towne32 said:
kk650 said:
towne32 said:
Thanks for all the detailed explanations!
It's easy enough for me to glance at these things and think of alternatives, but it's quite another to try them out and see how they work. I do feel the opposite way about the dino vs. droid, but to each their own. The dino makes me feel like I'm back in 1997 and CGI cut scenes in video games are just starting to become a thing, but are not very good yet.
But it's just a personal preference. Obviously, as someone posting in this thread, I am not 100% anti-SE. I think there's nothing wrong with getting a bit crazy with a 20th anniversary theater re-release! So long as you don't try to wish away history after that. For just about anything *living* that has been done with CGI (Dinos, Jedi Rocks sequence, Sarlac*, Jar Jar ;) ) itjust misses the mark on a technical level. There are other flaws on top of those, in many cases. But if they spliced a Jabba prop into ANH well instead of a terribly anachronistic model, I wouldn't mind it sticking around despite the other faults with it (re-used dialog, breaking the Jabba reveal).
*on that note, I'm crossing my fingers that you can make this particular edit work. :)
It seems that we all have different tolerances for different changes in the SE, which is why its pretty much impossible for anybody to make a version that combines the two which will make everybody happy. You clearly really dislike the dinos but the dinos have never been an issue for me. That bit with the stormtroopers riding on those CG animals looking for the droids in the desert has never been an issue with me for the same reason.
By contrast though, you wouldn't be too bothered by keeping that Jabba scene in Star Wars so long as they used a decent prop while I absolutely HATE that scene and it has little to do with the CG Jabba. It's probably the change I hate the most out of all the SE changes throughout the OT, closely followed by Greedo shooting first and Hayden Christenson replacing Sebastian Shaw in the Jedi Ghosts scene in Return of the Jedi. I hate the Jabba scene in Star Wars for three main reasons:
1) Its simply repeating all the information we were already told during the Han Solo/Greedo scene
2) It makes Jabba look like a clown, a buffoon that nobody in their right mind would be afraid of, certainly not like Han is in Empire Strikes Back
3) It ruins the surprise and final brilliant reveal in Return of the Jedi of this villain that has been a menace hanging over Han and the others, a dark shadow looming over them throughout the entire trilogy, with people thinking 'Oh, its that clown from Star Wars again'.
Everybody has a different opinion on what should be kept/what should stay. The only sane thing for me to do is go with what works for me. Hopefully others will agree with a lot of my choices and be able to enjoy these Semi-Specialised Editions as well.
Oh, I fully agree with all of those reasons, and I think it has no place in an *ideal* version of the movie. I simply mean that, while watching it, the thing that takes me out of the movie the most is that it feels like I'm watching a youtube video on "how to do CGI in maya" or something. It was a neat little bonus to show off unused footage in the '97 release, but I think it honestly should never be shown aside from a DVD/bluray easter egg section.
Yes I agree, it looks like GL was experimenting with CG at the time and CG Jabba was nowhere near the level that it should have been to actually be included in the film, irrespective of all the narrative problems it creates.
On the other hand I felt all the CG additions in Mos Eisley were of a much better visual quality overall. Excluding the droid slamming the other one and the swinging jawas, I really like the additions that were made to Mos Eisley, making it feel more like a lived in city rather than a set, I felt it was one of the things where GL really improved on the UOT and one of the reasons why I made these Semi-Specialised Editions.