I'm leery of responding to you since I don't know if you're expecting a response or just thinking out loud like last time? I'll assume that you're thinking out loud, but since I'm still mad at Lucas for that b.s. he passed off as a "new" movie, I'll go ahead and list some... I say some... of the similarities between the two, anyway.
That is too funny! I was leery (great minds think alike?) of even posting the question because you're famous for holding on to silly things and I didn't want it to end up in an argument. But then I figured, "It's a geeky Star Wars question. How in the world can it turn into an argument?" I'd hoped that the olive branch that I'd offered (in the post to which you allude) would have been accepted, though I couldn't tell because the post wasn't answered. I should have known you'd take a cheap pot shot at me. It's a very good ploy, actually; it allows you to snipe, but play martyr if I take the bait. Kudos to you!
Now, the way I see it, we've both taken a pot shot. If you'd like to let it end at that, great! Otherwise, I'd be willing to continue it privately. My email is open. If you insist on keeping it public, then might I suggest the A&D forum?
On to the geek-fest!
The Jedi master's initial role is as an ambassador to negotiate some treaty or disagreement. ("Obi Wan... you're our only hope!!!)
Good catch. I'd kind of forgotten how Obi-Wan got dragged into it all. However, the role of Jedi in the galaxy is one of Ambassador--it's probably their chief role in the Old Republic. It only makes sense that you'd see them doing Ambassadorial stuff. Because of their demi-godlike powers, they also play the role of Sheriff, so you'd expect to see them duke it out with some bad guys, too. Then again, since Jedi are almost extinct at this time, and the survivors are in hiding, she probably shouldn'd be expecting him to offer much ambassadorial help. But....
The negotiations are less than successful and a princess, in distress, is in need of salvation.
True
Assistance from strangers on desolate outposts; contacts with dubious characters in bars.
True, but it's pretty standard adventure fare.
A Jedi finds a boy in whom he senses a strong flow of the force.
True, but...
The boy is a "natural" pilot.
True, but...
The boy decides the fight between good and bad in the end by destroying the mother ship of the bad guys.
True, but...
The Jedi-master dies in a lightsaber fight against a formidable former "good" Jedi who uses the dark side of the force.
I disagree. If you're referring to Darth Maul, he was never a "good" Jedi. He was Sith from the beginning. Even if it were so, I'd say "True, but..."
An award ceremony at the end of the movie.
True.
The comparisons go on and on and on. I was so pissed walking out of there I almost asked for my money back. Lucas pulled a fast one and laughed his ass off all the way to the bank, and that's a shame. Twenty years between the two movies and virtually no improvements, no growth in the story, and the look of outer space is better on Star Trek: Next Generation.
But... Lucas was drawing parallels between the lives of the two protagonists in the two series. I think that's why you see so many similarities. I don't think he's in any way re-packaging the first movie and selling it again. I think he knows exactly where the story is going. I think it was by no means an accident that a young Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi on an ambassadorial mission watches his mentor killed by one of the two Sith in the Galaxy. Then years later His student--Maul's replacement--starts on the road to his redemption by killing Ben on his last mission.
The entire Star Wars story (six movies when finished) will be about the Messiah-like Anakin Skywalker and his quest to rid the galaxy of the Sith. Lucas didn't think the studios would allow him to make an entire fantasy/sci-fi series (IIRC, he originally planned nine movies) so when they threw him a bone after the success of American Graffiti, he made the one that he thought would be successful enough to justify more. Because of that, we don't even meet the REAL hero of his story--well, we meet him but we don't know it.
I think the story IS growing, but growing by drawing the parallels between Anakin and his son, Luke. Luke's journey is ultimately to redeem Anakin, which by doing so, helps Anakin finish his own journey.
I didn't like TPM that much, either, because of Jar-Jar Binks. But I hate Ewoks, too. Anyway, I don't claim that SW is Shakespeare, and it's not incredibly original, either. But Lucas knew that when he made it. He wanted to make the type of swashbuckling adventure movie (what we today would call a B-movie) that he grew up seeing at the Saturday Matinee. Still, I think there's a lot more going on under the hood than first glances would indicate.
BTW, I think Lucas said his original plan was to have the entire series finished by 1987 or so. I remember thinking what a pity it was that the system wouldn't be around long enough for him to do so, and wondered if someone in the new system could finish it.
Hmmm
