I was 13 when Star Wars hit British cinema screens in 1977, and was only tangentially aware of its existence. It was sci-fi, for heaven’s sake, and sci-fi was the realm of the speccy geeks who played Dungeons and Dragons. I was much more interested in football and music, pastimes with real staying power.
Star Wars and its sequels had very little impact on me — I certainly don’t remember the release of The Empire Strikes Back or Return of the Jedi. That said, you would have to be impervious to popular culture not to have absorbed some Star Wars facts. I knew there was a character called Luke Skywalker and another by the name of Han Solo. Perhaps more impressively, I knew that the villain, Darth Vader, was played by the Green Cross Code man, David Prowse.
If possible, I had even less interest in the “prequels”, while all my male friends become hysterical over the apparent crapness of The Phantom Menace (1999). Recently, however, under massive pressure from a friend who has labelled me a sci-fi snob, I have tried to conquer my indifference to all things science fiction. I have read Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury and actually quite enjoyed it. I saw The Lord of the Rings trilogy and emerged unscathed, if a little unmoved.Surely it was time to tackle the Star Wars DVD set.
As soon as I mentioned to friends that I was to watch the original three films I was deluged by plenty of “advice” and “fascinating facts”.
“Oh no, you can’t watch the remastered films. Lucas has ruined the original movies.”
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“I’m not really a Star Wars fan, but did you know that Mark Hamill insisted on being paid $40,000 for his role, while Alec Guinness asked for a percentage cut and made millions?” And so on.
By the time the first movie started I was quite excited. It is, according to many polls, one of the best films in movie history. Surely all those Star Wars freaks must have a point; films don’t become such huge hits without being at least quite good. So, did I “get” the Star Wars trilogy?
Sort of. The first epiphany was Carrie Fisher. I had never understood why so many of my friends had a thing for the woman with the Danish pastry hairdo, but her sassiness and similarity to Smack the Pony’s Sally Phillips quickly won me over. What also became apparent was how revolutionary the Star Wars series must have been. Not just for the special effects (which were remarkable for the time but were, it has to be said, looking a little tired by 1983’s comparatively poor The Return of The Jedi), but also for its monumental influence on Hollywood blockbusters. Without Star Wars there surely would have been no Indiana Jones series, no Jurassic Park and certainly no Lord of the Rings. Star Wars legitimised big, passably intelligent soap operas that are set on an epic scale and aimed squarely at male teenagers of all ages.
Yet, throughout the series, it was the little touches that most impressed me — the games of chess played with living creatures, the desert rats and the fact that R2-D2 managed to deal with steps without any visible means of doing so. Other aspects that I found less than effective: Mark Hamill may be a thoroughly nice chap (see right), but he was a dreadful casting choice. What a wet blanket! If his Luke was representative of the calibre of Jedi Knights then it’s no surprise that the Empire triumphed so comfortably. By the third episode he was even starting to resemble David Icke.
Other issues are more nitpicky. Why did the Empire’s soldiers wear those cumbersome white armoured suits if they were utterly ineffective in providing protection from laser fire? And, come to that, why did they never practise their own shooting? How did the outnumbered rebel spaceships always overcome the Empire’s battlecraft? Most annoying for this music fan was the deeply conservative message that only criminals or reprobates listen to rock or jazz music. If that wussy Skywalker had a bit of rock’n’roll in his veins he wouldn’t have needed a trilogy to beat the Empire.
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The Star Wars Trilogy DVD box set, featuring the original films plus hours of extras, is out to buy on September 20.