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RRS-1980

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Join date
23-Mar-2003
Last activity
8-Mar-2019
Posts
993

Post History

Post
#274504
Topic
Is there anything you do like about The Prequels...
Time
LOL, I wrote so many times what I hate about PT, so it would be something new to write anything positive for a change

-many design sketches, some never used (yup, I like to collect those albums)
-J.Williams score was good, but previous scores were great... great>good
-Darth Sidious holograms... good old Palpie! made me believe I'm watching Star Wars when the Episode I was screened - love those Force Lightnings, too
-Coruscant, esp. at night, also when shown from low orbit - I dig those big CGI cities
-first 10-or-so minutes of E1 (before JJB shows up)
-Jango Fett, Slave I - even with all cons it brings, it was like a piece of beloved ESB for me
-Jango's pursuit after Obi in the asteroids (esp. the blaster-dogfight) and their duel just before
-Republic gunboats - wow, they had Hueys back then! too bad they didn't play Wagner to scare the poodoo from those Separatist scum!
-seal of the Republic, so similar to Imperial, makes me feel so moved and patriotic and...
-Federation's control ships
-AT-TE walker and few similar designs (but not the artillery!)
-"...my little green friend..." - priceless!
-Republican Destroyers (but I hate the concept of huge ships like Acclamator being able to *land* on the planet - if so, why use those Lambda-class Shuttles, Delta-class Transports etc. etc.? tiny legs and loading ramp suck - big ships should stay on low orbit)
-Droidekas (but not their visible shields)
...

...wait, most of those things are from designs department, and this has little to do with the actual movie itself... (storyline, acting, editing etc.)
Post
#274498
Topic
Prequel Character Names
Time
Valorum. PT (and I don't recall it from early drafts) and sounds good

Greedo or Boba sounds as silly as Dooku to me.

LOL, don't get me wrong, I do claim that most of the PT names are silly, but I want to be fair - so I must admit that not all OT names are cool.

I find the idea of putting the names from early drafts quite interesting. Even if they sound a bit silly (Mace Windu?). Having read those drafts, my mind marked them as "earlier revisions of Star Wars", as if it was the "past", and since Prequels are supposed to show us the past of SW Trilogy... you get the picture?

BTW: don't you think that SW should avoid Earth-sounding names, e.g. common English words spliced together? Starkiller or Skywalker sound great (strong, good for warriors or kings), but doesn't this strip the SW universe from its uniqueness? Since "shooting turkeys" would be bad, but saying "shooting mynocks" is ok.
Would you like SW characters with names like Goldbaum or Kowalski?


And Now, For Something Completely Different:

How about making those existing names sound more serious?

Dooku -> Dook (a bit like "duke", don't you agree?)
Greedo -> Gredder
Jar-Jar Binks -> Jarren Binnk
... (add your own here)
Post
#274463
Topic
Zvyezdnye Voyny (poster)
Time
Voice of desperate Rebel soldier via intercom: "...Soviet troops have entered the base... repeat: Soviet troops have... [static]"

Ooops, wrong movie

I've seen various weird vintage STAR WARS posters, I do have few albums and CD-ROM encyclopedia... I've seen Hungarian, Japanese designs, I have shown you here weird artsy-fartsy Polish posters, but this IMHO tops even the "zombie C-3PO"!



Ladies and gentlemen...
.
.
[drums]
.
.




SOVIET VADER




[audience holds breath]




http://starwarsy.pl/texty/obrazki/001_ruscy_big.jpg
The image is taken from book review posted at starwarsy.pl
source: "The Star Wars Poster Book"
quote from the website: it looks like Mechachewbacca


Now - not all of you have this book, besides I'm not sure if this information is given here, so let me give you few bits of info from that website:

STAR WARS was, just as all Western stuff, hard to get in countries "behind the Iron Curtain". As I revealed to you some time ago, I was able to see it on the big screen only because of the 2-3 year delay.

Of course in Soviet Union it had to be worse than that.

