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Anchorhead

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12-Jun-2005
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8-Jun-2025
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Post
#319165
Topic
Indiana Jones IV
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/319165/action/topic#319165
Time
lordjedi said:

Apparently we both saw different movies. The hotrod race was their to introduce the Russians (or did that just completely go over your head?) as well as show the time period (am I the only one that figured out immediately that it was 1950's Nevada, somewhere outside Vegas?). Good God people. Yeah, it was a bit of a nod to American Graffiti courtesy of Lucas,...


I agree.
As I mentioned in a post on another board; I thought that was a neat way to show the audience that it's now the rowdier, rock & roll, late 1950s - not the wartime 1930s anymore. And, as a gearhead for most of my youth, I dug the T-Bucket.

I also thought it was interesting to ponder the fact that a kidnapped Indiana Jones is in the trunk of that car while it's racing. Something seemingly so harmless and fun (the race) was actually a very serious situation being hidden from the teenagers.


I think a lot of you are simply ripping this movie apart because Lucas was involved.


I think you're right on the money with that assessment.
Post
#319026
Topic
Indiana Jones IV
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/319026/action/topic#319026
Time
Owen-Lars-Kenobi said:

I just got back from seeing it and really loved it.... except for one thing.. the score! Where was the new music... themes! I want themes


I bought the soundtrack and really like it. On par with all the films. The second cut on the soundtrack - Call Of The Crystal is a really great theme that shows up several times in the film. One of the better themes Williams has written, I think. Deep, calm, and eery.
Post
#319018
Topic
Indiana Jones IV
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/319018/action/topic#319018
Time
Two things I'd like to point out before I post my thoughts.

1. I'm a huge Indiana Jones nerd, since 1981. I loved Raiders and it instantly became one of my top ten films of all time as soon as it was released. I thought Temple & Crusade were ok.

2. As you guys know by now, I'm not someone - even if the first film becomes a top ten for me - who blindly follows sequels and franchises no matter what is released. More often than not, the opposite is true.

I point those two things out so you'll understand my review and know that my thoughts on Crystal Skull could have very easily gone either way. I went in knowing the background of what it took to get the film made and a rough idea of what the story was. I went to see it Friday after work.

No spoilers below.

I really liked it. I thought they did a great job of re-introducing us to the character after two decades had passed. I'm a big fan of the quieter, more cerebral aspects of all the films - the character interaction, the dialogue scenes, etc. The action is always exciting, but never what I ponder when I think about the films. Crystal Skull had plenty of both. To me, the dialogue\cerebral moments seemed deeper and more realistic than the last two films.

It's Indiana Jones many years later and they address it both seriously and occasionally with humor. I enjoyed the story, the locations, the music, etc. It was fun to see an old friend again. I thought Shia also did a good job and it was great to see that big, honest, wonderful smile of Karen Allen again. I particularly dug the opening title sequence. I thought it was a neat way to show that it wasn't the 30s anymore.

There are the occasional silly and\or impossible moments, but they are small and don't detract from the narrative too much. I went in knowing I'd have to suspend belief at times. After all, this is an Indiana Jones adventure, not a History Channel documentary. It was what they all have been. Two hours of adventure escapism.

Overall, I don't know where I place it in the franchise, but I'm leaning toward putting it as my second favorite of the four. Hard to tell because I haven't fully absorbed it yet. However, all three will always be a very distant second to Raiders. This summer will definitely have an Indiana Jones feel - and for me, that's a great thing.

Oh, and it was even better when I went to see it again on Sunday morning. http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f20/stonetriple/smileage/wink.gif


Spoilers and more specific points if we have a thread discussing them later, after most people have seen it.
Post
#316534
Topic
China
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/316534/action/topic#316534
Time
FanFiltration said:


It's amusing how many of you take things far too serious and obviously very personal.

The reactions to even the most general and obtuse comments brings almost the same typical programed reactions...

I'm reminded of the experiments of Pavlov and his dogs. Sorry if such tactics annoy some, but I find this all very amusing.

