It’s very interesting to go back to the original critical reviews of films that are held in such high esteem today, because at the time of their release, opinions were often very different.
Last week saw the 35th anniversary of the release of the original Star Wars film. Today many critics and fans have voiced the opinion that the original trilogy was superior to the more recent prequel trilogy. Whether they are right or wrong is a matter of personal view, but what is interesting is that when Star Wars was released, many of the reviews made the same criticisms about the film as they did for the prequel trilogy. Here’s one example from The New Yorker.
Even more recently, the film Prometheus, a prequel (in spirit) to Alien was reviewed by The Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw as “[lacked] the central punch of Alien”. What is interesting here is that a number of years ago the 1979 journal Films and Filming contained a review of Alien. I will never forget the final line of what was, to be frank, quite a damning review, which stated “this film will not stand the test of time”.
In thirty five years will we look back at films released today in a different, more favourable light?
Dozens of kids who participated in the Star Wars extravaganza on July 15th coloured in a variety of clone trooper and starfighter murals throughout the day. The murals generate family involvement allowing family members of all generations to interact with their children on simple craft activities. The murals are a permanent and popular feature of the School Holiday themed days.
Wow! There’s simply no other words that can describe the day. With over 2200 people through the door the day was nothing short of energetic! People came from far far away, from Pasadena to Port Pirie, to visit the Library which was transformed into planets from the Galactic Empire!
Endor saw over 40 kids turn their teddy bears into ewoks, Kamino bred a battalion of 90 clones who marched throughout the Library.
Star Wars Storytime entertained scores of younglings, whilst on Coruscant, over 100 padawans were trained in the art of lightsaber battle!
Special guests including Darth Vader and other costumed Star Wars characters provided plenty of photo opportunities, and the chance for padawans to practice their new saber skills. 
Special thanks to our partners, Hoyts Tea Tree Plaza, 
You can have many layers of sound, each sound file is triggered to begin when a particualr image frame appears on screen. The voices were recorded on a microphone and then turned into a digitised sound file and like the rest of the sound slotted into the film when appropriate. The Lego sabers were replaced with ‘rotoscoped’ sabers again using photoshop. After all the changes the entire series of files is rendered together (which takes a home PC about 6 hours to do!) and then uploaded onto Youtube! Fortunately Lucasfilm is actually supportive of fan films that promote Star Wars, so as long as we aren’t making profit from it, we have no breach issues.
As part of the Star Wars family day on July 15, young children (2-8 years old) are invited to dress their teddy as an ewok and join our cuddly ewoks for our ewok procession andsinging fun songs! There will be prizes for best dressed teddybear! The sessions will be at 1.00 to 1.30pm and again at 3.00-3.30pm. No bookings are required, but all children must have an accompanying adult. More information on our school holiday program is available 
Star Wars returns to the Library on July 15th as part of the July School Holiday Program! There will be a variety of activites for children and adults, from Jedi Saber Techniques and Clone Parades to quizzes and lightsaber battles! The day ends with a screening of Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Keep your eye on this blog for further details…
