Star Wars & Me

My journey with Star Wars began not with the movie, but with the Toys.  The Toys at the time were cool and began a whole new scale in action figure sizes before there were the 8 inch Mego or the 12 inch sized G.I. Joes and Six Million Dollar Man.  That was in late 1977, the Year the first Star Wars film came out.  Yes, I know it was Episode Four, at the time it was the first movie out.  I did not see it till 1978 and I saw it in a drive in.  I was 10 years old.  Mind you, I had been on a trip to the stars before with Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock.  This was different. It was reminiscent of the Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers Serials from the Thirties and Forties.  I loved it; I had some of the toys.  I was not obsessed with it.  It spoke to me, but not as loudly as to others.  Light Sabers, really cool looking alien Races, Special effects that blew me out of the water, were among the things that surprised me in a pleasant way.  As a kid I did not really start going to movies in the theater much till I was 12 or so.  Science Fiction TV shows were more my forte.  I watched Battlestar Galactica at the time and thought that was awesome.  I know in retrospect the Seventies Original version was cheesy.  As a kid I was a mouse, I loved cheese.  I saw the much maligned Star Wars Holiday Special too, once again not my speed, although at 10 I liked it.  I read a few of the Han Solo prequel novels and the Star Wars comic from Marvel.  I did not get too much into the expanded universe.

In 1980, my family was living on Adak, Alaska.  At the time it was a military base.  When Empire Strikes Back came to the island, everyone was at that theater watching.  In order to handle the demand they had multiple showings and even did Weekday and night showings.  It like its predecessor shocked and amazed me.  At the time the special effects were something we really had not seen the like.  Once again we bought the toys, hell we had a Star wars slot car set.  I made my own Tie Fighter and X-Wing Fighter Models, well I assembled them.  They were the glue kind previously I only had the snap on types.   I was blown away be the images again.  Lucas used a great deal of Japanese influences to the wardrobe and production design to movies. 

In 1983 I was 15; we were back in Oxnard California.  Return of the Jedi came out and was played at the Ventura Theater in Ventura, California.  The Ventura went through a major renovation.  It tried to hearken to the days it was a Movie Palace in the 1920’s and 1930’s.  Not only was it a great film it was in an amazing theater.  This was also the first time I realized I was no longer the target audience of the film.  The Ewoks, I did not care for them I knew they were fodder for the younger crowd.  Even my 12 year old brother did not care for them.  This was supposed to be a family movie so, I let it go. Once again I was spellbound by the scope, the effects and the production design. 

During the hiatus between the original series and the prequels, I did not really get into any of the Expanded Universe Novels or comics.  I was a young adult in my twenties when they started to arrive.  I was not that interested.  To be fair I was not into the Novels for Star Trek either.  I tried to play the Star Wars table top RPG from West End Games.  It was not for me.  Star Wars informed my creativity, but it was never the big thing for me.  When the prequels came out I was in my thirties.  The first one definitely was geared for a younger crowd.  I was not it; I still understood where they were coming from.  The next two were good.  I felt disconnected from Star Wars by this time.  Mind you, my brother, Mike, loved Star Wars.  He was more the Star Wars guy than the Star Trek Guy.  I was the opposite.  We work that way.  This just was not my Science Fiction franchise.  I do not hate Star Wars, I love it.  I have my issues with certain tenants in Jedi Philosophy.  It is just not the one that permeates my every fiber.  I am not sure if there is something that does that completely for me.  That Is My Not So Humble Opinion.

Star Trek & Me

So my history with Star Trek goes back, way back.  It goes back to the Original Series from the sixties.  First thing is I am a little young to remember watching the show first run.  I was born in the summer between the second and third seasons.  However in the two areas I grew up in, Los Angeles and Portland, Oregon, the show was on via syndication sometimes running on multiple days.  My paternal grandmother was very sick.  Due to this I do not have many memories of doing things with her.  I do have memories watching two iconic TV shows with her.  One I loved, the other went over my head.  The one I loved was Star Trek: The original Series, the one that went over my head was Perry Mason.  I was 5 or 6 during this memory, possibly even younger.  To me Star Trek was adventurous, thrilling, cool, and a roller coaster ride. 

Everyone seemed to think Captain Kirk was the man.  My Favorites were Spock, Sulu and Scotty.  Spock was logical and could stop a person without killing them.  Sulu was the navigator, he flew the ship.  He also was a swordsman in an era of phasers.  Scotty was the chief engineer, he kept the ship going.  He knew it like the back of his hand.  Without these men Kirk could not do a thing.  The Original Series had several Alternate history stories.  A few of them were viewed through the idea of parallel development.  This concept that a planet identical to Earth popped up but the details of it history was slightly different. Alternate history literature continues to be a genre I love to this day, Star Trek started all that for me.