The trilogy was initially available only on the black market as pirate VHS(?) copies. Years later the trilogy was shown in Soviet TV as 5-part TV series (much as original George's concept, LOL!). The movie(s) had premiere in USSR cinemas in 1990 and that year also applies to the poster shown above.



I'm dying to hear your comments

P.S.: oh, and one more thing: I'm not an expert, but I guess the correct pronunciation is "zvyezdnye vayny"

P.P.S.: oh, another important thing I noticed on the poster - hats off to the "reds" for naming the movie genre as "cosmic [=space] western". much more appropriate than bland "science-fiction"
Post
#247603
Topic
Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader - The Wookie Conundrum
Time
LOL, am I watching a now-famous scene from "Clerks" right now? "those poor contract workers blown up with the destruction of DS2"?

If we're talking about DS1, all forced labor was wiped out when the penal colony planet Despayre was destroyed in DS1 weapon test. This was also to ensure the secrecy of the project (you never know when one of those scumbags escapes from the prison, going straight to the rebels to tell them DS1 construction details... ).

I would actually agree with canofhumdingers, that slaves were used only in the process of collecting/hauling raw materials needed for construction. Even DS2 was in a stage when only experienced specialists and qualified personel can finish the job.

But... remember this is just a movie! With two-sided comic book morals. Whole world is black or white: bad guys are super-evil-bombad, while good guys are next-to-a-saint-goodie-goodie. Nobody wonders about men conscripted to Imperial military service against their will (where would you get so many tallented rebel officers such like H.Solo, Carlist Riekan, Crix Madine, heck even Ackbar was Tarkin's pesonal aide/servant), who get shot on rebellion's path of wanton destruction... they simply didn't have the chance to defect to the good side... and rebel interdiction raids on Imperial shipping? Not all freighters are automated vessels, so think about rebel-wannabe pilots such as Biggs Darklighter blown up to chunks by proton torpedos fired by some happy X-Wing driver "on a holy mission"... I'm sure the Empire portrayed those attacks in its own media as acts of terrorism

...but don't forget folks... that's what you get for... for being geeky!
Post
#245254
Topic
LEC games: X-Wing, TIE Fighter...
Time
First of all - don't ask why am I making this poll - maybe I simply had another sudden train of thoughts about "my perfect SW game" while playing KotOR

This poll is only for those of you who played BOTH the classic X-Wing & TIE Fighter games (or their Win95 collector's re-release - doesn't matter) AND the later X-Wing vs TIE Fighter & X-Wing: Alliance. All Larry Holland's babies.

This poll is NOT about "which game is/looks better", because newer games will always look better, while nostalgia makes oldies feel better. What I'm asking about is
how combat (dogfights) is handled in regards to speed & maneuverability.


There is a major difference between X-W & T/F and the latter X-WvsT/F & X-W:A. X-WvsT/F introduced a change in a way how the fighter turns - it was now important to set the right throttle (approx. 50%) in order to make tighter turns. Your starfighter was less agile while at idle or max throttle setting.

What was the effect of this change is that the starfighters were often making low-speed dogfights, literally turning around each other (since there's "match target's speed" button). If we compare it to the movies, the fighters in the flicks seem to suffer from inertia to some degree and can't make UFO-like turns. If they could, those TIE Interceptors which crashed in ROTJ (in hot pursuit after a rebel pray) could quickly set throttle to 50% (because change in maneuverability was dependant on the throttle setting, NOT actual speed, which decreased/increased with some realistic delay) and avoid crashing. I like it the way it's portrayed in the movies - the combat looks more like between contemporary jets, rather than between some extraterrestial anti-grav powered gizmos

We could argue like geeks about "which system is more realistic when it comes to the SW universe", but let's be frank - it's all about personal preferences and playability. I hated the new system, because in old games I was "teh mastah", while I started to suck major time, especially in X-W:A

P.S.: too bad that LucasArts "does not accept unsolicited work", otherwise I'd have few interesting concepts for them...
Post
#232871
Topic
computer games - voice acting
Time
Thanks hairy_hen, now that you reminded me I vividly remember how happy I was when I recognized the real Lando's voice in game. Such thing really adds to game experience, IMHO. And familiar names on the box would surely increase sales.

