Anchorhead

^   If only.

ChainsawAsh said:

Dude, you're on the wrong forum.

I suspect that's exactly why he's here.    Attacks & insinuates - then claims innocence & misunderstanding.  Textbook passive\aggressive trolling.  He'll be back on TFN and the Lucas boards after a while.  We get a couple of these guys every few months.

It does give a little history of his involvement with the Cross Of Coronado and ties in directly to him getting it back many years later.  I don't have a problem with that at all.  In fact, I thought it was a nice change from the previous openings where we were catching the tail end of a different adventure. I like those a lot too, by the way.

My problem with the circus train scene is that it's the unnecessary back story of all his character traits.  Like I said before; No more using our imaginations to wonder how he may have grown into the character throughout the course of his life. It turns out he got the hat, the whip, the jacket, the scar, and a fear of snakes - all on the same day - within a few minutes of each other - when he was just a kid. 

To me, it completely takes away from the depth of the character we meet at the beginning of Raiders. Once again, Lucas doesn't know when to quit. 

TheBoost said:

 I dig all four Indy films as well. I'm curious what you dislike about the opening to Crusade? 

It's my post, but sort of got lost because I started getting a little wordy...

Instead of letting the character remain a little mysterious and larger-than-life, he insisted on giving us too much information. No more pondering how he may have grown into the character we'd loved for years - turns out he got the hat, the whip, the jacket, the scar, and the fear of snakes all on the same day, within a few minutes of each other, when he was just a kid.  Lucas story-shrinking at it's finest.

It's story-shrinking back-story that insures the viewer doesn't get to use his\her imagination.  Lucas can't have any of that.  Not only will he control what the fan base gets as far as quality of releases is concerned, he also has to control every minute detail of every character.

To me, the Indiana Jones franchise is heads & tails better than Star Wars because Lucas is kept in check by Spielberg & Ford. He doesn't get his way, so the films and stories are much better.

Just throwing another aesthetic idea out there.  You have a lot of information on the home page.  That's great, because there is a lot of important information that needs to be addressed up-front.

I think an outsider or uniformed guest might find it easier to read and maybe a little less Star Wars geeky if the copy wasn't so stylized. I'd left-justify the headings, change the font to Times, and leave the body ragged right. Giant blocks of justified copy without breaks can be a little cumbersome to read, particularly on a computer screen.  I  also added color to the copy to give it a little more depth, tying it in with your page header.

Just a thought.

Easterhay said:

We would always wonder, though, what happened before episode four. .....We would always wonder...

No - we would not. 

In Star Wars, the audience were told what came before. Personally, I didn't need or want it shown to me in detail.  My imagination was enough to fill in any back story I may have had an interest in.  The mystery of the characters and the vastness of space served the story perfectly.

However, that's not how George works.  Fleshing out every tiny detail of back story is how George controls - and it's also great for franchising a story.  In my opinion, it also happens to be something he's not good at.  He tends to get writer's block rather quickly and ends up having to ham-fist his way out of it, e. g., Vader as father, Leia as sister, second Death Star, Lando as Han II.

He also seems to have an issue - the control mentioned above -  with wanting to explain every detail and nuance. The ridiculousness of Annikin Starkiller (who, by 1999, was an entirely different character than he was in George's original Grand Vision 1975 script) building 3PO is matched only by how completely unnecessary and pointless it is.  It is, however, a perfect example of how George does things - the present at the expense of the past.

He also did it with Indiana Jones.  Instead of letting the character remain a little mysterious and larger-than-life, he insisted on giving us too much information. No more pondering how he may have grown into the character we'd loved for years - turns out he got the hat, the whip, the jacket, the scar, and the fear of snakes all on the same day, within a few minutes of each other, when he was just a kid.  Lucas story-shrinking at it's finest.

I saw Phantom, just out of curiosity, and disliked it. I didn't bother with the other two.  I have zero interest in what came before Star Wars - not in 1977, not now.  Not ever.

