Splendiferous!

The Washington Post (sensing a pattern?) has a bunch of its old reviews of the Star Wars films online for viewing. Pretty damn good reviews. One of them is not all that pleasant. The main review raves about Empire Strikes Back. The one in the Weekend section by Judith Martin (actually the first of two reviews) is not complimentary. In fact, Judith Martin says Empire sucks. (Blasphemy!) The funniest part of the review (unintentional of course, as I am reading it 25 years later and we all know how it ends up) is this:

Its originator, George Lucas, has revealed that the two pictures are actually parts four and five of a nine-part saga, as if audiences will some day receive the total the way devotees now go to Seattle for a week of immersion in Wagner's complete Ring Cycle.

Nonsense, This is no momumental artistic work, but a science-fiction movie done more snappily than most, including its own predecessor. A chocolate bar is a marvelous sweet that does not need to pretend to be a chocolate souffle; musical comedies are wonderful entertainment without trying to compete with opera; blue jeans are a perfect garment that shouldn't be compared with haute couture . There are times when you would much rather have a really good hot dog than any steak, but you can still recognize that one is junk food and the other isn't.

How ironic.

Now, I'll be the first to say the Ring Cycle is a fantastic bit of work. But, wow. Devotees go to Seattle for a whole WEEK to see the Ring Cycle?

What about waiting in line for an entire YEAR for a Star Wars movie?

I wonder what Judith Martin is up to now?