canofhumdingers

You know, the tension between Boba Fett and Bo Katan’s posse gave me a small epiphany.

Like many here, I vastly prefer the OOT to any subsequent version. I never much liked the way Boba was handled in and after AotC. But his role in The Mandalorian has softened my opinion on his “official” history even if I still don’t love him being a clone. Anyway, the way they pointed out his voice giving him away really struck me. It makes total sense he’d use some kind of vocoder to alter his voice after the clone wars and during Imperial rule. So the original ESB version still works within “true” cannon. Or, (more importantly to me), the Boba Fett in this show and the original ESB aren’t incongruent with each other. Yay!

Also, it even works with him no altering his voice in the show because at this point, with the empire ousted and the clone wars a distant memory for many, it’s less of a concern that people would recognize his voice or, if they do, care.

Of course, don’t get me started on the idea of millions of clones all having the same regional accent…

Regarding Bo Katan and the Dark Saber, I didn’t feel like they left anything hanging. I thought her performance pretty clearly conveyed the sense that she desperately wanted it, was supremely disappointed at what Din had unwittingly done, but was clearly choosing not to pick a fight over it right then and there. She obviously needed some time to think about what had happened and how she could “fix” it for herself. But she wasn’t ready to up and kill Din right then and there and was choosing to wait. For now…

I really enjoyed it. Is it perfect? Nah. Are there nits to be picked? Sure.

But this show, like Rogue One before it, just hits all the right Star Wars notes for me and I’m just along for the ride at this point. I’m beyond caring about critiquing this on any kind of intellectual level. I’m ready to just let it wash over me like ocean waves and enjoy the experience.

Can’t wait to see where next season goes and I’m genuinely intrigued by the Book of Boba Fett.

Yeah, while the sequel trilogy has plenty of faults, I though the new force powers it introduced (especially the “JediSkype” where even environmental elements like rain drops transferred and of course Luke’s force projection) were really great and felt very in keeping with the right “feel” of the Force.

I also think looking to the Jedi Knight games as a source of inspiration would be great. I was happy to see Force healing implemented in TRoS and The Mandalorian. It was implied by Ben Kenobi’s actions toward Luke in ‘77 but never explicitly shown or dealt with.

I don’t like the idea of conjuring elements so much (it’s a bit too magic) but I love the idea of being able to command or control the elements and think it would feel like a natural extension of the force. So, for example a Jedi couldn’t make fire or water appear out of nowhere, but if it was already there they could manipulate and control it to a certain extent. Which I guess we technically saw with baby Yo… er, Grogu in season one of Mando.

Basically, since the force is a natural, elemental type of mysticism created by living things and intertwined with the physical world around them (the tree. The rock.) those are the types of powers I like to see. It should be able to enhance, expand, and manipulate the mind, body, spirit, and natural world in and around the user.

If I had to invent a new force power… hmm. I don’t know if I can come up with one that hasn’t already been at least touched on in official media. Maybe something like the ability to put your enemies to sleep? I could see that being a cool scene for a hero hopelessly outnumbered in a critical situation to reach out with the force and watch a whole platoon of stormtroopers start feeling very drowsy and struggling to stay focused and awake until they give in and all fall asleep. Has something like that been done before?

I know they used VistaVision for filming many of the effects sequences in the OT. Maybe that has something to do with it?

Bidge said:

Just found this on twitter. Poster claims its a combo of rare & never been seen before:

Tuantaun dance + other stuff

https://twitter.com/Clayton_Sandell/status/1338855826828582917

That was very cool! Thanks for posting it here.

The question, from a bean counter’s perspective is simple. If it is released on physical media, how much additional revenue will you pick up from people who do not have a subscription buying the discs versus how much revenue will you lose from people cancelling their subscriptions in favor of buying the discs? Unfortunately while the question is easy, the answer is not.

So who knows. But based on the rumblings from a while back about Disney corporate wanting to move away from physical media, I’d suspect getting many of these series on disc is not terribly likely. Which sucks. But like it or not, streaming is the future and physical media will continue to move into the collector/niche audio and videophile market. I just hope and pray that physical media can garner enough of a niche market to continue to be viable for many years to come, similar to how vinyl record sales have actually been increasing in the last few years.

act on instinct said:
I think it’s fine Lucas kept working independently and I share solidarity with his anti-corporation feelings.

Those feelings make his role as founder of Lucasfilm, and especially the eventual sale to Disney incredibly ironic.

timdiggerm said:

No idea why Mando sent Gideon that message though.

My wife said the same thing. It’s simple. Mando is a bad@ss. He’s putting fear into his opponent. A frightened opponent makes mistakes and is more easily defeated.

