lazycrockett said:

imago said:

None of the original Star Wars films were masterpieces.

But, The Empire Strikes Back was good.

All were impressive technically.

N I would have no problem if Lucas concentrated on making the visual as up to date and popping as he could, Make the space battles more Epic great, heres my coin, but for the most part he doesnt.

He adds scenes and dialogue that isn't needed or doesn't add to the story. Honestly his screenwriting skills are a joke at worse or folksy at best.

Now if he took ROTS and added scenes of Padme, Organa and others forming the beginning of the rebellion then I would be more than happy with changes that add something to the story, but having Darth screaming NOOOOOOoooooooooo As he picks up the emperor and thows him into the abyss doesn't add anything. Lord rewrite WTH scene where Padme, a bitchin strong woman dies at the end cause shes sad???, which totally goes against everything in the ROTJ Leia and her memories of her mother.

[Edited 9/1/11 22:33pm]

I love your spirited emotional investment in this.

Cerebus said:

lazycrockett said:

^Well then he need to do a whole reshoot of The Phantom Menace.

"WWEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!" god what a horrid kid actor.

Honestly - and I mean really, being 100% truthful - I liked him better than Hayden "I'm a piece of cardboard" Christensen.

yeah at least he has the excuse of just being a little kid

Cerebus said:

lazycrockett said:

^Well then he need to do a whole reshoot of The Phantom Menace.

"WWEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!" god what a horrid kid actor.

Honestly - and I mean really, being 100% truthful - I liked him better than Hayden "I'm a piece of cardboard" Christensen.

Well that gets into the whole Lucas who doesnt direct his actors. If I recall all the cast basically said that Lucas didn't offer any suggestions or opinions on how scenes should be acted. Ewan and Natalie had more experience and more leeway with what they could do, while Hayden who can actually act if directed was basically left up to figure out Anakins fall from grace. Let's be honest the script really doesn't make all that much of a deal bout it either.

Cerebus said:

lazycrockett said:

^Well then he need to do a whole reshoot of The Phantom Menace.

"WWEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!" god what a horrid kid actor.

Honestly - and I mean really, being 100% truthful - I liked him better than Hayden "I'm a piece of cardboard" Christensen.

Very keen observation, my friend!

NDRU said:

Cerebus said:

Honestly - and I mean really, being 100% truthful - I liked him better than Hayden "I'm a piece of cardboard" Christensen.

yeah at least he has the excuse of just being a little kid

That's a good way at looking at this issue.

imago said:

I wonder why he doesn't do more tweaking to the prequels.

Surely he doesn't think those are perfect.

I think to his POV they are more perfect because he had greater freedom when making them. Sorta like how Emancipation is more perfect than 1999 (this is the analogy that keeps on giving)

As for prequel changes...I think they removed the horrible Yoda puppet from Episode I and replaced him digitally.

Other than that, I've heard of none.

[Edited 9/1/11 22:52pm]

NDRU said:

imago said:

I wonder why he doesn't do more tweaking to the prequels.

Surely he doesn't think those are perfect.

I think to his POV they are more perfect because he had greater freedom when making them. Sorta like how Emancipation is more perfect than 1999 (this is the analogy that keeps on giving)

Well, the both Prince and George Lucas should be sent to prison and forced to work for free in sweatshops all day.

StonedImmaculate said:

As for prequel changes...I think they removed the horrible Yoda puppet from Episode I and replaced him digitally.

Other than that, I've heard of none.

[Edited 9/1/11 22:52pm]

I would have kept Frank Oz's Yoda though out. Except for the dooku/yoda jedi scene. ESB yoda rocked.

StonedImmaculate said:

As for prequel changes...I think they removed the horrible Yoda puppet from Episode I and replaced him digitally.

Other than that, I've heard of none.

[Edited 9/1/11 22:52pm]

Is that right?

I remember Lucas commenting on how there was no substitute for Frank Oz...of course he replaced him in the later ones

[Edited 9/1/11 22:54pm]

StonedImmaculate said:

As for prequel changes...I think they removed the horrible Yoda puppet from Episode I and replaced him digitally.

Other than that, I've heard of none.

[Edited 9/1/11 22:52pm]

He was a puppet in Episode I?

OMG, I dread saying this but I might have to see that movie again to see that. I thought he was cgi.

imago said:

StonedImmaculate said:

As for prequel changes...I think they removed the horrible Yoda puppet from Episode I and replaced him digitally.

Other than that, I've heard of none.

[Edited 9/1/11 22:52pm]

He was a puppet in Episode I?

OMG, I dread saying this but I might have to see that movie again to see that. I thought he was cgi.

It wasnt the same puppet, it was a "younger" one, which is odd cause for a creature that is over 800 years old youd think he wouldnt age so fast in 20 years, unless Dagobah was hell on ones skin.

[Edited 9/1/11 22:57pm]

imago said:

you love it, baby!

imago said:

NDRU said:

I think to his POV they are more perfect because he had greater freedom when making them. Sorta like how Emancipation is more perfect than 1999 (this is the analogy that keeps on giving)

Well, the both Prince and George Lucas should be sent to prison and forced to work for free in sweatshops all day.

Lucas could certainly stand to sweat some of that chin away

lazycrockett said:

imago said:

He was a puppet in Episode I?

OMG, I dread saying this but I might have to see that movie again to see that. I thought he was cgi.

It wasnt the same puppet, it was a "younger" one, which is odd cause for a creature that is over 800 years old youd think he wouldnt age so fast in 20 years, unless Dagobah was hell on ones skin.

[Edited 9/1/11 22:57pm]

Well, Degoba would have been good for his skin due to the moisture. But on Coruscant, he could just hop over to the pharmacist to get a good exfoliator.

