"The original "Star Wars" and its sequels are echo chambers of tropes and images from literary science fiction, used in ways that strike a careful balance between affectionate familiarity and outright plagiarism. The first glimpse of Luke Skywalker's desert homeworld, Tatooine, evokes the setting of Frank Herbert's 1965 novel "Dune"; Lucas even throws in a shot of a skeletal desert serpent reminiscent of Herbert's gigantic sandworms. The amazing visuals suggest an eye nourished by the magazine art of Frank R. Paul, John Schoenherr, Kelly Freas and Chesley Bonestell."
One MAJOR omission from the article's list of Star Wars' science fiction precedents is Larry Niven. The "jump to hyperspace," rowdy bars full of gnarly aliens, and much of the humorous tone of the first movie came straight from Niven's "Known Space" series (Ringworld, World of Ptavvs, and scores of shorts). It's almost not worth mentioning because SW is such a watered-down version of Niven. (Oh well, I guess it is, because I just fired off a letter to Salon.) The article is funniest trashing the Lucas/Campbell synergy.
Lots of letters got published today in response to the Star Wars article in Salon. My plug for Larry Niven, sadly, didn't make the cut. The one thing all the letters had in common was that they took the Salon article seriously. Mine didn't--sorry, Larry, I let you down.
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- dave 4-10-2002 9:07 pm
One MAJOR omission from the article's list of Star Wars' science fiction precedents is Larry Niven. The "jump to hyperspace," rowdy bars full of gnarly aliens, and much of the humorous tone of the first movie came straight from Niven's "Known Space" series (Ringworld, World of Ptavvs, and scores of shorts). It's almost not worth mentioning because SW is such a watered-down version of Niven. (Oh well, I guess it is, because I just fired off a letter to Salon.) The article is funniest trashing the Lucas/Campbell synergy.
- tom moody 4-10-2002 10:07 pm [add a comment]
Lots of letters got published today in response to the Star Wars article in Salon. My plug for Larry Niven, sadly, didn't make the cut. The one thing all the letters had in common was that they took the Salon article seriously. Mine didn't--sorry, Larry, I let you down.
- tom moody 4-18-2002 8:04 am [add a comment]