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News & ArtsThursday, May 7, 2009
Nerd Re: The Rancor Vs. The Seattle Times
Posted by Jonah Spangenthal-Lee on Thu, May 7, 2009 at 3:05 PM
This, Eli, is a Rancor:
From Wookiepedia:
Rancors were large carnivorous reptomammals originating from the planet of Dathomir.Though they were usually considered unintelligent beasts, the rancors of Dathomir at least were semi-sentient, caring creatures who mourned their family members when they died, and who passed on oral histories of the matriarchal herds into which these were organized.
Why can't everything in life be a Star Wars reference?
1
And this is why I love you Jonah... thanks for this moment of sheer geekery to brighten up my day!
2
Um, yeah- that's actually the first thing that came to my mind when I read the last post... I was disappointed to see that the video did not involve a man in a rubber suit.
6
I meant "You mean like HOW everything in life is a Simpsons reference?". Sigh. Stupid TV. Be more funny!
8
If they're really nerding out that hard, 'last best hope' is probably a Babylon 5 reference and not an Abraham Lincoln reference
9
Are you telling me that a site called Wookiepedia neglected to include the second "e" in "Wookiee"?
10
Curiously, the Blethens are sentient, semi-caring creatures who mourn their family members when they die, and who pass on the untaxed estates of the patriarchal herds into which they are organized.
15
@13
Thems gettin your house firebombed in the middle of the night while you sleep due to dopamine injection words.
Thems gettin your house firebombed in the middle of the night while you sleep due to dopamine injection words.
16
"mourned their family members when they died"
yeah
for about 8 seconds before they devoured the carcass
yeah
for about 8 seconds before they devoured the carcass
18
I had a rancor. Still remember feeding it bits of g.i joes and trying to fit my sister's She-Ra's head into its gaping maw.
It was sooo totally the king of my toys. It even dominated my Carebears. It was only when my cousin brought over his Voltron and we formed a concerted coalition of the plastic and the willing with my crack team of Gobots led by SnakeEyes mounted on my Battlecat that we staved off the terror of the Rancor and only then when at the last moment a swarm of my Army Ants surprise attacked from behind Castle Grayskull their sheer numbers fully guaranteeing a sure banishment to the dark Tarturas beneath my bed.
It was sooo totally the king of my toys. It even dominated my Carebears. It was only when my cousin brought over his Voltron and we formed a concerted coalition of the plastic and the willing with my crack team of Gobots led by SnakeEyes mounted on my Battlecat that we staved off the terror of the Rancor and only then when at the last moment a swarm of my Army Ants surprise attacked from behind Castle Grayskull their sheer numbers fully guaranteeing a sure banishment to the dark Tarturas beneath my bed.
19
Oh man, I was SURE that this was going to be a Magic card reference.
(In case you weren't a dorky middle schooler about ten years ago, here's what I'm talking about: http://www.wizards.com/global/images/mag… )
(In case you weren't a dorky middle schooler about ten years ago, here's what I'm talking about: http://www.wizards.com/global/images/mag… )
20
:: sigh ::
here's a shorter link to the same thing: http://xrl.us/berwcn
couldn't you at least warn anonymous posters that our URLs would be limited to N characters? maybe I'll sign up after all.
here's a shorter link to the same thing: http://xrl.us/berwcn
couldn't you at least warn anonymous posters that our URLs would be limited to N characters? maybe I'll sign up after all.
21
@12
Not just Dune, sweetie, although it was obviously a big influence. Many of the influences of both are shared, so it may seem like Lucas is drawing on Dune when, in fact, both he and Herbert are drawing on something else, e.g. Asimov. Star Wars draws variously on Asimov's Foundation Trilogy, Akira Kurosawa (esp. The Hidden Fortress), Flash Gorden (1930s/40s), Lawrence of Arabia, The Searchers, Joseph Campbell, Once Upon a Time in the West, The Guns of Navarone, Tolkien, The Good the Bad and the Ugly...
One of the points to Star Wars is that it is a nostalgic pastiche (in the literary sense), an intentional and largely reverential cobbling of multiple elements into something different. Considering that Star Wars is first and foremost film, I think we need to look first at Kurosawa as an influence.
Herbert's Dune stories themselves draw heavily on Edgar Rice Burroughs, the Foundation Trilogy, Dostoevsky, as well as Shakespeare (Hamlet, Macbeth, and King Lear), to say nothing of Tolkien and ESPECIALLY Sophocles, among many other sources.
Dune is much more literary and modernist/elitist in its origins, whereas Star Wars is much more pop culture and postmodern/bourgeois in its origins. They are nicely complementary that way, I think.
Not just Dune, sweetie, although it was obviously a big influence. Many of the influences of both are shared, so it may seem like Lucas is drawing on Dune when, in fact, both he and Herbert are drawing on something else, e.g. Asimov. Star Wars draws variously on Asimov's Foundation Trilogy, Akira Kurosawa (esp. The Hidden Fortress), Flash Gorden (1930s/40s), Lawrence of Arabia, The Searchers, Joseph Campbell, Once Upon a Time in the West, The Guns of Navarone, Tolkien, The Good the Bad and the Ugly...
One of the points to Star Wars is that it is a nostalgic pastiche (in the literary sense), an intentional and largely reverential cobbling of multiple elements into something different. Considering that Star Wars is first and foremost film, I think we need to look first at Kurosawa as an influence.
Herbert's Dune stories themselves draw heavily on Edgar Rice Burroughs, the Foundation Trilogy, Dostoevsky, as well as Shakespeare (Hamlet, Macbeth, and King Lear), to say nothing of Tolkien and ESPECIALLY Sophocles, among many other sources.
Dune is much more literary and modernist/elitist in its origins, whereas Star Wars is much more pop culture and postmodern/bourgeois in its origins. They are nicely complementary that way, I think.
24
i READ SOMETHing about registered comments, so I thought I should do it here. How odd, in the last 24 hours this is the only post worth commenting on.
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