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McCallum on Jar Jar & Kids before TPM came out

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April 1999
from Starburst Special #40

SPOILER WARNING: This interview discusses plot details
Producer Rick McCallum takes us inside the newest instalment in the
Star Wars saga, and looks to the future… By Ian Spelling


Ah, yes, that intended audience. Star Wars god George Lucas has deemed The Phantom Menace a film for kids (ranging in age from eight to 18). Young boys will no doubt embrace Anakin (Jake Lloyd) and Jar Jar Binks (Ahmed Best) and probably even Darth Maul (Ray Park). Young girls can root for Queen Amidala (Natalie Portman). Yet, the film runs two hours and 13 minutes, rather long for a kid flick. Then there are the adults who grew up with the first Trilogy, who expect to recapture a bit of their youth. They may very well be in for a shock when they realize that Lucas hasn’t crafted a film for them, but for their children.

“We hope that people will say, ‘I want to see how my child experiences what I experienced,’” McCallum argues. “That’s the essence. A studio would ask, ‘Who is this movie going to be for?’ and that’s primarily why we don’t work with studios. Those questions are very hard to ask and to answer. They start to undercut the film you want to make. If you start doing that you can finger-f**k everything, if you know what I mean. Then you end up with a story that is so far departed from what you originally planned on. Quite honestly, that’s the reason films are so bad.

“Adults are going to be so annoyed this summer. Every kid will be imitating Jar Jar. There will be a lot of ‘Mooooey. Mooooey’ and ‘How rude!’ and a lot of Jar Jar talk. The kids at the screenings I’ve been in have loved Jar Jar. As a film-maker and a person I can say I always had problems with Jar Jar as he started to develop in the screenplay, especially in terms of the language. I loved him on paper, actually, more than I did when I saw the animation starting to come out. There was a point where I said, ‘George, is this working? Is this really...’ and George said, ‘Remember, just remember. Try to find that moment. What did you love to do with your parents? Bug them. Annoy them.’

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[JOEL, CROW, and TOM SERVO enter the theatre]

Originally posted by: CO
April 1999
from Starburst Special #40

TOM SERVO: They dedicated forty specials to a fruit juice?

SPOILER WARNING: This interview discusses plot details
Producer Rick McCallum takes us inside the newest instalment in the
Star Wars saga, and looks to the future… By Ian Spelling

CROW: Ian Spelling. Ian Spelling badly. Ian Spelling good.

Ah, yes, that intended audience.

TOM SERVO: WHAT Audience? Does he mean us?

Star Wars god George Lucas

JOEL: He's been diefied? The things you miss out on when you're stuck onboard a satellite...

has deemed The Phantom Menace a film for kids (ranging in age from eight to 18).

CROW: Yea, people in their late teens will surely enjoy Jar Jar's Storybook Adventure.

Young boys will no doubt embrace Anakin (Jake Lloyd) and Jar Jar Binks (Ahmed Best) and probably even Darth Maul (Ray Park).

TOM SERVO: Regardless of the fact that Darth Maul would probably slice them to ribbons if they got anywhere near close enough to embrace him.

Young girls can root for Queen Amidala (Natalie Portman).

CROW: Yea, the queen who is forced to scrub R2D2, just the role model all little girls need!

Yet, the film runs

CROW: See film. See film run.

two hours and 13 minutes, rather long for a kid flick. Then there are the adults

TOM SERVO: Who are equally long for a kid flick.

who grew up with the first Trilogy,

CROW: The first Trilogy grew up?

who expect to recapture a bit of their youth. They may very well be in for a shock when they realize that Lucas hasn’t crafted a film for them, but for their children.

JOEL: But that's okay, because later on they'll release the films with duller covers and call them "Star Wars: the Adult Edition."

“We hope that people will say, ‘I want to see how my child experiences what I experienced,’” McCallum argues.


CROW: [McCallum] We want them to experience the thrill of being told to hunt down Brutals while reaffirming that "the gun is good."

“That’s the essence. A studio would ask, ‘Who is this movie going to be for?’ and that’s primarily why we don’t work with studios.


TOM SERVO: Because they ask you questions to which you already know the answer?

Those questions are very hard to ask and to answer.


JOEL: But you just said it's been decided that the film is for kids!

They start to undercut the film you want to make. If you start doing that you can finger-f**k everything, if you know what I mean.


