Anakin Skywalker versus Samurai Jack: Who Does Star Wars Better than George Lucas?

     Rather than bash, I want to exult. Between Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, a miniseries filled us in on what Anakin and Obi Wan had recently been up to. Who better to tell that tale than the creator of The Power Puff Girls?

     I know, right? It sounds crazy, but add to that resume Samurai Jack and you’ve got a guy who understands the mixture of comedy, action, and style. Genndy Tartakovsky builds a mood with each episode, develops the characters more than the ticks on the clock seem to allow, and the juxtaposition of action and wit are every bit as exhilarating as any episode of Firefly.

     But that’s not all. If you watch the entire miniseries, you’ll see a better portrayal of every major character portrayed in the prequel trilogy. 

     Samuel L. Jackson’s Jedi (Mace Windu) displays the same quiet power of the movies, but included a diverse repertoire of fighting styles and demonstrates the champion of the defenseless that sets Jedi apart. 

     Christopher Lee deserved a greater role on screen. The animated Count Duku serves as talent scout for the Sith and coach for General Grievous. While not Christopher-Lee-awesome, this version added depth and purpose to a throw away villain.

     I mentioned him already, but damn… General Grievous is freakin’ scary. The animated Grievous demolishes handful of Jedi and sends a pair running to stay alive and preserve Chancellor Palpatine. His fighting style explodes with raw energy and a mixture of swordsmanship and brutal melee.

     Yoda, how awesome is he, hmm? Answer, more awesome as a cartoon than a flippity-flying CGI green blur. Yoda’s moments in this series better separates his size from the impact he has.

     Anakin and Obi Wan speak in Revenge of the Sith about all the great times they had between movies. That’s great for back-story that’s kind of important, but when you’re talking about building the kind of bond that forms between brothers in arms, don’t relegate that to a few dry lines of dialogue. The tension between the self-sure, Anakin, and the patient mentor, Obi Wan, sets the bar high for how far their friendship will fall in Revenge of the Sith.

 

     Do I want to bash all the things that bothered me in Episodes 1-3? Of course, but that’s been done and overdone. What I want to do more, is praise the guy I felt got it right and push to give creative credit where it’s due in the hopes of seeing more like it.

Who is This Guy and Why do I Care? Relearning With a Reader’s Perspective

     “I don’t care about your characters.” I heard this in my earliest readings of my first manuscript. If you’ve followed my blog, you’ve heard this story before. My critic followed up with the meat of her argument. “I don’t care about the because I don’t think you do.”

     In those days I wrote feverishly, eager to finish my first novel. But like a prefabricated house, sloppy construction caves in pretty quick. I turned a good portion of my time to reading about writing.

     “When introducing a character, show them doing something characteristic.” I can’t remember which book I read that from but it’s stuck in my head ever since. Some of the best characters in fiction, when you think of them, certain actions or phrases come to mind. I found a movie that both demonstrated this and explained why I found the second Star Wars trilogy so forgettable.

     In “The People Vs. George Lucas” the documentary team asks some folks to describe characters from the first trilogy without using their title or profession. Han Solo and Luke Skywalker’s descriptions flowed freely from these folks and you could see them reliving the enjoyment they garnered from these films. Contrast that with the same exercise applied to the second trilogy and what you see are blank stares. Often the folks fall back on profession or title because there’s not much character to them.

     Like many lessons in life, even though I’ve been told and taught, it took a painful experience to drive the message home.  I’ve taken to reading some of my fellow indie/small publisher’s works. We exchange books, read, review, and general help generate a little buzz. So I start this story and Blam, Blam, Blam! The first chapter hits me with a shotgun blast of exposition. I’ve got more names and past adventures in my head than I can manage and no clue what it means to me. Now before you flip through any of my pages, let me save you some trouble; I may have done the very same thing myself. What sent me rushing from my Kindle to the laptop was the realization, I just experienced the ‘why’ behind lessons in writing I felt confident I’d learned. The names as I read them meant nothing to me. Some characters were picking up the pieces of a shattered home in the aftermath of a disaster, but it didn’t stick because they were just names.

     Bottom line, it’s easy to care about your own story but it takes some work for others. Save the shotgun for the zombies.