Heilemann

DuracellEnergizer said:

 

ATMachine said:

TOSCHESTATION on the TFN forums pointed out that early on in the book, Rinzler digs up a snippet of plot notes by Lucas which appear to be "pre-Empire":

"The Emperor is the evil one - he kills Luke's father. Vader begs Luke to kill him - he does."

These notes would appear to come from the liminal stage between ANH and ESB, when Lucas was reconsidering both the backstory of Father Skywalker and the notion that Vader was a dyed-in-the-wool irredeemable villain. But the obvious solution--to combine the two ideas into Father Vader--hadn't quite gelled yet.

Hmm ... interesting. IMO, this only makes Georgey's failure to create complex villains for the PT all the more pathetic.

 

Eh, what!?

Well, given Body Heat, it's not surprising Kasdan would be the one pushing these slightly more seedy ideas.

On a related note, I know the bikini is a thing, but it's always, especially the older I get, seemed out of place for Star Wars, which is by and large asexual. In spite of the fact that its inspiration heritage, Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers, Frazetta, had bikinis like it in spades.

One thing that struck me as I made my way through the first fifty pages last night, is how the economic outcome of Empire must have shaped Lucas's approach to Jedi. Not only did its cost put him in an extremely poor position re. negotiating with Fox, something that runs through that first section as Lucasfilm vie for position with a very small stick. But it's probably also the reason Lucas decided to amp the third films 'fun' up and do away with as much of the darkness as he could. After all Empire fell short of Star Wars's grosses, even if it did good business; people just weren't coming back for seconds and thirds, and the rationalization was that it was because it left them with less closure and satisfaction than Star Wars had.

I'm also continually struck by the honesty of these books. There's a sizable passage dedicated to talking about McQuarrie burning out and walking away from the production because he just couldn't do anymore spaceships and aliens; of him feeling old among all the young ILMers at the time and of course how he hated ewoks.

It was a moving target. I recommend reading Zombie's The Secret History of Star Wars, which dives into the history of it all.

Yeah, I must agree with the natural look of much of the Tatooine locations (and sets); it's what continues to set it apart from everything else out there.

Ryan McAvoy said:

No never heard of them. Love the deadpan humour and his voice sounds like Steven Wright.

Mind effectively blown.

Who knew the Ewoks were into gospel music.

Found it. Unfortunately the original got removed for some reason, but here's the archival version: http://web.archive.org/web/20121110142716/http://30daysofempire.tumblr.com/

He made it through 101 consecutive views. That's a bit much, even for me.

I saw a blog some months back from a guy who had watched The Empire Strikes Back every day for something like three months and blogged about it. But I'll be damned if I can find it. Anyone know what I'm talking about?

At the end of the day, the more expensive the movie, the bigger the risk. We can complain about wanting more inventive movies, or different experiences all we want. But flip it around and look at movies like products, it only makes sense for the studios to do their utmost to ensure their investments. In most other industries, we applaud that. That's what business is. And blockbusters are business, not art.

That said, we all want to be surprised and delighted when we watch a film; but the only thing that matters in the overall scheme of things is the bottom line. When that falters, change will come. See also Old Hollywood.

That article lacks any kind of historical insight or dramaturgical understanding. Storytelling *is* 'formulaic', and always has been.

IE doesn't seem to work with the internet in general.

Full disclosure: I'm a web developer by day, IE being therefore my sworn enemy.

Just for those not up to date, what GeeTeeUK just reposted is a partial version.

Anyone have a PDF copy? I'm looking for the Flash Gordon stuff.

King Arthur is King Arthur because of the blood of his father yes but that's because authority is passed through his family not any particular abilities (other than his athletic potential).

King Arthur is good at swinging a sword because he was squire to his step-brother and trained by his step-father (both trained knights).

Fantasy is fantasy but it still has to stay true to it's own rules.

King Arthur pulled the sword out of the stone because of his blood.

Having issues with the force being strong with the Skywalker family is having issues with fables, mythology and fairytales at large. Fate and destiny are as integral to Star Wars as they are to the King Arthur legend.

Not that that'll satisfy the ever present whiners, who keep hanging around here for reasons that elude me.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but at no point in the prequels does anyone say that the force isn't available to anyone; only that midichlorians determine their power. Which is probably analogous to height having an influence on your future as a basketball player.

I think you're reading it wrong.

They don't *talk* about midichlorians, but it's mentioned on one of Lucas's original notes in the back of The Making of Star Wars (hardcover-only I belive).

Anakin getting to know the emperor, and slowly getting twisted, and 'his wife' going to Obi-Wan, as well as them fighting on the vulcano, Anakin losing his limbs and the emperor's (who was a president/supreme chancellor before) soldiers pick him up.

That's all there. It's pretty surprising how much *was* thought up before, even if the details vary.

It's blocked by Fox on YouTube, ostensibly because it has contents from Star Wars. So much for automation...

That sounds like a pretty good bet actually. I'm not sure if some of the cell animation on the trench stuff wasn't someone other than Cuba though.

Good stuff.

As far as I can tell, O'Bannon did the tactical displays, and John Wash part of the CG stuff for the death star, though since Larry Cuba supposedly also did that I'm a little confused as to whom did what. Perhaps Cuba did the trenchrun only, and Wash did the rest?

Does anyone know what exactly the two of them worked on between them? They both did effects for Dark Star, and went on to work on Star Wars, supposedly on computer displays. But what was the division of labor?

Alright. Closer. Warmer. Hoooorrendous cover.

That's a great alternative, thanks! Well spotted. 

The holes are outside the shot, compare the width of the paper.