walking_carpet

[sigh] i watched a couple more trailers - theres one with chewie and han having a lover's quarrel. and another with a stormtrooper..well that needs to go, really bad.

these were not as funny....in fact, I did not laugh at all!!

 :( 

 im really not sure if an entire season can be sustained.  these need to be hilarious.   im not sure even the apologists at TFN found these funny.

gonna go get another admiral ackbar pyramid fix to cheer me up.

pat man said:

   Or better 8K scans of the OT.That way the will be more detail in the films if they do add DNR for the 3D transfers.   

 not quite following - can you explain further?

Wow - Zombie's sources were right.

interesting they wont use President's day weekend.  Even if the superbowl ads did not make a marked difference in exposure, surely they must have seen that extra holiday helped a great deal.  Were there any movies coming out early 2013 that would have interfered?

its interesting that AOTC run will be 3 weeks - thats how long TPM 3D was in theatres right? 

2013...dang.  30 years after ROTJ!! 

sort of off-topic:  has anyone seen any commercials for the ROTLA IMAX re-release? I haven't heard a whole lot regarding this.

I wonder if more movie fans would support imax re-releases or 3D re-releases?  I would prefer the former - but only if its real iMAX - not those mini-imax's that suck.

Heilemann said:

Dale Pollock.

 corrected, thanks.

hmmm..wonder where I got 'dave pollack' from??

ratpack1961 said:

Another thing I've observed about Detours is that it takes place between Ep. 3 and ep. 4.  But the main characters are pretty much all OT characters.  Why didn't George make a show making fun of the prequel characters? Oh yeah because he hates the OT and doesn't care.

 I dunno, i just saw the trailer and it looks like they use that Dex diner from AOTC a good deal.  

RC was predominantly OT - but it was laughing with it, not at it.  I guess nobody cares enough about the PT.

I thought the RC series was hysterical and helped ease the bitterness of not having OOT (along with Harmy).  So that makes me somewhat more curious about this.  If its a one-off thing like that family guy epsiode, it may work.  not sure about an actual season long series.

Im not going to watch the footage of lucas.  just hope for fans of this new show, he stays the hell out.

Anyway, Trailer looked funny, and i'm always good for another admiral ackbar joke.

In fact, i just went off on a rant regarding Lucas and ESB and Im feeling kinda down.  I think I'l help myself to another dose of Ackbar and his fear of small claims court.  bwaaaaaaahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaaha

darth_ender said:

Gosh, the Prowse/Lucas feud makes me really feel bad.  Usually I'm one to try to tone down the Lucas criticism, but this is really one case where I don't come to his defense.  Everything I've read makes me feel that Prowse was mistreated, whether intentionally or not.  Lucas was in the wrong.

 probably, but i also get the impression that Prowse is a little full of himself. His opinion on why JEJ was used for the voice is far-fetched to say the least.

was there any truth to the rumor that LFL actually approached prowse for Epsiode III but things fell apart?

CO said:

I remember Harrison Ford making one comment about the Prequels in the VH1 Special, "When Star Wars Ruled the World" in 2004. He said (I am paraphrasing), "And now George is making the new trilogy, or the unfunny trilogy!" As he smirks.....

 after KOTCS, im not sure Ford can really laugh at lucas and the PT since it seems he also is now ok with slumming it.

Bingowings said:

The panic cut still intrigues me greatly but he seemed to be a much more grounded guy back then.

Agreed.  The man behind the original "Star Wars Trilogy" was a brilliant filmmaker.  If you watch the old interviews, his personality is even different.  More alert, more intelligent sounding.  More humble, more grounded. 

 AFAIC, more fraudulent.  He said all the right things back in those days, but he had to in order to build up anticipation and create his cult of personality.  Its so repulsive to me nowadays to think back to 'interviews' such as the ones with Leonard Maltin attached to the 1995 VHS release.  He is lying through his teeth.  Doesnt matter if his personality is perceived different if his sensibilities were the same back then as it is now (and they are).

All filmmakers have a portfolio with peaks and valleys and maybe a decline towards the very end.  But you do not have the outrageous dropoff from the OT (and ROTLA) to what we see now unless something else was at play.  and the evidence that Lucas was a dangerous liability mitigated by hall-of-fame talent is overwhelming.

Thats why he lashed out at Dale Pollock's book and claimed it was full of lies for so many years.  We were not supposed to know about the 'panic cut'.  We were not supposed to know that Lucas didnt care about any aspect of filmmaking except editing (and Lucas' vaunted editing skills are so overblown its hilarious).

