Sojourn

JarHead413 said:

Definitely not out of line, everyone can agree it's not a contest.  I'd just feel most comfortable making a donation I can afford somewhat relative to the total $ Ady needs (if he wants to give out that info)

Along the same lines, is there any donation that would be considered too small, Ady, or is anything and everything helpful? Also, is there any way of donating that minimizes a Paypal cut taken out, and maximizes the funds given to you?

Take care,
Sojourn

Beautiful work, Ady -- this is not just a good effects shot, it's art. I can't wait to see it in motion!

Also, interesting note on McQuarrie -- I didn't know he was in that scene!

All the best,
Sojourn

ChainsawAsh said:

Do you have a link to that article?  I'm intrigued by the quotes ...

The article cited above is here, and the list of all episode recaps is here.

Enjoy,
Sojourn

C3PX said:

That last episode was awesomness! I called the ending the minute Sayid said he now knew why he returned to the island, it is exactly the way I would have written it myself (if I were privillaged enough to write for such a show).

This season has been great. The closest thing to a perfect run they have had so far. If they can just keep it up for the last few episodes...

I have no doubt that they will -- no reason why they wouldn't. Just goes to show what can be accomplished when writers have a fully thought out vision, and are given the time to execute it (they just finished writing the finale a week ago, and it's not going to be aired for another six weeks or so).

I didn't see the ending coming, though in retrospect, it makes sense, given how the flashbacks showed just how much more reason Sayid has to hate Ben. I didn't expect him to do it, though, if just because of Faraday's rule of not being able to change the past. It looks like the writers just changed everything, again -- just as the season 3 finale ("Through the Looking Glass") fundamentally changed the paradigm for the show, this episode redefines what is and is not possible within the show's storyline. As this blog post put it:

Zap2It said:

Ben sees their chance to escape, but Sayid’s plans are not about escape: he’s there to kill Ben. “You were right about me…I am a killer.” Oh well, since it didn’t happen, it can’t happen, so naturally the gun misfires and…wait. Holy sh$t. Sayid just killed Ben. Repeat: Sayid just killed Ben. That sound you heard were millions of jaws dropping.

There are a lot places one can go with what happened, but I think the article puts it well:

Zap2It said:

First up: we can finally put to rest any notion that we can use the words of Daniel Faraday as a Bible upon which we can swear. Sayid’s bullet is where theory met practice and ripped it to shreds as it passed through its heart. Once upon a time, Ben was a very patient boy that on one birthday killed his father while enabling/executing the Purge, but for some reason, that bit of history is gone, at least from the timeline in which Sayid and company now find themselves.

The biggest question? How can Ben have died in 1977 yet still be around in the present day? Don’t know, and it’s not that I don’t care so much as I’m willing to let the show try and explain that little factoid. What’s important is this: the suggestion in last week’s episode that the Island upon which Lapidus crash-lands Ajira 316 has a different history from 1977-2008 than it did before Ben Linus turned the donkey wheel.

It's an interesting read; I discovered this site a few months ago, and have enjoyed reading the episode reviews each week to supplement my own musings on the show. Not like my friends and I haven't had enough to discuss after this last episode . . .

Take care,
Sojourn

C3PX said:

Oh yeah, I was very much joking about the Alpert statue thing, and I actually didn't mean to suggest that it might be a statue of Alpert, but rather a product of his race of ancient four toed people ;)

It all makes sense now!!!! ;-)

Take care,
Sojourn

C3PX said:

Nobody around here really seems to care too much about this show

Not only do I love the show, but I'm loving it more and more all the time. As I said, this season has been fantastic!

That's awesome, about the "Hoth" title; the creators of the show are big self-proclaimed SW fans, so it's neat that they're working it in like that (there have been a bunch of other SW references throughout the series -- one of my favorites was when Sawyer referred to Jin and Michael (during the building of the raft) as Han and Chewie).

