people ARE aware that this is fiction, right?
I'm seeing pictures of nerds standing in line for weeks and links to in depth articles about how lightsabers work. Lucas has never been very strong on the science front -- Star Wars would better be called 'fantasy' than 'science fiction.'
The Star Wars nerd fest turns me off these movies more and more with each nerd-con with Anthony Daniels walking about in a designer suit made of gold fabric and David Prowse signing autographs alongside the guy who played the hammerhead alien in the cantina (they're called Ithorians, I googled it).
These are decent stories, nice space versions of Kurosawa samurai movies, but a lot of Star Wars fans need to realize that while their little story might have been tops in the fantasy world for a few days in the 80s, the genre has come a long way in the subsequent years. Harry Potter makes Star Wars look like something a couple of 4 year olds thought up, and Neil Gaiman's work is perhaps the best fantasy yet written (and yes, I include J.R.R. Tolkien in this category). Tolkien and George Lucas are perhaps the fantasy genre's most overrated personalities -- c'mon, NONE of you can tell me that reading (or watching if you are lazy) about Sam and Frodo in Mordor was good fiction. Just like we all should admit that Harrison Ford is perhaps the most boring 'big name' actor ever to hear a director say 'ACTION.'
Just please, no more scenes of Yoda and Sam Jackson sitting around in the dark saying nonsense like 'the dark side has clouded our vision blah blah blah.' And no more Hana-Barbera style gay-ass cartoons like 'Clone Wars.' Seeing that garbage really ruined my appetite for this new movie -- that had to be some of the WORST animation ever. Disney war propaganda films from the 40s had better animation. 'He Man and the Masters of the Universe' had better animation.
And what's with this guy's names? 'General Grievous.' 'Darth Maul.' I keep expecting George to get even more obvious and just have a guy come out whose name is 'Mr. Bad Guy.'
The worst thing about George is that he's lost sight of the films that inspired him to make his original trilogy and instead surrounded himself with yes men who are too pussy to tell him "Um, that Steppinfetchit Jar Jar Binks is pretty gay." He's sold his soul for technology, trading bells and whistles for actual CONTENT. "Ooooh look, we can make computer rain now." Yeah but you made the rain on a planet named after a 70s CAR-TRUCK HYBRID. Not to mention you had Greedo shoot first in 'A New Hope.' I mean, can you wuss up these movies any furthur?
God, I hope there ARE burning Jedi children in this one. I hope Palpatine comes on like the worst thing since Vlad the fucking Impaler. But I think if any of you let your kids see "Bored of the Rings" then "Star Wars" is gonna be safe.
At least "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" comes out in July and "Goblet of Fire" comes out in November. Otherwise I might have to conclude that fantasy is dead.
Sorry for the long post, Bran, I'm just excited to be able to say something