TK428

towne32 said:

TK428 said:

Even if having the theatrical versions as THE versions again finally means some inconsistencies with the Prequel Trilogy. That’s fine.

What inconsistencies are there, really though? The 2004-11 SEs certainly made some harder links to the PT, but generally weren’t ‘fixing’ things.

There’s the Emperor’s look. But his face doesn’t really look anything like his RoTJ face, even in the SE. And the dialogue kind of breaks the logic of the film’s premise. So, I think that cancels out. There’s Boba’s voice. But developing a different accent is possible. Even two of the three clones shown in Rebels had unique voices, I think.

And to that point, there is already the inconsistency of stuff like Luke saying to Leia “Leia, do you remember your mother? Your real mother?” To which Leia says “Just a little bit. She died when I was very young.” As in - during childbirth? Whoops, George…

Sorry, back on topic. The big one for me is young Anakin as a force ghost at the end of ROTJ. He was good at the end of ROTJ or I should more accurately say, he was “saved” by Luke. Therefore, having Sebastian Shaw as the force ghost makes perfect sense. Having Hayden C. there doesn’t.

My opinions have fluctuated on this topic. I used to think it might be a good idea for Disney to reboot and remake the Prequel Trilogy but then something occurred to me. Whether we like it or not, they do exist. They happened. A rather large generation of kids grew up on them as their introduction to STAR WARS. Most certainly as those kids age into adults they will probably take a critical view of those three films and largely embrace the Original Trilogy.

As I say, the Prequel Trilogy does exist, they happened. And just as much as we have all hated the changes that were made to the Original Trilogy and dearly want to have easy access to the theatrical versions of those films (furthermore, making the theatrical films THE films again would be nice); there are likely some Prequel Trilogy fans or, forgive me, “apologists” that would scoff at the idea of blowing them up and starting over. And out of respect (albeit a slight thread) for those films and their admirers, I would like them to just be.

Ideally, in another 5-10 years (perhaps much sooner), the theatrical versions of the Original Trilogy will be re-introduced to the cosmos and the ‘altered’ versions will be treated as what they should be: an alternate viewing experience. Even if having the theatrical versions as THE versions again finally means some inconsistencies with the Prequel Trilogy. That’s fine. It doesn’t all have to be nice and neat and have a through-line that makes perfect sense. If people want that, they can go watch STAR TREK.

It’s very real. All magnetic tape deteriorates with time and must be baked to keep the tape from flaking or dropping out. This is the case for multi-track master tapes (records) and television broadcast (video/audio).

Audio engineers have done it for all of your favorite records master tapes, I imagine. Even if they have been digitized I imagine they try and preserve the original tapes for posterity.

Watching the press conferences and the numbers press junkets online I did come up with what I thought might be an answerable and perhaps interesting question. At least, it’s interesting to me. Some of these questions are death.

Question: Did someone besides Lawrence Kasdan or JJ Abrams write the opening crawl?

It’s fairly well known that Brian De Palma wrote and re-shaped what George had originally written for the SW77.

joefavs said:

Packaging for a new Rey action figure that seems to confirm that Finn carrying the Skywalker saber is misdirection:

I don’t think this rules out Finn being Force-sensitve or becoming a Jedi; I’d guess he’d probably need to have some aptitude to be able to make any use at all of a lightsaber. On the flip side of that, though, I’ve seen a lot of people elsewhere on the internet (who presumably haven’t been following this as closely as us) despairing about Finn wielding the saber because they’re convinced it means Rey won’t be a Jedi. It sounds like a ridiculous idea because everything that’s been revealed points to her being the main focus of the film, but it’s a thing people actually seem to be worried about.

Also, some of Ralph McQuarrie’s original concept art for Star Wars had stormtroopers wielding lightsabers. So, perhaps, in the world of TFA stormtroopers have been trained in the ways of that ancient weapon.

Here’s GL’s money quote from the Kennedy Center Honors ceremony in Washington D.C. when asked about having seen “The Force Awakens”:

"I think the fans are going to love it. It’s very much the kind of movie they’ve been looking for."

Hey guys, I’ve just recently downloaded the AVCHD of SW and TESB, the .iso versions, but I’m having issues trying to burn them to a DVD+R DL on my Macbook. Trying to use Disc Utility, that’s a non-starter…it errors before I even start.