Take care,
Sojourn

P.S.

C3PX said:

I wonder how many toes Ricardo Alpert has?

I'm guessing you were joking about this, C3PX, but just in case -- the writers already confirmed that the statue is not of Richard Alpert. ;-)

adywan said:

Looking beautiful, ady. These have gotten me even more excited than the video clips have! I love the backgrounds and colors of Bespin -- like a previous poster said, I can't believe the DVDs were quite so bad -- they look downright unwatchable next to yours.

Also, out of curiosity -- why did you flip the Executor bridge shot (minus the section in the middle, with Vader)?

As always, thanks for sharing! These are awesome.

All the best,
Sojourn

Sluggo said:

No.  That is when the rough cut scene was released on the Behind the Magic CD-ROM.  Or maybe it was '98.  Feels like ancient history, when ever it was.

Oh, gotcha. It was 1998, according to Wikipedia. I remember really wanting it back in the day, but I didn't have the money for it, and I don't think my computer was prepared to handle the minimum requirements at the time. :-)

Wasn't there a project to try to extract and preserve everything and put it out on DVD here, especially since newer systems wouldn't play it right? I'd love to have a copy of that if it ever came to fruition.

Take care,
Sojourn

Sluggo said:

Yup, since about 1997. 

Wait, are you saying that this was changed for the SE, and it was the flipper in the OT? I don't have my DVDs here at work to check, but I'm pretty sure it was the hand all along . . .

Take care,
Sojourn

Octorox said:

So did anyone know that the "flipper" was actually originally in there.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcOeKwvNJ0w

Huh. That's interesting -- while I think the way this turned out was for the best, it's interesting to see that GL meant for it to be the flipper from the beginning, as opposed to making what we decided was a continuity error by oversight. Maybe he came to the same conclusion we did, that the flipper would just feel too out of place? In any case, thanks for sharing!

Take care,
Sojourn

ChainsawAsh said:

Anyone else wish they would've been able to inspect that statue a little more closely before Locke turned that wheel?

Haha, oh, yes. When they showed it, I wasn't able to contain myself from shouting "YES!", but then, of course, came the flash . . .

Take care,
Sojourn

Josh said:

Why can't he have a hug too?

Oh, don't worry -- he more than deserves a few of those, too. :-)

Take care,
Sojourn

Josh said:

This man needs a man hug! AMAZING job.

For some reason, I read this as "This man needs a JOB!" -- which is true, that ady should be hired for his effects work.

Take care,
Sojourn

adywan said:

Sojourn said:

5) There appears to be something of a continuity error. At 00:31, when the shot changes, the crackling has pretty much subsided from the two blasts we see hit the SD in the first, frontal shot; but when it changes to the rear three-quarters view, there's some electricity going on the left side of the ship that wasn't there before the angle changed. Since there wasn't another blast coming, and the crackling down that side of the ship seemed to have subsided, the cut doesn't flow right, at least not to me. Perhaps continuing the electrical activity down that side a little longer in the first shot would fix this?

6) I like the flickering of the engine lights on the SD as it's going down, but they seem to be flickering in a pattern. It works, overall, but I found myself wondering whether they would do so in such an organized way, or if the flickering would be more random (I realize, however, that as the camera pans, the pattern allows for more engine flickering to be seen as the SD disappears offscreen).

I did fix that error that is in the original but me being too quick to get this clip finished & uploaded i omitted a few layers. the continuity will be correct in the final version

The flickering of the lights were like that in the original. there wasn't much i could do about that because it started to look odd when merged with the original elements.

I figured the continuity thing might have been something like that. Good to know you have it under control (as always), and that what we're seeing here doesn't even completely show us what we'll see in the final product! Very exciting times . . .

Take care,
Sojourn

I am loving this season so far -- they've put their foot on the gas pedal and haven't let up yet. The denseness of every episode, while making it difficult as always to wait a week in between episodes, has given us a lot more to think about during the week, and makes each hour that much more satisfying.

