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Mielr

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Join date
15-Jun-2006
Last activity
27-Dec-2024
Posts
2,805

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Post
#235994
Topic
Your Greatest Star Wars Day.
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/235994/action/topic#235994
Time
I guess my best Star Wars day was seeing ROTJ opening day, May 25th 1983. My mom let me skip school that day, and it was the only Star Wars film I saw the first day of it's release (I saw SW and ESB during their 1982 theatrical re-releases). I was really excited! I couldn't wait to see it and find out what happened to Han. I remember being so worried that Luke was going to get killed! There was also the "who's Leia going to end up with- Luke or Han?" discussion still going on back then (LOL!) I saw ROTJ 2 or 3 more times that summer.
Post
#235817
Topic
DVD WRITING CAMPAIGN - WEEK ONE - "Entertainment Weekly"
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/235817/action/topic#235817
Time
Ok, we're going to start this writing campaign off by sending emails to Entertainment Weekly Magazine. Thanks to darkhelmet and Mike O for their help. Check the 'contacts' thread for more info: here

They have an "Obsessive Fan of the Week" spot on the letters page, but maybe if they get enough emails, they'll do a featured article.

Letters reference articles in previous issues; tie the DVD discussion to an article you've read in EW:
letters@ew.com
http://www.ew.com/ew

PLEASE do your part, folks. When you've sent your email, please post here to let everybody know so that we can gauge how many of us are participating. Also, post here if you get a response from EW, or if there's anything else you want to discuss regarding this week's target.

When writing your email, remember to keep it as brief as possible while still hitting some of these major points:

1) The films are some of the most influential of all time any yet they're being given sub-par DVD treatment, although many lesser films have been given much better treatment. This is especially ironic, considering they do not even meet the standards of Lucas' own THX program.

2) LFL's claim that the OT films don't exist is a lie- many organizations are preserving prints of the Original Unaltered Trilogy, such as the British Film Institute, the Library of Congress, private collectors, etc.

3) Even though GL has plenty of money to do this, other people such as film restorationist Robert A. Harris have still volunteered to do the restorations/transfers for the OOT. GL just doesn't WANT to. He wants to deny the fans an acceptable transfer of the OOT since it is no longer 'his vision'. The public would not accept permanent changes to other classic films (name a couple) and changes to the OT should not be accepted either. Besides, the fans aren't even asking for a full-blown restoration of the trilogy- just a new DVD transfer made from decent prints.

4) The claim that the OT discs are 'bonus features' is bogus- the DVDs are being marketed with the OT discs being front-and-center.

Please send your email to EW THIS WEEK and we'll hit another target next Wednesday.

Good Luck!

(mods: could we possibly make this thread a sticky?)
Post
#235415
Topic
George Lucas and Ed Wood OR The Alignment of the Stars
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/235415/action/topic#235415
Time
I think Ed Wood was a bad director. So many talented directors have made great films with tiny budgets, so I don't think that that can be used as an excuse in Wood's case. Of course, it didn't help his situation that he didn't have the resources that Lucas had, but even that wouldn't have made him a good director. At some point, any competent director would have stopped and said "wait a minute- this isn't going to work, this is horrible", but he didn't.

I will say that Lucas' direction on the PT comes a lot closer to mirroring Wood's directing than at any other point in his career. It would have been interesting to see what Ed Wood would have come up with, with a multi-million dollar budget.

I agree with zombie that GL isn't a great director, but a talented conceptualist. GL was much better off having other people flesh out his ideas for him. Unlike Lucas, however, Wood didn't even seem to have any talent in that department.
Post
#235299
Topic
George Lucas and Ed Wood OR The Alignment of the Stars
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/235299/action/topic#235299
Time
I see what you mean.....my only question would be, was Ed Wood EVER a good director? Most people would say no. Was George Lucas EVER a good director? Most would say yes. Some would argue that GL had the benefit of being around many talented people which is why American Graffitti and SW came out so well, while the PT was more under his control, so the films weren't as good (or maybe GL's abilities declined over the years).

If Ed Wood had been given the benefit of a higher budget (I think the SW budget was considered sort of mid-level, wasn't it?) and talented EFX people, set builders, costume designers, cinematographers, etc., (like Lucas did) would they have been able to help the film transcend Wood's lack of directing skills? Quite possibly. There's also the issue of the scripts, though....most of Ed Wood's films had terrible scripts, while Lucas' films (the early ones, anyway) had good stories.
Post
#235263
Topic
one month and counting
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/235263/action/topic#235263
Time
Originally posted by: SW
I cant wait for the oot to come out am counting down the days !!!

