We regret to announce that Boba Fett: The Movie is being put on the shelf for the time being.

Ford has moved to India, and my current graduate school schedule keeps me too busy to keep up the project and the blog.

We had a lot of fun working on this project. It was a million-to-one shot from the start, but that was what made it fun. We’d like to thank our good friend Alan for creating and managing the website, along with everyone else who came along for the ride, “joining the movement,” following the blog, and leaving comments. You made this project fun and tangible. You are all awesome!

As for the future, who knows what it holds? If there’s one thing I’ve learned about the man Boba Fett, he always comes back!

We leave you with a link to “Star Wars Uncut,” an impressive project in which Episode IV was divided up into 15 second segments. Fan groups then each picked a segment, filmed it, and uploaded it to vimeo. The website then spliced them together, creating a seamless film out of a collage of fandom. It’s pretty awesome! Check it out!

http://www.starwarsuncut.com/watch

- Josh

Help us Obi-Wan Kenobi, you’re our only hope.

I say no, not just because of my Luddite distaste for 3-D, but because I’m ready to move on already.

I’d much rather see Serenity 2 (not happening to my knowledge) in 3-D or something else that someone else is trying to get off the ground.

Oh, I know… how about Boba Fett: The Movie?

Just kidding.

What about you?

Would you watch Episode I in theaters in eye-popping 3-D?

The first of the films (that’s Episode I, mind you) is slated for release in February of 2012.

More info: http://heatvision.hollywoodreporter.com/2010/09/star-wars-3d-release-targeted-for-feb-2012-exclusive.html

- Ford

The original trilogy does not do this, because it is primarily a fantasy story. The content of the films is much more akin to a the King Arthur legend or a Greek myth than Blade Runner. In Star Wars, the farmboy hero finds an old wizard, who gives him a magical sword and helps him invade a castle to save the princess. In Empire, he descends into the pits of the underworld (ironically found in a castle in the sky), coming face to face with pure evil. In Jedi, he fulfills his destiny by achieving harmony on the spiritual plane of the story, finally destroying the evil overlord who has for so long ruled with an iron fist.

Heck, the first line of the first movie is essentially “Once upon a time…”

How is this getting to a defense of the prequels? Because the prequels ARE science fiction. Sure, there are farmboys, star-crossed lovers, and deals with the devil, but don’t be fooled. Their aim is not to portray a universal struggle between good and evil, where a young boy finds his purpose and defeats the empire. The prequels show what happens to that story when the “real world” gets involved, when the man of pure heart is manipulated by politicians and disillusioned with the very idea he is destined to save.

Speaking of disillusionment, it is fascinating what Lucas does with the Jedi order. In the original trilogy, they were a myth unto themselves. The only remnant of their order are two old men, one who can lift things twenty times his size and another who seemingly cannot be killed. Wow, I just wonder what the order must have been like in its prime! Well, sadly the legend of the Jedi is about as true as the notion that Darth Vader killed Anakin Skywalker. Sure, in the prequels they show their unparalleled skill with tactics and combat, but they lack the wisdom their reputation infers.

Once the guardians of peace in the galaxy, the Jedi have gotten too big for their robes. Arrogance and elitism cloud their judgement. It is repeatedly stated that a Sith could not have infiltrated the Senate without the Jedi feeling his presence, yet this is obviously and devastatingly untrue. The Jedi were infallible until they started to believe it. Meanwhile, the Sith take advantage of the confusion in the Jedi order by exploiting every contradiction they can find in the eyes of Anakin. Sure, the dialog is awkward, but remember the conversation in Attack of the Clones about love? Are the Jedi allowed to love or aren’t they? Sometimes it seems hard to pin down what is truly valuable for a Jedi and what is merely structure and tradition.

In this way, the prequel trilogy takes the foundation of the originals and turns it on its head. It is a Star Wars for the present day, where even those we trust may be misguided.

Notice how Obi-Wan and Yoda break all of the Jedi rules when Luke finally comes of age? Anakin’s fall was the product of a broken system. The Force, a powerful and organic presence, was being taught in a rigidly structural fashion that ultimately prevented the Chosen One from being able to reach his potential. They see the mistakes of their order, and choose to instruct the pure-hearted Luke to draw on his feelings. When faced with the same temptation his father found in the Emperor, Luke resists: “You have failed, your honor. I am a Jedi, like my father before me.”

Goodness becomes something found with guidance and faith, not force (small “f”). Far from neutering the magic of the classic trilogy, the prequels show that its simplicity is what the galaxy truly needs.

Now, obviously the prequels have their problems. In particular, I think Clones suffers from an underdeveloped Anakin, and Menace has a pacing problem in its middle. However, I urge you to look past these surface flaws and find the core of what Lucas was going for. While perhaps not the best with actors, the man is brilliant at story construction and worldbulding. He wrote Star Wars, for cryin’ out loud.

- David

Josh:
New Hope is my favorite. When I was a kid, I liked Empire the best, because I also liked the Empire better than the Rebellion (the Empire had cooler uniforms and no girls on their team). But as I’ve gotten older (and gotten over the whole Little Rascals He-Man Woman Haters Club thing), my opinions have changed and, now, it’s not even close. New Hope is my favorite. It was new and it was old. It took archetypal stories and archetypal characters and made them into something people had never seen before. It was fun, imaginative, and exciting. And it was gutsy. Make no mistake; the sequels do an excellent job of expanding the universe, heightening the drama, and finishing the story. But even without such essentials as Yoda, the Imperial March, Vader’s big reveal, and (of course) Boba Fett, Episode IV: A New Hope has everything I could ever want in a Star Wars movie.