C3PX said:

I would have really liked to have seen a traditional flashback episode for Rousseau. She was an important enough character for the first four seasons that she most definitely deserved one.

I think they were going to have one last season, but due to the writers' strike-shortened season, it was one of the things that got cut. It's been interesting to see how they've incorporated elements of the show like that this season -- especially by incorporating our main characters into those storylines. For example, the writers said we'd be learnig more about the Dharma Initiative this season, but I didn't expect that would be from Sawyer, Juliet, Jin, Miles, etc. being worked into it.

Anyway, awesome stuff, and I can't wait to see more!

Take care,
Sojourn

Looking nifty, ady. A few things I noticed, if I may:

1) The other turret is back, though in what looks to be a different perspective than originally. This changes what the terrain looks like, but since you've already overtly done that, it works. It'll just take some getting used to.

2) I love the electric crackling as the cannon gears up to fire each blast. That looks great, and furthers the look you're going for in the bolts themselves.

3) Noticed the X-Wing getting blown up in front of the transport (a cool touch, but it felt like a bit of an afterthought, personally -- maybe just because at that point, you can't see any other ships but the transport). Is this a sign of more ship casualties/skirmishes to come in the final version? ;-)

4) I like what you've done with the ion blasts hitting the Star Destroyer -- the way the blasts interact with the ship looks really good (you've done a great job with the interactive lighting, too). However . . .

5) There appears to be something of a continuity error. At 00:31, when the shot changes, the crackling has pretty much subsided from the two blasts we see hit the SD in the first, frontal shot; but when it changes to the rear three-quarters view, there's some electricity going on the left side of the ship that wasn't there before the angle changed. Since there wasn't another blast coming, and the crackling down that side of the ship seemed to have subsided, the cut doesn't flow right, at least not to me. Perhaps continuing the electrical activity down that side a little longer in the first shot would fix this?

6) I like the flickering of the engine lights on the SD as it's going down, but they seem to be flickering in a pattern. It works, overall, but I found myself wondering whether they would do so in such an organized way, or if the flickering would be more random (I realize, however, that as the camera pans, the pattern allows for more engine flickering to be seen as the SD disappears offscreen).

Anyway, just some thoughts; I love what you're doing, and it's great to see a new clip! Keep up the great work, and as always, let me know if there's anything I can do to help. :-)

Take care,
Sojourn

P.S. I'm loving the 720p resolution. :-)

Octorox said:

Sojourn said:

Yes, that TPM scene sounds right (it's been a while since I watched the deleted scenes, but that rings a bell), and the special-ness of Fisto's lightsaber is backed up here. Though the point about Obi-Wan on Kamino is an interesting one -- perhaps his new saber was also modified, as per the article, to remain functional in the heavy rain?

The idea of steam coming from water-on-saber is an interesting one dramatically, used well in the 2D Clone Wars series when Anakin is fighting Ventress. The thing about using that series as canon, however, is that while there are some ties to the films (how the third season was used to directly tie in to ROTS, for example), there are many examples of scenes that don't seem reasonable to insert into canon -- for example, Mace Windu taking out an entire Separatist ship by himself (awesome, awesome sequence, by the way -- just not necessarily canon), Obi-Wan blocking flame-thrower fire with his hand/the Force, or Obi-Wan riding a speeder/jumping up a 50-story building. These were really cool scenes, and worked well from an entertainment standpoint, but I don't know if they're meant to be considered the official word on Jedi capabilities. :-)

 

Take care,

Sojourn

 

P.S. Aha! From later in the article: "A lightsaber blade was a massless form that neither radiated heat nor expended energy until it came into contact with something solid." This would explain the molten blast door, but also fit in with the Shadows of the Empire explanation.

