Anchorhead

Kev, you're one of the people I was thinking about specifically when I decided to post the question.  You and I are probably the extremes at either end of the age spectrum here, yet neither of us is ever given grief about it.  In fact, it's a non-issue.  I find that interesting, as well as very telling of how this isn't a normal web forum.  The discussions take priority, not some sort of perceived pecking order.

doubleofive said:

Wow, I didn't know your Star Wars Universe was literally just the movie until recently. That must seem incredible, to have your canon so much bigger now. I envy you, but I always have.

 

It's fantastic to have it so much bigger and I have this board to thank for it. That was a damn 20-year dry spell.  What's also great to me is that my canon has almost zero involvement or influence from Lucas.  The film and some of the characters are him, but the radio version is much deeper.  He was hands-off because he'd sold the rights to it. 

The Daley books are equally fantastic.  Much like this board - because Daley wasn't made to (or even allowed to) shoehorn the stories into George's world - the stories end up being better because they aren't bogged down by Lucasfilm. They have room to breath. Splinter was written as the sequel, by the ghost writer of the Star Wars novel, so it has the feel of that original universe before the shrinking began.

To paraphrase Dr. Eldon Tyrell - my canon is more Star Wars than Star Wars.  It's that way because it was written by two very talented authors and free of George's fingerprints.

Regarding being envious.  It wasn't hard work at all.  In fact it came naturally.  I was disappointed by some of Empire, so at the time it was just a sequel film I wasn't super crazy about.  I did own a LD of it for a while.**  It wasn't a 6-film mega media empire yet.   It was just a film and its sequel, so it was easy to dismiss it. A few years later I was so disgusted with Return, that the goodbye was a cake walk. One great film, two sequels that I found disappointing.  probably happens all the time, to lots of people.

The further distancing was just a product of the passage of time.  As you get older, you prioritize much more efficiently.  Judging by your picture, you seem to be in your twenties.  It's a safe bet that when you're my age 25 years from now, a great many things will have fallen by the wayside because other things, more important & more meaningful, will have replaced them. 

I guess in simpler terms, I'm not at war with the franchise.  I like a small corner of it and I've completely ignored the rest. That mental energy is put to much better use - motorcycles, baseball, wine, and beekeeping.

**Actually, I still own a copy of Empire and Return.  I have that Definitive Collection box set that originally led me to this board.  Sitting in a closet somewhere I think.

zombie84 said:

So, in a weird way, this wonderful website and all the people that I've met on here--this is the one unintentional gift that Lucas' behaviour brought.

 I never thought about it like that.  If I could have purchased a proper DVD of the theatrical release, I never would have found this place because I wouldn't have been looking to have my old LD transferred.  The NPR version (my go-to) would still be something far in my past that I'd only heard once, when it first aired.

Splinter Of The Mind's Eye would just be a book I remember skimming through when I was in high school.  Nor would I have discovered the three Brian Daley novels that take place in the 1977 universe.  My Star Wars world would be a single film - no NPR, no four novels. Damn, that's sobering. 

Lucas' selfishness and dishonesty - his desire to alter and control my Star Wars universe actually presented me with the opportunity to cleanse and deepen it.  By trying so hard to take Star Wars away from me, he made it richer than I could ever have imagined.

TV's Frink said:

I refuse to accept this.  Not nearly old or grumpy enough.

All goofing aside, I really expected someone my age.  Funny how that is.  You read people for years and a sort of mental picture forms, based on nothing really.

A couple of days ago, I changed my avatar to a picture of myself, for no reason other than to put a face to the screen name.  I was really just following the example of two other members.  It seemed to sort of gather steam.  Rather quickly in fact.  It soon became apparent that we have a very diversified age demographic here.  Not that we didn't all already know that, but the pictures sort of drove the point home.

We've had a thread or three over the years chronicling peoples' histories with the franchise, how they were introduced to it, as well as when, what their hopes for certain releases are, their personal collections, etc.  However, seeing the ages demonstrated so clearly (as opposed to someone just saying "I'm 18, I'm 30"...) made we wonder - why it is we come here?

