JadedSkywalker

Star Wars Classic Creatures first pressing Japanese laserdisc. With OBI

Casablanca 50th Laserdisc set. With Obi. and a book and a bonus disc containing the colorized version of the film.

Great set Casablanca. The film in CLV, the colorized version on a second disc in clv as a bonus. A third disc making of. A book making of. And repro lobby cards.

And Classic Creatures Return of the Jedi is a very rare disc and it was immaculate and so was the OBI. It is mono sound and Analog audio only. 1986 VAP.

Mission Impossible the Final Reckoning also arrived on 4K, no frills standard edition not a steelbook.

And my limited-edition Arrow Jim Carrey in The Mask 4k also arrived. Very nice edition. Nice booklet, nice case. Much nicer than Lost in Space.

The tone of Return of the Jedi was all over the place though. People would know, if you said I want to style it like Star Wars 1977. Or TESB. Jedi has the scenes with Luke and Vader. Luke facing certain death at the hands of the Emperor, if Vader hadn’t saved him, and it also has dancing Teddy bears. Jedi in tone is a kids movie. even more so than the original film from 1977. It pulls its punches and even censors lightsaber damage. You have Luke’s whifflebat lightsaber, no weequays lose a head or a hand or arm.

Lucas already was pulling back from showing violence. Is it any wonder in the special edition he censored laser blasts and had Greedo shoot first.

There was graphic violence again in Episode III but it was necessary to the plot I suppose. Also getting a PG 13 rating made the film more appealing to teenagers. Ironically Disney is even more risk averse, and refuses to show anything on screen. and still gets PG 13 ratings across the board.

Han being stabbed through is the only thing I can think of, and it looked like a cartoon. When he fell from the bridge on Starkiller base. Finn gets injured. Rey never gets a scratch the entire trilogy. Not that I wanted her to be maimed, or lose a hand, but there was no real peril. In TESB you watched Luke get his ass whooped, and the rebels lose and you had no idea if Han was dead. You think he is alive in hibernation. You don’t know if Vader is lying. Until Episode 6. Then it’s played totally straight that Vader is Luke’s father, and Vader gloats when Luke accepts it.

Let’s hope it is better than the Frasier remake. Though I’m surprised Disney is bringing Scrubs back.

What are the odds that a 4th Season of Mandalorian happens. Favreau can claim he wrote one. That does not mean Disney will give him the money to make one. Even if they did its years off.

I did hear that they cut the budget for season 2, I suppose this is one confirmation of that.

I like Claudia but how about a Farscape series continue over Disney Star Wars instead.

I have no idea who owns the rights to Farscape these days.

I love Excalibur. I despised King Arthur the Legend of the Sword and I still do. I like some of Guy Ritchie’s films not that film.

I think it’s merely a design preference. But I preferred the used universe of Star Wars 1977 over the bright and clean cgi esthetic of the prequels. It lent a sense of authenticity and realism that the prequels lacked. And that also the sequel trilogy lacked.

The dinged up and dirty and dingy look of things. Landspeeders, the Millennium Falcon. X-Wings of the rebel alliance. Lightsaber hilts etc, blasters. Kenobi’s Robes. The detail work on Threepio and Artoo. And on Vader’s suit and all its parts and pieces including the cape.

And how the Rebels were much more utilitarian. the Empire more clean and antiseptic and austere in design. How the rebels could just be farmers or privateers or whatever port of call they hailed from. Some of them might even be criminals like Han Solo. Or people out on the fringe. Luke being a former moisture farmer and all of that. Kenobi being able to pass as a Tatooine local wearing the garb of a farmer. Of course, they made those Jedi Robes.

I think each world and culture should have varied more in the prequels. You would only get bright and Shiny on Coruscant but not on the lower levels. the Jedi being at the height of their arrogance, I wouldn’t have changed much about how they looked in the prequels. except maybe different colored lightsabers of various colors and different robes not just the Tatooine garb.

I’m really curious as to where they will get the original colors from 1977, 1980 and 1983 and to know they are accurate.

What references do they have. I’m somewhat skeptical because Lowry messed them up twice.

