ladybug_archive: (faye)
So last week Dad saw me looking in the Star Wars Insider magazine while doing groceries. Somehow that led to discussing the movies and he decided he wanted to watch some. We convinced him to start at the beginning even though he wanted to watch The Empire Strikes Back first. We're hoping to go through all six films. We've currently done A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back.

I never saw A New Hope until I was about ten or eleven. For some reason, we only had episodes V and VI recorded. And I was captivated by them from the time I was about 5.

I was also captivated by the figures my brother let me have. I was curious and intrigued about the Boba Fett figure, wondered who he was, and Mom said she thought he was a bounty hunter and suggested we watch the films and see. We did, and I was instantly intrigued by this mysterious character. Who was he? Was he all bad? Was there good in him? (Apparently even at that young age, I was demonstrating my fascination for characters who don't have a lot of screentime.) When I was older and discovered the books and short stories written about him, I found that many explored those questions and depicted him as still having good in him. My love for the character grew and continues growing the more I hear about new stories.

(I don't like, however, that some of the newer stories have decided to depict him as having a vendetta against all the Jedi. Um, no. I'm sure he had a vendetta against Mace Windu, but not everybody. To me, that just doesn't fit the character. I can see him feeling like the Jedi and the Sith aren't that different in some ways, but not him having a vendetta against either group.)

While I enjoyed seeing episode IV again, seeing episode V brought on all this amazing, immense nostalgia and I was overwhelmed by it. I remembered my episode II trading card game, and my Monopoly Star Wars computer game, and dug around to find both. I had thought something had corrupted the game disc because the Gateway wouldn't play it. I was so sad about that; I loved that game! Apparently it was the Gateway's problem; I installed the game on the laptop and have been playing it a little bit this week. It was so exciting to play it again, even though it wasn't quite as enchanting as it was years ago. I started a game with me playing Boba Fett and the computer AI playing Han Solo, and I keep having to save it and pick it up later, because it is going on and on. I remember one time playing Monopoly Jr. with Mom and it lasted two hours. This Star Wars game has, I believe, been going on for over two hours when I add up all the gaming time.

The voices, of course, are not from the movies (except for C-3PO, who is hosting the game) and some don't even sound like the movie voices. But something very curious happened instead.... Boba Fett's voice is deep and has an accent similar to Jango Fett's in episode II. This game was made five years before episode II was released. Certainly they hadn't arranged the episode II cast yet (I don't think, since episode I hadn't even been released). So it's very curious that the voice would be anything reminiscent of episode II!

I hope we are going to get to see all the movies.... I have to admit, as much as I adore the original trilogy, I still think I like the prequel trilogy even more. I love prequels in general, because they set up things in the other films and it's exciting knowing the other things are still coming, whereas in sequels it's sad because those things are all over. I always feel bittersweet watching Return of the Jedi, since that's the last adventure (until episode VII in December, and while I'm hopeful and excited for it, I'm sad that we'll be seeing the characters so old. It's awesome they're all coming back for it, though! I just hope none of them die in it. Or in episodes VIII and IX, if those happen).

I also wonder a bit if I prefer the prequels because they have a different kind of nostalgia.... They were released in my generation and I got to excitedly look forward to them the way older fans looked forward to the first trilogy. There is something very bonding in anticipating films. Episode II was probably the most highly anticipated for me. I was just ecstatic beyond belief that Boba Fett would be in it and we would learn his backstory! Jango Fett was great, too.

Also last week, I discovered the very awkward truth that Dad forgot I love Boba Fett. I thought he would never forget that, since he remembered all through my childhood and surprised me in 2005 by acknowledging that he remembered that. We had several discussions on the character at that time, with me trying to tell of the good in him as depicted in some of the stories and Dad remaining unmoved. But anyway, so I made the mistake of mentioning I liked The Empire Strikes Back the best of the original trilogy and episode II the best of the prequels because of character development, intensity, and ... well, I liked that Boba Fett had screentime. And ooops. I rather wish I hadn't mentioned it, since Dad really had forgotten. I wonder if he remembers at all by now? He briefly brought it up while watching The Empire Strikes Back but let it drop again. I wonder if he would actually not go through the ceiling if I let him see my wonderful big Boba Fett figure?
ladybug_archive: (coley_lafe)
With my interest in The Saint, I started thinking about something and I realized: it seems like these days, you just don't hear much about book characters being memorable like it used to be a hundred or so years ago. There were so many emerging characters that really became part of the standard culture: Sherlock Holmes, The Saint, Hopalong Cassidy, Perry Mason, The Virginian, etc. etc.

These days, I think the only book characters who have achieved anywhere that level of popularity are characters in books written for kids (even though they're enjoyed by all ages). Harry Potter and Katniss from The Hunger Games come to mind.

Why is this, I wonder? Changing mediums, people not reading books as much as they used to? But if we turn to movies and TV, it seems like the same thing applies. I can't really think of many characters that have totally engrained themselves into the people's hearts the way characters from decades-old books have. That doesn't mean there aren't good characters in new things. But it means that something has definitely changed from what it was.

Hollywood keeps redoing the old stuff. And old comic book characters are still the mainstays. No new ones have become anything like the old ones.

Have we really run dry on how to make really memorable characters? Or are we so filled with nostalgia and love for the old ones that we're just not interested in creating or paying attention to new ones?

Not that the latter is necessarily a bad thing; I live so much in the past because those characters are delightful. But still, it seems a little sad that it seems like characters so amazing that they are immortalized in the public eye don't crop up too much anymore.

... You know, aside from Harry Potter and The Hunger Games, I think the main characters that are immortalized the way old book characters are, are video game characters like Mario and Sonic and the Final Fantasy crew. And comic book/cartoon characters like the Ninja Turtles. But in fifty years, who knows if they'll all still be around?

I bet Sherlock Holmes and The Saint will be.

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