I've mentioned before that I'm a life-long, daily motorcycle rider. For 39 years, motorcycles have been a major focus of my existence. I honestly cannot imagine not riding.  I have accounts on three motorcycle boards, yet on all three combined, I probably post one quarter as often as I do here.

Baseball is another big deal in my life, but I still post maybe twice a week on the baseball board I'm on.  Indiana Jones board, the same.  James Bond board, even less. M*A*S*H board, about the same. I was on a Genesis board for 8 years and posted daily before it was shuttered.

My own Star Wars history is well known around here, as is my very narrow focus.  In a franchise spanning 34 years, with 6 films, a TV special, a cartoon series, some animated kids' films, several radio dramas, tons of video games, more novels than I can count, an interactive official online community with ongoing projects, and I'm sure a few more things I don't even know about - I have what may be the smallest Star Wars footprint of any fan. One radio drama, four novels, and one film. Plus, the most recent of those six entities is 30 years old.

The other boards I'm on represent things which each have a larger presence in my world, as well as an ongoing presence.  The one exception is M*A*S*H, but I watch it with some regularity and have 11 years worth of episodes on DVD.

I sometimes ponder why I come here more than all the others.  My Star Wars world is a finished entity. At least with M*A*S*H I have 251 episodes to discuss - yet I don't.

My answer seems to always be the same.  It must be the people.  The intelligence, the humor, the acceptance, the knowledge base - all of it. I would have been run off the TFN board after only a few days (if that long). Not to mention, I wouldn't want to spend time with those folks anyway. I've perused it.  It's cliquish and the members are by and large very intolerant of differing opinions.  They aren't even open to the truth, which is another discussion entirely.

We are a very diverse group of regulars here.  My question (yes, I'm finally getting around to it); Why is this place so different?  Other than the obvious (desire for OT), why is this the place of choice for open, intelligent Star Wars discussions?

xhonzi said:

Anchorhead- Feel free to vote "Not until Lucasfilm restores the original, unaltered versions of the first trilogy." for me since I mistakenly didn't read closely enough and voted "I won't buy any of them." for you.

Consider it done, sir.

ChainsawAsh said:

Even if the 1977 cut is beautifully restored with the 70mm six-track mix included for the first time ever?  Or would you not buy it unless it was released on its own, and not alongside Empire or Jedi?

I'd definitely buy it if it were the 1977 theatrical version in a proper release and sold as a separate entity. I just don't think that will ever happen.  That's not how Lucas works.  It's him first - fans second.  Always.

Otherwise I'd just have to wait until some TFNer broke up a set and sold Star Wars77 on ebay because it was too slow and no one was related to each other.

xhonzi said:

You'll have to explain it to me.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_X

doubleofive said:

That's actually you? What is it with all of the badasses around here!?

 

Lucas has worn us down with his lies and selfishness.  ;-)

doubleofive said:

 

Anchorhead said:

Sluggo said:
It's true.  To 005 you listen.

I'm too busy at the moment, but I have a question for the board at large when I get time to peck it out.  The point, you may ask?  It will be titled in Yodaspeak.

I'm confused.

 

It's just a reference to a post I'm going to make, with a Yodized title.  I'll work on it today.

doubleofive said:

By your command:

^ xhonzi ^

 

Xhonzi "wasn't very nice at all"

xhonzi said:

Yes, I'm in for the full six-film set. (43%, 258 Votes)

Not until Lucasfilm restores the original, unaltered versions of the first trilogy. (29%, 171 Votes)

I'll buy them, but I won't be happy about it. (11%, 63 Votes)

Only the original trilogy (Episodes IV - VI) for me. (9%, 52 Votes)

I won't buy any of them. (8%, 45 Votes)

Only the prequel trilogy (Episodes I - III) for me. (1%, 4 Votes)

I'm waiting for the 3D conversions. (0%, 4 Votes)

 

Almost there... [/red leader]

TheBoost said:

 I figured it had small amounts in its atmosphere, and that's why they needed to carefully harvest it all the time.

That always seemed believable to me.  After all, they only harvest once a season.

Sluggo said:

It's true.  To 005 you listen.

