星球大战重返银幕

Star Wars Returns to the Screens

星球大战重返银幕

[1]IN THIS ARTICLE: One of the biggest blockbuster movie series, the Star Wars cycle created by George Lucas, has returned to the screen, with the "prequel" titled Star Wars: Episode 1--The Phantom Menace.

[1]Once, when a movie was successful there used to be a "sequel", a follow-up film destined to build on the popularity of its predecessor and extend the life of the story at the box office.

[2] Now there is the "prequel". After the success of the great Star Wars trilogy--Star Wars (1977), The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Return of the Jedi (1983)--producer George Lucas has come up with the movie which preceded the famous story of good and evil forces battling it out across the galaxy.

[3] This preceding movie, or prequel, Star Wars: Episode 1----The Phantom Menace (1999) sets the scene for the Star Wars trilogy, with the introduction of characters such as the all-seeing old man of wisdom, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and the evil Darth Vader.

[4] When Star Wars was introduced in 1977, it set new standards. Writes film critic Colin Hogg: "'A long, long time ago in a galaxy far away,' begins 'Star Wars', the 'Gone With the Wind' of science fiction movies, the epic that made the stars in the sky the stars of the movie screen and did more than any other film to bring that 'other world' out there in the darkness into the hearts and minds of a generation.

[5] The extensive special effects, especially of the space vehicles and the amazing fight scenes with laser swords, the range of strange characters from the hairyfaced Chewbacca to the robots R2D2 and CP3O, and above the all the gripping story of the fight between opposing forces, gave the first Star Wars films a compelling look and a huge following among audiences worldwide.

[6] In the US alone, the first three films of the trilogy are in Top Ten box office earners of all time, Star Wars with $ 461 million at No 2, Return of the Jedi at No 8 with $ 309 million and The Empire Strikes Back at No 10 with 290 million.

[7] In total box office earnings worldwide, while unable to top the first billion-dollar earning film Titanic at No 1, the George Lucas science fiction films come in at a respectable No 4 (Star Wars, $ 780 million), No 12 (The Empire Strikes Back, $533 million) and No 2t (Return of the Jedi, $470 million).

[8] When the opening weekend of the prequel movie Star Wars: Episode 1--The Phantom Menace was planned in the US, crazy fans queued up to buy tickets simply to see the preview trailer. Before the opening night, fans camped outside the theatres in sleeping bags, afraid to miss an early screening.

[9] This prequel is set in a time when the Galactic Republic is on the wane and its leaders are being forced to kneel to the brutal market forces of the Trade Federation which has blocked shipping lines to the planet Naboo. The Jedi Knight, Qui-Gon (Liam Neeson cast as a Samurai) and his apprentice, Obi-Wan (new wave star Ewan McGregor with a vocal hint of Alec Guinness), are sent in to sort out the mess.

当前传影片《星球大战：第一集－－幽灵的威胁》在美国首映的那个周末被列入计划时，疯狂的影迷排起长队买票就是为了看一眼电影的宣传预告片。首映前夜，影迷们露宿在电影院外，在睡袋里过夜，生怕错过了先睹为快的机会。

[10] Central to the movie is an exciting race using the super-fast "pod racers", in a sequence reminiscent of the great chariot race in the classic movie Ben Hur.

[11] George Lucas spent a large chunk of his $ 200 million budget on nearly 2,000 computerised digital special effects shots-- by far the most seen in any film, and four times the number used to sink the "Titanic". The spectacular effects also include three totally different worlds generated by the wizardry of computers; 145 new and assorted creatures of various hideous and humorous aspects; 1, 200 new costumes and 654 standing sets.

[12] There are enough battles, races, high-speed chases, noise (John Williams is the composer along for the ride with the music, as he was for the Star Wars trilogy) to please the hardiest fan of space drama. Yet, despite all the computer trickery, that old "Star Wars" magic centres on the trilogy's familiar struggle between the forces of good and evil.

[13] But mostly George Lucas intends his movie Star Wars: Episode 1---- The Phantom Menace to appeal, as Star Wars did, to a "generation growing up without fairytales". Little did he guess when he began his original trilogy in 1977, that 22 years later, the story would still be unfolding.

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