"Blow It Up Twice"
by Matthew C.
2008.04.16
I'm not sure who would be offended by my "'revealing" Star Wars comments, but I'm putting this here
anyway.
!!! SPOILERS BELOW !!!
Blow it up twice. That's my opinion. I'm referring to the original
Star Wars trilogy of films. Writer/Director George Lucas once said in an
interview that if he'd had (initially) known there would be more than one
Star Wars movie, he wouldn't have blown up the Death Star at the
end of the first film. He said he would've saved that until the end of the third film.
Now, I don't know what he would've done at the end of the first film. He may have done something better, I don't know. But what I do know is that
the first
Star Wars film is quality. And the end of the movie is great and highly emotional. I'd hate to think of the movie without that ending.
But there's the rub.
I don't know what I don't know. I don't know what I'm missing... therefore I don't miss it. Ignorance is bliss in this
instance.
But for argument's sake, let's say that the "new" end of the first film wasn't as emotionally satisfying of a climax. In THIS situation, the
second and third
Star Wars movies would still have been made. And let us suppose that the second and third movies were released
exactly
as they originally were. I don't think the
Star Wars trilogy would have nearly the same level of cultural impact or public devotion. The
trilogy would be seen as competent, but not as good.
What would have been? I don't know. Maybe Han Solo became a larger figure in the "first" movie (A New Hope)... Maybe we were introduced to
characters like Dash Rendar, Siri Tachi, or Quinlan Vos... Maybe we'd have been treated to
The Star Wars Holiday Special material on the silver
screen... We'll never know.
In this alternate reality I'm creating, where the Death Star is only blown up once... Burger King puts McDonald's out of business, Fidel Castro leads the
world's most affluent superpower, and Tetris never makes it out of the U.S.S.R.
I don't know about you, but I'm glad things turned out the way they did. To Mr. Lucas I say:
Blow it up twice.