I’m presume the majority of users here are Windows, but if there are any Mac users on here that have had success burning these please relay your process to me.

Thanks in advance.

towne32 said:

Anchorhead said:

DuracellEnergizer said:

Bosk said:

there was a reason Fox only wanted the middle part of his saga, even then they realised the rest of it was weak.

Except there was no “middle part” of any saga back then. That’s just Lucasian revisionism.

That’s the most important part of this trolling. It was A film, not some sort of “I had it all planned in the 70s, family saga, 12 films, 9 films, 12 films, 6 films, 9 films, 3 films, father-brother-sister” BS.

If he had it all planned out in the 70s, he wouldn’t have hired Alan Dean Foster to write a second story.

The early drafts of Star Wars films (and the pre-ESB sequel plans) make it unambiguously clear that the idea that he had it all planned as a long saga is false. They made it up as they went, and had a lot of success doing it this way. For a while. It’s silly that some Lucas fans call JJ+Kasden’s work glorified fan fiction. It was always that.

The idea that GL started off in like 1974 or so after “American Graffiti” and had all this crap mapped out is nothing more than a specious legacy enhancement he has churned for a number of years. SW77 was self contained and he left the room for a possible 2nd film with an ambiguous ending for Darth. That’s the only thing I’ll grant the man.

SW77 is The Hero’s Journey, that hero being Luke Skywalker. I never will ever buy the whole thing that the saga is about the rise, fall and redemption of Anakin Skywalker. The OT is about Luke Skywalker - period. GL decided to use the PT to then retcon elements of the OT which in my mind is the biggest shame of the PT.

Rant over.

I had never heard this story before but I do find it to be a very interesting bit SW trivia. I cannot though, personally, imagine anyone other than Sir Alec playing Ben Kenobi.

joefavs said:

Here’s JJ’s non-spoilery interview with AOL if anyone’s interested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Ekui0QWaCA

Just watching that myself. Awesome interview, love the long form sit downs.

Terrific interview with Lawrence Kasdan in the L.A. Times.

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/herocomplex/la-ca-hc-star-wars-lawrence-kasdan-20151206-story.html

timdiggerm said:

TK428 said:

timdiggerm said:

TK428 said:

It’s probably nothing at all but Adam Driver appeared on the Tonight Show w/Jimmy Fallon last night and when Fallon was talking about his character he said “you play Kylo Ren” and Driver interjected “or Ren Kylo” and then Fallon made a joke about looking him up in a phone book (e.g. Ren, Kylo vs. Kylo, Ren).

I have had a long held suspicion that maybe, just maybe, Ren is Driver’s actual name. And that Kylo is just a title or a total misdirection by Abrams. I know there’s a ton of toys out there and promotional material that says “Kylo Ren” but I can’t help but thing in some way or another Abrams is messing with us (which I LOVE). I want to be surprised.

Abrams has a history of doing this with other projects. most notably the still unseen by me (I don’t dig Star Trek) Star Trek Into Darkness film where he went so far as to publicize a specific character as being “John Harrison” when in actuality the character was Khan. It’s not such a stretch to think that Abrams would do this in Star Wars.

Ren/Rey Solo twins? Kylo some sort of anagram for Skywalker/Solo? Obviously I have too much time on my hands, back to work.

Given that he’s Kylo Ren because he joined The Knights of Ren, the potential switcheroo is just a question of if the title should be a prefix (as with “Darth”) or a suffix (as with, apparently, “Ren”).

Right. But what if the ‘Knights of Ren’ title is a complete ruse?

http://www.ew.com/article/2015/08/12/star-wars-force-awakens-kylo-ren/2

There comes a point where, although we could doubt all information as ruses, it’s just pointless to do so?

You’re probably right. I know there is a ‘mystery box’ in the film somewhere though, probably multiple.

timdiggerm said:

TK428 said:

It’s probably nothing at all but Adam Driver appeared on the Tonight Show w/Jimmy Fallon last night and when Fallon was talking about his character he said “you play Kylo Ren” and Driver interjected “or Ren Kylo” and then Fallon made a joke about looking him up in a phone book (e.g. Ren, Kylo vs. Kylo, Ren).

I have had a long held suspicion that maybe, just maybe, Ren is Driver’s actual name. And that Kylo is just a title or a total misdirection by Abrams. I know there’s a ton of toys out there and promotional material that says “Kylo Ren” but I can’t help but thing in some way or another Abrams is messing with us (which I LOVE). I want to be surprised.

