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Anchorhead

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12-Jun-2005
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8-Jun-2025
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Post
#237895
Topic
It has begun: StarWars.com to celebrate original films
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/237895/action/topic#237895
Time
Originally posted by: Obi Jeewhyen
There's far more to "better" than mere visual quality....

for many of us old-er folk who experienced the original Star Wars phenomena first-hand, even a half-baked job at presenting the opening of this movie the way it really opens will set the stage for an exceptional experience of Star Wars


By virtue of the first 30 seconds alone, this will be the "best" Star Wars home release ever ... ahem, says me.

I'm right there with you, man.



* slight edit on the quote
Post
#237182
Topic
It has begun: StarWars.com to celebrate original films
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/237182/action/topic#237182
Time
Originally posted by: skye_solo
George Lucas is appearing more and more to be like a Charles Foster Kane.

I've had that discussion with people before. I think you're right.

He's not a director with a lifetime of movies - some vast body of work worthy of an honorary Lifetime Achievement Oscar at the end of his career. He's a guy that made a series of 6 films, amassed billions because of it, and has become some eccentric that rules his empire (a film company as opposed to a publishing company) from his "ranch". The place is even named after one of the characters in the films.

He has people that speak for him and legions of blindly devoted followers that hang on his every word and believe every thing he says, no matter how ridiculous it sounds, how false it's proven to be, or hypocritical it is.

There are already thousands of people that study and discuss ad nauseam what it was he was thinking when he wrote a certain character or a particular scene, or why he would alter something years after the fact and then lie about it.

He's already become a Charles Kane figure.



Post
#236860
Topic
Been doing some thinking... OT box set
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/236860/action/topic#236860
Time
Originally posted by: 20th Century Mark
So what does this all mean?

I.....dooon't.....knooow.....

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f20/stonetriple/pee-wees-big-adventure-dvd-image-06.jpg




I think you're probably right. There will be another release - a better release. Star Wars is all Lucas has to offer the world. He's not about to make it so that he can reach some sort of stopping point.

If not, I have a watchable (and enjoyable) version. At this point, a proper anamorphic version would just be a bonus - not something I'm going to be loosing sleep over.
Post
#236564
Topic
The creation of the Star Wars logo
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/236564/action/topic#236564
Time
Is there an area on her site that has some of the original pencil drawings or inked version of the logo? Maybe I just missed it. I know it really didn't go through a normal series of revisions and according to her there was really only one minor one, but it would still be cool to see the original hand-drawn logo.

Considering the billions of things the logo has shown up on worldwide over the years - I wonder if there's ever times when she sees the logo, for instance, on a t-shirt as someone walks by and thinks to herself - "Yeah, I drew that with a pencil, on a piece of paper, while sitting at my desk at work 30 years ago".

Weird how something that started simply as a logo for a brochure to be given to investors was to become one of the most immediately recognizable logos in all of pop culture, around the globe.

Very interesting story Davis, thanks for the link.
Post
#236039
Topic
Your Greatest Star Wars Day.
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/236039/action/topic#236039
Time
Originally posted by: Obi Jeewhyen
The most fun was to be had at Artoo's arroyo, as there were several shots filmed here of the poor droid's encounter with scavenging Jawas. And nearby was the bluff where Sandpeople were spotted by an unsuspecting Luke Skywalker, as well as the canyon floor where those same Tusken Raiders hop adroitley upon their Banthas ...


But I think I most enjoyed the Mos Eisley overlook. Because we could get cars almost right up to the cliff edge, we were able to blare the appropriate John Williams soundtrack que .... over and over and over again.

Both of those would be pretty damn cool. I do a lot of motorcycle traveling. Death Valley has always seemed like a must-see (I've always wanted to see The Racetrack, I think it's called) - I would have to set aside time to go see those two places you mentioned.

Cool stuff, man.

Post
#235870
Topic
Your Greatest Star Wars Day.
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/235870/action/topic#235870
Time
I should point out that my mentioning the younger members on the board, and pointing out how things are different for them, isn't meant to be a knock. There are feelings and a deeper understanding of things that await them many years from now.

