Simian Farmer: It's not like you don't know this already...

But today marks one calendar month until the release of
Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith.

The excitement is palpable. At least near me it is. And I know it's excitement because I showered this morning.

Also, there are three new TV trailers just released on Star Wars dot com. (Which, incidentally, now has a nifty new front page.) Whole lotta light sabre action and some flying ships and a couple of glimpses of General Grievous. You even get to hear him say, "Crush them!"

Links to the TV spots are:
Jedi Action 1
Jedi Action 2
Unite

I'm getting giddy. And nervous. I mean, this wraps everything up. This is supposed to validate the efforts, some would say sub-par, made on Episodes I and II. This is supposed to be the deepest, darkest abyss into which falls the Old Republic until A New Hope arises.

And looking at what eventually happens in Episodes IV, V, and VI, it sort of speaks to the advice of not getting caught up in forming a power-hungry empire of some sort, hell-bent on galactic subjugation. You're gonna be doomed to failure from the word 'crush them!'. I guess that's two words.

Case in point:
When Luke and Ben are sitting in his hut after the incident with the Tusken Raiders, Ben states that, "...for a thousand generations the Jedi were guardians of peace in the Old Republic. Before the dark times; before the Empire."

Then going through the events that culminate in Return of the Jedi, this 'Empire' lasts all of what, 30 years? And then we march on in with the New Republic. So I don't advise going empire-shopping any time soon. They don't have a really long shelf life.

But getting back to me getting giddy. A large part of me feels like Grand Moff Tarkin did during the attack on the original Death Star. I see him looking pensively at a display screen off-camera with a hand to his chin and then turning to the Dark Lord of the Sith. "I'm taking an awful risk, Vader. This had better work." And then, in an instant, the light goes out of his world.

My own New Hope is that this crown jewel of the series doesn't similarly go BOOM. When I'm sitting in that theatre on Thursday, May 19^th, I want to be blown away. I'm expecting to be blown away. And I hate going into a movie with expectations.

But this is Star Wars. How can I not?!