Why is the 2011 color timing so odd for some scenes. Light the lighting and Vader’s Helmet looks blueish black in that but black in all other comparisons. The corridor of the ceiling looks blue gray rather than the gray of the other images.

I’m not in the know but I assume Star Trek as a film series will return to a mid-budget niche franchise and the high budget tentpole is dead.

They are willing to give Tom Cruise that kind of money because he is Tom Cruise. But 200 million for a Star Trek film is a non-starter. Ironic how the franchise died the moment JJ Abrams left for Star Wars.

it’s the reality that Hollywood is failing as a whole, films don’t bring in half of what they used to. Look at MCU for instance, a string of BOX Office flops, that is for Disney they had a bad year. It’s going to be Lilo and Stitch and Avatar that saved their bacon. Unless the unlikely happened and Avatar severely underperformed or flopped I wouldn’t predict that.

MCU needs to be saved by the Russos again. All bets are off if Avengers Doomsday flops.

As for JJ Abrams I heard he had a film he was producing Flowervale Street and directing GhostWriter. But other than a cartoon Batman show he hasn’t done much at WB. They cancelled two of his shows Justice League Dark. And Demimonde. Before they even got off the ground. His version of Green Lantern also never happened. His Val Zod Superman never took flight.

Ellison hasn’t said what the future of JJ is with the studio. With Paramount. Skydance buying Warner Bros, perhaps JJ has a future with Skydance who knows. I have no idea if Skydance Paramount buys WB.

I know Tom Cruise has cozied up to Ellison to get more films made. Days of Thunder II and Top Gun 3. The movie business is far too political for my liking, I’d prefer not to get into that. Just the number of Star Trek film scripts, and changes in who was running the studio in the last 9 years is amazing, and regime changes like musical chairs on the deck of the Titanic, is headache inducing. It almost makes Disney Lucasfilm look competent by comparison, even though they have a fake Rey Skywalker movie they announced.

Luke or whatever that deepfake thing was, that taught Grogu about attachments. The scene where he gives him a choice to choose the mithril like armor or Yoda’s lightsaber. And Ahsoka’s being stoic and wooden.

That and the scene where Boba Fett tries to teach the Tusken’s how to ride a Speeder Bike.

Seeing how Luke failed with Grogu, he failed with Ben Solo and Rey. He must be the worst teacher of all time. Even worse than the Prequel Jedi who he blamed for the downfall of the Republic and the Jedi order itself.

Leia goes off and doesn’t even finish her training. But becomes Rey’s teacher.

Daisy was cast in The Good Samaritan. I doubt The Rey movie is happening anytime soon. She has multiple projects lined up and booked and none of them is Star Wars.

There is no Rey movie for 2027, or 2028. And I’m not holding my breath for one coming before the decade is out by 2030.

New show? a continuation of SG-1. They did not say.

I’m fan of the film I always wanted the second and third in the trilogy. From Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich. With Kurt Russell and James Spader. They are all far too old now to play those roles. I think even the SG1 cast like Richard Dean Anderson are getting long in the tooth. Richard is actually older than Kurt. 75 to his 74. James Spader is 65.

Whereas Michael Shanks is 54. Amanda Tapping is 60. Why didn’t they do this a decade ago. The show ended in 2007 and the last tv film aired when. 2008 with that cast?

I never quite got into Stargate Universe or Atlantis. But I really liked Ben Browder and Claudia Black in Farscape. I wish that show had returned and not just in the peacekeeper wars.

I hated it intensely it looked like video. And the pop out effects of the 3d just to show Legolas shooting arrows was ridiculous.

Though I’d love for other people to be able to own the 3D version though I don’t see how that would work in the home at 48fps.

They still look fake on Blu-Ray and UHD. I honestly don’t understand why they didn’t shoot on Super 35mmm like LOTR trilogy. And I also found the lack of bigatures to be a problem, too much cgi.

I’d hope they’d shoot on film and go back to real sets, locations and props for the Hunt for Gollum. It will probably be another cg fest. And of course rest in peace Andrew Lesnie. It won’t be the same without him. It’s hard to believe he died ten years ago.

How could the Vong exist and not be a part of the force? When the force exists in all living things and binds the galaxy together.

The Ysalamiri for instance. I reject that as well.

