Klingon_Jedi

User Group: Members
Join date: 19-May-2004
Last activity: 27-Sep-2013
Posts: 858

Post History

Post: #53793
Topic: Changes in 2004 DVDs
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/53793/action/topic#53793
Time: 27-Jun-2004 8:57 PM

The windows of Cloud City made it feel smaller, not bigger. Plus, Lucas didn't follow through. They'd walk up to the window, and it would be all digital. The camera changes angles and it's noticably back to how it was. Not just one, but every window that was in two shots had only the establishing shot changed. What was up with the fly through by the cloud car too? Just more pointless effects. I found them distracting.

Post: #53753
Topic: Changes in 2004 DVDs
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/53753/action/topic#53753
Time: 27-Jun-2004 3:18 PM

Empire had some of the most messed up changes. From Cloud Cities mutating windows and balconies with noticable wall reflections, a Wampa's bloody,should-have-be-cauturized-the-second-it-happened stump, to the high-speed tension and music of the Falcon's escape ruined by slow, pointless shots of a Lamda class shuttle. That scene had dread, you spent it cringing at every hit and wondering with Luke if Vader had told the truth. Now you sit and think, "Is the Falcon going to make, but, more importantly, will Vader's shuttle make it in time for his enterence to the bridge?"

Post: #53726
Topic: MORE CHANGES!!! (for the 2004 OT DVD release)
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/53726/action/topic#53726
Time: 27-Jun-2004 5:21 AM

I'm not the only anime fan here either, eh? I, too, have moved on from Cowboy Bebop. Which show do you speak of? As for Strangelove, it and Full Metal Jacket are the only Kubrick films I really enjoyed. My late grandmother laughed her head off while we watched it. She enjoyed it more than the rest of us.

Post: #53723
Topic: Changes in 2004 DVDs
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/53723/action/topic#53723
Time: 27-Jun-2004 5:12 AM

Quote
Originally posted by: Spyder X
Even if those places were under the control of the Empire, they wouldn't be celebrating anyway. First of all, the Return of the Jedi Special Edition ending implies that the celebrations are all happening the same day. There's no way that even news that big would be able to get to all those places as fast as it did. Second of all, even though the Empire's ultimate weapon and two biggest bad guys were destroyed, it doesn't mean that all of the Imperial troops all across the galaxy magically dropped dead like the droids did in Episode I. Just because the Empire's main sources of power are gone doesn't mean the troops died. They'd still be around and able to control those places and I honestly don't see why everyone would be celebrating, unless they managed to kill all of those remaining troops after hearing the news. And besides, Death Star II isn't the only place where the Empire is stationed. There are obviously other bases around the galaxy and even if Death Star II was the only one, the Empire would still be spread out around the galaxy and it would take a lot of time to get rid of all the remaining Imperial troops.

And even if the celebrations were just for the destruction of Death Star II and not the end of the Empire, there'd be no reason not to have similar celebrations for the destruction of Death Star I. After all, the first Death Star had been completed and had actually blown up a planet and would've destroyed the Rebel Base if it hadn't exploded a few seconds earlier. It was a much bigger threat than Death Star II, which didn't even get completed and only destroyed a few rebel cruisers.

Sorry, but the Return of the Jedi Special Edition celebration ending just doesn't make sense and is really pointless, since the various planets wouldn't have total freedom yet.

Couldn't have said it better myself. That was one of the main scences that turned me against the SE. It does imply it was all happening that night, though logically it couldn't. I read the novels. In "The Truce at Bakura" , Bakura didn't know of the Emperor's death until the now "New Republic" comes to their aid. Bakura isn't that far from Endor, it would be among the first to hear. However, we see Tatooine, a planet on the other side of the galaxy that didn't care about the war having celebrations. We have the evacuated Cloud City partying. The worst is Coruscant. A planet so fiercely imperial that no rebel sympathizer dare live on it. In one book, an Imperial even muses on how celebrations weren't a problem on Coruscant. Then Jedi:SE comes out and changes that. The celebration on Coruscant is now canon. However, it's more sensical in the novel. Basically, after that shot ends, as the character described it, "Then the Stormtroopers came; and began firing indescriminately into the crowd". Coruscant was a fortress, the center of Imerial power and politics. It has two planetary shields, orbiting gun platforms, and its own personal Star Destroyer fleet. Something to the level we saw couldn't happen.

It also implies that everyone hated the empire, and that everyone loved the rebels. While there are things that suggested that Palpatine could exert mind control on the populace(hence why the fleet fell apart after his death, not to mention the hiding of the Super Star Destroyer Lusankya), you need sympathizers as well. It's been far from a cake walk for the New Republic. As for Vader leaving, the shuttle scence was possibly the worst addition in the SE. It breaks the tension of the scene, ruins the music(thankfully the OSt was intact), and Vaders agitated, "Bring my shuttle" was far better than his mostly calm, "Alert my Star Destroyer(doesn't he know its name?) to prepare for my arrival", followed by stock footage of the DSII's hanger(BTW, would Vader get a more prestigeous welcome on his own flagship than a mere squad of Stormtroopers?). Honestly, did anyone ever wonder how Vader got back to his ship?

Post: #53650
Topic: Digital Bits back out... a must read!!
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/53650/action/topic#53650
Time: 25-Jun-2004 9:18 PM

That does sound pretty hypocritical to me. The internet's full of amusing things.

