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The Importance of Tone in Filmmaking

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It struck me recently that, ever since the Special Editions, Star Wars movies have really been struggling with their tone. In fact George Lucas seems to have become tone deaf. 

In the original 1977 Star Wars we realise Tatooine is a dangerous place, when Luke get's attacked by Sand People. Soon after this his aunt and uncle are brutally murdered. Luke decides to join Obi-Wan on his quest and the adventure is on it's way. Obi-Wan introduces Mos Eisley as a hive of scum and villainy. We meet assassins, smugglers, and just generally dangerous people and aliens. Han Solo is introduced as a shady character. There is a sense of danger when we enter Mos Eisley. 

George Lucas has said while introducing the Special Editions he always wanted Mos Eisley to be this bustling town. He also introduced tonal inconsistency. We now have slapstick humor when we enter Mos Eisley (just after we've seen Luke's aunt's and uncle's burning corpses). We have a "funny" beebing droid when when our heroes are interrogated by the stormtroopers. 

The same thing happens in Jabba's palace in ROTJ. In the 1983 version Jabba's palace is a dangerous place, where people are fed to monsters. From 1997 on this tension is undercut by a "funny" musical interlude with cartoon characters.

Some would argue that the changes are only small and cosmetic in nature, and that it is essentially the same movie with some digital effects added in the mix. I disagree. I would argue that George Lucas deliberately tried to make the tone of the original films more kiddie friendly. The most obvious example being the "Han shot first" scene. In the end he only succeeded in making the film's tone inconsistent, and it ultimately becomes a less great film, a watered down version of Star Wars, with less sharp edges. 

What do you think?

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I think I'll get some pizza rolls.

Now seriously, the Plinkett review is adressing the same thing in the context of the prequels. I agree with that.

Ceci n’est pas une signature.

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Frank your Majesty said:

Now seriously, the Plinkett review is adressing the same thing in the context of the prequels. I agree with that.

 I agree with many things that guy said. I think his sense of humor is really lame though, and I tend to like crass humor. My main problem is that, in addition to his solid points, he gets so nitpicky that most films wouldn't hold up to the standard he has. Certainly not the OT in some cases. Seems like he really wanted to buffer the review out to whatever unholy length it ended up being. 

Anyway, of course I agree with Dre. I forget where I heard this (maybe Mike V's video?), but apparently the original plan for the SE was just to clean up the first film and fix/redo the vaseline speeder Mos Eisley shot (without dinosaurs). If that had happened, I'd probably watch that version as my go-to. In part because my views on film revising would be much more relaxed, and because that shot does look awful.

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Yes, it's kind of interesting that George Lucas showed how easy you can go from a special effects cleanup to complete revision. I guess this is also one of the beefs I have with the Special Edition, that despite GL's insistence that he could not complete his vision, in the end the new scenes are mostly revision. The tone of the originals had nothing to do with budget constraints or special effects constraints. GL simply changed his mind over time and then pretended the new inconsistent tone is what he originally intended. He also tried to make the OT more consistent with the prequels, when he should have done the opposite. 

I think the problem stems from the fact that he considers the PT as his pure undiluted vision for Star Wars, whereas the OT has in his eyes been diluted by the involvement of other producers and directors. This is why he has no problems altering what the rest of the world considers classic films into sequels to the prequel trilogy.  

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Ben Burtt attempts to call Lucas out on exactly this during the Phantom Menace rough cut - he protests about as far as it's possible considering GL is his boss:

55 mins:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=da8s9m4zEpo

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Must we forget the Chewie- MOUSE droid scene on The Death Star that was there from the very beginning.

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ray_afraid said:

Are you comparing that to the silliness added to the SE?
Donny, you're out of your element.

 We are the walrus.

Team Donny

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DrDre said:

It struck me recently that, ever since the Special Editions, Star Wars movies have really been struggling with their tone. In fact George Lucas seems to have become tone deaf.

In the original 1977 Star Wars we realise Tatooine is a dangerous place, when Luke get’s attacked by Sand People. Soon after this his aunt and uncle are brutally murdered. Luke decides to join Obi-Wan on his quest and the adventure is on it’s way. Obi-Wan introduces Mos Eisley as a hive of scum and villainy. We meet assassins, smugglers, and just generally dangerous people and aliens. Han Solo is introduced as a shady character. <span style=“line-height: 14.3999996185303px;”>There is a sense of danger when we enter Mos Eisley.</span><span style=“line-height: 14.3999996185303px;”> </span>

<span style=“line-height: 14.3999996185303px;”>George Lucas has said while introducing the Special Editions he always wanted Mos Eisley to be this bustling town. He also introduced tonal inconsistency. We now have slapstick humor when we enter Mos Eisley (just after we’ve seen Luke’s aunt’s and uncle’s burning corpses). We have a “funny” beebing droid when when our heroes are interrogated by the stormtroopers. </span>

The same thing happens in Jabba’s palace in ROTJ. In the 1983 version Jabba’s palace is a dangerous place, where people are fed to monsters. From 1997 on this tension is undercut by a “funny” musical interlude with cartoon characters.

<span style=“line-height: 14.3999996185303px;”>Some would argue that the changes are only small and cosmetic in nature, and that it is essentially the same movie with some digital effects added in the mix. I disagree. </span>I would argue that George Lucas deliberately tried to make the tone of the original films more kiddie friendly. The most obvious example being the “Han shot first” scene. In the end he only succeeded in making the film’s tone inconsistent, and it ultimately becomes a less great film, a watered down version of Star Wars, with less sharp edges.

What do you think?

Excellent post. I have shared those same thoughts for years. Especially the examples you cited.

I think the prequels (and the SE changes you mentioned) showed us that George Lucas doesn’t understand tone and had little to nothing to do, creatively, with some of the more polished and refined aspects of the original films. I think the prequels and the SE versions are EXACTLY what George Lucas would have created if he could have done it all himself in the 1970s and early 1980s, and obviously Star Wars would never have become what it is today. There likely never would have been a second movie.

It was only with the collaborative help of other people that George Lucas’s otherwise childish, banal idea for an episodic film serial was turned into something not only watchable, but wholly beloved by so many people.

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I notice some odd tonal shifts in ROTJ as well. Don’t get me wrong, I love ROTJ, but it feels weird when the film quickly jumps between cute and cuddly Ewoks to Luke and Vader’s dark final confrontation.

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suspiciouscoffee said:

I notice some odd tonal shifts in ROTJ as well. Don’t get me wrong, I love ROTJ, but it feels weird when the film quickly jumps between cute and cuddly Ewoks to Luke and Vader’s dark final confrontation.

That’s probably my biggest issue with Return of the Jedi. We can’t feel worried or scared for Luke when we are constantly are going back to comedic and fun scenes on Endor, and we can’t feel overly amused or excited when we are constantly going back to the Throne Room. Even Revenge of the Sith is firmly “dark” once we reach the end (don’t take this as me saying ROTS is better than ROTJ though).

Not enough people read the EU.