SilverWook

Any witnesses? That kind of thing shouldn't be taken lightly these days.

I was taking imperialscum's comment as justifying Lucas being able to exert directorial control over ESB.

Even then, Kershner was around to give his blessing. Altering a film whose credited director has been dead since 1987 is more of a gray area.

J.J. is Orson Welles compared to Bay.

Listening to the director's commentary track on The Island was almost more painful than the movie itself. ;)

CatBus said:

SilverWook said:

Were there any insiders expressing dismay about TPM back in 1999 though?

The internet rumor mill wasn't what it is now of course.

The only advance warning I got about TPM was a local popular theatre owner who declined to show TPM after they saw a preview screening.  It seemed like a crazy decision at the time--it even warranted a local newspaper story where they essentially were asked to explain themselves, because it was right in the middle of the crazy TPM-buzz-media-blitz, and how can you not show Star Wars?

But I think even if TFA's pretty bad, most people would still show it--even this theatre--because it would draw crowds and money regardless.  It would have to be a real howling dog for it to get the TPM treatment, and I don't really think that's in the cards.  And in the end, TPM (hell, even ROTS!) made fistfuls of money, so it proved that even if the theatre ultimately boosted its reputation by avoiding TPM, they still lost money on that decision.

 I wonder if that fellow regretted the decision? If he's even still in business after that. ;)

DuracellEnergizer said:

Mazes and Monsters (1982) -- D

 The Gorvil would like to have a word with you. ;)

There was a Touchstone Pictures logo in front of Strange Magic, followed by the current Lucasfilm logo.

Hopefully, Williams composed a new fanfare as opposed to what graced the digital releases of the existing films.

Were there any insiders expressing dismay about TPM back in 1999 though?

The internet rumor mill wasn't what it is now of course.

Glad to hear it went well.

Possessed said:

SilverWook said:

I'd sooner hear Rebecca Black's Friday on a 24 hour loop than suffer this song again.

 Or there's this cover version, which is arguably even worse.

It's crap like this that when somebody, unless they are a minimum of 15 years older than me, tells me that they listen to heavy metal, I'm just thinking, "Yeah, I kinda doubt it."

 Does Frink know about this one? ;)

JEDIT:He will soon!

imperialscum said:

SilverWook said:

Shooting second unit does not make one the director of a film.

You are right. However, leading the creative aspects of pre-production and post-production kinda does.

 IIRC, the Director's Guild, (which George had conflicts with and quit of course) has very specific criteria, as the issue of who really directed a film has come up on other productions.

Lucas quitting the DGA is probably what kept Spielberg from ever directing an episode, and limited the pool of directors George could choose from for Jedi. If Marquand was a disaster, it was hushed up out of a fear of bad publicity. With the DGA out of the picture, they could have easily sacked him.

Ray Harryhausen was way more involved with the creative aspects on all his films, but that still doesn't make him the director proper.

You can make the argument that Lucas co-directed Jedi, but not Empire.

Swazzy said:

John Doom said:

Tallguy said:

What are the Verta rumors?

Basically, Mr. Verta said that his insiders working on TFA's effects department think it's not a good movie (and that they said the same of the prequels): after working on it for 3 months, they showed up "depressed", called it ILM (Incredibly Low Morale) and that it's not Star Wars, just another picture. Of course, as Mr. Verta said, they worked on the special effects, so maybe they didn't get the whole picture, who knows. Good to know their opinion too, though.

 Let me play the ultimate devil's advocate here, and say a great deal of people involved in the original Star Wars never thought the movie was good. 

 And some of them are signing autographs at cons. ;)

There are members of this forum who only hold the original film in high regard. And those who think Jedi is the bee's knees.

It's likely there's just as much diversity of opinion in the cubicles of ILM.

Shatner doesn't look too happy to be there. ;)

If all else fails, find out if there's a camera store or some other outfit that does video transfers in your area.

You can always fib you're preserving it for your uncle who worked on the movie, or something. ;)

I think a certain episode of South Park helped Steven see the light. ;)

I'm aware of one small sequence Lucas shot for Empire, as documented in the original making of paperback. (I have not read the more recent book yet.) Lucas helping out behind the camera was out of trying to keep the production on schedule, not from any failings of Kershner.

I would imagine there was a similar situation on the Jedi set.

Shooting second unit does not make one the director of a film.

If it's any consolation, I was tortured by seeing Olaf staring back at me everywhere I go for months before I finally caved in, and watched the film.

And this song that figures in a paint commercial became the earworm from hell for me recently. I have no idea why.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NKLnPaCXpU

I'd sooner hear Rebecca Black's Friday on a 24 hour loop than suffer this song again.

If it was something said in private, it might be best to not discuss it further.

That would tie in with the old Bantha Tracks newsletter where someone let slip Beru was going to be in ROTJ. ;)

I have to wonder if the ILM pipeline is set up in such a way, that nobody is in a position to see more than one or two scenes of the movie?

And aren't they violating NDA's they must have signed even discussing it in vague terms?

I thought donkey scrotum was the standard by which suckitude was measured? ;)

Not too surprising. Back in the day, there were observations that Alec Guinness looked Christlike in the OT. (Or Obi Wan was an analogy.) And he does come back from the dead...

There's one in ROTJ, if you know where to look. ;)

You could get away with a lot more in the confines of a PG rating in the 70's though. Jaws being a good example. ;)

We never saw Vader's TIE again either.

There are plenty of plausible reasons the interceptors were abandoned if they were introduced shorty before the events of ROTJ. The entire production run may have been lost over Endor.