Post: #52242
Topic: CGI and Digital or Real models and actors-whats your prefferance.?
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/52242/action/topic#52242
Time: 6-Jun-2004 10:16 PM

My stance on CGI comes mostly from my childhood beliefs and such. Basically, thanks to my school and family, I developed something of a hatred for all things digital at a young age. Its pretty hard to warm up to CDs when your parent's buy you only a cassette player than rub in how CDs are "the wave of the future" when tapes became scarce. Its also hard to like DVDs when people call you insane for not thinking they're God's gift to home video. So basically, digital just hasn't been my friend until I got over most of it, and realized my problem wasn't really with things that are digital, but rather being forced into said things. As a kid, I helped my dad build models(a hobby, I'd like to get back into). I used to watch "Movie Magic" and was fascinated with how model effects were done. I was always impressed by the time and effort that people like John Dykstra and Ray Harryhousen would put into their work. I always loved the show of Wedge's X-Wing zooming past the camera followed by the Falcon shooting out of a fireball to escape the Death Star. It just looked so real. I know that if it hadn't been done by hand, I wouldn't be so impressed. CGI just provides so many shortcuts, the making-ofs are all the same. There's no sense of wonder, no appreciation into the hard work it takes to make model's look right. Just compare "War of the Worlds" to its atrocious remake "Independence Day", WotWs was entirely by hand and look utterly convincing for its time. ID4 has your basic CG effects and, while realistic in apperence, just don't have that, "how the hell did they do that" feel. Of course, effects aren't the only thing WotWs has over the horrendously asinine ID4. Naturally, this is one of the reasons I prefer the original versions of the OT. The CGI sticks out like a sore thumb and completely replaces one of the things I loved about the old ones. Lucas' new effects was basically a slap in the face to Dykstra and the others. It says, "I'm sorry, you're out of date guys, you lose". Check out the Star Trek: The Motion Picture DVD to see how this should have been handled. Only the unfinished shots were redone, and every single retouched shot is availible, in anamorphic widescreen no less, in its original form as an extra on the DVD. They had the courtesy to realise that, while not what they needed, the old shots still had value in the work that went into them. Its not just live films either, but animation. CGI often looks worse in animation as I has to be dumbed down to try to match better, and winds up looking more cartoonish than the rest. I've noticed that CG always looks more vabrint than anything else, which always gives it away. I am far more impressed by the hand work in Macross : Do You Remember Love than the CGI in Macross Zero. My stance though really comes down to necessity. Is the use of CG justified? In Macross Zero, yes, as its put to use in providing angles and movements which would be difficult by hand. In Last Exile(or most of Studio Gonzo's works), mostly no, a lot of the CG is for looks and distract from the overall presentation, imho. So if the work can be done by hand, it should, if not, that is the purpose of CGI.

Post: #52241
Topic: Movies that have never been released in original form on DVD
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/52241/action/topic#52241
Time: 6-Jun-2004 9:19 PM

The frightening thing is, I was reading this thread and skipped to the end after Lord Peeler left, and I'm listening to DSotM right now. My friend insisted we try that Dark Side of the Rainbow thing. It is weird. I'll have to check this 2001 thing. I must say, this is the only forum I've been to where threads fall so far off topic yet its a good thing. I only complaint is that some of the things I'd like to respond to were posted monthes ago. It kind of takes the point out of it. Maybe I'll just stick to lerking.

Post: #51005
Topic: Changes in 2004 DVDs
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/51005/action/topic#51005
Time: 19-May-2004 1:05 AM

Hello all. I know I signed the petition a while ago, but I just found the message boards. I haven't been all that active in a real Star Wars community, so I may be a bit rusty. In a nutshell, Star Wars is something I've followed for as long as I remember in my 21 years. Due to my personal experiences and preferences, after the re-release of Return of the Jedi in '97, the euphoria of seeing these films on the big screen wore off, and I realized just what Lucas had done. I'm probably the biggest OT advocate in my area since then. I still love SW greatly and have gotten over the existence of the SE and have toned down some past grivences and such, but the omission of the the OTs is intolerable. If people think the SEs were an improvement, thats' their business. From my point of view, they destroyed some of the things I loved about the trilogy. This has all been said before I'm sure, and I need to check myself before getting carried away. At least some of my views are laid bare. I'm also quite tired at the moment, so I can't express myself fully right now.

Now for this DVD release. The digital bits says the Anakin pic is real. I, personally, hope it isn't. Replacing Sabastian Shaw is just silly, since I don't see them swapping Ewan McGregor for Alec Guiness of making a younger looking Yoda. Its bad enough Lucas robbed David Prowse of the role, now twenty one years later, he seems to want to do the same to Shaw. As for the replacement of the hologram in Empire, at least that sounds resonable. Part of the reason I hated the specials was because he fixed things that didn't need fixing while leaving things that did. The inaccurate Death Star plans, the matte line on the Rancor, the tractor beam line in english, none of which compare with the new changing windows in Cloud City. Pay attention and you'll notice that they revert to their original appearence when the angle changes. Hopefully, he'll fix these. Since I'm solidly in the OT camp, Lucas could do the whole thing from scratch if he felt he must. I doubt I'll be buying this set. Hopefully, my retail store will let me rent the extra disc when the time comes. If the UE or whatever its called comes out in 07, then this one has no value anyway. I don't rebuy films pointlessly. I'd rather spend it on something newrather than rebuilding the whole thing from scratch. As for the OT on DVD, if it occurs, even though I'm not enchanted by the format, I'll buy it, if only to show Lucas that it shouldn't be erased. For now, if I can get a widescreen video boxset, I think I'd be happy. George, people like the special, so you give them to them. People also like the OTs, don't abandon them. Star Wars belongs to all, we deserve the versions we love as much as you deserve yours.