Puggo - Jar Jar's Yoda

Stu said:

Also Lei didn't know that there was a weakness, she was just hoping there could be a weakness. 

I thought that was a brilliant idea - the basic assumption that regardless of how huge and invulnerable someone looks, there is always a weakness.  That's why defeating the Death Star amounted to getting the detailed plans so that they could find it.

Stu said:

Also, when the Death Star is being attacked, nobody on it is saying "hey, what's going on here?  What are they trying to do?  They can't hurt us with such a small number of small fighters?  Have they found some hidden weakness that we don't know about?  What are these guys up to?"

But they DID... remember when the commander says to Tarkin: "we've analyzed their attack, sir, and there is a danger".

The work of R2 to find the weakness is a bit like the work of Alan Turing, who figured out how to break the enigma codes in WW2.  The Nazis never suspected it.

Stu said:

Also, the idea that they could blow up the Death Star with just one shot from a single small fighter really strains credibility. 

This is the theme of a lot of great movies - the small and meek defeating the big and strong.  The classic David and Goliath.  And in this case, it wasn't just one shot... that one shot required a whole team effort to research, prepare, and execute.

Your welcome... and in case it wasn't clear, I was actually trying my best to answer truthfully.

I thought that the entire OT all had superb scores, and that TPM also had a wonderful score.  I loved the choir in the climactic lightsaber battle and consider it one of his brilliant ideas, right up there with the OT scores, and one of the redeeming features of TPM.  After that, I don't remember anything memorable in AOTC or ROTS.  Given JW's role in shaping the SW universe, he must be offered the score first.

A six-piece saga of tragedy and redemption, where in episodes -6 to -4, Yoda gradually descends into Creepy Puppet Yoda (CPY), then in episodes -3 to -2, he is redeemed, but unfortunately goes berzerk and becomes "Finger in the Light Socket" Yoda (FLSY - as we have all seen in his light saber battles in the PT).  Fortunately, in episode -1 he is fully redeemed and becomes the wise and normal Yoda (WNY) we know from the OT.

The clever thing about this saga, is that episodes -4 and -3 can overlap in time with TPM, while episodes -2 and -1 can overlap in time with AOTC and ROTS, meaning they can reuse some of the existing footage and thus make more money.  Episodes -6 and -5 can concentrate on Yoda's maturation and increasing creepiness.  We also learn that he is basically a disagreeable whiny brat, and has computer chips imbedded in his brain which is how he knows so much.

Indeed, if LFL can manage to destroy all of Vader's mystique, Yoda should be a piece of cake.

That was me.

Do any of the early telecine or theater bootlegs have the mono mix?

I can offer my Panasonic AG-1980 if this turns out to be of actual interest.  '79 is a bit late for a film dub.  If "close the blast doors" is on it, that would be of some interest since I don't think there are many period grabs with the mono mix.

breannaandreu said:

1. In one sentence, what is your description of a villain?

An important character who does bad things.

 

2. Do you consider yourself a Star Wars fan? On a scale of 1-10, 1 being not a fan at all and 10 being a “super fan”, what would you consider yourself?

10

3. In what order did you first watch the Star Wars films?

4-5-6-XmasSpecial-1-2-3

4. Who is your favorite character from the films?

whoa, tough one... maybe Tarkin.  Or Yoda.

5. Who is your favorite villain from the films?

Tough one... Vader is the easy answer, but I'll go with:
Tarkin.  Awesome character.

 

6. What is the first thing you think of when you think of your favorite villain from the film?

Untrustworthy.

 

7. If your favorite villain was not the Emperor, what is the first thing you think of when you think of the Emperor?

Messed up.

 

8. If your favorite villain was not Darth Vader, what is the first thing you think of when you think of Darth Vader?

Seriously bad-a--

 

9. What is Senator Palpatine’s motivation for becoming the Emperor?

The PT is too messed up to answer that question.

 

10. What is Anakin Skywalker’s motivation for becoming Darth Vader?

Given the quality of the PT, this question is utterly unanswerable.

 

11. Do you feel sympathy for the Emperor?

No.

 

12. Why or why not?

He seems to be having fun.

 

13. Do you feel sympathy for Darth Vader?

Yes.

 

14. Why or why not?

He does not seem to be having fun.

 

15. When the Emperor died in Episode VI, what emotions did you feel, if any?

Cool.

 

16. When Darth Vader died in Episode VI, what emotions did you feel, if any?

Dang.

 

17. Do you think the Emperor fits into your description of a villain from question one?

Yes.

 

18. Why or why not?

He does bad things - he zaps people and seems to enjoy it.

 

19. Do you think Darth Vader fits into your description of a villain from question one?

Yes.

 

20. Why or why not?

He kills good people even though he doesn't seem to enjoy it.

Jeez Frink, my side hurts, your answers made me laugh so hard.

I think a Yoda standalone movie could, in theory, be good.  But I have become so jaded that I don't believe there is anyone in LFL or Disney who would do anything but make a royal f-up of it.  The Yoda fight scenes in the PT are something I wish I could erase from my memory.  Talk about a missed opportunity...

Reels 2 and 3 should be easy.  Reel 1 will be tricky, because there is a huge contrast between scenes in Jabba's palace versus out in the desert on the sail barge.  I had to make three captures at different exposure settings and will need to go back and forth between all three.

Possessed said:

I find it hilarious that you guys put that much thought into whether a puppet is creepy or crappy, and I find it even more funny that anybody would prefer an inconsistency with the rest of the trilogy.

