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Cultural impact can't be steered

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Not that it's news to anyone, but Lucas has come across many times as trying to steer or alter the cultural impact of Star Wars.  The current BR packaging is a perfect example. The three main characters from the first film - arguably the main characters in all of the franchise - are small, relegated to a corner, and even covered when the accompanying booklet is in place. There is no way that was an oversight.

His continued forcing of prequel into the original films comes across, to me anyway, as a desperate attempt to make the prequel trilogy more culturally significant than it ever ended up becoming. In fact, I'd go as far as arguing that the prequel trilogy is becoming less revered as time goes on. Particularly after this current release of revisions to the OT and the uproar in the media and fanbase.

The cultural phenomenon that was Star Wars circa the 1970s was authentic. It was organic, not manufactured. I don't think Lucas has ever been able to understand why it happened, or handle it (ever-changing Original Vision story), or repeat it  (prequel tie-ins to the OT).

Below is a screengrab for a current MLB promotion.  If you buy tickets for a certain game, the team donates the money to the Stand Up To Cancer foundation and you get a chance to win the BRs at the game that night.

34 years later - the instantly recognizable symbol of Star Wars is still a picture from the first film.

 

 

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One reason "mini Vader" appears in that Superbowl car commercial and not a prequel villain.

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Where were you in '77?

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Vader was in the prequels.

...

*smacks self in head*

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I haven't bought the BD set but I have seen the 'artwork' and it's truly dreadful and certainly relegates many of the OT characters to a seemingly 'less important' status than a lot of the insignificant characters from the prequels. It's yet another feeble attempt by Lucas to foist the prequels on everybody and to exagerrate their importance.

It's mind-boggling that a film series that started out with such beautiful and iconic artwork (McQuarrie's production paintings and the classic Hildebrandt poster art) has degenerated to images that (as someone said elsewhere on the boards) look like they were painted by the same guy who illustrates those religious pamphlets.

Relegating the OT characters to a remote corner of the rather shitty 'collage' is yet another example of Lucas' apparent resentment of the OOT. The guy has lost it.

I pity the people who go along with (and in some cases even approve of) this cavalier and vindictive attitude to the original films.

I will never buy the BD set in its current incarnation.

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 (Edited)

Maybe Lucas is troubled because Star Wars saga is not so extremely popular nowadays as it used to be in the past. And that's why he tries to push the prequels forward, maybe with the idea they are more suitable for today's generation. Anyway, he has almost completely lost his touch with the (Star Wars) reality.

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rouged said:

Maybe Lucas is troubled because Star Wars saga is not so extremely popular nowadays as it used to be in the past. And that's why he tries to push the prequels forward, maybe with the idea they are more suitable for today's generation. Anyway, he has almost completely lost his touch with the (Star Wars) reality.

It is, though. It's still massive. I agree he has utterly lost touch with what Star Wars was originally. And, whether Lucas would agree or not, I believe had he made Episodes VII, VIII and IX instead of I, II and III, he'd have made even more money, regardless of how 'old' the cast members were.

The whole shift in his outlook to where he claims that 'the whole saga is about Darth Vader and his redemption' is a load of old shit.

It's immaterial how successful the prequels were. Anything with the name 'Star Wars' attached to it would have made a fortune in 1999. I firmly believe that had the series continued, it would have been even more successful (had Lucas re-employed Kasdan or someone who could actually write a coherent script).

But he didn't. He made the damn things and there they are. He knows they're rubbish but can't allow himself to admit to it so he constantly refers to them as being so 'important'.

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Cuchulainn said:

It's mind-boggling that a film series that started out with such beautiful and iconic artwork (McQuarrie's production paintings and the classic Hildebrandt poster art) has degenerated to images that (as someone said elsewhere on the boards) look like they were painted by the same guy who illustrates those religious pamphlets. 

Don't forget Tom Jung's classic artwork which was emulated by the Hildebrandt's in a more comic book style (which is seen in your avatar). ;) In the end I don't think this blu-ray set deserve such great artwork, save that for the real movies.

We want you to be aware that we have no plans—now or in the future—to restore the earlier versions. 