TOM SERVO: Look man, leave your sick fetishes out of this interview. There are kids reading.

Then you end up with a story that is so far departed from what you originally planned on. Quite honestly, that’s the reason films are so bad.


JOEL: Yes, be held accountable to no one, have none who are willing to point out your mistakes and offer creative input! That's the kind of mindset that turns me off of independent films.

TOM SERVO: Oh come on! Surely you're not suggesting that the pure vision of a creative producer, unhassled by corperate greed, is inferior to the focus-tested, mass-marketted Hollywood shlock?

JOEL [Looks at Servo]: Manos, the Hands of Fate.

TOM SERVO: .... I.... see what you mean.

“Adults are going to be so annoyed this summer.


CROW: Are adults ever not annoyed?

Every kid will be imitating Jar Jar. There will be a lot of ‘Mooooey. Mooooey’


TOM SERVO: Jar Jar was originally a cow?

and ‘How rude!’ and a lot of Jar Jar talk. The kids at the screenings I’ve been in have loved Jar Jar.


CROW: McCallum probably means the kind that contains Cookies Cookies.

As a film-maker and a person I can say I always had problems with Jar Jar as he started to develop in the screenplay, especially in terms of the language.


TOM SERVO: Jar Jar was a pottymouth?

I loved him on paper, actually, more than I did when I saw the animation starting to come out.


TOM SERVO: [McCallum] But that morning when I woke up and found Jar Jar sleeping naked on my bed, I really began having doubts.

There was a point where I said, ‘George, is this working? Is this really...’ and George said, ‘Remember, just remember. Try to find that moment. What did you love to do with your parents? Bug them. Annoy them.’


JOEL: Most kids who remember that probably also remember being punished for it.

CROW: So... George Lucas intentionally set out to tick people off?

JOEL: Who knows. Anyway, time to go. [Picks up Servo]

[JOEL and the BOTS leave the theatre]
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1) Obviously Lucas isn't surrounded by people who won't question him, as McCallum himself questioned Lucas about his use of Jar-Jar in TPM.

2) Lucas knew exactly what kind of reaction he would get from Jar-Jar, yet he used him anyway.
Your focus determines your reality.
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Originally posted by: Go-Mer-Tonic
1) Obviously Lucas isn't surrounded by people who won't question him, as McCallum himself questioned Lucas about his use of Jar-Jar in TPM.

2) Lucas knew exactly what kind of reaction he would get from Jar-Jar, yet he used him anyway.


Exactly......people question him and he does it anyways. He added Jar Jar in for the kids? I didn't know he wanted us to hate our kids so badly....I mean if you say Jar Jar was in there for humourous aspects, George really screwed it up. C-3P0 was pretty humourous without becoming a flaming retard, so is that saying that the only humour kids will understand is if things are really really really dumbed down? What target audience was he shooting for, 2 year olds who wouldn't understand Star Wars anyways?

From someone who likes the Prequels like myself, there's definately a good reason why not even most Prequel fans like TPM on the whole.
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LOL@JamesEightBitStar. That was hilarious! Lucas's comments deserve the MST3K treatment.
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Ah, kids. After, they were were the one camped outside the theater and the ones who have made Lucas so rich that he can even make more SW stuff.

“What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one.”

Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death

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I don't know, I think Jar-Jar worked and was very funny. It's just the kind of humor some people grow out of being able to tolerate.
Your focus determines your reality.
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Honestly, I find Jar-Jar to be a decent character as well. It was a funny article, though, especially with the MST3K commentary that just pointed out all the flaws in what Rick was saying.

There is no lingerie in space…

C3PX said: Gaffer is like that hot girl in high school that you think you have a chance with even though she is way out of your league because she is sweet and not a stuck up bitch who pretends you don’t exist… then one day you spot her making out with some skinny twerp, only on second glance you realize it is the goth girl who always sits in the back of class; at that moment it dawns on you why she is never seen hanging off the arm of any of the jocks… and you realize, damn, she really is unobtainable after all. Not that that is going to stop you from dreaming… Only in this case, Gaffer is actually a guy.

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In all truth, I don't find Jar-Jar half as annoying as I do Jake Lloyd.