You dig all the films - good for you.  You want to bait the board as you did in your Return thread - have at it.  However, if you're going to attempt to speak for me ("We would always wonder...") - expect some push-back.

Now, in the interest of disclosure;  I should point out that I really like all four Indiana Jones films. I'm an ongoing, from-the-start, fan of the franchise. However, the opening prequel portion of Crusade was done....poorly.

Easterhay said:

So, I ask, who amongst the original fans...genuinely thought Return Of The Jedi to be a let-down when first released?  And, if so, why?  Be honest now.

With God as my witness, I genuinely disliked it before it was even over.  I'd taken the day off to go to the premier.  As soon as I saw the Muppets inside Jabba's palace, I realized this wasn't going to be for me.  That stupid band, the lame plot - I knew the bomb-carrying stranger was the princess as soon as they showed her - all of that palace silliness, and particularly Jabba - it was all laughably bad.

It just got worse as it went on.  I thought the whole barge scene was poorly done - spectacle without story, I thought the brother sister angle was weak and unnecessary, the second death star was writer's block, the ewoks were Disney, and the emperor shooting lightning bolts out of his hands was almost comedic.  But the absolute topper in "oh my God, what have they done to Star Wars?" - was  3PO telling a camp fire story to plush toys. Fucking vile.

I can only remember two viewings in my life.  One was that premier day and the other was a few days after I bought the Faces VHS.  We used to have Lunchtime Theater where I worked back then.  Sort of a serial installment of films type deal.  People would bring in movies and we'd watch them in 45 minute segments every day.  I brought in the trilogy one time.  When Return was playing, I heckled it Mystery Science Theater style.

Star Wars Post 1977 and I officially went our separate ways in May of 1983.  I tried to like Empire and bought the Laserdisc around that same time, but it eventually drifted away too.

*edit*
For the record, I was 21 when Return was released.

Bingowings said:

I did have ANH taped on Betamax ....

Ah-HAAA!!

I'm not the only person around here crowding 50. 

;-)

xhonzi said:

Anchorhead said:

Got home with it, opened the package in the driveway, removed this disc, and threw everything else in the trash can.  Only the disc went inside the house, to be stored in a generic single-disc case.

 Were you wearing pants when you did this?  I expect not.  ;)

Nicely played, sir.

  ;-)

I'm a close second to Moth3r on least spent through the years. 

Purchased new when they were released. Made my first full-film audio rips from these.  Eventually lost them in a flood in the early 90s, along with nearly everything I'd ever owned.

Purchased used about a year after it was released. Offered it to Bkev for free a few years ago.  He ignored my PM, so I donated it to the store front of a shelter for abused women, where they sell items to raise money. I take stuff there regularly.

Purchased used in 2004.  Looking around the internet to get it transferred to DVD eventually led me to this site.  Still have it.

Purchased new in 2006.  Got home with it, opened the package in the driveway, removed this disc, and threw everything else in the trash can.  Only the disc went inside the house, to be stored in a generic single-disc case.

Anyway, that's it.  If there is ever a proper release of the 1977 theatrical version of Star Wars, I'll buy it. However, since the NPR version has long since replaced the film for me, I'm not really concerned.  I haven't watched the film in four years.

skyjedi2005 said:

TV's Frink said:

^That is why you fail.

If you simply ignore these things, you still get to enjoy ESB and ROTJ.  I realize that I'm repeating myself, but in my defense, you are repeating yourself over...

...and over...

...and over...

(ad nauseum).

Yeah because Ice cream posts are so enlightening.

I sometimes get the feeling that if we were to have an OT.com meet-up, it might look a lot like this;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjSVRsoBYNY

;-)

xhonzi said:

 No... it's more of an "I admire you for taking a stronger stance than I am willing to.....I'm also not quite sure what's it's like in that world, and I wonder if you have cupcakes there... And oxygen" ....It's like we all hate wearing pants, but you're the only guy willing to walk around without them!

