It's been awhile since my last post for a very important reason: packing. It has begun to consume my days, leaving me with little free time on my hands. And the little which I get must be dedicated to the playing of video games with siblings. But that's a post for another day.
We are about to talk about Shakespeare. You've heard of him. Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night's Dream ... maybe The Taming of The Shrew, or The Tempest? And you've heard of Star Wars.
Shakespeare, an epic figure, to whom English literature owes him a great debt. George Lucas, the mastermind behind Star Wars. But then there are, at times, cruddy lines. So what if Star Wars was turned into a Shakespeare play?
I had a private marathon of reading (and rereading) William Shakespeare's Star Wars, by Ian Doescher. He crafts the lines with a thread most similar to the Bard's. One would almost think that it was one of his works, and George Lucas stole the plot from him. I only read 1-3, but have read 4-6. Unfortunately, I have been unable to get my hands on a copy of VII.
Reading 1-3 was much more enjoyable than watching those same movies, I must admit. In fact, it made it to third of my favorites! (Being V, VI, !, IV, II, and III) I loved reading Obi-Wan's lines best; it just made Ewan McGregor so much better. Though he's already an amazing actor to begin with.
Sadly, Ian Doescher was unable to work his magic with Anakin. But he made everyone else three dimensional characters, with plans of their own, with hopes and dreams. Yes, even Jar Jar Binks. He made Jar Jar an intelligent character pretending to be the fool in order to manipulate the Jedi into doing as he wished. However, that made Qui-gon Jinn a little racist in viewpoint. Shmi was a much deeper character, though I have to say Padmé was still a quiet, background sort of figure in I.
I was a neat little book. I enjoyed the fight scenes, with Darth Maul voicing what he was doing at that moment. Normally, I wouldn't enjoy that in a book, but with Shakespeare and Star Wars? It was epic.
II was ... insanity. As was III. But it wasn't Ian Doescher's fault. Far from. He made the movies almost decent. But, they were sadly not up to the same standards as the others have been. II was a sappy love story, though the arena battle was fun. It didn't make up for it all of the way.
I did begin to lose interest at III. I couldn't focus on the plot at all. Nobody was making much sense, and I had to rely on my memory of the movies to recall what was going on at that point, but I think that was because of too much Shakespeare in a day. All were fairly enjoyable reads, and I highly recommend! (Though I'm a traditionalist, and think that you should read the original books first. They came out in the correct order, too!)
The Phantom of Menace: Even better then the movie, and highly enjoyable on it's own. *****
The Clone Army Attacketh: Better than the movie, but not outstanding as a novel. ****
The Tragedy of the Sith's Revenge: My concentration was beginning to waver at this point, but it was good. ****
