The ANH:SE Redux Ideas thread (Radical Ideas Welcome). — Page 21

DuTwan said:

Hey guys, didnt really know where to place this image to be honest. Just been working on a Star Wars revisited dvd cover for a new hope and thought i would share with you guys and see if you like, what could be improved etc.

http://originaltrilogy.com/forum/topic.cfm/THE-STAR-WARS-REVISITED-SAGA-S-CUSTOM-DVD-COVER-THREAD/topic/10878/

Bobocop said:

I'd like to see any future edits do something about "stolen data tapes."

I'm not sure what one could or should change it to, maybe just "stolen plans," but as advanced as they are, they probably wouldn't be storing information on tapes.

It's the only thing aside from the old CG Death Star in the briefing that was fixed for Revisited that jumps out to me as seeming dated.

"Tapes" does sound rather archaic, but I kind of like it because it plants Star Wars exactly when it was made. I think too much modernising will ruin the movie, because no matter what you do, it's always going to look like it was made in the 1970s.

And who's to say they don't have some super hi-tech form of tape? Even though we have mega-capacity discs these days, digital information is still stored on tapes a lot of the time. When a movie is shot digitally, for example, all that information is actually stored on tape, not disc.

Ripplin:

They could've easily said 'holo-tapes' or something like that

Well maybe it's slang for just that, like 'droids is. Lucas certainly tried to get a real-world thing going in the original Star Wars, so I'm perfectly happy to accept that. And as I was saying before, tapes are a lot less archaic a storage material than people think. A reel of the best digital tape holds a hell of a lot more material than any disc of equivalent diameter, so there's no issue for me.

Darth Venal said:

Bobocop said:

I'd like to see any future edits do something about "stolen data tapes."

I'm not sure what one could or should change it to, maybe just "stolen plans," but as advanced as they are, they probably wouldn't be storing information on tapes.

It's the only thing aside from the old CG Death Star in the briefing that was fixed for Revisited that jumps out to me as seeming dated.

"Tapes" does sound rather archaic, but I kind of like it because it plants Star Wars exactly when it was made. I think too much modernising will ruin the movie, because no matter what you do, it's always going to look like it was made in the 1970s.

And who's to say they don't have some super hi-tech form of tape? Even though we have mega-capacity discs these days, digital information is still stored on tapes a lot of the time. When a movie is shot digitally, for example, all that information is actually stored on tape, not disc.

A lot of digital films (oxymoron eh) record directly to solid state and hard disks as well, like the RED camera used on District 9, The Lovely Bones and a whole mess of other stuff.

District 9... now that is a nice film. A perfect example of how to integrate digital characters with live action. I found that movie pretty darn touching.

Darth Venal said:

District 9... now that is a nice film. A perfect example of how to integrate digital characters with live action. I found that movie pretty darn touching.

And shockingly good quality CG for such a low budget, I mean it's easily better than any CG effect in the PT or many blockbusters, and all for only 30 million, a fraction of their budgets.

Absolutely! And the reason? Well, it's not just the CG being good, it's that those CG characters are imbued with very strong emotional depth. They are victimised, subjected to violence, have relationships, friendships and they are made to suffer an incredible amount of fear. They are emotionally complex.

The result? We care about them. I can't say any other CG characters have ever elicited the same response from me. Not Gollum or King Kong, because they're not as accessible. But the "prawns", the father (Christopher) and his son, not them I cared about. Wonderful stuff.

Fantastic film.

Here's a little something I've been meaning to show here for a while now -

Firstly, I've always loved the 'Torture Droid/Interrogation Droid/Mind Probe' prop design, with it's 'Vader-like' colour-scheme and fiendish-looking attachments.  But in addition to the mainly 'head-on' approach that we see in the movie, I'd have liked to have seen slightly more of it's proportions from a different angle too.  (I don't really count when it first turns into the doorway in the distance, or the equally brief rear view of it as the doorway shuts, as they don't reveal very much)

What was filmed is fine of course, but due to it's interesting features I'd have liked to have seen another close, alternative view of it too, perhaps along the lines of any of these angles seen here - 

Anyway, for his 'Revisited' version, adywan came up with the neat concept of turning the prop's 'standard syringe' into an 'electro-needle' instead, as seen in the comparison here -

While I reckon the original 'sharp' look of the 'standard syringe' was already an effective threat in the scene, I happen to REALLY like the concept of the 'electro-needle' too, and it makes for a neat enhancement! 

