Monday, October 20, 2014

Aliens and Halloween: Space Cowboy

Alien species help to define the science fiction genre in the same way that elves and dwarfs help to define the fantasy genre.  In a sci-fi work the aliens can be enemy monsters, helpful companions, or remote observers, just to categorize a few options.  With a few exceptions, however, the heroes of the works are humans.  Thus the aliens provide the trappings for the setting more than actual content.  In Star Wars Lucas put the aliens on display at the Mos Eisley cantina but outside of that scene we really only have Chewbacca to provide the alien flavor.  The fans latched onto those aliens, aided by Kenner action figures, and fans being what they are, they spun an Expanded Universe of tales about those aliens.  This is the sort of obsessive behavior the sci-fi and fantasy fans are known for displaying.
As previously touched upon, the standard for the genre is to assume that all members of a species are alike until proven otherwise.  All Bith love music and make great musicians.  All Wookies are poor losers.  So on.  To some degree these stereotypes are why we love the aliens so much, but then it is in our nature to play with the stereotypes to develop more cool characters.

Details, please.

This should be one of the coolest things to ever come out of a Star Wars property.  Cad Bane, space gun-slinging bounty hunter just annoys me all to Hell.

Assessment: Maybe Star Wars is a big sandbox for us all to play in (until the big bearded kid kicks down the castles and takes away your pail and shovel) but this Clint Eastwood-Duros-With-No-Name wannabe just doesn't fit.  There might have been a time when he did, but that was before the whole thing became about Jedis and Sith all the damn time.  Cad Bane appeals to the kiddies, but then one is left to wonder why given that the Western in general, and Clint Eastwood's spaghetti westerns in particular, are not relevant to a modern young audience.
As Mr. Spock would say, "This individual demonstrates belligerent behavior and an alarming lack of regard for the law."  Or the law of fashion, Spock.  I mean it.  What the hell are those things on his cheeks?  I've seen plenty of Duros before and he's the first with cheek pipes.  Damn, Lucas, you suck.

Stay tuned for more aliens and Halloween fun.

4 comments:

  1. I stopped keeping track of the milking of the Star Wars franchise a long time ago in a galaxy far far away. I like the original three movies and that's it. I use the word original loosely. I think it was you who told me that Lucas got the story from some Japanese film. I also prefer the old Star Trek to later work, but I don't mind Trek changes as much as the shameless milking of SW to sell more toys, novels and comics. That will probably change, since the Mouse owns everything now. Trek has had its low points and I predict that the ass raping isn't over, yet. Regarding space cowboys, I know how you feel about Joss Whedon (he is an ass hat), but I do like Firefly. I also accept that that comment will likely open the door to some... interesting retorts.

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    1. As long as making fun of Star Wars provides fodder for mildly humorous blog posts, consider me Farmer Rook. For space cowboys I still love the old Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers cartoon from 87, although some one of my acquaintance, a certain Roman, finds it cheesy. I'd put it over Fuckerfly any day.

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  2. Like GI Joe first comes toys then comes character. So why Cad has some type of respiration enhancement device can mostly likely be placed squarely on the unassuming shoulders of the sculptor. Who knows there may have been a prototype artist in there someplace. I thought I would like Cad at first. He was o.k. the first couple times he is in The Clone Wars, but he is quickly used up. There are too many villians and he isn't a charismatic as Hondo, I call him the intermediary Boba Fett. Jango was dead and Boba had yet to come into his own, though he did pretty well in his 3 part episode. So they brought in jet boots to replace jet packs and gave him a cowboy hat. I like that he was a Duros though. They don't get much lore love.

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    1. I can't argue against that. That is well stated. It is a toy driven franchise. Duros are one of those races that were made cool by the EU, so naturally GL doesn't give them much love. Nobody wants your sand castle to be cooler than their own when you are playing in their sandbox.

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