And Kreia’s notion to kill the force. You would end all life in the universe if you could kill the force.

The one thing I don’t like is the prequel then goes and says that Force thing, its not just an energy field that surrounds us and binds the galaxy together. Its midichlorians that teach and speak to the Jedi the will of the force, and also no life can exist without the midichlorians. They are like mitochondria.

Yoda even tells Luke in the Empire that they are luminous beings. Almost chidingly like he is being scolded. You only believe in the physical and what you can see. The force is spiritual. Its energy’s are all around you.

Move that rock and ship its only impossible in your mind.

I don’t accept that the odd numbered Star Trek film being bad is true. Star trek III is an underrated movie despite what I think of Robin Curtis performance as Saavik. I like Kirtie Alley’s Half Romulan passionate Vulcan more.

I think making Valeris a new character was also a mistake she should have been Saavik. Why would the crew care about some random they knew for 5 minutes who betrayed them. There was an unspoken intimacy between Saavik and Spock, a master student relationship. Valeris was created for one movie and never spoken of again.

I don’t remember the movie versions except for Treasure of the Peacock’s Eye. and Trenches of Hell. I have Peacock’s Eye tape only. None of the others. I also don’t have the DVD. Because I was waiting for a blu-ray that never materialized.

The end of an era. I also miss the Tony Daniels Wonder Column does anyone remember that?

They end with a 10th celebration of the Force Awakens,lol. Can’t stick it out two years for Star Wars 50th anniversary can they. And the Last Jedi’s tenth and the Special Edition 30th.

What about Dave’s movie that looks fake too. Not that I want Heir to the Empire.

How many of these things do people like Iger say I’m not giving you a greenlight on that, like the search for Ben Solo. Kinberg trilogy as well.

At least the shakeup at Paramount lets us know that The 4th Kelvin timeline film from Kinberg and JJ Abrams is dead. We get no such assurances from Disney Lucasfilm. Even when they cancel something they never say so publicly, and it’s just shelved. With the exception of Acolyte. Or perhaps they let the fans know in a simple way, like when Indiana Jones failed there was going to be no more shows or films. Same with Willow and the Han Solo movie.

I like that Finn is 2187. This is a reference to Leia’s jail cel number and Arthur Lipsett’s film.

Are there going to juicy details in the Icon’s Unearthed book?

I still haven’t seen the full Kurtz and Dale Pollock interviews from The People VS George Lucas.

The comments on yes men from Kazanjian on the prequels, and that Kurtz did not know he was fired in the documentary was mindboggling. The prequel was that bad.

Rewatching it I was thinking of How Jon Knoll fought for Clone Troopers in suits over cgi and Lucas put his foot down. Was that the sole non yes men moment.

And its always like people want to say something about Rick McCallum, but they never really go there. What was so bad about his producing style. Was he scary or a tyrant what? The guy controlling the production and budget.

There really needs to be a McCallum book from his side. As well as one about Gary Kurtz from his family. They need to correct the record on Gary, the guy who got fired from Star Wars. As if that was his only contribution to film. And no credit given to how important he was to Lucasfilm itself. How he busted his ass to get the first film made, never mind American Graffiti. I think George owes him a debt of gratitude. No matter how he feels like he was betrayed by the English crew, Gil Taylor and let down by John Dykstra. John winning an Oscar but not asked to return for Empire, let go after SW 1977.

George also punishing David Prowse for alleged leaking which I think he was not guilty of. The way he was treated on Return of the Jedi is insane. The lack of crediting all the work Charley Lippincott did on the original film and its marketing. At least Light and Magic exists so Rose Duignan is now getting credit. But Bunny Alsop you wouldn’t even know she existed if not for Skywalking.

Robert Watts practically being unsung on Star Wars and the Indiana Jones series. Thanks to Jamie Benning for highlighting his contributions.

I don’t want to dispute icons unearthed but some of it is opinion, I think. The way Richard Marquand is portrayed is sort of amazing. He was a very capable director, but this doc makes him sound like an imbecile. The film was saved in the editing and reshoots. And I truly did not want to believe the yes men stuff about the prequels. I thought that was concocted by Red Letter media, but Kazanjian is a respectable guy with a long career producing and a friend of Lucas. Why would he lie? Some of the actors did not care for how Richard directed them, Carrie Fisher and Tony Daniels?

