To Mr. Lucas, an Apology (of Sorts)

I might have to relax my position against George Lucas.

I've been a little angry with him since he betrayed my personal vision of the STAR WARS universe with those awful prequel movies. However, re-watching the originals with my son has reminded me of what a visionary Lucas really was. For all his obsession with blue-screen technology and whatnot, watching those films again makes me realize one thing: I never doubt for a moment that what I'm seeing is "real." There's something about all the cables laying around and things falling apart that really make the opening scenes of "Empire Strikes Back" seem totally possible. It's clear once again why those movies excited the science fiction writer in me.

Plus, Mason LOVES these movies.

In fact, he got so wound up about them that this morning while reading the novelization of Return of the Jedi, he burst into tears, and reminded me why reading is such an amazing, awesome process. (If you don't follow the link, the short of it is: reading makes you feel things. For a five year old, the way reading makes you feel can be as scary as it is wonderful.)

So, to Mr. Lucas: I'm sorry I've bad mouthed you over the recent years. I still think you're wrong to focus on gee-whiz over character and story, but, you know, those first three films still rock.