And the MST3K treatment was brilliant!
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I still watch and enjoy the PT films but I must admit he is one thing that annoys me most about The Prequels when he is TPM, I dont mind him really when he appears in ATOC and ROTS because George toned him down for the other two Prequels but he is the main reason the TPM is my least favourite of the 6 films, I hated him in the film so much in 99 that I didnt even bother to go and see The Phantom Menace in the cinema and disliked it for years, but nowadays I appreciate the film a bit more because Ive got used him appearing now though he still annoying to me now and again there is other stuff in there that I like..
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Where to begin....

So are we to believe TPM would have been this dark adult porn film kids would have avoided if some dumbass cartoon weren't in 95% of the movie?

No that's stupid. Suddenly all these jedi lightsabers and spaceships and shit aren't there anymore to entertain kids????? Am I missing something? Do we need a retarded Jamaican steryotype character to be farted on, step in shit, get kicked in the balls and cater to the lowest common denominator for humor? THANK GOD GL couldn't accomplish this back in 77.... LORD FORBBID he'd have to rely on intelligent writing and good acting to entertain our kids!

Jar Jar is so obviously just Lucas' CGI demo that it makes TPM unwatchable for me. It hurts the most because we're given some sweet heavenly minutes at the beginning of the film without him that I miss that feeling later on when it was just me obiwan, and quigon doing jedi stuff... Watching gl on the dvd as he takes out his marker and looks at the storyboards marking jar jar again and again for inclusion into practically every scene makes me so very sick. The idea to sacrafice the story's integrity to pander to some 5 yearold who likes poop jokes makes me fucking sick... First Kids like anything that isn't outright adult and scary. But kids like me would not want our intelligences insulted by this moronic creation. George saw Who framed Roger Rabbit and basically said to himself "I've got to try that." It backfired in his face so to save ticket sales he lessened the role down to an out of the way little side role in the second one IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN THAT WAY FROM THE START and then just nothing in the end proving jar jar haters right that that cartoon should have been dropped during the concept stage. Of course that pointless Grievous character is another matter entirely. MORE cgi demos from Lucas...
He big in nothing important in good elephant.

"Miss you, I will, Original Trilogy..."

"Your midichlorians are weak, Old man." -Darth Vader 2007 super deluxe extra special dipped in chocolate sauce edition.

http://prequelsstink.ytmnd.com/
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Jar Jar is the least of the PT problems. I'd rate 'lost the will to live' as the biggest travesty.
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that was bad, but the point when I could just feel this overwhelming sense of "we've been ripped off" coming from the audience was when Vader said his infamous NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.
He big in nothing important in good elephant.

"Miss you, I will, Original Trilogy..."

"Your midichlorians are weak, Old man." -Darth Vader 2007 super deluxe extra special dipped in chocolate sauce edition.

http://prequelsstink.ytmnd.com/
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The minute you start pandering to children, you're in trouble. The reason the original Star Wars was so entertaining, was because it WASN'T made for children- it was just such a great movie, that people of all ages loved it.

The only 'kids' Lucas should concern himself with are the 35-year-old variety who have supported him all these years.

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Originally posted by: Go-Mer-Tonic
I don't know, I think Jar-Jar worked and was very funny. It's just the kind of humor some people grow out of being able to tolerate.

This is the best movie-related quote since somebody told me that Gandhi robbed E.T. of Best Picture because it was just some stupid film about a bald man running around in a diaper.
I am fluent in over six million forms of procrastination.
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LOL ADM....LOL

And that article made me gag....I mean, I can see Lucas's reasoning on making TPM for kids to an extent because the OOT was, to an extent, for kids, but was just as much for kids as it was for adults. He should have approached TPM the same way. I mean, Star Wars was loved by kids of all sex, age and race, but it had charecters directed squarely at children. So why should TPM have needed it? Plus, when making seqeuls or prequels that come out years after the original, you want to capture the same audience that watched the originals, not rope in a new batch of kids and shun all your original fans. This article is the only bit of proof you'd ever need to show anyone Lucas is a hack. If the OT worked for all ages, then why not use the same formula for TPM, instead of shunning adult viewers and getting kids to like it, which they will until....oh, I'd say 12 years old, maximum. This is why the prequels will not be remembered in film history. Only kids and man children like Go-Mer will enjoy them, and all (except Go-Mer) will grow out of them, but love the OT eternally. Lucas sold his soul just to make a quick buck. How Wude.
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Originally posted by: Obi Jeewhyen
In all truth, I don't find Jar-Jar half as annoying as I do Jake Lloyd.


