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Dug

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24-May-2006
Last activity
12-Feb-2008
Posts
73

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Post
#278966
Topic
What were your original expectations for the PT?
Time
No, there was this in the original novelisation:

"Two meters tall. Bipedal. Flowing black robes trailing from the figure and a face masked by a functional if bizarre black metal breath screen--a Dark Lord of the Sith was an awesome, threatening shape as it strode through the corridors of the rebel ship."

So, yeah, it was mentioned in print but not until the PT was "Sith" ever mentioned on screen.
Post
#264599
Topic
Global Warming
Time
I DO NOT agree with you Dug. And that is that.

I guess it may be, but I implore you to investigate other countries and how they fall down on pollution. My god, the Caspian sea is a mess! Technology produced by America could go really far to fix the problems there. There was a book by a Langborn (sorry, can't remember his name exactly. I'll find it and post it later), who was a self-professed environmentalist and was on the same bandwagon as others, but then decided to take an honest look at just how bad things were, pollution-wise, and discovered that---Whatadayouknow, America is not that bad! Things are actually pretty damn good, but we constantly get this picture painted by the MSM that things are the worst they've ever been! So, not true. Please, do not swallow all of that environmentalist garbage they sell you in school or on television or just about anywhere else. Good grief, no wonder people think it's so bad. We're inundated and bombarded every day with it. We need to take an honest look. I am a conservative, but I am also a conservationalist.

But, if you want to end the discussion, that's okay. Peace.

Wellshallpreserve said it best about Christianity. Why can't the same people who can muster blind hate, though for Christianity can't muster the same hate for Islamic extremists? A bit hypocritical, if you ask me. But... I've said about all I can here. Later.
Post
#264514
Topic
Global Warming
Time
I've seen that chart a thousand times, and it proves nothing. How did we arrive at the temperatures in the thousand and thousands of years before? Core samples, yes, but that is circumstantial. The equipment we have TODAY measuring temperatures TODAY are so advanced and so precise, that it doesn't even compare to the more simplistic devices from a mere twenty years and older.

What I'm saying is the result is misleading.

There is also a chart which shows interestingly enough the correlation between sun activity and the rise in temperature. There's this article which comes from space.com which can be pro-"humans are causing global warming" that even admits that there is an increase in sun activity and the correlation of temperature rise.

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/sun_output_030320.html

I'll even pull some interesting lines from the article...

In what could be the simplest explanation for one component of global warming, a new study shows the Sun's radiation has increased by .05 percent per decade since the late 1970s.

And this one makes me want to laugh...

The average surface temperature around the globe has risen by about 1 degree Fahrenheit since 1880.

1 Degree!!??? We're stressing out over a temperature increase of 1 DEGREE in the last 100 plus years???!!! HAHAHAHAHA!! Oh no, in two hundred years it'll be 2 degrees warmer---OH NO!!!

And then there's this....

Confounding efforts to determine the Sun's role is the fact that its energy output waxes and wanes every 11 years.

Just enough time to get people worked up into a lather over nothing.

http://www.aip.org/pnu/2003/split/642-2.html

by the way, here's the chart...see how the activity of the sun is rising throughout the period where temps are supposedly rising....

http://www.gcrio.org/CONSEQUENCES/winter96/gifs/article3-fig2.gif

Interesting, eh?

And one more thing...

Global Warming on Mars

OH MY GOD!! OUR SUV FUMES MUST BE REACHING ALL THE WAY TO MARS!!! Or it's those damn Martian cattle flatulating...

And Skye_Solo... our government DOES care. We care more than anybody. We put money into cleaning things up more than any other frickin' country. WE are the ones who create the technology which cleans the environment. Did Exxon just leave all that oil to go when the Valdez was leaking? No, they came up with technology that aided in the clean up. Did they just let the animals die when covered with oil? No, they paid a lot of money to aid in the clean up, and employees even gave up their time to go out and assist. But, ultimately, you know what happened? Nature did most of the work. America came up with the technology which other countries use today. It is absolutely short-sighted and disingenuous to claim America is "doing nothing" about pollution or the effects thereof. And who comes up with the fuel effecient cars? Mostly American. Car companies are a business, they want to cover their bets. If they know that fuel will eventually run out one day, would it not be in their best interest to create a car that does?

