The Boo Box

[audio accompaniment]

Third Entry – Year 33 ABY:5:9
From Hoth to Dantooine, I have rifled through countless documents and watched countless hours of film with the hope of piecing together this vast puzzle I lay before you now.  I cannot say that this information is definitive, but merely the best picture I could conjure up through research, reason, and my limited knowledge of The Force.
This will be a long entry, but entirely necessary.  Let me begin…

Star Wars: A New Hope was not always the classic movie that we see it as today.  At the time of its release it was just a relatively low budget sci-fi movie, a genre of film that was not taken very seriously in 1977 (2001: A Space Odyssey being the only real exception).  Many of the people who worked on it didn’t take it very seriously and saw it as a goofy kid’s movie, so the fact that it was a massive success was a surprise to everyone.  Including George Lucas.

In the DVD commentary of Hope, Lucas says that the genesis of Star Wars was when he first watched Akira Kurosawa’s films (Seven Samurai, Yojimbo, and especially The Hidden Fortress) in college, and mentions that because he didn’t know anything about Japanese culture when watching them, he almost felt overwhelmed by this foreign world that was never really explained within the movie while all of the action took place (and it didn’t need to be since the Japanese audience would already be familiar with it).  This was a feeling he wanted to recreate for Star Wars and that is exactly what he did.

It’s hard to feel this effect anymore.  Star Wars has since become so ingrained within our popular culture, that everything from Yoda to the Death Star to lightsabers are familiar to almost everybody before even watching the films.  But it wasn’t always this way.  People look at Hope now as being sort of quaint compared to the sequels.  If you see it in the light in which it was created though, it was entirely necessary that it was made that way to establish the universe, characters, and some of the ideas that they focus on in later movies.

As we all know now, the original film was written and directed by George Lucas himself.  It is no secret that George has a hard time working with actors on a set (he prefers animation because nobody can argue or cause any drama), and he has mentioned in various interviews that he doesn’t really enjoy the writing process either.  So by the time pre-production on The Empire Strikes Back began, he wanted to take more of a hands off approach to the filming.  So while he stayed in California to oversee the building of Skywalker Ranch and the Lucasfilm company, he employed others to handle the majority of the creative descisions for Empire.

This is where things get really interesting.
At one point during my research, I asked myself:  Why it is that The Empire Strikes Back is so much better than the other films?

After reading through many documents and watching many holodiscs worth of footage, I came up with a list of the names of 3 men.  Their combined involvement in Empire is among one of the most important observations of my investigation.  They are as follows:

Gary Kurtz, Lawrence Kasdan, and Irvin Kershner.

I have come to the conclusion that it is because of this perfect combination that Empire is so good.  Two of them, Gary Kurtz and Lawrence Kasdan had a hand in 2 of the 3 originals (Kurtz in 4-5 and Kasdan in 5-6), while Kershner was only involved in Empire.  I will now address each of these men individually.

Gary Kurtz: He was the producer of both Hope and Empire.  Many people believe that he is responsible for keeping things reasonable in those first two movies, such as making The Force more mystical than scientific and being anti-Ewoks (which some believe is among the reasons he quit/was fired from Return of the Jedi before it began production).  Also, he claims that after Raiders of the Lost Ark came out in 1981 (which Lucas made with Steven Spielberg), that George became convinced that people didn’t care about story, and were only interested in thrills and spectacle.  A very important thing to consider when looking at the Prequels.  It is also worth noting that after leaving the Star Wars saga, Kurtz went on to produce The Dark Crystal and Return to OZ.  Both of which contain strong mystical elements within their stories.

Lawrence Kasdan: Writer of the final script of Empire. After A New Hope was released, George Lucas knew he didn’t want nearly as much involvement in the sequel, so he handed this off writing duties to a writer named Leigh Brackett.  When he got the script back though, he didn’t like it much and, unfortunately, Brackett died shortly after of ovarian cancer, so he gave the script to a writer named Lawrence Kasdan (who also co-wrote Raiders of the Lost Ark and has been nominated for Oscars for other scripts he has written and directed).  By all accounts, Kasdan basically re-wrote the entire movie, developing the characters from the first film and giving depth to the story (Lucas definitely had a hand in guiding the overall story, but most of the specific plot points and character development can be credited to Kasdan).  Lucas liked his version of the script and went on to hire…

