THE UNCANNY VADERY

As discussed in my last post, I've been a Star Wars fan for as long as I can remember. I was but a sprout when Episode IV was first screened on ITV and captured my imagination and heart. Star Wars was my world. Well, Star Wars and comics. More specifically, Star Wars and Marvel...

  

But until last week I had never read a Star Wars comic in my life (let alone read an EU novel). Which seems ridiculous – surely this would be a perfect synthesis of my interests? For some reason, I've always been repulsed by the very idea of it. I've never quite been able to put my finger on why...

'A laser-gun' might have had something to do with it.

  

A few days ago, I met up with an old, old friend who I see not nearly enough. He and I were tiny sprouts together, we grew up playing with each other's Kenner figures and playsets, we pretended to be Luke and Han in our back gardens, drew Star Wars pictures, went to see Return of the Jedi in the cinema. Our childhoods were inextricably intertwined with Star Wars. Obviously, I was really keen to hear what he thought of The Force Awakens. But he hadn't seen it and had little interest in doing so. I was stunned. For the love of Jabba, why, man, why? He told me that the prequels had completely crushed his interest in Star Wars, because 'It's amazing how much of the appeal of Star Wars is in things that aren't explained.'

My god. He's right. That's it.

So much of the original trilogy is left to your imagination. Who the Bothans are and why they died. What the Senate is and how it was disbanded. The badassness of Boba Fett. Who the hell Mon Mothma is. Anakin and Obi-Wan's relationship. Tosche's station. What happened in the Clone Wars. Those spider-robot-brain things in Jabba's palace. How Han won the Falcon from Lando. What a womp rat is. What happened to Dengar's face. Half of the familiar names are never even said in the films themselves but came to us via the toys – AT-ATs, Ugnaughts, Y-wings, Bosssk, Gamorrean Guards, Lobot, Wampas, Salacious Crumb...

Who hell he?

This willingness to drop the viewer into a world without feeling the need to explain every detail is a huge part of what makes OT Star Wars so compelling. It's also one of the many reasons why I find the prequels so unsatisfying. And it's the main factor, albeit a subconscious one, in my avoiding the comics and the EU for the last 30 years. I don't want to someone else to fill in the gaps for me, because the gaps are where quite a bit of the fun lies.

If the OT taught us anything, it's that not everything needs to be spelled out, while the prequels explained too much. Yet one of the recurring complaints I've read about The Force Awakens is that not enough is explained or resolved, and too much is left open for the sequels. Needless to say, I don’t think this is a problem – we're now in an age of serialised movie storytelling, and I embrace the wider scope of that. I'm all for movies working in isolation, but I'm equally excited about them working towards something bigger. TFA gets the balance right, and in leaving a number of questions unanswered, it opens up a lot of directions in which modern Star Wars can go.

All of this is a very long-winded, circumlocutory way of saying that I recently read the first two trades of Marvel’s new Star Wars and Darth Vader series. Set just after A New Hope, these intertwining stories follow Luke, Han, Leia et al as they mount a raid on an Imperial weapons factory, and Vader as he tries to uncover the identity of the Rebel pilot who blew up the Death Star. From a pure comics storytelling point of view, I enjoyed these quite a bit – especially the Vader one. Both are rollicking, multi-layered tales that interconnect in interesting ways and explore new facets of the Star Wars universe. And both have fantastic art, from John Cassaday and Salvador Larocca, respectively.

  

However, I do still have a psychological block with these titles, partly because of the aforementioned wish not to have the gaps filled in, but also because there is a slight element of uncanny valley to them. When comics are converted to films or TV, they are of necessity more or less faithful adaptations, taking sometimes considerable liberties with the source material in order to work in a live-action medium. The conversion of films to comics, however, entails a tendency to replicate the movie visuals as accurately as possible – which is, of course, great for purists, but for me often makes for an unsettling, stilted experience, heavy on photo reference, full of designs optimised for the screen, not for the page. Star Wars is, of course, full of classic, iconic design, and I’m in no way suggesting they should be reworked for the comics – but it makes it harder to see the comic in its own terms, rather than an as ersatz version of the real thing.

Ultimately, this is my brain’s problem. And I’m seeking help with it. But the comics are pretty good. If you can handle them.

MY POINT-FIVE-PAST-LIGHTSPEED JOURNEY TO STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS (NO SPOILERS)

How it all began.

A long time ago, in a town far, far away…  I can’t remember how old I was when that Star Destroyer first flew overhead, blocking out the sky – maybe five or six? I know that I saw Star Wars on ITV, that I was too young to see Empire at the cinema, or had completely missed it by the time I saw the first one. I saw Jedi at the cinema, but it would be another year, maybe two before I saw Empire. Much of my childhood was spent obsessed with everything Star Wars. I had a healthy collection of figures and ships, none of which I have now, for reasons of ill-advised putting away of childish things, or even more ill-advised experiments in inflicting realistic-looking battle damage, following a dire convergence of circumstances involving a scorching hot day, a magnifying glass and poor, poor Zuckus.

