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Mike O

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20-Jun-2006
Last activity
20-Nov-2025
Posts
2,353

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Post
#233687
Topic
Expecting too much of George Lucas?
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/233687/action/topic#233687
Time
Originally posted by: JediRandy
Not possessing the type of mind to adequately create the art that so much intense effort and money went into ... well, there's no excuse for that on an artistic or business level.


If he didn’t “possess the mind” they why are people still talking about SW 30 years later? Was ANH a fluke? Did he get lucky?

He didn’t possess the mind to create the art that you wanted to see. That’s it. Disagree with his choices all you want, but he made the movie he wanted to make. Some folks didn’t like it, some did. But you not liking the SE or the prequels doesn’t make the artist inadequate.

Casino wasn’t as good as Goodfellas. Is Scorsese an inadequate artist? I wanted Casino to be as good as Goodfellas and it wasn’t, should I hold him in “complete contempt” because of his inability to entertain me as much as he did before? Did Orson Welles ever top Citizen Kane? Did Ridley Scott top Alien? Are they inadequate too?

And on a business level… I’d say the SE and the Prequels worked out just fine… the hundreds of millions of dollars they made seem to contradict your poor LFL business analysis.


No one is disputing that they made a lot of money. But notice: if Casino doesn't meet my expectations, I can watch a high-quality version of Goodfellas in crisp, anamporhic widescreen taken from a hight quality master. If I don't like Welles's or Scott's work after the mentioned films, then I can just watch Alien and Citizen Kane again. But unless I watch a VHS tape, a laserdisc, or a subsandard DVD transfer, I cannot watch Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi, and by that I mean the films released in 1977, 1980, and 1983. If I don't like the prequels or the SEs, you're saying that I shouldn't buy them, which is fine. But I don't have any other choice. Scorcese, Welles, and Scott have all given their viewers acceptible choice between the versions of their films. Lucas continually insults the fans who have made him rich. No one is denying the prequels or the SEs. Many people here do not like them, but there's nothing that we can do about that. But we cannot (not won't, can't) go and watch the OOT in high quality. Lucas continues to insist that it does not exist, when millions of people love it. I really don't care what he does to the films. I really don't. I want to sit down in my basement and watch the original theatrical version of Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi in high quality. I don't have anything against Lucas per se. I'm not denying him his vision. I just want the originals to watch in high quailty. Just release them. After that, it doesn't matter. Oh, and not to be a smart aleck, but Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers: The Movie make millions of dollars too. That doesn't make it a good movie. It doesn't mean that hold Brian Spicer in contempt. I can just choose to watch something else. If I don't like The Phantom Menace, I can't go watch the OOT in high-quality. That's all that there is to it. I'm not insulting Lucas. As long as he's not hurting anyone, he's free to do whatever he wants. I just want a good OOT. Until I get that, I won't be satisfied with his actions.
Post
#233658
Topic
Quit Whining
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/233658/action/topic#233658
Time
Originally posted by: Obi Jeewhyen
To my knowledge, TCM has never shown the complete CE3K, though I have not watched every single airing (but, pfft, enough of them).

I think Duel is available in Europe. Heheh, if you have a region-free player, I think you can get it through Amazon UK. Maybe.


Oh, I agree that Spielberg's treatment of Close Encounters is different than George's treatment of Star Wars.

It's worse.


George believes in the changes he makes. Spielberg added that whole 'inside the Mothership' scene that he personally hated just to appease the studio into allowing him to make the changes he really wanted.

George is releasing a substandard quality version of his original 1977 film, perhaps with recreated elements such as the opening crawl to approximate what existed in 1977 (and, yeah, likely ignoring all the soundtrack differences as irrelevant.) Spielberg has never released, and as far as I know, has no intention of releasing the original 1977 version of his film, in any condition whatsoever. And the Criterion Version which claimed to be original, with Spielberg's blessing, was not.



Yes, very big differences.


As a filmmaker, Spielberg is light years ahead of Lucas. But as a self-censorer and second-guesser, Lucas is actually less objectionable. (Gadzooks, I can't believe I have to say that, but it's true.)


My point is that Lucas has made very few films, whereas Spielberg has many a masterpiece to his name. The CE3K issue has always been odd, and the motherships sequence was removed is later cuts. What is it with that film? Does Steve hate the original version, or does he simply not want to commit the time to releasing the different cuts? Plus, we must remember, Lucas went back and altered his film 20 years later, not six months later. None of this, by the way, excuses Spielberg. He should release the original. It's just that I've never seen it, so I can't comment on it. Do the original elements of the original Close Encounters material even still exist? I mean, Spielberg altered it, what, six months later, or something?
Post
#233625
Topic
Original Trilogy DVD Article in Total Film
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/233625/action/topic#233625
Time
I also gave RM a piece of my mind. I won't post that email here.

