It's unquestionable that Star Wars changed the face of science fiction motion pictures forever. George Lucas set the new standard for how movies were made. Prior to the Star Wars franchise, a lot of people regarded sci-fi films to be B movies with cheesy story lines and horrible special effects. But not any longer.
Strangely enough the additional big hit that year was a nuclear apocalypse motion picture called Damnation Alley that was fairly seminal for its occasion. But when you analyzed the special effects, script and just the complete motion picture to the original Star Wars it is hard to understand or believe where 20th Century Fox spent $17 million dollars - Star Wars seems as if it cost about $170 million in comparison. There were a variety of reasons behind Damnation Alley appearing so horrible in comparison and a lot of the damage was accomplished post-production - ain't that always the case?
But back to Star Wars before I totally wander off the topic. There were a small number of movies in the track record of cinema which have had such a powerful and long lasting affect on the film industry. Even look at the merchandising that followed the release of the movies - it took this part of motion picture marketing and company earnings to a completely new stage.
And one of the most popular merchandising hits were the lightsabers that entered the market to meet the requirement from children all over for their own replica lightsaber. The original efforts were quite inadequate but following a lot of assessing and fine-tuning Master Replicas finally got it correct when they mastered the Force FX lightsabers and the cheap knock-offs died a rapid death.
But what made the lightsaber such a well-liked toy? There were a great number of other Star Wars toys to pick from after all. What made the lightsaber different I think was the indisputable fact that the lightsaber evoked memories in us of the Arthurian tales and the sword Excalibur. Lucas even capitalized on that by making the Jedi an order of knights. The lightsaber took the sword to a whole new stage and offered it a completely new lease on life in the movies.
The coolness factor of the lightsaber and what set it apart from any other sci-fi weapon we'd experienced prior to this was that by using the Force the lightsaber grew to become an extension of you - you and the weapon become as one; which of course has leanings towards the legends around Samurai fighters. It took expertise to use a lightsaber and in a way you virtually had to be born to use one with any sort of advanced level of skill.
Almost everyone now knows what a lightsaber is. Can you picture another science fiction weapon that's so renowned? Not a thing else will come close.
Strangely enough the additional big hit that year was a nuclear apocalypse motion picture called Damnation Alley that was fairly seminal for its occasion. But when you analyzed the special effects, script and just the complete motion picture to the original Star Wars it is hard to understand or believe where 20th Century Fox spent $17 million dollars - Star Wars seems as if it cost about $170 million in comparison. There were a variety of reasons behind Damnation Alley appearing so horrible in comparison and a lot of the damage was accomplished post-production - ain't that always the case?
But back to Star Wars before I totally wander off the topic. There were a small number of movies in the track record of cinema which have had such a powerful and long lasting affect on the film industry. Even look at the merchandising that followed the release of the movies - it took this part of motion picture marketing and company earnings to a completely new stage.
And one of the most popular merchandising hits were the lightsabers that entered the market to meet the requirement from children all over for their own replica lightsaber. The original efforts were quite inadequate but following a lot of assessing and fine-tuning Master Replicas finally got it correct when they mastered the Force FX lightsabers and the cheap knock-offs died a rapid death.
But what made the lightsaber such a well-liked toy? There were a great number of other Star Wars toys to pick from after all. What made the lightsaber different I think was the indisputable fact that the lightsaber evoked memories in us of the Arthurian tales and the sword Excalibur. Lucas even capitalized on that by making the Jedi an order of knights. The lightsaber took the sword to a whole new stage and offered it a completely new lease on life in the movies.
The coolness factor of the lightsaber and what set it apart from any other sci-fi weapon we'd experienced prior to this was that by using the Force the lightsaber grew to become an extension of you - you and the weapon become as one; which of course has leanings towards the legends around Samurai fighters. It took expertise to use a lightsaber and in a way you virtually had to be born to use one with any sort of advanced level of skill.
Almost everyone now knows what a lightsaber is. Can you picture another science fiction weapon that's so renowned? Not a thing else will come close.
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