A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...
You hear those words, and you know. You just know. Star Wars comes to mind, and all of a sudden you see words scrolling up the screen in front of your eyes. Then, you're in a X-Wing, and an annoying robot is chasing you up the hall, and then you're putting on a voice and saying, "... I am your father".
Such is the power of a tagline - that it transcends time and space (in both cases, pun intended - Yes, I enjoyed that too). The film 'Star Wars' came out in 1977 - and it was the franchise which has made over $70 Billion Dollars! Mostly off merchandise, would you believe? Not to mention, a handy payday for George Lucas, who sold the rights to Disney in 2012 for 4.1 Billion Dollars! What I'm saying is, that's a lotta HIVE!
Now, I want to do something I wouldn't normally do, and that's a copy/paste. However, I want to share with you a review from 1977 - which, in hindsight, was wrong - and makes me smile from ear to ear!
"Star Wars is not an improvement on Mr Lucas’ previous work, except in box-office terms. It isn’t the best film of the year, it isn’t the best science fiction ever to be translated to the screen, it isn’t a number of other things either that sweating critics have tried to turn it into when faced with finding some plausible explanation for its huge and slightly sinister success considering a contracting market."
And then, he throws in this headline, which also has me smiling. Let's be honest, could today be getting any better: The Beatles and Star Wars?? Am I right?
Source for review and newspaper image
So that now brings us to the 'Why is it my favourite tag-line?' Simple: it's got endurance! It's been around a long time, and will continue to be. It evoked the idea of fantasy (rescue the princess in a faraway land) and blended the trope into Science Fiction. Genius! Watching the film as a young fellow, I always thought this film was futuristic - but now, on reflection, I realise I've been duped. It's funny, isn't it. You assume technological star battles must be ahead of us - but, the tag-line clearly says 'Long ago'. Isn't that crazy, that I've never connected that before? It certainly feels like a beautiful paradox now; reading one thing but thinking the other. In the comments, I'd love to know if you ever got this, or if I'm a bit behind. Let me know!
And finally, this is a line which I do see so often. As a English Literature teacher, I can't tell you how many times a student has submitted this as the opening line of some garbage piece of creative writing, which they believe is highly original. And then, every time, I can't help but smile!
Thanks for joining me, Tim
This post was in response to the CineTV Twitter prompt: https://twitter.com/CineTv_io/status/1503016111205400581
