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Obi Jeewhyen

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Join date
1-Aug-2006
Last activity
1-Feb-2007
Posts
440

Post History

Post
#236249
Topic
Your Greatest Star Wars Day.
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/236249/action/topic#236249
Time
Originally posted by: Mielr

i don't know about that- they also showed the trilogy in NYC back in '86 or '87. I didn't go, but I've still got a videotape of the TV coverage and a full-page ad from the NY Times. I'm pretty sure that was an official showing too. I think they did it in other states as well.

Yeah, I wasn't clear. It was something done all over the country (and perhaps other parts of the world), but just once. In other words, that same day in every city, one triple-feature showing per city. A one-time event held in many different places.

My bad.


Point was, unless you caught the showing that day ... you have been out of luck ever since. And I sorta robbed people of seeing the final movie who, through no fault of there own, had tickets to the event that never should have been sold. (Though, of course, I see it as the theatre who robbed them ... and well, me just being the guy who ratted them out. Hmmmm, why don't I feel any better about it?)


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Post
#235965
Topic
Your Greatest Star Wars Day.
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/235965/action/topic#235965
Time
Ok, I'm gonna double-post because I was reminded of another great Star Wars day by something in another thread ... and with my failing memory, I have to strike while the iron is hot.


This one has nothing to do with the movies, or lining up for the movies ....

... but rather was a trip to Death Valley to visit all the Star Wars filming sites!!!!!



Words cannot describe how awesome that was. We were a group of around 25 ... and while a few of us were visiting Star Wars second unit filming locations .... most of us were on frelling TATOOINE!!!!!


Sand gets everywhere on the Dunes where Artoo took off on his own, much too rocky way. Having a miniature R2 really helped recreate the scene (actually, just one shot in the movie was filmed here).

Toys also helped sell the perspective of the Sandcrawler canyon. And I could swear I saw a landspeeder zooming across the salt flats in the center of the Valley, where the heat distortion subsituted nicely for vaseline-smeared lenses.

The most fun was to be had at Artoo's arroyo, as there were several shots filmed here of the poor droid's encounter with scavenging Jawas. And nearby was the bluff where Sandpeople were spotted by an unsuspecting Luke Skywalker, as well as the canyon floor where those same Tusken Raiders hop adroitley upon their Banthas (both played by a single elephant trucked in from Los Angeles). So many second unit shots were captured in this particular area that even the most stoic among us finally felt as if they were really visiting a certain planet farthest from the bright center of the universe.


But I think I most enjoyed the Mos Eisley overlook. Because we could get cars almost right up to the cliff edge, we were able to blare the appropriate John Williams soundtrack que .... over and over and over again. How many times can you never see a more wretched hive of scum and villainy?


Kudos to my friend Kolby who, on previous visits to Death Valley, had researched and mapped out all the filming sites, and had interviewed many of the national park personnel and local residents who had memories of the second unit filming for the unlikely hit movie.

And though there were probably less than a dozen shots filmed in Death Valley for Star Wars, the location simpy IS Tatooine. It was eerie, and more coolsville than I could have possibly imagined.


(Oh, and we visited a couple of Return of the Jedi Tatooine filming sites, too.)


What a great Star Wars Day!
Post
#235918
Topic
I actually have something intelligent to say.
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/235918/action/topic#235918
Time
Um, I had to let Anchorhead down just now in another thread with the news that I'm not really a gynochologist.

But I AM a legal professional ... and as I said before, you don't have a case. Contradictory commercial claims are not actionable unless some damage has been suffered. The cost of a DVD is not going to get you a day in court.

Sorry, but that's my professional opinion.




If you want to do it just for publicity, go ahead and file the legal papers ... and then and then call every paper in town and beg them to print a story.


Good luck, bud.
Post
#235913
Topic
Your Greatest Star Wars Day.
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/235913/action/topic#235913
Time
Hahaha, no I'm not.

Right after the opening night Phantom Menace show, a friend of mine was being interviewed by the L.A. Times in the famous-footprint-forecourt of the Chinese Theater. He couldn't keep the names of the characters straight, and so purposefully flubbed a combination of Obi-wan Kenobi and Qui-gon Jinn as 'Obi ... um, Obi G.Y.N.'


I laughed my head off. That particular quote of his didn't make the paper, but I've used it with his permission as my moniker on Star Wars message boards ever since.




Now, of course, I wish I'd gone to med school after all, heheh.
Post
#235908
Topic
A Question to the Older Members
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/235908/action/topic#235908
Time
I never noticed them until the laserdisc, and later the DVDs. Never saw them in any theatrical prints, either during the original run or the many re-releases.


