Lets talk about the limits on Star Wars and some
people’s imaginations.
Ok here is the deal. There are multiple dimensions of Star Wars
(or any large film, comic, or book franchise for that matter).
First, we have the imagination of the
creator George Lucas (GL). Along with what was in his alleged original notes
and the storyboards by the likes of Joe Johnston, script versions, concept art
of Ralph Mcquarrie and all the authors, artists, and effects artists that
filled in the blanks between George’s ideas and gave life to the second
dimension – most importantly the soundtrack of John Williams and effects of BenBurtt.
All of the above is the Genesis of
the second dimension, what we see on film (including the Clone Wars and new
Rebels series). What we hear in the radio dramas and read in the novelizations.
And, depending on how you feel about the recent Disney/Lucasfilm announcement
all other forms (i.e. the around 80 books and two dozen or so comic series, the
expanded universe then you can either
add or ignore the E.U., the role playing games, the most excellent Dark Horse
comic run and the various video games that added background content in addition
to the movie that was not a movie, the Shadows of the Empire.
Third we have the real world, the
actual limitations of the universe we live in. When a Storm trooper hits hishead on a Death Star hatch (it’s a hatch if it is on a vessel and the Death
Star is a vessel for all intents and purposes so take any arguments
elsewhere)…as I was saying… when a Storm trooper hits his head on said hatch it
is seen by the general bandwagon fan, casual audience, and amateur film critic
as a mistake that was missed in editing or kept in because the producers could
not afford another take. However, that same scene is seen by fanboy and fangirl
as a wrinkle that needs to be given a backstory. So that 30 years later that Stormtrooper is
named Harry and has four kids and joined the Empire only to earn some extra
money to support his wife’s Sabacc addiction, and the reason he just hit his
head??? He got a call earlier that day from his wife, he has another kid on the
way, so he was a little out of sorts when charging into that control room and
did not notice the door so cut the guys some slack and “move along…move along…”
Ok so those are your three dimensions
of the SW universe. Why do I feel the need to break this down? Well I have been
catching a lot of evidence of limited imaginations in the SW fan universe.
First back in the late spring (on our
world) we discovered that SW had moved its production to Abu Dhabi. Not the
tourist destination of choice so there must have been a reason. First
assumptions by everyone was that it must be a fill in for Tatoonine. Just
because it has desert. I can list the reasons that not only is limited thinking
but also pretty stupid to assume since there are reasons that can be pulled
from each of the three SW dimensions…so I will…
1.
There are thousands or millions of planets in the SW
universe, why assume Tatooine
2.
The deserts of Yuma AZ filled in for Tatooine for RTOJ during
the Jabba Skiff scene why involve the extra cost of security and travel to film
in Abu Dhabi when AZ is sitting there all bored and ready to go?
3.
Real world reason to not go to Tunisia where Tatooine was
filmed for SW, TPM, and ATC was due to a less than ideal security situation
however there are other parts of the same desert (in other words more like the
desert used for Tatooine in the other movies) nearby such as in Morocco or even
safer parts of Egypt.
4.
Why do we have to return to Tatooine in the first place? Sure
there are possible story lines that take us there looking for old Luke
Skywalker or maybe a return there looking for an artifact Obi Wan left or some other
reason. However again, with all the talent that have written hundreds of E.U.
stories, why limit us to a planet that has been in nearly all the existing
movies?
The limited imagination of
some of the podcasters and bloggers “is killing me softly” (to quote Alicia
Keys…is she not the HOTTEST chick ever???). It is now spreading to some more
leaked photos we have seen online.
(SPOILER ALERT) so there
have been shots of the Millennium Falcon and some possible X-Wing variations
from an outdoor set in England. The issue here is there has been great discussion
on the variations on the paint scheme and some what appears to be spare parts
laying around the lot. Here we have some
huge assumptions and a problem with the fan need to speculate about EVERYTHING…
Real world – the spare parts may be simply parts for the equipment (like cranes
or what have you) used in the production. Or maybe it was some junk left over
from previous uses. Or maybe it is part of the set, however just because it
looks like a podracer engine does not mean there are podracers there. Think for
a minute that the podracers were modified from something else, so if podracers
use engines originally designed for other uses (like small space ships…) then
it would stand to reason you would see them in a hanger area for X-wings. Oh
and the X-wings are not necessarily the same models – 30 years have gone by, so
there have had to be modifications in the same scope and range that you see
from the Republic star fighters to the X-wing and so on. It is convenient that
30 years has passed in the SW dimension was well as real world so use that
knowledge to base your “guesses” and make them educated.
If anyone has gotten this
far then you have to be a fan, no one else would have read this much gibberish.
Congrats and I hope to see you on 18 December 2015!
