Without “Star Wars,” there would be no Classic Ross Amico. I owe a very great debt of gratitude to George Lucas and all the technicians that made the original “Star Wars” the experience it was. And most especially to John Williams for bringing the London Symphony Orchestra to the fore. I spent countless hours drawing, writing, and dreaming to the double-LP soundtrack album as a kid. And the post-modern approach to the music, with its many allusions to the Romantic and early 20th century classical repertoire, revealed new worlds, richer and more limitless than even those portrayed onscreen. My single-minded absorption in this score would determine my life’s path. This was music that was so hip, so in tune with Lucas’ homage-heavy film school chock-a-block, it took years for my developing mind to unpack everything. Pop music didn’t really grab me as a kid. I had no exposure to classical music, but I was always attracted to film music, thanks to old movies that mesmerized me from earliest childhood. I never missed a television broadcast of “King Kong” or “The Bride of Frankenstein” or “The Adventures of Robin Hood.” But experiencing “Star Wars” in the theater was something else entirely. For me, May 25th (the anniversary of the film’s opening in 1977) will always be Star Wars Day. However, for today, I’ll go with the pun everyone seems to love: May the 4th be with you!
Tag: George Lucas
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Harmy’s Star Wars Restoration: May 25th Matters
Okay, laser brains. While all you heretics were out there waving your lightsabers on May 4th, strutting your fandom for Star Wars Day (“May the Fourth be with you,” har har), the Jedi hermits among us continued to quietly stroke our beards and shepherd the wisdom that true Star Wars Day is May 25th – the anniversary of the film’s opening in 1977.
That is, when we weren’t indulging our Dark Sides by ranting about the corruption of the series, even at the hands of its own creator, in epic Facebook screeds.
You may recall my lamenting the numerous post-“Special Edition” incarnations of the original trilogy (released 1977-83), as George Lucas continued to tinker in his digital keep, even as he denied us pristine restorations of the films’ theatrical cuts. These have been withheld by Lucasfilm, despite enormous demand, as its mad emperor continued to overthink and perform unnecessary surgeries on his creations, like some misguided Hawthornian scientist, who would sacrifice beauty in a quest for “perfection.” Instead of, you know, just making more movies.
With the sale of Lucasfilm to Disney, some have nurtured a new hope that its current owners, in a rare moment of grace (albeit motivated by the promise of massive sales), might release restorations in time for Star Wars’ 50th anniversary in 2027 – in the process, redeeming Lucas and allowing him to join Obi-Wan and Yoda in Force heaven.
In the meantime, the thought did occur to me that, while an authorized Disney release would be wonderful, there actually has been a rebel movement among diehard fans and guerilla restorationists, who have taken matters into their own hands to return “Star Wars” to its original glory. This ragtag band has been overseen by Petr Harmáček, an English teacher from the Czech Republic, who goes by the handle Harmy. Harmy has made it his mission to undertake private restorations of the original “Star Wars” trilogy, drawing from all available sources.
Keep in mind, this is in flagrant disregard of George Lucas’ wishes. While Harmy’s “Despecialized Edition” is available for download on the internet, he has so far avoided prosecution and his work has received no legal challenges, since he has charged no fee for his work and has managed to walk a razor’s edge between “fair use” and copyright infringement. You can read more about him and his cause here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harmy%27s_Despecialized_Edition
Then you can savor the fruit of his labor, getting as close as possible to the experience of seeing the film as it was released on May 25, 1977. Ideally, you should also have decent playback equipment. Best of all would be to download the file for yourself from a reputable site. Did I mention, it’s free? Also, use the Force to blot out all unhelpful memories of anything that came after to desensitize us and diminish our pleasure.
https://archive.org/details/star.-wars.-1977.-despecialized.-720p.x-264.-ac-3.5.1
You know it’s an upside-down universe when it falls to somebody named Harmy to do goody.
Why is it so important? Watch this video (also by Harmy) and learn for yourself.
May the Force be with you. Happy Orthodox Star Wars Day. “Star Wars,” 45 years-old today.
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Star Wars Day: Remembering the 1977 Magic
“Star Wars” opened on May 25, 1977. Yet today is celebrated as “Star Wars Day.” Why? Because of a stupid pun: May the Fourth be with you.
I can get behind that.
The young will never truly understand what it was like to experience “Star Wars” in a theater for the first time back then. Standing in enormous lines. Not being able to get in. An absorbed audience without cell phones. No vacuous tabloid entertainment “news” prior to the feature. 45 years ago, before the lights went down and the trailers started, you had the conversation of your family or friends.
Then the 20th Century Fox Fanfare. The peculiar text “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.” The brash appearance of the film’s title – STAR WARS – receding into space. The opening crawl. The enormity of the first star destroyer. The richly-imagined creatures and lived-in locations. The jump to light speed. The grappling hook swing across a yawning chasm. The light saber duel. The extraterrestrial dogfights and dizzying race to destroy the Death Star. And of course, the exhilarating, exuberant, totally transporting music.
In 1977, not only was “Star Wars” sensorially thrilling, but the overall experience resonated. It was clearly-told, cleanly-executed, and deeply satisfying, and viewers left the theater glowing.
Whether or not it was intended to be so, the film was a brilliant piece of postmodernism. Everything about it was fresh, yet comfortingly familiar, with elements of the western, the swashbuckler, the war movie, the matinee serial, the samurai chanbara, and whatever else George Lucas may have picked up from film school and a lifetime of going to the movies.
