David Brin on "Attack of the Clones" 538
dpt writes "Science fiction author and scientist David Brin caused quite a stir at the time with his article on The Phantom Menace, and now here are his thoughts on Episode II. Not being as harsh, it hasn't received much attention, but it's an interesting read anyway."
Article slashdotted (page 1) (Score:1, Informative)
What's wrong (and right)
with "The Phantom Menace"
A science-fiction author scours the new "Star Wars"
film for signs of intelligent life.
Editor's Note:Be warned that the following article contains
"spoilers" -- plot points and other details about "The Phantom Menace" that you may wish to avoid if you haven't seen the movie yet and plan to do so.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
By David Brin
June 15, 1999 | First off, let me say that I think the film looks gorgeous. George Lucas was able to hire the best. He took advantage of advances in computer graphics to portray many old sci-fi favorites in vivid ways. The costumes are just spiffy, the sword fight scenes zesty. Great aliens, too (except for Yoda, who's still a rubber oven mitt with two facial expressions: patronizing and condescending).
The part that I found the most interesting was when the princess gave the young darth vader the ass.
On the first date, even. She didn't even smoke weed or anything to endure the pain, she just took that
huge vader cock like it was make of solid crack cocaine, to quote Too Short.
I actually quite enjoyed the first part of the film -- Jedis running around on the Trade Federation mother ship, jumping and slashing, leaping and blasting. My hopes started to rise. But then -- well, let me list just a few items:
Clichés
Also Today
"Star Wars" despots vs. "Star Trek" populists
Why is George Lucas peddling an elitist, anti- democratic agenda under the guise of escapist fun?
Underwater cities? A city that covers a
whole planet? Where've we seen those before? Well, they may be clichés, but Lucas stole them fair and square, and served them back with loads of panache, so he's forgiven. On the other hand, there are other clichés that make you moan aloud. For example:
"Hey, you guys, don't you mess with me because my mom is the Virgin Mary! (At least that's what she told her folks when she came home pregnant one day.) I guess you know what that makes ME, so everybody drop down and give me 20!"
"I think maybe he is the CHOSEN ONE
"He is too old to train to be a Jedi." -- Uh, Yoda? You say 6 is too old, but Luke Skywalker will be a doable fixer-upper at 20? When do you recruit novices -- ripping them from the breast, like the Psi Corps in "Babylon 5"? Does the Jedi Way require complete denial of normal childhood? An odd message for a kid flick!
"Oh no! There's an unstoppable robot army! Of course all we have to do is pull a master switch and they'll all shut off!"
This recalls blowing up the shield projector in "Return of the Jedi" (which is achieved entirely thanks to the wookie -- neither Luke nor Leia makes any real difference in achieving the Rebel victory. Think about it!). Or a computer virus shutting down all alien shields in "Independence Day." Or Obi-Wan dialing down the tractor beam. Or the hero in "Logan's Run" shooting one computer console and blowing up a city. And so on. Yeesh! Are villain equipment- designers really that bad in every off-Earth empire? In fairness, this cliché is endemic. Ever notice how, in "Star Trek," Kirk talked five different super-computers into self-destructing? If the universe really is like this, we Earthlings are gonna kick butt when we get out there!
A good machine is one that has to be hammered into turning on for you (e.g. Anakin's speed-pod, his space fighter, the Millennium Falcon, C-3PO and so on). If it starts right up, it must be evil.
Some might view the pod race as a rip-off copy of the speeder bike scene in "Return of the Jedi." Actually, I found the charioteer imagery charming. Hey, a swooping chase scene past scary obstacles is always a good thing to throw into a whiz-bang sci-fi flick! Nevertheless, having a 6-year-old slave toss together a better pod than all the galaxy's technicians can create? (Those Tatooine slave schools must have a great curriculum!) Couldn't he have had help from an old but great engineer who retired to Tatooine for his health? That cliché would have lent plausibility.
Big animals try to eat whole spaceships, yum. Where've we seen that before?
An apprentice Jedi -- watching helplessly as his beloved master is slain in a sword fight by a Sith Lord -- screams, "No!" Where've we seen that before? (Incidentally, the angry apprentice succeeds where his calm master failed -- just as Luke Skywalker does better angry than when he was composed, in "Return of the Jedi." So much for Yoda's sage advice!)
