As far as George Lucas saying that Empire is his least favorite. Since when does any one believe what Lucas says anymore? People are always complaining about Lucas contradicting himself. You cant have it both ways. either what he says is admissable or its not.

Interesting point, but

1) You can't just say "people" are saying this about Lucas in attempt to rebut a specific poster, unless that poster has made the same argument that "people" have, and

2) I've never seen another quote by Lucas saying he loved Empire, therefore, in this instance, it seems Lucas has been consistent on that issue.

AxiaEuxine said:

I just want to share my joy of Star Wars with people that enjoy it and there doesnt seem to be anyone that actually does anymore. It makes me sad.

I enjoy Star Wars very much ... I enjoy Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, and, to a lesser extent, Return of the Jedi.  I also enjoy the Thrawn trilogy of novels.  That's it.  To me, that's canon.  Nothing else.

And just because the original creator made it doesn't make it "canon" - canon is different for everyone.  It's entirely personal opinion.  For example, my Star Trek canon is The Original Series, The Animated Series, the first six movies, and the new one.  I don't give two shits about Next Generation even if Roddenberry created it to begin with - I don't like it.  So, to me, it's not canon.

TheBoost said:

But it seems to me if it's kosher to change the entire appearance and culture of the main antagonists, why is it sacriligious to redesign the spaceship (which looks pretty darn identical to me)? Uhurua is serious, beutiful, and brilliant. Spock is half-human... why wouldn't they dig eachother? Is flipping out and denying what I thought was a couple nice character moments based on the nebulous concept of 'canon' really worth it?  

 

I really am not interested in a canon debate, the recent one I had in an SW thread was more than enough for me. I really don't care about canon, I really don't care if they redesign the Enterprise or if Uhura and Spock like to get a little bit of cross species funk on with each other. I have never flipped out about these things. I didn't particularly like the new movie, it has a very different feel to it than the Trek I grew up with (and I am not suggesting that original Trek was always perfect, some of it down right sucked, but as a whole I really have enjoyed it through the years). The bottom line is that to me, this new film just doesn't fit with the others. Not saying this in canonical terms, but more in the terms of tone, style, feel, everything about it really. And in reality, it really isn't suppose to.

This new film is a reboot without balls. It just wasn't quite bold enough to come out and say, "Hey old Trek, I am starting over." but instead decides to become an alternate time that exists along side the original. I think the film would have been better without that, the reality is that this is a reboot. That is just fine with me, it was about time they rebooted the franchise. I don't think there is anything wrong with the fact that I am not all that interested in this new rebooted series.

In the text you quoted from me, I was simply saying that technological evolution in story telling can hardly be considered cananical issues. All the aliens all look extremely different in the latest ST TV series (Enterprise) than they did in their original incarnations. This isn't altering canon, this is the evolution of story telling. These species become more indepth and fleshed out, and more time effort, and technological innovations are put into their costumes. Canon has nothing to do with any of it.

James Franco should have been Anakin.

I'm fine with the other casting. Ewan, Natalie, Liam, Ian. They are perfect casting wise.

70's hair Matt Damon was looking at me from the back of the Brothers Grimm DVD cover.  It struck me that he had a certain resemblance to 70's hair Mark Hamill or even early 80's hair Mark Hamill.

What would you think of him as Anakin?

I totally thought Matt Damon as Kirk would have been awesome.  JJ said he was a good choice too but too old.

I'd have had an older dark haired unknown British Anakin or at a pinch someone like David Morrissey who looks like he could grow to become Seb Shaw and a blonde unknown American Mrs Skywalker (Padme is such a stupid name).

Kept Ian.

Might have gone for Kenneth Branagh for Obi-Wan (dropped Qui-Gon's character or merged him with Dooku).

Dropped half the aliens on the council and replaced them with real people like Chris Walken and Gabriel Byrne, actors who can really make themselves known without saying much and without much help from a director. So you notice and care when they die.

Dropped the whole kid storyline and have Anakin a young man from the beginning.

I'd have cast James Earl Jones as a character called Darth Vader who wore a helmet but no mask as the secondary villain.

Tilda Swindon as Mon Mothma.

Bill Nighy as Tarkin.

 

 

Cool thread! for me, I'd select:

The late Brad Renfro would have made an excellent young Anakin(anybody see "apt pupil"?  his personality changes and intensity are amazing.) Ethan Hawke is an excellent actor for the role too imo.   