America does more than her fair share. And again about the "Kyoto Protocols"----why is America raked over the coals about this when your two BIGGEST polluters, China and India, exempted from the list. ALSO, might I add, that the Kyoto Protocol names SEVERAL different theories as to why it's supposedly warming up, and guess which one was at the bottom of the list....man made. Guess which was considered the bigger factor... the sun. Guess which was focused on more than any other? That says to me SCAM! Blame America, punish her, take away all that she has and give it to everybody else. That's called stealing.

Conservatives are athiests, ricarleite? I suppose you're making reference to if we don't support abortion, then we must be hypocritical to support the death penalty or even war, am I right? Thought so. Like Ferris209 said, there are basises for permitting death penalty, and war-time killing. Yeah, we have the "turn the other cheek" motto, but there is also a level of being responsible for your fellow man, and if that means removing a subject from society that will be nothing but a continual threat, then that is the responsible thing to do.

Post
#263917
Topic
Global Warming
Time
I don't think it's that "liberals" admire criminals, they just don't think we should become "criminals" in response to it. It's more about maintaining integrity than it is about protecting criminals.

"We" as in liberals? Who is saying that? Conservatives are not criminalizing liberals, we're questioning your judgment, and how on one hand you can say one thing, and then on the other say another which makes you major hypocrites. How can a liberal promote the feminist faction of their political wing, and the women march in the streets and burn their bras and says men are suppressing them and they're howling and crying, but on the other hand have NO PROBLEM with the treatment of Islamic women and their suppression? How can they conceivably cry and whine that America is committing "crimes against humanity?" That just boggles my mind. That position is indefensible! You have no integrity with this stance.

I'm pointing out your flawed logic. I don't want to stick you in jail for an idea. If you were committing crimes such as murder, rape, theft---then yes, I want to stick you in jail or whatever punishment is deserved to those who commit those crimes. Immediately, again, that knee-jerk reaction of "oh, you want to turn this country into a police state!" Good grief.
Post
#263865
Topic
Global Warming
Time
That's what I usually find, and if they really can't argue they dismiss you as being "ignorant"--oh, if only we REALLY understood.

And back to the Palestine thing. Why is there such sympathy for these people? They continually get booted out of regions because they're just too much of a problem. And where is Israel's "colonialism" or "Empire-building?" Hell, they just gave up a whole bunch of land that was settled by Israelites, and now the Palestinians live in this modern homes like squatters. The Palestinians never did anything with the land. It took Israeli ingenuity to make desert into an agricultural haven!!! And, do the Israelis brainwash their women and children into walking into coffee shops and discos with bombs attached to them? No, of course not!

The Palestinians deserve nothing for the way they act, and yet the liberals in the Israeli government continue to appease and give concessions to these ingrates. I don't feel a bit of sympathy for the hateful, crybaby Palestinians. I'm not into Zionism, but damnit, the Israelis have actually done something with what they were given, built up their country, educate and advance while the Palestinians are mired in aged dogma and stagnate in barbaric response with weapons they can only steal or propagate from shady sources.

Why do liberals admire the criminal and the wretched all the time? Even in this country they bemoan the execution of prisoners by lethal inject, claiming the criminal "felt pain" in the last seconds of his existence, yet don't decry the pain and suffering and horror that the victims the criminal enacted their violence upon. I know the true monsters... the ones who defend the rapists and killers.

And back on topic about GW. I don't see it as a problem. Yes, we should discover new energy resources. I'm all for that. Fuel will eventually run out, but you know what they say---"necessity is the mother of invention"---but you can't create that mother out of government pressure and cramming it down our throats. We'll deal with that problem when we get there. The human spirit is so amazing that I have no doubt we'll overcome it.
Post
#263693
Topic
Global Warming
Time
WE SURE CANT AS HELL ASIMULATE WITH THEM-THATS FOR GODDAMN SURE.