You're still taking our posts seriously?

The whole CPY thing sprouted up when it was suggested that TPM was so bad that it was not only unfixable, but that the lousy stuff (Jar Jar, creepy Yoda, etc.) are all that keep it from being just boring, like watching a train wreck ("at least it sucks", I think were the words I used).  Since then, the creepy puppet has acquired a sort of cult status among a few of us (I can't remember who came up with the acronym - wasn't me).

Save Creepy Puppet Yoda!!  :)

Update... the files are in Adywan's able hands for color correction.  He's quite busy, so it could take a while.  But things are progressing.

Possessed said:

If you want the crappy yoda and the low quality knock yourselves out.

Those of us who have been here long enough to become a little bit strange, consider there to be two Ep.1 Yodas:  "Creepy Puppet Yoda" (CPY), and the other less interesting one.  So you have confused us elders, by seemingly having misspelled "creepy" as "crappy", and further, upon our slow realization that this wasn't a misspelling, creating consternation amongst those of us who consider CPY to one of the few redeeming features of the movie.  So I am here to set the record straight, the canonical spelling, accepted in all of the various internets, is "Creepy" (always capitalized).  I think that Frink will confirm this forthwith.

Crygor64 said:

But alas all of this discussion is pointless and this very forum has proven that George was right when he wanted to destroy his own history. The most popular topic on this site is about a fan project that is nothing more than another "special edition." It's tampering with film history far exceeds the damage done by Lucas.

...

Seriously, a wise man once said, "you'll strain at a fly in you swallow a camel." So criticize the prequel films all you want, but most of you are just as bad as the guy who created those cinematic disasters.

Really?  Which topic is that?  Can you be more specific?  The most popular topic right now is Harmy's thread, which has exposed more of the truth of the cinematic history of Star Wars than possibly any effort ever.  In what way has it been "tampering with" film history and in what way has this alleged tampering "far exceeds the damage done by Lucas"?  I would say QUITE the opposite.

Or are you refering to Adywan's topic?  If so, that's a fan-edit, and clearly labeled as such - not intended to replace the originals.  Lucas' recent work is intended to replace the originals.  Lucas' acts are explicit, intentional, and successful damage to film history.  I really don't understand what you are talking about.  Enlighten me.

And tape recorders.

Thanks for the ideas.  I built the mask using a combination of functions in Vegas.  I can't remember now whether I just used 8 applications of "cookie cutter", or whether I built the mask and then did the bluescreen thing.  The latter is what I did in PG, but my aging brain cells are already hazy on which way I did it for PSB (I know, that's pretty sad).

In any case, I'll go back and have a look - see if I can see anything that sheds any more light.

AWESOME reponse!!!  Whoever wrote it is a certified genius; I laughed and laughed reading it.  Best line:

"We've also got two robot science labs -- one wielding a laser -- roving around Mars..."

jerlgrain said:

That is great news they are not in your original capture and steps 2 and 3. Any chance you may redo 4 and 5 in another fashion to see if they can be eliminated?

Not right now - too many other projects in the pipeline.  What I will do is watch out for it in ROTP, and if I am able to figure out what happened and how to avoid it, I'll go back and try it on PSB.

There is a difference between plot holes, inconsistent story arcs, and scientific inaccuracies.  The former are actual problems, the latter is often what science fiction relies on!  So I wouldn't lump these light-speed issues in with real plot issues, because eventually you'll find yourself rejecting every sci fi movie ever made.

jerlgrain said:

Did you ever happen to spot those veritcal ghosting lines in your original data/encode? Just curious.

OH, yes... here is the order of operations:

1. uncompressed original capture - they aren't there.
2. uncompressed color-corrected files (from Adywan) - they aren't there.
3. uncompressed upper-right spec removal - they aren't there
4. uncompressed resize/border addition - looks like they appear first here
5. compressed encoding for DVD - they are there

So they appear to be an artifact of resizing and adding the border.  Since I did both of those in a single step (in Vegas), I don't know whether the resizing or the border addition caused it, but it is probably one of those two operations.

AntcuFaalb said:

What might be responsible for this defect?

It looks like a video dropout.  But I don't know what could cause a laserdisc player to have a dropout at the top of the frame at each scene change.

Leonardo said:

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/HTcRQGzEg57JlIcraPYdETpYxiVQwVMPNeXM7jD1id8?feat=directlink

People with a google account should be able to download the full sized picture. (958×1323 pixel – 739KB)

That is gorgeous.  I like it because it looks like a real artist painted it.

NeverarGreat said:

... the implication is that the more midichlorians a person has, the more power they have with the Force,

...and...

Vader says "the Force is with _", a practically meaningless statement considering that according to the PT, the number of midichlorians in a person's blood determines how strong they are in the Force.

Correlation doesn't prove causality.  In TPM that midichlorians were a way of measuring the force in someone, not because they cause it, but because they happen to respond to it.  It's like seeing if someone has HIV by measuring their white blood cell count -- the white blood cells aren't HIV, and they don't cause it, but they respond to it and thus can be used to measure it.

It was a stupid, stupid idea that took an age-old spiritual idea, and made it scientific and cold.  Even LFL must have realized this because they didn't mention them in prequels 2 and 3.

SilverWook said:

http://www.blam1.com/StarWars/EmpireStrikesBack.htm

I like that one a lot.