I'm too busy at the moment, but I have a question for the board at large when I get time to peck it out.  The point, you may ask?  It will be titled in Yodaspeak.

Bingowings said:

TV's Frink said:

corellian77 said:

On the topic of Anakin, I always thought the other little dude who tried out for the part (as seen in the "Beginning" documentary that came with TPM) would've made a much better Anakin.

I've always thought that too.

 ^ This!

He pitched his delivery of the scene perfectly he even made the crappy dialogue sound plausible (essential in a Star Wars cast member).

I just looked up that screen test.  The kid above did a much better job.  He seemed to have some depth and natural ability.  It's shocking to me how poorly the casting was handled.  Lloyd was nothing more than a script reader, and a mediocre one at best.  Nothing even close to natural sounding.  Weird how badly they missed the mark.

Something else that seems just as insane is how they sort of casually mention that they interviewed 3000 kids and that it took three years.   Lucas will spend three years casting one character - yet turn around and handle major plot elements in an afternoon.  No wonder Phantom is so terrible. 

???

doubleofive said:

 

Akwat Kbrana said:

Nice! Now why doncha post your home address? ;)

Sure!

TJ Hooker
c/o Melrose Place
21 Jump Street
Beverly Hills 90210

 

Nicely done, sir.  ;-)

ChainsawAsh said:

No one would have cared about the workprint version, though.  Nobody expected it to be released until it was announced.

I agree.  It's a totally different situation.  Blade Runner was a respected, finished entity long before most people even knew about the Workprint.  As such, including it on the home release was just icing on the cake. 

The theatrical version of Star Wars is the universally loved, culture-changing version that the director is intentionally keeping from the fan base - while constantly lying about why.  

A few seconds ago, as the host Dave Z was introducing the next score - Star Wars - he gave the rundown of the Academy Awards it received then said "most people know it as Episode 4, but we know it by it's original name - Star Wars". 

Excellent.  Email to XM on the way.

doubleofive said:

Anchorhead looks like he could kick all of our asses. We need better pictures.

I'm probably one of the nicest people you'll ever meet.  It's just the 49 years of anger & stress clean living.  ;-)

In my Spring Training cap, no less.  ;-)

<------------

Warb & Kev stepped up to the plate.  Figured I'd do the same.  This is what 34 years of Star Wars fandom does to a person.  ;-)

Yeah, that's right - a double.

bkev said:

Man, that's brilliant that you made your own shirt.

Man, I used to silkscreen tons of shirts.  Almost all were album covers, but a few were film-related.  It was a big hobby of mine from about 1980-1994 or so.  After that it was just one a year or so. 

I put a great deal of time into them and was very strict about remaining true to the source artwork. I was in graphic arts for many years, so getting film positives shot to use on the screens was easy for me.  I just had to do the color separations myself.

The very last one I did was U2 - Pop.  The one before that was Yes - Talk.  I wore the Yes shirt to the Talk concert and several people asked where I got it, because it wasn't at the souvenir shirt booth.

Been a long time, man.  These days you can buy just about anything.  No need to make your own. 

*edit*
Target and Walmart have huge selections of Ts with all sorts of stuff on them - music, movies, etc. The internet has access to even more.  I sometimes think about jumping back in and knocking out a few, but I can find just about anything I want online.  Every T-shirt I wear these days is either Astros, Genesis, or Triumph.

By the way, Kev, very nice on getting to meet Eva Marie Saint.

doubleofive said:

Anchorhead: A badass since before I was born. You look like you're still pissed off that Vader ended up being Luke's father, and you're on a personal campaign to destroy every print around the country. ;-)

 

The Vader\father part - pretty much right on the money.

The badass part - not really.  I have, however, been a daily rider for 39 years Truthfully, I think I'm fairly easy going and non-judgmental.

Oh, and the hair - long gone.  ;-)  The facial hair is a different matter - man, I haven't been clean shaven since the 11th grade.  I'll see if I can't get a current pic going.  Might as well put a face to the name.

They did play Planet Of The Apes - and nearly every other thing he ever did.  I made the post  soon after I got to work in the morning and the Goldsmith tribute was still going on at 3:30 in the afternoon.  Not sure how long it lasted.