Did the prequels have boring visuals? — Page 3

I think the fact that the actors couldn't touch the walls in most of the locations they were in adds to the sterility.

I think the mini sets are pretty cool, and if you have the "Creating the Worlds of Star Wars 365 Days" book, you may see that a lot more of thre prequels were shot against mini sets than you might have guessed.  But, as was just said earlier, they should have been used for extensions and had more practical sets for the actors to act against.

walking_carpet said:

Puggo - Jar Jar's Yoda said:

American Hominid said:

I don't know, I'd give the prequels a tad more credit than that, if only because their (very) general plot already existed in the 1970s.

Really?

 whatever plot lucas had in the 1970s for the PT you could fit on a napkin - maybe the reverse side of the same napkin spielberg used to write up his pre-nup with amy irving

Check out the interviews from the summer of 1977 in the back of The Making of Star Wars. Lucas talks about the involvement of the corporations, how Palpatine convinced the people to vote him more power (the bit in the novelization about him being a puppet might have been added by Daley or changed in the intervening time), etc. I can't remember all the details off the top of my head. There are some interesting bits about Vader sneaking around, killing Jedi without them knowing, senators being assassinated, the Jedi defending them but being routed at their last stand...

Is it a full outline or script? Not even close. But then, it's about the same level of detail that actually appears in the prequels themselves (that is to say, it's not super developed in its 'final' form either). Even some of the things that were changed from the 1977 conception were still there in a slightly mutated form, like the assassination of senators.

Hell, the midichlorians are in there too, though they're very slightly different from the version that was ultimately included in TPM.

TheBoost said:

This is less about how the visuals were achieved, but about the lack of passion put into them.

Think of how awesome the following should have looked

• A guy fighting with two lightsabers at once.
• A lightsaber duel in the dark.
• A guy fighting a four-armed monster each arm wielding a lightsaber.

 

The lightsabers in the dark I fantasized about in the 80s. When I was in middle-school I made an art project called "Jedi Fighting In a Cave" with a piece of black construction paper, whiteout, and highlighter pens.

Yet all three ammount to nothing. Nothing memorable or exciting. They all last for less than ten seconds.

I think the commentary on the ROTS DVD said that they couldn't figure out how to do a four-armed sword fight, resulting in Grievous losing two arms in 9 seconds.

Ray Harryhausen did in with STOP MOTION in 1973!!!

What should have been these extremely fun and visual fights almost result in just a throwaway joke.

Very much this. As a film maker, one would think, "how can I present this idea in the most exciting and impactful way?" The framing, the backdrop, all of it. I don't feel that in the PT. It is a series of places filled with things. Places and things that took great creativity and effort but were not meant to showcase any particular visual element nor move the story forward.

TheBoost said:

zombie84 said:

Sinbad... And the Eye of the Tiger, i think?

 I think youre right. I get those confused and am too lazy to look it up.

I was curious procrastinating so I took the effort.

Bingowings said:

That's six arms and one Tom Baker.

Can never get enough Tom Baker.

Still, it's a good example!

Mrebo said:

TheBoost said:

This is less about how the visuals were achieved, but about the lack of passion put into them.

Think of how awesome the following should have looked

• A guy fighting with two lightsabers at once.
• A lightsaber duel in the dark.
• A guy fighting a four-armed monster each arm wielding a lightsaber.

 

The lightsabers in the dark I fantasized about in the 80s. When I was in middle-school I made an art project called "Jedi Fighting In a Cave" with a piece of black construction paper, whiteout, and highlighter pens.

Yet all three ammount to nothing. Nothing memorable or exciting. They all last for less than ten seconds.

I think the commentary on the ROTS DVD said that they couldn't figure out how to do a four-armed sword fight, resulting in Grievous losing two arms in 9 seconds.

Ray Harryhausen did in with STOP MOTION in 1973!!!

What should have been these extremely fun and visual fights almost result in just a throwaway joke.

Very much this. As a film maker, one would think, "how can I present this idea in the most exciting and impactful way?" The framing, the backdrop, all of it. I don't feel that in the PT. It is a series of places filled with things. Places and things that took great creativity and effort but were not meant to showcase any particular visual element nor move the story forward.

That's a great point.