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auraloffalwaffle

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23-Jun-2006
Last activity
6-May-2011
Posts
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Post
#242615
Topic
The SW Novel - Alan Dean Foster
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/242615/action/topic#242615
Time
My email to ADF
Mr Foster,

I am currently re-reading your novelisation of Star Wars, first published in 1976. I was only born in 1979 but I have had my copy of the novel for approximately 25 years now! I couldn't read it at the time of purchase, regretfully, but such was my mania that I had to have it! I was wondering if you would mind answering some questions that have occurred to me over the years?

I have found myself wondering if Mr Lucas had provided you with a copy of his script or if he had not written it at that point? Did you make any contribution to the script that was finally used to make the film?

How closely did you work with Mr Lucas on the novel? Was he unsure if it would ever make it from the page to the screen when you first worked with him?

How long were you working on this particular project?

I hope you don't mind my asking all these questions! If you could find time to respond, I'd be most grateful!

With thanks,

Andrew Roberts
Darlington, UK

ADF's reply
Hi Andrew;
No trouble at all.
I had a copy of the script to write the book from.
The movie was well into production when I was brought aboard to write
the book. I wrote it from the script, with no input from George (he was
somewhat busy). Took me about 6 weeks to write the book...and then I did
the sequel, Splinter of the Mind's Eye.
Regards,
Alan F
Post
#242524
Topic
Secret CIA prisons
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/242524/action/topic#242524
Time
My aim was to point out what I see as the larger implications of the recent discussions on this thread.

The use of fear as a weapon is not a new concept. But I think it is important to consider what using fear as a weapon means. Fear creates terror. Strategems which use fear could be expressed by the phrase "terror tactics". Is this not the very thing you are setting out to destroy? The use of fear as a weapon is terrorism.
Post
#242496
Topic
DVD WRITING CAMPAIGN - WEEK TWO - "Sound & Vision" Magazine
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/242496/action/topic#242496
Time
Thought you guys would like to see this:

Home Cinema Choice, Issue 134 (October 2006)

This issue's Star Letter:

Letter from: Graham Parker, Cirencester UK
Having read Anton van Beek's bi-monthly rant about Star Wars in HCC #132's DVD Collector, I find myself agreeing with him. I've also been suckered into buying a box set in the last two years that's about to be replaced. As a Star Wars fan, the prospect of owning transfers of the original, untouched trilogy is almost too good to resist but, as unbelievable as it may be to my wife and children, I'm not going to line George Lucas' pockets any further. Not only am I annoyed that the set's discs are being released individually with the original theatrical versions added, I'm also at a loss as to why the movies haven't been 'cleaned up' or rendered anamorphic.
I'm not even convinced that Lucas won't re-re-release the un-tampered original trilogy over the next few years. I already have them on VHS (first release and Special Edition) and DVD and that'll do for now. It's probably better to wait until they clean up the original trilogy for the Blu-ray or HD DVD releases anyway. In the meantime, I'm more than happy to make do with LEGO Star Wars II on the Xbox 360, at least that's been produced with some tender loving care.

Reply from: Anton van Beek, HCC
Well said, Mr Parker. This latest release now makes it three times in three years that Lucas has trotted out the Star Wars cash-cow on DVD, safe in the knowledge that there is a fan base out there happy to keep shelling out for essentially the same old films. Given how much has been written on the internet about how elements exist that would allow the original versions to be restored for DVD, the miserable treatment of the original theatrical prints in this new release smacks of putting the least amount of effort possible into getting people to buy the remastered editions once again.
It's hard to believe Lucas' claims that there are currently no plans for Star Wars on either HD DVD or Blu-ray and I wouldn't be surprised to hear something relating to this around the time of the first film's 30th anniversary next year.
Post
#242350
Topic
What did the Prequel Trilogy need?
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/242350/action/topic#242350
Time
Originally posted by: Commander Courage
What are your thoughts on using the Kyber Crystal, auraloffalwaffle?


You cannot wield it! None of us can!

Okay, well I just finished reading up on the Kyber Crystal on Wookieepedia. I'm afraid I'd not heard of it before!