The one and only thing I can stand about any revisionism is technical goof clean-up. I don't want any editing out of stormtrooper head-hitting, or erasing of cardboard award ceremony audience. But crappy mattes and uncolored light saber blades are the kind of things I wouldn't mind Lucas tinkering with.

Why LFL did such a half-assed job on technical clean-up during all the revisionist work is simply beyond my comprehension.


But, nah, during the original run of Star Wars ... never noticed 'em.




BTW, not true of Empire Strikes Back ... Tie-Fighter square garbage mattes and generally craptacular matte lines (snowspeeders mostly) were very apparent in the theatrical run. And, yeah, horrible Rancor matte lines were quite visible during the theatrical run of Return of the Jedi.
Post
#235813
Topic
BadAssKeith: You need to chill, dude.
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/235813/action/topic#235813
Time
I think the opposite tack, i.e, applauding Lucas and lauding his achievements in revisionism and prequel creation, would make us look far loonier as a group.

Personally, while I don't approve of too much outright bashing, I find it to be a refreshingly normalized group of Star Wars peeps who appear to have their collective noses a little further in the fresh air zone.


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Post
#235791
Topic
Your Greatest Star Wars Day.
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/235791/action/topic#235791
Time
Yep, I remember that huge-sceened theater in Long Island like it was yesterday. Alas, I moved from NY to L.A. the next year ... and missed seeing Star Wars on the vast screen of the Chinese Theater. Empire and Jedi played at the Egyptian Theater, down the street, which also had a very huge screen. I was ecstatic in '97 when, though it was the Special Edition, I finally got to see Star Wars at the Chinese ... which felt like the authentic and ultimate Star Wars theater by virture of its famous original run there.


But my next story is about the Egyptian Theater. In 1986 or '87, the Egyptian ran what I believe was the world's only officially-sanctioned triple-feature of Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. The vast auditorium sat in the neighborhood of 1,200 people.

Ah, but that wasn't good enough for the theater management: They printed up and sold hundreds of tickets in excess of capacity. During Star Wars, people were sitting in the aisles, along the sides of the theater, and in the huge space between the front row and the gigantic, curved screen.

My friends and I were sitting in the front row ... it was one of the few theaters where the screen is far enough away to be in focus, and the screen from that perspective wraps around you and envelops you completely in StarWarsian goodness. But the area between our row and the screen was so full of people sitting on the floor that folks were leaning directly on our legs. It was really very annoying and greatly diminished my first viewing of Star Wars on a huge screen in about 8 years. Bah.


Well, not being a big fan of The Empire Strikes Back (yes, it's true, I don't like that movie), I missed most of that screening by leaving the theater and driving to the local fire department ... where I filed a complaint with the fire marshal about the theater having people filling the aisles and all the available floor space. Then I blithely drove back to the theater and watched the last half hour of Empire.


Well, during the intermission before Return of the Jedi, the fire marshal and several deputies arrived at the Egyptian Theater and announced to the crowd that the last movie would not be shown until everyone in the auditorium found a seat ... and that anyone who did not have an actual seat would have to leave the theater.



It was not a pretty scene.


People tried to squeeze in two-to-a-seat, but the fire marshal would have none of that. It took nearly an hour for hundreds of people to quit the the theater and have the fire marshal confirm there was a seat for everyone remaining in the building. Jedi started quite a bit later than expected. My seat was vastly more comfortable without people leaning on my knees .... but, well, I was not exactly a popular fellow at that point (my earlier complaints to theater management did not go un-noticed by most of the audience). I received a few death threats, and more beat-the-shit-out-me threats than I could count ... and theater security had to grudgingly escort me to my car after the show. Yikes.


I guess what I did was pretty obnoxious. But really, don't mess up my long-awaited, big-screen viewing of Star Wars and everything will be just fine. Got it?



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Post
#235535
Topic
Your Greatest Star Wars Day.
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/235535/action/topic#235535
Time
It was still playing on HBO in May of '83 ... because one morning when my buddy and I came back to our apartment for our morning shower after sleeping on the sidewalk of Hollywood Boulveard where we had been living for the better part of a week in front of the Egyptian Theater waiting for the premier of Return of the Jedi ... lo and behold, Star Wars was playing on cable TV to our complete freaking delight.

We had barely missed the first few minutes, and stayed away from the line longer than we should have so that we could watch the whole movie. We were living in StarWarsian frenzy that week, so ... even though it was on TV, it was one of the best viewings of Star Wars ever.







