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auraloffalwaffle

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23-Jun-2006
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6-May-2011
Posts
766

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Post
#248282
Topic
The Merits of the Prequel Trilogy and the "Saga"
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/248282/action/topic#248282
Time
For me, the PT is not the story that comes before the OOT and that is why it annoys me so much. The characters are different (Obi-Wan, Yoda, Vader, Palpatine), the story doesn't quite mesh with the OOT (Padme dying too soon, backgrounds of the droids) and the PT just doesn't share the look and feel of the OOT. It doesn't convince me as the first three parts of the same story.

This is why Luca$h has felt the need to do more on the SEs than just digital remastering and upgrading a few effects shots.

BTW, Mike O, I believe that Kasdan's Wyatt Earp is more faithful to the facts of Earp's life. It certainly depicts more of Earp's life, both before and after his career as a Marshall, than Cosmatos' Tombstone. I would suppose that, whoever started that joke, feels that Tombstone is the more involving film of the two because it goes for action and high drama rather than slavish depiction of history. I don't agree with that analysis of Wyatt Earp. I think it is as good a western as Tombstone but without that film's more gratuitously violent edge. I also think Kostner and Quaid are a far better Earp and Holliday than Russell and Kilmer. Although I think few measure up to Lancaster and Douglas in that regard.
Post
#248125
Topic
Worst movies ever.
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/248125/action/topic#248125
Time
I saw Ring (1998) and Ring 2 (1999) (i.e. the original Japanese versions) in a midnight double bill a few years ago in Edinburgh.

Ring - scared the bejeesus outta me...

Ring 2 - hilarious. Absolutely hilarious.

[Scientist goes to tap and runs some water into a glass beaker]

[Scientist brings beaker over to main character]

Scientist: "This is tap water."
Post
#248121
Topic
How did Obi-Wan get so much money?
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/248121/action/topic#248121
Time
You don't need to apologise!!

Besides, Luca$h will probably clear up any confusion in the SSSE, with an overdub by Ewan McGregor, saying: "...from Prince Bail Organa, whom I once served as General in the Clone Wars, but only by proxy, as I served the Republic, of which he was a Senator..." in between Alec Guinness saying "...plus fifteen..." and "...once we reach Alderaan."
Post
#248119
Topic
The Merits of the Prequel Trilogy and the "Saga"
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/248119/action/topic#248119
Time
Originally posted by: ShiftyEyes
I always took it as him using the force to make him "spry" and "feisty" during battle.

I don't know about Obi Jeewhyen, but I've never been all that comfortable with things being explained away by the Force. I realise that ShiftyEyes is bringing up exactly what, I think, the PT is saying when we see Yoda leap into action. But I can't shake the feeling that this is a lazy approach to the Force, making it some kind of get-out clause for all kinds of things in the PT. Taking the lines from ANH, saying that the Force controls your actions and obeys your commands, to mean that the Force somehow controls people to do its "will", thus explaining how Lil' Orphan Annie destroys the battleship in TPM.

I prefer to think of the Force, an energy field created by all living things which surrounds us and penetrates us and binds the galaxy together, as being like an ocean. The ocean ebbs and flows. Like a ship on that ocean, an individual is moved by the currents. The difference with a Jedi Knight, or a Sith Lord, is that they can read the currents and also create currents in the ocean around them, influencing the movement of their own ships and those of others.

The Sith Lords use their baser emotions to create violent storms - very destructive but chaotic, tending to affect everyone and everything nearby.

The Jedi Knights learn to quiet themselves, knowing that only by first creating calm can you produce the most devastating power.

An ocean has no will of its own. It is entirely influenced by the forces acting upon it.

It can't prolong life and, The Force not being a physical thing itself, it can't alter the physical form of living things or objects.

Like an ocean, it demands respect.

Yoda says: "Luminous beings are we, not this... crude matter!"

If the real Yoda behaved as we see him in the PT, his body would have been broken by the Force acting upon it. The real Yoda acted through the Force, not his physical form.

My ongoing thoughts about The Force...
Post
#248092
Topic
The Return of Six Degrees of Star Wars
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/248092/action/topic#248092
Time
All Six Degrees:

George Sanders (The Jungle Book, 1967) Sebastian Cabot (The Time Machine, 1960) Rod Taylor (Giant, 1956) James Dean (Rebel Without A Cause, 1955) Sal Mineo (The Longest Day, 1962) Sean Connery (Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade, 1989) Harrison Ford - Han Solo

But I was particularly delighted with this one:

George Sanders (Doomwatch, 1972) Shelagh Fraser - Aunt Beru

Happy Birthday, Christina Milian!
Post
#248067
Topic
The Merits of the Prequel Trilogy and the "Saga"
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/248067/action/topic#248067
Time
Very interesting thoughts, Obi Jeewhyen! I also regret that the lightsaber fights and object throwing took the place of subtlety, concentration and martial arts.

