Gaffer Tape

I haven't collected toys in quite a long time, but, in my opinion, it's actually kinda sad to judge these people on their hobby.  It doesn't seem like there's anything wrong with it.  And I would be quite satisfied if the ladies who don't find it a "turn on" would please get the sticks out of their asses.  That said, I admit I haven't actually watched the video in this original post, so maybe this particular guy is taking it a bit too far.

skyjedi2005 said:

I disagree but after all that is my opinion.

Anakin/Vader was done in such a way in return of the jedi to make the audience sympathetic to the character.  Not so Hayden Vader who never was a good man or good friend to begin with. He was always a traitorous asshole from episode II onward to III.  I have to therefore fly in the face of Lucas continuity and disavow the existence of the prequels because they ruin the original trilogy.

I have to disagree with you there, sky.  I don't think that Vader came across as particularly sympathetic in ROTJ.  It's interesting that you use the fact that Anakin was a traitorous asshole in the prequel films leading up to ROTS as your reasoning, but was Vader any more of a sympathetic character leading up to ROTJ?  And any way you look at it, it's just a big guy in a suit who goes around killing people all the time.  Not a bad character, mind you, but someone who gets points for being a badass villain, not a sympathetic protagonist.  The emotional resonance in ROTJ is Luke and his desire to make his father better.  Vader on his own has really nothing going for him except for one single redemptive act.  Luke is the only thing making us care about Vader at all.

I'm learning to be more assertive.  ^_^ 

And now I'm very curious as to what your post said before you edited it...

Screw your stinking birthday, you loser!

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=P

Before it was cut down, Dr. Bartlett was proposing a plan to cut down on funeral expenses, when MacNair opens the window and yells, "Fire wagon!"  It cuts to a shot of the delgates running out of the room.  Then they gather on the street and wonder what's on fire, when Lee returns and yells his whooping yell.  They all run over to him and escort him back inside.

After it was cut down, when MacNair opens the window, you hear Lee's whooping yell, then it cuts to the shot of all the delegates running outside.  They all run over to him and escort him back inside.  So basically they used the shot of them running outside for the fire wagon and changed the motive so that they're running to meet Lee instead.

Oh, no, I didn't say that.  In a lot of ways, I probably prefer the director's cut, but I never think about it in respect to what I like, only in respect to what it is, and what 1776 the film is is the theatrical cut, even though I disagree with a lot of the meddling that got it there and think the director's cut might be slightly better.

Haha, if you want itemizing, I prefer "Cool, Considerate Men" to be in the picture because Dickinson needs a song, and it's a good one.  I like the main titles being restored.  The music removal I'm not sure of.  I like both versions.  Most of the other additions are nice but never seemed lacking in the original as it still flowed pretty well.  I can't say I like the fire wagon scene at all.  It just seems pretty pointless, and I can certainly understand why they cut it out originally.

Haha, feel free to take this over because Gaffer Tape fully supports aspect ratio awareness!  Sometimes I wish we'd never made the jump to widescreen TVs because nearly all of my friends fuck up the picture like that, and it makes me want to pull my hair out!  Or punch someone!  Or pull someone's hair out while punching him!

But, yeah, Warbler, I certainly see what you're saying, and I do recognize that it's a stickier situation than Star Wars, but in my mind it all comes out the same in the end.  Usually I would just say to throw that stuff in the deleted scenes section and not even bother to petition for multiple branching versions, but I do feel that in this case it would be nice.

Oh, and that said, there are a few very minor things I learned while making this video.  Well, actually, a slightly larger one first.  It's not quite possible to view some of it as it was theatrically, even if you skip over added footage.  The fire wagon scene for instance, had to be recut to make sense once that part was taken out, in order to have the delegates run out of the building when Lee arrives rather than when they see the wagon.  But I'm sure you already knew that.  But the fun thing (well, quite annoying for me when I was trying to film both versions side by side) is that, even when nothing else was changed, they'd occasionally get just a little bit out of sync by just a few frames.  It almost seems like the whole thing was recut from the ground up, and they failed to get it exactly right.  Again, a nitpick, but something I would not have noticed had I not tried to put them side by side.

Ah, glad Warbler brought up points for debate, as I knew that would be controversial.

First off, I agree that some of those points should never have been cut out in the first place. I even said as much that I thought "Cool, Considerate Men" was a good song that furthered the character. And I even directly stated that cutting the material was as big a crime in my book as supressing the theatrical cut. However, to avoid any kind of hypocrisy, I always side with the theatrical cut. After all, it was the only thing for 30 years. I didn't have time to mention this in my review, but what got me doing this was the fact that I ran across the used VHS at a local used book store. I hadn't seen it in a couple of years, and that had only been one time. Watching it through, I was already aware that "Cool, Considerate Men" had been cut out and all the reasons why. But I actually couldn't figure out where it was supposed to be, and nothing felt like it was missing. When I found the DVD for the purpose of having material I could get on my computer, I was quite surprised at all the material (nearly half an hour's worth) that had been put back in. All of it was enjoyable. Some of it was worth having back in, some of it didn't add or subtract anything of considerable substance, but it was certainly fun comparing and analyzing the two for my own personal curiosity. Turns out they actually cut around the deleted stuff quite creatively, or at least I thought so.