Likewise, John Williams’ score was like an ice cream soda, with dollops assimilated from English and Russian classics of the western canon, topped by a schlag of Austro-German Romanticism.
“Star Wars” mania swelled like an overstuffed Shmoo to dominate pop culture. But in 1977 it was all brand-new, and the merchandizing had to scramble to catch up. At first, there was the novelization and the Marvel comics and some t-shirts, and that was about it. Kenner, the toy company, was caught totally off-guard and unable to meet the demand for action figures in time for Christmas. Anybody else remember the Early Bird Certificate Package? At Christmas 1978, they were still struggling to keep up.
For better or worse, “Star Wars” changed movies and merchandizing, and the relationship between the two, forever.
Alas, in 2022, the magic has long since faded. There’s little nutritional value in the devouring of one’s own tail (or tale) and, decades later, the franchise, like an enormous ouroboros, has lost most of its vitality.
Furthermore, you can’t even see the original movie anymore, or rather the theatrical cut, thanks to years of Lucas’ digital retrofitting. Here’s hoping that someday Disney allocates some of its profits to removing the “overpainting,” as it were, so that the film can again be experienced as it was originally shown.
Lucas has been steadfast in insisting that his revisions comprise a definitive version, yet he continued to tinker right up until the time it left his hands. He even went so far as to claim that the source material was so degraded by then that such a restoration would be impossible.
Yet the theatrical cuts were selected by the Library of Congress National Film Registry for preservation as being “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant.” Lucas tried to offer his retooled versions in place of the originals, and the library said no thanks. So the theatrical cuts are out there, folks. I just hope somebody’s taking care of them.
Long live “Star Wars” (the original), and may Disney do everything in its power to restore the 1977-83 trilogy to its original brilliance. At this stage in the decline of the franchise, I would venture to guess, it would generate more revenue than to produce another substandard movie. Then, to promote the reissue on home video, why not rerelease the original trilogy in theaters? There would be three generations of “Star Wars” fans lining up to see it.
Don’t let J.J. Abrams get you down. The Force is still strong with this one.
Happy Star Wars Day!
A face-melting side-by-side comparison (still not comprehensive) of Lucas’ alterations to “Star Wars”
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Lucas’s THX 1138 Sci-Fi Dystopia
Sex… drugs… and George Lucas? Really???
Before Indiana Jones… before “Star Wars”… before “American Graffiti”… there was “THX 1138” (1971).
Under the guidance of Francis Ford Coppola, Lucas expanded a 1967 student film into his first feature, an eerily-prescient piece of sci-fi dystopia, in which a faceless corporatocracy controls every aspect of human existence. Productivity, consumption, and subservience are all strictly enforced, through drugs, dehumanizing entertainments, and if necessary, android police. Personal relationships are forbidden and citizens – shorn of their hair and their individuality – are all identified by serial numbers.
This is hardcore sci-fi, the way it used to be. “THX 1138” may feel a lot longer than its 85-minute running time, but there’s a kind of excitement to be found in a 25-year-old director exploring the power of the medium in an era when people still really cared about film. What “THX 1138” lacks in narrative excitement, it makes up for in believable world-building. It’s fascinating to speculate what kind of artist Lucas might have been had he not devoted most of his career to reediting “Star Wars.”
Definitely don’t go into it expecting any joyrides on souped-up space freighters, witty repartee, or lightsaber battles of a kind that marked a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away. This one cuts awfully close to the bone.
Roy and I will be doing our best Donald Pleasence impressions, on the next Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner. Let your holograms do the driving in the comments section, as we livestream on Facebook, this Friday evening at 7:00 EST!
https://www.facebook.com/roystiedyescificorner
ROY’S TIE-DYE SCI-FI WEEKEND BONUS! This Sunday night, Roy’s special guest will be actor Carl Held. Held’s television credits include appearances on “Star Trek,” “The Outer Limits,” “The Invaders,” “Mission: Impossible,” “Space: 1999,” “Perry Mason,” “The F.B.I.,” “The Lotus Eaters,” “The Saint,” “The Big Valley,” “The Incredible Hulk,” “Charlie’s Angels,” “Falcon Crest,” and many others. He’ll be talking about his career and taking your questions. Don’t miss this special appearance by Carl Held, this Sunday night at 7:00 EST!
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Superman II & THX 1138 Movie Discussion
It turns out that low blood sugar is my kryptonite, so I’m not sure if we ever came to a consensus on “Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut.” It sure was fun talking about all the behind-the-scenes drama, though. If you missed it, the show has been archived on a crystal at the Fortress of Solitude, but through the miracle of the internet, you can view it here:
Next time, we’ll tackle George Lucas’ first feature film, “THX 1138” (1971). This sci-fi curio, produced by Francis Ford Coppola, features Robert Duvall, Donald Pleasence, and Don Pedro Colley as the future’s hungriest hologram. It’s been decades since either of us have last seen it, but I recall it being a rather chilly piece of dystopia, light years away from intergalactic exuberance of “Star Wars.”
We’ll be reading off everyone’s license plate numbers during our discussion of “THX 1138,” on the next Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner. Shave your heads in the comments section and maintain obedience to the state, when we livestream on Facebook, next Friday evening at 7:00 EST!
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