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DarthAstuart

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16-Jun-2005
Last activity
10-Oct-2005
Posts
122

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Post
#125709
Topic
Director's Cut?
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/125709/action/topic#125709
Time
i guess if i'm being totally honest, any time a filmmaker releases a "director's cut" that eliminates a theatrical cut I love, it bothers me a little. that's why I saved my Star Trek II original DVD to own alongside the two-disc "director's cut"--i love that movie and want all the versions I can get of it.

since I care so much about the star wars movies and the SE changes bother me more and more as time goes on, I guess I'm just more passionate about owning the original versions of those films. i like T2 and Aliens well enough, to use your example, but not owning the original cuts doesn't outrage me as much because I'm not nearly as attached to them.

plus, i can't think of another filmmaker who has undertaken the systematic and total deletion of his original works as Lucas has. releasing a director's cut on DVD is one thing--lucas' process (the SE re-release in 97, his many announcements that these are the definitive versions of the films while almost backhandedly slamming the originals, even further changes to the 2004 DVD release, few to no existing prints of the originals as seen on release) is a different animal.
Post
#125600
Topic
Episode 3: DVD - Released november 1st
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/125600/action/topic#125600
Time
Quote
Originally posted by: ADigitalMan
The question for me becomes: How can those of us who are planning to re-edit the film land an early promo copy of the whole enchilada, so we can get a jump start on editing? Let the brainstorming begin.


have they even bothered to send out review copies of the DVDs in the past? i've worked at magazines but I don't remember getting early releases of the DVDs...they probably feel like they don't need to bother. i know they've hosted screening events at the Ranch for extras and what-not. i'm betting they're super piracy gunshy after the ROTS early release too.

sorry adm! not much help, am i?
Post
#125411
Topic
Quotes from Gary Kurtz
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/125411/action/topic#125411
Time
Quote
But fans have always overestimated his importance to the story elements of Star Wars. they seem to think Producer means co-writer or something, when it's not necessarily the case. It CAN be, but that wasn't Kurtz's role on these movies.


bizzle, i'm not sure why you'd continue to argue that kurtz had no creative involvement in the prequels after reading this quote. i think it's spot-on, and everything we know about both the creative process of the OT versus the creative process of the PT seems to bear it out.

Quote

"I think one of the problems that Lucas has now, in the Lucas Film empire, is the fact that he doesn't have more people around him who really challenge him. We had lots of arguments and discussions; heated discussions about the way things were going."


i also don't get the whole "producers aren't creative" argument. i think that may be true in many cases, that producers are organizers and budget minders and gladhanders who keep the trains coming and going on time, so to speak. but I don't think that's ALWAYS the case. and i don't think it was the case with regard to gary kurtz. i would never presume he was a co-writer or even a heavy creative collaborator on the level of a lawrence kasdan--but it seems clear he was in the mix, based on everything he says above.

Post
#124925
Topic
Info Wanted: Your Favorite OT Preservation Project And Why?
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/124925/action/topic#124925
Time
it is so hard to pick just one project.

i love deleted magic because it really does something new with not just Star Wars, but with the way we watch movies period--it's a new form of documentary on filmmaking that's exciting to see and has lots of meaty bits.

i love my editdroid set because it is a fantastic presentation of the OOT with lots of bells and whistles, and it lets me relive the movies as I experienced them growing up.

i am psyched and prepared to love the XO project because these movies in their original form DESERVE the highest level of attention and care possible to preserve them, and if LFL can't be bothered, i am happy there are fans with the resources and passion to do the work.

i even love very much all those intrepid fans who took the time and dedication to compile releases with all the vast bits and pieces of video floating out there for the OT--the making-of specials, the talk show appearances, the guest spots. this stuff is some of my favorite SW video out there and it is always such a thrill when I find something new, like the babyhum releases or rikter's fantastic discs.

