Yes.

Comments

1. The Elusive Scotsman says

   May 26, 2005 at 4:31 pm

   Is George Lucas not succumbing to silly melodrama?

   NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

   Eheheh. My little lame joke.

   Reply
2. AnotherCoward says

   May 27, 2005 at 5:25 am

   In talking to my wife about Darth’s cry of agony… and how I was mad because that was so not a Darth thing to do… and she pointed out that the Darth of Episode III is not the Darth of Episode IV.

   There’s something near 20 years difference between the two.

   So Darth in Ep III is still the petulant, emotional, angsty teenager/ young adult we see in the first 3 films. So the cry of anguish actually fits the flakey emotional melodrama of Anakin in the first 3 Episodes.

   Whereas Darth in Eps IV – VI is an emotionally hardened, thorougly corrupted, power motivated monster who has forgotten all love.

   In some ways… that’s what makes Ep. VI a lot more moving. We finally see balance restored – not to the Force, but for the dear Anakin we love in Ep. I. Ah sweet salvation.

   Reply
3. Anonymous says

   May 27, 2005 at 6:07 am

   Awesome. I mean, unbelievably awesome. This really sums up how lame Vader is in RotS better than any review I’ve read.

   Reply
4. The Elusive Scotsman says

   May 27, 2005 at 7:33 am

   I know! It’s like, okay, Anakin’s moment of vindication comes at the end of VI. He kills Palpie and gets his mask removed. He saves the future of the Jedi. You FEEL for Anakin at the end of VI. Whereas, in this, I find it hard to believe that there was anything left of Anakin “when the gloves are on”.

   Reply
5. Anonymous says

   May 27, 2005 at 9:31 am

   Vader’s limp “Noooooo!” is very much like Luke’s limp “Noooooo!” when Vader tells Luke “I am your father.” Luke then lets it rip and falls down some shaft in that cloud city. BTW, this scene is from The Empire Strikes Back (which I re-watched this past weekend). Maybe this is Lucas being derivative like a gen y hipster and the joke is on us. Maybe that appearance on The O.C. got to his head.

   Speaking of The OC, did anyone else find this season’s relentless pimping of Lucas irritating (e.g., Lucas’s appearance, special previews, Seth and Ryan playing the new SW video game)?

   MK

   Reply
6. Matthew Lickona says

   May 27, 2005 at 10:32 am

   Congratulations, MK, for the first reference to The OC on this blog. Sadly, when it comes to television, I know only what I read in the funny papers (and the gossip websites). But relentless pimping sounds irritating, especially if it means putting Lucas onscreen. Couldn’t they just have had Hayden Christensen show up and ask where he could get a decent haircut?

   I’ll buy the echo-thingy of Luke in EpV, except Luke was actually talking to a person, denying the veracity of a statement. Vader seems to be crying out to – what? The Force? And not in real denial – rather, in the acceptance of despair. That’s what heightens the awful cheesiness to me.

   I didn’t think Anakin disappeared once inside the costume – his first thought, after all, was of Padme. But not even a callow youth, unhardened and all, would spread his arms and wail to the heavens. Nobody does that, says I. He didn’t do it when his mom died (did he?)

   Reply
7. The Elusive Scotsman says

   May 27, 2005 at 12:04 pm

   Naw, he just sorta sat there simpering and beheading Sand People, not to mention making a general rear-end of himself.

   Reply
8. Anonymous says

   May 27, 2005 at 12:57 pm

   Two last thoughts on The OC. First, Last Thursday’s shocking season finale included a shot of Seth reading “Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs” by Chuck Klosterman. Highly recommended reading. Therein, Klosterman, among other things, (i) persuasively explains the appeal of “Saved by the Bell,” (ii) convincingly deconstructs “The Real World,” and (iii) conclusively proves that a very uncool Billy Joel wrote a remarkable number of very cool songs.

   Second, when looking back at the events in the first two seasons, a remarkable amount of very bad things has happened to Marissa Cooper (Mischa Barton’s character). Just off the top of my head: (i) she had/has a heavy drinking problem, (ii) she stole a car, (iii) she had a fling with the gardener, (iv) her dad moved to Hawaii and abandoned Marissa to her mom and evil step-dad Caleb (who died, too, by the way), (v) her mom (Julie Cooper-Nichols) (a)slept with her ex-boyfriend and (b) was outed as an amateur pornstar, (vi) she was almost raped by Ryan’s (her current beau)deliquent brother, (vii) she throws a house party where a girl ODs and ends up face-down in the pool, and (viii) sometime later, ends up killing Ryan’s brother. Whew! Who could possibly survive through two years like that?

   MK

   Reply
9. Matthew Lickona says

   May 31, 2005 at 6:41 am

   MK,
   I do believe Ms. Barton’s guttural, half-choked scream just before she threw the lawn chair in the pool (I think I learned about that scene from the Go Fug Yourself girls) indicates that she didn’t survive, at least not entirely. You are right; she has suffered mightily.
   I don’t know about the first two – haven’t watched enough Real World or Saved By The Bell – but I do think it amazing how many interesting songs Joel put out while remaining so deeply uncool. I was a big big big fan way back when.

   Reply