Geeky Cool– Star Wars in 3-D: Eager Anticipation or a Great Waste of Money?
Geeky Cool is Larry Litle’s weekly column about his geektastic thoughts.
Some time ago, George Lucas announced that he would be re-releasing all 6 Star Wars movies in glorious 3-D. My reactions to this announced greatly surprised even myself. Star Wars dominated my imagination, play time, and even my world view as a child. Heck, it continued to be a focal point through much of my young adulthood. Instead of screaming with joy about the privilege to watch 3 of my all time favorite movies once again on the big screen and now in 3-D, I found myself complaining that George Lucas is trying to pry a few more bucks from the Star Wars fandom.
What had made me become a cynic? Part of it is attributed to the over abundance of 3-D movies. I swear they are putting out every movie in 3-D including chick flicks and extremely boring movies that only the critics can stand.
There is also the extra cost. The movie theatres are soaking us by charging more money for those cheap 3-D glasses and the privilege to see a movie made in 2-D but “enhanced” as 3-D. 2-D movies prices continue to skyrocket and the extra cost of 3-D usually is not worth it.
Those things are all true but it mostly can be attributed to my lack of faith in George Lucas. Don’t get me wrong, I still love the original Star Wars Trilogy. I am always happy to sit down and watch this awesomeness. I even enjoy parts of the Prequels and have never been a hater.
No, my lack of faith in Mr. Lucas has been building slowing over the last 15 years. It started with the last re-release of the Trilogy. Before the Prequels came out, George re-imaged, added new material, and cleaned up the original Trilogy. I loved the idea but was disappointed when he started changing parts of the story along with new special effects. Did he really expect the fans to buy into Greedo, a bounty hunter for the powerful crime boss-Jabba the Hutt, firing his blaster first and some how missing Han, who was 2 foot from him? Many of the changes seemed to cheapen the experience for me and made me wonder why I was purchasing first run tickets for movies that I owned at home. I ended up watching Return at the Dollar movie.
When the Prequels were released, I was there on opening day for each movie. A taste of Star Wars was better than no Star Wars. But there was something missing. The characters were not as engrossing as the were Luke, Han, Leia, Chewy, R2, C3PO, and Darth Vader in the originals. The writing never captured my imagination. Maybe I had outgrown much of the Star Wars universe or just maybe these movies had become like the cheap knock off Star Wars-like movies of the 80s. The prequels really lessened my faith Mr. Lucas.
Then George would not release the movies on DVD. He held out and when he released them at inflated prices, he acted like he did us a favor. Then there was the fact, you could not get a copy of the Original format of the movies- no they had to be in his latest re-image.
Now, I realize these movies are George Lucas’ movies and he can do whatever he wants with them. If he wants to remove all the blasters from the Storm Troopers and put in Occupy Empire banners, then that is his right. But as a fan, I can also chose not to join in and give Mr. Lucas anymore of my hard earned cash.
I was set to reveal to my wife that I would not be partaking in this money grab of movie releases. But something unexpected occurred. My daughter bounced into the room and told me that she was extremely excited about the re-release of the movies. She had never seen any of the movies in the theatre and now she could view them not only on the big screen but also in 3-D. She exhibited excited about the opportunity to see these movies as I had at her age. Her enthusiasm won me over.
I am now excited about going to these movies once again. I am hopeful that I will come out with a sparkle in my eye because of the awesome experience as I did in 77, 80, and 83.. But even if I don’t, I know it will be worth every dime to share this experience with my daughter. After all, we do have a responsibility to raise our children in the ways of the force and geekiness.
