Tomorrow is a sad day of sorts - with the premiere of the last installment of Star Wars, and with the cancellation of Star Trek: Enterprise on US television, it will be an end of sorts to these two sci-fi franchises. Of course, they will still be around in some sort of form. Star Trek will have a series, hopefully a better one, under the helm of better people. There's a prequel movie coming, too, although it is a bit doubtful at this point whether it would be completed or not. Star Wars will continue to have TV series, books, and possibly Episodes 7,8, and 9. Someone else will have to do it, since the original actors are quite old, and George Lucas has said himself that he won't be penning any new movies.
These two series have shaped my life for the past 20 or so years. They have been a part of me, they helped me fuel my imagination, take me to places I would never have thought of.
I've considered myself a big Trek fan ever since I first saw it- I couldn't remember what exactly, probably syndicated reruns of the original series. They were unlike anything I have ever seen before. I was intrigued by the fact that a spaceship could travel like that around space. I liked the fact that people like this had evolved ideals, a higher sense of morality. Then I saw Wrath of Khan, the greatest Star Trek movie of all time. It was a battle between two individuals, bound by destiny. Khan, in his throes of revenge, sacrificed everything to kill James Kirk. And Kirk was placed in this situation out of a choice that he thought was the best thing to do. He thought it was the best thing to do to leave Khan and his colleagues on Ceti Alpha V. He never thought the planet would be wasted, Khan's wife and most of his friends dead, or that Khan would be forced to live his life in a hellish limbo. I loved how the two of them dueled in their ships, Kirk with the Enterprise, Khan with the Reliant, and how each phaser blast reflected their inner pain and torment. Then the Next Generation came along. It shaped most of my childhood imagination. With the lack of a proper toy, I wrote NCC-17010 (sic) on my desk lamp and imagined it as the Enterprise D. I made long, crude yet heartfelt comics about it. I liked the new crew, the new adventures. My heart stopped with suspense when I watched The Best of Both Worlds. I liked DS9 and the epicness, the long extended cast of characters. I even liked Voyager to a certain extent. I liked the movies up to First Contact, saw things like the mystery of Star Trek VI, the camaraderie in STV, the sheer fun of STIV, Picard's lust for revenge in STVIII, the last adventure of James Kirk in STVII, the death of my beloved Enterprise in STIII.
Then Insurrection and Nemesis came along. Insurrection was a moralistic tale, much like the episodes of Star Trek and its spawn. It just felt too much like a TV movie than a movie. When I saw Nemesis I felt hollow. Something was missing from this movie. It felt too much like a ripoff of Wrath of Khan. It was full of battles, but the battles lacked intensity. It lacked that singular thing that pushed Wrath of Khan to greatness. It was full of contrived, unnecessary scenes. I felt that something had died that day.
Enterprise came along, and although I had my doubts, it went strong in the fourth season. The original series was referenced often. People wanted it to stay a bit longer. They made petitions, donated millions of dollars.
It was canceled.
While this was going on, I managed to see Star Wars in its vintage 1977 glory in the mid eighties, when I was a kid. There were no special additions, no CG Jabba, and Han shot first. It was a rollercoaster ride from start to finish. My heart stopped when Luke was alone on that trench on the Death Star.
I didn't get to see Empire Strikes Back, considered by many to be the greatest Star Wars of all time, and missed out on the revelation that made the entire movie series, that Darth Vader is Luke's daddy. Instead, I saw Return of the Jedi, and that film remained my favorite until a few years ago. Again, there was a rollercoaster ride packed in there. The Battle of Endor forever changed the way I would see a space battle. It was the first epic battle I would ever see- the first of many. In fact, the three films would change the way I was mainstream blockbuster cinema for a long time.
When I later rediscovered the three films, I found that their magic had not faded. I still felt that rush of excitement during the Battle of Yavin, or that duel between Vader and Luke on Bespin, or the Battle of Endor. I had reassigned Episode IV as my all-time favorite. Why not Empire? Episode IV was a straight-and-clean good vs. evil movie, a clever rehash of Akira Kurosawa's The Hidden Fortress. Episode V changed all that. It wasn't just good vs. evil, because everyone had their shades of gray. Everyone was on the run; this was a story that happened after the "...and they lived happily ever after" part, and for the trilogy it was as bleak for the protagonists as it could get. Plus, there was the cinematic plot twist to end all cinematic plot twists ever since we found out that Soylent Green was made of people.
But Episode V would never have stood its ground without Episode IV. Ep. IV was the template for the rest of the series, the "establishing shot," so to say, the opening act of a three-act play that chronicles Luke Skywalker and his transition from farmboy to a powerful Jedi.
Then I saw the first two prequels. They were okay, but not without their faults: Episode I had Jar Jar Binks. Episode II had the unsatisfactorily played romance story. But there were good things to offset the bad; Episode I had Duel of the Fates, Obi-wan and Qui-gon versus Darth Maul. Episode II had the Battle of Geonosis, and our first glimpse at an Empire near birth. It was somewhat satisfying, but there was something missing from them.
Tomorrow I will watch Episode III, which may or may not redeem the entire prequel trilogy. It will probably also be the last Star Wars movie I will ever see.
Yes, it is a happy and sad day for me tomorrow.
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