Even more Phantom Menace
on December 12, 2013 at 12:01 amChapter: Billie and Danny
Location: Danny and Joe's dorm room
Yeah, that’s about right.
Man, I think this might be the R.A.’s last appearance.
Yeah, that’s about right.
Man, I think this might be the R.A.’s last appearance.
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So Howard and the RA are into both Star Trek and Star Wars. I don’t know if is breaking the stereotype of the two franchise’s fans being viedimtly opposed or continuing the stereotype of all nerds to be into the same collection of nerdy things. But then again I’m probably thinking too much about it. I mean, this isn’t Shortpacked where there is a rotating group of people to represent different fandoms.
I just always assumed Willis didn’t know about the rivalry back then and assumed ST nerds loved both.
Well to be fair, there are a lot of people that are fans of both. It is nice that he didnt’ do the stereotypical “Howard poo poos SW cause he’s a Trekkie and That’s The Way It Is”, considering how stereotypical he was of many Trekkies at the time.
My best friend in high school and art school had a Star Trek-themed birthday party and also waited in line all day for the Star Wars Prequels.
The number of people my age (34) I know who watched TNG on TV when they were young is quite high. Pretty much all of them went to see Star Wars in the cinemas. Not everyone does “I like this thing, so I have to hate this thing”. Sometimes people just like stuff.
I am 37, and this mirrors my life.
Clearly, after his sister’s death, Howard stopped believing in the idealistic future of Star Trek, and turned to Star Wars in the hope of talking to her Force Ghost.
Or am I over thinking all of this?
And weirdly, we see her as something similar to a force ghost later on in the future.
And with that the fourth wall is violently assaulted to bring us commentary on nerd culture.
Ahhhh…feels like Shortpacked.
That wasn’t the fourth wall, just the fabric of reality.
It’s not the fourth wall, it’s the one opposite to it.
Oh, those nostalgic days when Star Wars could still be viewed with optimism. *sigh*
…2013?
I mean, maybe not EVERYbody’s excited, but it seems like a lot of people are pumped for VII…
I still view Star Wars with optimism. Sure, Phantom Menace wasn’t that great but each movie got better. Lucas always sucked at dialogue and he was a few decades out of practice writing the universe, a drop in quality was inevitable.
I personally feel Phantom Menace got too much hate. It wasn’t good by any means but when compared to Attack of the Clones (And that Shitty Clone Wars CG cartoon) it’s fantastic.
I like how the R.A. has to have “R.A.” on his shirt so we remember who the hell he is. It’s like he’s escaped from a political cartoon.
Well, it was a choice between the “R.A” shirt or the “Ken Starr” one that morning…
He’s a time traveler who likes Arms Micron so much he had a T-shirt made.
It’s refreshing in a “historical perspective” kind of way, but I’m glad this was just about the last “Hey look, we’re in a comic strip” exercise that you pulled. I mean, yeah, there were Robin’s meta-jokes and the drama tag in Shortpacked, and It’s Walky‘s crossover with the frozen world of Avalon and a couple more little pokes at meta (we may have even done something like that in the IW/Fans crossover), but I think this was the last time the meta completely interrupted the flow of the non-meta story.
I think it comes off as bothersome because Danny’s even more wrong than usual in yesterday’s installment. Seeing him and Billie bond while trying to process Ruth’s death isn’t boring at all. “Hey, isn’t it wild how everyone’s into Movie of the Year,” on the other hand, IS pretty boring. Or to paraphrase the most recent of Shortpacked‘s meta-moments, you can get Star Wars jokes anywhere, but there’s only one Death of Ruth Lesse.
Still, at least this arbitrary interruption gives us a happy Howard. (Now, see, that would be somewhat interesting: Howard’s engagement with the nerd-celebration helping him through the worst of his mourning, and that mourning maybe giving him a bit of perspective when fellow fans called the new Star Wars “the worst thing that could ever happen.” Then again, the movie Fanboys covered fairly similar ground back in ’09.)
Originally posted:
May 21, 1999