 

 TFU had far more imporabable feats than that and I think GL calls that canon

That's an interesting point. When there are more stylized interpretations and presentations of SW stories, where is the line drawn when it comes to canon -- is just the story canon, is the presentation canon, or both? TFU is actually a great example -- since there are different ways it can go (based not only on your individual movements (do you kill that stormtrooper first, or last?), or possible storylines (from what I know, there are multiple endings to the game), which is considered canon? If there are different ways the game can end, by definition, not all can be canon.

I see the presentation of these story ideas as interpretive, and therefore secondary to the storylines they're trying to convey when it comes to canon-icity. Lucas may not have ever put Obi-Wan zooming up a fifty-story building in the films, but in the medium of a stylized animation, that can work, and what really matters is that he's getting to talk with his chief soldier to step up a military operation, not the particulars of how high he can jump (at that point, the coolness of the stylized jump is more entertaining, so it is done that way).

. . . but I'm rambling. :-) While I know this isn't directly relevant to any specific edits we're discussing adywan making, it's an interesting discussion that is relevant to the overall attitude toward changes that are being made. So I apologize if all this feels off-topic, but I think it's still important to talk about.

Best,

Sojourn

Sluggo said:

Sojourn said:

 article: "A lightsaber blade was a massless form that neither radiated heat nor expended energy until it came into contact with something solid." This would explain the molten blast door, but also fit in with the Shadows of the Empire explanation.

We are way off topic with all this, but that doesn't make any sense.  How could a lightsaber deflect another lightsaber when they are both massless?

According to the article: "When cutting through dense material, the immense electromagnetic field generated by the arc causes resistance rather than letting solid matter enter and interrupt the arc. This gives the blade a feeling of being solid when immersed in dense material. Rarely, some solid materials can actually pass through the electromagnetic field and short out the arc. Other Electromagnetic energy fields and coherent energy are also repelled by lightsabers' arcs. These include most force fields, blaster bolts, and other lightsaber blades."

In simpler terms (which still fit in with the above): I had always thought of it as: lightsabers are made of pure energy. This energy can cut through anything other than something else made of pure energy (another lightsaber, blaster bolts, etc.). The energy is also massless (like electricity), which is why lightsaber blades have no weight, and all the weight of a saber is in the handle/emitter.

FYI, this all started by being on-topic, because we were talking about the scene where Luke cuts himself free from the Wampa cave, and whether cutting through the ice should create steam or not. ;-)

Take care,

Sojourn

lordjedi said:

Octorox said:

The 2D Clone Wars shows a lightsaber actually boiling the water around it underwater but again that isn't canon.

If I'm not mistaken, that lightsaber was made special to be able to operate underwater.  Isn't there a cut scene from TPM where Qui-Gon berates Obi-Wan for getting his lightsaber wet, causing it to "short out"?  That's the reason he was running from the STAP.

Yes, that TPM scene sounds right (it's been a while since I watched the deleted scenes, but that rings a bell), and the special-ness of Fisto's lightsaber is backed up here. Though the point about Obi-Wan on Kamino is an interesting one -- perhaps his new saber was also modified, as per the article, to remain functional in the heavy rain?

The idea of steam coming from water-on-saber is an interesting one dramatically, used well in the 2D Clone Wars series when Anakin is fighting Ventress. The thing about using that series as canon, however, is that while there are some ties to the films (how the third season was used to directly tie in to ROTS, for example), there are many examples of scenes that don't seem reasonable to insert into canon -- for example, Mace Windu taking out an entire Separatist ship by himself (awesome, awesome sequence, by the way -- just not necessarily canon), Obi-Wan blocking flame-thrower fire with his hand/the Force, or Obi-Wan riding a speeder/jumping up a 50-story building. These were really cool scenes, and worked well from an entertainment standpoint, but I don't know if they're meant to be considered the official word on Jedi capabilities. :-)

Take care,

Sojourn

P.S. Aha! From later in the article: "A lightsaber blade was a massless form that neither radiated heat nor expended energy until it came into contact with something solid." This would explain the molten blast door, but also fit in with the Shadows of the Empire explanation.