Later that week, the night before the show, we brought our TV and VCR to the parking lot behind the Egyptian Theater, and screened Star Wars and Empire between midnight and 4:30 a.m. for hundreds of rabid fans too excited to sleep the night before Jedi opened ... and, even though those showings were also on a tiny TV ... they were two of the best StarWars movie screenings I have ever attended.


(Little did I know it was the start of a night-before-opening tradition that would continue till 2005!)
Post
#235473
Topic
Your Greatest Star Wars Day.
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/235473/action/topic#235473
Time
Wow, what a great story. Very neat and totally sweet.


Heheh, but speaking of new driver's licenses ... that's what I had when I first saw Star Wars in 1977. It was already June by the time I was convinced the movie with the gay commericals was really a fantastic fantasy film. Yada, yada, loved the movie, life unknowingly changed from that moment on ... but on the way home, none of my 4 passengers were likely aware that they boy who'd been driving solo all of a week was suddenly a daring X-Wing pilot on the highway - - rather than the cautious, newly-licensed teenager who should have been behind the wheel.

I nearly wiped out about 3 times. I really didn't know what had come over me, but it was my first hint that a certain movie had gotten way deeper under my skin than I could possibly imagine.



That's far from my best Star Wars story, but I've got a million of 'em. Something tells me I'll be posting in this thread a lot.
Post
#235388
Topic
one month and counting
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/235388/action/topic#235388
Time
My old set's on the large side for a tube model (40"), but it's not in the current widescreen standard.

I expect the DVDs to look the same as my laserdiscs ... which will be sufficient for me - - I just want the convenience of not dealing with the huge laserdiscs, and changing the discs (ugh, big pain) .... and mostly for what I even now hope will be a decent attempt at recreating the opening crawl, which would fill me the happiness conducive to a really enjoyable screening of Star Wars.




But until there's a high quality, anamorphic release of the O.T., I'm leaving the September releases of Empire and Jedi on the shelves. If they're not going to look any better than my laserdiscs, and not be any different in form than my laserdiscs .... I'm just gonna stick with the relative inconvenience of my laserdiscs.



Bite me, George.
Post
#235223
Topic
The definitive list: changes you can and can't stand...
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/235223/action/topic#235223
Time
^ HaHaHaHahahahahahahahaaaa!




But for the record, though it pains me to admit it, I think the SE version of the Battle of Yavin is so much better (not only visually, but far more clear as to what's happening) that - while I don't have a personal fan-edit of Star Wars, I always change to the SE for the finale of the movie.

Ack, I'm a purist hypocrit !!!

Post
#235185
Topic
POLL: WORST ACTOR OR ACTRESS IN THE PT?
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/235185/action/topic#235185
Time
But how can you "direct" good actors to turn in such bad performances? Do you really tell them to be awful, or do you simply pick the worst takes you can lay your hands on to be in the finished film?

Lucas was back-in-the-day infamous for his sole actorly direction of "faster and more intense." Do you think he graduated to "more wooden and less emotion?"


It just boggles that these actors can be "persuaded" to turn in the worst performances of their respective careers. I tend to think it's more to do with George's editorial direction (picking the worst stuff from all takes) rather than his on-set direction to the actors.



Who knows? I wish some of these actors would do tell-all interviews where they reveal how George Lucas coaxed the crappiest out of them.


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Post
#235144
Topic
POLL: WORST ACTOR OR ACTRESS IN THE PT?
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/235144/action/topic#235144
Time
Ah, thanks for that. Yep, I was lazy.

Hayden was very good in Shattered Glass ... and that's why I think all three leads got a bum deal with Star Wars.


Portman was excellent in Closer, and had an amazing cameo in Cold Mountain. I wasn't that impressed with her in Garden State, and I haven't yet seen V for Vendetta. If you don't like her, you don't. But her good work was not only in the pre-StarWars period.

I'm not sure if I've seen any of Ewan's post-StarWars stuff. But he's certainly no flash-in-the-pan, and has many good performances ahead of him.


I'm glad Hayden's appearing in some upcoming films. I hope he gets to redeem himself. He was so bloody awful in the prequels that I voted for him as worst actor in this poll ... even though I think all the actors were screwed royally by that hack of a director, George Lucas.



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Post
#235141
Topic
BadAssKeith: You need to chill, dude.
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/235141/action/topic#235141
Time
No offense meant to anyone here, but is this site taken seriously by anyone in a position to effect change at LFL? Without any specific information to the contrary, I highly doubt it.

