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The Star Wars Archives, a different kind of preservation — Page 2

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Behind the scenes, promo shots, lobby cards. It's all great stuff!

“I love Darth Editous and I’m not ashamed to admit it.” ~ADigitalMan

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fantastic photos with Gary kurtz, the best producer and the real Star wars Man ever.
Grooaoohumpf
(scuze my english)
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Since we're on the topic of Star Wars Archives, the first post in this thread over at the RPF(Replica Prop Forum) is a must read. Looks like there's more stuff in Lucas' archives than any of us could have ever imagined:

http://www.therpf.com/showthread.php?t=23946&highlight=vader

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Those are some really beautiful shots taken by Mr. Kurtz. A most excellent site I think you have, Darth.
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I've only just started going through the site, and it really is an absolute joy. It's the sort of things you wish Lucasfilm should be doing for the 30th (or any) anniversary, but I guess they're so entrenched in the official corporate version of things, that it needs an outside perspective to really do this stuff justice.

Just being able to see so much 'new', or at least, previously unseen vintage content is a real treat - so thank you Darth Neo for creating the site, and for free and avaiable to all. Hyperspace should take note.

Magic

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I am sure it's absolutely true that Gary Kurtz is the unsung hero of Star Wars.

If you look at Lucas' work - from American Grafitti through to Empire, you can see the maturity and quality - everything from Jedi onward - after he fired Kurtz - clearly has a more uniform look and feel, and it's a poor one. It seems clear that Jedi is the first film that is the pure creative expression Lucas, doing everything he wanted exactly the way he wanted - no collaboration, no input from anyone, and being surrounded by "yes men."

Gary and probably his ex-wife Marcia Lucas had far more input and say than any of us will ever know.

I really wish Kurtz would do a podcast commentary for Star Wars and Empire so we can hear who really contributed what.

A girl I know who went to school with Kurtz's daughter told me how she would talk about how upset her father was after George fired him. A quote from her attributed to Lucas was that (in refernce to Empire) "He and Kershner stole my movie from me."

Here's what I think happened: It's well documented that, after finishing Star Wars, Lucas was miserable and (according to a friend who was in contact with Lucas duing the making of SW) even suicidal. He hated directing. George's definition of directing was "coming to work with 100 problems every day and being able to solve 50 of them." He didn't enjoy it and swore he would never direct again.

He was so disenchanted with making SW that he PURPOSELY took a back seat and let Kurtz, Kersh, Leigh Brackett and Kasdan do most of the work. But, part way into the film, once Lucas had physically and emotionally recovered from SW, the train that was making Empire was moving full steam ahead and he realized it was mostly moving along without him. Everyone knows Lucas is not a very forceful guy; shy and quiet has always been his trademark. He probably didn't have it in him to step up and tell everyone to take a hike and do things HIS way - so he quietly steamed about it, did what he could, and when it came to Jedi, he fired everyone he felt threatened by (his wife and his producer) and from then on just hired people who would take orders.

There are MANY recountings of Lucas on set for ROTJ basically countermanding what Marquand was telling people - Lucas practicaly directed the film behind Marquand's back, but unfortunately Mr. Marquand isn't around to tell us more about it.

Anyway, this is my take on things, and I think it's obvious because of the downward spiral that started with Jedi and has remained the status quo for Lucas ever since.

I'm sure Kurtz doesn't want to sound like sour grapes and start saying "this was my idea, that was my idea" but I think fans would really like to hear more about the process of making SW and Empire and get a better idea of how it went wrong from there to Jedi.
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Originally posted by: Mojo_LA


There are MANY recountings of Lucas on set for ROTJ basically countermanding what Marquand was telling people


Where?
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I've been researching interview material for the MAKING OF RETURN OF THE JEDI STAR WARS AFICIONADO magazine coming out at the end of the year. So far in my interview perusals, only Carrie has talked about George Lucas giving different direction from Marquand on one days filming of the Jabba Palace set. There are rumours that Alan Hume, Marquand's long time cinematographer, left filming at ELSTREE because he was annoyed at the way Marquand was being treated-there are pics of Hume's assumed replacement, Alec Mills, filming scenes with Marquand in March 1982 during the Emperors throne room scenes but, as far as I'm aware, Hume was part of the filming team that went to Yuma and the Rdwoods from April, working alongside an additional American cinematographer (due to US filming rules).

