JadedSkywalker

I’d defend Lucas the artist, the brilliant editor, creator and producer who brought us THX 1138, American Graffiti and Star Wars, not a new hope. But those movies he won’t even give us the originals of. Graffiti is the least tampered with of them at least, other than grain removal and a cgi sunset its the same film. THX is ruined, the cgi is horrible. The Star Wars Special Edition is neat as an alternative cut, but not in replacing the original, or rewriting history so Greedo always shot first, Hayden was always in ROTJ etc. He has destroyed his own movies and won’t let fans of Lucas the artist enjoy his films the way they were originally released. As brilliant and unperfect as they were. The one’s that proved he was a great editor and visualist. The prequels took the shine off his reputation so people say he was never a genius to begin with. I resent that honestly, but he had obviously changed and his changes in tastes and opinions was not to the audience liking and out of step with his previous works.

Killing Obi Wan was the right decision though. For the first time i read the version where he lives and he does nothing of worth after the death star. His death on the death star is critical to give the film emotional weight. Luke loses Ben, and he grows up and joins the rebellion.

The story of the original script after the death star drags. It was absolutely essential to do what they did. The same way cutting all the stuff with Luke and his friends on Tatooine and going straight to the droids was the right choice cinematically as well.

Lucas was like the Indiana Jones line i’m making it up as i go. There was no original vision. He wrote each film individually and kept revising. There was no Saga of Darth Vader 1-6 all planned out. Vader wasn’t even that interesting to Lucas in the beginning. He was a henchmen for Tarkin in the original film.
There was no Skywalker family as such. Luke’s father was a ghost, his sister was hidden from the Emperor somewhere else in the galaxy. Vader was one of two of Kenobi’s students and the one who betrayed and murdered him.

In Empire he made Vader Luke’s father.
In Jedi he made Leia Luke’s sister and Nellith ceased to exist.

Even back then with the first two it was the story of Luke Skywalker and George thought Luke would end up with Leia, it wasn’t this mythic Saga with incest overtones.

He only reframed it as the SAGA of Darth Vader. It turned Star Wars main character Luke into an afterthought, that in itself is insulting. I reject it as well. The OT is Luke’s trilogy, and the prequel Anakin’s. The prequels were made later and they don’t work in a 1-6 sequence of viewing, not even in the 2020 Special Edition 4.0 Maclunkey edit.

I don’t revile the prequels as i once did, but the idea they were always meant to be what they now are is a joke. Anybody who grew up in the 70s and 80s knows Lucas is full of it. I will give him credit for being creative and keeping at it, its kind of funny though how the retcons in the OT were accepted and the prequel wasn’t. And he isn’t the only person to revise a work. Tolkien did it and the new edit became the new version of the Hobbit to bring it in line with Lord of the Rings.

I liked Wicket, one of the things i did like about Disney Star Wars was seeing him again with his son on Endor.

They aren’t the worst aspect of ROTJ to me. Its a fairy tale as Kershner would say.

The worst aspect was Harrison basically having nothing to do and going through the motions. Han was the weakest part. Mark Hamill was fantastic as Luke and really delivered. Carrie was sort of just there like Harrison, just to finish the thing. Out of obligation but Leia was also a much weaker character in that film.

I liked the aspect of the force being more democratic and mysterious and its choosing a neophyte no one to restore the balance. I liked that Last Jedi basically made the whole mutant inherited bloodline thing, irrelevant. Only for Rise to make Rey a Palpatine and undo the idea of Star Wars going back to the style of the original where Luke was a no one, who had the courage to leave Tatooine and confront the Empire. Originally Luke was a brave kid who went on an adventure he wasn’t the son of a super-villain/mutant with the most mitochondrial DNA or midichlorians whatsits in existence to some prophecy. Its undermines the force and free will. Its junk.

I think they are trying to fix them with Expanded stuff outside the films after the fact making the same mistake as the prequels. Filling in the blanks, rewriting things in context, retconning where necessary. Should have been done during the screenplay stage don’tcha think. There is that Lando and Luke book coming out that is meant to Fix Rise of Skywalker.

The Kylo comic with hippie Snoke was weird though. I don’t consider that even canon to the Disney movies. The only thing i liked about that was showing Luke as a teacher and him searching for old jedi temples and artifacts. But it just doesn’t fit with the movie they made.

Its also ironic the guy fixing the mistakes is the same guy as last time Filoni. With the tv shows.

No Vader shouldn’t be brought back. It was a bad idea when Veitch wanted to do it in Dark Empire, and Lucas said to resurrect Palpatine instead.

I thought that Kylo was going to put on the mask and suit and become Vader, i thought JJ would do that. I’m glad he didn’t do that. I also think it was bad they basically did a worse version of the Darth Caedus story from the EU and just gave him Revan’s mask. They also had not Jaina Solo, Rey Skywalker to oppose him sort of.

