Wolfman said:
They love The Phantom Menace 3D over on TFN. Some even seeing it multiple times."sigh". Just what George wants.
What's their excuse for the 4th place debut? Because those 3 movies that beat it look pretty lousy so I don't think the "tough competition" excuse works in this case.
generalfrevious said:
And what's with this persecution of pessimists?
I'm a pessimist myself. I also believe that GL will never release the OOT and that when he dies, Katie will only make things even worse.
That's still not the end of the world. The fan edits and reconstructions just get better and better as time goes on.
Maybe if more and more people stop giving this man money, he'll get the picture. I'm sure he was shocked that TPM3D didn't debut at #1.
27% The Vow $41.7M
53% Safe House $39.3M
42% Journey 2: The Mysterious Island $27.6M
57% Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (in 3D) $23.0M
I don't get the pessimism either.
If George and his progeny are too stubborn (and stupid) to profit from multiple versions of the films, the fans will pick up the slack. In fact, they already have.
walking_carpet said:
I wonder if we should have some sort of well-sourced, bulletproof rebuttal to point people to with regard to George's talking points and fallacies. So many people take him at face value. It's bad enough when Lucas fanboys believe the revisionism, but it's especially troubling when journalists do it.Something brief akin to a FAQ that dispells the myths, but not so dense that people will go "tl;dr".
Secret History of Star Wars is a good start. It wouldn't be easy but it can be done - they guy has done more 'interviews' than every filmmaker in history combined.
In one of the 70s articles, he said SW was for 14 year olds. that would conflict with what he says now about star wars being for little kids. unless you think 7 year olds and 14 year olds are the same.
I love History of Star Wars, but I'm afraid that would count as "tl;dr" to a lot of people these days. I guess I'm talking more about making a "fact sheet".
Maybe I'll try slapping something together as an example if I can find the time.
walking_carpet said:
you forgot the quote where he says fans wanted star wars to be like the matrix ;) these are all just his trademark cop-outs.copouts, excuses, laziness, selfishness, deceit, dishonesty, greed, incompetance, god complex and cult of personality.
I wonder if we should have some sort of well-sourced, bulletproof rebuttal to point people to with regard to George's talking points and fallacies. So many people take him at face value. It's bad enough when Lucas fanboys believe the revisionism, but it's especially troubling when journalists do it.
Something brief akin to a FAQ that dispells the myths, but not so dense that people will go "tl;dr".
CO said:
Sadly, George Lucas has bought into the internet bitching of a few, and lumped us altogether. Pretty sad if you ask me.
I just don't buy that. There are things he's said that I've never heard anyone say.
"Those fans want Star Wars to be like Terminator."
No one said this. All we asked for is that the same level of realism from ANH and ESB be maintained and cartoonish slapstick be kept to a bare minimum.
"Those fans want the prequels to be three movies of Darth Vader just killing people."
No one said this. All people wanted was to see Obi-Wan's line about Vader hunting down and destroying the Jedi depicted in some manner at some point. And George screwed it up by showing the Clone Troopers actually killing the Jedi and Vader murdering children when it should have been the other way around.
Now he's saying that people want Han to be a cold blooded killer when no one has said such a thing.
twister111 said:
It's pretty clear he's wanted to be the public figure head for Star Wars since the SEs were produced. He had plenty of time to think about it and he wanted that fame induced lifestyle. I hazard a guess that his life was becoming ever more "average" during that time. I mean when Star Wars was discussed prior to the SEs I as a kid did not care and did not know about George Lucas. I just discussed the characters on the screen with my friends. Sure this is anecdotal, but I ask you prior to the SEs in the early 90s how much did you associate George Lucas with Star Wars?
As a kid, the only name I knew about the making of Star Wars is that George Lucas made them all. I didn't know the names Kirshner, Marquand, Kasdan, Kurtz, etc. I think I did know John Williams did the music. IIRC, Bantha Tracks (and other media) frequently invoked his name and called him a "visionary genius". I think BT even sold posters of George Lucas looking whimsically into the stars, probably done by Struzan.
George has taken the role of Sole Creator of Star Wars™ since the beginning, and gladly accepted all the accolades during the golden years. It's only natural then that he received the lion's share of the blame when things went bad.
georgec said:
Drew McWeeny at HitFix was banned from Skywalker Ranch for 10 years, until maybe one or two years ago. He has written the only non-negative review of TPM 3D so far. Coincidence?
Yeah, I noticed that, too. The dude named his poor son "Toshiro Lucas McWeeny". This guy is anything but impartial.
BTW, TPM has finally dropped to "Rotten" status on Rotten Tomatoes.
I'm not sure I'm going to read that article. I think my blood pressure will skyrocket if I do.
I'm already seeing fallout. All kinds of posts blaming the "haters" for killing Star Wars. Newsflash guys: He wasn't going to make 7-9 anyways. Now he just has a new excuse for why not.
doubleofive said:
If I was younger and had wealth and influence, I would put MYSELF in these shows, not my father's over-exposed franchise.
