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Today is the anniversary of the release of one of my very favourite movies (and I know Knightfall loves it too) Star Wars. AKA Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.
It's just such a brilliant film - the perfect, fun action film. It's a tongue-in-cheek but lovingly-crafted homage to Arthurian legend, Kurosawa's samurai movies, Westerns, World War 2 films, medieval fantasy, classic science-fiction and, best of all - the old Flash Gordon adventure serials. It shamelessly steals concepts, characters and scenes from all of these, but mixes them together so beautifully. It has Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher and Alec Guiness in it, it has one of the best music scores you'll ever hear in your life. There is a fighter-plane dogfight, there are shoot-outs... robots... a saloon with crazy aliens in in. The villains are Peter Cushing and a seven-foot tall, half-robot, black-armour-wearing space Samurai with magical powers, a red laser-katana that he wields like a broadsword, and the voice of James Earl Jones.
We've talked about Star Wars a lot on this blog, but with good reason. It's such a big part of sooooo many people's childhoods. It's a pop-culture phenomenon like no other, and changed movies for ever.
And I grew up watching it, over and over and over. And I never got bored. Here I am, so many years later, watching it yet again and barely to take my eyes off it. Earlier today I was reading a novel based on it, and after that I wrote a chapter of my fanfic based on it.
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Yes, my new Star Wars fanfic... is HERE!
I just launched the story on fanfiction.net - and just a minute ago realised that today is the original movie's anniversary! How's that for timing, eh? It's the will of the Force, man.
I swore I'd finished with fan-fiction, but I always felt there was one fic I should have done. Or should have finished. I had the idea for 'A Thousand Generations' years ago, and worked on a couple of versions of it, which were all abandoned.
Now I'm writing it for real. It's a short (about 10 chapters) adventure story, set a couple of years before the original film, and attempting to tap into its style. Like the first movie, it's about a confrontation between the evil Empire and the American Rebel Alliance. And like the movie, it's told from the perspective of two ordinary people who get dragged into the fight.
It's about a middle-aged transport pilot (space Fed Ex) and her part-time student employee who find an old Jedi lightsaber and get mixed up in the Rebellion. It's about the war, but the subplot is all about the Jedi - specifically I'm trying to explain why various characters in the film don't 'believe' in the Jedi and the Force, only twenty years after seeing Samuel Jackson being hurled out of a wndow by lightning.
So - it's a fun, dark adventure story, with a lot of mention of the Jedi's role in the 'dark times' of the original films.
I've been trying to capture the spirit of that first film - the space battles, the heroic Rebels and hero's journeys, funny droids and fiendish, Nazi-like villains.
If you're interested, please give it a look! This really is a labour of love for me. It's supposed to be my last entry on fanfiction.net - a final attempt before I commit to writing proper, original fiction. So - this one honestly means a lot to me.
If you read, I really hope you enjoy it.
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Anyway - read my fic! And also - enjoy the Star Wars anniversary celebration day, thing! Here's a really nice litte video that just talks about the original three films, their varied influences, and the effect they had on several generations of nerds, kids and film fans....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25zE6cs2vtw&feature=related
M.B.
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