Re:Blah (Score:3, Informative)
Post-Sundiver suggestions... (Score:3, Informative)
...obviously start with Startide Rising, a much better book set in the same universe (The Uplift Saga, which has six volumes). The Uplift War is just as good, even though I suspect it was conceived as a giant pun. It may also appeal to your Libertarian instincts.
Then you're faced with a choice. If you just can't get enough Uplift, the last three books of the saga are really one story or trilogy and introduce many new and interesting ideas. But the climax is not as satisfying as Startide or Uplift War.
If you liked the eco-libertarian side of The Uplift War and (especially) Startide Rising, Earth develops these ideas much more fully, but it may not be entirely non-unsettling to a true believer in the Libertarian Cause.
If you liked the puns in The Uplift War, Kiln People delivers puns at a rate which has to be seen to be believed. This book also does a lot better job of transferring the mystery genre to sci-fi than Sundiver. And he even explains why his gumshoe maintains a running dialog in his head.
If you like Asimov's Foundation, then Foundation's Triumph will be of interest. Otherwise ignore it.
Perhaps his most interesting book was written with Gregory Benford -- Heart of the Comet, biological sci-fi set in deep space.
Did you read the addendum? (Score:5, Informative)
I don't care if he's jealous. His addendum RAWKS!
God, it's so good, I wish I'd thought of it!
note to self: read more of his books!
Re:Blah (Score:2, Informative)
Also, keep in mind that Threepio's coverings have been completely replaced by the time he and Owen meet again. He is a completely different color.
Why should Owen necessarily recognize him?
Humans remember appliances... Riiight. (Score:2, Informative)
I think droids are a commodity in the SW universe, much like toasters are today. Mass produced, identical, and when you come down to it: mere tools.
Why would Owen remember it?
Re:The Case for (Score:2, Informative)
Dante: My friend here is trying to convince me that any independent contractors who were working on the uncompleted Death Star are innocent victims when it was destroyed by the rebels.
Customer: Well, I'm a contractor myself. I'm a roofer - Dunn and Reddy Home Improvements --- and speaking as a roofer, I can tell you a roofers personal politics comes into play heavily when choosing jobs.
Randal: Like when?
Customer: Three weeks ago I was offered a job up in the hills: beautiful house, tons of property-a simple reshingling job. They told me, if I could finish it in one day, I would double my price. Then I realized whose house it was.
Dante: Whose house was it?
Customer: Dominick Bambino's
Randal: "Babyface" Bambino? The gangster?
Customer: The same. The money was right, but the risk was too high. I knew who he was, and based on that I turned the job over to a friend of mine.
Dante: Based on personal politics.
Customer: Right. And the next week the Foresci family put a hit on Babyface's house. My friend was shot and killed. Didn't even finish reshingling.
Randal: No way.
Customer: I'm alive because I knew the risk involved with that particular client. My friend wasn't so lucky. Any contractor working on that Death Star knew the risk involved. If they got killed, it's their own fault. A roofer listens to this [taps his heart], not his wallet.
Re:the fix-all? (Score:3, Informative)
Anyone who read the *entire* article might.
In fact, a scenario is possible, if Vader and Obi-Wan conspire together against BOTH Emperor and Yoda. Go on, follow all the movies with this possibility in mind.
Why else would Obi-Wan 'hide' Vader's son in Vader's home town? Their final 'deathfight' distracts the guards to let Luke/Han/Leia get away. How else do you explain that Vader grabs/interrogates Leia, yet never detects her force? Watch carefully... Vader's 'chase' of Luke in the first film clears all the other Imperial fighters off his son's back and halts the antiaircraft guns, giving the kid a clear shot! And guess who's the only Imperial survivor?
It goes on and on! (Including the coincidence of whose droids carry the message.)
Re:Star What? (Score:2, Informative)
Of course Star Wars was derivative - that's a big part of why it worked. We didn't have to contemplate the brooding anti-hero's motivations. The robots were from Kurosawa, the final Death Star battle was from Dambusters and other WWII movies, and the overall structure from old movie serials like Flash Gordon. This was familiar ground writ large.
Raiders of the Lost Ark succeeded for much the same reasons.
Re:Darth & Obi Wan ... a team? (Score:1, Informative)
Actually, Dooku trained Qui-Gon. =)
Re:Darth & Obi Wan ... a team? (Score:2, Informative)
Yoda trained Dooku, Dooku trained Qui-Gon.