Do some lose sleep about any of this, have their ego bruised, or even carry a feeling of pride of a battle well fought over this banter?

This tool is for people such as myself that enjoy baiting, and also observing the ...over reactions



For someone who claims to be a victim of gang stalking & police harassment - to the point of having to go to the hospital with chest pains caused by anxiety and stress - I'm surprised you revel in your ability to bother others. Your treatment of other people's distress, as well as your repeated condescension seems more like the behavior of someone seeking to repair their own bruised ego.
Post
#316524
Topic
China
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/316524/action/topic#316524
Time
FanFiltration said:


"Who is influencing the opinions of American youth today? It is a core of cyber peers, massively popular untrained and uneducated writers on the internet


You mean like an amatuer-looking site, complete with an anonymous "Dr." with a "PhD", warning the little people of the coming of a second civil war ?
Post
#316473
Topic
China
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/316473/action/topic#316473
Time
Johnboy3434 said:

I can't help but snicker when people say that humanity is "killing the planet".


Let me see if I can make myself a little more clear Johnboy.

I was speaking of the health issues and devastation of the current plant & animal species.

There's no denying that the planet will survive whatever we throw at it, but it's going to be a real mother fucker for the people that have to deal with it while it's happening.
Post
#316456
Topic
China
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/316456/action/topic#316456
Time
From the series I posted a link to;

"Environmental woes that might be considered catastrophic in some countries can seem commonplace in China: industrial cities where people rarely see the sun; children killed or sickened by lead poisoning or other types of local pollution; a coastline so swamped by algal red tides that large sections of the ocean no longer sustain marine life.

China is choking on its own success. The economy is on a historic run, posting a succession of double-digit growth rates. But the growth derives, now more than at any time in the recent past, from a staggering expansion of heavy industry and urbanization that requires colossal inputs of energy, almost all from coal, the most readily available, and dirtiest, source."

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f20/stonetriple/chinastorecoalmine.jpg

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f20/stonetriple/china_olympics.jpg

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f20/stonetriple/Tiananmen2008.jpg


That last picture is smog in Tiananmen Square, taken this year. Air pollution from China is being felt all the way to Los Angeles. We're going to have to deal with their disregard for the planet - whether we want to or not.

Add to that, the fact they are killing us in other ways also, through their disregard for any form of self-regulation. Around the world, products from China are killing;

Adults - contaminated medicine
Children - dangerous toys with lead paint
Animals - contaminated food

The sooner we stop supporting that government, the sooner they'll be forced to stop killing the planet.



Post
#316430
Topic
The original inspiration for Star Destroyers?
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/316430/action/topic#316430
Time
I could see him taking some inspiration from that. Lucas found ideas that became canon from many sources. I believe it's Zombie's book that speaks of Darth Vader's final form not being decided on until after Lucas saw a McQuarrie drawing were he was wearing a simple breathing mask for travel between two vessels. Lucas dug it and created a story to incorporate it.

Post
#316341
Topic
opinions - how the release of the original to theatres was different than the new three films.
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/316341/action/topic#316341
Time
zombie84 said:


Lucas retained merchandizing rights way back in 1973 when he started making it he had "visions of R2D2 mugs and action figures" when he was writing-- just as a fun tie-in


There is a huge difference between fun tie-in and writing stories specifically to drive the business of merchandising toys. As far as expressing opinions along with the memories - the original poster asked us to do just that. And yes, I'm aware that Kershner wanted to keep Empire on track as a second serious film. George's ego ended up getting in the way. I'm also aware that I'm very much in the minority where my Star Wars world is concerned, when compared to most of the fan base.

However, I was there in 1977. I experienced Star Wars at it's inception - without any baggage - and my views will always be from that perspective.