That I'd be interested in.

How will they be able to tell which versions people prefer if they are sold together? Selling them seperately would be a far more useful way of telling which versions the fans want.


LFL need a way to sell of their remaining 05 discs, and the OOT could be a selling point. This is an attempt to sell the SE again, not an attempt to release the OOT, I would guess. There all kinds of conspiricy theories one could place around it, from Lucas attempting to make this release sell poorly so that he can wash his hands of the OOT, to him using it to test the waters for future releases (And since Lucas is such a shrewd businessman, It would make a lot of sense for him to include a remastered OOT in the 30th anniversary boxed set for an eye-gouging price, because he knows that people like me would pay anything for it), but at this point, who knows.
Post
#233623
Topic
Poll: Who is more annoying, Lucas or McCallum?
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/233623/action/topic#233623
Time
Originally posted by: Tiptup
Originally posted by: Mike O
Originally posted by: Tiptup
McCallum just isn't very bright. George Lucas on the other hand should actually know better.


He may do stupid things and be stubborn, but Lucas is one the whole quite intelligent. He's just stubborn.


From my point of view, McCallum is a little pathetic worm who shouldn't even have the job he was given. He's not worth any attention or grief. In fact, any of his bad qualities only speak to the great mistakes and irrationality of Lucas, who is the one who hired McCallum in the first place. 'Nuff said.


Part of the problem with McCallum is that he is difficult to find a baseline to judge for because he just does what Lucas says. He's constantly parroting George. He's difficult to judge on his own terms, because he doesn't display enough presense of mind to find out what he's really thinking, just what George thinks.
Post
#233622
Topic
Expecting too much of George Lucas?
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/233622/action/topic#233622
Time
Since George Lucas now insists on surrounding himself with ass-kissing, brown-nosing yes-men, his movies now suck.


Rick McCallum, you mean?

As long as he isn't hurting anyone, I have no problem with George as a person, by and large. But his decisions to disregard his fans repeatedly are a reflection of him in some ways. I really don't have a problem with George per se. I wish him a long, happy, healthy life. I just want properly restored OOT DVDs.
Post
#233189
Topic
News on the TV Series if Anyone Cares.
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/233189/action/topic#233189
Time
Originally posted by: lordjedi
Originally posted by: Mike O
When is all this T.V. stuff slated? How long will it last? Just let your franchise die in peace George. You've made plenty of money. If you want more, restore and remaster the original versions of the original trilogy and release them. Then retire comfortably with your loving family. Everyone will be happy.


Last time I heard, they had a deal for 5 seasons (100 episodes I think). Of course, at the time, rumors were that the TV series would follow Luke. Yeah, they were going to follow Luke on Tattooine. Maybe they planned to show all the adventures a young moisture farmer can have on a desolate planet in the middle of nowhere. Sure sounds exciting to me


I'm just wondering how long it will last. If LFL need money, they will remaster the OOT, and the cash flow from the T.V. series can't last forever. Why not just leave the franchise in peace? Its done its thing, and for better or worse, SW is not a permanent part of the cultural fabric. Just fix the OOT and be done with it. Let Star Wars speak for itself. The OOT is more than good enough to do that.
Post
#233187
Topic
Addresses and contacts for various media outlets go in here
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/233187/action/topic#233187
Time
http://www.thedigitalbits.com/mytwocentsa121.html#fr

This is for LFL’s claim that this is the best that they can do. Bill Hunt and particularly Robert A. Harris are quite intelligent, and I’m inclined to believe that they’re right.

A very big cheers to all the debating and thinking that has been going on here, essential issues have been addressed.

Thank you.

Among them, I find myself very intrigued and in doubt about the question whether it's better - for a possible high-quality (or at least decent quality) release of the OOT - that the poor man's September DVDs sell well or not... ?!?.

I am far more concerned with whether or not it will sell well. Sales do seem to be rising slightly. Everyone cross their fingers. Or, as they say on Star Trek “If you believe in a deity or deities, pray to them.”

The subject of how well a newspaper or -channel will take the sending of hundreds or thousands of e-mails within one or a couple of day(s) seems also hard to decide... We want to have them interested in our cause, not feeling harassed by a bunch of Star Wars-geeks. But what better way could there be to get their attention?

Very good point, very good point indeed. We don’t want to tick them off, just get their help. We should do this carefully.