As others have said, one of the big mistakes of the PT was deciding that Yoda would use a lightsaber at all. It would have demonstrated a far greater level of control and knowledge of the force, befitting his character, if he had bested the likes of Dooku with but a few well timed hand gestures. For me, I'd prefer it if Yoda had never fought anyone. The character I fell in love with in ESB and ROTJ had rejected anger, fear and aggression centuries before and found the idea of war faintly ridiculous...
Post
#248058
Topic
How did Obi-Wan get so much money?
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/248058/action/topic#248058
Time
Aha, but he promises Solo only 2000 before leaving Tatooine and the other 15000 on arrival on Alderaan. The bulk of the reward will be bankrolled by the royal Organa household, in gratitude for the safe delivery of Kenobi and the droids. The 2000 is scraped together from what little Ben and Luke have on them and the money from the sale of Luke's landspeeder.

EDIT: Goddamn it, YIYF!!
Post
#248001
Topic
What did the Prequel Trilogy need?
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/248001/action/topic#248001
Time
I've taken on board the discussions on the 'Obi-Wan's name' thread. It seems to me that the connection to the samurai and other such traditions, with regards to taking new, significant names when a new level of training or status is achieved, is an excellent quality to integrate into the Jedi Order and, possibly, the Dark Lords of the Sith too.

This would allow for Ben to be Kenobi's birth name and 'Obi-Wan' to be the name he took when he became a Jedi Knight. When he reteats to Tatooine, with the infant Luke, he reverts to his birth name of Ben Kenobi. This is not a clever subterfuge to avoid discovery. It is sufficient that he came to a world so unimportant, in galactic terms. I feel that it is clear, from Vader's line: "I've been waiting for you, Obi-Wan", that the Sith felt that the Jedi were no longer able to oppose them, having been decimated and scattered by the purges. They did not feel the need to obsessively pursue every last member of the order. They knew, as the remaining Jedi would have known, that if any of them showed themselves, the Sith and the Empire would come down upon them swiftly.
Post
#247664
Topic
The Merits of the Prequel Trilogy and the "Saga"
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/247664/action/topic#247664
Time
I've got to say, I never saw anything in the PT which convinced me that Anakin was:

(a) a hero.

(b) a nice guy.

(c) Obi-Wan's best friend.

(d) at all capable of any response other than selfishness.

I regard the PT as a poorly written, poorly produced trilogy and I see these problems as resulting from the team that Luca$h assembled to help him make it. I think that the team that Luca$h produced the OOT with were a huge influence on the content and style of those films. Luca$h is not, and never has been, an auteur filmmaker. My opinion is that the team with which Luca$h made the PT are convinced that he is an auteur and never questioned anything he wanted to do. Consequently, I think that the PT is a much weaker production on every level than the OOT.
Post
#246969
Topic
The Merits of the Prequel Trilogy and the "Saga"
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/246969/action/topic#246969
Time
I think that, when it comes down to it, my analysis of the PT isahahahahahaHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
ROD RACE!!!
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!

No, seriously, I can accept the fact that Luca$h made a different PT to the one I wanted. Fair enough. I've come to terms with that. What still pisses me off is that the movies look like a fashion shoot from a glossy "laydeez" magazine and the acting standard is about what you'd expect from fashion models. The dialogue was underwhelming to start with, so it was rendered positively torturous by Hayden's "My First Acting Kit" performance (I'm angreee!!... Grrrr!!). Not to mention that irritating stage-school brat Lloyd. Ewan McGregor and Liam Neeson do their best with what they get. Samuel L Jackson and Ian McDiarmid gave up entirely and decided to gorge themselves on pork and dairy products. The production design is all over the place (a DINER!! No doubt the Force had something to do with it. Fucking Force...).

I'm the first to admit that the OOT are not masterpieces of cinema. But the PT wasn't as well made and it's a damn sight less fun. And Hamill, for all his detractors, could act Hayden off the screen...

Oh, and Rick McCallum.
Post
#246947
Topic
obi wans name in ANH
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/246947/action/topic#246947
Time
Darth Vader's response on seeing Obi-Wan again is: "I've been waiting for you, Obi-Wan." Not "God, where the hell did you go?! I searched and I searched..."

I don't think Ben was a cover-up name because, as others have rightly said, changing the first name and not the last is just pointless, they're bound to check you out if they're really looking.

I reckon Ben should have been his familiar name for several years before Luke's birth. Vader clearly never uses it in any of the OOT movies. Tarkin's obviously heard of Obi-Wan as well, but not as Ben. Obi-Wan fled to the outer rim and stayed there. They just never saw the point of going after him. The Republic was defeated and the Jedi Order decimated and scattered. I would suppose that the Empire expected the remaining Knights to die of old age and never be heard of again. They would also have been pretty confident that there weren't enough of them left and that those that were left were too old to regroup and start any trouble.
Post
#246938
Topic
Lucasfilm to sell Physical Effects Unit
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/246938/action/topic#246938
Time
Seriously, the CG Yoda was bound to blend in with the CG sets, wasn't he? The CG Gollum had to be integrated with real location shots. I regard the achievement as being much greater on WETA's part.

