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SWTOTD
SWTOTD 32 - Measuring Success
6/03/2005 12:27:00 PM | Zeroplate
I'm sure the Lucasfilm has been waiting for my appraisal of Revenge of the Sith's success, so here it goes:
Remember back to SWTOTD 10 when I listed some things I didn't want to happen in this movie? Well, that'll be my first benchmark, so here's how it played out:
Unexpected Familiar Relations - "As long as Obi-Wan and Anakin aren't brothers, and the Emperor isn't Mace Windu's cousin, and Chewbacca isn't Padme's uncle, I think we'll be okay." Okay, but Palpatine or Darth Plageus created Anakin, so that's stupid and gets a thumbs down from me.
Chewbacca - "If there's a scene where someone preps Chewbacca to wait for a signal and then meet up on Tattoine in 20 years, I'll be severely disappointed." Okay, so Yoda knows Chewbacca and that was cute, but yeah, it's a little convenient that he winds up hooking up with Obi Wan later.
Han Solo Lives Here - "but if we run in to young Captain Solo, I may just cry." Thankfully, this was cut from the movie, but it was PLANNED on being in there.
Midichlorians, Man - "I'm hoping we don't hear anything more about them"
BOO! The midichlorians are manipulated by a sith to create Anakin? Lame.
What, No Ghosts? - "Lucas said we'd learn why Obi-Wan and Yoda can return as ghosts." It's in there, although I would have liked to have seen or heard Qui Gon.
Lies, all Lies! - "something that explains why the droids don't know what is going on when they meet Luke" Satisfactor
"why Obi-Wan doesn't recognize them" Eh, okay, not really addressed
"why Obi-Wan says "your father wanted you to have this (lightsaber) when you were old enough"" Obi Wan is still lying, but now I guess I see why. It's not perfectly fit together by any means, though.
Jar Jar - "I don't think we'll see much of him" He's onscreen for all of 5 seconds and still manages an "exsqueeeeeze me". Fucking Jar Jar!
Death and Dismemberment - "but we still need to see a lot of the Jedi die on screen, and at Vader's hand." A mixed bag. We get to see Anakin killing aliens and getting ready to kill the younglings, but we never see him hunting the Jedi.
Boba Fett - "I don't want to see Boba Fetting avenging his father's death. In fact, I don't want to see him at all." Yay--Boba Fett is nowhere to be seen in ROTS
Now the second benchmark will be box office. I don't really care how much money a movie makes, but in this case, watching the box office returns for Sith is like watching a sporting event featuring your favorite team. Every time the number grows and the records break and the movie out-performs the haters' expectations, it's a bit of validation, or at least a little fun. Box office receipts do not in any way mean anything about the quality of a movie, but Sith is having a good run and it's nice to know people didn't completely abandon it.
Lastly, I think the one thing that you can use to measure the success of this episode is the legacy it has. We won't know this for a while, but I'm guessing that in 20 years, when someone says "Star Wars", that a flash of images will immediately come to mind. Will that mental collage have anything other than Original Trilogy images in it? I think that for me, it will definitely include "ROTS", but may not really touch on the two before that. When we all look back on the saga as a whole, I think it's going to look like four movies that you love and two movies that you think are curiously included. But the jury is still out on that.
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