I can see what you mean about sailing very close to the one ring. Something on the Wookieepedia entry that could be used to avoid that is the suggestion that the power of the crystal diminishes the further it is taken from the temple in which it was found (in Splinter Of The Mind's Eye). In other words, in order to weild the full power of the crystal, one would have to resign oneself to living out one's life in the temple on Mimban. This could lead to Luke making the decision to leave the crystal behind, knowing that no-one can take the crystal from the temple and still have access to the power that it holds. Maybe he makes the decision that his father couldn't?

There are many things that make up the SW saga. The love of power, the love of freedom, the love of truth and, of course, true love!

Is anyone else vomiting yet? Excuse me...

[Spends some quality time with a bucket]

That's better!

So, to answer your question Commander Courage, it seems like a great way to build a plot for the saga. My thoughts hadn't been running along such lines, but then I've never read Splinter Of The Mind's Eye! I did particularly like your idea for the destabilisation of the crystal creating the lava that scars Anakin!
Post
#242065
Topic
What did the Prequel Trilogy need?
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/242065/action/topic#242065
Time
Originally posted by: Gaffer Tape
Ben, Anakin, Palpatine, Owen, Beru, and Yoda are really the only established characters who had any business being in the prequels the way they ended up being written.

That's exactly where I'm coming from on this, though! Now, I know it may not be the case , but I believe that I can write a better PT than the Luca$h version. What I want from the PT is something which fits together stylistically with SW '77, has a good story with a few surprises and shows us the background of the SW '77 story and characters.

Originally posted by: Tiptup
C3PO and R2D2 always seemed like like the little guys of the stories to me. They had obscure lives in the past, they had probably had their minds wiped multiple times, and they were easy to sympathize with in terms of the fact that they had no control over what they did.


That's exactly what makes them the perfect companions! We, like the droids, are not in control of the story that unfolds. We are observers. They are characters with which it is easy for us to identify and they provide a ready source of humour with which to leaven the drama and action around them. They are pivotal characters in SW '77 in terms of the structure and style and were included for very good reasons. This is what makes them, in my opinion, indispensable to a PT that is to have the same feel as SW '77.
Post
#242055
Topic
What did the Prequel Trilogy need?
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/242055/action/topic#242055
Time
The more I think about it, the more I am convinced that Obi-Wan's unfamiliarity with the droids, despite my involving them all in a PT, can be explained by just the thing that Tiptup mentioned:

Originally posted by: Tiptup
Obiwan never struck me as a guy who would have ever been close friends with droids. Any droids. He's just too amazing for that.


Obi-Wan just doesn't come across the droids much. It's as simple as that. You don't need to establish any more than that to maintain the integrity of SW '77. If we run with the idea that Jedi are celibate, monk-like people, leading simple lives of meditation and training with no accumulation of possessions, then it is unlikely that Obi-Wan or Anakin would regard them as any more than luxury objects. If the droids were to become in some way thrown together with Padme that would bring them into the story we're concerned with.

That's an interesting thought - why couldn't Padme be the central character of the PT? Female characters are rather poorly done in the Luca$h PT. Maybe we should put a strong, rounded Padme centre-stage in the PT? Only thing is, that name gets annoying even over the course of one film, let alone three and would be unbearable through three books, probably! I think that would have to go...

What do people think of shaking things up a bit and putting Luke's Mum centre stage for the PT?
Post
#242011
Topic
Secret CIA prisons
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/242011/action/topic#242011
Time
Originally posted by: none
The line given at the beginning of the actions in Afgahnistan, was that these individuals who we're not part of an army sponsored by a country, and thus defy the rules of engagement set out by the Geneva Conventions. Thus these individuals we're not going to get trials by the Judicial system of any government but we're to get Military Trials. Now that the specifics of these secret prisons are still hazy. The rules Bush set up in his latest speeches still do not go into how the actions of the CIA are being modified. So in essense, the CIA can still play as they have. To appease public opinion, the "known secret" captives are being added to the Gitmo inmates. This issue still hasn't changed in 5 years, those captured on terrorist war battlefields, do they get the same rights as everyone else or a modified version of justice more in relation to wartimes?
none


Quite right, none.

In my opinion, 5 years is far too long to decide how you are going to deal with the POWs. It has resulted in these detainees being imprisoned, some for the whole 5 years, without being told what specific charges they are being held for and when they are to be allowed to defend themselves against those charges in a court of law. If I were to be treated like this I would regard it as being unfair, especially if those forces holding me prisoner espoused fair treatment for all as being one of their main principles.