So what about YOU? What’s YOUR favorite Star Wars movie?

So what is the theme of Star Wars?

While it is obviously about good vs. evil, Star Wars boasts another, more interesting theme that Lucas explored previously in THX 1138: the individual vs. the system or, to put it simply, small vs. big.

A one-man fighter and its pair of proton torpedoes (with the help of the force) are enough to take down a battle station hailed as “the ultimate power in the universe.”

One man, armed with a lightsaber, grappling hook and thermal detonator is enough to take down an Imperial Walker that is impervious to regular firepower.

A group of tiny, tribal furballs is able to overcome an “entire legion” of the Emperor’s highly trained, highly mechanized “best troops” (much to the chagrin of many a Star Wars fan).

This theme is not isolated; nor is it incidental.

Lucas had a rough go of getting Star Wars off the ground, battling three different studios and flying by the seat of his pants, funding much of it up front with his spoils from American Graffiti to ensure the film would get to production.

Lucas was fighting a battle for creative control of Star Wars, and he was facing pressure from every side. For all the complaints and criticism Lucas has sustained since Return of the Jedi, the fact is: George Lucas made Star Wars possible. Period.

He was the one man fighter, the crazy farmer with the lightsaber, the furry Ewok with a pea shooter that took on the big studio system and won.

- Ford

At the Celebration, they released for the first time (and to wild ovations) a 50 second scene that, in my opinion, was wisely cut from the opening of The Return of the Jedi.

Also, a woman was “married” to an inanimate object by a guy with horns.

(photo from starwars.com)

Boba appears on the homepage because The Empire Strikes Back was his big screen debut. But many don’t know that, before Empire, he first appeared on the small screen in a cartoon segment from the infamous Star Wars Holiday Special. Due to its embarrassing nature, the not-so-special Special was immediately locked away in the vaults after it aired, but is now available in its entirety on youtube.

If you’ve always dreamed of seeing Boba Fett brandishing a giant tuning fork whilst riding on the back of a plesiosaur, I’m happy to tell you that your search is over. Look no further!

- Josh

George Lucas originally wanted to film a Flash Gordon remake, but he couldn’t get the rights to the series. So, he took what he loved about Flash Gordon—along with bits and pieces from his other favorite films—and made his own movie. You may have heard of it. It’s called Star Wars.

We’ve never been the same since.

If George Lucas were a young filmmaker fresh out of film school today, would he be tempted to remake Star Wars as he had once been tempted with Flash Gordon? Just as our universe expands at an exponential rate, so has the Star Wars universe, which now includes the Holiday Special, the Ewok Adventures, the Special Editions, the prequel trilogy, the Clone Wars cartoons, the Family Guy and Robot Chicken spoofs, the upcoming live-action Star Wars television show, and half an aisle of fan fiction at your local Books-A-Million.

There isn’t anything wrong with adaptations, spin-offs, sequels, and remakes. After all, Boba Fett: the Movie is an adaptation, and, when it comes down to it, every work of art is adapted from something else. But a good adaptation doesn’t copy. A good adaptation makes something completely new out of the source text. To use Star Wars-speak, a good adaptation has a bright center to its universe, but it also tries to break through the Outer Rim and become its own.

It might very well be the difference between Flash Gordon and Han Solo. Think about how exciting that is for a writer!

You could write the next Star Wars movie.

Or you could write the next Star Wars.

If you did the latter, we might never be the same again.

- Josh

We were already well into our first draft when I learned of Fanboys, so I watched it with some reluctance, but upon viewing it I was relieved…because while the movie may seem to boast a similar premise, it has very different goals.

The film begins with a Star Wars-type scroll that sets up the story: though Star Wars fans have had to endure years without a new film, the long awaited prequel is on the horizon, and it promises to be a catalyst to reunite four old high school friends who have drifted apart. The scroll tells us something else, though, about the film’s goals by including a few throwaway jokes like the tag at the end of the scroll that reads, “Sent From my iphone.”

After panning down from the scroll and the stars beyond, the camera turns its attention to a house, but it’s not the visual that matters at this point, it is the soundtrack: Cumbawumba’s Tubthumping.

Though the filmmakers have already lightened the mood a bit with the aforementioned jokes, this song choice is such a tonal shift it is difficult to put it into words. While the filmmakers justify this juxtaposition with the revelation that the song is the soundtrack of the house party we are about to join, this choice (along with the crude jokes and frivolous banter that follow) reveals something about the scope of the film: this is not a film about Star Wars fanboys in general, but about a particular species of fanboy – upper middle class Caucasian party-going males who came of age in the nineties.

This straitjackets the film’s appeal, because while Star Wars boasts a fan base so sprawling it may well be considered the hub of pop nerd-dom, this film only addresses the tiniest microcosm of this vast ecosystem.

So while the title Fanboys sounds universal in its appeal, the filmmakers are not trying to make a film that speaks for the entire citizenry of Star Wars fans.  In addition, as the jokes contained in the scroll suggest, the film finds just as much influence, if not more, from cinema’s history of spoof films as it does from Star Wars. Fanboys is about Star Wars fans, to be sure, but at its heart, it is a lampoon film.

With Boba Fett: The Movie, we are seeking to make a film that not only takes its thematic and stylistic cues from the source material (Star Wars), but also resonates with fan culture on a broader level. We hope to capture and preserve the wonder we all felt the first time we saw those rolling credits.

-Ford