Wesyeed

Originally posted by: JediRandy


The OT is looked at through the Rosiest of Rose-Tinted glasses.

They’re great flicks and I love ‘em to death… but people forget shit like Carrie Fisher going in and out of British accents during the same scene. If that stuff happened in the PT you wouldn’t hear the end of it.

Nevertheless, Hamill and Fisher are akin to Brando and Streep apparently.

Originally posted by: CO
GoMerTonic is signed up on this website? He must have been banned over at TFN. Just a warning guys, this guy will defend Lucas on EVERYTHING, so it aint even worth it to argue. I always like a good debate, but when someone just clearly takes one side like a politician does and will never budge on anything, then that is where I stop debating, cause it is pointless.

GoMer is here, that is where I will just check in to see any new news on the O-OT, but I won't be wasting my time posting, cause watch how relentless he is and the arguments will keep going round and round with the same stupid points back and forth.

This is such a great site, and when you start getting TFn PT/SE gushers posting on a site that wants to get the O-OT in as best quality as possible, then that is where i stop.

And a warning for anyone, Gomer's two favorite lines:

"This is the best the O-OT has ever looked on home video."

"We should be thanking George Lucas for giving an inch and releasing the O-OT, he didn't have to do that."

Have fun!

Originally posted by: Go-Mer-Tonic
Yep.

Originally posted by: cador
My first experience with Star Wars was seeing "The Empire Strikes Back" in the movie theater in 1980. I remember being very excited when I found out my parents were taking me to see the movie, my curiosity for the Star Wars universe being piqued from playing with another kid's Star Wars action figures. I remember really liking the movie, the scenes that stuck with me was the battle with the AT-ATs, Luke encountering Vader in the Dagobah Cave, Han getting frozen and of course, "Luke, I am your father". I really liked the movie then, but I was very bummed out at the end because the "good guys" lost. Of course I was pleased when all of those loose ends were nicely tied by the time "Return of the Jedi" came out. Being a little older by then, I noticed the "Episode VI" in the opening crawl thinking "Wow! Were there 3 other Star Wars movies that came out before the original Star Wars? The next year (1984), I watched the original Star Wars for the first time when it was aired on network TV. I made sure to pay very close attention to the opening crawl for the words "Episode IV". I asked around and no one knew what the hell I was talking about when I said that Star Wars is actually part four in the series. Everyone basically called me an idiot, lol. It wasn't until about 3 years later when someone made me VHS copies of the original trilogy on one 6-hour tape that i was finally vindicated and had physical proof about the whole IV, V, VI thing.

So, I just made the assumption that Episode IV (it's secondary title being "A New Hope"), was actually the first movie that was made and that the series of Star Wars movies would be made in a non-linear fashion. Noticing that the release dates of the 3 movies (1977, 1980, 1983), I was slightly disappointed when Episode VII didn't come in 1986, 1989, 1992, etc.

Those "lean years" built up a lot of anticipation in me for the next Star Wars movie. I scoured newspapers, magazines, bought countless comic books to satisfy my appetite for any information on upcoming Star Wars movies. I sat bored watching those horrible Ewoks live-action made for TV movies. I recall a Mad Magazine feature called "The Star Wars Log" giving some humorous speculation about future episodes in the 12-part "Star Wars Saga -- Part I" (to be completed in 2014, lol):

STAR WARS LOG from Mad Magazine circa 1981 (reprinted in 1988)

With each passing year, and with no new Star Wars in sight, I yearned more and more. I even remember dreaming about watching Episode VII in the movie theater then waking up in a cold sweat, disappointed that it wasn't real. If you must know, in my dream version of ep. 7, the Rebel Alliance destroys the last holdout in the Empire--20th century planet Earth (yeah, I know it contradicts "A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away..." but most dreams basically have the logic of a David Lynch film). I was actually one of the pilots in a Rebel squadron and I heartily destroyed my home planet. At the end of this ep. 7, Han and Luke infiltrate a prison colony to obtain information on a new threat and they get captured and it ends in a cliffhanger. The freaky part is that a couple of years later, I dreamed up Episode VIII (and I remember the subtitle: "Where Free Men Have Lived and Died!") where Han and Luke break out of said prison colony.

So you see, I really liked Star Wars (to the point where I was having a series of recurring dreams about future episodes!!)

Imagine how it was like for me when I found out through my college's computer terminal (connected to the then-young Internet) in 1994 when I found out that Episodes I, II and III were in the works. I even went to see "Star Wars: The Special Edition" on opening night (I hated the changes, so I refused to see the other two SEs, but I incorrectly assumed that these were just "special" and that the OOT would still be considered "official" ). When I downloaded the first bootleg trailer for "The Phantom Menace", I was elated. Finally, after 16 long, excruciating years, we were getting a new, official, Star Wars adventure.

When May 1999 rolled around, I read the first reviews that were coming out. Most of them were mixed, but I just assumed that it might be rust on George Lucas' part and that the new movie was still Star Wars. If it was halfway as good as the original trilogy, I would be satisfied.

I've only watched "The Phantom Menace" once in the theater. I. Could. Not. Believe. That. I. Waited. Sixteen. F*cken. Years. For. This. Piece. Of. SH*T.

There was no stage of fanboy denialism on my part. I knew what I saw was a big turkey rolling right before my eyes. What we were witnessing was George Lucas suffering from severe artistic and creative senility.

