Kids everywhere played Star Wars in the playground and a star was born.
However, like so many 1970s icons, Star Wars has become addicted to plastic surgery, and its third world plastic surgeon is not from some hispanic hellhole - well actually, he is, he comes from San Anselmo- anyway, the perverted plastic surgeon committing blaphemy on what the USA may misguidedly see as a national treasure is, in one of those twists that self-obsessed authors think of as "brilliant" and the rest of us think of as "obvious"- none other than George Lucas himself! Dun dun DUN!
It's true. Lucas has hacked away at all of the films, especially the first one, tinkering "like a master craftsman" as one particularly idiotic American geek website put it. Unsurprising that they didn't realise- master craftsmen don't tinker. They get it right first time.
The changes referred to are of course the digital insertions and editing of the original films, mainly to add entirely unneeded scenes and "special" (in the sense that someone who can't go to the toilet on their own is special) effects.
One of the earliest alterations was also one of the most offensive- dubbing out all of the English actors, in the process replacing the dulcet tones of multi award winning world class actors with the awful schmackting of anonymous voice actors. Billy West those guys weren't.
Since then, the Star Wars "franchise" (it's all about the money) has definitely joined the hideous Catwoman as one of those oddities of editing that has transcended taste and entered the "only in America" museum of embarassment.
Meanwhile George Pal, Ray Harryhausen- no re-editing- and every second of their films is as good as ever.
It certainly makes you think.
No it doesn't.
Star Wars is part of what I refer to as "fart subculture". It no longer exists for any positive reason, it's just... there, like the biological side effects of eating. For the saddoes addicted to it, I'm sure it provides what they think of as culture, but in the end, Star Wars isn't sustenance, it's the fart that follows it.
