30x30, Personal Project

30 x 30: #8 – One day Star Wars I-VI movie marathon

Star Wars DVDsI’m now 1/10th of the way through my 30 x 30 list, and have made plans for two more already (see a comedian and visit Tara in NYC). If you don’t follow me on Twitter, you missed a treat as I crazily tweeted the six Star Wars films for May the Fourth (be with you) yesterday. Towards the end of the night when I was starting to lose it I created the hashtag #SassyYoda and we discussed the idea of #SassWars, a parody and/or YouTube channel which dubs sassy commentary (a la drag queens or teenage girls) over some of the epic shade throwing scenes throughout the series. Yeah, it was a rough last hour, but I made it.

What I found most challenging about the day was how exhausting and uncomfortable it was to sit through and pay attention to six full length movies. I somehow managed to (mostly) time myself while in front of the TV and it came in at just over 12.25 hours, but with breaks it was closer to 14 hours. I seriously wonder if I listed this one in the wrong place. It’s listed under relaxing, but after yesterday, I’m thinking it should’ve been classified as physical, because by the end of the day I was physically sore and mentally exhausted.

Star Wars Watch TimeThe willpower required to sit and watch 12+ hours of movies is incredibly taxing and seriously shocked me. The last half hour was brutal and I honestly didn’t think I would make it, but thankfully my friends Nick, Mike and Patrick stuck out the final movie with me. Matt, roommate, made appearances throughout the day, and Caitrin and Caroline joined for IV: A New Hope and V: The Empire Strikes Back.

I was really hesitant going into this re-watch as I haven’t watched any of these in a long time and honestly I get so sick of the vitriolic hate of the prequel trilogy to be absurd. Don’t get me wrong they’re not great, but the disproportionate amount of hate towards those movies is enough to make me like them more because of what they symbolize.

Think about it, Lucas waited almost 20 years to revisit the universe and takes minor conversations from the weakest of the original trilogy and builds an entirely new history for the universe; clearly it was going to be a struggle. Add in that the dialogue isn’t that great and the acting is less than sub-par and sure I can see some negative reaction when you compare the two trilogies, but when you look at the wider realm of movies in general they’re honestly not that bad. Again, I’m not apologizing for them, the horribly delivered romantic dialogue in the prequel are laugh-worthy and the numerous battle scenes (lightsaber and space) are clearly cinematography masturbation, but who cares when you think about what they’re doing now with special effects just because they can. I’m looking at you Peter Jackson and The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.

But really, I had a great day yesterday. It was a lot of fun to see all of the hints and origins they put into the prequel trilogy, but some felt like they just beat you over the head with them, but thankfully it made the original trilogy come across as that much better and subtle.

Just a note – I’m going to leave the comments open for now, but if this devolves into a hate fest on the prequel trilogy, I will close them. I’m sick of hearing about it, find something nice to say or just don’t comment.

12 thoughts on “30 x 30: #8 – One day Star Wars I-VI movie marathon”

  1. I have never seen the latest three Star Wars movie, but I love the original three. When I was 9, my family watched all three in a row after the last one came out. Then I watched them again at University when the Student Union decided to play them all for anyone who was interested. Soon, I will watch them with my kids! Which are your favourites?

    1. I think the first (IV) and third (VI) are probably my favorites just from where they go and what they’re doing! The biggest problem I have with the newer trilogy and the newest coming trilogy is I read so many of the extended universe books growing up. Since the extended universe is real to me and they can just change it on a whim if they really wanted to, it puts me on edge, but at the same time I’m excited to see where the technology will take the movies!

  2. I am one of those people who doesn’t like the prequel movies…at all. I don’t *hate* them (I reserve that word for more important things, heh), but I dislike them to the point that I’m *still* angry about paying to see them in movie theaters. Haha! I just couldn’t get into them.

    You are a stronger man than I for watching six movies in one day–I would feel sick to my stomach after watching two in a row. I can’t stare at a screen for that long without feeling ill.

    1. It is not something I plan on doing again anytime soon. I think 9 hours (aka the extended Lord of the Rings) is incrementally more feasible.

    2. And I can appreciate being not happy with paying to see them. The effects would’ve been worth if for me, but definitely not the acting and the dialogue. I guess I just get so upset because it’s another one of the bandwagon things that so many people just complain about them without actually having a reason, like Nickelback. Sure they’re not to the greatest band but the more famous than most anyone who complains about them will ever be and they even embraced their critical panning so more power to then. (And this is even before my “stop being so negative phase.”)

      1. Yes, people who “hate” things just because others love them (or vice versa) annoy the crap out of me.

        1. Definitely I often times have to catch myself because I’ll particularly be be one to love something because others hate them. It’s a fine line, but I firmly believe there are very few things that are 100% bad. You can always find something nice to say and if not don’t day anything 🙂

  3. Congrats on completing this goal! I honestly don’t think I’d have the willpower to actually sit there and focus on watching a movie/T.V. for that long (even if it was Star Wars). Just out of curiosity–did you make new connections or gain a different perspective by seeing them all in sequence like that? I’ve never done a movie marathon so I’ve always wondered that.

    1. There were some additional connections that I noticed which was great! It was like re-reading Harry Potter and realizing how much more was planned out and tied up nicely!

  4. I don’t know if I’d be able to do this. Maybe three, but all six is quite a feat. It was those love scenes in the new ones that really killed me, just couldn’t bear it. Otherwise it was just a silly, but sometimes fun, action flick.

    When you’re dealing with something the geek community holds in such high esteem, though, the mob is either going to love it to death or wish it dead. There doesn’t seem to be much rational middle ground there.

    1. It was rough, but totally glad I did it and it really was the poorly written romance. I think my favorite tweet of the day had to do with “this is why nerdy guys shouldn’t write romantic dialogue 😀

      For me the biggest problem is the geek/nerd community because they expect everything to be canon and fan service (and I was mad things were changed, but I got over it), but what kills me is that none of them even acknowledge that these movies are for the general public, not them! The number of times I’ve gotten and/or had to deal with arguments between others about why things are mainstreamed is ridiculous. I just say, they don’t make these movies for you, they make them for the millions of others that just want to watch a ridiculously action filled movie!

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