And, yes, I also agree that the film should have been as close to the play as possible, and I look at the Director's Cut as a closer means of achieving that. However, film being a moment in time, I can't help but see the theatrical cut as what the film turned out to be. And if I complain about Star Wars but not this, I feel like a hypocrite even though the circumstances are different. The impression I got from listening to the commentary (aside from them basically paraphrasing the dialogue for three hours... ugh) was, "Well, Jack Warner was nice enough to produce this movie for us, but he didn't really do everything how we wanted him to. Fortunately, he's dead now, so we can basically nullify every action he made in reference to this." And that's not saying I don't think the new version isn't an improvement. I think in a lot of ways it is, but that's not the point. Like I said in my video, it would have been great if they had branched the versions. And you're not the only one who suffered at the loss of the deleted scoring. I really wanted to use the instrumental of "The Egg" that was originally used in Franklin's introduction to score my "on camera" segment, but since it was only on the VHS, and I don't have a video capture card, and I couldn't find it on YouTube, I had to give up that dream.

Oh, and just in case I wasn't clear in the video, I do disagree with Nixon coercing Warner to cut "Cool, Considerate Men," and I think the film benefits by having it restored. What I was trying to say, though, is that I think the song suffers from being too ridiculously blatant in its political ideology to the point that I can certainly understand why Nixon would consider it insulting. But understanding and condoning are two different things. But since it was done, thereby becoming a part of history, that action deserves to be preserved.

Thank you so much, guys!  It still drives me crazy to watch that encode, though, especially at the introduction montage and the "Obnoxious and Disliked" segment since, in my opinion, I had timed both of them out really well, and that little bit of stuttering utterly ruins it!  Arghh!  This is why my last two videos only used still images!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZRFvkmysB4

Haha, it's done!  Please enjoy and comment!

Only if they're vegetarian...

Well, on my first try I managed to get a pretty decent encode with only the slightest bit of stuttering.  Granted, it's on my favorite part of the video, but I doubt I could hope for anything better even if I took all night, so I'm going to go ahead and upload it.  Link will be posted soon, you three and four-toed sloths.  Cookies may or not be awarded after the judging period depending on the results.

Everyone is far too inquisitive...  Inquisitiveness ended the respiratory functions of the three-toed sloth!

So doing nothing but editing for several hours today, abstaining from food until this very moment, I have a very good feeling the video will be posted tonight.  That is, I only have two more images to insert in the video before it is done.  And then... God willing, it will actually convert into a video without any screwups.  Um... this is going to be a long angry night...

Gaffer Tape is a theatrical and film tape used to secure cords and equipment... and boobies!!!

Urgh.  I'm beginning to wonder if this is going to go the way of my G.I. Joe video.  I'm liking where it's going so far, but I have no reason to believe it's actually going to encode properly.  Now I remember why I stopped doing videos, and why my last two have been nothing but still images:  when I try to actually have video in recent months, the playback can't handle it, and neither can the filemaking.  What's my problem?  Or what's its problem?  Is 2 gigs of ram enough memory to undertake editing, or should I try to get something better?

Too easy!

Hmm.  Love how you put a lightsaber effect in his hand against his will then!  ^_~

Haha, that is the best worst bestest best tenth post ever in this thread!

Geez, I can't think of any hints that wouldn't give it away entirely other than saying "old-school Warbler," which I also thought would give it away.

I have a feeling that old-school Warbler will really get a kick out of my next video.  An e-cookie to whoever guesses what it's about.

vote_for_palpatine said:

Is this a recent occurrence, Gaff, or some kind of fresh incident? No need to go into detail if you'd rather not, just curious.

Haha, I was under the impression that "recent occurrence" and "fresh incident" were more or less the same thing.  Suffice it to say that, due to my own experiences as well as everyone else I've encountered in the past year is that human beings only get into relationships in order to cause as much devastating pain to one another as humanly possible.  If one can devote nearly a decade to a single person only to have that person lie, cheat, and run off without any warning... well, I just don't see it as being anything other but a waste of time.  Other human beings aren't to be trusted, plain and simple, and we all know that George Lucas knows that as well as anybody.

Granted, given what George Lucas's love life has been, I cannot at all blame him for seeing romantic attachment as dangerous and terrible.  In fact, I rather agree with him on that point...

I'm ready for my closeup, Mr. DeFrink!

Davnes007 said:

Just because you can't marry, doesn't mean you can't be with women.

While this is indeed true, there are a large number of female Jedi as well, and "being with a woman," while fun for all, is not at all relevant to babymaking.  Just thought I'd point out your obviously sexist use of language.  =P