Abrams has a history of doing this with other projects. most notably the still unseen by me (I don’t dig Star Trek) Star Trek Into Darkness film where he went so far as to publicize a specific character as being “John Harrison” when in actuality the character was Khan. It’s not such a stretch to think that Abrams would do this in Star Wars.

Ren/Rey Solo twins? Kylo some sort of anagram for Skywalker/Solo? Obviously I have too much time on my hands, back to work.

Given that he’s Kylo Ren because he joined The Knights of Ren, the potential switcheroo is just a question of if the title should be a prefix (as with “Darth”) or a suffix (as with, apparently, “Ren”).

Right. But what if the ‘Knights of Ren’ title is a complete ruse?

It’s probably nothing at all but Adam Driver appeared on the Tonight Show w/Jimmy Fallon last night and when Fallon was talking about his character he said “you play Kylo Ren” and Driver interjected “or Ren Kylo” and then Fallon made a joke about looking him up in a phone book (e.g. Ren, Kylo vs. Kylo, Ren).

I have had a long held suspicion that maybe, just maybe, Ren is Driver’s actual name. And that Kylo is just a title or a total misdirection by Abrams. I know there’s a ton of toys out there and promotional material that says “Kylo Ren” but I can’t help but thing in some way or another Abrams is messing with us (which I LOVE). I want to be surprised.

Abrams has a history of doing this with other projects. most notably the still unseen by me (I don’t dig Star Trek) Star Trek Into Darkness film where he went so far as to publicize a specific character as being “John Harrison” when in actuality the character was Khan. It’s not such a stretch to think that Abrams would do this in Star Wars.

Ren/Rey Solo twins? Kylo some sort of anagram for Skywalker/Solo? Obviously I have too much time on my hands, back to work.

Reading practically anything I can get my fingers on these days SW related. Found this article to be very satisfying, just as a film fan, to know that Abrams is aiming so high with his approach to TFA.

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/jj-abrams-cites-influence-of-terrence-malick-john-ford-and-akira-kurosawa-on-star-wars-the-force-awakens-20151128

Before he started The Force Awakens, Abrams watched some movies. No, not those ones, Other ones. He looked at “the confidence” of John Ford Westerns. He took in the “unbelievable scene choreography and composition” of Kurosawa’s High and Low. And he studied “the powerful stillness” of Terrence Malick. “It’s not something I would normally have thought of coming to Star Wars,” he says. The spare visual style of Ford, Kurosawa and Malick points to a key mandate for Abrams’ approach to Episode VII: the distinctive less-is-more quality of the originals.

I’m really struck by the Malick influence that is mentioned. I’m pleased to hear that that is a goal of Abrams’. As has been noted many places, I’m really inspired by just specific interludes in the trailers; specifically the Tie Fighters flying in with the sun behind them, ala “Apocalypse Now” with the helicopter attack on the village.

Star Wars hasn’t exactly represented “high art” for several decades but I feel that with TFA and its sequels, we might get back to that. And that alone is enough to make me giddy!

😃

Just listened to the Adam Driver/Howard Stern interview and it’s a really good, fun interview.

Also, Rolling Stone just posted there Behind-The-Scenes cover story about TFA:

http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/features/star-wars-strikes-back-behind-the-scenes-of-the-biggest-movie-of-the-year-20151202

I was only 1 in 1977. I do recall seeing SW in the theater though – in 1982. In retrospect I’ve come to find that my memory is confirmed by the fact that there was a re-release that summer. I never saw ESB in the theater. But did see ROTJ the following year in the theater. I even remember waiting in line to see that and the theater I saw it at, which no longer exists. A four screen multiplex (four screen!).

joefavs said:

I’m also seeing that Adam Driver let it slip on Howard Stern that he’s signed on for three films. I never thought Kylo was going to die in TFA anyway, but this looks like confirmation. Of course, I expect that shot list probably says the same, but I’m not reading that. We’re only two weeks out, I’m drawing the line here.

Thanks for the head’s up about Driver being on Stern’s show. I need to check that out. I had heard some fans speculate that Kylo would die because “some baddie has to die”. I don’t think any of the main “baddies” will die in this one.

