Movie hype begins early for eager fans
by Chris Taylor, editor-in-chief

    Easter has passed, but it’s still the time of the father, the son and the ghost. No, I’m not talking about the Bible; I’m talking about Star Wars.

   In the middle of May, Star Wars Episode II will have reached theaters and the Star Wars hype machine should be in full swing.

   The new movie is called Send in the Clones or Tears of a Clone or something to do with clones.

   I am a fan of the movies, but I don’t go overboard. At the last movie, some audience members dressed up like characters from the movie. The biggest laugh I got was watching two guys dressed like Jedis outside smoking cigarettes. I’m pretty sure that it is against the Jedi code to smoke.

   Star Wars-mania is not exclusive to America either. A British census has started listing Jedi Knight as a religion because so many people claimed to belong to that religion.

   No one could have ever predicted the impact that those three movies would have on the world. And the truth is that they really aren’t that spectacular. The acting is pretty bad.

   Can you honestly say that you never make fun of Luke Skywalker’s whining in the movie?

   Still, there is something about the story that draws people in.

   To get geared up for the new movie, I was watching the original Star Wars the other day when I noticed something that really bothered me.

   When Obi-wan and Darth Vader are having their lightsaber duel, they keep moving into the sight of Luke and the rest of the gang.

   Obi-wan sees that Luke is watching and then lowers his lightsaber and allows Vader to kill him, right in front of Luke’s eyes. A movie later, we find out Vader is Luke’s father. In essence, Obi-wan manipulated Luke into watching a trusted old friend get killed by an evil man, who turns out to be his father.

   That’s pretty heavy stuff for a farm boy. And it seems that good old Ben was just manipulating Luke all along. That doesn’t seem very Jedi-like.

   The new movie may help explain this question. So maybe I’ll see you at the movie. I’ll be the one not dressed up like a wookie.