Sincerely, Lynne Hale publicity@lucasfilm.com

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All this over one page in the back?

There are 10 other pictures that you aren't even talking about. While I would agree the quality is lacking, the OT cast gets their due. Each film gets an iconic shot. ANH gets that same image (although a painted version). Plus the cover features the Lars Homestead with Anakin and Luke. The location is far more iconic of ANH than any of the PT.

Plus, the two covers for the two trilogies both feature OT characters; Vader and Yoda.

And you don't even mention the image of Anakin and Luke in the middle of the booklet. It reminds me very much of the early art for ANH (see the novel cover). I can't find an online image of that picture, but the rest I found here http://halcyonrealms.com/film/star-wars-the-complete-saga-blu-ray/

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msycamore said:

Cuchulainn said:

It's mind-boggling that a film series that started out with such beautiful and iconic artwork (McQuarrie's production paintings and the classic Hildebrandt poster art) has degenerated to images that (as someone said elsewhere on the boards) look like they were painted by the same guy who illustrates those religious pamphlets. 

Don't forget Tom Jung's classic artwork which was emulated by the Hildebrandt's in a more comic book style (which is seen in your avatar). ;) In the end I don't think this blu-ray set deserve such great artwork, save that for the real movies.

Obviously. I should have mentioned Jung before the Hildebrandts. Didn't he do the Empire and Jedi posters too?

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yotsuya said:

All this over one page in the back?

There are 10 other pictures that you aren't even talking about. While I would agree the quality is lacking, the OT cast gets their due. Each film gets an iconic shot. ANH gets that same image (although a painted version). Plus the cover features the Lars Homestead with Anakin and Luke. The location is far more iconic of ANH than any of the PT.

Plus, the two covers for the two trilogies both feature OT characters; Vader and Yoda.

And you don't even mention the image of Anakin and Luke in the middle of the booklet. It reminds me very much of the early art for ANH (see the novel cover). I can't find an online image of that picture, but the rest I found here http://halcyonrealms.com/film/star-wars-the-complete-saga-blu-ray/

Sorry, but I think that artwork is shit.

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Cuchulainn said:

Obviously. I should have mentioned Jung before the Hildebrandts. Didn't he do the Empire and Jedi posters too?

Yes he did, but not the style a release posters, but ironically the poster Roger Kastel did for Empire was based on the iconic Gone with the Wind poster made by Tom Jung. Kastel also made the iconic poster for Jaws. A dead art form...

We want you to be aware that we have no plans—now or in the future—to restore the earlier versions. 

Sincerely, Lynne Hale publicity@lucasfilm.com

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msycamore said:

Cuchulainn said:

Obviously. I should have mentioned Jung before the Hildebrandts. Didn't he do the Empire and Jedi posters too?

Yes he did, but not the style a release posters, but ironically the poster Roger Kastel did for Empire was based on the iconic Gone with the Wind poster made by Tom Jung. Kastel also made the iconic poster for Jaws. A dead art form...

I knew Tom Jung did the Empire poster with the big DV with his hand outstretched but I had no idea he had painted the GWTW poster that inspired the other Empire one. That's so cool...

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none said:

Don't know how you trust a charity started by an entertainment industry outfit.  If you want money to go to research give money to the researchers, directly.

 

http://www.eifoundation.org/

http://www.eifoundation.org/content/use-force-good-lucasfilm-launches-initiative-benefit-stand-cancer

 Cancer researchers usually don't have the time or resources to organzie huge public events with loads of attention, publicity, and rabid fans.

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yotsuya said:


Plus the cover features the Lars Homestead with Anakin and Luke. The location is far more iconic of ANH than any of the PT.

Too bad Anakin is the featured one.  How is that iconic of the OT?

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I like the art aside from the Return of the Jedi image. I know, I'm crazy... it pushes the saga a bit too much for my tastes but I don't think it's flat out horrible.

A Goon in a Gaggle of 'em

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yotsuya said:

All this over one page in the back?

There are 10 other pictures that you aren't even talking about. While I would agree the quality is lacking, the OT cast gets their due. Each film gets an iconic shot. ANH gets that same image (although a painted version). Plus the cover features the Lars Homestead with Anakin and Luke. The location is far more iconic of ANH than any of the PT.