most of all, i want to use this as an excuse to say a big THANK YOU to everyone who works so hard on this stuff. you guys are doing really great, really important work that fans like me appreciate very much.
Post
#124924
Topic
George's directorial style
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/124924/action/topic#124924
Time
i get what y'all are saying about the FX shot, but I'm thinking more of just an average medium or close-up shot, where the camera will just start sloooooowly creeping toward the person speaking. happens all the time in ROTS--i recall it in the Palpy/Anakin scene in the opera, for some reason, although memory may fail. maybe that's an FX trickery bit too, to keep the shot in motion for the background or something? but you can't even see much of the background. maybe I explained it poorly, too--the camera's actually static most of the time; it's just the shot that changes.

as for questioning lucas with venom and spite, i didn't come to this thread to do that--i'm honestly interested in discussing him as a director and solely that. i do have plenty of venom and spite for him, because i think the prequels are mostly horrible movies that demonstrate lazy filmmaking, great hubris, and a mysterious lack of ability on Lucas' part. that doesn't have much to do with this discussion for me, though--like I said, a bad movie doesn't necessarily have to be poorly directed. in fact, my biggest gripes with the prequels probably have more to do with story and plot.

another directing choice I liked quite a lot--those faux handheld camera shots in the geonosis battle in AOTC. clever stuff, very visceral.
Post
#124888
Topic
George's directorial style
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/124888/action/topic#124888
Time
just because the prequels are bad movies doesn't mean they were poorly directed in terms of shot composition, angle, etc. they may be, but if so, tell us why.

one annoying thing he does (at least to me) that he does a ton in the prequels is the master shot with the slow zoom in on the action. in fact, many if not most of his shots of every type feature some kind of slow move in on the subject. it's like the camera just can't sit still.
Post
#124861
Topic
Did George actually have an "original vision?"
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/124861/action/topic#124861
Time
i think the bizzle has it mostly spot-on above, especially about the prequels ruining the OT--espeically with these fan preservation releases, a fan can literally pretend everything after 1996 never happened in Star Wars.

however, I do think one significant distinction is that the prequels HAD to have been made with at least one eye toward the marketing and tie-ins, and I don't know that ESB was. ANH definitely wasn't cause who knew if toys and shit would even sell? but ROTJ was the beginning--that interview bit from lucas (in one of the many books) where he reveals he created the ewoks so that he could have a toy ewok to give his daughter. THAT is merchandise-driven filmmaking. as are the prequels, IMHO.
Post
#124702
Topic
Was Lucas Just Lucky?
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/124702/action/topic#124702
Time
Quote
Originally posted by: Gaffer Tape
But still, let's face it, George is much better as a story man, an idea man, but others should execute it. There's no one around who would say that the actual stories (not the dialogue, but the ideas, the concepts) belong chiefly to anybody but George Lucas. Many other people have designed spaceships and creatures and then created them, but the concepts, for the most part, belong chiefly to him.


agreed...i was posting more to refute the idea that the better SW movies are the ones he's been "furthest away" from. i don't think he's really been that far from any of them, although I know there was that period where they filmed ESB and he wasn't literally on set every day. but even then, i'm sure he was poking in on ILM, stateside meetings, etc.

Quote
That being said, if he is the one to execute his ideas, experience is shown that he works better under pressure. That is, his products end up being better when he has to work his ass off to get it. As was said in Empire of Dreams, the making of Star Wars was hell. His cast and crew balked, a lot of his ideas took forever to turn into reality, the studios were threatening to shut him down, and Lucas ended up getting severe health problems. I'm not saying that health problems are good, but he was forced to think creatively to solve his problems as there were many, and Star Wars is now a classic. With the prequels, he has everything he wants right there in his lap and can do anything he wants with the snap of his fingers. Just film it on blue screen and fix it in post. It's the solution to every problem. See the difference?