Nothing they did was original.

I liked the aspect of Rey as a scavenger on Jakku, i liked her being like the original female version of Luke in how she was designed as a character like Ralph McQuarrie’s drawings and paintings. I liked the aspect of force awakens that reminded me of Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind. But on a whole i dislike nearly everything else JJ did. Except for Poe and Finn. I really resented Artoo being stuck in a corner for most of the movie and replaced by JJ’s robot Beach Ball 8. I didn’t get why Threepio had a red arm. There was no exposition on the new republic and no story for how Ben turned to the dark side and pursued the path of Vader. Poorly plotted, couldn’t be bothered to have Luke in it either.

Kylo’s Vader worship also makes no sense. His family would have told him about his grandfather returning to the light, or Anakin’s force ghost could have told him. The whole way its framed and he kills his father who loves him for no reason is so hamfistedly written and poorly done, makes me almost forgive the poor reasoning behind Anakin’s turn in episode III.

I sort of wanted a Lightsaber duel for Mark Hamill a fight scene. But i respect Rian for doing the opposite of expected. At least he did away with the mystery box nonsense and Luke being a worthless maguffin. JJ doesn’t get Luke or Star Wars. He did well with Star Trek, but he messed up Star Wars. Episode 9 is the worst film in the Saga. Am i as disappointed in it as Episode II, no. The OT heroes had to pass the torch, i’m not sure they all had to die except Lando. Is a heroic death better than going to the Star Wars equivalent of being put out to pasture or the old folks home, i’m not sure.

Basically these films never tried to assert their own identity and that upsets me more than killing off the trio.

Corporate film making. Not art.

This is Lucas legacy sadly, and he was a great film maker. Disney is a mega corporation selling junk food.

I’m no prequel fan or apologist, but beyond all the unnecessary retcons to the OT lore they are middle of the road in quality for movies. Episode II has some really rushed and janky cgi. I think Hayden is better than he is given credit for, but he isn’t movie star great either. There are several things that could have been developed more or written better. But i actually agree with Lucas on Anakin being a young kid in Phantom Menace and his motivation for doing so, and i also think there are a lot of things to like in that film isolated away from the bad and uneven elements.

Phantom Menace is easily the 4th in quality behind Return. In the trilogy The prophecy thing take it or leave it and the midichlorians but basically showing that Anakin was like Luke, until he turned evil and mirroring his journey isn’t bad.

Just wish Lucas had really leaned into the movie serial aspect and went full swashbuckling action with Obi and Anakin. The movies are so damn boring in comparison with the originals, too much politics.

It used to incense me the lie that it was always the Saga of Darth Vader. It was Luke’s story, Star Wars from the adventures of Luke Skywalker. But now i think Star Wars has to evolve beyond Luke, and his story. Being stuck in the past is stuck in the past. That doesn’t mean i think Disney treated the characters with reverence from the original trilogy. And now they are running on nostalgia and have gotten the wrong message. Instead of evolving Star Wars they’ve regressed it. Its the biggest problem with episode 9, they needed to be bold and do something that didn’t waste Rian’s reset of the Star Wars universe. And i’m not sure what Lucas plans were, midichlorians and mortis leave me cold. They and Darth Maul don’t excite me in the least.

Basically Disney Star Wars is a waste of time, unless they somehow fix things with episode 10 and Rey returning. i’m glad my nieces and nephews enjoy it, but they aren’t big Star Wars fans its just another thing like Disney Marvel to them.

I don’t really have a Star Wars, the EU and the unaltered originals were my Star Wars. and a potential Lucas sequel that respected the originals and didn’t make the same prequel bs would have been great.

I’m only upset they so poorly used Mark Hamill and the character of Luke. They had him lose fifty pounds for what, to milk a sea cow?

At best the sequels we have are a what if? alternate timeline kind of thing. They can’t be canon because they don’t respect Lucas characters or his universe. Last Jedi is the most interesting of the lot and at the same time the most insulting.

The Star Wars Prequels Episode I and III, and The Hobbit Trilogy. Only the first two though, the third is terrible.

I guess also the JJ Star Trek movies.

But not episode II Attack of the Clones, its so awful its not even a bad movie but fun to watch like Revenge of the Sith, or a guilty pleasure like Phantom Menace.

Independence Day
Mars Attacks. Jurassic Park 2, Ghostbusters 2. Back to the Future II and III.

Amazing Spider-Man

I hate Bayformers but i liked the ending voice over by Peter Cullen.

Batman Forever, and Dark Knight Rises.

John Carter

Terminator III, Terminator Dark Fate, Terminator Rise of the Machines. Genesis is so bad i’m not gonna put that one on the list.

All the Resident Evil movies. All the Underworld movies except for blood wars.