That cut was not a 'panic' cut.  it was his cut, only difference is the crew told him it sucked ass and they were appalled by what they saw.  Again, if the movie went over budget because lucas planned principal photography to be quick & dirty and half-assed, like the PT, then he is at fault. 

In regards to this topic, the bottom line is this:  ESB may or may not be his least favorite SW film, but it is without question his least favorite production.  And not just because it went over budget.  And he was determined to never going to happen again.  If that meant lousy, pathetic movies - well, thats ok too. 

cool stuff

Star Wars Purist said:

I just hope they avoid Prequelisms as much as possible.

 i dunno...do you consider "action hero" yoda a Prequelism?  If so, forget it.

Its important to note that whatever Lucas says about the film (or any movie) now - good or bad - in an 'interview' should be taken with a grain of salt.  Lucas has only one reason since 1980 to make appearences and 'interviews' - to attract attention by offering soundbites and talking points.  This is a classic example.

he'll probably rave about it now, but for years it wasn't his cup of tea. By no means does this film reflect his 'vision'.  The cast and crew went above and beyond his 'vision'.

To give him credit, I do think he was genuinely amazed at what was put together for Yoda.  And keeping han solo's fate uncertain was very much like Hitchcock killing off marion crane not even 1/2 way thru Psycho.

He certainly did not like the fact that he was at odds with the entire cast and crew and they cared more about making a quality movie than he did.  He did not like how harrison ford took Han Solo character and ran away with it (is ford really 70!?!??!). 

He didn't want it to be a garbage sequel (hello exorcist II) that was the norm in those days, if for no other reason than to keep the franchise going. Making a great movie, however, was of no importance - never was, never will be.

Apologists wil say he was merely complaining that the budget spiraled out of control and ESB could not afford the extensive shooting schedule.  As the films 'financier', they will say he had a right. They neglect to mention that one of the setbacks was a fire in the studio.  And if ESB budget was based on a quickie 2 takes per setup, quality be damned, then Lucas set the film up for failure by underplanning and did not want to put the time and effort. 

the changes were 90% pathetic repulsive garbage (in your face cgi characters, bad sound effects, changes to editing that ruined the storytelling) or 9% nuetral tradeoff (replacing old background mattes with digital mattes).  I cant really think of anything that actually improved except for 1% below:

1)replacing "tractor beam" so its not in english ;P

2)adding that extra 'oomph' to vaders voice in SW (anyone know why it was different?  im sure sound technology didnt change that much between 1977-1980)

3)during trench run, when the ships are coming right towards you, they go through the camera instead of cutting to the next shot - this was the only thing that still looked like 1977

interesting idea but star wars is supposed to be bigger than life.  and it does need the big screen (although with dlp projectors, even home theatres can have pretty big screens)

having just the movies gave it a sense of occasion.  if there was a tv show with the same characters, it may have started off pretty cool but then it would become too much of a good thing.  The tone and approach would have to be totally different. 

besides,  if an in-between tv show was anything like shadows of the empire, then i would pass (that whole enterprise should have been my first tip-off that SW was now purely franchise and story and quality was now 100% irrelevant).

i dunno, any x-file fans around here?  how was it when that movie came out?  was the series still cool afterwards? did fans want more big-screen x-files or just the shows? did it screw anything up?

not to get off topic but whats the difference between winning an fx oscar and winning a special achievement oscar for fx?  I keep hearing that ESB won the latter

Baronlando said:

 Now that Indy and E.T. are about to come out, the SW disc is going to truly stand alone in its crass, glitchy, shittiness.

 true...even if you dont care about the OOT, the DNR on TPM and that stupid edit cut in AOTC is just laughable.

although I am now getting more and more pissed off and ..well just really pissed off that The Abyss still is not even on blu ray yet and apparently wont be until 20-fricking-14!!!!!!!!!!! 

  im starting to feel glad Cameron lost to his ex-wife for best director.

Cobra Kai said:

^ Yes, the original mono is included. 

 hmm..guess I'll be firing it up again for the mono sound.

funny, I always thought the DTS dvd sounded pretty cool...guess I need to refine my taste in sound :D

hmmm.....speaking of sound, I wonder who movie industry insiders and/or fans consider to be the greatest sound artist - Ben Burtt or Walter Murch?

georgec said:

I love Plinkett's voice!