 In the seventies to the mid eighties rarely missed the Original Series.  I continued by following the films starting with Star Trek: The Motion Picture.  That came out in 1979, and I was again enthralled by the world.  Everyone was back.  The story was not in sync with the Star Trek philosophy, but as an eleven year old I loved it.  In 1982, my brother and I were supposed to see a Disney film.  Instead we saw Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.  Space Seed was a favorite episode of mine, so this blew my mind.  It is still my favorite of the Original Series Films.  I continued to see all the Original series films on the Big Screen.  In 1989, I saw Star Trek V: The Final Frontier in Eugene, Oregon.  This was first showing opening day.  It was the first time I encountered hard core Star Trek fans.  Several folks were in cosplay to see this film.  I knew this existed, but I had not experienced it for myself.  Now, I like things, but when it comes to fandom I am sometimes reluctant to go whole hog.  I can, just don’t for some reason.  Other than a Star Trek : Motion Picture Captain Kirk Action Figure from Mego and Star Trek III: Search for Spock Taco Bell Glasses I had not had much merchandise.  Lately I have bought  an Original series Enterprise Mug, Original Series Glass set and some symbol buttons.  For the most part I have not gone too crazy there either.

During my sophomore year in University, Star Trek: The Next Generation debuted.  I loved it, I was happy to se a new kind of Trek on every week.  It was different from the original show.  The Captain was a diplomat not a cowboy.  The First Officer was in charge of most missions to the planet.  The show was definitely different in tone than the show from the 1960’s.  In some ways it was more cerebral.  I followed it up till Season 5 or 6 in 1992.  I watched the first two seasons of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and tried a few episodes of Star Trek Voyager.  Neither show really hit me.  I am not saying Deep Space Nine was bad, it just did not resonate with me at the time.  I may go back and catch it plus the seasons of Next Generation I missed.  Later I was onboard for the first Season of Enterprise, but that fell flat for me too.  The Next Generation Films were OK, but not great.

In 2009, two things happened that brought Star Trek back into the minds of the general public.  Well actually one was world wide and the other only in Portland, Oregon.  That was the year the J.J. Abrams re-imagining of the Original Series came out in Theaters.  I wanted to see that but Barbara, my ex, refused to watch it.  She thought it was sacrilege and blasphemy to redo the Original Series.  I finally watched it with my brother and his family when it was released on DVD.  The second thing was Atomic Arts began their production of Trek in the Park.  The idea behind this was similar to the tradition of Shakespeare in the Park.  That is holding productions of Shakespeare plays in parks during late spring and summer.  Atomic Arts did this with Original Series Episodes, starting with Amok in Time.  Following years Atomic Arts put on productions of Space Seed, Mirror Mirror, and Journey to Babel.  I tried to go the first three years, but I encountered resistance thanks to Barbara.  In 2012 I finally went.  It was hot as Hades, but I had a great time.   In August 2013 they had their final production with Trouble with Tribbles. 

I saw the sequel to the J.J. Abrams film, Star Trek into Darkness.  I enjoyed it, but it had some things about it that missed the target of the Star Trek philosophy.  I still have a closer relationship to the Original Series than with the others.  That is just where I am and where I am coming from.  So That Is My Not So Humble Opinion.

Rush & Me

Sometime in late 1981 or early 1982 I discovered a band that blew my mind.  One whose music and lyric sung to my heart and resonated with me ever since.  The band was Rush and the album that kicked it all off form me was Moving Pictures.  My Uncle Bob is 8 years my senior and my Cousin Steve is 4 years my senior.  These two introduced to most of the rock acts from the seventies and sixties.  However Rush was one of the first I discovered without either of them.  I am not saying neither knew of Rush, they did.  I just never heard it from them.  When most Rush biographers talk two albums are considered their seminal work.  The later of the two is Moving Pictures, the former being 2112.  So when my journey with the band started I chose well.  I followed with their live album Exit… Stage Left, then Signals and Grace Under Pressure.   I started to go back in their catalog first with 2112.  By the time I left the University of Oregon I had all their studio albums to that point, 1991.  After Counterparts in 1993, I drifted away.  I heard but did not buy their 2002 album Vapor Trails.  I was there for Feedback their cover EP in 2004. It was not until 2011 did I go back and get caught up with all their studio albums.  I still do not own all their live albums.  I started to want to look back at my history with this band after I heard they were to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2013.  I also finally was able to get tickets to a concert of theirs after 32 years of being a fan. 