Of course you can assimilate. All you have to do is give up everything you cherish as a free-thinking individual. Your music, your porn, your favorite television shows, your favorite movies (Star Wars doesn't mean shit to them), your favorite clothing, piercings, tattooing, alcohol, drugs, certain foods, and so on. You'll also have to give up on sleeping in so you can get up at the crack of dawn and start your praying. All you have to do is convert to the Islamic faith... or you die. It's really rather simple.

It shocks me that me that more feminists don't scream more about the Islamic. The way they treat their women is deplorable. It is says to me that they really don't care about women at all, just the perpetuation of liberalism.
Post
#263447
Topic
Global Warming
Time
Well, not just that, but the whole "punish America" attitudes that are brought out of this. It's a manufactured scare tactic to take away America's wealth and spend it on programs that really wouldn't make a wit of difference anyway. Why is America targeted when countries like China and India (BIG polluters) are not required to sign the Kyoto treaty? I don't get that!

So, I just see it as a bunch of people with dollar signs in their eyes who know they can get America to feel guilty for just about anything and cough up the cash. Then the little leeches scuttle under their rocks until they can conjure up yet another monster-shouting scam.

What's funny just a few decades ago Time magazine was monster-shouting about the impending doom of another ice-age. Could these people please make up their minds?
Post
#263328
Topic
What did the Prequel Trilogy need?
Time
That's how I always felt about Ben's reaction. That life is precious, but I don't think that taking of a life (in the interest of good) should in anyway inhibit a Jedi from action. I know that's not what you're saying, but that's what that could lead to. Jedi, for me, are made for action and shouldn't be resorted to a complete 'do nothing' just because he feels pain everytime he strikes an enemy down. I think Ben only felt that pain because it was a massive number of people, but when it's just one or two at time, it shouldn't be extreme. If it's a loved one, and it has more emotional impact, then maybe it'd be more sharper, which is why an emotional connection would be discouraged?

Although, I really wish that hadn't been established in the PT, that making connections should be discouraged. Really didn't work for me.
Post
#260933
Topic
Hey guys, Remember when Star wars had writing like this?
Time

I'm not trying to dig on Lucas much anymore, but in that setting, given the environment the characters live in, having more wooden performances is preferable, and then you have a very capable actor like Duvall or Pleasance in it, they're going to stand out above the material itself. I like THX-1138, but it's kind of all over the place, too, with its ideas. So, pointing the camera and not eliciting much from the actors (unless the actors themselves are much mroe in-tune with their performances), THX-1138 worked in that respect.

And I totally agree about American Graffiti. You had that wonderful touched up script by Katz and Hyuck! Plus some improvising by some natural actors.... you're points are right on that mark, Zombie84.
Post
#260049
Topic
About the cave on Dagobah...
Time
In my rewrite ideas, I had that as a "cage" for a demon sith long before Dagobah even had a name. Yoda and an ancestor of Skywalker imprisoned it inside. It dreamed of getting revenge and escape. When a young, meek, non-descript astrocartographer found the world...and the cave/cage, he accidently unleashed it and it possessed him. That young astrographer was named Palpatine. I based the demon idea on the end of ROTJ. After the Emperor explodes, this shrieking wind and dark shapes come flying out of the chasm. I know some people don't like this idea, but oh well.

This why Yoda hides there---why would the Sith demon return to someplace it had been imprisoned? It would also explain Palpatine's deteriorating appearance. The possession corrupts the body.
Post
#258954
Topic
Hey guys, Remember when Star wars had writing like this?
Time
QTF!

Like someone had said before (and even Lucas himself) that the PT's would've made Obi-Wan the focal character, and we see all from his perspective.

In some respects, like another poster on ORS (formerly TFN), Binary Sunset, he would've been happy with a "Die Hard" ending where Vader comes after Luke on Yavin, they duel, and Luke beheads the monster who killed his father.

I would've been perfectly happy if Star Wars had ended on that note..... of course, we insatiable fans still would've begged for more.
Post
#258952
Topic
What did the Prequel Trilogy need?
Time
Right, that's how I see it. Anakin was in a "fit" at the time, and that's understandable, it's like a husband beating his wife in a fit of rage, and then later, "Oh God, I'm awful, what have I done?" I can see that, but like you say, Aural, the Anakin is not quite the Vader we see in the OT. Vader is a cool cucumber, calculated and cunning. I just don't see a whole lot of that in the PT Anakin. And, yeah, I know the whole excuse of "but Anakin's younger and he has to GROW into Vader we see in OT." Sigh (shakes head). It just doesn't work. If you want to connect characters throughout a "saga" you must maintain characteristics of the...character you're portraying. Anakin just seems like he's all over the place to me.

