Trailer: Episode III

Saturday. Having gotten out of bed at the usual time instead of sleeping in as I had planned, I thought I'd check up on StarWars.com. You can watch the new trailer for Episode III right there from the home page. I'd forgotten to be on the lookout for it.

First a word about StarWars.com. For a movie website there's a lot there--very elaborate. For a website in general, though... it's disappointing. Good ol' George wants your $40 before you can read what's sure to be the tiniest bits of information on production updates and such. If you're not wiling to shell out more and more money, GL isn't interested in you. Now I can't criticize too much. He has been very successful, and I'm all for capitalism; so if he wants to squeeze fans and kids as long as the market will bear it, that's his prerogative. There's no doubt I'll see Episode III at least three times on the UltraScreen. I'm happy to give George my money for the actual product, but for christ's sake...

OK, so back to the trailer. It's available in three sizes: Medium, Large, and $40. I did not choose the $40 option. The trailer runs two minutes and, as far as I can tell, this movie will kick ass... mostly. I keep a list of things that were disappointing about Episodes I and II with a well-reasoned argument for each in my back pocket. I can't say that I'm expecting perfection at this point, but I still have high hopes even if they are tempered by the knowledge that George Lucas is directing and has undoubtedly written a dopey scene or two or has let the computer-generated special effects upstage the story in parts. I won't describe the trailer, since you can see it for yourself, but I did go through it frame-by-frame a couple times, and didn't see anything to really worry me yet.

Ever since I first learned that Lucas was making the prequels I've had one major concern, and it'll either be mollifyingly wiped away or woefully jabbed as a thorn in the side of all the good I see in the Star Wars saga by Episode III. My chief concern... I could go on for hours about what I expect or would like to see in III and what could or should have been done better or at least differently in I and II, but I'm setting all that aside. My judgment of all three prequels rides on this.
My chief concern has two levels. One would be terrible, the other unforgivable.
If the audience is shown that Anakin is Darth Vader I will be very, very disappointed for reasons I don't feel I need to go into here (if you don't understand, I'd be happy to explain it to you over three pints of Harp Lager).
If Anakin knows he has twin children... Star Wars is dead to me.

http://www.starwars.com/