It’s the same concept as the scene at the train station in Tombstone where Kurt Russel is yelling “You tell ‘em I’m comin’! And hell’s comin’ with me!!” It’s a terrifyingly determined man making a chilling threat.

It may or may not be the best tactical decision but it is a tactical move with a clear intention. And it’s bold, which makes it even scarier to someone like Gideon (who’s clearly a proud tactician himself) when you consider he knows the potential foolishness of laying your hand out like that. If Mando is confident enough to warn Gideon he’s on the way, Gideon probably has good reason to be afraid.

Yeah, it sure is! Haha

So after owning them since each was first released, I’ve finally committed to sitting down and reading the Rinzler “Making of” books for the original trilogy.

I’m only to chapter two of the first book, but already there is some fascinating info I’ve never seen or heard before.

In chapter one I came across this direct quote from Lucas himself that I think perfectly sums up the single greatest flaw that has resulted in his pigheaded determination to keep the original cuts suppressed, made the PT far lesser films than they could’ve been (the PT we got is some really neat ideas but with incredibly poor execution, imo)

And there you have it. To anyone who asks the question “why aren’t the originals available?” or “why did the prequels turn out the way they did?” look no further than those two paragraphs.

I realize the concept is not particularly new, especially to longtime members of this site. But to see it so plainly and succinctly summed up by Lucas himself was kind of a revelation.

It’s truly a double edged sword in a way. Without his stubborn determination we probably wouldn’t even have these films we love so much. But at the same time it is this quality that has caused some tremendous frustration at times. And in the case of the OT it is robbing us of a significant piece of our culture, art, and history.

The circles on the B-wing’s wings is pretty well known. I can’t think of a b-wing model or toy with the standard ROTJ paint scheme that doesn’t have them…

Haha, like some of those ridiculous Saudi princes you see in the news from time to time. That’s actually a hilarious idea and I love it!

Anakin Starkiller said:

Imagine releasing SEs of all the James Bond films where Bond has the same face throughout. Not Sean Connery’s, not Roger Moores’, a specially created one.

Ugh no. Don’t give them ideas like this!

^😆

ATMachine said:

Off the top of my head, I’d guess it was symbolism of the “triune God” represented by three colossal Star Destroyers/one colossal asteroid. Coupled with an allusion to ancient Byzantium, used to symbolize Heaven the way it does in some of WB Yeats’ poetry; since Byzantum’s two major chariot teams bore the colors Green and Blue, with the Emperor usually bestowing favors on the Blues rather than the Greens. And related to other stuff in the Lucasfilm vaults that uses this symbolism, eg, perhaps some WILLOW sequels.

Other than that, I don’t really have any ideas.

What? No. It’s an error in the video transfer. Something wonky happened somewhere in the process of transferring the film to video and then producing the vhs copies. There’s no symbolism implied or intended. You often have very interesting ideas, but you also have a tendency to jump to way too many conclusions. There is absolutely ZERO evidence to support any kind of symbolism. The fact that the blue lasers only exist in a few shots of one particular home video release, where they are green in the vast majority of releases (including the actual theatrical 35mm prints I bet!) points to it being nothing more than an accidental flub.

It is kinda cool to see this brought up though. The pan and scan Faces vhs was my primary way of watching the OT as a kid and the blue lasers in the asteroid chase always bothered me!

Huh. I guess I do vaguely remember Kuiil saying something like that but the term totally escaped me. Thanks!

So what the heck is “strand cast” and why is everyone talking about it like it’s something we should all be familiar with already?

Would it not be possible to take a negative of regular frame rate material and step-print it (as opposed to printing it normally) to create the staccato effect in the positive print? Is that not how “step printing” works? I mean it is called step printing, not step filming or step developing or something…

Whaaaaaat…?

Despite the TIE Defender being ridiculously over-the-top, I’ve always kinda liked it.

And B-wings? Please and thank you.

I loved this episode! And it had little to nothing to do with seeing cartoon characters brought to live action.

I just thought it was a great story with a super cool new planet to see and really fun action and characters. I loved seeing Din interact and react to meeting new mandalorians who don’t follow the (same) way. It didn’t really matter that I knew who they were.

While I do enjoy the Filoni cartoons (especially Rebels), I am a bit concerned that he’s bringing in so many of his characters all of a sudden. I liked The Mandalorian being it’s own thing. I don’t mind some minor crossovers but I can easily see these things taking over and running away with the show.

Apparently it’s TC-4, Senator Palpatine’s protocol droid who was in a scene cut from TPM.

