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Klingon_Jedi

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19-May-2004
Last activity
27-Sep-2013
Posts
858

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Post
#200357
Topic
Watched Star Trek II on HBO the other day, what a difference in effects compared to the OT!
Time
Um, CO, Wrath of Kahn's special effects were done by Lucas and Co. ILM did the effects for Star Trek II, III, IV, VI, VII, and VIII. Though I believe the Genesis Video was outsourced as ILM didn't do CG at the time. So how ILM could've been ahead of itself...

At a budget of 11,000,000, that's only 2 million under Star Wars, and 7 under Empire. So I don't see how that makes it any more "low budget" than Star Wars. It's not an astronomical figure, but certainly not a B movie like the term "low budget" suggests.

Zombie, yes it did recycle footage from The Motion Picture. This is however due to the shear abundant amount shot for that film. It was felt that instead of wasting money shooting establishing shots, a couple of shots from TMP could be edited and fit in. They even reused models. I'm sure if they hadn't you'd be hear saying how they wasted money, which they would've. It's a wonderful exercise in intelligent cost cutting. This was done to conserve money for the Mutara Nebula sequence, which I still think is one of the best examples of model effects on film.

For what the film called for, I'd say Wrath of Kahn is easily on par with the classic trilogy in terms of how models can exceed CGI.
Post
#197978
Topic
Help Wanted: 'Who Framed Roger Rabbit?' Laserdisc Footage - censored scene
Time
Originally posted by: MeBeJedi
"Considering what happened when they used a real phone number for God in Bruce Almighty, it seems like a good idea."

Are they STILL doing that? You think they would have learned their lesson after "867-5309".


Well, they accidently used a real number on the beeper instead of the usual "555-". So everyone iwith that number recieved prank calls for God for a while. They changed it on the video.
Post
#197608
Topic
Help Wanted: 'Who Framed Roger Rabbit?' Laserdisc Footage - censored scene
Time
It said:

For a Good Time, Call Allyson Wonderland
The Best is Yet to Be! (as the film timeframe is set before the release of Alice, not like that mattered usually)

For one frame it became Eisner's home phone number. They removed it on video. Considering what happened when they used a real phone number for God in Bruce Almighty, it seems like a good idea.
Post
#197226
Topic
I actually prefer the DVDs and can't wait for more edits, seriously.
Time
Actually I believe Lucas truly never remembers what he said in the past.

I guess I can see what he means, but does that mean coming back to the light side doesn't matter? At that moment of death, wouldn't Anakin see himself as the Jedi that saved his son and renounced the error of his ways, rather than the desperate, uncertain youth that got him into this mess in the first place. He didn't become the "most powerful Jedi" he wanted to be until after he let go of Darth Vader.
Post
#196630
Topic
I actually prefer the DVDs and can't wait for more edits, seriously.
Time
You're forgetting that this is a film though. It doesn't make much sense that Anakin take his younger form, while the other two don't. All that does is ake the audience wonder why. Not exactly what they should be focusing on. Just the very act has people believing that Anakin died when he joined Palpatine and that his spirit couldn't cross over as his body was still alive in the form of Darth Vader. It's gone from a metaphorical thing to a literal one, which is ridiculous.
Post
#195058
Topic
Idea: babyhum's proposed new <strong>Studio Ghibli</strong> project (* unfinished project *)
Time
Why on Earth would you even consider perserving Warriors of the Wind? It's not like putting an old dub on a new release like how the new ADV Dirty Pair DVDs don't have Streamline's dubs which actually weren't too bad considering. At least it had personality. I wouldn't mind something like that one. WotW on the other hand is an edit job that deeply upsetted it's creator. Recutting Nausicaa back into Warriors would be a slap in the face to a wonderful film, in my opinion.

SkyJedi, you can't just say that Disney botched the dub. You have to provide little things called "reasons".
Post
#193519
Topic
The Automatic Complaint Letter Generator
Time
Chill.

It's exactly as the title says. Go to the site, fill in a form, and voila, instant complaining.

It supposed to be funny by the way. Why else would the letters be so roundabout. In the end, virtually nothing is actually said about Lucasfilm, but it sounds like they're the antichrist. ^_^

My complaint about G4TV

People generally have strong views about G4TV. Instead of focusing on why I think that my campaigns regarding petty flibbertigibbets, while far from complete, will take off the kid gloves and vent some real anger at G4TV, I would like to remind people that G4TV's lies come in many forms. Some of its lies are in the form of sophistries. Others are in the form of outbursts. Still more are in the form of folksy posturing and pretended concern and compassion. A common thread runs through most of G4TV's recommendations, a thread so backwards that it disgusts me nearly to the point of physical illness. Surely, G4TV is not too uncouth to realize that. There are two related questions in this matter. The first is to what extent G4TV has tried to force me to jump in the lake. The other is whether or not G4TV's ideas are based on hate. Hate, sexism, and an intolerance of another viewpoint, another way of life.

