Catching Up On Classics

After many years of hearing phrases mentioned and plotlines discussed from famous movies, I've finally had enough and decided to watch a few series I've never gotten around to growing up. The past few weekends, I laid down and indulged in the original Star Wars movie trilogy, as well as finishing the first Lord of the Rings film. I must declare, I wasn't disappointed.  

I was actually thinking I wouldn't like Star Wars as much as everybody else seemed to, but once I embraced it with an open mind, it turned out to be revealing of how great it was. Maybe my skepticism came partly from being uninterested in the newer Star Wars content and also how people wouldn't stop talking about it, bringing the hipster out in me to refuting its glory. George Lucas wrote the original series spendidly, as it captures one major quality I realized that is lacking in modern media: charm. The whole thing was very charming and positive. Finally, I know what people are talking about when they say "Han shot first" or "Greedo shot first". It probably largely depends on edition and has been verified by Lucas already, but the edition I watched, it clearly looked like Greedo shot first and missed, then Han shot the alien dead.

People would probably think I'm crazy stating I like the High Fantasy genre, yet never watched Lord of the Rings. Well, I felt obligated to get rid of that label and take a dive into it. I can't say I made it too far yet, but I've watched the first one as of now. The first aspect that stood out to me was the cinematography. The scenes were absolutely, visually stunning and I haven't seen any piece of media that has compared to it, ever, at least in the Fantasy genre. Apparently, the movie was shot in New Zealand, and it has persuaded me that this is one place surely worth visiting. I found the Hobbit village odd and funny, as well as Gandalf the wizard's involvement in it. It just appeared to me as some old wizard walking around, babysitting a race of little people called "hobbits" and smoking out of a pipe all day.

But as whimsical as the beginning was, it got into some creative lore regarding how much power is in this ring and the strength of its allure on anybody, good-natured or not. The depictions of darkness and righteousness were enthralling. One example of the darkness theme being the ones called the "Black Riders" who were undead and essentially servants of the dark lord who forged and wore the ring, dutifully seeking out where the ring was to retrieve it back at all costs. The example of righteousness was elves' abilities to give impactful gifts to the other races and have enormous power over nature. I look forward to seeing the other two movies in the series. 

A few other side noted series' that I started getting into as well was Babylon 5 and more Star Trek, although I've already seen a lot of it. Has anyone else had references brought up that you've never caught or bothered to look into? If so, which ones? Maybe even from the two series I've posted.

Alexander Seid

IS101-2003