When I first met my now-wife, I took her to an all-day marathon of the original trilogy, as she’d never seen any of them. With hindsight, I’m not sure what my motivations were – wanting her to share one of my passions, or a test to see if my suspicious fondness for Wookiees would send her backing slowly out of the room. Luckily for me, she stuck around, though it’s fair to say she tolerates rather than shares my affinity for all things in that galaxy far, far away. However, our daughter is very much a fan. I can’t begin to imagine how that happened.

The arrival of the prequels, however, began to change everything. People make comparisons now between the hype and weight of expectations for The Force Awakens and what we saw back in 1998–99 for The Phantom Menace. I can only assume I was as excited as everyone else, but I remember nothing about this time – the much-vaunted trailer, the marketing, going to see the film itself, what I thought of it. The whole experience has been wiped away. It’s as if my mind cried out in pain and was suddenly silenced. I remember thinking that Attack of the Clones was, at least, an improvement (though that’s less certain with hindsight), and I remember going in to Revenge of the Sith with a sense of grim obligation, only to be (slightly) pleasantly surprised – at least until the notorious ‘Noooooooo!’

From http://www.deviantart.com/art/Darth-Vader-Brand-Nooooooo-s-Cereal-Tshirt-Design-367971806

I still can't quite believe that made it to the final film. Fuck’s sake, George. 

Having recently revisited the prequels with my daughter, they’re not all bad. They have their moments. But these are few and far between. I find them turgid, humourless, confused, unmemorable affairs, with no appealing characters, questionable, wooden performances, empty spectacle and a sickly synthetic sheen courtesy of over-reliance on the not-fully developed CGI of the era. One of the things that’s great about the original trilogy is that all of the main cast, but especially Han, seem like ordinary people in an extraordinary environment. There’s nothing to ground the prequels. Everybody, with the possible exception of Ewan McGregor, is a dead-eyed sci-fantasy cipher.

The prequels left me bruised, dejected, hoping that would be an end to it. There would always be the originals, of course, but there was clearly no need for any more. The announcement of The Force Awakens, then, led to many conflicting feelings. A new, young cast of nigh-unknowns combined with some icons from the original trilogy, a new director, no George Lucas… all of these could be either promising signs or portents of doom. The trailers looked great, but as others repeatedly mentioned, this is exactly what happened with The Phantom Menace. I tried my hardest to remain cautiously optimistic while reining in my enthusiasm. Right up until last night. Right up until this.

Until Jimmy Fallon, the Roots and the cast performed an a cappella medley of Star Wars themes. That was it. Defences broken down. I was all in. A few hours later, I found myself in a pub full of bearded men in Millennium Falcon and Stormtrooper T-shirts (and my friend Martin in full Emperor (bath)robe), awaiting the midnight screening. It was actually happening.

It didn’t disappoint. Far from it.

I will avoid spoilers, for there are many things to spoil, but The Force Awakens is both a fantastically entertaining film in its own right, and a symbolic passing of the torch between generations. Much of the speculation and hype has focused on the presence of the old guard, but in truth it’s the new kids – Oscar Isaac, John Boyega, Adam Driver and, especially, Daisy Ridley – who are the backbone of this film. It’s an expansion of the original trilogy, building on its elements, establishing new aspects of the mythology and moving forward. And, crucially, it’s built on character, on ordinary people in an extraordinary environment. Finn and Rey are our point-of-view characters, everypeople thrust into a world they – and we – don’t fully understand. They’re immensely likeable, compelling, funny and have a real chemistry between them. But fans of the original cast (and who isn’t?) won’t be disappointed either. Speaking as a massive Chewbacca fan, who feels the character has been somewhat under-utilised in the past, this film made my furry heart gronk furiously with joy. 

From Chewbacca #1 by Phil Noto

There are criticisms to be made, though. In trying to balance the old and the new, JJ Abrams occasionally tips a little too far into the nostalgic side of things. A few moments amount to little more than ‘Hey! Remember this minor detail?’ and come across as cheap, and there are some concepts and sequences that are needlessly recycled when a new vision may have been more desirable. Part of this, of course, may be the fact that events in the Star Wars universe are cyclical, as we’ve seen before and will no doubt see again. Part of it is, as mentioned, a passing of the torch. This is a bridge between old and new, but the former doesn’t overshadow the latter.

To illustrate this point… it was notable that there were several spontaneous rounds of applause throughout the film. I understand that American audiences can often be a bit more audible in their appreciation of movies, but we Britishers are largely reticent. Applause just simply does not happen at a film, so this was remarkable in itself. And there were multiple nostalgia-fuelled outbursts here – for the crawl, the first appearance of the Falcon, of Han & Chewie, of Leia, C-3PO… But the biggest, most enthusiastic one was reserved for an unbelievably wonderful, heart-stopping, lump-in-throat, fuck-yeah moment for Rey, for Daisy Ridley. It was extremely telling. She’s our hero. In two days’ time, when I see it again with my family, I’m pretty confident she’ll be my daughter’s hero too. 

Torch passed.