Obi Jeewhyen

User Group: Members
Join date: 1-Aug-2006
Last activity: 1-Feb-2007
Posts: 440

Post History

Post: #254236
Topic: McCallum on Jar Jar & Kids before TPM came out
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/254236/action/topic#254236
Time: 31-Oct-2006 9:04 PM

I guess I am in the minority here about AotC ... but it was, of the prequels, easily the most well received by the die-hard, midnight-show, opening night audiences at the time.

Post: #254179
Topic: Comics Fans
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/254179/action/topic#254179
Time: 31-Oct-2006 11:27 AM

I'm not a big comics fan myself, but Stan Lee of Marvel Comics fame gave a Q & A last night at the Chinese Theater complex in Hollywood (moderated by Kevin Smith), after a special screening of Spider-Man 2.

He was amazing. Both Lee and Smith were very funny, and Stan Lee had great anecdotes about the early days of comics in the 40's and the birth of super-hero comics at Marvel in the 60's. Good stuff.

Post: #254178
Topic: STAR WARS CELEBRATION IV in Los Angeles - May 24-28 2007
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/254178/action/topic#254178
Time: 31-Oct-2006 11:24 AM

You're better off with hotels a few blocks north in the prime downtown area. It's a BIG difference of skeeziness that a few blocks make. But, really, the convention center area with the Staples Center and the new L.A. Live center (that might be finished by then) is pretty safe. There's just sort of a no-man's land all around it ... and you don't want to head south or east. Much nicer hotels are a few blocks to the north, in the main downtown area of City Hall, the State and Federal Courts, the Walt Disney Concert Hall, Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, etc. Ghost Town on the weekends, but perfectly comfortable and safe-feeling.

As an Angelino, I must tell you that downtown is one of the least interesting parts of our city. Bleh.

I'm still not positive I'm going to the convention, but with it being in L.A. - I guess I'll find it hard to resist.

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Post: #254114
Topic: McCallum on Jar Jar & Kids before TPM came out
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/254114/action/topic#254114
Time: 30-Oct-2006 8:36 PM

I'm amazed, too. I'm glad I didn't give up on the prequels ... if only because I had such amazing times on the 6-week line-ups and met so many good friends.

I also must admit that I kinda liked Attack of the Clones. It seemed to head the prequels in a more StarWarsian direction than Episode I, and I actually found it enjoyable the seven or eight times I saw it in theaters. That I can't bear to sit through it now does not take away from the fact that I enjoyed it when it was released, something I cannot say about either of the other two prequel films.

But I'm glad I saw all of them. Even Revenge of the Sith, which I deplored with all my being.

Post: #254080
Topic: Star Wars most inconsistent plot point, in my opinion: Star Wars Lethal Alliance game
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/254080/action/topic#254080
Time: 30-Oct-2006 4:20 PM

And I agree that it was a poor bit of editing, done in service of great pacing, that shows Vader one moment on Cloud City and the next on a StarDestroyer. Yes, audiences can make the leap of logic, but it's just plain poor filmmaking technique to simply show someone at one place in one moment, and then someplace else the next .... even if the audience can put together some means of transportation and assume enough time has actually transpired between the shots viewed four seconds apart. But it's not something you want to have an audience be forced to do during an action sequence.

So ... we are at the point where I agree this was a fix the Special Editions might want to tackle.

BUT ... as with most of the "fixes," the execution was worse than the problem in the first place.

Rather than interrupt the flow of the film's concluding action sequence, much less the brilliantly-composed score by John Williams - a simple re-shoot of Vader's first 3-second Bridge sequence, instead filmed at an airlock - would have conveyed the transport and transport-time notion to audiences in an instant, and would not have interrupted either the editorial or music flow of the existing sequence. A filmmaker could not have asked for an easier-to-accomplish reshoot 15 years later than to have the featured actor be a man in a full head mask with no new dialogue needed!

So, there's no excuse for Lucas bungling this one. He's a cinema IDIOT!

.