Good point about Mark, too. Not only he does a lot of voice acting, but he often does that for games. Even if we exclude the "Wing Commander" series from the list, the other titles would be such big selling hits such as "Call of Duty 2", "Soldier of Fortune 2" or "Icewind Dale - Heart of Winter".

Another actor who graced "Monopoly Star Wars" game was Anthony Daniels... speaking of which... the whole concept - weird as it may be - could be used better. Vader buying hotels? ...on Hoth? C'mon! I'd rather play Lando character instead, competing with other "shady businessmen" from Star Wars universe: smugglers, Hutts... Chance cards could include events such as "Imperial blockade" or "you have been caught with contraband onboard". "Go-to-jail" should be replaced by "Imperial Detention Center" etc. Oh nevermind...

After all, what am I talking about? If radio dramas had completely different cast... why treat the games seriously then... ehh...

And I'd still claim that the investment in those names would nicely pay off as promotional effect - more people would buy a game featuring a real SW-movie star, even be it only as a voice-over.

EDIT: Oh, should I mention that "Monopoly Star Wars" was released by... Hasbro?
Post
#232605
Topic
computer games - voice acting
Time
Yup, another rant is coming... but you've got to forgive me, I've got a high fever for some time now and I feel like sh....

For all the time I was buying LEC "STAR WARS"-themed games (which were always expensive here, even when compared with other titles) I couldn't stop wondering why I can't get the *real* Darth Vader's voice in cinematics. If we start checking from the earliest 1990s games such as "X-Wing" or "Dark Forces" (oh man, those were *THE* games...) we can see that Vader's voice was dubbed by Scott Lawrence. This lead me to guesstimate that maybe James Earl Jones may be too expensive or just doesn't want to work with such new medium like computer games (I hate the term "video games" - well maybe that'd be true for consoles) being rather a veteran actor...

I digged up today some old game, which featured a trailer/making of doc for Westwood's "Command & Conquer - Tiberian Sun". And suddenly who do I see? Familiar face of JEJ, in a fancy USARMY-style uniform. (I dumped the series after "Command & Conquer", so I'm not familiar with "Red Alert" or "Tiberian Sun"). It turned out that James Earl Jones appeared in a computer game. But that's not all - his voice was again used for making Vader real in... "Star Wars Monopoly"! Oh c'mon! Monopoly? It's a good game, but putting Star Wars characters in it is ridiculous! And to think that the *only* SW-themed LEC game featuring JEJ as the voice of DV is "Monopoly"...

Oh well, enough complaining for today. If anyone's interested, here's another actor who dubbed numerous characters in SW-themed LEC games: Nick Jameson. Gamers will easily recognize him as in-game Palpatine.
Post
#224712
Topic
The AT-ST - sound effects request
Time
In that case I take back my first sentence from my previous post

Those come from "Jedi Outcast" ("Jedi Academy" would use the same, no doubts to that). And I would bet that LEC used the same clips for previous "Jedi Knight" (extracting them could be tricky). No luck with "Behind the Magic" documentary discs either. I'm afraid that's all I could do. Anyway, good luck on your project.

BTW: there were at least two popular series of games (i.e. "Mechwarrior") - some sort of a simulator - dedicated to huge walking "robots". Too bad that LEC never made an AT-ST / AT-AT simulator (I don't mean arcade shooter like the "Battlegrounds", but a game more like "X-Wing").
Post
#224341
Topic
Jokes thread : Reloaded
Time
LOL, this one gave me a good laugh, so I decided to "convert" it to English (although I'll bet there's already an English version of this joke, but I haven't seen it yet).


Did one of your friends (because we don't have the need to do this, do we? ) ever tried to *akhem* find the right activation code (serial) required to install given copy of a game/program? The problem is solved now! The programers had left a "backdoor" in the activation procedure - there is an universal code to activate all programs/games! Lo and behold:

8UY0-R1G1-N4LC-0PY5-UCK3R

Remember to type it correctly, it's case sensitive
Post
#223086
Topic
Should Wedge have been tried for cowardice?
Time
You know what, this is going to be changed in yet-another-revision of the no-longer-original trilogy when we'll see Wedge's CGI X-Wing making a wild turn and strafing Vader's attack group. No need to include Han's character after that, so next..... oops! I'm going too far this time

Looks that at least some of you know a bit about starfighters in Star Wars - Wedge was hit in his engines when he lost rear shields, this way he was loosing speed (even assuming that R2 units temporarily overcharged their thrusters for the purpose of trench run) and could not go on with Luke.