Is it me ? or you guys too who cant wait for them to come out ??

I'm counting down the days as well. Unfortunately, instead of being really excited about this release, I find myself being anxious about it. I'm worried that the DVDs are going to look horrible, and I'm going to want to cry after seeing them.

All I can say is - I'll be relieved if they're at least better looking than the laserdiscs.
The situation is pretty damned pathetic.
Post
#235260
Topic
The definitive list: changes you can and can't stand...
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/235260/action/topic#235260
Time
Originally posted by: Obi Jeewhyen
All I will say is I don't know why everybody likes the Biggs scene. In the last part of the 4th act, you do not add a new character ... and it's stupid to slow down the rapidly ramping-up action of battle readiness. The change in pacing to this importantly-paced part of the film makes this addition lame in my view.


Oh, and getting rid of Yub-Nub? Sorry, but sacrilege. Dropping Lapti Nek may have been the most ruinous of a formerly good scene, but nixing Yub-Nub was just plain WRONG.


Yeah, except that Biggs was introduced already...sort of...by being a rebel pilot. To see that he had a personal relationship with Luke makes his death more profound.

I agree with you about the Yub-Nub song though. The removal of that song is my most hated change to the trilogy, and it really ended the whole theatrical re-release on a bad note (pun intended) for me.

Post
#234929
Topic
The definitive list: changes you can and can't stand...
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/234929/action/topic#234929
Time
There is a similar thread here that you may be interested in seeing:here

The list of the SE changes I hate is too long to put here. Basically, I hate EVERY change in SW, ESB and ROTJ EXCEPT for the addition of the Luke/Biggs scene in SW.

I don't mind the "cleanup" stuff, since I don't regard those as "changes" but part of the restoration.

I have no problem with classic films being restored- I just have a problem with them being altered.
Post
#234510
Topic
OOTCon
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/234510/action/topic#234510
Time
Originally posted by: Gaffer Tape
I had no idea that 35 mm prints were illegal to own. Why is that? And, if so, where do all these private collectors with copies of Star Wars come from, and how is it they're not raided?

EDIT: Or do they simply have negatives, which may or may not be okay? I don't know.

I would think that someone who had a large collection of 35mm films would not advertise the fact. However, the FBI probably has better things to do nowadays that confiscate reels of illegally-owned 35mm movies, especially if somebody owns only one or two films.

Owning a 35mm negative would definitely not be OK, since there are so few of them, and there would be no other way to get them than to steal them, since only the owners of the film would have a legitimate reason to be in possession of a negative. I'd say that whoever owns the copyright to a particular film would consider that to be even a more serious offense than owning a 35mm print, since negatives are so precious and irreplaceable.

And yes, movie theaters rent movie prints, then are supposed to return them when they're finished with them.

Post
#234240
Topic
OOTCon
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/234240/action/topic#234240
Time
Originally posted by: TheSessler
Not to say that I'd buy one, but hypothetically speaking, on average how much do old 35mm movie reels cost? Not Star Wars, but just regular run of the mill movies.

It depends on the title. Anywhere from a couple hundred dollars to several thousand dollars- and probably a lot more for very famous titles. You can check eBay to get an idea. I just looked and someone has 2 dye-transfer Technicolor Bruce Lee movies up- one is starting at $250, the other starts at about $1,000.
Post
#234121
Topic
Expecting too much of George Lucas?
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/234121/action/topic#234121
Time
I love Star Wars for what it is- a fun, simple, somewhat naive morality-tale, and the beginning of the Star Wars franchise. But to me, Empire is the best of the series. It's much more complex, darker and more twisted- which is right up my alley.

Darth Vader is considerably more menacing in Empire, which I also think is great. He sort of acted like Tarkin's thug in SW, but he really comes into his own in Empire- and he's one seriously scary dude.
I also love Empire's cliff-hanger ending, which was very daring and risky back in 1980. I love that they avoided the stereotypical Hollywood 'all-wrapped-up-in-a-neat-little-package' ending.

I also love Jedi- I thought is was a very exciting, somewhat bittersweet ending to the trilogy.