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Fang Zei

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14-Oct-2006
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5-Nov-2025
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Post
#316391
Topic
State of the Trilogy/ annual SW depression
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/316391/action/topic#316391
Time
It is as someone said recently: if we started hearing rumors of the '04 box a good year and half before it actually hit, why in the blazes haven't we gotten wind of the blu-ray yet? Granted, it's also as some of you are saying: the new format is barely two years old and it took seven years just for the OT to hit dvd. But I seriously question the likelihood of that happening again.

Observe:

-They waited until '01 to release TPM because AOTC was less than a year away at that point.
-They did your normal waiting period for a dvd release for AOTC since they had the Clone Wars multimedia thing to move on towards.
-The OT '04 set was used as a buildup to ROTS.

No, I ruled out hearing any sort of news this early a long time ago. But after the crazy year of Indy IV, The Clone Wars and Force Unleashed has come to an end, well, we've got '09. I would actually be shocked if 2010 rolled around and we still hadn't heard any more news on the blu-ray than we have right now. I would also hope by that point we at least have rumors of whether or not the OOT will get an HD transfer.
Post
#316244
Topic
opinions - how the release of the original to theatres was different than the new three films.
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/316244/action/topic#316244
Time
Hope I'm not polluting this thread, being of only 22 years of age (as of this writing), but I can only echo the words of the novelization when I say "my discovery of the OT is lost to time and legend."

My earliest definitive memory of watching the movies was popping a vhs tape (recorded from a broadcast) of ROTJ into the vcr at my aunt's place when I was fairly young, probably about 6. Her family had a pretty huge collection of recorded-off-the-air movies, and I picked that one because I thought it was the fist sequel (because it had "return" in the title) and not the actual conclusion to the trilogy. Needless to say, I didn't know what the hell was going on when 3PO goes "look, Captain Solo, and he's still frozen in carbonite."

So, yea, that's the only definitive "first memory" I have. Although I remember an early memory from around that same time of stumbling across the scene of Luke watching the hologram at Ben's hut when Star Wars was being broadcast on TBS.

Those of you who say things like "ROTJ sucks because it caters to the kids," you're absolutely right. Believe it or not, around 4th or 5th grade (when I was around 9 or 10) I actually remember watching ROTJ along with the rest of my class (I went to a small, Catholic, K through 8th school). It was on one of those days where we had nothing else to do, so we'd have a couple hours to watch a movie (don't ask me to explain beyond that, it was so long ago that even I don't remember why that happened). I distinctly remember watching ROTJ not only with the rest of my class, but with the class above ours as well. One of the kids in the class above ours (I still remember his name, how weird is that?) went "Bo Shuda?!" with a laugh after Jabba spoke those lines.

It's funny because I also remember our class gathering in the library for that same kind of "movie time" thing, and we had to vote on what we wanted to watch. One of the choices was "The Empire Strikes Back" (by that point I'd already seen it). I remember my teacher describing it as "the continuing story of Luke Skywalker, (etc)." I don't think we ended up watching it.

Speaking of Empire, my earliest memory of that particular movie is seeing x or y "making of" special where they showed a clip of the "I'll never join you!" scene, and by this point I'd already seen all of ROTJ. I was struck by the whole "oh, so there was another scene in the movie before that where Luke fights Vader, interesting."

Oddly enough, that only leaves the original '77 film, and as I've said my earliest memory is that scene during the TBS broadcast.

Stuff I do have memories of:

-renting the movies (pre-'95), which is probably how I ended up seeing Star Wars and Empire all the way through for the first time
-USA's marathons (by "marathons" I mean something similar to what Spike is doing right now ...... if it was still the early 90's)
-The SciFi Channel showing Empire and Jedi in letterbox sometime around the holidays in the mid-90's. I even recall seeing a commercial sometime in the early 90's saying something like "for the first time, a broadcast of both the fullscreen (they used some other term) and letterbox presentations of the Star Wars trilogy."

Then came the "one last time" release. I even recall seeing the commercials, one of them was Vader looking from side to side during Palpatine's electrocution of Luke at the end of ROTJ with the text "one of the greatest villains ever" against black. Another commercial was 3PO's "and don't let me catch you following me" with some kind of text applying to him and R2, also against black.