Irvin Kershner: who directed The Empire Strikes Back.  Irvin Kershner is an interesting character.  If you should ever get the chance, I recommend listening to the audio commentary on the Empire Strikes Back DVD.  He is essentially the real life version of Yoda.  One moment making lame old-man jokes and laughing hysterically.  The next, offering some profound insight about the importance of story and character in a film. While Kurtz oversaw the production and Kasdan wrote it, Kershner added some of the more humorous dialogue to the film.  He felt that since the overall film was darker and more serious than the first, it needed a certain level of light-heartedness to balance it out.  At the same time, he didn’t want to resort to slapstick physical humor to get this across because it would distract from the gravity of the plot.  This is a tightrope he navigated expertly.  He kept the movie simple while keeping it interesting.

These three men.  They are the primary elements that made Empire Strikes Back such an incredible movie.  Of course, none of it would have been possible without George Lucas either, but based on the audio commentaries (and an article in the May edition of Entertainment Weekly celebrating the 30th anniversary of Empire), George only visited the set a couple of times and was very hands-off for the entire production.

So what happened after that?  Many people view Return of the Jedi as equal to Empire. But look closely.  Watch it again.  Look at how much of it is filler material, and how certain characters seem to not develop any further. Let The Force guide you, and search your feelings.  They do you credit, but they could be made to serve the Emperor.

TK-421

[Audio accompaniment]

Second Entry – Year 33 ABY:5:4
My research led me from one system to another, and I soon began to unravel a story that went deeper than I could have ever imagined.  From Master Plinkett, I found my way to the world of fan edits, which are exactly what they sound like.  Re-cuts of movies by fans, some just for fun, others attempting to correct egregious errors against humanity.  In the case of Star Wars, there are two important fan edits.

The first is a version of Episode I known as The Phantom Edit, where the editor (once presumed to be Kevin Smith of Clerks fame, but later proven otherwise) attempted to eliminate as much of Jar Jar Binks’ screen time as well as the incredibly stupid and illogical programming of the battle droids.  While vastly improved, it still doesn’t save the the movie of its idiocy.  But it does make one wonder: Why isn’t this how it was in the first place?  I will attempt to address this question in the future.

The other fan edit of note is an “enhanced” version of the original film titled A New Hope: Revisited, created by an other Jedi Master of unsurpassed patience and wisdom who goes by the name of Adywan.  This fan-edit  addresses another issue that runs parallel to the prequel trilogy, which is the Special Edition versions of the original 3.  Some of the changes to which are seen by many as heinous acts of sacreligion that have caused some to throw themselves, without hesitation, into the Sarlacc pit at Carkoon; unable to cope with errors as infamous as Greedo shooting at Han first in the Mos Eisley cantina.

[NOTE:  For those of you  unversed in the finer points of Star Wars -- in the original version of the film, Han shoots Greedo just before Greedo gets the chance to do anything.  No shots are fired from Greedo's gun.  Lucas changed this to make Han seem like "not such a heartless guy", which effectively cheapens his character arc of growing from someone who is, in fact, kind of heartless and selfish to a man who cares about other people, and in the case of Empire, even more than he cares about himself.  All of the wisest Jedi know this.  And it makes them close their eyes and shake their heads in disappointment when they discuss this subject.]

The Adywan edit of Hope tries to find a middle ground between both the unmodified and Special Edition versions of the original film, and the level of dedication he showed, combing through every frame of the film to correct even the smallest continuity errors, is astounding.  Many of his changes even breath new life into the film, such as in the aforementioned cantina scene, where he manipulated the faces of the various alien species, including Greedo, to emote and blink as if they were alive, and not just people in rubber masks.

[NOTE:  Read a summary and check out the list of changes he made here. Like I said, it's astounding.  Adywan is currently working on a fan-edit of The Empire Strikes Back and has been for the past 2 years since his Hope edit.  It is scheduled to be released later this year.]

This begs the other question I hope to answer in due time:
How did one man alone, who spent 2 years on his computer in an apartment in the UK, with no chance of earning any money and every chance of being accused of delusions of grandeur, come out with a version of A New Hope that at best is far superior to the official Special Edition and at worst, an extremely impressive display of fan dedication?

