SilverWook

http://www.abevigoda.com/

It's like my old behemoth, once you have an adapter plug you'll be good to go. Radio Shack ought to still carry these if you don't want to buy online.

I never understood why early Pioneer players had 75ohm jacks for direct video output, as I never encountered any monitors with similar video inputs. I'm sure a lot of early adopters accidentally used the wrong jack on initial hookup. ;)

I think it's just whatever works to confuse his enemies. He's donned plenty of male disguises over the years.

Jedi powers would give her a great edge in negotiations, especially if her blood ties with Luke have remained a secret.

Because a Sith can't comprehend that a Jedi could exist after physical death?

Vader even says in ESB that Obi Wan can no longer help Luke. We've never seen a Sith ghost in the movies, so I'm guessing they can't do it.

Most of Mel Brooks' films seem to be open matte as well. The trailer for High Anxiety is full frame and crew shadows can be seen in one shot. The number of open matte films with things that were never meant to be seen is probably huge. Here are a couple I recall from seeing movies one time too many on HBO back in the day.

The Jerk. Microphone visible on the bed below Steve Martin and Bernadette Peters.

Bachelor Party. As a character dangling from bedsheets falls, two stagehands grab the actor from below!

Pee Wee's Big Adventure. The endless bicycle chain gag is ruined, as you can see it's being fed from underneath.

The Shining. The infamous helicopter shadow during the opening scenes.

IIRC, early video transfers of The Muppet Movie reveal a little too much below the waists of Kermit and the gang. The later films were either zoomed in to prevent this on video, or were shot hard matted.

Manhattan has the distinction of being one of the few films never shown in pan and scan on any video format. (I even saw it once on a UHF station with the gray letterbox bars in the late '80's.) The only other one I know of is Joe Dante's Innerspace.

There are a small handful of films squeezed slightly on older video transfers that can properly fill a 16:9 tv with the proper setting today.

bkev said:

SilverWook said:

bkev said:

I tried to watch the Holiday Special last night for the first time in full.  Usually, I tend to skim it.  What a mistake that was.  

Wow.  I was with a few friends who did this to humor me, and one of them loved it.  Well, at least, for some reason he was captured by the Diahann Carroll segment.  Other than that, though, we all hated it.  I mean, I couldn't even ironically enjoy it.  Turned it off halfway through the cartoon.  And yes, for the record, we did use the rifftrax for part of it.

Worst decision I've made this week. 

Turn in your fandom card, and clean out your locker. ;)

I did forget to mention that it does one thing none of the films manages.  The Holiday Special actually deals with the Empire and normal people.  In this regard, the fascist regime we're only told about in the films shines through.  Not only is it fun to watch random Imperial soldiers be dicks to Chewbacca's family, it's interesting to see the propaganda film angle they put on the Cantina scene (OK, I finished it last night...)

I wish that there were still so few commercials on network TV.  For God's sake, it felt like watching Hulu.

That's an interesting point. And Art Carney's character is the kind of Rebel spy or field operative we heard about but never saw in the films.

Still, how many stormtroopers are going to brag back at the barracks they trashed a little kid's room today, and ripped the head off a stuffed Bantha? ;)

As George allegedly hates it so much, (while making a couple merchandising bucks from it on the side) watching it is a moral duty. ;)

It's harder to find something from the 70's Bea Arthur wasn't in.

It's sad how easy fake internet death notices go viral.

On the flip side, thanks to People magazine's premature obit in the 80's, nobody will ever believe it when Abe Vigoda finally goes to big police precinct in the sky.

Cheapo DVD labels stealing other companies restored transfers apparently happens a lot. You would think there would be a less intrusive way to watermark the video signal.

CO said:

DominicCobb said:

Please J.J., don't give Leia a lightsaber.

Or a hamburger, a twinkie, a donut , etc.  ;-)

 

.....

And Sylvester McCoy is giving off a bit of a Weird Al vibe!

