Arturo: (arturo-deleteme[at]-deleteme-squishycomics [dot] com) 2008-08-20 11:58:02

To Be Fair...

I only bug Dan about "artistic freedom" to give him a heads up on possible problems. I make it a point to never share my personal feelings on the strip. There are rare occasions where I break this rule and post in the news.

I understand that Lucas personified the independent filmmaker that made it big; however studio oversight was the best thing that happened to him. Lucas produced his best work with someone standing next to him saying, "No, that's retarded. Stop that." Oversight is the ONLY reason Boba Fett lived, the Millennium Falcon didn't explode, we started with Episodes IV-VI and there were no damn midichlorians.

Today no one can keep Lucas' ideas in check. He can do whatever he wants; good for him, but bad for us.

"The Force" is one of the most precious things in all of geekdom; it was something you could control, you just had to look at the world differently. Lucas took all that power away by turning "The Force" into a genetic gift; akin to being tall or blue eyed. After Epidsodes I, II and III, "The Force" is no longer a state of mind or a personal extension of will; now it's just another facet of birth that further divides the have's from the have not's.

I never wrote Lucas a complaint letter because he gets enough of those from fans far more rabid than me. Lucas spends his time surrounded by an army of yes-men and the only people he really runs ideas by are his kids, "My kids though Jar-Jar was funny."

What's done is done. I cling to The Clone Troopers; the only awesome thing left in the Star Wars Universe. I've always liked the Stormtroopers from the original movies. They were the faceless everymen in a universe where even the janitor had a fascinating back story. The movies mention how precise and scary Stormtroopers are; unfortunately we only saw them receiving Heroic Beatings and steadily they became a joke.

It was great when the prequel movies connected the Mandalorians to the Clone Wars. I finally got to see The Clone Troopers as the fierce fighters they were supposed to be as armies crumbled and planets fell beneath their might. The Grand Army of the Republic had no equal in the universe.

Okay, so there are two Jedi who still get props from me. Bardin Jusik (from the Republic Commando novels) and Obi-Wan Kenobi. Obi-Wan is a likable bad ass and Ewan McGregor managed to pull through splendidly, even with the writing and /certain/ elements of the cast made with the suck.