Making the Best of It
Sep. 12th, 2013 08:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
krpalmerThe discs in the Star Wars Blu-Ray collection are in numerical order, to me a simple and obvious way to do it and a suggestion of what order to watch them in. When the set came out, though, the sudden yet all too familiar bout of arm-flapping over the movies being a little different from expected seemed to dwell on the end of Return of the Jedi. Even after probably taking all of it much more seriously than I had to and not only "standing up to be counted" by buying the set but also buying a Blu-Ray player and new TV without quite waiting for or thinking of end-of-the-year sales, perhaps with the distinct trace of concern that "waiting too long" would let other people make an opinion for me that would turn waiting without warning into "clinging to the past" at last, I suppose I didn't want to watch through six movies in a row with the perpetual worry of a "final test" lurking at the end, so I reverted to "production order." As it turned out, I didn't have any shattering problems with that, but I did have three more known quantities left afterwards to watch with interest.
The year after that, convinced as always that "once a year" seems a suitable pausing space for other things to keep from getting too obsessed, I went back to my set but did find myself thinking how I'd gone to the 3D release of The Phantom Menace at the start of the year. Somehow, there seemed something just a little inelegant about watching one of the movies "twice in a row," but I didn't want to skip it either, so I resorted to the distinctive "hybrid order," which is interesting but sometimes feels just a little affected to me.
I had thought at the time that things might be tricky again this year, what with the promise of 3D showings of both Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, and thoughts of all three old movies coming back in 3D the year after also came to mind. There was also the thought then, too, that the year after there would be an all-new Star Wars movie in theatres... As we all know, though, the first two parts of that didn't work out. Still, after the suitable events of having gone to an exhibition of art and costumes and having finished watching the third season of Clone Wars on Blu-Ray, I do have the chance to watch the set in plain numerical order. Deciding as well to take things a bit slower this year, I've decided to try and watch one movie a week.
A little while ago now, the Star Wars Prequel Appreciation Society linked to some lists of "things liked" about the new movies, and one of the comments made the casual declaration that Qui-Gon's scheme for getting off Tatooine wan't something "simple" like "selling the Queen's starship to buy tickets on a freighter" because he was more intent on testing the Force and Anakin. Something about the way the comment was delivered, though, did leave me with uneasy memories of how some people had delivered "simple" objections with smug, "this settles that" attitudes, and I suppose I wanted to see for myself just how much time he could have tried thinking of those "simple" schemes. It didn't seem to have been that long; this time around I was inclined to think his search party was stuck in the Skywalker apartment because of the sandstorm. Too, a part of me does start to think actually selling a Naboo starship instead of just asking for specific parts isn't keeping a low profile. Whether all of this would make any difference to those who seem convinced that without a subject having been discussed in dialogue it's an insurmountable problem, I don't know, but so long as I can accept the thought of "accepting something through working at it, because I want to" that's all right with me.
Beyond that serious business, though, I happened to think that in each of the new movies Obi-Wan manages to wind up in a very watery environment as he swims to the Gungan city, stays out in the rain on Kamino, and falls into a lake on Utapau. His winding up stationed if not stranded on Tatooine stands out just a bit more to me after that thought, although it could always be that thoughts of slicking down Ewan McGregor's hair didn't apply to Alec Guinness.
The year after that, convinced as always that "once a year" seems a suitable pausing space for other things to keep from getting too obsessed, I went back to my set but did find myself thinking how I'd gone to the 3D release of The Phantom Menace at the start of the year. Somehow, there seemed something just a little inelegant about watching one of the movies "twice in a row," but I didn't want to skip it either, so I resorted to the distinctive "hybrid order," which is interesting but sometimes feels just a little affected to me.
I had thought at the time that things might be tricky again this year, what with the promise of 3D showings of both Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, and thoughts of all three old movies coming back in 3D the year after also came to mind. There was also the thought then, too, that the year after there would be an all-new Star Wars movie in theatres... As we all know, though, the first two parts of that didn't work out. Still, after the suitable events of having gone to an exhibition of art and costumes and having finished watching the third season of Clone Wars on Blu-Ray, I do have the chance to watch the set in plain numerical order. Deciding as well to take things a bit slower this year, I've decided to try and watch one movie a week.
A little while ago now, the Star Wars Prequel Appreciation Society linked to some lists of "things liked" about the new movies, and one of the comments made the casual declaration that Qui-Gon's scheme for getting off Tatooine wan't something "simple" like "selling the Queen's starship to buy tickets on a freighter" because he was more intent on testing the Force and Anakin. Something about the way the comment was delivered, though, did leave me with uneasy memories of how some people had delivered "simple" objections with smug, "this settles that" attitudes, and I suppose I wanted to see for myself just how much time he could have tried thinking of those "simple" schemes. It didn't seem to have been that long; this time around I was inclined to think his search party was stuck in the Skywalker apartment because of the sandstorm. Too, a part of me does start to think actually selling a Naboo starship instead of just asking for specific parts isn't keeping a low profile. Whether all of this would make any difference to those who seem convinced that without a subject having been discussed in dialogue it's an insurmountable problem, I don't know, but so long as I can accept the thought of "accepting something through working at it, because I want to" that's all right with me.
Beyond that serious business, though, I happened to think that in each of the new movies Obi-Wan manages to wind up in a very watery environment as he swims to the Gungan city, stays out in the rain on Kamino, and falls into a lake on Utapau. His winding up stationed if not stranded on Tatooine stands out just a bit more to me after that thought, although it could always be that thoughts of slicking down Ewan McGregor's hair didn't apply to Alec Guinness.