Leia, she's a bit rough (19)
Last Updated (Friday, 25 November 2011 22:28) Written by Administrator Wednesday, 14 July 2010 00:00
Exciting news: the English language has a new word: IMBICLE!
Art Notes
Blimey - she's a bit rough!
Yet again: I can’t claim all the credit. This time it’s when Leia spits on Vader. It’s… in the blasted novel.
Crap, crap, crap. It even sizzles when it lands on him.
"She succeeded in reaching him with her spit, which hissed against still-hot battle armour."
1977 novelisation
There I was thinking "George, George, George. Why couldn't you push it further like that 9-10 year old did?" Then I read the novel: "She succeeded in reaching him with her spit, which hissed against still-hot battle armour. He wiped the offensive matter away silently, watching her with interest as she was marched through the accessway into the cruiser"
Having said that, the princess in the 9-10 year old version is grubbier than in Lucas’ text. This is a princess and senator of the Royal House of Alderaan – or Antilles or something (Look, I haven’t been a SW nerd for over 30 years ok?). And she spits? But then again, she doesn't start to talk 'posh' until she meets Tarkin on the Death Star. Could be that the interrogation process made her grow up? - or damaged the speech centre of her brain?
I could have done so much more with it though. Oh the missed opportunities. Did she do a big nose-honk first? If we look closely, is she wearing a chunky sovereign ring? Is the Pocahontas hairdo actually a council-estate-facelift gone wrong?
Loosen Up: Massive Markers!
Talk about a blunt graphical instrument. I think this was the type.
Check out that M A S S I V E black marker that was used - later - on the top panel. Cripes! It was one of those brilliant big half-inch thick tipped ones my dad - er, borrowed - from the work stationery cupboard. Pretty bold eh?
Years later in art college the tutors would struggle to get us to put down the skinny paint-brushes and 2H pencils and loosen up by sloshing on the paint with wide house-painter's brushes and even strips of corrugated cardboard!
On Friday: Gaze upon the DEATH STAR!
Thanks for reading! Please leave a comment below ;-)
Comments
Wow. I never realized the Star Wars novelization was so raunchy!
Another great page, John. Here's hoping we'll see more of your special editions.
I'll be curious to see how many vists this page gets. The previous 'And in Space... there is no underwear' one certainly did well!
Data 'tapes' indeed, was that C60 or C90?
Johnny foreigner - that was me. And not trying in any way to fit in - unfortunately.
You refer to our teacher/headmaster?
Yes, tapes. Even in the old Rod Taylor 'Time Machine' film they had metal discs that one 'spun' like a coin on a table and they 'played' audio books. Was that in the original HG Wells story?
Be careful now… don’t let your 9 year old watch it every night. My 4 year-old’s SW viewing is being rationed; so we don’t get a repeat of the Pixar’s CARS exprience. Last Christmas I was raving about CARS to other parents, and slightly mystified by their often blank – even traumatised – facial expressions. 4 months later I understood: I can barely look at CARS anymore having seen it at LEAST once a day for 4 months.
I don’t know if this has been pointed out already, but the novelization was not, in fact, written by Lucas. It was ghost-written from the shooting script by Alan Dean Foster, who was allowed to write the unofficial sequel “Splinter of the Mind’s Eye” as part of the deal (based off of some of Lucas’ notes).
Oh, my friends and I were obsessed! the novel is weird. In one paragraph it’s poetic, in the next it reads like a shooting script! So I wasn’t sure if it was written by more than one person – or just due to inconsistent writing!
Thanks for the info. You know, Alan Dean Foster was instructed to write ‘Splinter’ as a sequel set mostly in a jungle setting – narrow scope and cheap to shoot. I can’t imagine why Lucas could possibly have wanted to make the sequel on the cheap. Was it because that was his plan before the first film was completed – a film he’d not expected to be a huge financial success?
Of course, there was also the time I snuck a tape recorder into one of the 1979 showings of Star Wars to get an audio version of the full movie (vs. the massively-edite d Story of Star Wars that was available on LP at the time). I actually had to do it twice, since the microphone I used the first time basically didn’t work for any sound that was too far away from it, no matter how loud. I almost wore that tape out over the following few years.
Loved reading of your tape recordings. Yes, we were absolutely desperate for any morsel. I held the tape recorder up to the telly during some programme – dunno what – and got a few seconds of Star Wars, To listen to that over and over was thrilling indeed. A few seconds! Believe me i know exactly how you felt.
You needn’t feel too nerdy though! It was the experience of God knows how many tens of thousands – millions? – of kids. Ever read Peter Jackson’s Introduction to the ‘Making of Star Wars’ book? It really struck a chord with me!
As for the novelization, I think it felt like it was written by a 9 year old. Just saying.
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The novel's writted better than I ever done word stuff. Good in patches - put together by committee.
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