Geek Culture, Writing and Other Junk from Writer C. A. Wilke
 
Panic at the Death Star

Panic at the Death Star

Rogue One. By now, I’m sure you’ve heard every complaint about it. About Darth Vader’s rapid mobility decline from Rogue One to A New Hope. About the not-quite-perfect human CGI characters. About the over-intensity in Rogue One vs. the somewhat prosaic style of A New Hope.There’s even an article out there about Hollywood’s speciesism problem.

I’m not going to argue the merits of these criticisms because, sure, they all actually make sense. Yes, Vader’s fighting style in A New Hope was a little geriatric. Yes, the battle scenes in Rogue One were far more intense than A New Hope. Yes, it was easy to tell the CGI characters were CGI. And, yes, humans are the primary heroes in scifi movies. On Earth. With the only KNOWN intelligent species.

My point here, is this:

PEOPLE! CHILL!

Look, filmmaking was VERY different in 1979. Blockbuster action scenes were not as dynamic and costly as they are today. In part, this is because films were not economic movers in quite the same sense they are now. Now, some movies have larger budgets than some countries. Rogue One itself has generated $925.4 million as of January 13, 2017, a cash-flow larger than the annual GDP of 21 nations, according to the United Nations. And, Rogue One had a budget of almost $200 Million, that’s still larger than a few small countries.

My point here is, accept Episode IV for what it was made as and accept Rogue One for what it was made as. It’s called fiction and fantasy for a reason, you have to be willing to overlook some things. Yes, now that Rogue One is out, you do have to overlook a few more things in A New Hope than before. And, of course, Rogue One was not perfect. But, come on, people… Relax and enjoy the story. It does not need to by hyper over-analyzed and picked apart until it’s not enjoyable anymore.

 

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
Star Destroyer
Ph: Film Frame
©Lucasfilm LFL 2016

I mean, for Pete’s sake, Star Wars has ALWAYS had a shit ton of holes. Maybe this is because it was conceived at a time when computer networks were an extreme rarity and cyber security (or lack of) was not even a hacker’s wet dream yet. So, it’s only natural that the entire franchise’s universe seems to NOT have things that we might take for granted now, as well as basic technologies that we can expect in the near future.

 

So let it the fuck go. Sit your ass down with some Raisinets, a loyalty cup full of soda and an overpriced back of half-stale popcorn and enjoy the damn movie.

 

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