this is an interesting theory--i think part of it too could also be that in his younger days, basically everything before and including ANH, he had to prove himself. he was working his ass off to get his career going, to make the movies he wanted to make the way he wanted to make them. once he had the huge success of ANH, he wasn't "hungry" anymore; he had the power and money and control to do whatever he wanted to. at that point, i do think he got progressively less able to make solid creative decisions, and yet also lost access to anyone who would truly collaborate with him creatively.

as for the mccallum buttfucking theory...THAT'S a new one.
Post
#124643
Topic
Was Lucas Just Lucky?
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/124643/action/topic#124643
Time
welcome to the boards!

i'm as big a lucas-hater as the next guy, and somewhat subscribe to your theory, but the bottom line is that Lucas was still incredibly involved in all the SW films. even as executive producer, he made contributions we'll probably never even know about that contributed to the value of the whole.

my version of the theory is that when he's worked best as a collaborator, he's done his best work. not that the SW movies are better when he's less involved with them.

and ya know what? i would NEVER take the original Star Wars away from him. sure, he collaborated on it, and got great help. but that movie was a sheer act of amazing creativity and willpower into an industry and a culture that had never seen anything like it--they'd seen the pieces he put together to make it before, but never mixed in exactly the right way.

in other words, whether the tales have been exaggerated into some kind of iconic form by time and the LFL hype machine, Star Wars was more entirely George's baby, and a much bigger risk, than any of the other SW films, and so he deserves any and all credit he gets for it. We take it for granted now, five movies later...but man. what an amazing thing to do.
Post
#124421
Topic
Did George actually have an "original vision?"
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/124421/action/topic#124421
Time
fans own, i've got that one beat. someone on another SW board I frequent actually suggested that Lucas put Chewie into Episode III so that Yoda could use the force to communicate with Obi-Wan and tell him that Chewie was a good wookiee, thus helping Obi-Wan to trust Chewie when he meets him in the Mos Eisley cantina in EpIV.

THAT is the most ludicrious attempt at a PT-OT tie-in--and justifying lucas' strategic employment of OT touchstones in the PT for marketing purposes--I have ever heard, and probably ever will hear.
Post
#124194
Topic
<strong>The &quot;ADigitalMan Special Editions&quot; DVD Info and Feedback Thread</strong> (Released)
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/124194/action/topic#124194
Time
just a quick update--i have nine discs of the "new" EpI corrected edit that I'm sending out tomorrow...ADM said he's been getting some questions from a few folks on his pyramid, and I'm betting if you're waiting on one, I'm the guy holding it up.

so again, they're going out tomorrow. i don't have e-mail addresses for my recipients, just snail mail, and I didn't want to presume it was okay to post your full names on the boards. if you have a specific quesiton as to whether you're on my list, lemme know via PM and I'll let you know if you're on my list. 3 of them on my list are going to the UK; the other six are US addys.

thanks for your patience!
Post
#123146
Topic
Episode II: Shroud of the Dark Side (the TM edit) (Released)
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/123146/action/topic#123146
Time
my two cents...okay, maybe one cent, or half a cent...

i don't see why padme needs to know that anakin kills the sandpeople. it's very heavily implied by the action in the camp that he kills many of them, and unless my memory fails, we see him kill at least one. (i haven't been following your changes to the letter so perhaps you've changed this and I'm not aware of it.)

i think the anakin/padme scene in the garage is better without anakin discussing killing all the sandpeople. i don't see why it can't just be about his regret and sadness over the death of his mother. WE see him slaughter sandpeople, so when palpatine mentions it in Sith, there is a context for it. that isn't dependant on padme hearing about it.

i've never liked that the two of them discuss his slaughtering these sand people, if only because padme seems to have little to no reaction that makes sense. i mean, wouldn't just a hint of revulsion be appropriate? the guy lost his mother, and then responded to that by slaughtering wholesale an entire village of sentient beings. it's always pushed the boundaries of credibility for me, in an emotional and character sense.