Seeing Stars
 

May 25 1977, the first and best rendition of "the hero's journey," as laid out by Joseph Campbell. I'm somewhere in that line in Westwood, at least for the second time!

https://flashbak.com/waiting-in-line...77-2000-26505/

Interesting to see just how male those lines are. Gives a whole new meaning to "hero's journey."

Cheers,
John

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There's something conflicting about the prospect of standing in long lines. For me at least. I am one of those who has zero interest in Star Wars. I've never seen any Star Wars films, etc. It's all lost on me. Chances are if I gave it a chance I'd at least be entertained. The longer the wait in line the more likely it is I'll be disappointed. It's a Godot thing.

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Pre-COVID, my geeky daughters and their geeky friends would sometimes wait in long lines to attend the first showing of a movie together. There's an element of pilgrimage and virtue-signaling: see what extremes I will suffer to prove my devotion, etc. Best is if the long lines are for a midnight showing, so the suffering continues even as you wearily leave the theater. (And perhaps even better if the movie itself turns out to be disappointing crap. Yes, I'm looking at you, Star Wars prequel trilogy.)

And there's also the element of fellowship/belonging to a larger movement, finding one's tribe beyond one's immediate circle, etc. Remember how much more difficult this was in the 1970s than in the era of the World Wide Web. You had to show up to Renaissance faires (or better yet, tournaments of the Society for Creative Anachronism), or head to the then-brand-new San Diego Comic Con. It was far easier to simply convene at a first showing of a movie at your local theater. Particularly if you weren't yet old enough to drive.

Not sayin' how I know this.

The best thing that ever happened to going to the movies is reserved seating. You show up ten minutes into the coming attractions, your seat guaranteed, and there's no lining up and being herded by ushers. And now the seats are large recliners and you have plenty of leg room.

I was just the right age for Star Wars, 5 when the first one came out, but it never really grabbed me that much. Indiana Jones though, now that's a different story. My brother and I hid under the seats at the cinema after Raiders Of The Lost Ark so we could watch it again.

I was in college and went with my girlfriend and some friends. I imagine we were all stoned. That's how we usually went to the movies. I liked it ok. Thought the long ago, far away flip was cool. But I remember thinking it was essentially a western. The enemy was bigger and more was at stake but it was still Valdez Is Coming or 3:10 To Yuma, both written by Elmore Leonard btw, who was a master of that type of story. When westerns died out he moved into Florida crime novels that were really westerns. High Noon too. Clint Eastwood says the only art genres the U.S. has produced are jazz and the western and I think he's onto something. Anyway, I didn't flip over Star Wars and was not surprised about Luke's father. I mean, it was pretty obvious from the beginning. I think the series may have been better if we knew that from the get-go.

IMO, perhaps not humble enough, the best filmed SciFi is the remake of Battlestar Galactica. Lots of SciFi tries to be the Talmud and Battlestar is the only one that comes near succeeding. Philp Dick knew that the spiritual core of SciFi--which is something Asimov was too intelligent to realize--is what makes a human? The conflict between humans and whatever they call the machine humans--I forget--is the spiritual core of Battlestar. It is in Dick's novel that Blade Runner was adapted but they missed the point by making it such a love story.

I sound like an opinionated asshole. I should shut up. Bipolar is fun.

My oldest sister's best friend and my second-oldest sister's boyfriend were the children of Barry Nolan, a special-effects designer for Industrial Light and Magic. He used to show us scenes he had just finished working on:

"Check out this scene! What do you notice?"

[Ten seconds of dialogue between Luke and the Emperor]

"Um...what are we supposed to notice?"

"Look again!"

[Same ten seconds of dialogue between Luke and the Emperor]

"What do you notice?"

"I don't know."

"Fantastic! I've been working on getting the stars to move past the windows in a way that looks realistic, but that you don't consciously notice."

"Um...good job?"


He didn't work on KRULL, but I saw it three or four times with my older sisters. Roni was absolutely obsessed with the wedding dress, and Tammy and I enjoyed trying to make sense of the numerous plot incongruities, and scornfully saying "Why didn't they just...?"

The full movie is available on YouTube, but this discussion of the film (full of plot spoilers) is quicker and more hilarious. When I heard them deploy that iconic 1980s Nestle White Chocolate ad, I just lost it! Hope you all enjoy.

I'm immune to the charms of Star Wars.

Close Encounters for me, every time.

Mind you, I think the best film George Lucas ever made is American Graffiti.

More on those long lines for Star Wars in 1977, and the San Diego Comic Convention:

https://www.starwars.com/news/the-ti...are-soul-mates