I'm now convinced that the XXIst century Lucas never cared about releasing the OOT properly; he must have felt there was just more than an insignificant amount of hardcore fans who wanted to see the Star Wars from before the SEs, so he did the least espensive thing he could think of, which is, as has been said, a small victory in itself.
Now he's got to be cornered and forced into doing better, and that'll be achieved through the public exposure we want to carry out here.


I think that, with this release, Lucas wanted to just shut up OOT fans (which it would have done if the release had been of acceptable quality), but instead, he has blown the doors wide open by attempting to a loophole by making them bonus material. If they don’t exist, then there will constantly be problems. Now that they do exist, Lucas is creating a whole new set of problems.

While I think that the "standard letter" (everyone sending EXACTLY the same one) is NOT such a good idea, I definitely believe that a list of the five to ten major points to be made should be established by one of the master-experts here (I just don't feel I have everything in mind).
This way, there would be personalised letters all pointing to the same problems, which would be, as I see it, more effective/authentic-looking.
A compromise (maybe to heighten the chance that our sendings are instantly identifiable as supporting the same cause) might be a common "Subject"/title AND an identical list of those "major points"; the introduction and/or conclusion could be formulated as desired by everyone, only keeping clarity and not too many words in mind.


How about this:

1. How would people feel if Citizen Kane was altered, or The Wizard of Oz or Gone with the Wind? That’s the crux of the issue.

2. This is important, since this seems to be what Lucas always brings it back to: no one is denying Lucas his original visions of the SEs, we just want high quality OOT discs for ourselves.

3. Contact Jay Sylvester of originaltrilogy.com for more info. On that subject, we need to PM Jay to get the petitioners’ assistance, and I wonder if there is anyone here who knows him well and will be able to help. I don’t want to annoy him, but we need him.

4. Lucasfilm can do this (http://www.thedigitalbits.com/mytwocentsa121.html#fr). They just won’t. It is important to do this in terms of preserving American culture, to say nothing of the hours of entertainment which could be provided.

5. We need help.

6. Robert A. Harris, who restored Lawrence of Arabia and Vertigo, wants to do this restoration, and he is not just some fanboy. This is an important issue.

The need to keep our mailings short seems essential to me, as is the need for some physical letters, as has been pointed out.


Yes, we don’t want to be long winded, but we want to make a point. Just imagine it now, emblazoned on the cover of Entertainment Weekly: Jay Sylvester and originaltrilogy.com: The Battle Over Star Wars

And we need to keep on Lucasfilm as well. Thanks to everyone for their support! Maybe we can still win this. Or at least get even.
Post
#233183
Topic
george lucas is so stupid!
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/233183/action/topic#233183
Time
Originally posted by: Nanner Split
He sort of reminds me of battlewars, except his posts are longer.


Wasn't BW friends with Adamwan?

As for Lucas being stupid? Well...I guess that I must disagree to an extent. He's stubborn. It's difficult to be a fan of Star Wars at the moment, and Lucas can certainly be many things, but he transformed 7 hours of film into a multi-billion dollar franchise, so he must be pretty smart.
Post
#233181
Topic
Original Trilogy DVD Article in Total Film
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/233181/action/topic#233181
Time
Originally posted by: Gaffer Tape
Originally posted by: Mike O

Rick McCockum


That was a little immature.


Yes, I believe I admitted it was in my original post. Don't see how it's any more "immature" than the other justifiably angry posts by other members cussing him out and describing with detail the sexual acts that Rick must perform on George to keep his job. So thank you for singling me out, Mike.


My sincerest apologies. It's just that JediRandy might be watching, and we don't need any more reasons for him to star insulting us. Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry.
Post
#233180
Topic
Original Trilogy DVD Article in Total Film
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/233180/action/topic#233180
Time
Originally posted by: TheCassidy
Originally posted by: Mike O
Lets not insult the man, but with him being one of the higher ups, lets see if we can get his attention.


Turnabout is fair play, I say. The guy owes his career and fortune to Star Wars, which, let's be honest here - is only profitable because of a fanbase like us.

To insult said fanbase is calous, ignorant, and indicative of one thing - McCallum doesn't care about us, or Star Wars, just making money off of it.