Plus, the two covers for the two trilogies both feature OT characters; Vader and Yoda.

And you don't even mention the image of Anakin and Luke in the middle of the booklet. It reminds me very much of the early art for ANH (see the novel cover). I can't find an online image of that picture, but the rest I found here http://halcyonrealms.com/film/star-wars-the-complete-saga-blu-ray/

The OT cast gets their due, the PT cast gets their due. That final image was supposed to be a conclusion, a "Saga" image, something that summed up the entire six-film epic. But its really just a PT tribute with the OT cast's eyeballs leering over the insert booklet, as if to say "can we join this party too or do you have to be in the prequels?"

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Cuchulainn said:

yotsuya said:

All this over one page in the back?

There are 10 other pictures that you aren't even talking about. While I would agree the quality is lacking, the OT cast gets their due. Each film gets an iconic shot. ANH gets that same image (although a painted version). Plus the cover features the Lars Homestead with Anakin and Luke. The location is far more iconic of ANH than any of the PT.

Plus, the two covers for the two trilogies both feature OT characters; Vader and Yoda.

And you don't even mention the image of Anakin and Luke in the middle of the booklet. It reminds me very much of the early art for ANH (see the novel cover). I can't find an online image of that picture, but the rest I found here http://halcyonrealms.com/film/star-wars-the-complete-saga-blu-ray/

Sorry, but I think that artwork is shit.

+1.

It's absolute garbage. As much as people complained about the bad photoshopping on the DVD cases, these pieces of art look like the work of an eight-year-old, propped up on the family fridge. The portraits are embarrassingly bad.  And the one of Han and the Ewoks is woefully awful.

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It is weird (even if you forgive the poor quality of the painting) that the cover shows Luke as a transparent ghostly figure turning away where as little Anakin is solid and looking directly at the purchaser.

Surely it should be the other way around?

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Either way makes little sense.

Also, yeah,  child Anakin was never at the homestead, while the guy who actually lived there his whole life is for some reason an apparition as though he is symbolic or something.

Everything about it makes no sense. It's hard to believe Katie Lucas chose that, but she chose it out of a lineup so maybe the alternatives were even worse. It's hard to know how much I should be blaming her. :P

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Shouldn't they be approaching each other instead of walking away?

ROTJ is all about Luke possibly becoming a replacement for Vader but instead inspiring Vader to reject his evil master and save his son.

That is the forward momentum of the saga not the other way around.

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zombie84 said:

 It's hard to believe Katie Lucas chose that, but she chose it out of a lineup so maybe the alternatives were even worse. It's hard to know how much I should be blaming her. :P

Oh dear, the apprentice has been chosen, then...

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Pretty much agree with Bingowings on the cover art.  Opinions of artistic competency aside, it would have made a lot more sense for Luke to be facing the audience with a spectral Anakin walking away.  And that has nothing to do with my preference of the OT over the PT.  That's looking at it from a "saga" point of view.  Luke is walking in his father's footsteps (it's like poetry... they rhyme or whatever that "mission" was) or opposite past... symmetry... rhyming... blah, blah, blah.  He's in his father's shadow.  He could make the same bad choices, but instead he takes the opposite path.  It's like poetry.  They rhyme.  Whatever.

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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TV's Frink said:

Vader was in the prequels.

He certainly was not.

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zombie84 said:

 It's hard to believe Katie Lucas chose that, but she chose it out of a lineup so maybe the alternatives were even worse. It's hard to know how much I should be blaming her. :P

 so whats her story anyway?  is she taking over the business?  I heard she writes scripts for the shows - did she even go to film school? (not that lucas ever cared about competant filmmaking)

i don't have twitter - was anyone able to confirm if that tweet was actually her? if so, it would be pretty stupid (although an accurate reflection of her dad).  Its also pathetic - people make fun of me for being stuck in the 80s but even I know an obsolete catch phrase - "haters are gonna hate" !?  lol, why not just tell us all to "talk to the hand" :P

 

click here if lack of OOT got you down