As for matching the movements of Oz's puppeteering, I don't buy it. That sounds like an excuse. Hell, they'll probably go in and replace the original with their beloved CG version for next year's SEs anyway...
Post
#246439
Topic
Scruffy, Continuation of Iraq Debate...
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/246439/action/topic#246439
Time
I doubt that the invasion of Iraq was motivated by concern for the well-being of its citizens or the security of the US's. Iraq had as much to do with terrorism as many other nations in the world. Far less than some. And Saddam Hussein was not a stand-out candidate for worst dictator in the world. There are many regimes in the world just as bad, if not worse. Iraq posed little to no threat to the USA at the time of invasion. This has been proven. The "intelligence" that was used in the USA and the UK to justify the invasion has been acknowledged, on both sides of the atlantic, to being exaggerated by those governments to mislead our nations into an illegal war of conquest.

The war in Iraq, as with any war, has made the world more dangerous.
Post
#246400
Topic
First Impressions of the OOT ...
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/246400/action/topic#246400
Time
Luca$hFilm certainly know that the OOT will make money. I agree that they wouldn't release it at all if that weren't the case. I've been saying that for months. But I certainly think Luca$hFilm have developed hype and conflicting statements into some of their main marketing tools. If you won't have it that they lied then perhaps you will agree that they have issued conflicting statements and half-truths.

The line that I've heard a lot around here, that Luca$h has released the September Discs for 'us' and that we should be grateful for them because he clearly doesn't want to release the OOT at all, doesn't hold much water for me. I don't believe that a big company like Luca$hFilm (or 20th Century Fox, for that matter) would release a product that they weren't damn sure would make a lot of money or that they would release something for a niche audience just out of the goodness of their hearts. They know that the audience for DVDs of the OOT is massive. The OOT were huge box-office draws in their day and are still immensely popular. Not just among 'fans' but generally. They release the OOT on DVD for money, pure and simple.
Post
#246372
Topic
First Impressions of the OOT ...
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/246372/action/topic#246372
Time
Originally posted by: Go-Mer-Tonic
But I'm wondering who is being damaged more? Lucas because he didn't get another $60 out of you, or you because you refuse to enjoy the O-OT unless he releases it anamorphically?

No-one's getting damaged. I'm not emotionally hurt by Luca$h's attitudes. I don't agree with them and I say so. I enjoy the OOT as much as I like. I have two VHS copies of each movie, one for enjoyment and one for preservation. I'm prepared to last on DVD back-ups of my tapes before I'll buy this release. It amounts to more-or-less the same thing anyway. The gains in quality with the Sepember Discs are insufficient for me to want to buy them.

And I don't delude myself that Luca$h would be damaged by my approach either. I'll keep asking for a good product and I hope that, one day, it'll appear. I think it is also true that I'm not the only one willing to wait.

The "hook" I see is Luca$h's claims (well documented) that the OOT, effectively, does not exist any more and that all they could do was transfer the 1993 LaserDisc masters. This is a lie and I won't let him off with that excuse. If he openly said that he wasn't releasing the OOT because he didn't want to, I'd have more respect for him. But he won't because he knows that would alienate elements of the fan community. He wants to milk the cash-cow dry so he tries to keep us guessing. I don't agree with his attitudes. And I say so.
Post
#246363
Topic
First Impressions of the OOT ...
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/246363/action/topic#246363
Time
Originally posted by: Go-Mer-Tonic
They didn't say they -couldn't- do better. They said they weren't interested in doing better ... that says they -could- spend tons of money to resurrect the original picture quality, but they just don't want to ... if they don't do any better, isn't this better than not getting it at all?

No, quite frankly. And I'm not going to let them off with it. I'll keep badgering them until they provide a good product. If they won't do it then screw 'em. I'm not wasting my money on this lazy effort.
Post
#246361
Topic
Lucasfilm to sell Physical Effects Unit
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/246361/action/topic#246361
Time
I've always felt that puppets and, particularly, stop-motion animation have a lot more character than CG creatures.

The other side of it is the actors' interaction with said creatures. Stop-motion animations and CG creatures very often do not inspire convincing interactions from their living co-stars, because they're not actually there. Or there is some kind of stand-in.

The great strength of something like Yoda in ESB and Jabba The Hutt in ROTJ is that they were there on-set and the actors and puppeteers could really work off each other. The performances were much more involving as a result.
Post
#246356
Topic
First Impressions of the OOT ...
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/246356/action/topic#246356
Time
I emailed the British Film Institute a while back and they told me that they have prints of all three OOT films archived.

I believe, which others can confirm no doubt, the your Library Of Congress has prints archived.

Many people have indicated that Luca$h has the negatives of all his films at Luca$hFilm and I'm sure they could confirm it.

These DVDs are pathetic.

Don't get me wrong, in some cases I would accept a non-anamorphic, low budget transfer. From a small production company, for example, or a budget DVD company like Prism or some such.

But Luca$hFilm? Come on! You're trying to defend their statement that they couldn't do any better? Of course they can do better.