What is funny, though, is that he *asked* Luke for permission. Luke was also leading the 3-fighter element. I don't know much about the chain of command in that pitful rebel band but I expected that "Red 2" (Wedge) would be the second in command after "Red Leader". Luke was "Red 5".

[translation for non-geeks: Lucas' movies are messed up, as usual]

LOL, guys, c'mon: Wedge is really a cool-yet-quiet character, sort of a real hero in contrast to those who always seek the glory and fame. And he's the only thing I envy Ewan McGregor
Post
#222712
Topic
Should Princess Leia have gotten a medal in A New Hope?
Time
Pard'n me, and since when the Kalidor Crescent is Alderaanian?
Maybe Leia would've to actually fly a starfighter in order to get one?

So why Chewie didn't get one? (in the movie, he actually gets it in the novelization!) The official story behind this was that "Wookies are too proud to wear awards" or something like that. But hey, it's Lucas' Star Wars, remember? It had to be changed!
The fact that Chewbacca apparently does not receive a medal in the concluding ceremony in A New Hope bothered many fans. This was corrected outside regular Star Wars continuity, after a fashion in 1997, when Chewbacca won the Lifetime Achievement Award at the MTV Movie Awards. Chewbacca, played by Peter Mayhew, appeared on stage to a standing ovation and was given a medal from Carrie Fisher. It should be noted that in the novelization of A New Hope (ghostwritten by Alan Dean Foster, credited to George Lucas), Leia did give Chewbacca a medal, but she had to strain to do so.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chewbacca
Try to google for the clip from that ceremony.

Now, I've got an even better question: why we never saw Wedge to get a medal? Or Lando? Or the other pilot surviving the Death Star attack run?
Post
#219822
Topic
Lucasfilm to sell Physical Effects Unit
Time
Originally posted by: ricarleite
Yet this reminds me of Lucasarts pulling the plug on Sam and Max 2 and Full Throttle 2 just to concentrate on doing Star Wars related games. It's understandable yet SAD and PATHETIC beyond recognition.

What's even worse is that their SW-related games became inferior as well. Where are the times when "X-Wing" and "Dark Forces" rocked the world?

Speaking about the models - the old AMT/ERTL plastic model kits were of rather poor quality (mold, scale problems, manuals), yet at least they were full blown model kits - and now I found EIII models which are already pre-painted and parts only need to be snapped together... WTF? Did they forget about the real modelers out there? On the other hand, Japanese or low-run US kits are quite expensive...

And I wanted that darned Republican Destroyer in my collection
Post
#217924
Topic
BEAUTIFUL WOMEN NEW RULES IN FIRST POST (NSFW) UPDATED RULES
Time
Originally posted by: Darth Simon
Alexandra Vandernoot

Tessa! yum, yum!


* * *


And today in my Self-Taught Anthropologist's Quest to Find Beautiful Women I've noticed another foxy lady: while watching an old corny TV series ("Jake and the Fatman", to be exact ) the actress who played the villain caught my attention. It's
Bonnie Burroughs. It looks that she's primarily a TV actress. The problem is that I couldn't find her pics online - anyone's willing to help?
http://www.bethsdayspage.com/days/WATN/bburroughs.jpg

BTW: she's a natural brunette, so my post conforms to the rules
Post
#211883
Topic
Skype
Time
Originally posted by: PSYCHO_DAYV
BUT I HAVE TO GET A MICROPHONE FOR MY MAC MINI FIRST.

BTW, (for those who are new to that Skype thing) it also has a built-in chat function, just in case you want to tell something to your buddy in a silent way
My lousy local network (firewalls gallore etc.) often forces me to fall back to it...