TheBoost

I remember when the "Spawn" movie came out, and Spawn's buddy, a black dude in the comic, was played by a white man in the movie because the studio didn't want two black male leads, afraid that would make it a niche movie.

Consequently the movie presented an interracial marriage, which I have no problem with, but it seems odd that if they're afraid of racist people not seeing a movie with two black actors, an interracial marriage is ok.

And I think Lando would have made a great Two-Face, regardless of race.

Vaderisnothayden said:

 

I'm sorry but that's absolute bullshit. Characters should be kept faithful to hat they are. Black characters should not be made white and white characters should not be made black, etc. There's nothing racist about insisting on some faithfulness to the source material.

 I'd agree, if being a white dude was somehow pivotal to Nick Furies character.

Superman should probably be white, as he's fundamentally representing a kind of nostalgic Mid-west view of America. A black Superman would probably change that archtype and effect audience perceptions.

Spider-Man is a geeky teenager, and (although he's probably too well know to do it) there's nothing pivotally "white" about being a geeky teenager, and I think a black Spider-Man would work just fine.

I'm not sure what (if anything) Nick Fury represents, but it never struck me that whiteness was an important part of it. He's a sneaky spy with an eyepatch who gives lots of exposition. He could be Hindu and still be just great at that.

ps.

I think Hasselhoff's protrayal of Fury is underrated. He did a good job as a jaded spy. It was when the film required him to be funny and ironic about it that he, and the entire abomination of a movie, didn't work.

DarkFather said:

We've colletively bought quite a lot of prequel-based products, probably thousands of dollars, while also raising "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" television ratings. You can't make an argument that the majority of OT.com enjoy the PT.

I can't make the argument the majority of us even like the OT judging from some of the posts I read.

And if we're buying/patronizing/watching all this material, I think it's probably because we like it, even as we like bitching about it. Life's short, and there's no shortage of entertainment options.

In the end, it's out of our hands, and Lucas's how these films endure. I guess we'll know someday. But I still stand to say that it's premature or foolish to say that the consensus is that the PT sucked, because it apparently is quite liked by lots of people (including I beleive, more of us than admit it).

But it's happening in many fans. Look how the TCW CGI film did in the box office. Good, if we're judging it alongside other, non-Star Wars films.

I think it's a pretty good barometer to the Star Wars love out there that a made-for-tv pilot with limited marketing could still be a moderate success, especially for being a low-budget CGI movie not clearly aimed at the CGI movie kiddie crowd.

skyjedi2005 said:

The culture has pretty much already came to the consensus the prequels sucked, and that the original trilogy is a classic.

 Has it really? They made more money than God, people love every scrap of new Star Wars material out there, and now (sadly) most of it is pretty PT-heavy, there's a hit PT cartoon out there and if the PT TV show ever gets made, I'm inclined to bleieive it would be a huge hit.

Twenty years from now, will a generation of people consider the PT and related works to be pivotal and beloved parts of their childhoods? It seems highly possible.

Anchorhead said:

GhostAlpha26 said:

It is nice to hear his side but at the same time he is so incredibly smug.

To me, he doesn't seem smug at all. He comes across as uncomfortable with being the subject of an interview. I got the same impression watching the interviews on the extras portion of the Kingdom DVD. 

He does seem a bit awkward with the huge iconic status he's been granted, and at the same time the venom shot his way must not be fun.

I never thought he had a personal obligation to please fans. I wish the PT was better, and more in line with the OT, but have never taken their faults as a personal knock on the man, the way many seem to have.

I think most fans now realize that the greatness of the OT was a combo of luck, serendipidy, collaboration, and excellence brought on by technical limitations. While I don't love the PT, I recognize that Lucas made exactly the films he wanted, which for good or ill is the dream of every filmmaker.

While I understand and am part of the passion of the masses for Star Wars, and am even vocal about my opionins, it is true it is 'just fiction' which people will like and dislike, and in the end the culture will make judgements about any of its actual long term worth or meaning.

Just a thought, but the look of Naboo is a total rip from the book picture "Dinotopia."

I havent seen it, but a tv show was made of "Dinotopia" and perhaps its domed Itallian style citites on Waterfalls could be utilized in some way.