OMG, this thread is gay now.

Honey it became gay when you posted.

[Edited 9/1/11 23:06pm]

lazycrockett said:

Honey it became gay when you posted.

NDRU said:

imago said:

Well, the both Prince and George Lucas should be sent to prison and forced to work for free in sweatshops all day.

Lucas could certainly stand to sweat some of that chin away

I have a theory that Anthony Daniels has a condo in there.

lazycrockett said:

StonedImmaculate said:

As for prequel changes...I think they removed the horrible Yoda puppet from Episode I and replaced him digitally.

Other than that, I've heard of none.

[Edited 9/1/11 22:52pm]

I would have kept Frank Oz's Yoda though out. Except for the dooku/yoda jedi scene. ESB yoda rocked.

Right on! But the "younger" puppet in Episode I just looked silly.

And I swear...if they replaced the ESB Yoda with a digital on the BR I will hunt Lucas down myself!

None of the movies are that great though, are they? I mean, good fun, sure, and the original movies looked so cool visually when I saw them as a kid, but nobody claims they're brilliant all-round films do they? Why do ppl get so intense about them? Is it that it was part of many ppls' childhoods? I like the Transformer movies for that reason and give them a pass on stuff I wouldn't let slide in other films.

Who really gives a fuck that Darth never said anything the first time and now says "Nooooo", is it really that big of a deal? having said that, i've never seen most of the star wars films. So maybe I'm missing some random ass reason why everybody cares so much.

Avatar > Star Wars

When are fans going 2 stop falling 4 this nonsense?

Didn't he scream "Nooooooooo!" in the comic book version? The comic book is the real canon, so I'm glad the film is finally catching up.

imago said:

None of the original Star Wars films were masterpieces.

But, The Empire Strikes Back was good.

All were impressive technically.

I believe much differently... 1977's Star Wars was such a perfect achievement that things it invented (and this isn't just effects, it's about being post modern and having retro elements mixed with futuristic elements in the cinematic vocabulary (the silent movie era transitions) (most people don't even realize the music style choice was a revolutionary concept), it's about the way the story concept took old mythical elements and made them accessible through characterizations that were completely contemporary, and it's bout the way it so successfully put these together into a PERFECTLY structured script. That movie is monumental, and it's going down to an abstract level of presenting sound collage and dynamic visual patterns that entertain in themselves. That's great art.

I think it's like electricity or cars... they are so big but so old and established that people forget how cool they actually are. I could probably right a huge book on what makes the original 1977 Star Wars so great. And the fact that so many people went and saw it on it's original release reflects it's achivement (it is still the 2nd biggest movie of all time behind the ridiculously popular Gone With the Wind). It was in the theater for over a year straight.That shit influenced things down to the look of medical equipment in your hospital and the car you drive, and the way movies play out their stories, to the way movies deepen their stories with additional media like websites. It completely ingrained into WORLD culture certain ways of combining intellectually mistmatched elements like a retro symphonic score of character themes (that was NOT cool in the 70's up until that point) with a futuristic scifi visuals... I'll just keep writing. And by the way, I do think a lot of it was happy accidents and painful work. Lucas checked into a hospital to recover after that production. He was tweaking that script to the last minute and being made fun of the whole time. What happens when he tries again when he's ultra successful and comfortable? "Willow". Horrible trash. Star Wars was a perfect combination of talents, intellect, and massive rebellious antiHollywood effort.

But just look at the movie as an adventure film. It is incredibly well paced and structured. It goes from reflective storybook moments like the protagonist wistfully bored watching a sunset, to him in war inflicting the victory strike. And at the the end in a ingenious repurposing of NAZI propaganda, there is an award ceremony that also manages to throw in an ingenious theatrical bow of all the heroes, and it works within the fiction, and works in reality, because audiences had just had the most incredible cinematic/aural/pop-mythic experience of their life so far.

As a filmmaker I find a lot of flaws that mar Empire Strikes Back even though it remains the popular one to put on a throne today. As a kid it didn't thrill me or obsess me as much as Star Wars, and I know exactly why. But that would be a big essay!

I think Lucas wold be a class act if he released a special blu-ray of the original 1977 Star Wars as the standalone movie it was intended to be at that time. It had no part 4/New Hope on it back then. It was thought that it would be alone.

____________________

Also Prince did reissue his update of the song 1999!

Utterly unnecessary and obvious, but it could have been worse, like George using footage of Padme, Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon, as if Vader was thinking "you Palpatine you! you stole my love and friends from me but you won't kill my son!!!"

if only George produced what we all want: a high-budget SW tv series about Luke's Jedi Academy starring Mark Hammill... if only

when hell freezes over...

[Edited 9/2/11 8:08am]

StonedImmaculate said:

The originals were released on DVD a few years ago with no tweaks.

As for his constant changes...NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Were they really? Because I bought them and I noticed a few tweaks.

I never should have sold my VHS versions of the "pure" originals.

I'm not buying again until he releases IV-VI, untouched, preferably with all available deleted scenes.

namepeace said:

StonedImmaculate said:

The originals were released on DVD a few years ago with no tweaks.

As for his constant changes...NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Were they really? Because I bought them and I noticed a few tweaks.

I never should have sold my VHS versions of the "pure" originals.

I'm not buying again until he releases IV-VI, untouched, preferably with all available deleted scenes.

The originals are on DVD but they are on the DVDs in a lower resolution matteboxed widescreen format which blackens the top and bottom of the screen on the DVD itself. Normally a DVD squashes the widescreen image into a 720x480 format (for ntsc) and then your player stretches it back out to your wide tv. There are no black bars encoded on a good widescreen DVD.

He seems to have purposely degraded the resolution on the originals.