One of my favorite things is how he tells Rick McCallum to shut up (just watch the first ~3 min).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QThD0r3hZg&feature=relmfu

 I was worried when i first played his reviews but it turns out his voice isnt monotone at all...its just weird :D 

besides, with this picture: 

i simply cannot imagine another voice!!  personally i think he should do reviews while he's has pizza rolls in his mouth!!! BWAAAAAAAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAAHAHAHAAHAHAAA

my personal favorite is in the AOTC review when he is comparing lucas' coruscant to ridely scotts blade runner and says "my computers are better than yours!"  that always cracks me up

but his analysis is without peer.  The third part of the ROTS review is the best movie review i've seen/read.

msycamore said:

 His legendary work in John Carpenter's The Thing is IMO to this day still one of the most impressive achievments in the history of makeup and special effects, in this age of CGI I'll truly miss true artists like him.

 +1

he won an oscar for total recall right?  that was probably the last non-digital special effects oscar.

msycamore said:

I definitely can't agree about Hamill being a terrible actor, I do think his acting in the first film was subpar in a few scenes, but it was the great chemistry between Ford, Fisher and Hamill that made it work so well.

 not sure if its bad acting or just that ...i dunno...he is just soooo 70s!! bwaaaahahaahahahahahahaahahhaaa

i watch old you tube clips of cheap trick and i swear hamill and robin zander were seperated at birth !  BWAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA

SilverWook said:

It's real. Carrie wore an exaggerated version of the buns for her SNL appearance.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQrL8_8ETfY

 

 thats one weird video you posted :D

carrie was lovely but she sure is short!  Harrison towers over her!!  anyway, hope she's doing alright now.  we all heard stories about robert downey Jrs problems but Carrie's life was really out of control for years.

Anything short of saying Lucas is a Christ figure will be reviled by the apologists and sycophants as being a lucas "bash-fest".

I thought the book was great, nice work Zombie.  You could have easliy gone much further in exposing lucas' fraudlence and deceit, but i think it was cool to frame the narrative as a contrast of how the OT was organic and somewhat accidental while the PT production was bland and sterile (and thats the best thing you could say about it).  I also like how you exposed lucas' blather about "its supposed to be like the serials!! old-fashoined!! i intentionally made the movies bad because its supposed to be bad!!" were nothing more than cop-outs and excuses that could easily be discredited because most of the SW movies in fact bear little resemblence to the old serials (certainly no more than any other sci-fi action movie). 

What I suggest to most fans and apologists is to read all of lucas' 'interviews' (which admittedly is difficult because he has given more than every other filmmaker in history combined) and track when and where he makes reference to the serials.  What you'll see is, from 1977 to the early 80's, he'll reference the old serials when talking about how the idea of Star Wars originated but then will move to japanese movies, westerns etc.  If you continue to track his 'interviews' post ESB and just before 1999, his references to the serials is trivial and the predominant theme of his talking points are the myths, Campbell, folklore and legends, etc.  It isnt until after TPM and especially after LOTR does he backtrack from myths and props up the serials talking points. 

Looking forward to next edition.  Has anyone heard if AOTC is still coming out in 3D?  2012 is almost over and havent seen anything. or is that whole enterprise on hiatus?

cboy007 said:

Why has nobody mentioned this yet? She wore this gold bikini way before ROTJ.

 Is that really a real picture?  her head looks out of proportion

msycamore said:

Baronlando said:

In other news, the JAWS disc is everything Star Wars isn't.

Yeah, that's the way you treat a classic, a fantastic release and restoration.

 gorgeous lookin' blu ray.  as good as dvd was for its time, water was always a problem.  My Jaws DTS DVD had all kinds of compression and pixelization/blocking issues.

That "Shark is Still Working" documentary is awesome.  and watching it and the other documentary, i get a huge kick out of how crazy richard dreyfuss is!! bwaaaaaahahahahaahahahahaahahaahahahahahahaahha

Mike O said:

walking_carpet said:

Will it turn the tide? not sure.  With the clone wars and other things, bouncy lightsaber yoda is becoming more and more the definitive image.  But I can gaurantee demand for de-specialized editions will skyrocket even more than last year.

Um, what makes you think that? I think that the massive,  record-breaking sales of the Blu-Ray indicate more than ever that the average person in the mainstream doesn't give two shits.

yeah the blu-rays had great sales, but there was also a lot more people this time around that had enough and proceeded with getting versions without the changes - not just speaking for myself.

as it becomes easier to download movies and more people become fed up with the changes, I think it'll only increase.  And I think replacing yoda would really impact it.

does anyone know what the sales were for the SuperMan II Donner Cut?  that also was limited to a passionate fanbase - but i bet there is much more people that want the OOT released.

wow.

this is just too cool.

now all we need is someone to dress up like the pet owner and cry!! bwaaahahahahahhahahahahahaaa