Jesus, it it weird that I remember all this?

I ended up getting the THX vhs of ANH for Christmas that year. If you look back in the forums you'll find the thread I started after acquiring the full boxset just this past Fall.

Jump to November of '96. I go to see Star Trek: First Contact by myself while my mother and my sister go to see Jingle all the Way. Afterwards, my mom tells me that one of the previews was for the re-release of Star Wars movies starting "on New Year's Day" or something like that.

Jump to January of '97, I go to see ANH with some friends. Jump to February, I see ESB with my mom. Jump to March, I see ROTJ with some friends.

Ah, the funny thing is that my memories of that first time seeing ANH '97 are really quite vague / almost non-existant. ESB was different though: right at the opening crawl my mom said "y'know, did you ever think of how it takes millions of years for radio waves to get from one side of the universe to the other? So that would be like 'A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away'." I also remember pointing out the addition of the tibanna gas factory in that one wide shot of Cloud City. Later on, I remember naively asking my mom why they were "doing that" to Han Solo and she just replied "it's torture." Jedi '97, oh man: that digital sound really made the activation and deactivation of Luke's saber by Vader in that one scene on Endor especially LOUD. I still remember how that unexpected new Williams music at the end had me feeling (good, in case you were wondering).

Funny, I'd have to credit my mom assuming I'd want the widescreen (silver) vhs boxset of the SE for Christmas (instead of the fullscreen) as part of what actually ended up fueling my interest in movies. That was one fun holiday season, December of '97.

I guess this is as good a time as any to say that all of this is ultimately beside the point, since I was a Star Trek kid first and a Star Wars kid second. The funny thing is that Star Trek was at the height of its exposure in the mass media when I was into it (mid-90's) and yet I was considered really weird for being into it, whereas Star Wars (since it was only three movies from a decade-and-a-half back) was considered cool. That certainly wasn't the case by the time '99 rolled around ......

Which brings me to that whole OT vs PT thing. Let me just echo Baronlando when I say how odd it is that Star Wars went from this classic trilogy of films to this over-hyped "event" that was just one simple film: Episode I.

Of course, it's best to start in that afternoon in November of '98 when I was at the orthodontist's and he for some reason brought up that "they're going to start running the previews (for the new Star Wars movie)." That very night, I watched the teaser on Entertainment Tonight. I still remember it like it was yesterday, and it still gives me goosebumps.

Let me just say something else: 8th grade was hell for me. The fact that I'd be getting a new Star Wars movie for the first time in my lifetime made the light at the end of the tunnel all the brighter. I remember that night in March of '99 watching the theatrical trailer on Access Hollywood and finding out that the release had been pushed up by a couple days.

May 19th of '99 I also remember like it was yesterday. I was even kidding myself to the extent that I said "nah, I'll just wait until later to see it." My mom dropped me off that afternoon, the sun casting an orange glow over everything. By coincidence, a kid who lived up the street from me was walking out of the previous showing just as I was walking in. He asked "you going to see Phantom Menace?" "Yea" I replied, he just kinda smiled and said "it's pretty good." As I recall, the theater wasn't all that crowded. In fact, I remember being surprised that it wasn't sold out already. Guess that was only the midnight showings from the night before, and the showing for that coming night.

The fight club / titan a.e. / anna and the king 20th Century Fox teaser "and now, a look at three projects currently in development" teaser I still remember. Then the Loews Cineplex logo. The the first reel.

The 20th Century Fox and Lucasfilm logos.

That opening crawl, wow, this was something.

I'd already read a third of the novelization so I was pretty much immune to those "bad feeling about this" sentiments early on in the movie. I guess that's why, by the time the lightsaber battle at the end was over, I was pretty much loving this. I saw it again with my best friend (who was so turned off by it so early on in the movie that he started telling a long chain of (admittedly quite funny) jokes to me. Take that story for what it's worth) and a third time with my mother and my sister.

I remember getting the vhs not all that long after it came out in Spring of '00. Rogue Planet I checked out of the library and read all the way through that summer. At some point I remember the website for "Episode II" going up with what everyone thought (and it could've been) concept artwork for the cloning facilities.