SOunds like fun. It'd be nice to have a version that doesnt take all weekend to watch.

I'd reccomend taking a gander at the Bakshi and the Rankin/Bass cartoons. They manage to cram a lot of plot into short time frames. Perhaps they might inspire you.

xytan4 said:

I despise wookiepedia. Just take a look their blaster article, it's a jumbled self contradictory mess. They explain the same process twice with different wording, on the same page! I tried editing it several times and it was just reverted and they banned my IP after the third attempt to edit. So I gave up and will never visit the site again.

 The fact there's a lengthy article on blasters at all is kinda silly. Here's my attempt at a more concise article.

BLASTER: (n)

Y'know, a blaster. "Zap Zap"

Chewtobacca said:

TheBoost said:

The plot of TPM hinges on that the blockade by the Federation is banal (something to do with taxes... it really doesn't matter) and that it's a front for something sinister.

 

I fail to see how the reason for the Trade Federation blockading the planet does not form part of the plot.  It's the whole reason for the Trade Federation to be there - whatever the Trade Federation is.  

I feel his criticisms need a more convincing response than "it doesn't matter."

The miniscule point of the plot is that there's a blockade because of taxes of trade routes (as cover for an impending invasion). Other than that... it actually DOESN'T MATTER.  What matters is that it's NOT about a simple tax dispute. Going into the details of a tax dispute the details of which has no bearing on the plot would not make great cinema.

Start of "Star Wars:" Princess Leia is on a diplomatic mission (apparently as cover for being part of the Rebel Alliance and a traitor). Whatever it is, the specifics of it actually DON'T MATTER. What matters is she's NOT on a Diplomatic Mercy Mission.

vote_for_palpatine said:

To clarify, I meant to say "I don't care if his analysis is spot on" as in "He could be the most insightful critic in history and it would still be unlistenable." Not, "I thought his analysis was spot on but I didn't like listening to him." Sorry I wasn't clearer.

 No sweat. I wasn't just ranting at you (sorry if it seemed that way) but at the heaps of praise this dude is getting.

I watched a bit more of this vid, to see if there was something brilliant I was missing,but I dont think the man makes a single bit of insight or joke based on the movie (his humor seems based on misogyny and creepiness) that hasn't been made before 10 years ago.

From some of the comments I've read on various sites, it's like this dude is Adywan, Zombie, Chris Rock, and Orson Welles rolled into one.

vote_for_palpatine said:

Watched most of segment one - I  can't take that voice. I just can't. I don't care how spot on his analysis is - the presentation is intolerable.

 It's not spot on. It's whiny and mostly arbitrary.

The plot of TPM hinges on that the blockade by the Federation is banal (something to do with taxes... it really doesn't matter) and that it's a front for something sinister.

The dude in the video pulls five minutes out of rambling about 'space trade' and how he doesn't understand something that is ultimately not even a part of the plot.

Vaderisnothayden said:

I've wondered about that. In the end of ESB it clearly sounds like they don't know where Jabba is. The mention of Tatooine there confuses the matter slightly, but nobody asks why Lando is wearing Han's clothes, except in Family Guy.

 

 

 Lando had just evacuated Cloud City. He left his wardrobe behind. That's obviously Han's spare clothes that were haning in the Falcon's closet.

vote_for_palpatine said:

ESB: Vader wants Luke Skywalker desparately. He is using a ton of Imperial resources to track down this one guy. (Of course, we do not yet know about their blood ties) True, finding Skywalker means finding the Rebels, but the course of the movie makes clear that finding the Rebel base is the second bird - Vader's one stone is aimed at Luke. (If that weren't the case, why did not Vader's ship try to follow the Rebel fleet out of Hoth instead of the Millennium Falcon?)

I figured that Vader thought Luke would be on the Falcon with his dear friends. He knows that Luke would risk his life to try and save them, so it stands to reason maybe the gang would stick together during an evacuation.

Well, my "All Six Star Wars" in a day party is over, and several friends were introduced to SW:R and all were blown away. One insisted I rewind and rewatch the Obi/Vader duel twice, awed that it no longer looked like 'an old man waving a stick at a man who can't see out of a helmet.'

