Category: Opinion

Walking Carpet Weaving: Doing Aliens Right

Posted on June 5, 2015by Pen and Paper

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Aliens. Xenos. Extraterrestrials. UFOs. Little green men from Mars. Things not of this Earth have long fascinated the human race, whether it be debating if they exist in reality (and searching for evidence that they do) and what they might look like, or simply enjoying having them in our fiction in all their manifold forms. When it comes to the latter, there has been much discussion of their portrayal and characterization over the years, and not just in this franchise, with many prominent alien characters having gone on to become classic fictional icons: just look at Chewbacca, or Spock, or E.T.

And while the likes of Wicket and Jar Jar Binks may not necessarily be the most popular characters in the saga, they’re still guaranteed to be instantly recognizable by millions. But we’re not here today just to talk about specific alien individuals, that subject having been flogged to death and beyond already. What we’re going to discuss is the more general matter of aliens as species: their conception, design, and implementation.

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I Am Altering the Deal: On TF.N’s Fanfic Rules

Posted on June 3, 2015by

Screen Shot 2015-06-03 at 7.24.07 AMA momentous decision has been made. At long last, the Jedi Council Forums allow same-sex pairings in fanfiction. Yes, you may say, that was mostly allowed for a while. It just had to be original characters only, and the most permitted was vague references. And now, we’re allowed to write same-sex pairings, and canon characters are included. Basically, the most controversial rule of the JC Forums has been repealed, and let’s just say Twitter went wild with the news. The responses have been overwhelmingly positive, and I for one am quite excited.

One of the most prominent places on the internet for Star Wars fandom was honestly not very friendly to LGBT fans. A rule that explicitly says that “the relationships you want to have are not ‘family-friendly’ enough for our site” is inherently discriminatory. However, it was the rule. We were told “it was handed down from the powers that be on this site.” There really was no way to get around it or discuss it. The old fanfic guidelines had examples of the maximum amount of sex and violence allowable, and honestly? If you’re going to allow that level of violence, two same-sex people holding hands is definitely nowhere near as scandalous. But apparently it was. It felt hypocritical and exclusionary. Read More

Love Does Not Make Something Great

Posted on June 1, 2015by Guest Editorials

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I remember the last time we got a new Star Wars trilogy – the summer of 1999. I was in college, and the anticipation amongst my friends was at a fever pitch. And then the movie came out, and we quickly split into two camps – those who defended The Phantom Menace, and those who hated it with a cold and fierce passion. The e-mail debates (because that’s what we did in those days) were harsh and fierce. And let’s face it, we all know that by early 2016 there will be new lines drawn all across the internet about The Force Awakens.

I here am making a plea, giving an observation. Remember this: just because you love something, that doesn’t mean it’s great. So often the passion I saw against The Phantom Menace was levied against it because it didn’t live up to the greatness of Star Wars. It failed because it wasn’t as epic or sweeping as Star Wars was!

I then went about bubble bursting among my peers. Star Wars wasn’t great. We all loved it – but it wasn’t “great”. But Star Wars had great dialog and TPM’s dialog was terrible. Oh really? “Would somebody get this walking carpet out of my way” is not great dialog. If you doubt me, ask Alec Guinness – or think on Harrison Ford’s great observation – “You can type this ****, George, but you can’t say it.” Not exactly great dialog there – but it’s okay to love it. Read More

What Star Wars Can Learn From Mad Max: Fury Road

Posted on May 29, 2015by Six on the Wild Die

furyroad2Pop quiz, hotshot: which great science fantasy franchise is returning to the world in 2015 after many years of absence? Why, Mad Max, of course! George Miller’s post-apocalyptic series has returned to us, and it appears to be in better shape than ever. Critics and audiences appear to be in love with this movie, so it would seem like it’s time to take a good look at it. So get your driving wheel from the pile, spray your face so you can enter Valhalla, and come with us to see the lessons Star Wars could learn from Mad Max: Fury Road!

Stand by your franchise’s style

Desert wastelands. Ridiculous character names like Rictus Erectus or Toast the Knowing. Punk aesthetics and ridiculously souped-up vehicles. Extreme close ups before crashes. Low camera angles during chase scenes. These are the aesthetic choices Miller and Byron Kennedy applied to The Road Warrior back in 1981 and turned it into a global phenomenon. These are exactly the same choices Miller applied to Fury Road in 2015. And why wouldn’t he?

You don’t even need to see the main character driving his Pursuit Special to know you are watching a Mad Max movie: it’s obvious from the first minute that you are back to the universe you left thirty years before. The movie uses some CGI here and there, when practical effects just won’t do it, but it manages to feel as genuine and gritty as The Road Warrior felt. It goes without saying, but the same thinking could easily apply to Star Wars: there’s nothing wrong with Star Wars just as it is. We love the way it is, with its simple plotlines, its black and white characters, and its cheesy names. There’s no need to “bring Star Wars to the twenty-first century”. It’s still great! Don’t mess with it! Read More

Star Wars Might Have a Disney Problem

Posted on May 27, 2015by Scotch Tape and Popsicle Sticks

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While the initial marketing push for The Force Awakens will come this September with Journey to‘s oft-misunderstood slate of twenty “books“, those of us who remember the prequels know that that’s only the first drops of the thunderstorm that will descend a couple months later when the film actually comes out. And even then, print material will only comprise a small portion of the flood—the graphic in that link is cumulative, not movie-by-movie, but it’s a safe bet that a plurality, maybe even the majority, of Disney’s profits from the sequel trilogy will come from capital-M Merchandising. There will be action figures, of course, but there will also be t-shirts, bed sheets, Hot Wheels, umbrellas, Sprite bottles, sneakers, and whatever the hell these are.

But that’s Star Wars. Ubiquitous branded nonsense, for better or for worse, is synonymous with our franchise of choice, and we’re used to it by now. So what’s different about it now that Disney is holding the reins?

It’s widely understood by now (because they’re happy to admit it) that Disney views Marvel, its last big acquisition, as specifically a boys’ property, and it’s pretty clear that same sentiment led to their purchase of Star Wars. As the thinking goes, Disney’s big in-house merch machine is their string of “princess” movies like Frozen—which, of course, are only for girls, because it’s not like I still remember all the words to “Under the Sea” or anything—so now they want to conquer the boys’ market via these big acquisitions, because something something Global Supremacy. Read More