Do you remember the Star Wars boxed set of VHS tapes? The ones we grew up watching, with all the frayed edges of the cardboard, and the making-of documentary that would play before the first movie (I think?).
Those were the movies of my childhood. For my family, we’d rent them from the library, so they came in plastic cases, but really what they’d done is just cut those cardboard VHS boxes down so they’d fit inside the hard plastic ones. My family didn’t own the original trilogy of Star Wars movies until the Special Editions came out…
…and those ruined the original movies. Honestly. They did. They made Lucas a lot of money, and I believe him when he says it was what he’d imagined in his head all along…but they ruined the movies. They’re an entirely different aesthetic. Completely different. They don’t look right, they don’t feel right, and they’re just not necessary.
I feel like that’s what Lucas never understood: you can’t wait too long to finish a movie series, and you can’t go back in time and “fix” or “improve” things. Time has moved on. It’s not going to match, no matter how hard you try. It’s just different now.
Well…I finally have my hands on the original trilogy DE-SPECIALIZED. HD versions of the movies the way they’re meant to be watched. I’ve actually had them for months now, but I finally was able to find some box artwork that I liked, and I printed that out last week and slipped them over the blu-ray covers I had. They look glorious, don’t you think?
Well, I watched Star Wars tonight, and every time I watch that movie nowadays, I’m blown away by just how good it is. Because it is. So. Good. The attention to detail is astonishing. The quality of the set building, the art direction, the effects (still! To this day!)…even the story and the characters. This script may not quite sing with the dialogue brilliant of Empire, but it still does its job: it makes us care about the characters.
In a word, it’s visionary. Truly visionary. There had never been a movie like it before it came out, and there hasn’t been one since. It really is that significant.
I got my writing done today. 900 words! Finished the scene I wanted to. Back at it tomorrow for a full day’s work. Aiming for around 4,000 words, which would be two chapters, but we’ll see how it goes. I’m just going to put my head down, put in the time, and see what comes out the other side. This particular story thread I’m tackling is not on automatic pilot yet, to say the least, so it may come in fits and starts.
I watched the A’s win, finally. That was nice. Sean Manaea is a beast. Matt Olson is struggling lately, which sucks because he has so much ridiculous power. You want to see him go yard every day. But, we won today on ONE home rum from Jed Lowrie. Manaea did the rest.
I also wrote out a bunch of movie blogs, although I still have to go and find artwork for each of them. But, I only have two more to catch up on. Yes! Finally! 🙂 Will post those tomorrow, I think, and I’ll be all caught up.
Last thing I did was watch Star Wars, but I also went through all my Star Trek ships while it was playing, and took out their factory batteries, so none of them would corrode inside while they sit in storage. Don’t want that to happen. It ruins the circuitry.
It was a quiet weekend for me. I miss my wife, and I miss the Coco. It’s just not the same without them home, and I’m afraid I get rather depressed. Star Wars really perked me up tonight, and that was nice. Watching these movies I’ve loved since I was a kid is like comfort food. It just calms me down, fires my imagination, and plants my feet back down on the ground.
Good night. Lots to do tomorrow!