For the record, zombie84, there is no way I would challenge your knowledge of Star Wars history - and in fact, your book is required reading for anyone that wants to talk Star Wars with me......"no don't even bring it up with him, he'll just reference page 102 of the Star Wars history book where it quotes Lucas in the second page of the Rolling Stone interview from 1979 where he says Star Wars is episode 1 of the 12 films....in fact, let's just eat lunch without him today...you know he's on that Star Wars nerd board where they don't even use their real names" ;-)

I refer to it often before I post here, just to double check quotes, dates, etc.
Post
#316312
Topic
opinions - how the release of the original to theatres was different than the new three films.
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/316312/action/topic#316312
Time
auximenies said:

I have always said I was the ideal age when Star Wars was released -- 5 years old --

...after reading Anchorhead's story, I'm not so sure any longer that I was the ideal age.


I think everyone was the perfect age. It was a serious film with some deeper issues alright, but there was still something for everyone. Older generations had a military\government\war story, my generation had a dishonest smuggler who traveled by space ship and the hero who rescued the girl, and the little kids had robots & Chewbacca.
Adults had actors from their generation (Guinness & Cushing), boys had Luke & Han, and girls had a smart, strong-willed princess.
And for everyone in the theater - special effects that made us feel as though we were actually there.

Star Wars was a perfect storm between honesty and innocence. The honesty was George’s passion for his film and his script - the innocence was the 1977 public. George cared deeply for his idea\story\movie – and we had never seen anything like it. We went in as blank canvases, ready to go on an adventure - while George made a movie he had always dreamed of making. A movie that took us on that adventure.

For George, as soon as he decided to commission two other people to come up with stories for a second film, he lost his honesty. Whatever the story was going to be, it wasn’t going to be passion-driven & penned by George, the way Star Wars had been. It was going to be sequel-driven and penned by other people. It couldn’t be as honest. That doesn’t mean the second story would automatically be bad, and in fact, it wasn’t. But the honesty was somewhat lost. Profit margin, copyrights, contracts, and merchandise tie-ins now had a say in the finished film. Han being frozen is a perfect example of how reality was steering the story – not passion. That’s the kind of loss-of-honesty I’m talking about.

For the public, since we’d been exposed to the story, the characters, the endlessness of outer space, other planets, and the awesome special effects - we now had expectations to go along with that lost innocence. We’d been on the adventure, rescued the princess, defeated the bad guys, and returned home safely to dream about it over & over. We weren’t emotionally innocent anymore.

The second time you fall in love – it doesn’t move you the way the first time did. That’s why people always remember their first love – it changes you forever.

Star Wars took the world by storm because that's exactly what it didn't set out to do. It was created with the idea of film first, franchise second. Once that changed, so did the quality of the story.
Post
#316187
Topic
opinions - how the release of the original to theatres was different than the new three films.
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/316187/action/topic#316187
Time
zombie84 said:

Somebody get Anchorhead in here.


;-)


emfab,

That's a tough one to explain in a short post. Are you looking for any opinions or experiences specifically?

I'm 45. For my generation (I was 15 when Star Wars came out), there wasn't the entertainment stimuli that there is now. We didn't have video games, computer games, internet, cell phones, video iPods, DVD players hooked to our 50” plasmas with surround sound, or 200 channels of TV. We weren’t wired into the public conscience the way people are now. We had books, radio, prime-time TV (about 5 channels - that went off the air at midnight), and movies.

Our adventures, whatever they were, were all in our imagination. I don't have to tell you that sitting in the theater and seeing Star Wars for the first time was one hell of an experience. It was a very realistic representation of what, for many of us, our imaginations had always been – good guy goes off to rescue a beautiful princess and defeat the bad guys -and – it was in outer space, no less! There were space ships, laser swords, blasters, strange creatures from other galaxies, etc. Man, it had it all.

I felt a million miles from home during the film – when I went on that adventure. It was an adventure I went on every week that year. If you have a way to see the original trailer for Star Wars, you can get an idea of how different a film it really was – both from anything that had come before it, as well as from what Lucas wants it to be now. That original trailer is so foreign and distant that it’s almost creepy. That was no little kid movie. It was an outer space, science fiction adventure. And - as you are no doubt aware – it took the world by storm. It was all anyone talked about. Everyone wanted to be one of the characters because everyone identified with one of them. In popular culture, it was copied, as well as spoofed. 1977 felt like Star Wars. It also quite literally changed the way the world saw outer space movies. Both in how they were made and what people expected out of them.