Marquand DID direct that film, and Lucas was HEAVILY involved with him on it, especially on the effects side which Marquand was not used to. Marquand did his first cut of the film with longtime film editing colleague Sean Barton. Then Lucas worked with him-Lucas insisted that they worked together on the editing- on a refined version which became the film we know now, working with Duwayne Dunham with extra help/trusted editing advice from Marcia Lucas Text
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I remember reading in Starlog when the film was released about a specific incident where Marquand told the actor inside the Gamorean Guard costume how to act, and shortly afterwards Lucas gave him entirely different direction.

Although I can't say that Marquand, if left to himself, would have done a great job anyway. I specifically remember an interview with him where he said he "wasn't going to make the same mistakes Kershner made." His example was Darth Vader holding his lightsaber with one hand when he began fighting Luke on Bespin. "Everyone knows a lightsaber is too heavy to hold with one hand!" That is a Marquand quote.

Even at 15 years old, I knew he wasn't getting it - Vader was holding the saber with one hand to demonstrate that he was being cocky and UNDERESTIMATING Luke - later in the fight, when he realizes Luke is a greater foe than he realized - he's not just holding the saber with two hands, but he's feverishly fighting for his life!

THAT is brilliant direction. All hail Kersh/Kurtz.
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Originally posted by: Mojo_LA


I'm sure Kurtz doesn't want to sound like sour grapes and start saying "this was my idea, that was my idea" but I think fans would really like to hear more about the process of making SW and Empire and get a better idea of how it went wrong from there to Jedi.


Yeah, but doesn't it suck that it has to be this way. I would love to hear a good deal more from people other than George concerning the creation of Empire and Jedi, but it seems we are always treated to interviews of Lucas proclaiming his story telling genius, while the other remain silent (probably not wanting to cause conflict with Lucas).

"Every time Warb sighs, an angel falls into a vat of mapel syrup." - Gaffer Tape

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I just got a chance to look at that site and it is unbelievable. That site just fills me with excitement when I'm looking through it, its simply amazing.

"The Empire can't stop us now..now its our turn" -Luke-

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You already know how much I love this site. Yesterday I managed to look through everything on there. Amazing! The readalong books, so cool! I love the way you can turn the pages. And all those stills of the 'making of' are just tantalising. In the coming weeks I may be able to contribute some very rare things of my own. I am currently trying to get the relevant permission. Watch this/that space.

JD

Creator of Star Wars Begins, Building Empire and Returning to Jedi
Follow me on twitter @jamieSWB. Please support me at - http://www.patreon.com/jamiebenning/

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Hi Guyz,

Here are some updates for www.starwarsarchives.com:

- added a few better quality images in the 1980 Gary Kurtz Gallery
- added some new images in the 1980 Gary Kurtz Gallery
- added new images to the 1977 photoshoots gallery

- added elstree studios to the 1977 galleries
- added finse in the 1980 galleries
- added press kits to the 1980 galleries
- added behind the scenes misc. to the 1980 galleries
- added behind the scenes matte paintings to the 1980 galleries
- added behind the scenes misc. to the 1983 galleries
- added behind the scenes on location to the 1983 galleries
- added promotion - photoshoots to the 1983 galleries

- added downloadable PDF magazines to 1977
- added downloadable PDF magazines to 1978

- added ReadAlong Droid World to 1983
- added ReadAlong Planet of the Hooijibs to 1983
- added ReadAlong Ewoks join the Fight to 1983

Darth Neo
humanity is a flawed creation.........
www.StarWarsArchives.com
www.StarWarsArchives.com/forums
www.StarWarsArchives.com/moviesforum
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great adding darth neo, thanks loved darth vader intrance john williams concert , more more more..
Grooaoohumpf
(scuze my english)
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To everyone who send me an email through starwarsarchives.com:

My computer crashed last week and cannot be repaired (burned out motherboard). Therefor I have to buy a new computer and cannot access my mail for now. When I'm up and running again (and have rescued my files, mails and such), I will reply to every mail that I received but for now I can't

Greetz,

Darth Neo
humanity is a flawed creation.........
www.StarWarsArchives.com
www.StarWarsArchives.com/forums
www.StarWarsArchives.com/moviesforum
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I was not sure were to post this question:

out of all these Edits, does anyone have a Verson of Ep4 ANH with the Deleted stuff put back in?? I ask because of the clips I saw at

AICN.

thanks for any info.
§ JxF §
http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k200/Jediii_2006/box/blu-sw.jpg

http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k200/Jediii_2006/box/starwars_ani.gif
http://img118.imageshack.us/img118/489/bluraydisc2lk9.jpg
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JangoxFett, I don't think anyone has released the edit you refer to. Someone may have completed such an edit, but I don't recall it having ever been released.
Wouldn't the difference in quality between the deleted scenes really, really, contrast with the rest of the film?
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I believe we have top men working on it now.

Top... men.
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Star Wars Archives is Back with lots of updates and much more to come.......

site improvements

I have worked on some improvemnts on the site. Mainly optimising the seperate flash movies for faster downloads. I also added a new video player which is incorporated in the 'lost documentary' section, as well as in the new flash movies. This player will replace existing movies in the next few days. With the player you can now go forward within the movie, choose others movies for that year or section, resize the movie (this will decrease the quality but enchance the viewing pleasure) and adjust the volume. Any comments are more that welcome.

new years added

I have added a few years to the timeline with fun content.

- 1979: added 1979 to the timeline with downloadable Bantha Tracks, ILM move gallery, Empire Strikes back production galleries:
check it out
- 1981: added 1981 to the timeline with downloadable Bantha Tracks, rare radio spots for the radio drama, the making of the radio drama and a behind the scenes gallery of the Star wars Radio drama:
check it out
- 1982: added 1982 to the timeline with downloadable Bantha Tracks, production galleries for Return of the Jedi:
check it out
- 1997: added 1997 to the timeline with 3 new Read Along Adventures for Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi and a special image gallery:
check it out

the forum is up and running

The forum is up, but is still a work in progress so bear with me. You will be able to post messages, but a lot of the boardfeatures I will have to work through when I have the time. Any help or comments on that will be very welcome. I will post larger video files on the forum, as well as high-res versions of images from the site (including the Gary Kurtz galleries) in the next few days. I hope you will do the same to get this thing going. If you have comments or error reports you can mail me here

downloadable Bantha Tracks

Added the Bantha Tracks Newsletters issue 1 to 22 to their respective years (1978 to 1984). I have to scan issues 23 to 35 to be added later. Bantha Tracks was such a part of the whole Star wars experience for us older fans and the only source of Star Wars information at the time (as well as some cool membership kits).

image updates

- added 20 new amazing images to the 1977 Gary Kurtz gallery.
- added 15 new images to the 1980 Gary Kurtz Gallery.
- added 10 more great images to the 1977 Robert Carlyle gallery
- added 58 new and ultra rare images to the 1977 promotional movie stills Gallery.
- added a whole new video player to the Empire: the lost documentary section a well as 2 new clips from this doc.

And there is much more to come in the next few days

- special feature: the muppet connection
- extra content for 1983
- more special image galleries
- the content of 1987
- special video's like muppet babies, star wars on sesame street and much more

Stay tuned.

Greetz,

Darth Neo
humanity is a flawed creation.........
www.StarWarsArchives.com
www.StarWarsArchives.com/forums
www.StarWarsArchives.com/moviesforum
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I don't know HOW I missed this in the past, but I'd like to thank you for making my day TOTALLY unproductive!

Bantha Tracks . . . ah, sweet memories. I wonder where mine are now.