There's some boards I post at where the corporate object of main discussion most certainly reads and takes notice (whether they take action is unknown) - - - but those boards have hundreds of active members and overwhelming activity levels.


I just don't see this board here having that level of influence. I think it's perfectly legit to ask BadAssKeith to tone down his whinging for the sake of less obnoxious discourse ... but I find it unfair to ask him or anyone to change their posting style for the sake of some imagined powers-that-be who may or -more likely- may not be reading this message board.


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Post
#235128
Topic
POLL: WORST ACTOR OR ACTRESS IN THE PT?
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/235128/action/topic#235128
Time
Yep, what's amazing is that the three leads have done amazing work in other projects, many of it after as well as before the prequels.

Um, though, come to think of it, Hayden Christensen hasn't had any post-StarWars work, has he? And, ooooh, I wouldn't be surprised if he's not offered many parts in the future. He really didn't get a chance to establish himself like Portman and McGregor did. Poor guy. Maybe he can really act after all, and the world will never know.



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Post
#235118
Topic
Remember the mass advertising of TPM?
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/235118/action/topic#235118
Time
Well, to be fair, Taco Bell, Pepsi and the rest paid hefty licensing fees to LFL.

I don't know whether, in any particular instance, the company pursued the license or Lucasfilm peddled the license ... but it's the retailers who took a bath on all that leftover crap. Lucasfilm laughed all the way to the bank with its licensing fees on products for the most disappointing movie ever made.



It was a testament to general Star Wars interest that Episode One made a fortune at the box office ... but while everyone in the world felt they had to see the movie, the reaction to the film did not translate into the trinket sales that a well-liked movie would have.


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Post
#235100
Topic
Audience reaction to the reveal?
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/235100/action/topic#235100
Time
Originally posted by: Anchorhead
someone brought this up just a few days ago - it was just about the worst kept secret in the world.

Heheh, I think that was me.

I'm really glad I saw the opening midnight show of Empire, because the reveal was already out to the people who were in line for the 3am show as I was leaving the theater. It did not, as I posted earlier, get the same respect as the reveal in The Sixth Sense, which inspired a world-wide conspiracy of silence. To me, that speaks volumes about the effect of the reveal on the general public, indicating it was fun ... but not an amazement of shock.

But the reveal was a great surprise at that opening show. Personally, I didn't get the impression it was a lie ... because it just seemed too important as the climax of an entire movie. I knew that meant either Obi-Wan was lying or Vader was ... and though I knew a big, fat lie would be more in line with Vader's M.O., I just couldn't see a fake-out like that being used as the denoument of the film.


It was a wonderful gasp moment ... and it wasn't till the next morning that I realized the turn in the story was about as gay as it could be.

There always being the remote possibility that Vader was lying, it was a fun three years till the paternity test was confirmed in Return of the Jedi. Sigh, I've always known the decision to to take the meaning of Darth Vader's name quite literally was one made after the release of Star Wars. People thought I was delusional and a nutjob for insisting so ... and I was very glad to finally be vindicated among Star Wars fans when the truth became generally known upon release of the Empire of Dreams documentary.


But in 1980, the reveal was really kinda fun.


For that one show.



And for that one day.

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Post
#235090
Topic
The definitive list: changes you can and can't stand...
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/235090/action/topic#235090
Time
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.



Those are the areas in which I appear to disagree with most fans. I'm right on target with every other popular like and dislike, though.
Post
#235082
Topic
Remember the mass advertising of TPM?
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/235082/action/topic#235082
Time
Originally posted by: BadAssKeith
I don’t know how much merchandising and advertising went on for the OT (wasn’t born when they came out) but I bet there has been a lot more for the PT than the OT.

There was a TON of product placment advertising for Return of the Jedi, almost as much of a barrage in its day as the crap for Episode One was in its.

The effect and the numbers were both stronger for Phantom Menace, but it was hardly unprecedented in the annals of Star Wars publicity mongering.

Post
#234293
Topic
What did the Prequel Trilogy need?
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/234293/action/topic#234293
Time
Originally posted by: CO

What did the Prequels need?

CHARACTERS WE CAN LOVE AND ROOT FOR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lucas never sold me on any of the characters in the PT, except for ObiWan Kenobi, and when their fates are met at the end of ROTS, I felt nothing for them.


Sorry to double post, but I just want to give a big 'hear, hear' to CO's entire post about why, essentially, the prequels fail. No one gives a fig about the characters.



The same was hardly true of Luke and Leia and Han. The world loved them.



There are a thousand truths about why the prequels were inferior. But that's the ultimate one right there.


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