BTW, has there ever been an canonical explanation for Commander Maxil looking like the sixth doctor? ;)

I'd be curious to see screencaps from the 007 title sequences, as Maurice Binder did a recomposed "HBO version" for the later Moore films. It's unclear if any of these versions ever made it to home video though. (Or if it was done for Timothy Dalton's two outings.) I had the pan and scan A View to a Kill LD, but the title sequence was letterboxed.

True, but most were not so widely taped and preserved, especially in an age when few people even owned a VCR. (And this is the only one based on a blockbuster film, AFAIK.) A lot of them will probably never be released because of music rights, or the masters could be lost. The liner notes on The Paul Lynde Halloween Special  DVD mention it was mastered from the late comedian's personal copy. It's even more bizarre than the HS.

Part of the allure of the HS is that is was once nigh impossible to see unless you could scrounge up a copy. And a good many people too young to have seen it doubted the bloody thing existed. There were a couple one off specials from Sat AM in the 70's I had little evidence existed before the internet came along.

Bingowings said:

SilverWook said:

captainsolo, can you recommend Gods and Monsters? I've been curious about it.

It makes a great double bill with Ed Wood (1994).

Though those sort of drama/biography things always make me feel uncomfortable especially when they aren't too accurate.

Yeah, Hollywood biopics have always required a dose of salt. I'd been avoiding the movie because I thought it might be too much of a downer, but it's near the top of the unwatched stack since depleting the stuff I saved for Halloween.

DuracellEnergizer said:

I've seen too many truly horrible movies to be fazed by the moderate poorness that is the Holiday Special.

And I saw variety specials back in the day that makes the HS a walk in the park. (Remember those 70's Brady Bunch reunions?) These darn kids know nothing of hell. ;)

bkev said:

I tried to watch the Holiday Special last night for the first time in full.  Usually, I tend to skim it.  What a mistake that was.  

Wow.  I was with a few friends who did this to humor me, and one of them loved it.  Well, at least, for some reason he was captured by the Diahann Carroll segment.  Other than that, though, we all hated it.  I mean, I couldn't even ironically enjoy it.  Turned it off halfway through the cartoon.  And yes, for the record, we did use the rifftrax for part of it.

Worst decision I've made this week. 

Turn in your fandom card, and clean out your locker. ;)

m_s0 said:

SilverWook said:

Speaking of the Rifftrax version....

http://www.rifftrax.com/vod/star-wars-holiday-special

Did they somehow get the rights from Disney?

I'm pretty sure the SWHS was there before Disney, and I don't think they got the rights from Lucas :P

edit: yup, it's been there for at least 5 years.

It's the downloadable version that is new. Previously, you would have only been able to download the rifftrax audio which you would have to sync up with the version of the HS they used. That's how they do a lot of Hollywood turkeys.

captainsolo, can you recommend Gods and Monsters? I've been curious about it.

Another AAISAT promo.

http://youtu.be/Z-N7t3SL-AY

The resemblance to Hartnell is uncanny!

Speaking of the Rifftrax version....

http://www.rifftrax.com/vod/star-wars-holiday-special

Did they somehow get the rights from Disney?

Now I'm wondering if there's the SW equivalent of South America, where lots of former Imperial officers are laying low dreaming of restoring their beloved Empire.

There has to be one deranged former Imp somewhere who has penned a little musical love letter titled Springtime For Palpatine. ;)

DuracellEnergizer said:

 

Darth Balls said:

Just saw this in a old simpsons episode



Source - Season 21 Episode 1

Talk about the pot calling the kettle black. The last fifteen seasons of The Simpsons have been just as bad as - if not worse than - the PT & SEs combined.

 

I would guess enough people are still watching. It's not like Fox is keeping it on the air out of fuzzy nostalgia or anything. ;)

Darth Balls said:

Just saw this in a old simpsons episode

Source - Season 21 Episode 1

Jar Jar reminds me of someone...

Having seen Dark Star on Blu recently, I thought it looked as good as it possibly ever could be, especially since it was filmed on 16mm and blown up to 35mm for theatrical release. (The HD master being a 35mm print.) I had the original DVD release from a decade ago, and that was inferior to the Laserdisc version though.