Star Wars....nothing but Star Wars

I arrived at a friend's place last night startled to hear them say "Do you know what I TiVo'd? The OC!" Far be it from me to get snobby with people's television choices, I was nonplussed at their announcement to say the least. My friend didn't seem to get the point, they continued on "Do you know why I Tivo'd the OC?" To which I responded that I had no idea as I myself, had never found the show interesting.

"Because you idiot, The new Star Wars trailer premiered tonight during the OC!!"

Ooooh. As I listened to my friend go off on how amazing it looked, and how it was everything I could possibly want to see in a Star Wars trailer and more, I felt my heart harden and my spirit dwindle. Was it possible that I could ever get that excited for a Star Wars movie again, even now, after George had broken my heart so many times. First with his Special Editions nonsense, then with Episode I & II, and the latest injury, his refusal to include the original films on the Trilogy DVD release this past fall. I have railed so much on Lucas' creative choices over the past year I am simply exhausted. Like a jaded wife, who can barely remember why she married her husband in the first place, my Star Wars loyalties have come into questions time and time again. My love and admiration of the three original films is such that at one time I viewed them as pop culture's holy scripture, cinematic achievements of the highest caliber. But certain decisions by Lucasfilm Ltd in the recent decade, among them changing the music during the celebration at the end of Jedi in Ewok village and Jar Jar Binks, have in my opinion, tarnished the Star Wars legacy.

So how do I approach watching the new trailer last night? Outwardly nochalant and aloof, "Yeah, let's watch it, whatever." But dare I say, somewhere within me,there was a Pavlovian response of hope. The optimistic geek within me wanted to fan the spark of excitement that hearing about a new Star Wars trailer could still ellicit.

Ok, so I watched the trailer . It looks incredible. The battles in space look amazing, the new contraptions astounding, the emporer terrifying. It is the culminating moment of this entire prequel trilogy, there's really no way for Lucas to back out of a dark ending with this one - Anakin has to become a baddie.

(I do have a friend who has joked that at the end of Episode III, Anakin lives happily ever after with Amidala, and then Lucas would appear at the end credits, shrugging his shoulders, saying "eh, whaddaya gonna do")

But seriously, if there was going to be a pick of the litter within the new Star Wars films, this one would be it. So here, once again, I find all my sci-fi saga hopes and dreams riding on the Episode III trailer. I don't even know how I can muster up the excitement anymore, because we all thought the Episode I trailer looked incredible, and we all thought the Episode II trailer was "much more promising" - and in reality, though Episode II was stronger than the first, we were sorely disappointed. But like any fool who's been in love, I have faith that a man can change, I am giving George the benefit of the doubt. I hereby endorse the new Star Wars movie, Episode III will be awesome.

Here we go again....