Post: #254072
Topic: Star Wars most inconsistent plot point, in my opinion: Star Wars Lethal Alliance game
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/254072/action/topic#254072
Time: 30-Oct-2006 3:18 PM

Originally posted by: JamesEightBitStar

And in all honesty I'm failing to see why everyone is up-in-arms about Gomer. He hasn't attacked or insulted anyone, except those who WANT to be offended.

He has twisted and controlled just about every conversation here since he started posting. He may be a stealth troll who doesn't outright attack others, but he is a troll nonetheless. He is perverting this message board into nothing but arguments about the P.T., and I am frelling sick of it.

Post: #253800
Topic: What Special Edition changes (if any) did people like?
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/253800/action/topic#253800
Time: 27-Oct-2006 9:52 PM

Big is More.

Not.

Post: #253785
Topic: McCallum on Jar Jar & Kids before TPM came out
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/253785/action/topic#253785
Time: 27-Oct-2006 7:22 PM

Actually, the only part that worked for me about Hayden was that he was as poor an actor as Jake, thus creating an illusion that they might somehow be the same person.

Could any other two people have such poor acting skills? The similarities are amazing!!

Post: #253784
Topic: Here's my stance
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/253784/action/topic#253784
Time: 27-Oct-2006 7:19 PM

Originally posted by: Go-Mer-Tonic
But to call any part of an entirely fictional story the "truth"? Are you kidding me?

Nope, not kidding, Go-Mer. Don't get hung up on the word truth, because if you take it too literally ... nothing will end up being true.

You know very well that I'm writing about truths as expressed quite clearly in Star Wars, the film never to have worked on the level it did if those things had been exposed as untrue in the movie. Leia was a love-interest in the classic mold. Luke's motivation was, in part, classicly based on the betrayal and murder of his father. Make Obi-wan Kenobi a LIAR in Star Wars, and the movie loses a ton of appeal. Make Leia NOT the hero's love interest, and the movie loses ton of appeal.

What Lucas did years after Star Wars to those characters would not have been done in the original if it was to be the mega-hit it became. Cowardly is what I would call that, if he were not simply making the story up as he went along. Since he has consistently demonstated he can't keep a story straight that he makes up as he goes along, I choose to recognize only the original story ... and all of the stuff that directly conflicts with it, whether done by Lucas at LFL or some homoerotic fan fiction writer in his mom's garage, is all EU to me.

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Post: #253763
Topic: McCallum on Jar Jar & Kids before TPM came out
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/253763/action/topic#253763
Time: 27-Oct-2006 5:00 PM

Originally posted by: Go-Mer-Tonic
Jake was worried everyone was going to laugh at him, and they had to reassure him that SW fans weren't -that- mean spirited.

Well, then they lied to him twice. Once when they told him that, and the other time when they told him he could act.

I don't care if he's a tike, that's no excuse for piss-poor casting. There have been plenty of wonderful kid performances in films. Yes, tons of bad ones. It's hard to cast child parts. But no one gets a pass for doing it poorly simply because it's difficult.

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Post: #253762
Topic: Here's my stance
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/253762/action/topic#253762
Time: 27-Oct-2006 4:51 PM

I kinda like the title "Star Wars." It has a certain ring to it, doncha think? Way better than the retarded "A New Hope" and far less confusing than the postulated "An Awakening of the Force." Huh? to that last one. Rolleyes to the first. Wow to "Star Wars."

Maybe that's why they called the movie "Star Wars."

By the way, that movie, "Star Wars" - that's the entirety of my canon. It cracks me up to hear people complain about inconsistencies and story conflicts between the O.T. and the P.T., when George started to work those in right after the first movie - - with crap like Darth Vader being Lukes' father, which completely conflicts with the truth of Star Wars, and later - since he hadn't got the juevenile Dickens out his system, I guess - Leia (propounced differently than in Star Wars, btw) being Luke's sister, which completely conflicts with the truth of Star Wars.

How people can suddenly be "shocked" that conflicting story points came up in the 16 years between the O.T. and P.T. is absurd.