OK, but writing to him with something like "You !@#$%^&*(ing !@#$%#, I hope you @##!@#$ in @#!# and #$# a $## you ()U&&" may make us feel better, but it won't help. We should tell him, in our delightfully derranged way, what he need to know about us and our feelings on the issue.
Post
#233179
Topic
ROTS in the IMDb top 250!
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/233179/action/topic#233179
Time
AOTC clones is the odd one, even by prequel standards. TPM is obviosuly geared towards kids, ROTS is an attempt to get back in the good books of longtime fans, and AOTC is...well, I don't know. I've always assumed that that had something to do with the presence of John Halyes (it has that same sort of disjointed feel as ROTJ in places). As is typical with Lucas, the story is excellent, but the screenplay and dialogue and his skill at working with actors leaves much to be desired. The OT is understandably different stylistically from film to film; two proucers, three directors, three writers, and many other things. The PT, though? Lucas directed all three, completely wrote two, co-wrote on, and Rick McCallum produced all three, and still they strangely schizophenic. It doesn't make much sense. As long as I have high-quality version of the OOT, Lucas can follow his vision to his heart's content, but he doesn't seem to be sure what that is. If he can't the PT fit together with itself, how can he expect it to fit with the OT?

Well, the last Lord of the Rings film is at #4, and CASABLANCA is at #5, so...


You don't like Casablanca and Return of the King? The latter, I understand, even if I love it, for it has many detractors. But the former?
Post
#233175
Topic
Quit Whining
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/233175/action/topic#233175
Time
Originally posted by: Obi Jeewhyen
Originally posted by: Mike O
On the Criterion Collection laserdisc.

Sorry, Mike O - but the Criterion Collection laserdisc is NOT the competely restored 1977 restoration it claims on its cover to be. In addition to including several shots that were only in the Special Edition, it is missing two very important scenes of Roy creating his model-train set mountain.

In the Criterion version, not to mention the Special Edition and the eventual Director's Cut "Collector's Edition," the audience doesn't see Roy creating a model train set mountain before they see him sculpt a mashed-potato mountain.


Anyone who saw the film in '77 recalls the joke being that Roy simply can't stop sculpting that mountain. In the revised versions, including the Criterion, the mashed potatoes is the first thing Roy is seen sculpting.

Heheh, like I said ... don't get me started.


.


What about the TCM showing? Still CEOT3K has an odd history, but the situation is slightly different from the Star Wars one. Not to excuse Spielberg. And is the T.V. version of Duel available anywhere.
Post
#232483
Topic
I know it's odd, but...werewolf movie question
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/232483/action/topic#232483
Time
Originally posted by: SpecialEditionSaboteur
You're welcome.

I'm heavily into the b-movie and horror genres. So if you have any more requests I might be able to help.


OK then, now I know who to turn to! Wolfen comes via Netflix tomorrow (returned some discs and they streangely didn't get them, so it's been a while). I'll watch it then. It's coming with Woody Allen's Match Point, of all things. Lets see if his latest critical darling is worthwhile.

By the way, in Wolfen, how the hell did they film the sequence with Wall Streeet deserted? You'd think that people would just drive through roadblocks in New York. A matte painting.
Post
#232479
Topic
The Music Thread
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/232479/action/topic#232479
Time
Originally posted by: SpecialEditionSaboteur
Rhapsody -- the best power metal band most people have never heard of.

Their newest album Symphony of Enchanted Lands II contains narration by none other than Chris "Saruman" Lee himself, who is a big fan of there's. He also performs an amazing duet with the lead singer on a single.

http://ec3.images-amazon.com/images/P/B0002I7422.01._SS500_SCLZZZZZZZ_V1116101003_.jpg



I also like the goth bands Lacrimosa and Illuminate (both are German)

I have a friend who into black metal and death metal (i.e., he thinks that Metallica are pretty soft [and in many ways they are; Zeppelin can be heavier]), so Rhapsody rings a sort of bell. Cristopher Lee, huh? No kidding.

Me? Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Johnny Cash, The Rolling Stones, the Beatles, Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Allman Brothers Band (saw them in concery last, and even though Warren Haynes couldn't make it, Derek Trucks is the best guitarist they've had in a decade or two, although I miss Betts), Miles Davis, Creedence Clearwater Revival, the list goes on and on. I'm sucker for rootsy stuff.

The Seatbelts? Very diverse styles, they have.


I haven't heart much from them beyond their work on Cowboy Bebop. Eclectic, are they?
Post
#232426
Topic
Original Trilogy DVD Article in Total Film
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/232426/action/topic#232426
Time
Originally posted by: TheCassidy
Originally posted by: Mike O
Lets not insult the man, but with him being one of the higher ups, lets see if we can get his attention.


Turnabout is fair play, I say. The guy owes his career and fortune to Star Wars, which, let's be honest here - is only profitable because of a fanbase like us.

To insult said fanbase is calous, ignorant, and indicative of one thing - McCallum doesn't care about us, or Star Wars, just making money off of it.


We always knew that.

I wonder what McCalum will do when Lucas dies. Does he have a will of his own? Or will he just star blankly into space? Just kidding, just kidding.