Baronlando

It's also worth noting that it was released in Europe and Japan much later, and if it had flopped in the u.s., it would have barely been released over there, if at all in some countries. It needed to make that initial impact just to get the splashy worldwide release.

JFK is another one (annoying since, like Star Wars, the original won the oscar for best editing.) 

There's a great looking new HD transfer of the original WARRIORS that's been making the rounds out there (streaming and some HD channels).

Ah cool, thanks. 

Is there a place to see the five-ish doctors in the U.S.? The bbc website isn't letting me.

Well, I suppose Lucas intended for it to be a Castro style overthrow/revolution (and the empire is just a job isn't it? It's not anybody's country to be loyal to, and if the emperor signs your paycheck and he's dead I guess you would quit), but having the entire imperial seat of power celebrating before Luke and Lando even have time to get to the party really is the dumbest thing ever. 

I fell down that rabbit hole last year and discovered that blog considers TFN too moderate and disloyal. They're about a year away from sending suicide bombers to simon pegg's house. JJ and episode 7 are already on their shit list.

It's not funny that people are watching it, it's just funny when people are all surprised that it sucks. 

 It's like an insane long term prank that people even watch the special 35 years later. The networks cranked out about 5 of those stupid things a week to fill timeslots cheaply but people are like, scrutinizing this one. It's as if someone watched a random Judge Judy episode in 35 years and said "hey! This isn't very good! I was led to believe crime tv in the 2000s was pretty good!"

none said:

Not immediately obvious, and we're still trying to figure it out, but when didEmpire last show theatrically, in an almost original form?  Our initial guess was that it didn't get shown after the Jedi re-release.  But searching afterwards we did find a 1985 poster which was: http://cinemasterpieces.com/cinestarwars.htm
    "Produced to promote an exclusive one-time showing of the entire Star Wars trilogy in 9 theaters across the U.S. on March 28, 1985 to benefit the Corporation of Public Broadcasting."

I went to a trilogy screening in late 1987 that was tied to the 10th anniversary and we were told similar screenings were happening in several big cities. 

I read the review and the comments, it's the same few sad sacks who pop up there and elsewhere when stuff like this comes up. We mustn't judge them, heavy is the arm that wears the hall monitor sash. 

The full, unedited take, from slate to cut, is in the ebook footage. One throw.

I hope somebody at LFL took note that with little fanfare the reel was quickly around 3 and a half million hits when they pulled it. There's still a lot of good will and appetite for 77-83 stuff, they don't even have to put the big disney marketing push behind it, it still almost sells itself. 

Yeah it's obnoxious that this stuff is not on the bluray. (And they would have found it in time if they had put forth any actual effort into that feeble 90 dollar dud.)

A CATCH ME IF YOU CAN-era Indy movie, directed by Spielberg from a story he actually wants could be pretty cool. 

All this really suggests that Han (and by extension at least some of the old gang) is getting a more substantial role in the rewrite. 

Interesting. I wonder if it's to give the old gang, especially Han, a more central role, since the Arndt script couldn't take that participation for granted. 

I rushed through the extra material in all 3 ebooks. The stuff for Star Wars and Jedi is GOLD, Jerry. The stuff for Empire maybe less so. 

A whole bunch of finished effects shots for the space battle were cut.

It was not about being a control freak, it was a totally necessary thing to do when editing. Stuff has to go. JEDI's three-pronged finale was one of the most innovative things done for the movie ( they're still aping it today) and that takes some trial and error.

Leia being the sister is established in the writing phase but doesn't figure into Luke's motivation during the duel until they are shooting. 

I never even really cared if there was a saga plan or not or if he lied about it or whatever, and yet it would always devolve into that at TFN. Because that notion of a master plan would always get trotted out as a justification (from the fan side and the official LFL side) for labeling the original versions of the movies as rough cuts/work prints/temporary and thus not worthy of preservation or restoration. 

pittrek said:

I know I repeat myself but does anybody know what exactly does digital release mean?

It's a download you buy, like buying an itunes song, and read on your ipad or other tablet. It has the text and pictures from the actual book plus video and audio clips you can click on.

I haven't read the whole thing but it's interesting how ultimately dumb the union thing was and how lucas should have just let it go, tolerated the DGA bullshit for one more movie. I really don't think Marquand, (a good guy but still a complete rookie) was hired to be a puppet, Lucas would not have been seeking out people like Lynch and Cronenberg if that's all he was after, but rather Marquand really was the best choice from an absurdly limited pool. The union dispute was just not worth hobbling yourself like that, but with GL it was like calling Marty Mcfly chicken. 

Having said that, these 3 books do make me want to just stop Monday-morning quarterbacking Lucas, including I-III, so trying to taper off, starting...now.

The speeder bikes are only there in Yuma because it's like a traveling circus, the Northern California shoot is still to come on the schedule.

Think it's hard to say, this kind of thing seems pretty new (a coffee table book with video on a flat little computer, very Jetsons) but this will be a good test case. I was excited to run out and get the book on Tuesday but I just remembered every book store near me has gone under recently.

Well whatever happens, this is totally impressive and is appreciated.