Revel in the journey - it's pretty damn awesome.


On an unrelated note - a question for Obi Jeewhyen...Are you really a Gynecologist? At first I thought it was just a clever play on words, but reading your posts, I realized you're old enough to have gone to medical school and built up your own practice by now. Just curious.
Post
#235779
Topic
Your Greatest Star Wars Day.
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/235779/action/topic#235779
Time
There isn't a particular day for me like that. It's just an overall feeling or state of mind about how that summer felt. I went to see it every week, sometimes more, so it's all blended together. Man, I remember that theater vividly - the screen, the seats, concession stand, everything. There was a weird area just in front of the screen that went back about twenty feet. The screen was set back into the wall. I can remember that as though it were yesterday. The screen wasn't just hanging on the wall like it is in the multi-screen megaplexes of today. Also, the screen was insanely huge. The theatre only had two screens. It was a free-standing building, just off of the freeway. Many, many years later, it was bought by one of those cinema conglomerates and remolded into an eight-screen theatre. No more bigger-than-life screens and giant seating areas with huge seats. About ten years after that and after having sat unused for quite a while, it was finally torn down and a strip center is now in it's place. The parking lot, the landscaping, even the street in front of it - all of it - completely gone. It's as though it were never there.

When I listen to the soundtrack or watch the film these days, I'm right back in that state of mind. It's comforting, familiar, every bit as magical and distant as it was in 1977, and it's just as special as it was then. That's why I don't just throw the movie in and watch it randomly. It's a somewhat planned event. I set aside the time, ignore the phone and doorbell, and go on the adventure again. When I see the 20th Century Fox logo, I'm right back in that theatre, looking at that huge deep-set screen, in that cavernous room, waiting for the crawl. Once it starts, I'm a long way from home.

That's something the teenage fans of the new stuff can't understand. They've not felt the march of time, or seen the world change, or suffered loss. They only think they have. They're favorite movies haven't been altered or become unavailable. They're still in their movie moment. No matter how much they think they can imagine, or think they know how they would feel - they can't. You can't just imagine the passage of time like that, no matter how hard you try, you have to experience it. And everyone has to experience it on their own. The character of Ben Kenobi makes a whole lot more sense these days - his calmness, his intelligence, his experience, his mental and physical fatigue. The lifetime of thoughts that you can see on his face.

Thirty years from now, all these conversations will make much more sense to the teens on this board. If they even remember them.
Post
#235130
Topic
Audience reaction to the reveal?
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/235130/action/topic#235130
Time
Originally posted by: CO
Just a warning for you guys, do not post at TFn, those people will come at you with pitchforks for only liking the Original SW.

Those people are of no concern to me. They don't get to decide for me how I'll refer to Star Wars, which version of the story I must accept, or how many of the films I have to see.

I alone control what Star Wars is to me. Not Lucas, not 20th Century Fox, not McCallum, and most certainly - not a bunch of strangers on the internet.

This is the only non-motorcycle-related board I ever really post on. I post here because it's made up of relatively like-minded individuals. People that are intelligent, witty, and informed. People that can think for themselves. Besides, I don't even know what TFn is.

My Star Wars questions and interests are answered on this board.

Post
#235061
Topic
Audience reaction to the reveal?
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/235061/action/topic#235061
Time
Originally posted by: vtpeters
I feltit sounded to much like something out of a soap opera...These kind of reveals or cliffhangers are common in soap opera's and Star Wars was starting to look like one.

Very good point. It's because there wasn't enough story to carry another film and Lucas was starting his process of making up stuff on the fly so that he had some reason to continue.

Weak.

Post
#234993
Topic
Audience reaction to the reveal?
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/234993/action/topic#234993
Time
There was certainly an element of surprise and shock. However, like a few other people have mentioned - most of us, myself included, just thought Vader was lying to Luke. It didn't seem right, so we figured it must have been a lie. That's the one thing I remember people debating afterwards.

