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Anchorhead

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12-Jun-2005
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7-Mar-2024
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3,679

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Post
#118154
Topic
The Prequels - my personal opinion
Time
Quote

Originally posted by: Shimraa
haha it seems more and more fans are coming to their senses.

People "coming to their senses" as you put it, is just your perception that your opinion is the only correct one. The more people that agree with you, the more it re-enforces your feelings of correctness. It's an ego boost. No one's opinion is wrong, kid. I don't have to watch anything I don't want to watch. I don't have to accept the revised past. I don't have to listen to Lucas lie about what he wrote 30 years ago. I don't have to "come to my senses". If I choose to watch only one of the films, I can do just that. It's not about denial - it's about not having to listen to someone tell me one thing and then they deny it decades later and try to cover up the past while telling me "what they really meant to do was..."

Go watch your 6 films. I'll watch my 1. We'll both be just fine. Really.

Look on the bright side, kid - your Star Wars marathons last about 10 hours longer than mine.

Post
#117743
Topic
12+ hour Star Wars Saga Marathon?
Time
Quote

Originally posted by: DarthAstuart ...he was the first person i met who actually thought vader being luke's father was a bad idea.

I fully agree. It wasn't in the first draft, or any of the original scripts, and it isn't part of the original film. It was added into the story later and it feels it.
It's the first step Lucas took in shrinking the scope of the adventure. It was used to add shock value (and some semblance of a storyline) to ESB. For me, it was a story killer. I was very disappointed when I saw it in the theatre.


Post
#117661
Topic
12+ hour Star Wars Saga Marathon?
Time
Quote

Originally posted by: DarthAstuart
i figured that was your feeling--i totally respect that.

Thanks. I'm certainly in the minority by digging only one of the films. Even on this board.
Even so, it's one of my top three films of all time. I have all kinds of "rules" for when I'll watch it. Everything has to be just so - time of year, time of day, weather, etc. No exceptions.
It's as important to me as the other 5 are to most other hardcore fans.
Post
#117566
Topic
12+ hour Star Wars Saga Marathon?
Time
Quote

Originally posted by: DarthAstuart
I wonder if any sequel could have satisfied your needs.

No. I didn't need to know anything else. Star Wars is a great, complete story.
Quote

story-wise, I think it is the least polished and least clean of any of the SW films. everything goes very WRONG. ... luke makes a bad decision on his training and faces vader too soon. han's in carbonite. leia, who has now fallen for him, is left alone. lando betrays them. even threepio is shattered to pieces. i certainly don't see that as "polished" or "clean."

I agree - I was talking about the production itself. It seems very "packaged", not as gritty and far far away. I also think you're absolutely right - being familiar with the characters takes away some of the mystery - they aren't as far away any more. That's what I meant above regarding the sequel - I didn't want to be familiar with them. I wanted to keep that feeling of far far away adventure.
Post
#117549
Topic
12+ hour Star Wars Saga Marathon?
Time
Quote

Originally posted by: DarthAstuart
exactly what about Empire made the story require less imagination?

To me, that's where the story starts to get smaller and more packaged. Han suddenly being a good guy in the military seems wrong. It's not true to the character from the first film. I think the snow battle goes on way too long. I also don't really care for the whole jungle training parts. That said, I think the part where Luke throws his food away after Yoda takes a bite is priceless - he may think the little creature is harmless, but he's not eating after him. In fact, that's the only Yoda part I care for. The characters seem less interesting somehow and the story just feels polished and clean - not distant and adventurous. Some of it could just be the familiarity with the characters. The absolute cheesiest part is R2's smoke screen at the end - please. What if that hadn't worked? - what next - an oil slick for the stormtroopers to fall on?

However, there are some areas of the film that I really like - The asteroid field has a great feel to it. Luke letting go and falling away from Vader as a pure statement of "I won't be beaten by you" is done very well. He looks at Vader, a resolve comes over him, and he lets go.
He makes a decision and is at peace with it. It's without a doubt the best part of the ESB story. That part leads to my favorite scene. When he's hanging under the cloud city - it's a great visual. It feels giant and helpless. Expansive in a way the rest of the movie lacks.



Post
#117456
Topic
Most Powerful Quote in all the Star Wars films.
Time
Quote

Originally posted by: greencapt
Of course, I've always liked the rest of that including "... years ago you served my father in the Clone Wars."
...perhaps...just perhaps.... GL should have just thought about *watching* the films he made or co-created several years ago.


He's created so many plot holes by lying about "his original epic story written in the 70s" - it's laughable. This guy can't re-edit and CGI fast enough to revise the past. LucAss should just film his own version of 1984 , he could even have a cameo where he's one of the people working in The Ministry Of Truth.



2+2 = 5

Post
#117439
Topic
12+ hour Star Wars Saga Marathon?
Time
Quote

Originally posted by: ChainsawAsh
Actually, the sister thing was thought up on the fly during ROTJ. It was never brought up in Empire.

Not directly, but the whole scene where Luke's leaving Dagobah and Ben says "that boy is our last hope" to which Yoda replies "no, there is another".... - that's certainly a foreshadowing of the incest weirdness. Lucas was already losing what little storyline he had and was setting up for the next wave of downsizing the whole story. All that was left was to unnecessarily tie up a few more non-existent loose ends so that the story was even less of an outer space adventure from far far away.

Post
#117335
Topic
12+ hour Star Wars Saga Marathon?
Time
Quote

Originally posted by: MTHaslett
Really? How does it all end?


