30 Years On… The Legend That Is “Star Wars” Is Celebrated
May 25, 2007 (4 Responses)
UNLESS YOU WERE born in the last few minutes, you already know what “Star Wars” is, and why it was so pivotal in the movie business. Actually – if you were born in the last few minutes you must be some sort of genius, so what the hell are you doing reading this? Go compose an opera or something useful.
For the rest of us however, Star Wars represents the most incredible vision and life long passion of a certain George Lucas. Personally I grew up with the original 3 movies (hated the re-worked versions!) and thought the new ones were ok, but not as good… but then that’s probably nostalgia talking. The point is that Star Wars is 30 years old.
30 years. That’s just hard to swallow sometimes. Damn that snuck up on me.
Anyway, Wired are running an excellent article entitled ‘Star Wars Rewired’ which you should go check out if you have any interest in the subject matter at all. It’s got articles dealing with the aftermath of making such a monster success on George Lucas, a clever diatribe on how Star Wars changed everything, articles on merchandising, Star Wars games, behind the scenes accounts; hell they’ve even got a piece on the cult status Carrie Fisher achieved in that metal bikini for fucks sake.
It’s a great read and worthy of some frivolous attention, so what are you waiting on? Get un-busy and go waste some quality time down memory lane with Han Solo, Leia, a nerf herder, some daft robots, Obi-Wan Kenobi, jawas, behind the scenes tit bits… you get the idea.Â
Sure what else is the internet for if not diversions like this? 
Star Wars came out when I was taking my Air Force technical training in Wichita Falls, Texas. There was only one theatre in town that we could easily reach, so we went to see the thing a bizzilion times because….well…have you BEEN to Wichita Falls? Excitement is watching the prarie grass grow.
I’m not big on the new ones, even if the effects to look more polished and I liked the cowboy movie metaphor of the original. These newfangled Jamaican mules don’t do much for me. Still, they beat Wichita Falls come to think of it.
Great films – but isn’t Serenity now overtaking Star Wars as BEST SCI-FI movie ever?
Serenity was good, but there is no way that it could ever eclipse Star Wars Andrew. Not just from a personal/subjective perspective, but from a commercial, merchandising, spinoff, series, film base, fan base… pretty much every perspective actually.
Firefly was interesting, but it never ran beyond a single series. Star Wars is still spawning books, TV series, movies etc. up to 30 years later… I doub’t even Joss Wheadon could hope for that from one 13 episode Firefly season and a single ‘Serenity’ film.
The Beatles never ran beyond a single decade yet …. The revival of Star Trek was down to Trekkies ….
Serenity is still only an infant in comparison to Star Wars but already it’s amassing more votes than Star Wars in a BBC poll:
Which is the best sci-fi film?
Serenity 35.51%
Star Wars 32.96%
Blade Runner 19.03%
Planet of the Apes 2.03%
The Matrix 10.46%
37141 Votes Cast
1. Serenity
2. Star Wars (pictured)
3. Blade Runner
4. Planet of the Apes
5. The Matrix
6. Alien
7. Forbidden Planet
8. 2001: A Space Odyssey
9. The Terminator
10. Back to the Future
http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/mpapps/pagetools/print/news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/6517155.stm
Early Days Yet!