Disney Takes on Star Wars

After having a Star Wars marathon today, I began become excited for the next trilogy that will be brought to us by Disney. But then is thought, "Should I really be excited?"

The original trilogy is highly respected and beloved by sci-fi fans the world around. And the second, while still an important part of the Star Wars saga, is mostly ridiculed and condemned by fans and critics. So will the next chapter of Star Wars continue down the same slippery slope to film infamy? Will it shortly end up in the $5 dollar movie bin at Wal-Mart with all of the rest of the ambitious but failed movies? That's what I'm dying to find out.

The first trilogy was wildly successful because of its special effects and narrative that was literally out of this world. (Spoiler)

At a time when we were just exploring space travel and recently landed on the moon, people's imaginations were running wild and these movies captivated audiences. The lasers and lightsabers were every boys dream and a Jedi was what they aspired to be.

As the original Star Wars generation reached adulthood and began having children a new trilogy was released. This, a prequel, followed young Vader (Anakin Skywalker) and his journey to the dark side. These movies were released after the internet boom when technology was advancing exponentially. These movies were seemingly targeting a younger, new crowd instead of the older longtime fans. There is a general consensus that these movies were now where near as good as the originals. Many people, myself included don't even bother watching them when doing a marathon. Whether its the actors, the sfx's, the story or the overall feel of the movies, "true fans" grimace at the mention of them.

Then that leaves Disney, the new trilogy and Episode 7. J.J. Abrams who is an award winning producer, writer and director believes he is the man for the job. He has has a lot of success with the new Star Trek movies and wants to continue that with Star Wars. In my humble opinion I'm not sure thats what he'll find. The problem: Disney. Disney has a way of taking something great and making it something else. Maybe not necessarily bad, but just not what it was. Disney's demographic is more of an adolescent one and their movies are too 'shiny' and too fairytale looking for this type of film. I think to find success, a company with experience in more gritty and adult looking movies would need to take the reigns. If the movies and stories become too childish then I believe they will ultimately fail. With that said, if J.J. Abrams and keep creative control and pay close attention to the writing and casting, the saga may still have a breath of life.

Why I Might Watch Almost Human

Good sci-fi shows are a rarity. In part, it’s because they cater to such a niche audience; the general population likes to stick to a blend of mostly drama/reality TV, and that usually does not include futuristic societies, robots, aliens, or any combination of the three. The first truly weird and successful sci-fi-esque show would have to be the Twilight Zone, created by Ithaca’s own Rod Serling. It was incredibly ahead of it’s time, and combined fantasy elements with current-day

issues to create a show that was a crazy and wonderful kind of social commentary. Few shows have really broken through the mold since then. The ones that have, however, have been mostly excellent.

In the mid 90s, the X-Files proved that it’s totally possible to have a successful procedural show about aliens, which is something people didn’t realize they were missing until the show debuted. A few other great sci-fi shows came during the mid 2000s, some recognized for their greatness (the adventure/drama/crazy shit-show that was Lost and the surprisingly critically acclaimed Fringe - thanks J.J. Abrams) and some that were not (you’ll always have Netflix, Firefly). Besides the love it or loathe it Battlestar Gallactica, no other shows immediately come to mind, which just goes to show that networks either don’t care for sci-fi shows anymore or that sci-fi shows, basically, just need to get better. 

Which is why I’m so intrigued by Almost Human. FOX has really been pushing this show for a while now, airing commercials for it almost constantly since before the World Series. It’s gotten to the point where I’m embarrassed to say that I’m interested in it; every time I see an ad, my roommates lampoon me for ever bringing it up. And yet, here I am, on Hulu, with my curser hovering over the ‘play’ button on the pilot of Almost Human. 

Part of me wants to give it a chance. For me, personally, it has a lot of similarities to Fringe when that first aired: it’s on FOX, it’s very much a science fiction show, and I know next to nothing about it, despite all the commercials. From what I gather, Karl Urban is a hard-ass cop living in a society that embraces robots. I think he gets hurt or something, and wakes up with a new robot partner, which he isn’t happy with. It’s like a buddy-cop movie, just instead of a person, one buddy is a robot. And they’re not buddies. So. 

The other part of me, though, doesn’t want to get hurt again. Knowing the life-spans of sci-fi shows, I know that the chances of it being good/getting picked up for multiple seasons is slim at best. That being said, the reviews have been mostly positive so far (even though only the pilot has aired and that has to be good) and people seem to be truly enjoying it. It’s also another show that J.J. Abrams has slapped his name on, so you have to expect a certain level of excellence from it. Well. It’s decided then. Despite whatever flak I might get from my roommates, I will sit myself down over Thanksgiving break and watch Almost Human. 

Maybe. 

Summer Movies

Summer, a time for swimming, frolicking in the sun, and escaping the heat is a nice cool movie theater. Which I plan to do at least two times this year, by seeing "Now You See Me"(directed by Louis Leterrier) and "Star Trek: Into Darkness"(directed by J.J. Abrams).

"Now You See Me" which comes out May 31st, seems to be a sort of magician mixed with Robin Hood thriller. I love most thrillers, and who doesn't love Robin Hood? So I look forward to this one and hope the director isn't fond of shaky cam (which I hate).

"Star Trek: Into Darkness" (which comes out May 15th) is a must see for all Star Trek fans, therefor I will go see it ASAP.