Topic: Star Wars Detours: Yet Another Reason To Hate George Lucas

[trapeze]

Not content to merely screw up his franchise by creating three prequels that are a study in bad film making, Lucas has decided to do a Robot Chicken version of his property called Star Wars Detours.

I've looked at several of the video clips available and I think that they are supposed to be funny but I'm not sure.

Here is a link to the Facebook page. See what you think.

Here is the official trailer...

STAR WARS DETOURS™ Trailer

[IronDioPriest]

I used to be pissed at Lucas for ruining the SW franchise with bogus prequels, and for being a general all-around way-overrated moron.

But then I went back and actually watched the first three films and realized they were never all that good to begin with.

ANH was eh. TESB was pretty good. TROTJ sucked. I want to shoot Ewoks.

[trapeze]

The ewoks were the culmination of the marketing efforts that started up after Episode 4 was such a big hit. In other words, "toys."

If I remember correctly the original notion for Endor's moon was that it was the home of the wookies and it would be the wookies that would defeat the empire. Lucas thought that it would be "ironic" or something to have the empire (and the emperor) be defeated by a technologically backward race. He said that he changed his mind about it and decided to let that race be the ewoks because the audience grew to believe that wookies were not sufficiently primitive since Chewbaca was seen as a highly intelligent (although not able to do anything but grunt to communicate) and capable creature. Of course this was actually BS. Lucas needed another action figure for the toy stores and the wookie action figure was old news.

For Lucas it's always been about the money. That's why the art and story largely went out the window after episode 4. It only became impossible to ignore when he did episode 1, 2 & 3.

[Glock32]

There needs to be an equivalent of Child Protective Services for beloved fiction franchises. Juvenilization was ratcheted up with Return of the Jedi. It wasn't just the Ewoks, even earlier the film had cheesy belch gags and such.

Robot Chicken actually did 2 or 3 different Star Wars specials, and most of it is actually pretty funny. This on the other hand is just plain painful.

[Weisshaupt]

I don't know IDP, I still like a New Hope. Of course I was 8, and in Denver you could only see it in the Cooper, after waiting in a line around the theater for hours. The Cooper  held 1200 and that crowd and experience made the whole thing the best film experience of my life-   and that may be coloring it a bit now. There is no better moment in film than when Luke turns off his computer. (Okay, that is a lie, the balcony scene in To Kill a Mockingbird is better) That and the whole death star attempt is ust wonderful - of course I have the non-special edition laser disk version that isn't all F'd up by Lucas.


Empire disappointed me as a Kid, and return of the Jedi and the Ewoks was painful.  Joseph Campbell had more to do with the success for the first film than Lucas, because he understood myth and storytelling.

I did fin myself chuckling at a few of the jokes in the Detours clip. Of course the Robot Chicken stuff has me laughing out loud.

[Glock32]

A Robot Chicken palate cleanser:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cizlx6ODhuE

[IronDioPriest]

Mark Hamill and Carrie Fischer are two of the worst actors ever. The light saber battle between Obi Wan and Darth Vader is comical; literally. C3PO is like a sharp rock in my shoe that I can't dump out.

Harrison Ford is the saving grace of that first film, only because it launched a career that made a good run and gave us a few good films.

I love sci fi. Done well, it's my favorite genre. I used to love Star Wars. Jar Jar Binks, little Annakin, and Darth Maul made me reassess the whole franchise, and I found that my love was only nostalgia. Without nostalgia, Star Wars "A New Hope" and its sequels and prequels are pretty much unwatchable for me.

[trapeze]

I didn't like episode 1 and I knew several of the reasons why but it wasn't until RedLetterMedia did the review was I able to put it all together.

[Libertas]

Jar Jar Binks should have been disintegrated one second into opening its pie hole, having to listen to that blubbering muppet is torture at best.

[RickZ]

When I saw the second prequel with Jar Jar Binks, back when it first came out on video, I immediately thought:  Niggaz in Space.

[pisskop]

I think this is for kids.  I'm surprised nobody said it yet.  Its like the crap I used to watch when I was 5-11.  Without the Nickoledeon  Obscenity.  Instead it has mild hints of 'Adult Cartoon Humor'.  What is an adult cartoon anyway?  When did society have to qualify a cartoon for adults (they used to be exclusively for adults; waaaaaay back in the day).

What started out as a young adult's fantasy about kissing your own sister and telekinesis became a full fledged Spongebob ripoff. . .  But then again I'm not big on fantasy in general.  Plenty of real things to be afraid of and exaggerate.

[Alphabet Soup]

How pathetic. Self-effacing humor is one thing, but this is self-mockery.

pisskop - you're absolutely correct that they're aiming this at kids but I'd hate to the sort of drone who would find that entertaining. My bet is that they don't - they may look at - or past it - but no one will take it sincerely.

And yea - cartoons were fro adults long before they were for kids. I remember how sophisticated I felt when I began to recognize and understand some of the innuendos and double-entendres.