I'd keep Ewan Mcgregor as obiwan. but in TPM, he's a full jedi, not a padawan. I thought Ewan did the best acting anyway

Loved Liam Neeson as Qui-gon. but in a smaller role.  Obiwan needed to discover anakin, not qui-gon.

SW isnt for Natalie Portman.  Before TPM she had never seen a SW movie and had to rent the whole trilogy before filming.  She wasnt happy with Lucas's filming process and she did a lot of bawling in the bathroom on set.  I loathed Portman's performance and think she's highly overrated anyway.  For the role of Padme', I'd select Milla Jovovich(sp) from the resident evil movies.  She's beautiful and can kick ass. Other options: Gretchen Mol, Famke Jansen, Kirsten Dunst, or Minnie Driver.

Michael York as mace Windu.  Great actor with swordplay experience.  Ever see "the 4 musketeers"?  He has a spectacular sword duel against......Christopher Lee!

Helen Mirren as a Mon Mothma.

Jim Caviezel as a jedi

Keep Jimmy Smits as senator Bail Organa.  Bigger part.  Too good of an actor to be sidelined like he was.

Nicolas Cage IMO would have made a great jango fett or another mandalorian warrior.  denzel Washington would've been great too.

I'd keep Christopher Lee as an elder wise sith-lord, who fell out of the jedi order at a much younger age.  His name would ONLY be darth tyrrannus,

Gabriel Byrne as Senator/Governor Tarkin

Rebecca Demorney as an evil senator (ever see "the hand that rocks the cradle"?)

Anthony Hopkins as a turncoat senator. Has major role

Gary Oldman as an evil senator. has major role

Ian Mckellan as an elder sithlord

Edward Burns as a Republic army major( in my PT versions, the republic HAS an army)

Lisa Ling as a jedi

Sean Bean as a mandalorian warrior

Josh Brolin as a mandolorian warrior or Republic soldier.

 

 

 

Hoth-Nudist said:

The late Brad Renfro would have made an excellent young Anakin(anybody see "apt pupil"? his personality changes and intensity are amazing.)

Yes, he was good in Apt Pupil and McKellan too of course.
Have a vague recollection hearing Renfro's name mentioned after TPM.
I sure would've liked to seen it, but maybe he was too far into heroin by then....

After seeing Hayden vs. Jamie Bell in Jumper there's no doubt Bell could have played Anakin better.

I think Samuel L. Jackson was very miscast. I think an awesome replacement for Mace Windu would be Djimon Hounsou:

Seriously, listen to this guy talk and tell me he wouldn't have been an incredible Jedi Master: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikGlxC1REns

She'll do!

Octorox said:

You must cast based on the scripts written by George Lucas, for example, if you cast an older actor as Anakin he will have to utter the same dialogue that Hayden does and may seem miscast.

Where's the fun in that?

...

Anyways ... I would have casted Keira Knightley as Padmé and Leo DiCaprio as Anakin (or kept Hayden but have someone else do his dialogue).  

Didn't Keira Knightley play the decoy queen in Episode I?

Yes she did and I imagine as Padme she would have been just as wooden if not more so than Nat was.

Nat is a very competent actress but you'd never believe it going by her PT performances.

 

 

Hoth-Nudist said:

Helen Mirren as a Mon Mothma.

Mon Mothma would be older in the prequals than she is in ROTJ? 

Bingowings said:Nat is a very competent actress but you'd never believe it going by her PT performances.

 Blame Lucas's directing and writing for that. Ingrid Bergman couldn't have saved that role.

This isn't really a recasting suggestion, as I think the prequels were pretty competently cast, but more of a gripe. Wayne Pygram, based on his portrayal of Scorpius in Farscape, was absolutely perfect for young Tarkin, and he was actually cast as Tarkin, and appears in the movie... for like ten seconds. I would have LOVED to see an expanded role for Tarkin, maybe something akin to Admiral Yularen in The Clone Wars, just with a more sinister edge.

It shows what kind of director George Lucas is.

Even the actors I would call greatest of the greats are written badly. Liam Neeson approaches Qui Gon like: "Well, this sucks, Oh well gotta get paid somehow."

As said before, Natalie Portman is very good, just not as the wooden Padme.

If you look at how George directs people, he is more concerned with what the shot is gonna look like. All in all, George has great ideas, and he is good with a camera, but when it comes to actors, he aint no Scorsese.