Blogging about Star Wars, which has never been done before anywhere on the interweb, ever.

After watching Barbarella on Saturday and Star Wars II: Attack of the Clones last night I'm intrigued to note a parallel in the most fantastic of each films premises; the politics[1].

The Galactic Republic (Star Wars) has no standing army, but relies on the Jedi to keep the peace (with, it appears, the co-operation of local security forces; the Jedi's skills and leadership act as a force-multiplier).

The President of Earth and rotating Premier of the Sun System (Barbarella) has no armies or police and can't spare the Presidential Band[2], so send Barbarella, a triple-A star navigatrix.

These are both Western and, more generally, Adventure storylines - lone gunslinger has to pacify the town as there's no-one within a hundred miles to back them up - in one case filtered through George Lucas' superior imagination, and in the other, through a french comic book.

(George Lucas wouldn't make Barbarella, and, even if he did, it would probably be terrible. But if it did work...)



[1] That the most fantastic thing in each film is the politics is already a paralell. Good lord, they're practically the same film!
[2] Considering the seriousness of the situation, perhaps he should have tried doing without the band for a few days, but that's just my opinion.

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