Do you still consider yourself a Star Wars fan?
Most definitely. I am not as "rabid" of a fan as I was as a child, but I still find myself lost in the wonderful universe George Lucas created when I watch any of the movies.
What did you think of the prequels?
In general, I enjoyed the prequels. I felt that they got progressively better. The Phantom Menace, I felt, was geared too much to young children. The young boy Anakin didn't help matters there. The major positive to TPM, in my mind, was Darth Maul. I am a huge Ray Park fan, and thought Maul had an absolutely incredible look and presence. Plus I completely dug the double-bladed lightsaber. I was disappointed that Maul was not used more and fleshed out as a character more than he was and that he went down as easily as he did.
Attack of The Clones was better in that it was a more adult movie and the tone began to darken as Anakin began to spiral downward and Palpatine/Sidious continued puppet-mastering events while hiding in plain sight. I thought Christopher Lee was a great casting choice to play Count Dooku. That is another character that I wish had been used a bit more.
Revenge of the Sith was definitely a strong end to the prequel trilogy. It was dark and violent, which it needed to be to portray the conclusion of the fall of a decent man into the abyss of evil. It also did much to reinforce the notion of Anakin/Vader as a tragic figure. It also made the conclusion of Return of the Jedi all the more poignant as, through the love and strength of his son, Anakin was finally able to throw off the chains of evil that Sidious had on him all of those years and redeem himself by sacrificing himself to destroy his evil master. Powerful stuff.
Have you seen or heard much about the upcoming Clone Wars series? What do you think?
I have heard a bit about that as well as the new live-action television series that is apparently in development as well. I am definitely excited to see them and hope they do well.
We have to ask, have you ever received feedback about the two erroneous answers given in the Quizbook -- the name of the character who attacks Luke in the cantina (the book says Snaggletooth) and the number of engines on the blockade runner (the book says 9)?
I actually never really got any feedback regarding those and was told that Lucasfilm had researched all the questions and answers for correctness. Besides, based on a 425 question quiz book, that constitutes a .004% error rate, not too bad for an 11 year-old.
Just for fun, Payton wanted to throw a few of your old Quizbook questions back at you to see how, well, the 'master' performs. Here you go:
What did Yoda tell Luke was inside the tree?
Wow...I want to say darkness or fear [TJMQ Answer: "Only what you take with you."]
What were the eight ways Han addressed the Princess?
Leia, Your Worship, Princess, Your Highness, Your worshipfulness, Sister...that's all I can think [TJMQ Answer: "Leia, Your Highness, Sweetheart, Your Worship, your Worshipfulness, Sister, Your Highness and Princess"]
What does the TIE in TIE fighter stand for?
Twin Ion Engine [Nailed it!]
What was Artoo's robot classification?
Astromech droid, I believe [TJMQ Answer: "Thermocapsulary Dehousing Assister (also Astro-droid)"]
Well, technically, the book's answer on that last one isn't really accurate anymore. It's generally understood Threepio was insulting Artoo when he called him a "thermocapsulary dehousing assister" -- so, astro-droid, or astromech, is correct. We're giving Rusty, er, Matt, three out of four. Not too shabby Matt!
Be sure to check out our original coverage of Payton's blog post here.
