Just as a side note, if Lurker-san or any other MST'er is reading this.
I'd love an MST of the fic.
On Thu, 2 Apr 1998, David Homerick wrote:
I'm going to organize this response by looking primarily at the
casting choices. Since the main plot is more or less straight from *Star
Wars*, the interest in the story lies mostly in the contrast between the
Ranma characters and the characters from the original.
Fair enough. Fire away.
RANMA: Han Solo
RYOGA: Luke Skywalker
AKANE: Princess Leia.
"Ran Wars," a similar fic from some time ago, had Akane in the same
role, but swapped Ranma and Ryoga. I remember thinking at the time that
this was a poor choice, not only because the personalities of Ranma and Han
and of Ryoga and Luke are good matches, but because the Ranma/Akane and the
Han/Leia relationships are so similar. This fic does a much better job of
matching the roles. The "Lostwalker" joke is nice as well.
This was my take on it as well. I just couldn't see Ranma as Luke. The
personalities were just too dissimilar. Ryouga on the other hand was just
right. And the whole relationship thing between Han and Leia works so
much better with Ranma and Akane. They start out hating each other and
then grow to love each other. I also think Ran Solo is cool.
However, Ranma
appears too closely pressed into the Solo role. I'd like to see more macho
swagger from him, and more hand-to-hand fighting instead of blaster fire.
I can already imagine how he'd react to the suggestion that he traipse off
into the Breast Star to rescue some uncute girl just because she happens to
be a princess.
Hey Solo has got the macho swagger down, as for more hand to hand, maybe
in the next part episode V.
KASUMI: Wedge Antilles.
Wedge never had much personality of his own, so there's little
conflict with Kasumi's. His *job*, on the other hand, makes an odd match.
Kasumi is a sweet, polite, and innocent ace starfighter pilot. The authors
play this to the hilt, having her paint duckies and bunnies on her
starfighter and run her squadron like a Girl Scout troop. She's loads of
fun, and I hope to see more of her in this role, not just as "Tofu's
girlfriend."
I'm not quite sure what will become of Kasumi. She is one of my favorite
additions to the cast. I have a feeling she'll get much more screen time
in this fic then she did in the later movies.
NABIKI: Jabba the Hutt.
More accurately, Nabiki is a replacement Jabba. While I think
Kodachi would be a better choice, Nabiki could work well. Her sidestory
has a major problem, though. The idea -- Nabiki takes over Jabba's
organization via a clever plan -- is sound enough, but the authors were
unable to come up with a clever plan. Instead, Nabiki takes over Jabba's
organization via a silly plan that turns on Nabiki's ability to smuggle
large numbers of mercenaries onto Jabba's supposedly impregnable compound.
No information is given on how this is done or why, having done this,
Nabiki bothers with the high-speed aerial insertion or the Mata Hari dance.
Perhaps it gives her a thrill.
Jay wrote this one so I'll let him respond.
Writing intelligent characters is a difficult task. The trick is
to show the character's intelligence in action, making sure not to fall
into the Holmes trap ("I happen to have made a study of that, Watson") or
the Janeway trap ("I'll just recalibrate the polaron neutralizers on the
Luxor flow. That will solve out problem nicely"). But giving your
character an inane plan and justifying its success by pointing to the
supposed intelligence of the character is to fall into the worst trap of
all -- the Marissa Amber Flores Picard trap.
SHAMPOO: R2D2
MOUSSE: C-3PO
Shampoo's essentially self-centered nature brings an interesting
variation to faithful droid R2D2. She isn't interested in saving the
galaxy; she's just trying to stay in one piece. She resents being sent on
errands, and why shouldn't she? She and Mousse are essentially slaves,
sentient beings treated as property. Her constant desire to control her
situation despite her status as furniture makes her easily the most
compelling character in the story.
When originally casting I had no place slotted for Shamps or Mousse. I'd
originally had it suggested to me that Mousse should be Lando. I didn't
agree. Then one day I got yhe flash of inspiration that they should be
the droids. Originally they were going to fill the R2 3PO slots more
closely with Mousse as the interpretor and Shamps as the chinese speaking
droid. But then the chars mutated. I like them better now anyways.
Mousse fares less well. Shampoo's presence keeps him in blithering
idiot mode, and he never contributes anything. She has to simultaneously
protect him and fend off his advances. I would say he plays Joxer to her
Gabrielle, but that's actually more dignity than he really has.
It's not his fault. It's in his programming.
GENMA: Chewbacca
Not much to say here except that "Gen-baka" is a perfect name for
him, and I'd like to see it used outside this fic.
Originally Ukyou was to be in the Chewie role. I was disuaded from this
by Skywise and decided Genma'd be more fun.
TOFU: Ben Kenobi
This is more or less a good fit, especially since both Tofu and
Kenobi disappear partway through their respective stories. I hope there's
not too much emphasis on the Tofu/Kasumi romance, though, since I've never
seen anything interesting done with it. Oddly, if the story follows the
original, Tofu will die on the Breast Star, leaving only his ghost to date
Kasumi. Maybe spirit glasses don't fog up.
He does. Hmmm... never thought of the ghost date thing. Has
possibilities.
TATEWAKI KUNO: Lord Vader
Kuno makes a funny Vader, but not a very threatening one. He's a
buffoon and a fool, and his fighting ability's not much better than
Akane's. Vader needs to be a powerful presence, not a joke. Pantyhose
Tarou would be a much better choice.
I wanted a blithering idiot. Besides, I don't know much about Tarou. All
my knowledge of the series is from Anime and fanfics.
PRINCIPAL KUNO: Grand Moff Tarkin
Not much to say here either.
He seemed to fit.
AZUZA SHIRATORI: Boba Fett.
MIKADO SANEZIN: her partner.
Mikado is a new character for *Star Wars*, as evidenced by the fact
that he got to keep his entire name. Azuza is entertaining as the
feared-for-an-unusual-reason bounty hunter, but I could have done without
the I'm-only-pretending-to-be-an-idiot scene, as that's become a fanfiction
clich�. More important is a badly missed opportunity on the part of the
author -- we never hear of Azuza's sisters, Anaheim and Cucamonga.
Sisters? _I've_ never heard of them. <sigh> Anyone got copies of the
manga they want to part with. Or can point me in the direction of some
series info. Hell I don't even know anything about Konatsu save what I've
read in fanfics. As for the whole Azusa thing. I love the characters of
Azusa and Mikado (see .sig) and thought this would be the best place for
them.
HAPPOUSAI: Unknown.
Happousai will probably be the emperor -- err, hentperor, simply
because he's the logical choice.
Yup.
UKYO: Unknown.
Ukyo will probably be assigned the role of Lando Calrissian, Han's
old buddy. Ranma, of course, will have no idea that Ukyo's a girl, much
less that she's long been in love with him...
And that she is really pissed that he and his father ran off with the
dowry (Million-Yen 'Yaki) and left her behind. Yes that's right... meet
Ran's only legitamate fiancee.
Overall, I've enjoyed both the main story and the sidestories, with
the exception of the irritating Nabiki one. I'm looking forward to more.
Thanx for taking the time to C&C it.
Ja ne!!
Ranchan
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