Also worth mentioning - and someone brought this up just a few days ago - it was just about the worst kept secret in the world. I saw Empire about 2 or 3 days after it was released and me and my buddy had already heard about the big surprise. Seemed like everyone had. I remember waiting in this crazy-ass long line to see it. It was showing at a theatre that was in the corner of a large shopping center and our spot in the line was so far back that we were in the alley behind the center. Theatres were much larger back then and we still ended up waiting through a showing and having to wait for the next one. There were that many people out there. Everyone in line already knew, seemed like.

*edit* - I should point out that personally I hoped it was a lie until Return came out. It seemed wrong to me to make Vader something other than a really mean guy. It weakened the character to give him some tie to the good guys, some relation to them. It muddied the waters because you couldn't just outright cheer for the good guys, and want the bad guys to be defeated. You suddenly had to decide whether or not you wanted to have some concern for him. It was the first of many steps Lucas took in shrinking the Star Wars universe and weakening the story. I certainly liked the movie when it came out, but that twist dampened my enthusiasm considerably. Once it was official (In Return), there was only one movie I cared about.
Post
#234166
Topic
Expecting too much of George Lucas?
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/234166/action/topic#234166
Time
Originally posted by: CO I can always watch that movie in reference to how it was presented in 1977, and don't think about the stuff after it, and the stuff before it. I can say because I saw it in 1977, I am not tainted by the constant story changes by Lucas

I'm with you, man. Although, for me I’m not bothered by the stuff before it because there isn’t anything before it. Everything else came after - and feels it. Some of it much more so. I'm not tainted by the changes he made to it either because I've not seen any of them. I'd read ahead of time about the SE changes to the story and the characters, the added scenes, the CGI characters, etc and knew it wasn't for me. I didn't want to have to be bothered with trying to unsee that stuff.

In fact, that led to how I discovered you guys in the first place. Several years after the SEs came out, I decided it was time to secure a non-tape copy of Star Wars, something more durable than what I’d been watching. I posted in the off-topic areas of the other boards I'm on (all motorcycle related) and someone in the same state had the LDs from 1994. We decided on a price and a meeting place - I didn’t want anything to happen to them using UPS or FEDEX.

We met at the arranged place (a restaurant), we ate, drank and talked Star Wars and motorcycles for about an hour and then went our separate ways. After I got home, I started looking on the internet for someone that could transfer Star Wars from LD to DVD. After a few dead ends, I stumbled onto this site and was relieved to see I wasn’t the only person who still preferred the original version.

Anyway, it was the SEs, even though I’ve never seen them, that led me here. There’s some good people here – smart, articulate, quick witted, and some very interesting reading. Links to interviews, articles, etc. Good stuff.


Besides, I may be one of the few people old enough to get Gaffer Tape's screen name. (She was amazingly beautiful when she was young)
Post
#234087
Topic
Expecting too much of George Lucas?
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/234087/action/topic#234087
Time
Originally posted by: Obi Jeewhyen
as I now confess and then run for cover .... that I am the world's only megastarwars fan who … doesn't like The Empire Strikes Back.
Originally posted by: Gaffer Tape
No, Anchorhead feels the same way you do.


Gaffer speaks the truth.
I’m not a fan of Empire. Too contrived, too slick. Star Wars was a complete story. A reluctant bystander gets drawn into a battle against an evil lord and with the help of a mentor and an unwilling pair of shady characters, he rescues the princess and defeats the bad guys. It’s an outer space fairy tale, and it worked very well.

No more of the story needed to be told. Doing so started the process of shrinking the universe and weakening the story. The characters in Star Wars aren’t related to each other and it’s just by chance that their paths cross. The adventure they all go on because of the chain of events that brought them all together is what makes the movie so big and magical. Empire is none of those things.

In fact, I haven’t seen Empire in about 7 or 8 years and I can’t imagine I’ll bother with it again.

Star Wars is the movie that awed me as a boy. It’s the only one I’m interested in.