40 Years Ago, NPR Had To Apologize For Airing 'Return of the Jedi' Spoilers (npr.org) 56
Forty years ago, a young boy's review of "Return of the Jedi" on NPR's All Things Considered led to uproar from listeners, prompting an on-air apology from host Susan Stamberg for airing spoilers. NPR reports: This was part of the boy's review: "Han Solo and Luke Skywalker are about to go in the pit. And just as he was about to walk the plank, R2D2 fired a laser gun from his head, and Han catched it. And he blew up the whole ship. And the big guy -- the boss of the monsters -- well, he got choked and died." In fact, his review wasn't quite right. It was a lightsaber that R2D2 fired out, which Luke Skywalker caught.
At the time, though, these plot details really rankled NPR listeners. So much so that the next day Stamberg issued an on-air apology. Well, sort of. Here's what she said: "Well, the comic book was a goof, but we certainly goofed last night. We goofed so badly that we changed our program before rebroadcasting it to the West Coast, which means that you West Coast listeners won't know what I'm talking about. But enough of you on the East Coast called to complain that we want to apologize publicly to everybody. Calls -- there were more phone calls on this one than we ever got in the middle of the hottest Middle East disputes. Calls -- there were more phone calls than Richard Gere would get if he listed his number.
And all because last night on All Things Considered, we permitted a six-and-a-half-year-old boy to tell us everything -- and I mean everything -- about Return Of The Jedi. "You gave the plot away," you said. "I've been waiting for that movie for three years, and now you have ruined it for me. How could you do a thing like that?" Well, we are sorry. We're contrite, and we're fascinated. Usually you get angry when we get our facts wrong.
This time we got them right, and you got angry. It's the difference between fact and fiction, of course, and the power of fantasy in our lives -- the need for mystery, for wonderful stories that spill themselves out for us. Of course, if they are wonderful enough -- this may be an excuse, but I doubt it -- if they're wonderful enough, they will come to us new, even though we've seen them a hundred times. That's why people keep going back to see Romeo And Juliet over and over again or The Wizard Of Oz. We know how they end but find great pleasure and nourishment watching them proceed to that ending. Two years from now, that's how we'll feel about the Return Of The Jedi. For now, though, our apologies -- we will not do that again. But listen, I have just seen the new Superman III, and Superman and Lois Lane..."
At the time, though, these plot details really rankled NPR listeners. So much so that the next day Stamberg issued an on-air apology. Well, sort of. Here's what she said: "Well, the comic book was a goof, but we certainly goofed last night. We goofed so badly that we changed our program before rebroadcasting it to the West Coast, which means that you West Coast listeners won't know what I'm talking about. But enough of you on the East Coast called to complain that we want to apologize publicly to everybody. Calls -- there were more phone calls on this one than we ever got in the middle of the hottest Middle East disputes. Calls -- there were more phone calls than Richard Gere would get if he listed his number.
And all because last night on All Things Considered, we permitted a six-and-a-half-year-old boy to tell us everything -- and I mean everything -- about Return Of The Jedi. "You gave the plot away," you said. "I've been waiting for that movie for three years, and now you have ruined it for me. How could you do a thing like that?" Well, we are sorry. We're contrite, and we're fascinated. Usually you get angry when we get our facts wrong.
This time we got them right, and you got angry. It's the difference between fact and fiction, of course, and the power of fantasy in our lives -- the need for mystery, for wonderful stories that spill themselves out for us. Of course, if they are wonderful enough -- this may be an excuse, but I doubt it -- if they're wonderful enough, they will come to us new, even though we've seen them a hundred times. That's why people keep going back to see Romeo And Juliet over and over again or The Wizard Of Oz. We know how they end but find great pleasure and nourishment watching them proceed to that ending. Two years from now, that's how we'll feel about the Return Of The Jedi. For now, though, our apologies -- we will not do that again. But listen, I have just seen the new Superman III, and Superman and Lois Lane..."
Spoiler Ahead, stop reading now! (Score:2, Offtopic)
Logan Roy died.
I know, but I wish I didn't yet.
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Do not read Google News or Yahoo News or NY Times or... if you don't want to inadvertently encounter spoilers.
40 years ago, this would have been interesting (Score:2)
see topic, if you haven't fallen asleep already
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What would have made it interesting? The inclusion of spoilers in an article about apologizing for those spoilers? The "revelation" that All Things Considered is more about schlocky heartstring-tugging than thoughtful consideration of things? Even the structure of this boring pseudo-nostalgia fits that very overplayed script.
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stay awesome.
Six year olds rarely have perfect diction.
Disney has ruined anything Star Wars related (Score:2, Informative)
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Unlikely. The prequels had already ruined it.