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Post: #253650
Topic: Revenge of the Nerds OR Punk is Dead...
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/253650/action/topic#253650
Time: 26-Oct-2006 9:50 PM

Heheh, Peter is the good-looking, "reasonable" guy talking with the punks to try and diffuse the situation. Josh is the guy first in line (who, because of that, got to talk to George Lucas on the phone, btw) - likely with remnants of his blue mohawk at that point in time, who yells the famous line, "Get Back to Hot Topic, you Bitch!" And Art is the big guy who decks the punk with one punch.

Good peeps, all of 'em.

Post: #253636
Topic: Revenge of the Nerds OR Punk is Dead...
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/253636/action/topic#253636
Time: 26-Oct-2006 8:53 PM

The guy who flattened the Hot Topic bitch with one punch? That angry guy?

He never seemed very angry to me. Of course, I haven't seen the clip in quite a while, and I can't get that link to work for me.

Post: #253634
Topic: my memory isn't that bad, is it? (in SW '77 - Luke misses with the grappling hook?)
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/253634/action/topic#253634
Time: 26-Oct-2006 8:51 PM

Ditto, about 70 times in theaters during '77 and '78. Never seen such a thing. Sorry.

Post: #253633
Topic: Star Wars Wall Paper I Made!
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/253633/action/topic#253633
Time: 26-Oct-2006 8:43 PM

At the line-ups for the Star Wars prequels, there were people of different "spoiler-levels" and these were denoted by indications on the line badges everyone had, purportedly so you wouldn't start any spoiler-talk around people who were spoiler-free.

Well, one person - who wasn't part of our group - became our spoiler-free God by not even knowing the title of the movie for Episode II when he walked into the theater on opening night to see it. In fact, he had the title printed on the BACK of a T-shirt he was wearing, but had successfully avoided all news about Star Wars for the preceding three years such that he did not even know the name of the movie.

For the third prequel, a few of us tried to replicate this feat. Most of us did not get beyond 24 hours after the title was announced. But one enterprising young man made it through to the last couple of weeks before the movie opened. He had even gone so far as to have someone block all mention of the title or its acronym "ROTS" from appearing on his computer. Alas, this was his undoing ... because at one point, the answer to a question which was obviously "CARROTS" appeared on his screen as "CAR****" - - instantly giving him the initials "ROTS" and, two seconds later, d'uh - the title "Revenge of the Sith."

Heheheh.

Post: #253627
Topic: Revenge of the Nerds OR Punk is Dead...
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/253627/action/topic#253627
Time: 26-Oct-2006 8:32 PM

I don't know the angry punkers, only the drunk nerds.

Post: #253605
Topic: Revenge of the Nerds OR Punk is Dead...
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/253605/action/topic#253605
Time: 26-Oct-2006 7:47 PM

No, I'm standing right beside the camera, watching.

There's a bit of me in "Star Wait" here and there, but I'm not one of the main characters.

Post: #253597
Topic: Revenge of the Nerds OR Punk is Dead...
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/253597/action/topic#253597
Time: 26-Oct-2006 7:05 PM

Hahahahahaha .... I can't even get that link to work, but I don't need to. I can I.D. the stuff from the quotes above (famous in my circle of Star Wars friends) ... because, well, I was THERE.

Hahahahaha, that was one of the highlights of the Episode II line at the Chinese Theater in Hollywood. Best.StarWars.Lineup.Ever.

It's from a short film called "Star Wait" which I highly recommend to all Star Wars fans. It's still available at plenty of retailers, and Netflix is considering stocking it (good karma points to anyone who requests it at the Netflix website ... every little bit helps).

The film is divided into several episodes ... they were originally shown on the 'net as a serial ... and they were each given running commentaries for the DVD release. Well, the coup of the commentary tracks is that the filmmakers found the actual punks who got their asses beat by a Star Wars nerd to do commentary for the Get Back to Hot Topic, You Bitch episode. Hahahahahahahaha!

.

Post: #253575
Topic: The Lord of the Rings (Films vs. the Books)
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/253575/action/topic#253575
Time: 26-Oct-2006 5:16 PM

Yeah, but I'm really fond of film errors. I know it's more legitimate to fix those, but it's still revisionism - which I hate on principle.