I am making a pretty serious accusation here. I am accusing G4TV of planning to hijack the word "nondenominationalism" and use it to create a kind of psychic pain at the very root of the modern mind. And I don't want anyone to think that I am basing my accusation only on the fact that it uses the very intellectual tools it criticizes, namely consequentialist arguments rather than arguments about truth or falsity. What G4TV does in private is none of my business. But when it tries to condemn innocent people to death, I object.

All the same, I have a message for G4TV. My message is that, for the good of us all, it should never pervert the course of justice. It should never even try to do such a cuckoo thing. To make myself perfectly clear, by "never", I don't mean "maybe", "sometimes", or "it depends". I mean only that if you're not part of the solution, then you're part of the problem. Let me go on record as saying that G4TV once said that if it kicks us in the teeth, we'll then lick its toes and beg for another kick. Oh, please. I'm just glad I hadn't eaten dinner right before I heard it say that. Otherwise, I'd probably still be vomiting too hard to tell you that G4TV insists that subhuman busybodies are inherently good, sensitive, creative, and inoffensive. In the long run, however, it's only fooling itself. G4TV would be better off if it just admitted to itself that I am not embarrassed to admit that I have neither the training, the experience, the license, nor the clinical setting necessary to properly provide people the wherewithal to listen to others. Nevertheless, I do have the will to build a society in which people have a sense of permanence and stability, not chaos and uncertainty. That's why I certainly maintain that we must take a proactive, rather than a reactive, stance. Only then can a society free of its ostentatious, dim-witted codices blossom forth from the roots of the past. And only then will people come to understand that by refusing to act, by refusing to speak out against jackbooted peddlers of snake-oil remedies, we are giving it the power to outrage the very sensibilities of those who value freedom and fairness. Maybe it's just me, but don't you think that since their emergence on the stage of history, what I call effete nonentities have been a parasitic growth on the stem of true citizens? If you want to clear up these muddied waters with some reality, then tell everyone you know the truth, that G4TV is like a Judas goat, leading us all to the slaughter. I challenge it to move from its broad derogatory generalizations to specific instances to prove otherwise. G4TV may not be that logorrheic, but it sure is mindless.

It must be pointed out over and over again to G4TV's adulators and, in a broader sense, to shiftless, jaundiced cult leaders that G4TV hates people who have huge supplies of the things it lacks. What it lacks the most is common sense, which underlies my point that G4TV wants us to feel sorry for the yellow-bellied pettifoggers who use our weaknesses to its advantage. I, hardheaded cynic that I am, insist we should instead feel sorry for their victims, all of whom know full well that I believe in "live and let live". G4TV, in contrast, demands not only tolerance and acceptance of its dissertations but endorsement of them. It's because of such unenlightened demands that I aver that it has been offering mendacious quidnuncs a lot of money to reap a harvest of death. This is blood money, plain and simple. Anyone thinking of accepting it should realize that I, unlike G4TV, refuse to drive us into a state of apoplexy. If that fact hurts, get over it; it's called reality. And for another dose of reality, consider that when one examines the ramifications of letting G4TV create an untrue and injurious impression of an entire people, one finds a preponderance of evidence leading to the conclusion that it says that the federal government should take more and more of our hard-earned money and more and more of our hard-won rights. What balderdash! What impudence! What treachery! If G4TV feels ridiculed by all the attention my letters are bringing it, then that's just too darn bad. Its arrogance has brought this upon itself. G4TV spouts a lot of numbers whenever it wants to make a point. It then subjectively interprets those numbers to support its artifices while ignoring the fact that whatever your age, you now have only one choice. That choice is between a democratic, peace-loving regime that, you hope, may change the minds of those who fill the air with recrimination and rancor and, as the alternative, the detestable and devious dirigisme currently being forced upon us by G4TV. Choose carefully, because G4TV had promised us liberty, equality, and fraternity. Instead, it gave us credentialism, sesquipedalianism, and quislingism. I suppose we should have seen that coming, especially since G4TV clings to any argument or principle, however dodgy or dirty, that appears to support its ballyhoos. Whatever weight we accord to that fact, we may be confident that G4TV is willing to promote truth and justice when it's convenient. But when it threatens its creature comforts, G4TV throws principle to the wind. Though G4TV's hastily mounted campaigns be madness, yet there is method to them. Step by step, they make it easier for it to lay waste to the environment. Now, I don't want to overwork the story about how G4TV plans to teach abominable concepts to children, so let's just say that blockish cannibalism is now and has long been a mainstay of its inveracities. But you knew that already. So let me add that its mandarin prose has always appealed to what I call reprehensible, lousy lummoxes. And I can say that with a clear conscience because I admit I have a tendency to become a bit insensitive whenever I rebuke it for trying to undermine the intellectual purpose of higher education. While I am desirous of mending this tiny personality flaw, we are observing the change in our society's philosophy and values from freedom and justice to corruption, decay, cynicism, and injustice. All of these "values" are artistically incorporated in one person: G4TV.

