The virtual galaxy inhabited by Star Wars fans -an endless, interconnected tangle of Web sites, online 'zines and message boards -is only slightly less colorful and violent than the one far, far away inhabited by Han Solo, Yoda and Jango Fett. A network of die-hard adherents who often use the same breath to castigate and then laud creator George Lucas, its members are people for whom Star Wars is a primary source of pleasure and pain.
This geekoid galaxy reacted vociferously when Lucas unveiled the first prequel to his epic space opera, 1999's Episode I: The Phantom Menace. On Episode II: Attack of the Clones
fans differed evenly, like a Senate subcommittee. Now, as the final hours tick down before theaters start showing Episode III: Revenge of the Sith the word on Nerd Street is that the new flick will be a winner.
This is what we wanted said Dan Dean, a senior history major at Ohio University and an employee at The Universe of Superheroes comic book store, 19 W. Washington St. I get the feeling this one is going to be dark.
Dean, and enthusiasts like fellow employee David Canario and senior Mike Mittman, who were in the store Monday talking Star Wars
have heard the complaints about the prequels.
It was an adventure story
Dean said. We knew they were an establishing point. Sure
we all hated Jar-Jar -we hope he's eviscerated by some kind of ... insert George Lucas monster here.
(Geekerati despise Jar-Jar Binks, a computer-animated bumbler from Episode I who speaks in a faux-Jamaican patois and generally is considered the worst Star Wars character.)
Canario also acknowledged criticisms of Lucas' newer movies, but said he thought their appeal was generational.
You're not going to please everybody
he said. We're going to love the old ones because we grew up on them.
Canario, Dean and Mittman all said they thought Episode III would be good.
Few Internet critiques of Episode I
however, did not involve alien fellatio references unprintable in this newspaper. That film introduced Anakin Skywalker -who grows up to become Darth Vader, one of the greatest villains in the history of cinema -as an irksome, 9-year-old moppet. Fans and critics said the movie's acting was stilted, its script tone deaf. And it marked a departure for Lucas, who had painstakingly used models and mock-ups for the special effects in his original 1977-1983 trilogy, because he shot the prequels on digital video and animated them almost entirely with computers. Even those innovations, however, which let him craft lively action scenes but make the movies look like video games, enrage some fans.
How can this guy look at his CGI shots and say 'perfect?' wrote one poster on leisuresuit.net. Unless
of course
he has screws loose
which is a theory I support. He's gone mad.
On top of that, many fans hated Hayden Christensen, the baby-faced unknown cast as Anakin Skywalker in Episode II