Its too bad Gary Kurtz is not around to interview to find out the original story for Return he spoke about. Was that written down? the one where Leia becomes Queen of her people and Luke walks away into the sunset, and Han dies. Everyone ends up either dead or on separate paths. Both Luke and Leia end up alone. Han is toast. I guess George thought that would not sell action figures, kids don’t beg their parents for dead Han toys. In this version Leia was not Luke’s sister.

I liked the Hardware Wars reference with the clothes iron. But it was very goofy humor for SW. TLJ.

Fox paid for the 1990s restoration and cgi redo that was R&D for the prequels unless I’m mistaken. Between 10 and 20 million dollars was spent. Lucas got the rights to the first film back from FOX. FOX got the rights to distribute the prequels. A lucrative thing worth over a billion dollars. Other studios were interested of course, but Lucas brought it to FOX because they were the release studio of the original trilogy.

The Special Edition and Prequel was about money for Lucasfilm and FOX. Changing the films and calling it a special edition made it more marketable than just reissuing the films, no one ever talks about that.

I even remember the trailers and posters. The way the film was meant to be experienced, you’ve only seen it this way on home video, you’ve never seen it at all. They made a big deal about the new cgi. The enhanced visual effects and THX and digital sound.

I think everyone forgot the 1995 one last time campaign, nobody believed that it was only going to be on VHS and Laserdisc for a limited time and never offered again. But that was the plan. Except 2006 bonus DVD, the promise was kept to keep the originals from the fans.

The Special Edition label was dropped in 2000. The VHS, VCD and Laserdisc sets had no such mention of any changes and even reflected the original theatrical release dates and not the 1997 reissues. To Lucas it was the film. He had physically had the negative spliced to the 1997 edit. The Special Edition conformed negative, in the 1990s that was done.

I remember the 2004 DVD set well and the complaints of false advertising calling it the original trilogy and not claiming it was the Special Edition, or the 2.0 version of SE as it were. That Hayden Christensen was in a film he could not have possibly been in, in 1983 when he was 2 years old.

I assume Mangold’s Disney Star Wars is dead. Since it was announced he is doing a Chalamet movie with Paramount. Per Variety. Unless its years down the lime. but there was a rumor a while ago the Dawn of the Jedi was not happening.

And the Rey looks pretty dead as well. Unless somehow they do a complete and unexpected thing like move it into production after Starfighter.

Vader does say in the OT the Emperor is not as forgiving as I am. Don’t you remember. Apology accepted Captain Needa. Admiral Ozzel is as clumsy as he is stupid, You’ve failed me for the last time admiral.

Prequely is flashy twirly lightsaber moves. Style over substance. Not fitting the tone of SW 77 where Vader enters Leia’s ship. Lightsabers are to be held with both hands as if they have weight and heft to them.

Suited Vader is imposing and moves exactly as he does in SW and TESB. The lightsaber combat style in the OT is completely different than the prequels.

Vader’s design looking like Star Wars 1977 or closer than the prequel is completely what I meant as well as how James Earl Jones sounded. Still not the imposing figure of David Prowse though. I don’t like Episode III Vader at all.

I’d like everything to hew and adhere to the OT esthetic. I despise pointed lightsabers for instance. One of the things I dislike the most about the Last Jedi, is Luke trying to kill Ben Solo in his sleep with a pointed lightsaber. And it’s the only time we see his Return of the Jedi saber represented in an attempted murder.

I also hated the shaky cam in Kenobi and rogue one or should I say handheld. I liked the cinematography despite that. It’s like the lens flares in JJ movies why?

Another one I forgot to mention about Rogue One I liked. Original Stormtrooper and X-wing designs and not Disney X-wings and Stormtroopers. The design esthetic mirroring SW 77 and 1980 ESB. I know someone mentioned Mustafar, I could do without a prequel reference there but not a dealbreaker. I don’t usually have a problem repurposing Ralph McQuarrie designs if they look good. Fine for the design of Rey, fine for use in rebels the cartoon.