July 23, 2004
Out of Left Field
Some people have too much time on their hands. I was pointed to this to watch a very funny political comedy spoof on our two presidential hopefuls. I think this kind of stuff has been around as long as politicians have, but it seems to have reached a new level thanks to the Internet. I thought it was hilarious.
On a completely unrelated topic, I have a couple of questions, probably rhetorical, with regard to Star Wars. In Episode Four, when Obi-Wan Kenobi meets Luke, C3PO, and R2D2 for the first time, Luke mentions that the droids belonged to Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan replies that he doesn't remember ever owning a droid, which is clearly a mistake or a lie unless he has forgotten about the droids being part of the early episodes. He's old then, I'll give that to him. Of course, I have to consider that the first three episodes hadn't been "written" at the time of the fourth episode, but I always understood that George Lucas had the entire saga in his mind when he wrote the fourth, fifth, and sixth episodes. Perhaps he just can't be bothered by the minutae like I can. Further to that, in Episode Five, when Han Solo, Princess Leia, Chewbacca, and C3PO are captured on the Cloud City, does Darth Vader not recognize the droid (C3PO) that he built as a child? Granted, we, the viewers, have seen other protocol droids that resemble C3PO in other parts of the movies, but I would think that one would remember the droid that one built from scratch. We can probably dismiss his disregard for the droid as being part of the life that was killed when Darth Vader was born. And again about Darth Vader (who is probaby my favorite character in the story): at the end of Episode Six when Luke severs Darth Vader's light saber hand, he screams and groans in pain. However, in Episode Two, when Anakin has that same hand severed by Count Dooku, it's replaced with a prosthetic arm...a rather narly looking one at that. It would stand to reason that, regardless of what form Darth Vader took from Anakin Skywalker, his right forearm would still be prosthetic, not flesh and blood, so why would Darth Vader react in pain when it was severed again by his son?
These are the things that keep me up late at night.
And do you know how long I fretted and angsted about Luke being Vader's son between the release of The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi? I denied it for so long. I was twelve. I was allowed a certain amount of denial, but for someone of that age, we'll call it innocence of the ways of the world. It was only a couple of years after that that I lost all of that innocence, thankfully.
Thank God for giving us Joseph Campbell. He was a remarkable person.
I'm very excited about the DVD release of the last three episodes of the saga. Like totally excited. I've even preordered it on Amazon, have I mentioned that? And not only that, in the same month of September 2004, my very favorite movie of all time, Dial 'M' for Murder is coming out on DVD, too. I love love love that movie like there's no tomorrow. When I was stationed in Monterey (as opposed to just living there as a civilian), the now-demolished Dream Theatre showed Dial 'M' in its original 3D. I never knew that it was a 3D movie, and it makes total sense as to why some of the shots are at such odd angles. I know that Alfred Hitchcock was fairly creative when it came to his movies, but some scenes are a little weird. When I saw the show in 3D, it all made sense.
Today's Friday, and I'm so busy for the rest of the weekend and through next week. I don't remember a time when I've had so much to do and so little time to do it all. I'm looking forward to the trip, though. It should be fun.