Too true. Jar-Jar was annoying, but harmless, and is kind of cute in his own sort of wierd way....well, not really. But Jake Lloyd...Lucas really fucked that one up. Did ANYONE buy that that kid would one day be Darth Vader? I know I didn't. In the words of Comic Book Guy, Worst. Acting. Ever. I tried watching TPM a few months ago, and enjoyed the first few scenes with Liam Neeson and McGregor duking it out with robots, but then Jar Jar....well, it was ok....then a whole city of them....it was still tolerable...then Naboo and the horrible acting of Natalie Portman and Keira Knightly....I started to move my hand towards the DVD remote....then a few scenes later, Jake lloyd. Movie off. Done. Sorry but no. The problem with Lloyd is that he can't act worth crap, but that isn't the main problem. I can tolerate bad acting. But not only did he have no acting abilities, he THOUGHT he did. Watching someone who can't act think they're the bomb is just awful.
Watch DarthEvil's Who Framed Darth Vader? video on YouTube!

You can also access the entire Horriffic Violence Theater Series from my Channel Page.
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Originally posted by: Darth_Evil

This article is the only bit of proof you'd ever need to show anyone Lucas is a hack.


Either that or force them to watch Willow.

Seriously, why do we even need to prove it? Lucas' films suffer from being too derivitive. Star Wars is only remembered because its the least so of the bunch.

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The problem is that filmmakers have, on the whole, lost the distinction between "Kids" films and "Family" films. Examples include The Wizard of Oz, most of the Classic Disney films, Superman: The Movie, Star Wars, Pixar films, Harry Potter, Robin Hood (Errol Flynn) ... those are all great examples of Family films. They have a universal appeal to all ages. They are funny at points, scary at others, and speak to the kid in all of us.

Then there are Kids films. Without making value judgements between good and bad ones, examples include Winnie the Pooh, Jimmy Neutron, The Land Before Time, Curious George, and most of the Disney films since Katzenberg's departure. Most of these appeal to the developing mind exclusively, which is why they hold little interest for adults (except where adults get to chaperone little kids to see them). Lots of them are junk food for the developing mind which is why so many of them get railed on by grown-ups.

Lucas made the mistake of trying to turn what should have been a great Family film into some kind of dumbed-down Kids film with lightsaber battles. Beyond that, he severely miscast his leading role of Anakin Skywalker with one of the worst child actors since the kid who played in Son of Frankenstein.

Ep II and III were not Family films either. The violence was ratcheted up from Ep I and therefore they required a greater level of maturity from the viewer. I'd let a five year old watch the OT and Ep I. I don't think II is really appropriate for anybody under 8 and III is probably not appropriate for anybody under 10.
I am fluent in over six million forms of procrastination.
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I kind of like the way the tone of the films matures with Anakin.
Your focus determines your reality.
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He matures?
I am fluent in over six million forms of procrastination.
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Yeah it certainly takes a while though.
Your focus determines your reality.
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Until Episode IV ... I get it.
I am fluent in over six million forms of procrastination.
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Well, Episode VI really.
Your focus determines your reality.
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Originally posted by: ADigitalMan
The problem is that filmmakers have, on the whole, lost the distinction between "Kids" films and "Family" films. Examples include The Wizard of Oz, most of the Classic Disney films, Superman: The Movie, Star Wars, Pixar films, Harry Potter, Robin Hood (Errol Flynn) ... those are all great examples of Family films. They have a universal appeal to all ages. They are funny at points, scary at others, and speak to the kid in all of us.

Then there are Kids films. Without making value judgements between good and bad ones, examples include Winnie the Pooh, Jimmy Neutron, The Land Before Time, Curious George, and most of the Disney films since Katzenberg's departure. Most of these appeal to the developing mind exclusively, which is why they hold little interest for adults (except where adults get to chaperone little kids to see them). Lots of them are junk food for the developing mind which is why so many of them get railed on by grown-ups.

Lucas made the mistake of trying to turn what should have been a great Family film into some kind of dumbed-down Kids film with lightsaber battles. Beyond that, he severely miscast his leading role of Anakin Skywalker with one of the worst child actors since the kid who played in Son of Frankenstein.

Ep II and III were not Family films either. The violence was ratcheted up from Ep I and therefore they required a greater level of maturity from the viewer. I'd let a five year old watch the OT and Ep I. I don't think II is really appropriate for anybody under 8 and III is probably not appropriate for anybody under 10.


Best. Post. Ever.

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