Mocata

I recently watched ROTS for the first time in about 8 years. Well no I didn’t really, what do you take me for? What I mean is that I came across Star War: Backstroke of the West complete with the whole thing dubbed as per the bizarre translation in that version. You can find it on youtube. What struck me was that beyond chuckling at the lunacy of what was being said about the Presbyterian Church and Master Tile Ratio… it was actually just boring. The action scenes are clearly all planned out by second units and effects departments, and they’re the only things with any sort of energy to them.

As films they lack what makes a film enjoyable, aka characters, charm, wit, emotion. Minor details. While I have a lot of issues with TFA it does at least have some level of heart and that missing energy at least. I really dig Kylo even if he’s just another Marvel esque emo with daddy issues like Loki and Ultron. It holds more weight in terms of impact than those at least. Anyway, the prequels. Do they even work as prequels? I sure don’t see the arcs matching up or the basic connecting threads being given any time or attention. So I can’t enjoy them as films and …they don’t work as their intended function as back story. I’d hate to imagine what good/bad means to fans of these.

TV’s Frink said:

The characters were underwritten?

Sure. One LotR movie has more characterisation than the whole of this trilogy. Bilbo is barely in them, instead there are 45 minutes of some guy carrying gold and then 45 more of a bunch of CGI characters running amok, etc etc. Maybe it’s just my crazy brain but I kind of expected with there being this much running time that they might expand things that matter since the ensemble is quite large. But instead a dumb love triangle briefly and the rest don’t even get dialogue. Go watch some of the production diaries and laugh at how the cast describe who they’re playing.

I like the idea of fanedits of these in theory, but I can’t see how trimming the movies down would work to be honest. The way the characters were so underwritten was a big problem as much as all the excess nonsense and you can’t add stuff that wasn’t in their script.

Everyone should just read the David Wenzel comic because it’s really nice.

The TFA Crawl colours and sound still feel weird to me. Maybe the typeface is slightly wrong?

I never understood this. I mean he doesn’t talk about the shuttle, but then they insert the damn shuttle? Worst of all there’s an obvious out-take from ROTJ shoved in there too!

Ah some of my favourite things, Arrow Video artwork and 70s Star Wars posters! A lot of nice stuff here. Are there any good online print shops for this sort of thing in the UK ? My own efforts to make these didn’t quite work out, though they will do for now.

Not having a good day, here’s some Meco https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecuKOcPzAJ8

I don’t like any of them, I am on the side of remastering the history no matter how ugly it gets. It all took time and effort. This other stuff… it’s all junk, purely junk. The hilarious part is there are still continuity errors and things like R2 shots being recycled they could have got away with fixing. Instead of logical things it’s just nonsensical madness. Some things seem to have a logic yet others don’t. Like minor things are screwed with but the sabres have never been repainted. Why change once Bespin window but not the next? And then there are pink blades that change colour shot to shot… good grief.

suspiciouscoffee said:

Also, this part scared the crap out of me when I was… 4 maybe? I can’t remember how old I was.

This is the best scene ! XD

I always enjoy Jedi but it starts to sag in the middle, Dagobah and parts of the Endor moon kill the pacing. But I forget all that once Luke loses his cool and that music swells.

Guess this will do for an introduction, but I’m not sure what this really means any more. Star Wars in a way has been my number one interest for probably 20-plus years. We used to read the old Technical Journal book and play Dark Forces II. I had the Empire soundtrack on a copied cassette tape. I had my favourite minor alien characters in action figure form. But Star Wars isn’t what it used to be, and after growing out of the phase in which The Phantom Menace was an acceptable movie to watch things get hazy.

Those original three films are still fresh in my mind of course, and I don’t have to watch the GOUT anymore, thank the maker. But these days it’s becoming a bigger franchise than I care for; perhaps it’s age but the latest instalments are merely passable. People say you’re not a fan for this. But then again people like Revenge of the Sith. What does being a Star Wars fan mean? I don’t know. I’m a fan of Star Wars, it was an indy film that came out in the late 1970s.

stealthboy said:

/Yub Nub for life

Exactly.