Doesn't matter to me. I don't need a tidy ending. Just a great story. In 1977, it was a great story. Truth is, I only really care about the first film. Empire is just ok. You can already see signs of Lucas over-producing the series in Empire and the plot holes (from changing the story on the fly) are starting to be a problem already.
His weird desire to tie every little detail to some other part of the story or one of the other characters begins in Empire. No need to use your imagination - he'll feed you every thought you need to have. Just sit back and watch all the pretty colors. In Empire, he also changed over to the weird incest angle - brother falling for sister while they both battle dad. He had nowhere to go at the end of Star Wars. It was a complete story. Further proof that there was no giant, double trilogy in 1977 - just one really great story. He should have walked away then and left his credibility intact.
Post
#116765
Topic
So why Define STAR WARS as OT OR PT?
Time
Quote

Originally posted by: Tony
..wouldnt you like Episodes 3, 4, and 5 to fit in perfectly?

Those movies were made decades before the new ones. It's impossible for them not to fit in perfectly - they were first. It should be up to the writer to make the new ones "fit in". And spare me the whole "it was all written in 1975 as a complete story" diatribe. Those of us that were there, know better.

Quote

Originally posted by: Tony
STAR WARS will always be STAR WARS as long as the story does not change.

That's already happened. Significantly.
Nothing was left to chance - there's no unseen characters, there's no luck, there's no twist of fate for anyone, no fortunate or unfortunate turn of events, no characters met along the way - no unrelated characters or events. He's taken a giant, space story from our deepest and wildest imaginations and repackaged it for the current generation of short-attention-span children and 20-somethings that are no longer able to use their imaginations to enrich a story in their minds or do any thinking on their own. They have to have every answer given to them - every detail spelled out for them. He's made the story very small and narrow, every detail neatly sewn up.

He's taken a great outer space science fiction story and turned it into a kids bedtime story where everyone lives happily ever after. It's The Wizard Of Oz for today's generation….


DOROTHY
But you couldn't have been, could you?

AUNT EM
Oh, we dream lots of silly things when we --

DOROTHY
No, Aunt Em -- this was a real, truly live
place. And I remember that some of it
wasn't very nice....

DOROTHY
...but most of it was beautiful. But just
the same, all I kept saying to everybody
was, I want to go home. And they sent me
home.

MLS -- Dorothy lying in bed -- Aunt Em sitting by her -- Professor at
window -- Uncle Henry -- Zeke -- Hunk and Hickory standing by -- they
laugh -- Toto jumps up on to bed -- Dorothy takes Toto in her arms --

DOROTHY
Doesn't anybody believe me?

UNCLE HENRY
Of course we believe you, Dorothy.

DOROTHY
Oh, but anyway, Toto, we're home!

MCU -- Dorothy holding Toto in her arms -- Camera shooting past Aunt Em at
right f.g. -- Dorothy looks around room -- speaks -- tears come to her
eyes -- Aunt Em rises -- puts her arm around Dorothy -

DOROTHY
Home! And this is my room -- and you're
all here! And I'm not going to leave here
ever, ever again, because I love you all!
And -- Oh, Auntie Em -- there's no place
like home!

FADE OUT:
Post
#115730
Topic
Which of the 6 films is your favorite?
Time
Star Wars is the only one I have any interest in anymore.
Empire is ok. After that, I said goodbye to Star Wars in 1983 after seeing Return. I saw Phantom Menace just in case I had made a mistake. I hadn't. It was embarrasing. Haven't seen the last two or any of the altered versions of the OT. Good thing is - since I found you guys, I don't have to worry about it anymore.
Post
#115709
Topic
Why Kill Padme?
Time
Quote

Originally posted by: Darth Chaltab
Why would he write such a MAJOR and EASILY AVOIDABLE continuity error.


Since when has Lucas been concerned with continuity? He's made a second career out of altering the story line and characters of his movies to make up for his lies about having the whole thing planned out from the early 70s.
Uh, yeah, sure he did.
He's a one hit wonder. Too bad he keeps making his one hit worse every couple of years.

Post
#115343
Topic
Reasons why the O-OT is better than the SE
Time
Quote

Originally posted by: Jedikev
Special Effects are not important...the characters are.

Not to the current generation of movie goers. The 20-somethings these days haven't come up in a culture where they use their imagination. They've had bright, quickly-moving images hold their attention for them. No time to do any deep thinking, the movie will tell them what to think. The movie will tie up all the loose ends for them. Don't bother using your brain to think or contribute to the story with your imagination.

TV is the same way now. Shows and commercials both. An image-a-second, nothing on the screen for more than 3 seconds. Don't let people actually look at the product or do any real thinking about it. Just keep the image or speaker moving, making the viewer chase it around the screen. Oh yeah, and occasionally switch between black and white and color, or clear and grainy. That will make it seem artistic. Most modern-day directors don't need any real editing skills or storytelling skills.

The 3 new Star Wars films have been heavily criticized (and rightly so) for having terrible acting and no story. They don't need any of that these days. Lucas knows his audience - 12 - 25 year olds sitting in the theatre looking up at the big picture, mouth slightly open, thinking to themselves - "look at the pretty colors moving around, aah, one of them go boom".

I'm fine with that, by the way. I have no issues with it what-so-ever. I don't have to watch them. Don't have to participate in the hype or buy the official Padme Doritos or Anakin Limited Edition Lava Berry Explosion Pop Tarts. What I have an issue with is Lucas changing a 28 year old film's story line and characters so that it better fits the new generation of consumers.

You can release both versions George, really, it's not that big a deal. No one will think less of you.

Now, I just need to get my hands on a good DVD of the original 1977 version so I can watch it the way I want to see it.
With my Star Wars lunchbox sitting next to me.

Sorry for the rant.