unique reaction to a film had on the industry?

There are obviously millions who have been consistently enraptured by the franchise. Although I enjoy scifi movies, especially "space" movies, this entire series has left me stone cold right from the start.

It's just too much: too much plot, too many characters (some much too similar to tell apart), too much churning, hard-to-follow action. And despite the loyalty engendered in some by the characters, I find them sterile cardboard cutouts with little to cause me to care what happens to them.

Long before the CGI-laden films of the present, Star Wars was a giant video game, and I have no patience with video games; I like movies. This series is Lucas' neverending vanity project, and he's no Orson Welles, or even Quentin Tarantino.

Oh, yes, the industry. Well, if it makes money, I guess the industry loves it. Altruism and art rarely make it to the bottom line.

STAR WARS --- possibly my least favorite (most despised) film ever. Apart from finding it mind-numbingly boring, I also hold it (or at least George Lucas) somewhat responsible for redirecting the course of genre movies to a place of brainless, effects driven drivel. I hate it, hate it, hate it. Have never seen the sequels.

One thing that particularly annoys me about SW is that in the battle scenes I'm never sure which are the good guys and which are the bad guys. It seems to me that the distinction is ultimately immaterial to SW lovers - the more whizzing spaceships and battle noises the better, and who cares which is which.

And when Harrison Ford left, whatever dramatic heft the story might have had left with him. The rest is one big snore (I mean that figuratively, John).

I don’t think the ‘Star Wars’ series was particularly damaging to the sci-fi movie genre. It’s always been damaged. Star Wars was simply a formula space opera, the most successful of its kind, with its roots in the old Buck Rogers/Flash Gordon serials of the 1930’s. As for spawning a broader interest in Sci-Fi, yes and no. It certainly spawned a ‘more of the same’ kind of attitude, as successful movies generally do. There have been some sci-fi/fantasy movies over the years that don’t fit into the generic space opera mold, but they are few and far between.

Intelligent sci-fi movies will continue not being made. Morgan Freeman has been trying to make Arthur C. Clark’s ‘Rendezvous With Rama’ for several years now, but can’t get any studio backing (unless he turns it into a space opera or a video game movie like ‘The Matrix’). ‘Ender’s Game’ has been in the pipeline for at least ten years and suffers from the same problem.

Regards

With the latest wave of 'fix-ups' and re-do's in the older films, I wonder if that's going to be something that Lucas will approve of in 10 or 20 years, too, just to make the images "more updated". After all, putting glowing expanding rings around exploding planets is SO important to my movie enjoyment. I hardly enjoy any film without those effects. ROMAN HOLIDAY, I thought, always suffered without them.

I do think the reliance on special effects - no, not "reliance" - the "importance" of them - was overdone and Lucas acknowledges that by updating those effects. He's tacitly admitting, "Look - these stories suck but if I can make people ooh and ahh over the fireworks display, then maybe people won't yawn so much when characters and the plot are on-screen."

I hope the actors appreciate that.

I think most fans find Lucas' continual "touch-ups" of the originals annoying and unnecessary. The obsessive fan base gets particularly perturbed as each new variation seems to be a direct attempt to mine a few more bucks out of the series' loyal followers' wallets.

You're wealthy enough, George, give your fans a break
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Are you asking about science fiction film or print science fiction?

There are plenty of people who hate "Star Wars" for what it did to print science fiction. They think that the tie-in novels eat up too much shelf-space in the bookstores.

I think there is even a book "Star Wars on Trial" that presents pro and con arguments on this point.

The book is available at Amazon.com and you can look at the reviews of it.

"Star Wars on Trial" by Keith R. A. Candido.

I think Mel Brooks summed it up nicely in Spaceballs, in the scene where Yogurt/Yoda is displaying all the tie-in merchandise for Spaceballs, and listing all the Spaceballs sequels, ending with Spaceballs: The Search for More Money.

Most of us got the joke.

Judith,
For as hokey and corny as Spaceballs is, it does have some amazingly accurate stabs at the movie biz. The one you mention may be the most telling of all in its honesty.

I would say that "Star Wars" influence has been both good and bad, although probably the bad is more obvious. I doubt "Blade Runner" would have gotten the green light if not for "Star Wars."

I think a lot of the negativity about "Star Wars" has to do with feelings toward George Lucas, who probably developed a swelled head about his accomplishments along the way.

When TCM did a documentary on 50s sci-fi films, they showed a clip of Lucas strongly denying that C3PO had been inspired by Robby the Robot, followed by a clip of Robby introducing himself and then C3PO introducing himself with almost the exact same words. It was funny, and it felt as if the documentary were blowing a raspberry at Lucas' pretentions.

I also think a lot of the negativity can be traced to the fans. I *like* Star Wars. I don't love it, i don't worship The Force, I don't have my house filled with action figures and novels, but I like the first three movies well enough. Lucas tried to revive old fashioned space opera for a new era, and did a credible job. But the hard core fans are annoying as hell.

I still like Indiana Jones better though.