I would not be surprised if that was also part of the deal. Glee gets to use Chewbacca but Glee has to give Katie a grand tour and meet-and-greet with the actors. (And maybe even let her be an extra in the episode.)
I've heard similar arrangements were made with the infamous N'SYNC incident and also George's appearance The OC. Both times he whored out Star Wars to please his kids.
One of George's daughters (Katie?) is obviously a Glee fan; that's why we're getting this. Same reason we almost got N'Sync in AOTC. And let's not forget, she is going to end up inheriting the franchise.
Please live a long and healthy life, GL!
Hey George, why not add the NONONO Cat to your next upgrade?
Mielr said:
I'm surprised GL didn't add a little digital braid to Luke's hair in ROTJ. ;-P
Don't give him any ideas!
I remember publicly commenting on the Star Wars newsgroup after AOTC came out about how Boba Fett's accent didn't match the voice in TESB. And we all know what George did after that.
As long as the fan preservation and fan edits continue, we win.
The only loser is George Lucas for failing to capitalize on peoples' desire for the OOT.
georgec said:
The funny thing about Lucas is that when he talks about SW he seems bored. It's just a money making machine to him. He's made a fortune off taking sole credit for the work of many people.
It really is just a job to him, it would seem. I have no idea what gets this man excited anymore. My jaw dropped when I watched one of the bonus features on one of the Family Guy Star Wars DVDs when George said his favorite shows were Jackass and Family Guy. This from the guy that once loved Kurosawa and Campbell. Then again, he is the man that created Jar Jar Binks.
Speaking of GL, I was watching the new Special Features Blu-ray and they had that bizarre bit with GL at a Clone Wars story meeting. He wasn't looking too good and his voice sounded even more Kermitty than usual. He just seemed to be rambling and none of his flunkies were even responding to him. Unlike some here, I hope GL lives a long time because I believe things will get much worse for us if Katie takes over.
Confused Matthew, who I usually disagree with, weighs in on the Blu:
http://confusedmatthew.com/Random-Rants.php
I like that he call BS on George's "critics always hated Star Wars" routine.
I'm not quite buying the Joel Schumacher>George Lucas argument, though.
SilverWook said:
If you ever saw the Muppets that were on Saturday Night Live the very first season, you've glimpsed Jim Henson's darker comedy side. ;)
Yeah, to be honest I didn't really like those either. From what I've read, Jim's people weren't allowed to write for those sketches, only the SNL writers, all of whom hated the Muppets.
Puppets cursing and making sex & drug refs is only funny for about a couple minutes. Then it gets old real quick.
What Jim Henson did with the Muppet Show and George (and his people) did with the OT was quite ingenious on how they were able to entertain people of all ages without scraping the bottom of the barrel. Today's type of "all-ages" entertainment is sloppy, juvenile storytelling with a few veiled sexual innuendos or pop-cultural refs.
none said:
TV's Frink wrote: What?
Anchorhead wrote: .
http://www.metatube.com/en/videos/74570/Behind-The-Scens-Of-Alligator-Boots-Tv-Show/
Wow. Jim Henson must be rolling in his grave. No wonder Frank Oz cut his ties with the Jim Henson Studios people if they can OK dreck like this.
I just want to say that it was you guys that convinced me to cancel my pre-order and I thank you for it. There were just too many minuses to buying this set and I think the clincher was that the awful colors weren't fixed.
I've since convinced two other people not to buy.
Tobar said:
Somebody needs to do one with an inner Vader monologue during Palpatine's torture of Luke. When Palpatine grimaces, Vader can say, "God, look at his teeth. I can't believe I dumped Natalie Portman for this guy.
I know he's probably aware. I'd just like to believe "there is still good in him".
I don't know why Hitler/Nazi analogies are even necessary when Star Wars ones are even more appropriate (and less offensive.)
Mr. Bungle said:
He's either completely ignorant to the internet meme and mockery of "NOOOOOO" (hard to believe), or yes, he's being a total dick.
I picture it something like this:
GEORGE: Why are all these guys on the internet doing the NOOOO scene?
RICK: (Nervously) Um.... I don't know. Do you want to sue them?
GEORGE: Are they making fun of the scene?
RICK: Uh... no! No! It's just... it's just that the scene was just so powerful and well directed that it's become a pop culture phenomenon.
GEORGE: Oh, like the "I am your father scene."
RICK: Yes, just like that one. Better than that one, even.
GEORGE: Let's put it in Return of the Jedi too, then.
RICK: Oh... OK. Great idea, sir!
For you guys' next gag edit, you need even more needless exposition added. Like when Luke beheads the Vader image in the Cave, he can explain to the audience that that wasn't really Vader. Or whenever a character dies, someone has to announce it ala Dr. McCoy. "Jabba the Hutt has been strangled to death by Leia!!"
You might be able to get similar dialogue from the radio show.