Looks like a photo of this set:

Read more about him here:
https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/TC-4/Legends

Also, looks like whoever took that photo you posted put palpsy’s hands on the wrong arms…

I tried to put spoiler tags but I don’t know if this site actually has them. Anyway, I couldn’t figure out how to make them work. Spoilers for Mando Episode 9 follow. Consider yourself warned!!

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Am I the only one who was a bit annoyed they retconned the Krayt Dragon to just be a Dune sandworm clone rather than the more lizard like creature it has always been in the old EU?

I wasn’t annoyed that they retconned the Krayt dragon design so much as that they went with the sandworm idea that just felt very un-original and “been there, done that”. Would’ve preferred something different. And you could easily accomplish the same story with a different creature design.

Otherwise, yeah, great episode. Mando is just a great character and so much fun to watch. And I enjoyed all the other story elements and Easter eggs.

c0rpze said:

I’m looking to purchase a Death Trooper kit soon. Could you share what the quality is like for these kits? Did you have to do any glueing to keep pieces together or keep them stable? Great job by the way! If these are decent, I’d like to start my own collection.

canofhumdingers said:

Posted more about it in the collectibles sub forum a few weeks ago, but I built a Bandai 1/12 Stormtrooper model recently.

Bandai kits are wonderful. The engineering, detail, quality, everything is top notch. They are made to be snap-fit kits but sometimes you’ll find a piece that would be better off glued. They are molded in generally the correct colors so they advertise as not needing paint. But they are true model kits and, in my opinion, still need to be painted. They also benefit from some minor seam filling and sanding where necessary.

But they are tons of fun. If you have any interest at all I say go for it!

I’ve had an idea for an amazing Vader film for a few years now that I’d love to see happen. I dunno if Nolan would be the right pick for director or not, but here’s what I wrote a while back when I first got the idea (cut and pasted from a few posts made back in 2017)

[canofhumdingers said:]

I know there will be plenty here who disagree, but I totally want to see a movie about Darth Vader hunting down the last few stray Jedi he can find. The more times I watch Rogue One, the more I love how they handled Darth. Despite the internet complaints I think the suit looks great more times than not (there’s maybe two shots where it looks a little off but that’s really it) and they NAILED his character. His snarky lines towards Krennic were totally the kind of thing he said to imperial officers in the OT.

I don’t know exactly what kind of genre you might try to mimic with a film like that, but maybe a vengeful Samurai drama? Something similar in tone to Harakiri, or better yet, Sword of Doom. Something where the protagonist (Vader) has already or is in the process of descending into madness as he seeks his revenge on those who “wronged” him. This would lead to a series of epic duels as the film goes on. The first two or three being one on one and the finale being a gripping battle where Vader is outnumbered maybe three or four to one and he only barely prevails.

It could be set a little before Rogue One and perhaps even reference Jedda and the empire ransacking the temple for Kyber crystals. Hey, maybe one of the duels could be Vader against two or three angry and vengeful Guardians of the Whills monks!

The duels would be very tense and dramatic. Nothing like what you saw in the PT, but great swordsmanship drawing inspiration from the very best cinematic fights but with very creative and thoughtful use of the Force.

Imagine something along the lines this scene (from Harakiri).
https://youtu.be/L6tp8r0E68w

I wanted post a subbed trailer for The Sword of Doom b/c I think that film is the best example of the overall tone and mood for the film I’m envisioning, but I wasn’t able to find one. But if you’re interested, google will turn up lots of info… if you catch my drift. Also Criterion has it available on BD and DVD.

Now, as for my film idea, I do think the fear of Vader not being able to carry a film is a valid concern that must be dealt with. But I don’t think it’s an insurmountable problem. We already know all we need to about him; he needs no character development. However he can still be the protagonist in that he is the catalyst and the driving force that propels the film. But even so, the focus of the run time would actually be on his victims. Getting to know who they are, how their covers were blown and the Empire finds them, how they deal with the fear of knowing Vader is coming for them. Again, this is roughly similar to how things are done in The Sword of Doom.

Also, I had an idea for a scene (perhaps the opening of the movie?) where Vader commands the team that ransacks the Kyber temple with the monks who would later seek him out watching in horror/terror. Perhaps they vow to avenge the desecration and go hunting for Vader, tracking him each time he hunts down another Jedi until they are able to confront him. Maybe this would be the big finale. Vader against a team of force sensitive (but NOT Jedi!) Guardians of the Whills. Or maybe it’s just the opening scene and the monks attack on site and overwhelm the Stormtroopers until Vader steps in.

At any rate, while it would be a “Darth Vader movie”, I actually envision it having Vader onscreen for not much more than he’s featured in ESB. I think it could really work. Man, the more I think about this, the more I REALLY want to see it made! Anybody happen to have an in with John Knoll or Kathleen Kennedy…?