Jack of Harts

The Jeffersonian Federation’s secession from California was about as quiet as it could be. And their joining the Republic of California was equally quiet, sealed with the ink of a pen and a few shrugs of interest from her people. But when it came time to rebuild places like Los Angeles, San Diego, and Tijuana, Jeffersonian citizens were always there and willing to help. They showed up with blankets and building materials. Beer and guns. They setup shelters with a quick efficiency that governmental relief organizations boggled at. They sat back and shared beers with the locals while talking about sports and weather. And they found the people who could be trusted with firearms, and took them out to the ranges to train them. They usually had to build the ranges first, but the locals helped with that once they had a stable place to sleep in again. The Jeffersonians left quiet efficiency in their wakes and moved on to help other areas recover.

The Jeffersonian Federation, often called Jefferson by her citizens, was one of the less volatile creations of the Second Great Depression. They were a largely rural society with few large towns, and were one of the most sparsely inhabited States in the Union upon their formation. They did have some seaports and cities on the coast, but those were small by California and Oregon standards. Nothing compared to the megacities north and south of them. Most of their territory went into inland forests and mountains where the country folk didn’t care too much about being told what to do. And the trained hunters out there were the perfect definition of the “well regulated militia” called for by America’s Second Amendment. They weren’t much in the way of the heavy combat formations used by the modern American military, but they made good light infantry at need. They simply weren’t needed much at first. They were the definition of flyover country, and most outsiders didn’t care what they did. Just like they didn’t care much about outsiders. When the big cities north and south of them fell into chaos, they simply decided to make their own way and wave off everybody else. It was one of the least dramatic secessions of the entire era.

I watched some Star Wars movies this weekend. For reference, that would be Episode II and Episode III, along with the original Clone Wars cartoon. The one by the Samurai Jack artists, not the later CG one. Then I watched Episode I. Yes. I watched them out of order.

The thing is, I remember liking that movie when it first came out. I saw it at a midnight showing in a theatre that no longer exists, and still have the ticket in my wallet to remember it by. Yeah, Jar Jar was kind of stupid, but I liked the rest of the movie. It was fun. Like Star Wars was supposed to be. A bit light hearted. Some adventure. And the bad guys get crunched in the end. Even if a good guy bit it. But that happened in Star Wars as well.

Now Episode II and III showed a neverending sequence of idiotic moves by the Jedi as they failed to do the smart thing again and again until they died. Not nearly as much light heartedness. Or adventure. And the bad guys don’t get crunched in the end.

And suddenly it dawned on me that Episode I is more a Star Wars movie than Episode II and III. Considering how much time I’ve spent looking on it as a failed movie, it’s a bit of a surprise to suddenly think of it in that way. Now there’s Solo which I enjoyed a great deal, but none of the other movies that have come out since Jedi really nailed the simple FUN of Star Wars.

Does it have problems? Absolutely. Did it get things factually wrong based on what was in the Star Wars trilogy? Yup. But is it fun to watch? Also yes. Which means that Episode I has suddenly jumped into fourth place when it comes to just being fun to watch. Maybe fifth. I haven’t rewatched Solo yet. And there’s Rogue One as well. Both of those have their own issues when it comes to matching previous lore, but fun to watch? Solo is a yes. Rogue One…I’m going to see it soon again and see what I think.

But one thing I noticed in this watch through is a difference in how Episodes I through III handled special effects. Episode II was the worst in my eyes, with massive amounts of CG that didn’t always look good next to the actors. The Clonetroopers didn’t have weight to them, and felt unreal. And I saw that again and again with so many different CG characters where the actors were having trouble interacting with them. Right down to vehicles and everything. It’s like they tried to do everything in CG with the actors on sound stages the whole time, and it just didn’t feel real to me.

Episode III did it better, and the Clonetroopers looked more real in closeup shots. Either the CG was better, or they had actual actors wearing the suits in those shots. It still suffered from the sound stage feel at times, but the integration between CG and real was much, much better.

Episode I was actually the best of the three when it came to special effects. It used more models, more location shots, and there were more of the CG characters with standins that the actors could work with and “look at” during filming. They almost never threw me out of the story. It’s a very interesting thing to look at all these years later. How the special effects have aged. Episode I’s have aged well. Episode II not so much.

Next it will be time to watch the original Star Wars movies. Star Wars, Empire, and Jedi. It will be interesting to consider what I think about the Star Wars trilogy after watching the prequels and side stories designed to work with it. This is going to be a a fun week for watching movies.