To G4TV's mind, without its superior guidance, we will go nowhere. So that means that its debauches are the result of a high-minded urge to do sociological research, right? No, not right. The truth is that G4TV's henchmen claim to have no choice but to defend antipluralism, unilateralism, and notions of racial superiority. I wish there were some way to help these miserable, predatory soi-disant do-gooders. They are outcasts, lost in a world they didn't make and don't understand. Although the moral absolutist position is well represented by social and political activists and unquestionably influences legislators and policy makers, we must take a strong position on G4TV's conjectures, which, after all, pose a threat to personal autonomy and social development. As mentioned above, however, that is not enough. It is necessary to do more. It is necessary to upbraid G4TV for being so obtuse. The only way out of G4TV's rat maze is to increase awareness and understanding of our similarities and differences. It's that simple.
Post
#193481
Topic
The Automatic Complaint Letter Generator
Time
Why write your own, when it'll do it for you?

http://www.pakin.org/complaint/

My complaint about Lucasfilm

Lucasfilm will almost certainly blow a gasket when it reads this letter but I definitely must make the case that in a lustrum or two, Lucasfilm will order its expositors to rob from the rich but -- unlike Robin Hood -- give to the worst sorts of treacherous anarchists there are. Some background is in order: To get even the simplest message into the consciousness of dodgy polluters, it has to be repeated at least 50 times. Now, I don't want to insult your intelligence by telling you the following 50 times, but I have a message for Lucasfilm. My message is that, for the good of us all, it should never strip people of their rights to free expression and individuality. It should never even try to do such a postmodernist thing. To make myself perfectly clear, by "never", I don't mean "maybe", "sometimes", or "it depends". I mean only that you should not ask, "What in perdition does Lucasfilm think it's doing?", but rather, "What does Lucasfilm hope to achieve by repeatedly applying its lips to the posteriors of ophidian antagonists?". The latter question is the better one to ask, because just the other day, some of Lucasfilm's reckless sympathizers forced a prospectus into my hands as I walked past. The prospectus described Lucasfilm's blueprint for a world in which sniffish shysters are free to sensationalize all of the issues. As I dropped the prospectus onto an overflowing wastebasket, I reflected upon the way that if I didn't think Lucasfilm would displace meaningful discussion of an issue's merit or demerit with hunch and emotion, I wouldn't say that one of the things I find quite interesting is listening to other people's takes on things. For instance, I recently overheard some folks remark that it claims to be fighting for equality. What Lucasfilm's really fighting for, however, is equality in degradation, by which I mean that throughout history, there has been a clash between those who wish to evaluate the tactics Lucasfilm has used against me and those who wish to boss others around. Naturally, Lucasfilm belongs to the latter category. If Lucasfilm can't stand the heat, it should get out of the kitchen. Lucasfilm has convinced a lot of people that our elected officials should be available for purchase by special-interest groups. One must pause in admiration at this triumph of media manipulation. So who's crazy? I, or all the lascivious slackers who believe that you and I are inferior to feckless knuckleheads? Before you answer, let me point out that Lucasfilm has stated that those of us who oppose it would rather run than fight. One clear inference from that statement -- an inference that is never really disavowed -- is that "the norm" shouldn't have to worry about how the exceptions feel. Now that's just nit-picky.

I want to live my life as I see fit. I can't do that while Lucasfilm still has the ability to work both sides of the political fence. Lucasfilm refers to a variety of things using the word "protocatechualdehyde". Translating this bit of jargon into English isn't easy. Basically, it's saying that everything is happy and fine and good, which we all know is patently absurd. At any rate, vexatious mendicants are born, not made. That dictum is as unimpeachable as the "poeta nascitur, non fit" that it echoes and as irreproachable as the brocard that by comparing today to even ten years ago and projecting the course we're on, I'd say we're in for an even more slaphappy, laughable, and shiftless society, all thanks to Lucasfilm's expositions. As far as I'm concerned, Lucasfilm's victims have been speaking out for years. Unfortunately, their voices have long been silenced by the roar and thunder of Lucasfilm's secret agents, who loudly proclaim that honesty and responsibility have no cash value and are therefore worthless. Regardless of those fatuitous proclamations, the truth is that few people realize that it would like to see patriotism, honor, and personal responsibility fall into desuetude. Do I blame society for this? No, I blame Lucasfilm.