Star Trek V. Some great lines, but horrible story about god and the devil. WTF was Shatner thinking.

Star Wars has a lot of grain. and it is very soft, almost blurry in places. But it doesn’t have near the level of grain as say American Graffiti, i was watching a version that predates the blu ray without the dnr and the techniscope grain is like sand all over it. I can see managing the grain but they blu ray is awful detail is lost.

Would i watch THX 1138 and American Graffiti with all the grain intact, sure. But i’m sure someone would complain. George Lucas himself is the one who had Lowry remove the grain.

I could have lived without the dnr pass on the opticals on the 4K theatrical, but it isn’t a deal breaker. The lack of original audio is. I wanted to finally retire me laserdisc. Disappointed that they pretty much went full Lowry, and Lucasized the directors cut. And wasted having access to the original 65mm elements. But again i can live with it as an alternate Special Edition.

TOS had a great sendoff only if you pretend Generations didn’t happen. I’d like to see Kirk’s final words be second star to the right and straight on til morning. Not some Nexus thing that didn’t make sense. and now he only exists as an echo in the nexus. While Spock got lost and died in the JJ timeline.

Transformers is easy. G1 cartoon, G1 toys. Original Marvel comics. The end.

Peter Cullen is Optimus, Frank Welker is Megatron. The bayformers movies are trash. It is very easy to compartmentalize.

I’m not digging the DVNR on the 4K directors edition of Star Trek TMP if the trailer is anything to go by. What is the point of going back to the 65mm negative which wouldn’t have as much grain. If they were going to make it look like a movie shot today digitally. I guess its a pass for me.

I hate that all of a sudden they created Leia as the sister because Lucas didn’t want to deal with the love triangle of two men pursuing Leia. Because Luke following the Jedi path meant he had to give her up anyway, but she didn’t have to be his sister and a Skywalker because Luke’s real sister was out there in the universe and wasn’t supposed to show up into the sequels.

I don’t like that it supposedly made Star Wars 1977 more mythic because of incestous overtones. When Lucas wasn’t basing these on the myths he was basing them on Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers.

There aren’t major problems for me with the OT like the other trilogies. Although maybe Vader shouldn’t have been Luke’s father possibly, but i don’t know if the other way to tell the story would be better. A simple Revenge tale. Vader killed Luke’s father and Luke would kill Vader. But Lucas decided Jedi’s don’t take revenge because it turns them into Sith.

I couldn’t disagree more on force awakens. I mean they took Luke and made him a worthless maguffin. Who does that? He was the main character of the original Saga of episodes IV, V and VI. Because they couldn’t figure out a way to include him without upstaging the Disney characters. The one thing i did like was Finn, i liked Poe, i liked Rey and her scavenger on Jakku story. But its a bad unoriginal story and completely derivative on purpose due to the prequels having the perception of being so bad they left a stank on Star Wars.

You could still have new characters like Rey, Poe and Finn and easily set it in the far future. Don’t repeat the same beats rebels vs empire. Don’t crap all over the legacy characters. The sequels are a mixed bag. But the one thing they botched Luke, Han and Leia. Completely and utterly. Its almost unforgivable.

They finally recast Kirk Prime. For Strange New Worlds.

Timeless is one of my all time favorite shows. I wish it would get uncancelled. Matt Lanter also happens to be my favorite Anakin Skywalker. And i’m not the biggest Filoni fan but i liked Clone Wars for the first 5 seasons. Enough to watch it on cartoon network but not enough to buy the blu rays.

Added Japanese Laserdisc of Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind. No OBI and never had one. No Digital audio. No English subtitles. Analog mono. 1984 CLV.

Dirty Pair OVA From Lovely Angel with Love Japanese Laserdisc CAV. Analog no digital audio.With OBI, 1987 release.

Volume 2 of New Dominion Tank Police CAV, Digital audio. 1993 with OBI.

I watched the Sea Hawk with Errol Flynn, it was better than i remembered. and The Adventures of Robin Hood also with Errol Flynn. Both with lavish production values, a great score. High adventure. And Flynn is in fine form in both. I love how he plays Robin Hood with zest and exuberance. The only weak aspect of this version of Robin Hood is how pathetic The Sheriff of Nottingham is. Basil Rathbone is fantastic as Sir Guy. And he makes Flynn look good as a swordsman when he wasn’t.

Watched Spider-man no way home. Liked that he ended the film finally as Spider-Man, and no longer Spider-Boy or Iron Man Jr. It was the best of the three Disney MCU linked films, and still had nothing on Raimi’s films. It was okay-ish. But why did this movie have legs like the original Star Wars, it wasn’t that special the villain end battle was very anti climatic. Honestly Into the Spider-verse is superior in almost all ways.

And i’m so tired of movies being commercials for another movie. Its the thing i hate the most about the MCU.