Anyway, sorry, that's not what we were discussing, was it?
Post
#258745
Topic
Hey guys, Remember when Star wars had writing like this?
Time
Episode I : Gave Obi-Wan permission to train Anakin after all the Qui-Gon controversy. Anakin's apprenticeship under Obi-Wan is undeniably a cornerstone of the entire saga.

I don't think Obi-Wan needed Yoda's permission. Obi-Wan only says, "I took it upon myself to train Anakin..." If Yoda is missing, what is Obi-Wan to do but "take it upon himself." There is nothing implied in Obi-Wan's OT statements that he needed Yoda's permission.


Ep. II : Initiated the clones on Kamino and brought them over to Geonosis which essentially began the Clone Wars.

I don't see how it is necessary for Yoda to be the instigator of the Clones being utilized, in fact, it makes Yoda look like he's the one to blame for the entire "Clone War."

Ep. III : Was the voice of reason to Anakin before his fall. Fought the Emperor and was the one who commanded that the remaining Jedi go into hiding until the time was ripe.

Well, that I can't argue with. Yeah, Yoda is (or was suppose to be) the voice of wisdom--which no one heeded. But, again, I don't think it was entirely necessary for Yoda to confront the Emperor. It could be as simple as Yoda felt he wasn't physically strong enough to face the ultimate Sith, and that it would be better to train someone young and strong to do it. But, I guess it all boils down to preference and taste.

But, like I say, I wouldn't mind a knock-out, drag-out Force-fight between Yoda and the Emperor. The scenes in ROTS came close, but not close enough for me. There are kernels of little goodness in the giant dog turd, but I still wouldn't eat it....
Post
#258581
Topic
What did the Prequel Trilogy need?
Time
Okay, I can understand that reasoning for lying about Alderaan, but it still doesn't jive with Obi-Wan's line about how Anakin should've stayed "here" ---that is---on Tatooine. You can't say "here" and mean Alderaan. You'd say either "there" or "Alderaan." And, if Obi-Wan said, Owen thought he should've stayed "here" that means Owen and Anakin were together---on Tatooine--a long time ago, before Luke was born, and it means that they had to spend some time there.

And what I mean by thematically, is that Owen is the rock, the unchanging man, the one afraid to go out and explore. Owen is everything that Luke (and Anakin) are not. He's afraid, he's not inquisitive, he doesn't rock the boat, etc. This is why I don't agree with ideas taht Owen would've/might have been a soldier or even a failed Jedi. These characters are archetypes. Owen does nothing. He stays home, he does what is required of him, he's frightened of the world outside of his limited sphere.

So, IMHO, Owen, along with his family before him, lived on Tatooine, he did what his father did before him, and his father before him, etc., much like my own family. I'm one of the few to break out and NOT become a farmer (which is why it was so easy for me to identify with Luke). In that case, Owen was doing what he has always done, and he believes that is what Anakin should be doing, and believes that Luke should be doing what he does. It's all about diametrics and archetypes, and in Owen's case, having Anakin going out, becoming a Jedi, attempting to achieve his dreams---and then become something twisted and corrupt only verifies and validates Owen's stance. You go out, bad things happen to you.

This is why Luke mustn't dream, mustn't aspire. He must be kept down---for his own good.

So, that is why I think Owen MUST remain on Tatooine (and Anakin originated)---originally and conceptually---not just from what he says, but also in regards to who he is as a character. Placing him and Anakin on Alderaan (or anywhere else) originally is not only a contradiction to dialogue from ANH, but also a contradiction to archetype.

Just my two-cents.
Post
#258557
Topic
What did the Prequel Trilogy need?
Time
What about Owen, then? Is he from Alderaan then, too?