It was unlike anything that had ever come before it. It was pure magic. Because of the naiveté and innocence of the world back then, it was easy for it to grab the public conscience in a way that just isn’t possible anymore – for anything. The world is no longer innocent and people are accustomed to having perfect realizations presented to them. Sensory overload is the word of the day now. You aren’t required to have an imagination, nor are you allowed to absorb a scene. Everything is spelled out and it all happens very quickly. Lucas himself has long since given in to it.

I’ve seen clips from Attack Of The Clones and I’m shocked at the amount of stuff happening on the screen at any given time. It’s a far cry from the long, solitary shots of Star Wars - 3PO walking through the desert alone with only the sound of his servos or Luke looking out at the sunset. We were allowed to feel isolated and far away. We were given time to feel emotions.

Even Empire and Return weren’t the same because we already had expectations. The public fascination, the emotional attachment - it won’t ever be duplicated again. It can’t be. There could only be one summer of Star Wars – just as there could only have been one The Beatles, or one Apollo space program. That’s something Lucas continues to learn the hard way.

I got my drivers license a few months later. My first car was a 1974, 6 cylinder Gremlin. It was used, had a few dents and scratches, and was sometimes hard to start. It was my speeder and those dents and scratches were caused by laser blasts during narrow escapes from bad guys and strange creatures. My imagination was alive and well. All that existed for us was a single film and it had to be seen in a movie theater. These days, kids get in their Elements or Four Runners and drive over to their friend’s house to watch the prequels in their theater room – that’s after they get on the internet to check for the latest downloadable fan edits. It’s an entirely different world now.

I can’t help you with the prequels as I’ve only seen the first one. It wasn’t magic. Not even close. It was just formula – and it was poorly executed formula at that. To me, even the pre-release hype felt like formula.

Like I said, if you have specific questions, let me know. Others on here can help you with the prequels.

Here's the original Star Wars trailer - An entirely different film and an entirely different emotional experience.


*Edit*
This is where I went to see Star Wars every week in 1977.

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f20/stonetriple/movietheater.jpg

Even the theaters looked different back then. It was torn down years ago. After it was fenced off and the wrecking ball had been used on some of it, I drove by to look at it. I could see inside the theater & the slope of the seating area was visible. It was a weird feeling. Now the street isn't even there. The whole area was razed and turned into a commercial shopping & dining mega-development - unrecognizable from 1977.
Post
#315756
Topic
Fighting Wars and traversing Trek... *SPOILERS*
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/315756/action/topic#315756
Time
Johnboy3434 said:

Actually, I'm doing this because it requires a minimal amount of thought...


Hardly.

It requires a great deal of thought. You've gone to a lot of trouble to do it correctly and thoroughly. You should be commended for that level of discipline. The new Trek film will have much more meaning for you now than it would have had if you hadn't taken on this task.
Post
#315752
Topic
Will your interest in the Star Wars universe be affected...
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/315752/action/topic#315752
Time
zombie84 said:

...its not like I'm only interested in the Star Wars universe to make up for the void of an HD OOT. Thats just silly.


My question isn't about the actual medium or level of restoration. It's a question on the emotional side. So many people have mentioned losing interest in Star Wars because of their feelings on how Lucas treats the movies & the fans - the constant altering, the repackaging of the same material for cash-grabs, the dismissal of the original film, etc.

It's with that in mind that I wondered if they would feel some sort of forgiveness or at least a feeling of peace to the point that they could go back to watching the movies without them being contaminated with their dislike of Lucas, which in turn has ruined their enjoyment.
Post
#315661
Topic
China
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/315661/action/topic#315661
Time
Two anti-American, mass murdering, communists.

Hundreds of thousands of American soldiers have given their lives protecting us from communist dictators and leaders who reveled in killing Americans and destroying our country & our way of life. Now their images are being worn as fashion statements by the Echo Boomers.

Fucking obscene.