October of '01 was something special though. Popping in that dvd was a treat.

I remember seeing monster's inc in order to see the "breathing" teaser for AOTC. May of '02, I skip class along with several other people in order to see the movie in the middle of the day at Union Station in DC. That story I've already told elsewhere, so I'll skip it. I would see the movie a bunch more times throughout the summer, chalk that up to whatever you will.

Then there was the craziness that was Spring of '05. I still remember (heh, it was barely three years ago and I'm saying "still remember") as soon as the movie irised out to the end credits I just went "it was good." Not amazing, not great, just good.

In a lot of ways, I guess it took me until I was 19 to see the prequels for what they really were.

(I might edit this later, but this stream of consciousness will suffice for now).
Post
#316159
Topic
Clone Wars doc's
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/316159/action/topic#316159
Time
This is somewhat off the topic, but I was wondering if anyone knows if the short interviews from this past weekend on spike tv about the force unleashed were recorded and uploaded somewhere. Obviously I've seen the one from the weekend before since it was put up on the game's website, and I caught that half hour show from the next weekend since it was put up on that show's website. I did catch the one on sunday, so basically all I'm wondering is what they showed on friday and saturday.

EDIT: wow, fuck me, nevermind

Sure enough they've put all of them up on the official website. Didn't expect that.
Post
#315865
Topic
Spike TV ROTJ Summary
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/315865/action/topic#315865
Time
The one part of the updated descriptions that I remember really surprising me is on the Empire '04 dvd "while Han and Leia flee to the beautiful Cloud City of Bespin."

Ok, what percentage of people who've watched the movies do you think could name that planet Cloud City is at? Han says it just that one time, and even then Harrison's so in character that you don't even notice or think about it.
Post
#315835
Topic
New 'The Clone Wars' movie trailer
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/315835/action/topic#315835
Time
is exactly the issue. Hearing that news in early May of '06 made me so happy. I mean, I was about to go back to working at the Lego store for the summer, and even though I knew I was going to be back at school in September it was still something that made me, I dunno, proud. The dvd release of the original versions and lego star wars: the original trilogy on the same day.

Then digitalbits broke the bad news.

I remember at one point over that summer explaining to one of my coworkers how 16:9-enhanced video worked since I'd learned all about it a couple years earlier. As I said before, I was back at school by the time the release date rolled around. Ever since then it's like there've been fewer and fewer reasons to actually pay for anything Star Wars. Hey, I might've actually been interested in the lego videogame if we hadn't gotten the finger with that laserdisc transfer, but nope, that possibility was now gone. Then, when I'm working over this past winter, we get toys from both Force Unleashed and The Clone Wars a good EIGHT MONTHS before they're due.

Really?

Then just the other day I hear that Dark Times is getting put on hiatus after the remaining scheduled issues, and that was the only comic book I was still following. This show will be on tv, and presumably so will the live action show. Barring the possibility of picking up force unleashed for ps2, I'm pretty much done with it.

The way I look at it is that the more I'm not spending on this stuff is the more I'm saving for the box set that we all know is going to happen eventually.
Post
#315787
Topic
legacy of the force - book
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/315787/action/topic#315787
Time
I've shared my thoughts on the NJO here and elsewhere, but I think it bears repeating.

I'm been convinced, especially since that story of the abandoned bantam/darkhorse invasion storyline came to light, that del rey wanted to tell a Star Wars story that could only be told in the medium of novels. I've only read a couple books from the series, but what I did read really gave me a vibe of "this could never be done as a movie." You don't even see comics set during that era.

Although I will admit that after hearing about what happens with Zonama Sekot in the Force Heretic arc, I understood even further what their whole point with the series was. It gave it a kind of fantasy feel, which of course is what Star Wars itself has.

Another thing is, well, y'know how a lot of us prefer to think of the original trilogy as the real story and the prequels as just prequels? I think this kind of backs that up because it shows how grand Luke Skywalker's life ended up being. Born at the end of the Clone Wars, fought in the Galactic Civil War, helped build the New Republic, fought people from another galaxy far far away and proved himself the greatest Jedi ever.

