Thursday, September 25, 2008

Spare Characters

Sometimes, I wonder about spare characters. They're not quite movie extras, the ones who mill around in the crowd scenes, but they're close -- they mill around, and one of them picks up the newspaper the hero dropped, or they hold the door for the hero to go through, something like that. They do something, but the worth of that something to the overall plot is relatively little.

While we were out for a walk this morning - really nice, about 55 degrees, so that my wife had jeans and a sweater, and I had shorts and a T shirt -- I found myself thinking about the Imperial Walkers, in Star Wars. There's a scene where a guy is seen driving one -- flipping switches, looking all haughty and scornful. Rebel scum! One of the rebel fighters loops a cable around the walker's legs, and down it goes. Thats the last you see of him. I wondered: what happens to him? Does he get out? Is there an escape pod in one of those things, or does he have to cut himself out somehow, and stagger along until a rescue craft can pick him up? Does he end up in a retirement home, where people learn quickly not to ask him how he lost that leg, got that scar? Those rebel scum, they didn't attack in a noble manner, they TRIPPED us!

Just wonderin'...

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Haha, Bill I love your thinking. Some people might find it strange to think about something like this, but I definitely have those random moments and have even thought about those spare characters too.

Cerulean Bill said...

Extras need love too! (g)