However, adywan has stated that he would possibly tweak it differently in hindsight.  So with that in mind (and with many thanks to doubleofive for kindly supplying the 'mock-ups' I asked for), here's a couple of possibilities I'd have liked to see -

I always thought that the original prop-makers could have painted the white stem of the 'syringe' BLACK....so that it looked less of an 'off-the-shelf' item, and tied-in more 'solidly' as a section the black main body of the Probe itself.  However, at least adywan has erased the lettering/numbers off it now, which helps sell his 'electro-needle' effect better.

Something else that I'd have liked to have seen done originally, as an extra additional threat incorporated into the shot...would have been for the vertical part of the silver attachment on it's side to have 'come to life' in some way as it heads towards us...possibly snapping downwards suddenly, or suddenly extend into a very sharp 'blade' (complete with a subtle sound effect!), just at the point before it disappears offscreen on the left of the frame...

 ...before we then 'zoom-in' slowly towards the 'electro-needle' in 'close-up'...except I'd have extended it slightly more, and done it in a 'Sith-like' RED for more of a hot, 'dangerous' effect...

Even with the colour change I'm not a fan of the electro-needle.

Maybe some of the prongs and things could react with a replacement for the needle and create shocks like those we saw Han get in ESB.

Though it is described as a mind probe ("No not the mind probe") which is why I went more with the hypnotic ray coming out of the underside approach.

Needles are very of this world and it's in the wrong place to effectively jab her anyway.

Your ideas for 'shocks' and a 'hypnotic ray' sound quite neat too Bingowings, and it's just a pity we never got a better 'angle' of the Probe's red light underneath, as per the 2 uppermost pics in my previous post.

As far as the 'needle' being in an awkward place to jab her properly....I like to imagine that adywan's 'electro-needle' is capable of actually shooting out short, rapid bursts of 'electrical discharges' towards the Princess...so the 'Probe' doesn't need to be up close to her...  (Not enough to damage her too much, but just enough to make her 'more 'responsive to questioning'.  Not that it worked anyway, as unknown to us at the point when Star Wars originally came out...she was to prove to be pretty strong with the 'Force' in her own right eventually)

The Radio Drama version of the scene was pretty strong stuff with daddy inflicting his own pain onto his as then unrecognised daughter (projecting the sensation of being burned alive at her via the Force, touches of Dune too as per).

Chilling stuff.

Another possible inclusion which I proposed on the ESB:R in jest but I notice Darth Richard posted on the ANH:R thread was showing the desolution of the Imperial Senate.

I proposed it as a joke because it seemed a) surplus to requirements because Tarkin's casual dismissal was actually very sinister and b) it seemed like one of those boring CGI laden political scenes which dragged the PT quite a bit.

I have been giving it some thought though.

Palpatine I think would still try and sell this as a positive thing to the Galaxy.

He would argue that the Senate was too centralised to be effective and spin the closing of the senate as a form of devolution.

He would allow each of the territories a regional council which could present any issues to their local Governor claiming that this would allow them a more focused voice in the Empire.

Naturally Palpatine would be too busy with issues of state to deliver this message in person so he would appear as a giant hologram head filling the whole of the Senate chamber (making his ROTS line of "I am the Senate" pretty much literal) the podium is now replaced with the Imperial Seal.

The building would be turned into security centre for the military to further insure the safety of the capital from the insurgent Alliance of Rebels attempting to undermine peace in the Empire.

Stormtroopers could keep an eye out for troublemakers and would escort the now former Senators back to their ships and to their obscure and ignored provincial Parliaments.

If the scene was scripted storyboarded and made it could be an optional extra to add into future re-edits.

Perhaps Tarkin could observe the scene in his command centre before entering the meeting :

At the very least it could be a fine Fan Film.

We really should do a series of collectors edition style books which could printed off for each of the episodes.

The official cuts got them.

Shame that Darth Venal got himself banned because for the brief period he was on here he did put up some eye popping pieces.

Thanks for your red less red room Angel (I really wish someone would do this) removing all those reflected reds must have been hellish.