I would like to talk about a very specific grievance - The Force.
As a kid who grew up on a healthy does of the original trilogy, the Force was always an interesting concept. I, like many of you, probably spent more than a healthy amount of time staring at a fixed object, concentrating on it, hoping to make it levitate. It wouldn't be as impressive as lifting an X-Wing from a swamp, but I believed that if I could focus hard enough, or understand the Force well enough, then maybe, just maybe I could do it.
The Force is a mystical power, something to be both understood and felt. Let me support this with some quotes.
"The Jedi are extinct, their fire has gone out of the universe. You, my friend, are all that's left of their religion."
"The Force is what gives a Jedi his power. It's an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us. It binds the galaxy together."
"... I've never seen anything to make me believe that there's one all-powerful Force controlling everything. 'Cause no mystical energy field controls my destiny. It's all a lot of simple tricks and nonsense."
"The Force be with you, always."
For all practical purposes, the Force was like a god, or a spirit that was everywhere. It was something that couldn't be proven or seen, something that couldn't be quantified by any other standard... It was truly something special.
This all changed with the prequels. In Episode 1, we get to see a glimpse of a young boy who would someday rule the galaxy with a cruel fist - Anakin Skywalker. The force is so present in this small child that immediately the Jedi nearby can feel it's presence... So they decide to go and measure it.
Wait. What? They measure it? How is that possible? Midi-chlorians, you say? That's what the Force is made of? As I sat there in the theatre, I felt crushed and a little bit disappointed. How could something like the Force be explained as easily as a micro-organism in the blood stream? Yoda didn't really have anything special to be able to lift Luke's ship from the depths of Degobah... he just had really awesome blood stats!
Stepping outside of this, and giving myself more than a few years to be upset and confused, I finally began to see what and why this sort of happened. As crazy as it sounds, I think it has a lot to do with the secularization of our culture. Religion isn't as common in people's lives as it was 30 years ago, and apparently this has had an influence on Star Wars. I'm personally kinda sad about this. Star Wars was different from other things out there... the Force was something bigger than myself, something that I desperately wanted to be a part of. Knowing how the Force works makes it... accessible - I just wasn't born with the right blood. I mean, I could be a Jedi, but really, I'm not genetically fit to make it happen.
(Side note: to see this trend continue, look at the differences between the original Indiana Jones movies and the new one)
Lucas just keeps trying to cover all of his tracks on this too. It isn't just the quantification of the Force, but also how it works out. I'm thinking of a horrifying scene in Episode 2 where Count Dooku and Yoda are going at it with force lighting and energy balls... awesome stuff. Then...
"It is obvious that this contest cannot be decided by our knowledge of the Force... but by our skills with a lightsaber."
WHAT?! The skills with a lightsaber are more important than the knowledge of the Force!? You've gotta be kidding me. The whole original trilogy is about the Force, and the way it is the most powerful... well, force in the galaxy. Lightsabers were a weapon of the Jedi, but the Force is what gives a Jedi his power! (That's actually almost a direct Obi-wan quote, listed above!)
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| It just makes me so... like this. |
My only real question for George Lucas in this, is why? It's not like Star Wars wasn't popular or making money. I was halfway grown when I started watching them, and Return of the Jedi came out long before that. And it's not like releasing the originals, in their original formatting (dialogue, effects, sound, etc.) wouldn't make money - heck, it would make them billions. I'd even let them borrow my original VHS copies to enhance them off of, just so there wouldn't be any accidental additions.
Leave them alone, George... just leave them alone.
(Credit for this blog post title to 3N3MY's classy comic-con t-shirt)
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