121 Days of Star Wars
Minute 33:00 of 121:00
The 33rd minute of the original Star Wars is the science fantasy equivalent of MTV Cribs! We get to look around Obi Wan’s kicking adobe bachelor pad…
Chat with Old Ben about his Tatooine days and Jedi nights…
Learn some Skywalker secrets…
And even see what Luke’s father wanted him to have when he was old enough!
But what is it?!
We’ll have to wait and find out — in Minute 34:00!
Back at the beginning of this minute, Luke and Ben have located C-3P0 following the Sand People attack. Threepio, being the hero for once, tells them to leave him behind, but Luke waves him off and the two men lift the droid up.
But how heavy is a droid? It’s has to weigh more than a person, it’s full of wires and metal and computer junk. Plus, this one’s a bit rusty — but according this post on Engineering.com, rust decreases a metallic object’s weight. Still, he’s got to be around 250 pounds — which is a rough estimate as even these frantic people on Answers.Yahoo.com can’t determine how much a droid weighs — PLEASE HELP THEM!
When Luke and Ben lift him, we get our first creative wipe, in which the film editing transition moves in an upward direction. This follows the movement of a rising Threepio and taking us from the the Jundland Wastes to the exterior shot of Kenobi’s abode.
Lucas’ use of editing wipes is inspired by Akira Kurosawa’s films which featured the same scenic transitions. In fact, the director of The Seven Samurai’s influence is felt throughout Star Wars, with The Hidden Fortress serving as a guide during George Lucas’ development of the story. His main takeaway from Fortress, aside from the general flow of the plot, was to have the audience follow the escapades of the servile characters — in this case, R2-D2 and C-3P0.
Once we reach Obi Wan’s house, the astute viewer might notice that the establishing shot of the home has changed between the theatrical cut and subsequent editions.
Here’s the old house:
And the 1997 Special Edition revamp:
I don’t really mind this change — it gives us more of a view to take in, putting Obi Wan’s existence into perspective with the vastness of Tatooine.
When we get inside, Obi Wan makes Luke comfortable and though it seems like a one-room hut, it’s actually a large structure. Check out this cutaway that was arguably made way after this film was shot…
Now that’s a desert house! Did he build that himself? Did this old warrior, who spent his whole life blasting across the galaxy on Jedi business, have time to learn masonry?
He doesn’t really go into details, instead he cuts to the important fact that he was best pal’s with Luke’s dad, and that he has a special something that Anakin wanted Luke to have.
Read on to Minute 34:00 to go into what exactly this willed object is…
Rating: 420 out of 500 square foot hut.
Best Performance by a Human: Sir Alec Guinness as Obi Wan Kenobi pretty much monopolizes the screen whenever he’s on it.
Best Performance by a Non-human: Anthony Daniels’ C-3P0 turns on his hero chip when he asks Master Luke to leave him behind, but Luke can’t do that! His uncle needs somebody to speak Bocce!
Best Performance by a Box:
Originally published at mindctrlaltdel.tumblr.com.