Troy Denning's post-NJO trilogy also sounded cool because of the whole "now, let's get back to where we left off before the Vong showed up" thing. Using that concept of the Killiks also had me interested.

As for Legacy of the Force, acknowledging the old Marvel stories was a pretty random move, but like the Killiks in Denning's trilogy it's cool that they're mining these old and ambiguous materials for ideas.
Post
#315737
Topic
Will your interest in the Star Wars universe be affected...
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/315737/action/topic#315737
Time
Hey, the fact that there's now a better format around than vhs is kind of what puts a damper on being enthusiastic about the movies themselves isn't it? I'm being serious, by the way. There was no 4:3 and 16:9 with vhs, everything was just 4:3. Hence the glory of the 90's. One last time in '95, SE in '97, both on the same format, equal treatment.

The funny thing is that (as if it needs to be said) the discrepancy in quality between the two versions on dvd is, well, pretty much all I keep coming back to these Star Wars message boards over. I say pretty much because I am into other things like the comics. I'm still reading Dark Times because of the upcoming live action series, which is another thing that holds my interest. But again, it all comes down to that hope that we'll all finally get what we want.

The problem is that if Lucas doesn't follow through with actually remastering the OOT, we'll really wish that he just hadn't bothered with the laserdisc ports. A friend of mine makes this sort of comparison from time to time, but I think it's particularly apt here: that's like getting half a handjob. Star Wars will have gone from a piece of history to a piece of mere nostalgia.
Post
#315495
Topic
Further proof GL has lost his mind... Clone Wars
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/315495/action/topic#315495
Time
Hey, I wouldn't be at all surprised if they debuted an awesome OT game when (or sometime after) they finally get around to giving the movies the ultimate treatment. It's just that right now they're doing a Shadows of the Empire style, self contained story. On a larger level, it's all just a pawn in the larger scheme of being a step towards the live action series (yes, the dark side analogy is indeed very fitting).
Post
#315486
Topic
Official: 'THE CLONE WARS' movie in Theaters 8/15/08
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/315486/action/topic#315486
Time
Yea but that's the thing. At least with the PT he was directing again, and apparently having fun doing so. I would've thought he'd realized by now that he's got less years ahead of him than he does behind and that he better get going on having fun spending his vast billions on those small, esoteric works.

Coppola called him out on it recently in some interview about Youth Without Youth, saying something to the effect of "ok, George, I've done it. Now it's your turn."*

I mean, seriously, I just don't get why he's still in the Star Wars pool unless he really thinks he's doing the film world a favor by continuing to make all this money off of Star Wars so that he can do things like give 150 million dollars to USC. In all honesty that's been my theory for a while now, especially since the GOUT debacle. This is what people are thinking of when they talk of Lucas' attitude towards the fans. It's as if he's saying "Oh, you want me to spend my money on restoring the half-finished versions of Star Wars? Too bad, move on to other movies or make your own, but leave Star Wars to me."


*I could be remembering wrong, it might've been an interview with Lucas where that topic was brought up.
Post
#315407
Topic
Official: 'THE CLONE WARS' movie in Theaters 8/15/08
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/315407/action/topic#315407
Time
What really just has me down about Star Wars right now is that the fact that it's on overload (and it is on overload) just doesn't bode well (to me at least) about the possibility of us OOT fans getting what we finally want any time soon.

However, those comments by McCallum about all the 100 hours of documentaries has me convinced that we will see a fairly grand treatment for the next home video release. I just hope it doesn't take more than another couple years to actually happen.
Post
#315404
Topic
Will your interest in the Star Wars universe be affected...
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/315404/action/topic#315404
Time
Y'know what? If I had the theatrical versions of all six movies in 1080p24, yea, I probably would just move on forever with the possible of exception of Episode VII and onward (if those were ever to get made).

But that's the whole point of what I've brought up time after time. They're going to wait to give us all what we want for that very reason. "Buy other stuff in the meantime!"

I'm just trying to remain optimistic that based on certain comments ("it'll all come out in the end; we're focusing on television now; etc") we're going to be getting it sooner rather than later.
Post
#315401
Topic
Further proof GL has lost his mind... Clone Wars
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/315401/action/topic#315401
Time
There were a couple things I forgot to say actually (man, my mind wanders sometimes):

-Lucas was an animation nut back around the time he got out of USC and as zombie pointed out that never really went away.

