vanmojo alerted me to something very special about this year’s Rose Parade. For those outside the US, the Rose Parade is a huge New Year’s Day event connected with the Rose Bowl college football game. Corporations make giant floats, high school bands march, and it goes on forever.
Because 2007 will be the 30th anniversary of Star Wars, George Lucas will be the grand marshal. And also because of this, the 501st Legion will be marching in the parade.
Having a lot of Star Wars stuff in the parade sounds cool. Maybe some of the actors from the original movie, or a bunch of wookies. But no. This will be a large gathering of the Imperial Stormtroopers marching by in review.
The 501st has a long and hilarious history of charity appearances, each of which is more like an Onion article than the others. And they’re just costumed nerds, I know.
So I guess it’s perfectly fine to have the brutal, oppressive cannon fodder minions of the dark Empire marching proudly in our parade. You know, the ones who kill and burn Luke’s family at the beginning of the original movie. And it’s totally cool also to have a group named after the Nazi murderers who slaughtered millions of innocents in a horrific war of aggression, carrying out the most notorious genocide in the history of mankind. In fact, it should be awesome!
No wait, it’s that other thing: shockingly ignorant and offensive!
Someone please tell me this is a long drawn-out prank by Mel Brooks. Please.
Edit:Lucas’ extensive ripoffs from The Triumph of the Will just aren’t helping here either. Pasadena is the new Nuremberg.
Be My Blog 
I find your lack of rosebowl spirit…disturbing.
But seriously, yeah. Tasteless. If it were an indiana jones anniversary, would they have nazis?
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I sure fuckin’ hope so.
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With melty faces too!
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I was like…
“I don’t remember a notorious 501st legion in the war…”
Oh. Sturmabteilung. Right.
Ugh.
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Dude,
You forgot the best part. Remember who the marching band is?
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Life imitates bloody space conquest
For Work one Fourth of July, it was my job to command a humvee and crew in a Fourth of July parade in Atlanta, Georgia. Two band kids, while awaiting the start of the parade, were walking back and forth down the column of floats, marchers, and miscellaneous things. Every time they would pass my vehicle and crew, one of the two, who was carrying a tuba, would begin to play ‘The Imperial March’ and would not cease until he had moved some distance past us.
It’s, like… there’s a connection, dude.
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cheer up charlie
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why, YES i CAN abuse children!
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