My journey to figure out once and for all what, and more importantly, WHO made the original trilogy great while the prequels were made to suffer the same fate as Alderaan will continue in my next entry, where I will hope to begin to answer some of these questions.
But until then, may The Force be with you.

[NOTE: This is the log of one operative, codenamed TK-421 in his investigation to discover information pertaining to the de-evolution of the Star Wars universe. And most importantly, how and why George Lucas lost his mind in the 20 years between The Empire Strikes Back and The Phantom Menace and the contributing factors that led to this. We suggest listening to this song on repeat while reading this. Preferably near a window while it rains, or during the wee hours of the morning.]

First Entry – Year 33 ABY:4:16
I have seen many things in my travels over the past 15 years. T-16s bulls-eyeing Womp Rats in Beggars Canyon on Tattooine, the Millennium Falcon making the Kessel Run in under 12 parsecs, siblings “accidentally” making out with each other.
I have learned that size matters not when it comes to something as mysterious as the all powerful Force.
And I’ve learned that we are luminous beings, not this crude matter.
I have seen many things…

I travel alone now. Along with my ship, I bring only supplies to last me the duration of this investigation. Due to the undercover nature of my employment to [redacted], my true name and whereabouts cannot be disclosed.
But it is with great curiosity that I embark on this journey for the truth. If it is the will of The Force, then it must be done.

I don’t really remember how this obsession started. I guess I was always aware of the Galaxy Far Far Away, but it really began during my 4th primary year at the academy around the year 18 ABY (After the Battle of Yavin). A newly remastered version of the Trilogy had just been released on VHS, the book ‘Shadows of the Empire’ was becoming a massive hit, and George Lucas was gearing up for the Special Editions and Prequels. It was a good time for Star Wars.

Before the dark times…before the Empire.

Usually, when I get into one of these phases, I end up just watching all the movies and then checking out Wookieepedia. But this time, for some reason, it was different. This time, my interest wasn’t sparked by a sudden urge to watch the films. This time, I was inspired by the opposite: a holodisc depicting a scathing 9-part review of Episode II: Attack of the Clones by a wise Jedi Master named Harry Plinkett. Master Plinkett has a few problems with women and murder and pizza rolls, but his wisdom is surpassed by no other.
The Force works in mysterious ways.

[NOTE: Watch his 7 part review of Episode 1: The Phantom Menace too. Both of them are entirely worth the time. Plus, you might get a pizza roll out of it.]

I should address the fact that I saw every one of the Star Wars prequels on opening day. I was in my 6th year at the academy when The Phantom Menace was released. My mother took me and a friend of mine to see it after a short school day. I had previously been so excited for this movie, that I bought the novelization (in hardcover) and read it in the week beforehand because I just couldn’t wait. In fact, I bought the novelizations of all 3 prequels. This was, of course, followed by the various videogames, visual dictionaries, and action figures churned out by the great merchandising machine that is Lucasfilm.
So while most of my classmates were just beginning to study the art of wizardry at Hogwarts, I quietly sat in the corner and mocked them for waving around their pathetic little wands. The power to fly around on a broom is no match for the power of The Force. I found their lack of faith disturbing. Good against a muggle is one thing, good against one skilled with a lightsaber is another. Their ways were nothing but a bunch of simple tricks and nonsense.

Then, 6 years later, came Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. The one we had all been waiting for.
A good friend of mine and I pitched a tent immediately after school that day and endured 9 hours of torrential rainfall while we awaited patiently. During breaks in the weather, I ventured out with my video camera in one hand to document the spectacle and ask other friends of mine, also in line, questions retarding this epic saga and their feelings about its conclusion. In my other hand, I carried my $120 replica of Darth Vader’s lightsaber. You know…for defense and such. Everyone else in line was armed and I felt I should be as well.

But I didn’t possess then the wisdom that I do now. What I didn’t know at the time was that I was being taken for a fool by the forces of evil. The Dark Side was having its way with both myself and many others; a fact that dawned on me slowly over the course of the next 5 years. The fact that every time I watched the prequel trilogy, something felt more and more “wrong” about them.

“It was as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror, and were suddenly silenced.”

So how did I go from all of that to now: desiring to sell my prequel DVDs away for but a handful of galactic credits? This is a question I will hope to answer in subsequent entries into this log.

May The Force be with you.

TK-421