What is it about Rush that I love?  Musically they can go from complex to simple in a flash.  Their mastery of their instruments especially Neil Peart, the drummer, is beyond anything.  They have one of the tightest rhythm sections in all of Rock.  They never rest on their laurel their music changes with the time and them, but do not lose their core identity.  Geddy Lee is incredibly talented being able to sing, play bass and keyboards with in the same song not always at the same time.  Neil Peart is a drumming machine; he grasps complex syncopations and rhythms.  Alex Lifeson complements the others whereas other guitarists would take over the spotlight.  With Rush one can truly say they are the sum of their parts.  It would not be the same without any one member.  This is extremely evident if you listen to their debut Album Rush.  That album is the only album in which Neil Peart was not on.  If you listen to their next Album Fly By Night, the first album with Peart, you can see the foundation that followed the band throughout their career. 

Thematically their early music was like a lot of Hard Rock in the Seventies, in that there were a great deal of Fantasy and Science Fiction References.  This is even more so since many consider Rush Progressive or Prog Rock.  In that Genre of Fantasy and Science Fiction themes and stories are abundant.  There are also many songs that cover the subjects of individualism, self determination and struggle of the Individual versus the desires of the group.  Neil Peart is the primary Lyricist and even though he did not have any higher education, he grasps many philosophical and political concepts.  He is proof that education does not always equal intelligence.  Their songs also handle personal responsibility and how we perceive things in society, media and popular culture.  Musically they have traversed various genres, Progressive Rock, Progressive Metal, Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, Funk, Synth Pop, Techno and so much more.  Not only are they innovators, but they have taken styles of the day and put their spin on them. 

I went to their show at the Clark County Amphitheater in Clark County, Washington on July the 28^th, 2013.  I went with my brother Mike and my Uncle Bob.  Before the show Mike and I watched the Induction of Rush to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  Taylor Hawkins of The Foo Fighters said that Neil Peart’s drumming was melodic.  Neil proved that in the show with a song called Percussor.  The song replaced drum beats with notes.  It was a phenomenal piece proving what most Rush fans already knew.  He proved it before with YYZ which the opening notes and rhythm is the Morse code for Toronto’s Airport which YYZ is its designation.  Toronto is Rush’s home.  They played nine of the twelve songs from Clockwork Angels, their newest album.  That album has a string section and that section played at the show.  They played on YYZ, The Manhattan Project and few other classic songs as well as the new stuff.  I have not been to many big time concerts in my life, but this was a pinnacle.  I did not have a dry eye towards the end.  I just could not believe I finally got to see them.  It was worth every penny, Canadian and American.  That IS My Not So Humble Opinion.

Iconography

Recently there has been a metric ton of controversy over the recent Idea from Andrew Garfield about Spider-Man being bisexual.  There also was quite a bit of hubbub over the casting of Laurence Fishburn as Perry White and years earlier Michael Clark Duncan as Kingpin.  The question has come about whether changing a character’s race, creed, gender, and sexuality takes away from the character.  Does it even matter?  This type of stuff has been done; it is interesting when it becomes evident how bad our collective memories are.   DC has their Elseworlds imprint.  It was an anything goes idea.  They re-imagined DC’s Iconic characters.  They had all the superheroes in World War Two were O.S.S. Agents, Civil War Batman and Superman, Victorian Era Wonder Woman and the list goes on.  The DC Multiverse includes a Gender reversed world.  One pre-Crisis of the Infinite Earths world had a racially diverse Justice League. 

The controversy all seems to begin with the introduction of the second Spider-man in the Ultimate Marvel Universe.  He is Miles Morales, who is of Hispanic and African-American descent.  There were rumors he would be gay as well.  Some people were upset a person of color was Spider-man.  Some people thought why change an Iconic character.  First they did not make Peter Parker African-American.  Second this not in the main Marvel Universe, but the Ultimate Marvel Universe.  They were treating Spider-man as a Legacy character.  That means many people become that hero passing it down from on generation to another.  There were a number of folks who said why not make a new character all together instead of try to make Spider-Man politically correct.  I understand the reason to use an existing character to do this.  The case example is Nick Fury.  How many folks know that he originally was Caucasian?  In the Ultimate Marvel Universe he was introduced as African-American.  His Original appearance was more like Will Smith, which was until Bryan Hitch drew him in The Ultimates, and then he resembled Samuel L. Jackson.  When Marvel started their big Film push they hire Mr. Jackson to play that role.  In the regular Marvel universe they introduced Nick Fury, Jr. That character looks an awful lot like Samuel L. Jackson too.  It can be done.  Mind you Nick Fury is a second tier A-list Marvel Character.  The mainstream is not as familiar with him. I think that making a fictional work more diverse is a good thing.  Using already established Icons instead of creating new characters from scratch is the issue sometimes. 

