'Vader - Sith and Loving It'

At the time i type this..the 'original' Star Wars Trilogy has just been released officially onto DVD for the first time ..('original' is also an oxymoron for this case.. as the movies have been remastered again from the 1997 'Star Wars - special editions' ..with even more enhancments,special effects ..and confusing edits..some good ..some bad) ..it's kind of hard to enjoy them at this point. As soon as i can.. i am gonna rip my original VHS/non-special edition tapes onto DVD.

I have alot of Darth Vader toys ..but the original Kenner remains my favourite. Simple as it is..what really facinated me when i was little was the cape. Alot of the toys in the original Star Wars toy line had these weird 'capes' ..in fact they were more like little sleeve-less vinyl robes. The Figure's arms went into the 2 small arm holes of the cape and the top of the cape came up above the figure's head ..giving the figure's capea strange cuff effect. You were supposed to fold the cuff down ..(i guess) but the figures looked so weird and cool with the cuff up..to me anyway. Vader's figure looked almost vampiric with the cuff of his cape up. Parts of this illustration have a few elemnts that are my own (the Vader figure and the 'Dixie cup' packaging are scanned from my collections).

Sorry..long before any prequals (or even before i even knew what the f7ck that word meant)..i had sympathy for Darth Vader ..i don't think i even got to see the original Episode until a after i saw 'Empire Strikes Back' .. by the time Return of the Jedi came out i mostly remember really being in love with the Ewoks..i never fully understood the Star Wars Universes until much later in life.. but in each and every movie..i just wasn't afraid of Darth Vader . Iconic as hell, Pop-culture never had such a cool ,villanous staple or comedic punching bag. when the day came and i saw the original episode.. Peter Cushing's Character:'Grand Moff Tarkin' scared me so much more than any other character in the entire series. Not even Jabba the Hut or Darth Maul brought me close to being scared. Vader tho'.. there just was something about Vader. Maybe i could sence the character was struggling. Maybe i didn't fully understand what the character was. Maybe by the time 'Jedi' came out and Luke Skywalker took the infamous skull-like helmet off the injured and dieing Anakin's head..there was this really nice person there. Dave Prowse was the actor that brought the might behind the charcater to life. James Earl Jones of coarse..who is given so much credit for the voice of the android. Then there is the late Sebastian Shaw..this gentleman brought the human face to Vader.. this was the moment ,prolly where Anakin Skywalker became one of my favourite characters. You see this horribly injured person..with a very gentle face. You can't hardly imagine this as part of the 'evil' the main characters had been fighting in these movies. And as the Ewoks sing and dance and the Rebels celebrate and three favourite Jedi spirits pop-up to watch as balance is brought back to one of the wackiest franchises in history. I've been a big fan of the prequals.. beyond my fetish with Jar Jar Binks ..i really appreciate in Star Wars I how Jake Lloyd is portrayed as just the sweetest little kid who has no clue he is gonna turn into something so hated. Hayden Christensen in Episode II slowly turns the sweet little kid into someone starting to struggle so much not only with his emotions but his entire being in general..the world around him. Scince episode I..i have been anticipating something so grand by episode III. I'm pretty sure i won't be disapointed. The prequals are something totally differant than the original trilogy. I've gotten quite alot of sh8t the past few years because i've really enjoyed them so much..but hopefully ,by the time episode III is out (2005) people will be able to understand and enjoy the whole purpose of the prequals. This is a story about a family.. and a most tragic one at that. It's also a story about redemption. This brings a semblance of beauty and much humanity to the Sith Lord. Darth Vader represents in a major way the act of redemption and the fact that one can be redeemed. It seems that is something that is so overlooked nowadays and forgiveness is a word only meant for churches and the pulpit. I dunno; seems in a rapidly more confusing world.. more n' more you wanna turn to ..a galaxy far ..far away.

..CRAYON,Magnum Marker,inks, P.shop.. - 23 September 2004