I love the way they pick and choose among errors, too. No cobra glass-reflection in Raiders of the Lost Ark, but they leave in the truck's roof-rack falling off during the chase, and then being back in place. Or the clasps on the book coming open when Jones slams it down on the library table, only to be shown unclasping them manually in the next shot.

If your mission is to fix the errors, you as the filmmaker should be familiar enough with the piece to know where every error is ... and then spend the money to fix them. Don't just fix the easy ones. Otherwise, leave your film alone ... it's a piece of history if, like Raiders or Star Wars, it made a huge impact when first released - warts and all.

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Post: #253574
Topic: Hyperspace: Yep, I Think that Something is DEFINITELY up for '07!
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/253574/action/topic#253574
Time: 26-Oct-2006 5:10 PM

And I hardly saw any hoopla this year for Star Trek's 40th. It went by with a whimper, while the 30th got some pretty heavy attention.

Post: #253551
Topic: Star Wars Wall Paper I Made!
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/253551/action/topic#253551
Time: 26-Oct-2006 3:44 PM

In my experience, people generally refer to the O.T. films by name and the P.T. films by number. This is especially true of Episode I, which I rarely hear called "The Phantom Menace" (though the acronym TPM is used a lot in typing).

Perhaps it's the fact that the title of that one has so precious little to do with the subject matter of the film. But I think it's mostly that the Episode Number appeared ten times larger than the subtitle on all the promotional materials such that it became the defacto title (and the concept of Star Wars Episode One was in itself very exciting).

Post: #253549
Topic: The Lord of the Rings (Films vs. the Books)
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/253549/action/topic#253549
Time: 26-Oct-2006 3:38 PM

Originally posted by: Mike O
As long as he leaves it that way. It's not like Jackson went mucking with the color after the release.

Well, he did post-release remove the errant car speeding across the digitally color-timed fields of brilliant hue.

Post: #253548
Topic: McCallum on Jar Jar & Kids before TPM came out
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/253548/action/topic#253548
Time: 26-Oct-2006 3:33 PM

In all truth, I don't find Jar-Jar half as annoying as I do Jake Lloyd.

And the MST3K treatment was brilliant!

Post: #253422
Topic: Here's my stance
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/253422/action/topic#253422
Time: 25-Oct-2006 9:09 PM

Lucas doesn't need Williams to insert stuff like The Imperial March into what has just been rightly described as one of the best musical scores ever composed. He can just hack cut and paste like he did with the scores for the last two prequels.

He doesn't need a live composer ... he has his computer, and the legal rights to do whatever he wants with the music previously composed by John Williams for any of his StarWars (TM) movies.

Rumors of this get my blood boiling.

I happen to think The Imperial March is a little too specific and lighthearted as compared with the very brief and moody coda written for the Death Star and the Imperials in Star Wars. It's a neat theme, but sorta silly. I like the way it's used constantly in the Empire score, but it was wise to subsequently put a lid on it in all subsequent Star Wars movies.

No matter what you may think of it, and I'll admit it's an iconic piece of music, nothing Williams wrote for Empire, Jedi, or Episodes 1 thru 3 hold a dim candle to the pure unadulterated GENIUS of his Star Wars score ... and if George Lucas mucks with that ..... (well, I suppose Death Threats can be taken the wrong way on the internet, so I WON'T be making one).

But damn him and his twelve necks to Hell.

Post: #253391
Topic: The Lord of the Rings (Films vs. the Books)
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/253391/action/topic#253391
Time: 25-Oct-2006 6:46 PM

And I have to respectfully disagree about the extensive color timing done for Jackson's LotR. He got the colors he wanted that were simply not available in the actual photography, no matter how true to color it may have been. The example that comes most quickly to mind is the lush green of Hobbiton, which was simply not there during original photography.

So, with the tech toolbox now available, what's a filmmaker to do? Leave the drab green that 35mm film captured perfectly? Or render the color timing to result in beautiful green for the fantasy film?