May the Fourth Be With You

Today is May 4th which apparently has turned into an unofficial Star Wars holiday but I'm fine with that.  I was almost 8 when Star Wars came out and up until that point, I never saw a movie like it, so therefore it made an imprint on my brain.  I mean, you had a movie with spaceships, lightsaber battles, blaster battles.  You had the ultimate good guys on one side and the ultimate bad guys on the other and there weren't too many shades of gray between the two.  For some reason, I couldn't imagine Han Solo torturing someone for information.  And I'm sure when George Lucas filmed it, he didn't realize it would become a cultural phenomom.

 When you take the story in total, it is ultimately Darth Vader's story.  His rise to power, his fall from the good side and his ultimate redemption.  As much as I enjoy the prequels, I wish they were much better.  I kind of wish Lucas would have deferred to other writers and directors for Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith.  That is one reason why I am hopeful for the upcoming series.

If you take just the original series, it is Luke's story.  His character is the one that changes the most.  He turns from a whiny farmboy to a Jedi.  As I said, I never appreciated his character until I watched all six movies.  In Jedi, he made the decision that his father should have...he turned down the dark side with all its promises of power and what not.

So May the Force be with you.