In fact, I had to give away my Revisited DVD one lady liked it so much.

It was a big hit.

Even if the heroes knew Jabba had a base on Tatooinne, perhaps it's secret.

It's not near any settlement. Maybe it's Jabba's secret party palace, where he goes to get away from work, and only the scum of the galaxy have the location.

Holy crap... "Black Mask of Satan's Sunday" IS black and white. I must have seen it colorized on cable back in the day. Damn  you Ted Turner!!!

But like you said Bingo, the big problem I'm having is that all my sources are from the late 30s-late 40s, and they just dont seem to match up with 1931's Dracula visualy. The shift in quality is quite jarring, and I'm not sure how to tweak it.

Luckily, Mexican Dracula from 1931 just keeps giving me sweet sweet shots to use. And the fact Dracula doesn't have a score is really helpful in adding material anywhere I want.

The score is coming along nicely... stealing a lot of cues from the abysmal "Son of Dracula" as well as some more "Swan Lake."

Contemplating a Showing Actors in Clips from the Movie opening credits, like Universal did with "The Wolf Man."

Those credits are sweet!

zombie84 said:

I'm still wondering why everyone waited a year to rescue him. I mean--A YEAR?

 Where in the film does it say that it took a year? Going by what's on screen, it might have been a matter of weeks.

Whenever I hear one of these discussions, I wonder when exactly the job of a parent became defined as shielding a child from the toxic culture at large?

EyeShotFirst said:

This new wave of adult cartoon's brought forth shows like the Simpsons, Duckman, and many more

Yes, children could watch these too, because the messages were only understood by adults.

 Kids watched Duckman??? Why? I'm not even sure it had anything to offer adults.

And didn't the Simpsons start off a lot more kid-level, and slowly evolve into the considerably more sophisitcated show it is now?

Ziz said:

Boost - I think the double standard comes from the level of involvement in getting the child to participate.  Children have to learn how to read, they don't have to learn how to sit and stare at a TV screen.

 I understand and agree, but the objection to violent/offensive videogames and TV tends not to be 'these passive skills are ultimately detracting to a child's productivity' but more often 'how can we expose our children to such filth?!" The objection is to the content, not the medium.

I understand that books get questioned and banned frequently in the US, usually school libraries, but you rarely see the lead on the 10 oclock news "Is your son reading Lolita? Find out how that will warp him for life" whereas the "Hot Coffee" mod in GTA3, a game no kid should play in the first place, was major news.

ABC said:

What about children reading books instead, so you'll have them clever and awaken enough later to decode the world through what is written here and there.

 It's interesting. I got more sex and violence from the books I read as a kid than I got from videogames or TV combined. And no one cared.

I had an 'Aliens' novel that had the most explicit sex scenes, and I used to sit in class reading that. I read James Bond and Remo Williams books with sex, and heads exploding, and torture, while I was in the 6th grade. Piers Anthony's books are borderline rape-fetish and underage girl-fetishist, but my grandma used to take me to the library to get them.

Yet in my entire life it's never been suggested to me that kids shouldn't read. My folks used 'books as a nanny' all the time, and people praised them about how literate I was.

Don't get me wrong, I'm pro-book. But it's an interesting dichotomy.

Finally watched some of this.

What the FUCK is wrong with this dude's voice? He sounds like the lawyer from "Idiocracy."

I can't believe that this tool and Confused Mathew are actually not clear about the plot of this flick. My 8 year old nephew understood it just fine. Are there some holes, yes. Are there points that can be nitpicked, yes. But to act as if you plain dont understand the plot is ridiculous.

This dude pulls five minutes out of the idea that the Trade Federation had no way of knowing that Qui-Gon and Obi were Jedis. In a decade I've never heard anyone with their head far enough up their ass to suggest this was even an issue that crossed their mind.

That's when I gave up on it.

I recall a sci-fi story I read a long time ago. t was about a mapmaker who eventually made a map so acurate it was as large as the real world.

Something about a review that's almost as long as the movie brings that story to mind.

John Tesh makes music? I thought he just DJed that radio show where he tlls you what cold symptoms are probably symptoms of some horrible disease.