ThrowgnCpr said:

well, how would ice react when put into contact with something as hot as a lightsaber?  I think some ice falling would help, but I am sure some would also turn to a gas, and this could create a little cloud.

While there's some debate about this (especially with some more recent EU stuff), lightsabers didn't originally give off heat. For example, in Shadows of the Empire (which while EU, was a media campaign by Lucas set between ESB and ROTJ), when Luke is building his lightsaber, and he tests it for the first time, he holds the blade right next to his hand to see if it gives off any heat, stating that if it did, there would be something wrong with it. At the same time, lightsabers have been seen to make burn marks when cutting into things, melting the metal of blast doors in TPM, etc. They only sometimes cause steam/smoke when coming in contact with flesh (and therefore moisture). As you can see, accounts are inconsistent, but there's no definite proof from the films that a lightsaber generates heat, or that when coming into contact with moisture, that it would create steam (the way a red-hot piece of metal would, for example). One could even argue (and some SW books have) that a lightsaber would actually short out when coming into contact with water, since it's an energy beam, not a physical object.

Also, on the topic of radio drama dialogue: I really liked what ady did with the Biggs line in ANH:R, but as with everything else in this edit, we should be cautious about adding stuff just for the sake of adding it, or because we can. For example, while adding that line from the beginning of the duel might make it more "complete", it doesn't necessarily work from a character/story perspective, at least not for me. That moment is such a wonderfully ominous one, with Vader appearing at the top of the stairs, completely in control of the situation. Luke giving a snappy, bordering-on-flippant response undermines the emotional impact of the scene, which is rooted in the fear that Vader instills. Anyway, those are just my thoughts -- what do you think?

Take care,

Sojourn

Monroville said:

Ladies and Gents, we are forgetting something here:

There is a completely different thread for all of this ANH:R stuff!  The past 20 PAGES have been about ANH:R!  While I feel the same way and love the edit, there is a different place to:

(1) spread the love

(2) ask for download links, references, clues, etc

(3) discuss any problems with edit, downloading said edit, etc.

This is supposed to be strickly regarding the EMPIRE STRIKES BACK: REVISITED edit and suggestions as to how to do that edit if Ady wants to consider them (by strickly I mean how a football stadium is strickly for football: still plenty of room to move around in, but still all about football or some other sporting activity other than racing cars).

Again, I know I'm being an ass here, but the bigger this thread gets with things unrelated to what it is supposed to be, the harder it is going to be for Ady to sift through the posts and check them out.  Save the JEDI:REVISITED stuff for that thread when it's posted AFTER EMPIRE:REVISITED is finished and available for download. 

And Vaderios!  Where've you been!  We miss you!

FYI, this is actually the ANH:R thread -- check the title. ;-)

Take care,

Sojourn

EDIT: Hehe, doubleofive beat me to it. :-)

dumb_kid said:

Its kind of like sand... it's irritating, it get's everywhere, though it's not rough... :P 

There's actually someone -- on this forum, in fact -- who gets very bothered by sand . . . something having to do with Wookie outer extremities . . .

Take care,

Sojourn

adywan said:

Nice work -- I was going to say something about this when I saw it, too, and I'm glad that Entropy Ink pointed it out and you liked the suggestion, ady!

Take care,

Sojourn

adywan said:

i'm also going to have the stardestroyer firing at the escaping ships and destroying one of the x-wings before it gets blasted by the ion canon bolts

That's a great idea -- it'll add more drama to the scene, and drive home the plotline that the Rebels are barely escaping from the Imperial assault.

Take care,

Sojourn

That's a pretty awesome breakdown (as usual), Imp! Though, am I the only one who thought he said "so I can concentrate on some last few other little issues scattered throughout the movie from heroin."? ;-)

Take care,

Sojourn