One of the great mysteries of modern life is, What is Lucasfilm's secret agenda? I apologize if this disappoints you but my intent was only to elucidate the question, not to answer it. I shall therefore state only that if we let Lucasfilm open new avenues for the expression of hate, then greed, corruption, and anarchism will characterize the government. Oppressive measures will be directed against citizens. And lies and deceit will be the stock-in-trade of the media and educational institutions. So that there may be no misunderstanding, let me make it clear that Lucasfilm is not only immoral, but amoral. You may be wondering why the most jaundiced ratbags I've ever seen latch onto Lucasfilm's propositions. It's because people of that nature need to have rhetoric and dogma to recite during times of stress in order to cope. That's also why Lucasfilm's favorite tactic is known as "deceiving with the truth". The idea behind this tactic is that it wins our trust by revealing the truth but leaving some of it out. This makes us less likely to lend support to the thesis that Lucasfilm is trying to hold itself up as a cultural icon.

Lucasfilm maintains that the only way to expand one's mind is with drugs -- or maybe even chocolate. Even if this were so, Lucasfilm would still be untoward. But it's our responsibility to shed a little light on some of the ignorant prejudices that reside within Lucasfilm's pea-sized brain. That's the first step in trying to protect our peace, privacy, and safety, and it's the only way to speak out against behavior and speech that is intended to delegitimize our belief systems and replace them with a counter-hegemony that seeks to supply the chains that bind the individual to notions of self-loathing and unworthiness. I do not wish to evaluate propagandism here, though I assert that given a choice of having Lucasfilm reward those who knowingly or unknowingly play along with its fibs while punishing those who oppose them or having my bicuspids extracted sans Novocaine, I would embrace the pliers, purchase some Polident Partials, and call it a day.

Lucasfilm's criticisms are so refractory that if allowed to go unanswered, their final cost would be incalculable. Antiheroism is dangerous. Lucasfilm's impudent version of it is doubly so. A final note: Lucasfilm somehow forgot to tell its associates that it is my greatest and most solemn pleasure to show it how it is as wrong as wrong can be.
Post
#193472
Topic
Curbing Fanfilm/Edit Piracy
Time
Oh, there are several that have a "If you paid for this..." warning. Anime fansubs have this as practically a requirement since so many try to sell fansubs. The problem is that they won't be seen until after money has changed hands. The real question is informing people before the damage is done. Since a lot don't use custom covers, and instead that found in Rikter's cover batch, I'm thinking adding notes to the cover might help. Anything from a subtle "Distributed for free at..." that the seller might miss, to a more obvious "FREE FAN PROJECT - NOT FOR SALE" in big, bold letters up front. Though that may be too obvious, and hence make the cover unusable. Basically, if it could just be better expressed, it might help. Wishfull thinking I know.

Shame this is so under the radar. It's not like we can report them to cons either. "He's selling bootlegs of a fan bootleg." ^_^ Maybe leave off the last part.
Post
#193428
Topic
Curbing Fanfilm/Edit Piracy
Time
Ok, I thought I'd bring this up as I'm getting a bit frustrated. I was at Sac Anime in Sacramento yesterday, and was very saddened to see not only some fanedits, but even fanfilms for sale. I saw Contract of Evil and Revelations being sold for 10 bucks a pop. I saw a disc labeled "The Unaltered Trilogy", a cover I'd never seen. On a table across the way was Deleted Magic. I don't know how much, but I don't doubt it was more than the price of materials. At Wondercon the month before, someone was selling it. Worse, at a table where two cast members were signing, copies of Superman II - The international Cut was being sold for 20 dollars. there was even a sign claiming it was regularly 40.

I know stopping stuff like this is impossible. Ebay's usually got people selling them. But seeing them at cons and watching fans get ripped off buying another fan's hardwork is just too infuriating. It's one thing if they're the price of materials, and maybe a little more to help pay for the table. There was one guy selling copies of out of print anime CDs that are superb replicas for five bucks. I just wish it were mentioned though.

Still, there should be someway to curb this. Perhaps having new covers for edits proclaiming what they truly are (free fan works), in a noticable, tough to alter way might help a bit. So many of the ones I see use the works of Coov and others in the cover thread. I also try to inform anyone I see interested discretely.

Any thoughts?
Post
#187834
Topic
End of SE ROTJ...
Time
If memory serves, the cough came before the cartoon. Lucas wanted something like the Vader breathing to signify that Grievous wasn't all droid. Something about originally wanting Vader more forced. He settled on a cough.

So yes, the cartoon was designed to explain it. A guy at my showing of ROTS even said, "Why is the droid coughing" to which I responded, "he's not a droid". I agree that it is messed up you have to watch a cartoon to know that. I never finished that show either.