Some folks are too attached to their fictional heroes.  Superman has been African-American in some Alternate reality stories.  In one version of the Squadron Supreme Marvel’s DC Stand in characters, their version of Batman, Nighthawk was Black.  With Erotic Lives of the Superheroes by Marco Mancassola has become big news among comic book folks. This is due to its portrayal of Batman and Robin as a gay couple. I do not have a problem with that. I have a problem that based on the ages when most Robins started as his partners that would make him a pedophile. The Geek community is freaking. They forget that Dr. Fredric Wertham leveled this accusation back in the Fifties. Even Rick Veitch satirized this in Bratpack with Midnight Mink and Chippy. People are upset their favorite is portrayed as gay. Mind you this is an independent writer and it is a book of prose. Disney and Time-Warner have yet to do legal battle; I would not be surprised if they do. I think it is funny everyone is looking at the homosexuality and not the child abuse angle of this. I have not read the book and may not. To me at first sight seems to be written for shock value although the author denies this. 

The reason why there is the idea to do it with the bigger icons instead of create newer characters from scratch is profile.  Newer characters do not have the history or the name recognition.  Publishers can also bury lesser characters.  The Mexican-American Blue Beetle has lost his title twice.  This is due to sales not quality according to DC Comics.  This was also a Tier one B-list character, but a popular one.  Mixing up the cultures of characters, having more high profile female character, even more LGBT characters would show how really diverse our world really is.  Here is an example that upset people: since 1988, Barbara Gordon AKA Batgirl has been a paraplegic.  She became the superheroes hack extraordinaire Oracle.  Although she was physically challenged she still was contributing to the Superhero Community.  She also still kicked ass.  In the fall of 2011, DC revamped their world, and cured Ms. Gordon of her paraplegia.  Many in the disabled community were upset.  She had become a symbol of self reliance and capability to those in wheelchairs.  DC had other characters become Batgirl; heck, Ms. Gordon was not the first to have that Moniker.  Barbara was the most visible and memorable of the Batgirls.  Still her life as Oracle had become very popular as well. 

An example of successful re-imagining was the Modern version of Batwoman.   The original was created in the Fifties to battle Dr. Wertham’s theories about Batman.  The character was recreated for a Modern era in 2006.  This time she was a lesbian as well as Jewish and a socialite.  Greg Rucka wrote the character in many of her earlier exploits, he is credited with fully flushing out a complete character.  Initially the character was received with mixed reaction.  After seven years, it is accepted as part of the character.  During this time they also present Batman supporting character Renee Montoya as Lesbian as well.  Not just Lesbian, but in an on again off again relationship with the Modern Batwoman.  Montoya later became the second vigilante character known as the Question.  That part has changed post New 52, Montoya is not the Question.  As far as I know Montoya has yet to appear in the New 52.  Once again these were not any major big name characters.

In the late Seventies early Eighties Roy Thomas suggested that the Earth-1 version of Captain Marvel/ Shazam be African American.  They were going to go with the name Captain Thunder which was the originally proposed name of the character.  They dropped because another publisher, I believe National Periodicals (DC’s name in the thirties and forties), had a character with that name.  Honestly I think it would have been nice.  A Major Tier 1 A-Lister being African American would have been cool.  In various Elseworlds books they have went back to that.  Here is an interesting thing.  We have had a Black Green Lantern; Heck there is a generation of people thanks to the Justice League Animated Series who see that character as their Green Lantern.  It difference is they did not make Hal Jordan Black; they introduced another character with a Green Lantern Ring.  This is much like what was done with the Ultimate Spider-man or the Jaime Reyes Blue Beetle.  They did create a new character, but the used the Superhero persona of a previous character.  That seems to be a compromise.  Still some people claim political correctness. 

One fact pointed out in various articles, when Peter Parker was created in the early Sixties a White kid from Queens was not unusual.  Today based on that area’s ethnic make up he would stand out.  A higher percentage people of color are affected by crime than their Caucasian counterparts.  It then would be more likely for a vigilante to be a person of Color based on that.  I am not saying there are not economically challenged White people.  I am saying if you go by percentages.  That is partly due to the difference in socio-economics between the various racial and ethnic groups.  When these characters were created America did not seem as diverse as it appears to be now.

Here is my final point.  Does it really matter what Race, Ethnicity, Gender, Sexual Orientation or other defining characteristic these characters have?  Does it need to stay static?  Honestly I do not believe so.  As a culture changes so does its heroes as villains.  It is nice when I see that reflected.  Is this new? No, it is not things change to reflect where we, human being, are in a certain point in history.  Are some people too attached to their Pop Culture Icons?  Definitely, in time the change will be part of the main culture.  Nick Fury, John Stewart (Green Lantern) and Jaime Reyes (Blue Beetle) show us that change can become part of the culture at large.  That Is My Not So Humble Opinion.