In general, I see what you're accomplishing. I guess, to me, a twin is a twin, i.e., born of the same mother. My problem is that you're saying Obi-Wan is lying that Anakin came from Tatooine (I don't know why he would lie about something like that---essentially, 'what's the point?'), but there you have Owen is obviously a long-time resident of Tatooine and relative of Anakin---and he KNEW Anakin. That is, everything he says to Luke is as if he had witnessed something that Anakin did to make him hope that Luke never becomes like his father.

I think the way to diminish Obi-Wan's "lies" and set things straight and make a more acceptable storyline is to do some minor dialogue alterations to ROTJ, and then we can set up a prequels that would be considerably more satisfying.
Post
#258555
Topic
Hey guys, Remember when Star wars had writing like this?
Time
Despite the desire to have Yoda appear in the prequel, I really wish Yoda had not been in the prequels. I would've preferred that Yoda, even though strong in the Force, realizes that he is too frail, physically, to counter the looming dark side, and thereby, leaves, goes into hiding, waiting for the good Jedi to find him, or at least, wait for one who would be strong enough to train and battle the Emperor.

(And I really would love the surprise of ESB when we finally do get to see Yoda remain intact. "That's Yoda?!" As it stands, Yoda is ruined for me by having him appear in the PT. Now it's no surprise to anyone by ESB).

So, we'd get exposition right away in Episode I of Obi-Wan bringing Anakin to Yoda, only to be told, "He's gone, no one knows where he went. He said he wasn't strong enough." And then Obi-Wan decides, "Okay, if Yoda isn't here to train him, then I will."

Which fits right in with everything Obi-Wan said in the OOT.
Post
#258553
Topic
What did the Prequel Trilogy need?
Time
(Sorry, I've edited this so many times, I don't know what the heck I'm trying to say...)

By writing this story though, you can scrap anything that is said in the movies. You could get around this contradiction by getting rid of Ben's line.



If I were re-writing the saga, I'd keep ANH and ESB, but make changes with ROTJ (except I'd change only a couple of little things in ANH. Instead of saying "parsec" Han says "seconds" or some such, and Obi-Wan wouldn't say, "Only Stormtroopers are so accurate..." into something like, "Only Imperial weapons would leave marks like that" or somesuch).

I'd really write it so that Obi-Wan wasn't a liar (like I originally believed BEFORE ROTJ). This line out of the novelisation for ANH always stuck with me and wasn't contradicted until ROTJ: Unlike Owen Lars, however, Kenobi was unable to take refuge in a comfortable lie.
Post
#258547
Topic
What did the Prequel Trilogy need?
Time
Anakin born and, raised on Alderraan. Before he became Vader last he knew all his family was there and, Obiwan. Tattooine not shown at all. Empire would be around and, the Emperor would only be talked about. Degobah is the meeting place for the jedi as well as the place for all commerce. Vader lead the assualt on Degobah and, thinks he killed Yoda in Episode III.


Where does this quote come from? There is one big contradiction, though: Obi-Wan says in ANH, "...your Uncle thought he [Anakin] should've stayed here [Tatooine]...not gotten involved." He couldn't have been raised on Alderaan. Born on Alderaan, sure, but not raised. So, it seems logical that Obi-Wan found Anakin on Tatooine.

So, there is just no way around this "fact." It had to be that way. However, we don't necessarily need to see Obi-Wan pick up and get Anakin from Tatooine. It could be assumed at the beginning of Episode I. However, I feel it's very important to Anakin's development. It's like the "serial killer" component. You want to see what their background was like, and how they became what they became. It's only normal curiousity, and I feel no different about Anakin. Need to see where he came from, how did he become "Darth Vader."

Never heard the Dagobah as the base for the Jedi thing before.
Post
#258375
Topic
Best battle of the Original Trilogy?
Time
I was really torn. Though I voted for the Hoth battle I'm wondering if I hadn't gone for the Yavin, but the Hoth battle has the coolest spaceship effects over it. I mean, when that star destroyer is hit with ion canon and it lists away, it's power sapped, just makes me grin! The ROTJ doesn't have anything cool like that. Many times it feels like its not as good as it should be, but I agree with the drama of it, and that's what makes me root for it!

Though all else of the TPM battle is lame, the part I like is the "arm" of that TF ship being blown off and floating away. Tres cool.