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wokification
You misspelled "not right-wing reactionary knee-jerk material"
Or did you just misspell Wookiefication
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Episode one and two sucked and three was not great
Episodes one and two sucked, and three was complete unmitigated shit. I made it through one and two, but they lost me at the lava fight scene where the atmosphere would have been unbreatheable, I literally walked away at that point and never came back, I did not even bother with the newer movies and have heard no reason why I should consider doing so. Star Wars is dead.
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Episode one and two sucked and three was not great
Episodes one and two sucked, and three was complete unmitigated shit. I made it through one and two, but they lost me at the lava fight scene where the atmosphere would have been unbreatheable, I literally walked away at that point and never came back, I did not even bother with the newer movies and have heard no reason why I should consider doing so. Star Wars is dead.
You really don't wanna play a dwarf in an MMO.
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Does wokification mean "having a heroine"? That's sort of a Disney tradition, not really radical.
Doesn't woke usually get applied to fiction that shoehorns in something about race or LGBTQ+ where it isn't a natural fit?
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If your heroine's only claim to fame is that she's female then she's not really a heroine; she's just an insert to meet a quota. Actually strong heroines exist and can be written well, but too many writers do not.
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Meanwhile in ROTJ the thematic undertones about colonization and subjugation of other societies is about a subtle as a sledgehammer, it has a "girlboss" who is a literal military general, the previous machismo hero is reduced to comic support and the main character deals with his daddy issues for the remainder of the film. Nothing "woke" here folks!
Or maybe the sequels are forgettable because JJ is a director who is all flash and little substance and the scripts feel drowning in studio executive notes with
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Agreed with Episodes 7-9, but, apart from that...well, Jon Favreau, Dave Filoni and Tony Gilroy have more or less rescued Star Wars. Mandalorian, Andor, to the lesser extent Boba Fett have all been enjoyable, Andor has pretty much been best Star Wars since Rogue One (which was best since the Empire).
Even the Obi-Wan was good enough (though it rode mostly on Ewan McGregor's performance).
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Boba Fett was terrible, apart from the one episode that was really The Mandalorian. And The Mandalorian just finished a pretty poor season, after having a decent first two.
Andor ended up being great, but the first 5 or so episodes were extremely mediocre and poorly paced.
Thing is, even the original trilogy was a mixed bag. Jedi, which TFA is about, is the weakest. The whole first act is basically terrible and makes little sense. I defy anyone to explain exactly what Luke's plan was. The Ewoks were just prod
Can't Spoil The Spoiled. (Score:2)
Worst sci-fi world created. Xenomorphs for life.
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Why bother clicking on a subject you don't like?
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Ditto.
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I've been here since before UIDs - I only have a 4 digit cos it took me that long to register. Back in my day, we karma whored by posting links to relevant material. Haters were rare.
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Haters were rare.
Clearly they've been here long enough that their memory is starting to fade. Haters were so common Slashdot built the meta-moderation system to manage it. Maybe they didn't see much hate because there was a lot more comment traffic back then, so the hate just got outnumbered.
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Ah, yes - 40 years ago (Score:2)
Back when people still gave a shit about the Star Wars franchise.
The old time-travel brain teaser. (Score:3)
Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)
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laughably one sided reporting from NPR
You don't give any examples, and instead just have the apocryphal Soviet headline. I imagine something like gun control would fit the bill. Because there's only intense coverage of gun policy in the immediate aftermath of a mass shooting, that puts an organization like the NRA in a tough position. I don't think it is "laughably one sided" though.
delivered with a smug air of unearned intellectual superiority.
I suspect this is the real reason for the animosity. The NPR has a sort of Hillary Clinton thing going against it. The 2016 election was the "Goldwater vs. McGover
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Re:Ah. That explains it. (Score:5, Informative)
Meanwhile for those of us who actually have and do listen to NPR this fairy tell of state propaganda seems utterly hollow and fantasitical. NPR gets around 10% of funding from goverment sources, much of it through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (so it's not directed by Congress specifically, nor can they excise control over content).
Also when I listen to NPR I hear a station that while yes, probably leans left in the most center-liberal milquetoast type of way, but still one that goes out of it's way to give "both sides".
In the Trump admin time I can't count how many times there was coverage about whatever controversey was surrounding him and NPR would pipe in with "Now let's bring on such-and-such assistant press secretary for the Trump admin" to give the counter side to the story. As someone who leans more left NPR comes across as a station to me that gives too much fairness sometimes. I actually changed my oipinion about things especially during that era because NPR gave me a pretty balanced look at certain stories.
Conservatives are always complaining about missing the "Cronkite good ol days" of news where it was straightforward, boring news with minimal slant and meanwhile NPR during the morning and afternoon drives slots do just that and so does PBS with NewsHour and other programming but because sometimes the story presented might conflict with their worldview.
