 |
| "Don't shoot! I won't reveal your secrets!" |
After I saw “Star Wars” in the theater, I read the
novelization over and over. After it
came out, I followed each reading with Splinter of the Mind’s Eye by Alan Dean
Foster, which served as the first literary sequel to the film. (I’ve since learned that, although credited
to George Lucas, Foster also ghost-authored the novel version of "Star
Wars"). There were also the comic books I
bought, the trading cards I collected, a soundtrack I played on my father’s
record player, a twelve-part program I taped off the radio, two board games I
played, and all the action figures, toys and models I bought. I enjoyed all these ways of reliving the “Star
Wars” experience: each cross-media experience enhanced my love for George
Lucas’ original story.
I wasn’t the only one who loved “Star Wars” back then, who
bought any related merchandise, and who eagerly awaited another movie. Security was so tight on the set of the
sequel, “The Empire Strikes Back,” that cast members only received a copy of
their lines shortly before they were scheduled to film a particular scene. Supposedly, none of the cast members, and few
members of the staff, knew the entire story.
The movie’s biggest revelation, that Darth Vader claims to be Luke’s
father, was recorded using different dialogue from Vader than appears in the
finished film. Yet, despite all the
secrecy involved during the production, novelizations (and other associated
merchandise) arrived in stores weeks before the film hit theaters.
While I yearned to see the sequel, I worked hard
to avoid learning anything about the movie, as I wanted to experience it
afresh. Yet one day, I was sitting in Art
class next to a friend who was reading the novelization of "The Empire Strikes
Back." Another of the guys in my group,
who was also reading the novel version, walks over and crouches down beside my
friend. “Can you believe what Darth
Vader says?” he asks my friend. “Do you
believe he’s Luke’s father?”
A part of me died right then.
Later (but before I saw the movie), I was in the store, and
I noticed that the soundtrack was available.
My mother, knowing my passion for the original film, kindly purchased it
for me. I took it home, opened it up,
and found inside a booklet of photos or illustrations from the movie, along
with a short description along the bottom.
Okay, I figured, I’ll look at the pictures. Another piece of me died as I started looking
at the scenes, and realized that I was experiencing key sections of the
narrative before I had even seen the movie.
But it was in my hands, and I couldn’t stop looking at them!
When the movie finally arrived in theaters, I saw it the day
after its release. While I felt like I
was watching it for the second time, instead of experiencing it afresh, I was
still blown away by it. As the man who
had taken me there (one of the leaders in my church's youth program) drove
back along the freeway, I saw the lights of the passing cars as the glowing
engines of the X-wings and other spaceships hurtling ahead of us into the
darkness. That night, I read my copy of
the novelization of "The Empire Strikes Back" (written by Donald F. Glut, whom I
later met). Although I did pause the
story to grab some sleep, I finished it the next morning. In so doing, I experienced “The Empire
Strikes Back” a third time.
Still, I wish George Lucas hadn’t released any other
versions of “The Empire Strikes Back” before the movie came out in
theaters. It would have been nice to
have experienced his story afresh, the way he had intended his audience to
experience it the first time, without having learned any of the secrets he
worked to hard to protect during the movie’s production.
Dragon Dave
No comments:
Post a Comment