NeverarGreat

It's quiet....too quiet.

This will be much more funny when Duracell inevitably changes avatars to something horrific.

It looks very much like the wings of that new ship rotate 90 degrees when in flight for a more streamlined appearance. The red markings and the guards make me think that this is a diplomatic vessel, while the TIE aspects feel very military. An odd combination, but but cool.

Yeah Harmy, way to steal -1's thunder on this ;)

Star Wars '77 was the soup that your mom made once by starting with grandma's recipe, then throwing new things into the pot without measuring them. The result was absolutely, unexpectedly delicious and completely satisfying on its own.

ESB was your mom's attempt to replicate that soup by laboriously measuring each ingredient and tasting it at every turn, while grandma hovered around wondering what was wrong with her old recipe. It was only supposed to be basic vegetable beef soup, after all. The taste was more subtle, more delicious, more simmered in sauce than before, but the initial delight of discovery was gone, never to be recaptured. It also seemed incomplete on its own; it left you wanting more.

ROTJ was the soup as grandma made it, simply wanting her old vegetable beef soup again. Mom tried to add what made it special, but the results were confused, conflicting.

The prequels came about when grandma got too old and tired to care about using good ingredients, and instead made do with cans of Campbell's soup while hoping nobody would notice.

Looks great, how did you get such a clean result out of all that grain?

Having now seen BotFA, it's time to render a verdict on the Hobbit Trilogy, and compare it to the Star Wars Prequel Trilogy.

First of all, Battle of the Five Armies is the most tonally uneven of all the Hobbit films, with poignant character moments jarringly interspersed with mind-numbing CGI battle scenes. The oddest part is that I had a better understanding of the battle while reading the book than by watching the confused movements of CGI armies on the big screen.

Moments which were cinematic in the book, such as the return of Bard from the ruins of Laketown or the heroic battle of Thorin and his company agains the orcs, are completely different and strangely muted in the film. On the other hand, the character of Thorin is actually more heroic in the film than in the book in my opinion.

The primary decision of Bilbo, which I believe is the most important character moment in the book, is done justice. Barely. However, just as much or more time is given to characters entirely absent from the book and who add nothing to the story. Characters such as Tauriel and Legolas ultimately serve no purpose in the story, and the character of Legolas is entirely confused in an attempt to link him to a character in The Lord of the Rings.

In summary, I was relieved to see that the central story which focuses on the titular Hobbit remains strong throughout all three films. Unfortunately, the final chapter shows just how superfluous all of Jackson's additions really are to the story, and how pleasant the story will be when someone edits the films down to a single movie about Bilbo.

So is the Hobbit trilogy suffering from the same problems as the prequels? Not remotely. There is a compelling story hidden within the Hobbit films, something entirely absent from the prequels in any form.

As much as I like the idea that the Jedi council is comprised of people with complex and compelling ulterior motives, I highly doubt that Lucas put that much thought into their characters.

Or even listening to talk radio. Who knows?

Or you could have the clones keep talking to him as he's leaving, giving advice over the comm.

TSHI

Post Praetorian said:

First question:

Is it possible for God to have a sense of humor? If so, what form must it take?

Consider:

Is God able to have a light sense of humor?

1) A light sense of humor may be described as the ability to laugh at one's self or others in a lighthearted manner.

2) Lightheartedness is expressed as being 'carefree; cheerful; [or] gay' 

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/lightheartedness

3) God cannot be described as the third option above (reference: www.Bible.com)

4) Cheerfulness is described as 'noticeably happy and optimistic' 

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cheerful

5) Carefree is described as 'without cares; free of concern; easy; casual; without difficulty'

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/carefree

6) God is never once heard to sing happily to himself or whistle.

7) God invented Hell.

8) God cannot be considered cheerful (from 4 and 6).

9) God cannot be considered carefree (from 5 and 7).

 10) God cannot be said to have a light sense of humor (from 3, 8, 9).

But which God are we talking about?

God, after all, is only a title for the current president of the universe.

The previous president of the universe is God's political rival, Satan, who was ousted after a particularly clever campaign by Jesus, who sold himself as a political savior who was nevertheless relatable to the common man.

Unfortunately, upon taking the oath of Godhood, Jesus has apparently continued many of the failed policies of his predecessor. Most notably, he has failed to close Hell, where many are still incarcerated due to simple ignorance of official divine policy or of petty offenses such as masturbation or eating shellfish.

Let's just calm down now. If people didn't put up with Hollywood mediocrity, they would be forced to make better movies. And Jackson doesn't despise Tolkien, that's absurd.

adywan said:

I don't want to nitpick a beautiful shot like this, but my first impression is that there is dark blue sky right behind all the trees. Perhaps turning it into a darker gray fog would better sell the illusion of a mysterious forest behind the X-wing.

The closer you get to perfection, the more these details jump out at you ;)

Drcll, cld y pls mk thrd tht Frnk wnt pst n?

;)

DuracellEnergizer said:

Maybe Santa will finally get me that hypertime machine I've been asking him for for the past ten years.

Try skipping forward in time by only small amounts, saving up potential time energy like pulling a rubber band taut. Then the snapback may fling you decades into the past!

Perhaps these are scans of the damage on the surface of the film, to be used in cleanup later.

pablumatic said:

We've seen Tie Fighters, Stormtroopers, X-Wings, and now an obvious Darth Vader clone. I don't think watching these Pequels will be particularly necessary since we've seen this all before.

 Fixed.

But seriously, ROTS had these same things, with TPM having most of the new ships and ideas. I don't see anything wrong with TFA tying the visuals to the OT if it grows into it's own aesthetic with episodes 8 and 9.

But this is the nature of how legends grow. Thirty years after his death, the stories may say that Vader personally destroyed Alderaan, routed the rebels at Hoth singlehandedly, and destroyed the Emperor and then relinquished his physical form out of his own desire, ascending directly to godhood. It would be interesting to see a character who genuinely believes these things, and it doesn't diminish the character of Vader to have someone best him - on the contrary, it may show that physical power is not what makes a character great.

Vader's original armor concept looked oriental, but this new helmet design with the gold around the eyes looks rather ancient Egyptian.

It's astonishing how much shadow detail simply seems to be gone in this print, although the canyon scene was substantially lightened for home video release.

That fanfic is quite a bit more detailed than mine. My idea was that each time the Friz gets her class into the schoolbus, it emits a cloud of psychedelics through the ventilation system and she leads the class through a tripped-out educational program through hypnotic suggestion. Your story is more fun though.

The first thing I thought of when I saw the name 'Caryon' is that it's crayon with two letters switched. Then Carry On. Maybe spelling it Carrieon or Karyon would lessen that connection.

timdiggerm said:

The EEs will certainly be the films off which to base a fan-edit.

But what about the new additions to the Dol Guldur scenes in DOS? Doesn't the EE have different versions of a few shots, or am I making that up?

The blacks will be crushed.

Again.