People who think NPR is "radio Jacobin" really reveal they don't actually listen to it. Give your local affiliate a try sometime, if you don't fall asleep at the wheel it's actually pretty good.
Re:Ah. That explains it. (Score:4, Informative)
I appreciate NPR because as someone who was previously more conservative and has become more moderate, it provides a good sampling of opposing views.
Re:Ah. That explains it. (Score:4, Insightful)
What is considered left leaning in the US is at best centre right in Europe and many other places. The Democrats are what Europe would consider compassionate or moderate conservatives, or at least the more left leaning wing of the party is.
As such, if you look as the spectrum of views from left to right, almost all the mainstream politics in the US is right wing. If an organization like NPR presents a spectrum of views, it's going to see like they skew to the left because at least half that spectrum is outside the mainstream.
There seems to be very little differentiation in US politics between the various groups on the left and in the centre. You get moderates, socialists, greens, social democrats, liberal democrats, social progressives, communists, labour movements, and more. They all get lumped together and many people don't seem to know the differences between them. The differences between the US Democratic Party, republicans, fiscal conservatives, libertarians, religious conservatives, fascists, right wing populists, moderate conservatives (sometimes mistakenly called "centrists"), one nation conservatives, and so on, are much more widely understood.
That contributes to NPR seeming to give left leaning views more time.
Re: Ah. That explains it. (Score:2)
Re: Ah. That explains it. (Score:2)
I will second this about NRP. Been listening to them for decades. They give WAY TOO much to "both sides" and thus over legitimatize the crazy Right. This coming from a heavy Republican. A Teddy Roosevelt Republican. I used to listen to Hannity and Boortz too. Former got too whiny for me during Bush's second term and Boortz retired before he got to the same.
People seem to equate some news outlet covering a topic means everyone should cover it or they are "biased". They don't hold their own choice of medi
Re:Ah. That explains it. (Score:4, Insightful)
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Better it is paid for by your tax dollars, under a system where they can't be monetarily punished for what they say, than owned and paid by corporations who push their own agenda under threat of losing all funding and jobs for one wrong word.
Re:Ah. That explains it. (Score:5, Insightful)
I always wondered why there was, among some Americans, such a rabid, foaming at the mouth absolute HATRED of NPR. Do they hate tote bags? Vegetarians? People who read? What can explain the sheer animosity and desire to de-fund NPR and watch it die? I think this may be it.
They are looking for somebody, no matter how irrationally, to blame for the misfortune in their lives. That's why they like Donald Trump. He's willing to feed the fantasy that everything bad that happens to them is somebody else' fault, never their own fault. Anybody with an education is a common target for this crowd.
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Also for a lot of people, both left and right, decades of 24/7 talk radio style news really can fuck with your head I think. It's nonstop dopamine hits and sensationalism. Conflict pornography.
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They are looking for somebody, no matter how irrationally, to blame for the misfortune in their lives. That's why they like Donald Trump.
Do you lack self awareness in all areas, or just this one, lol?
Trump is your Emmanuel Goldstein. Trump is literally the person who you blame, however irrationally, for the misfortune in your life.
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We are sorry. (not really) (Score:1)
"You care about some stupid movie more than you care about Middle East disputes?"
"Whatever, you're idiot proles. We'll say 'we are sorry' even though its obvious that we're not and then imply you're dumb for being angry at us for giving away the plot to a movie."
"We obviously cannot comprehend how people would be fascinated by a realm where working class heroes can accomplish great things, and have grand adventures, while we report on a corrupt existence w
I wouldn't have thought ... (Score:2)
What's the big deal about spoilers? (Score:2)
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Besides, the only important revelation in The Return of the Jedi was the final resolution of the big twist from The Empire Strikes Back, and it wasn't mentioned in this "spoiler".
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I enjoy a movie as much knowing what is going to happen as otherwise.
I take it you don't like thrillers then. There's an entire genre dedicated to keeping the viewer on the edge not knowing what is about to happen.
Seriously that shows a level of emotional stuntedness. The anticipation of a scene is one of the story teller's few controls over the viewing experience, often carefully curated so that the viewer either predicably knows what will happen, can cleverly deduce from earlier clues (i.e. Chekov's Gun), or is completely in the dark and has their mind blown.
That control i
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I enjoy a movie as much knowing what is going to happen as otherwise.
I take it you don't like thrillers then.
I do. That is the point: I enjoy thrillers as much when I know what is going to happen as when I do not. In some ways even more. The general idea of not knowing what is going to happen does very little for me. The revelation that Vader was Luke's dad did not change the enjoyment that I got from the movie.
NPR learned it's lesson (Score:2)
...now they just never bother to apologize when they're wrong.
Superman (Score:2)
But listen, I have just seen the new Superman III, and Superman and Lois Lane..."
and it sucks! Run for your lives!