Several years ago, a friend of mine suggested a plan so crazy it just might work. He proposed that we watch all of the Star Wars movies back-to-back-to-backtobacktobacktoback including the Clone Wars animated stuff. It was an awe-inspiring task and we went for it, full throttle.
Gathering before 8:00 am on a Saturday (not the best of times for Star Wars people, I must say), we congregated at the Waterloo church of Christ building because it was the biggest screen accessible to us. The nursery there has (or had, at least) several well-loved couches and armchairs. Intended for use by nursing mothers and/or sleeping toddlers, we put them to an altogether different use by sitting on them for 16 hours. Early in the day I threw myself into my chair with particular violence causing two of the legs to crack and break off which left it roughly four inches shorter than before. Attention Waterloo church members: I am sorry that I broke your chair.
Up until this epic watchthrough, I had seen all but about 15 minutes of Episode One and none at all of Episodes Two or Three, having taken a solemn vow not to watch them. This vow lasted me through the entirety of the theatrical runs of both Eps 2 and 3 and for several years afterward but I broke down eventually under repeated nagging from the event organizer.
I hated Jar Jar from the first time he was on-camera and I have not wavered in my consistency of hatred in all these years. The second and third prequels did not sway me.
Toward the end of the second Clone Wars DVD, things started to get grim. One can only take so much current period George Lucas in one sitting. I was extraordinarily glad to see the star destroyer rumble onto the screen at the beginning of A New Hope. I’ve recently been made aware of a project called Star Wars Uncut. This is a group of people who have chopped up A New Hope into 15-second chunks and recruited amateur film-makers to remake each snippet. I leave you this evening with the trailer and the solemn vow that I will not watch all these terrible films in one sitting again unless it’s to raise money for charity.
If that doesn’t float your boat, here’s Tie Domi figure skating.