No strength required.  It came quite naturally.  It started not long after Empire and then Return just cemented it.  I suppose it seems weird to you guys, but I never give it any thought.  Truth is, I seldom watch the one version of the one film I do like.  It's all NPR for me now.

There are probably similar situations with other entities for people around here - other films, music groups, TV shows, etc.  Star Wars just happens to be one of mine.

Oh, and for the record - we most certainly have cupcakes in my world. 

Just don't bother looking for any with Yoda or Ewoks on them.

The pants thing? - well....uuh....I....I mean...um..it's..........man, how about that crazy Astros\Phillies game last night? 

;-)

xhonzi said:

Ah, I knew you'd pipe in here eventually, Anchorhead. 

If I didn't know any better, I'd say that had a hint of "where's that kook from the 70s" in it.

xhonzi said:

You're the only one I could think of that would be a definite 'yes' for this thread.

Definite is a strong word (maybe). There are three scenes in Empire that I think are fantastic.

Asteroid field chase.
Falcon's approach to Cloud City.
Luke hanging below Cloud City. - By far, my favorite moment from the entire film.

Thanks, fellas.  The shock is wearing off and things are settling in.  Baseball has been a good distraction.

Regarding my fantasy team;  Just looking for opinions here - with four guys on the DL, would any of you try to move them or would you just ride it out?  I realize the answer is different depending on someone's place in the standings, but I figured I'd play the season out with an eye toward gaining, since winning is out of the question. 

TV's Frink said:

 

Regarding the other trade, Anchor traded me A-Rod for Nelson Cruz.  While I'd say I got the better of that trade so far, currently both players are on the DL.  D'oh.

Yeah, neither of us came out too well on that deal. ;-)

For the record, I didn't check in too much for several weeks due to a death in the family.  When I finally did check back in, I had four guys on the DL and was doing my best impression of the Astros.  ;-)

I'll try to climb back in these last six weeks.  However, at this point all I can really hope for is just finishing with a little respect.  It's certainly a challenge with my roster being as banged-up as it is.

Would have been fine with me if he had stopped after Star Wars. I didn't need to know what came before or after - and I certainly didn't need all the mystery and vastness of the universe taken away.

That said; I enjoyed Empire when it first came out - minus the Vader\Father angle.  However, after I saw - and nearly walked out on - Return, I started saying goodbye to all but 1977. I gave them both another chance about 15 years ago, but I just couldn't get back on board.  Lucas had shrunk the universe and morphed the whole ordeal into a child's bedtime story.  It was a leap I wasn't able to make.

Return of the PIE Fighter.  I didn't make the TIE, by the way.  I found the picture on the internet.  I just added the pies.

.

Thanks, man.  I'll eventually get back into the swing of things.

I suppose I should clarify my thoughts on the Graffiti title card.  It's a weird change to make, but so minor compared to the film itself (unchanged) or any of his other mega-changes - THX, Star Wars - that I'm ok with it.  And by ok, I mean I wish he hadn't done it, but it doesn't affect the film or my view of it.  Which is a top ten for me, by the way.

Regarding THX;  I've seen the screen grabs, just as I had with the Star Wars SE.  There's no way in the world I'd watch that travesty.  What he did to THX is ruining, just as the SEs were.

Principal or not - there is an enormous difference between altered static title card and entirely new, CGI, story-changing scenes in films.

skyjedi2005 said:

Lucas ruined Graffiti in 1998. 

Changing only a few seconds of a static title card is hardly ruining the film. 

Man, that's some deep-set Prequel\SE hate.

I'd like to point out that I really dig the layout. The original one-sheet works perfectly for your site. I also think the placement of the portion of the one-sheet you chose - X-Wings en masse - works very well with the whole idea of Saving Star Wars.

I made a few small changes that I thought would sort of grab the reader\passer-by with regards to your already well done layout. I saturated the color of your graphic and altered the text a touch to make it jump out a little more. I also moved the paragraph headers to left justified. Just an idea. I know you're still very early in the process.