Mark Lee and I hit New York Comic Con this weekend, and it was a hell of a thing. There were kids waiting to get their My Little Pony posters signed, adults in Deadpool outfits exchanging self-aware one-liners, and thousands of teenagers dressed as anime characters I could not hope to identify. All the flavors of geekdom were stacked on top of each other in a massive ice cream sundae. The first time I went to Comic Con, I was blown away by the level of love on display and it is still an inspiration. You can be cynical about the whole thing if you want, but it’s hard to stay cynical when you see total strangers staging superheroic tableaus with other total strangers so that yet more total strangers can take their picture.
But Mark and I were not there as fanboys. We were there to work, and we had a mic flag with our logo to prove it. We’ve got a whole week of videos for you, starting with this interview with Ian Doescher. If he had only adapted A New Hope into a Shakespearean play, dayenu. If he had only done the whole original trilogy, dayenu. But this guy had taken the Prequels and elevated them to high art (or at least something that kinda sounds like high art).
We didn’t touch on it in the interview, but I’m a big fan of how he treats Jar-Jar Binks. Before he introduces himself to the Jedi, he addresses himself to the audience and declares his intention to play the fool.
I shall make introduction in my way, portray the part that I have learned so well. It doth befit the human prejudice to think we Gungans simple, low and rude. I shall approach him thusly. It shall bend him to the path that shall assist us all. Put on thy simple wits now, Jar Jar Binks; thus play the role of clown to stoke his pride.
People never seem to run out of ways to reimagine Star Wars. That’s one of the thing that makes it such an enduring brand… but more on that later in the week.
Get the Books
- William Shakespeare’s The Phantom of Menace: Star Wars Part the First
- William Shakespeare’s The Clone Army Attacketh: Star Wars Part the Second
- William Shakespeare’s Tragedy of the Sith’s Revenge: Star Wars Part the Third
- William Shakespeare’s Verily, A New Hope: Star Wars Part the Fourth
- William Shakespeare’s The Empire Striketh Back
- William Shakespeare’s The Jedi Doth Return
