thejediknighthusezni said:
I read some posts by and about Adywan. Seemed to indicate he was considering some more aggressive edits than anything in ANH:R. In retrospect, it might all have been speculation about ROTJ (Which desperately needs very aggressive edits.)
I'm not sure what posts you have been reading, but nowhere does Ady say he's going to do an aggressive re-edit of ESB. He knows it doesn't need it. What he is doing is restoring it back to the way it was before the needless additions of the Special Editions, while also enhancing the effects and visuals. (No more blue Tie Fighters, more speeders in flight)
My post was unclear. I didn't mean 2 actual minutes, I meant action movie compressed impression of time. Sorry. I clocked it, and it didn't seem disruptive to me. I think a clever editor could work it out.
Your suggestions would alter the editing and the pace, trying to fix what's not broken.
I expected a princess. I got a military commander. Didn't ring 100% right with me. Everything should be perfect in ESB. Willing to consider anything that addresses that, as long as it improves pace, tension etc...
The only time Leia acted like a princess in ANH was at the end when she gave out the medals. Before she said one word in the movie, she was blasting stormtroopers. Then she's mouthing off to Vader and Tarkin. When she first meets Luke she knocks him down a notch ("...aren't you a little short for a Stormtrooper?") and lets Han have it ("When you came in here, didn't you have a plan for getting out?!").
A little later she explains to Han, in no uncertain terms: "I don't know who you are, or where you came from, but from now on, you do as I tell you, okay?"
All of her dialogue in ANH shows her to have a sharp, tactical mind, well aware and versed military issues. ("The technical readouts of that battlestation... I only hope when the data is analyzed a weakness can be found... it's not over yet.")
This was her characterization in ANH, why would her characterization change in ESB?
I love every second in ANH. Adywan produces ANH:R. If everyone on the planet loves every second of ESB, and an editor comes up with a change, no matter how tame or more "radical" than the element it replaces, is there any other question than "Does it improve?" I think it's like beauty, more objective than subjective. I think that makes consensus possible- If everyone will put aside thoughts like "Have to maintain what Kersh did." You all have what kersh did. Check your bonus discs.
ESB is already the best film of the saga, ESB:R will only make it more so. This is like taking a classic car and giving it a tune-up a new paint job, with wax and detailing to then show it off again.
Ady is staying true to what Kersh did. I guarantee if Kersh gets the chance to see it, he would completely approve (that is if he is allowed to say so)
There are things Kersh didn't do. Leia doesn't say one word to Luke on Hoth. Except for the mash kiss directed at Han, Leia has no interaction with the guy she's supposed to dearly love. Luke is going out to fight walkers and there is no embrace in a passage, no words of caring, no fearful wince when Luke's name is called on a receiver in the C.C. - no indication she even knows Luke still exists. What was more important than any of that? From my first viewing it didn't feel right. Good thing the story was such a downer in the end. Nothing felt right.
As Ray points out, there really is no "love triangle". Leia never demonstrates anything more than platonic love for Luke. The kiss in ANH, was "for luck" and the kiss in ESB was to make Han jealous.
I guess we may have found a Star Wars fan who doesn't "get" The Empire Strikes Back. I had heard they existed, but have never met one until now :P
But ESB is truly a masterpiece that moved me profoundly as a kid. Kersh is truly brilliant.
For all that bruhaha. I only have four points for ESB (5, if you count having Luke run into a TIE fighter or anything before the Imperials...um...leave.)
I'll take it to wishlists. I'll post my ROTJ list too. Then you can all indignantly shout "BUT YOU CAN'T CHANGE ANYTHING LUCAS/MARQUAND DID!!" :)
While I still love Jedi, even the "Lapti Nek" and the "Yub-Nub" song!, it still stands well below the other two films of the OT. Marquand was simply a "yes man" to Lucas. He was a capable director, but he was never in Kershner's league. ROTJ was much more Lucas' movie than it ever was Marquand's.