Anyway, just like Comic Book Guy, I vented my hatred for TPM on the internet and I was subsequently flamed to death by fanboy apologists. I remember their talking points very well:

"There was no way that the new Star Wars movie could live up to everyone's expectations"
"Give it a chance. The first movie was not supposed to be as good, it introduced the context of the story, etc."
"The lightsaber duel is the best of the entire series!!!"
"The pod race was absolutely awesome"
"There were many subtle nuances that were more sophisticated than the original trilogy."
"The movie is actually good if you can ignore what Jar Jar is doing."
"The Phantom Menace is the highest grossing movie in the franchise. Can millions of fans be wrong?"

Ugh. I got the impression that the fanboy apologists were actually paid hacks planted by Lucasfilm on the internet. Maybe they were paid, but I think in retrospect, it was just a simple case of denial on their part. I even resorted to not-so-subtle trolling to get my point across:

My response to fanboys complaining about the delayed Phantom Menace DVD release
Phantom Menace is better than Lord of the Rings movie
Did Han Solo really shoot Greedo first in ANH?
My "review" of the 2004 DVD set

"The easiest way to destroy a cause is by becoming it's most excessive advocate" -- Nietzsche (quoted from memory).

As for "Attack of the Clones", I hated it even more than TPM, but I actually liked "Revenge of the Sith".

So... how was it like for you guys when you waited for a new Star Wars movie during '84-'98?

Originally posted by: Ripplin
Hey, DE! Have you seen this? http://youtube.com/watch?v=wRDsZJ6edCM

It's a short compilation of some of the errors in ANH. I knew of most of them, but missed a couple. Thought of you when a friend linked me to it a few minutes ago.

Originally posted by: ADigitalMan
Even that suggests too much credit given to our government. Bin Laden is the fucker responsible and he has admitted as much.

Now, whether or not the White House looked the other way at incoming intelligence, allowing it to happen is certainly up for debate. I for one believe they looked the other way, not out of malicious intent but sheer ineptness. This happened on Dubya's watch. Therein lies the difference between Politics and Business. The CEO of a major corporation would have been tossed out on his ass for ignoring warning signs about a malicious attack. Voters were stuck with him another 3.5 years and then were dumb enough to put him back in.

If there were a credible conspiracy story to tell, Oliver Stone would be telling THAT story.

But back to the topic at hand, this isn't the first 9/11 movie. Technically it isn't even the second. The best 9/11 movie is 9/11. The documentary shot by two German filmmakers who were doing a bit on one of the firefighters of NYC that day caught the real spirit of the day.

I haven't seen United 93, but it seems far more respectful of 9/11 than this cheesy cash-in. This looks like something that should go on the shelf beside Michael Bay's Pearl Harbor.

Originally posted by: canofhumdingers



Have to disagree with you here. i watched the TPM duel the other day for the first time in forever & i couldn't stand it. I've taken Olympic style fencing lessons for several years and recently started taking Kendo (japanese "samurai style" fencing) and Iaido (the art of drawing the sword and killing the antagonist, from an unassuming position - i.e. sitting on the floor eating a bowl of rice & someone attacks you). The TPM fight just made me cringe! Ewan McGreggor jumps off the ground EVERY time he blocks* a blow!!! You would NEVER do that! you'd get killed in a heartbeat! In fact, in kendo you never even allow your feet to cross (much less, leave the ground)! You keep you right foot forward & your left foot back in a very agressive stance. you move in an awkward(at first) way similar to how a child would run with a "stick pony" when playing cowboy. & you lift your feet just enough to be able to move them, effectively "gliding" across the ground. This is so that, when you run into your opponent, if you don't succeed at killing them, they can't knock you over when you run into each other. Having one foot forward & one back is a very stable/powerful position. if your feet are close together, or worse yet, in the air!!, you're a dead man. This doesn't even bring up the point of the ridiculous twirling baton lightsabers of the prequels! The OOT fights were at least reasonably believable as they were based on ACTUAL swordfighting techniques (& honetly, the ANH duel is probably most realistic). I'm a huge fan of swordfighting and can go a long way in forgiving the over-the-top fights from hollywood when they at least try to mimic something that you might actually do, but the prequels are just laughable. They remind me too much of the sword twirling you see at karate tournaments (not to knock karate, it has lots of cool aspects, but the majority of people you see using swords in a karate demo or tournament have no idea how to actually fight with one) Sorry for the rant, i've been chewing on that for a few days now...

*in my experience, you very rarely "block" in a swordfight. you either dodge altogether, which leaves your oppenent open for the brief moment they've extended to strike you, which gives you the chance to kill them. Or, you parry, which is not to block, but deflect the attck in such a way as to make an opening from which you can immediately attack. This attack is called the riposte (pronounced ruh-post or ree-post depending on who you talk to). Of course, this is mostly from my olympic style fencing experience, of which i practiced foil and epee, but really focused on sabre. I've only been taking kendo for the past 4 months or so & we're still working mainly on footwork and swinging the sword correctly. It's a very slow learning curve, like any sword art, and we probably won't begin thinking about the defense side of things for months to come.

Originally posted by: daveytod
Glad to hear that you liked it wesyeed. Have you had chance to check out the special features yet?

"Changed the line "there'll be no escape for the princess this time" to just "there'll be no escape this time" because when luke sees the hologram 3P0 doesn't know who she is."