-What I was talking about in regards to the new Clone Wars show is that it actually looks fairly cinematic, and unlike the old animated shows, this one is actually getting a theatrical release.

one last thing:

They've been milking those three years between Star Wars and Empire for, what, 30 years now? I was surprised as anyone when Lucas announced way back when ('05?) that there'd be a cg Clone Wars show, but 22-19 bby is the new 0-3 aby.
Post
#315397
Topic
Further proof GL has lost his mind... Clone Wars
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/315397/action/topic#315397
Time
There are loopholes in just about everything Lucas has said over the past few years in regards to Episode VII. The 60 Minutes interview from '05 when he says "there is no Episode VII." Well, no, there isn't, that's because it doesn't exist right now. That doesn't mean it never will. The biggest loophole is the "This is the last Star Wars movie I will ever direct" comment.

As for the PT and this series specifically, well, I'll say this. Recently someone put up online a Ted Koppel interview from '83 where Siskel, Ebert and some other critic discuss Return of the Jedi and its merits. The other critic whose name I can't remember brought up the point that "it might as well be a cartoon." Ebert cleverly responded with "Well, I think these are the kind of movies Disney should start making."

Here's my point with all this. Remember how people said ROTJ was where the trouble really began? Remember how by the time we got to ROTS they were calling it a Pixar film? I think this simply finishes it off by making it completely CG at last.
Post
#315312
Topic
Further proof GL has lost his mind... Clone Wars
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/315312/action/topic#315312
Time
-Anakin's a Jedi Knight by this point in the story. You can have an apprentice as soon as you're a Knight.

-That particular screenshot I always thought was a lens flare, not another sun. However, in the newer trailer there are some shots of Anakin and Ahsoka walking around on a planet that definitely resembles and probably is Tatooine.

-Funny, I never noticed the significance of the armor until you pointed it out, SilverWook. Guess we now know what happened to the plot point of Anakin gradually collecting the various pieces making up the Vader armor, which was rumored back before Episode III was released:

GL: "nah, save it for some future spin off."
Post
#315279
Topic
Further proof GL has lost his mind... Clone Wars
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/315279/action/topic#315279
Time
canofhumdingers said:

i always thought it would be neat to have Z-95 Headhunters (the precursor to the x-wing in "in-universe" history) in Revenge of the sith.


They're brought up in a conversation Anakin and his friend have with some pilot in Mos Espa in the opening chapters of The Phantom Menace novelization. I still remember reading that a week or so before the movie opened, and by that point I'd pretty much figured out that these chapters wouldn't be in the actual movie so I thought "hmm, well that's a nice nod to the EU."

SilverWook said:

I don't know if it's canon or not, but I recall reading somewhere the Rebels stripped down the Y-wings to make them easier to maintain and so forth.

There should have been "new" versions of many future Rebel workhorses in the prequels. *sigh*


Well, yea, but you're preaching to the choir here. There are plenty of things that are showing up in these various prequel spinoffs that should've been in the movies themselves, simply because the cashcow is still there.
Post
#315212
Topic
Further proof GL has lost his mind... Clone Wars
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/315212/action/topic#315212
Time
Please someone take Star Wars away from this man!!!!!

Too bad it's already made billions of dollars, with several billion more probably left to make.

It's something I said a couple months back, but the simple reality is that GL will continue to crank this stuff out so long as there are people willing to buy it. Meanwhile, the simplification of Star Wars into the SE will remain as the only way you can watch it unless you're willing to settle for a 1993 laserdisc.

I'm pretty sure I'm not wasting my money on going to see this in theaters, especially when it'll be on tv fo free (oh wait, I forgot, that'll be sans two seconds of footage that I'll only see in that 90 minute edit, gasp!!!). Also, I'd kinda like to keep that final time I saw ROTS in theaters (which was at the Uptown in DC) as my last theatrical Star Wars experience ever. It's not like we're getting the OOT in theaters, well, ever. I'll continue to wait for the Definitive Collection Laser - er, I mean Blu-ray disc.