JJ Abrams appeared on the Howard Stern Show this morning. Very fun interview.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hr-H_VXm8SU

GlastoEls said:

Also of interest is this On Topic EW article: http://www.ew.com/article/2015/11/30/george-lucas-han-shoot-first. There’s a clip of someone from Sirius XM asking JJ Abrams if Han shot first. His answer should not surprise you.

Hell Yes.

And this is how it should get done.

The newer generation - Abrams, Johnson, Edwards - letting Kennedy know…

No doubt. I’m pleased that the Sequel Trilogy will be made by members of Gen X (my generation) who grew up on the originals. I’m certain that any future Saga trilogies will be made by other generations and take a different tone, perhaps.

There was an interesting article about this very topic in The Atlantic (I think!?) about 2 months ago.

ray_afraid said:

Han was never a “cold-blooded killer”. Greedo was gonna kill Han no matter what. He had just said so!

Han- Over my dead body.
Greedo- That’s the idea…

Han’s actions were perfectly justified. If I ever find myself in a it’s-him-or-me situation, you can bet your ass it’ll be him. And he won’t get to shoot first and miss wildly at point blank range.

Exactly, anyone would. His life was threatened and he was at the wrong end of a bounty hunters weapon. In that moment it is kill or be killed.

I don’t understand how George can be that far removed from reality but…whatever.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/george-lucas-to-feel-the-true-force-of-star-wars-he-had-to-learn-to-let-it-go/2015/11/27/d752067a-8b1f-11e5-be8b-1ae2e4f50f76_story.html

There are a number of interesting tidbits in this article (some have been covered over the years) but I do find it interesting that George continues to defend the Han/Greedo switcheroo.

His first step was to digitally revise the older “Star Wars” films and rerelease them in theaters in 1997. > He’s a passionate defender of an artist’s right to go back and tweak his work, which is why Lucasfilm
cleaned up the matte lines visible on the original trilogy’s space battles and added more creatures and
humanoids to crowd scenes. It was like taking a refurbished car out for a spin.

Piggybacking off his own analogy, the changes are like bolting a spoiler onto an already beautiful car where there was no spoiler option. What’s the point? If you are just shining it up and making it look as good as you can – great. But that’s not what this was.

He also went back to some scenes that had always bothered him, particularly in the 1977 film: When Han
Solo (Harrison Ford) is threatened by Greedo, a bounty hunter working for the sluglike gangster Jabba the > Hutt, Han reaches for his blaster and shoots Greedo by surprise underneath a cantina table.

In the new version, it is Greedo who shoots first, by a split second. Deeply offended fans saw it as
sacrilege; Lucas will probably go to his grave defending it. When Han shot first, he says, it ran counter > to “Star Wars’ ” principles.

“Han Solo was going to marry Leia, and you look back and say, ‘Should he be a cold-blooded killer?’ ”
Lucas asks. “Because I was thinking mythologically — should he be a cowboy, should he be John Wayne? And I > said, ‘Yeah, he should be John Wayne.’ And when you’re John Wayne, you don’t shoot people [first] — you
let them have the first shot. It’s a mythological reality that we hope our society pays attention to.”

Kill me.

Also of interest is this On Topic EW article: http://www.ew.com/article/2015/11/30/george-lucas-han-shoot-first. There’s a clip of someone from Sirius XM asking JJ Abrams if Han shot first. His answer should not surprise you.

Hell Yes.

Preach.

nightstalkerpoet said:

My biggest complaint with this whole release is that it appears all marathon showings are 1-6 in 2D with 7 in 3D. I just want to see all 7 in 2D 😦

Yes, that was a drawback for me too. 2D for the Marathon and 3D for TFA. I went ahead and just sprung for 2D TFA tickets at 7:30 for after the Marathon because I refuse to watch it in 3D.

I personally feel like that’s a gimmick and not for me. I’m grateful for the 2D option as I feel it is more of a pure experience. To each his own though.

I’ll be seeing the Star Wars Marathon (trying hard to talk my son into only seeing the OT) and then will see TFA directly after at 7:30 PM on Dec 17th.

So my itinerary that day is as follows:

Star Wars @ 10:15am
The Empire Strikes Back @ 12:45pm
Return of the Jedi @ 3:15pm

The Force Awakens @ 7:30 pm

JJ was on GMA this morning. He looks relieved TFA is finally almost out in the world.

http://www.ew.com/article/2015/11/30/jj-abrams-star-wars-women?hootPostID=8d32e037a4fa6d9c450330df797e0d2b