pleasehello

James76 said:

Honestly, what Disney should do is cut out all the inappropriate jokes they throw in (such as the “wash where it doesn’t show” joke in Snow White), because throwing inappropriate jokes in family movies insults the audience’s intelligence and makes the adults seem like perverts.

The “wash where it doesn’t show” joke is only as inappropriate as you want to make it. I never took it as him asking if he had to wash his nether-regions and I don’t think it’s intended that way.

He’s asking if he has to “wash where it doesn’t show” because he’s lazy and doesn’t want to wash any more than he has to. Why spend time washing a part of your body that nobody is going to see? That’s the joke.

“They fly now” isn’t that bad to my mind. I thought that Abrams and Kasdan struck a pretty good balance with the humorous dialogue in TFA. It felt antiquated in a good way; a bit out-of-time which is appropriate for a galaxy far far away.

By contrast almost all of the TLJ humor fell flat for me. Too contemporary, too grounded in modern-day meme culture. General “Hugs” is about a lazy and uninspired as humor gets. I’m hoping that Abrams tones it down a bit and gets the humor more in line with what he did in TFA.

dgraham414 said:

“They fly now!”

I couldn’t help but laugh at that clip. It came off as total schlock. I’m trying to embrace it.

FreezingTNT2 said:

DuracellEnergizer said:

RogueLeader said:

In all seriousness, what would you change about ROTJ if you could? I like hearing your perspective!

• Remove the Death Star II, or make the Death Star II a ruse to lure the Rebels into a trap.
• Retool the entire Jabba sequence. Jabba’s palace would’ve be on a planet other than Tatooine; Leia would gift the droids to Jabba; Lando would free Han from the carbonite and get captured in the process; then Leia would arrive in person and successfully barter for Han & co’s freedom. Everything else would be cut.
• Luke would be on Dagobah, where he’d have been since the events of TESB, finishing his training under Yoda. He wouldn’t have a new lightsaber at this point.
• Leia would be “the other”, as powerful in the Force as Luke, but not his sister.
• Han would have some actual dignity. Instead of delivering dumb slapstick and one-liners, his relationship with Leia would continue to evolve.
• The Ewoks would be scary. They’d be pygmy versions of the original Chewbacca design, with oversized eyes and sharp fangs. They’d wear clothing made from human skin, and gruesome sculptures made of Imperial armour and human bones would decorate their village.
• Palpatine would not be a cackling Saturday morning cartoon supervillain. He’d be as he was portrayed by Clive Revill — resonant but understated.
• There’d be deeper exploration into Vader’s motivations and psyche. It would be made clear that Vader was a good man who joined Palpatine under false pretenses and became his puppet, and now wishes his son to join him in the dark side so together they can depose Palpatine and transform the Empire into the strong but benevolent power he always wanted it to be.
• It would be revealed that Vader kept Ben’s lightsaber as a trophy, and he would show it to Luke on Endor.
• Palpatine’s finest troops would actually live up to that descriptor. For once, we’d have stormtroopers with effective armour who can actually hit what they fire at.
• Palpatine would make a strong case for why Luke should turn to the dark side — power not for power’s sake, which Luke doesn’t crave, but to right wrongs, avenge evil, and protect his loved ones.
• During their duel, Luke and Vader would end up swapping lightsabers; Luke, with Vader’s red lightsaber, would face Vader, with Ben’s blue lightsaber.
• Han would die in the battle on Endor.
• Vader would succumb quicker to his injuries after killing Palpatine. He would die without his true face ever being revealed.
• Luke would dismantle Ben and Vader’s lightsabers and craft his own from their components. This lightsaber would be purple.
• No Force ghosts at the end. Whether or not Anakin atoned for his sins by saving Luke would be left up to the viewer to decide for themself.

I wouldn’t make Leia a Force-sensitive at all. Why, you may ask? It renders the entire quest to find Luke in The Force Awakens completely pointless from the start, especially in The Last Jedi, where it is revealed that she’s suddenly this powerful Force-user who flies back to the ship upon being blown out into space.

There’s an implication in TLJ that the display of her force powers to save her own life was either subconscious or unconscious, with no indication that she actually has any control of those powers (she never uses them again). Plus flying in space takes very little effort. I think it’s an awkwardly executed scene, but I also think the idea that it invalidates the quest to find Luke is a little silly.

I think these atypical viewing orders can be super fun for fans already familiar with Star Wars and can re-contextualize the stories in interesting ways. For the first time viewer though, release order is the only way to go.

The Star Wars prequels rely 100% on the viewer’s existing knowledge of Ep. IV, V & VI. There are so many things in the prequel movies that make absolutely no sense at all without having seen the OT.

Broom Kid said:

Considering both blu-ray and 4K UHD are formats that are essentially “collectors only” purchases at this point (kind of like a better, more idealized Laser Disc really) I think that best case scenario is worth holding onto at least a tiny measure of hope? I’m sure it’ll get crushed by this time next year, haha. But the only people really buying physical media anymore are collectors and/or people who care that the image quality is as good as it can be. And both of those audience bases are really small compared to the general audience who has no problem w/ streaming quality, so you’ve gotta provide something a little extra to make that purchase seem “necessary.”

It really sucks that most people either don’t see or don’t care about the difference between blu ray video quality and a lower bitrate stream. When I stream movies and I see blocking, it takes me right out.

Fewer physical releases also means we are at the mercy of the streaming services, only able to watch what they deem “popular enough” to carry.

Broom Kid said:

However - Lucas DID basically whip up Empire Strikes Back’s story/structure more or less all by himself once Brackett was gone. Kasdan contributed heavily, yes, but by the time he came on the bones of the thing were firmly in place. But on the other hand: The most famous twist of all time, probably, and the one that basically doomed Star Wars to forever be taken way more seriously than it ever really needed to, and trained its biggest fans to expect twists and turns and huge surprises in every chapter despite the fact it’s ALWAYS been a straightforward fairy-tale other than THAT ONE TIME… that twist was basically pulled out of his backside at the last second before shooting started. It wasn’t a deeply considered, thought-out idea. It was just a hand grenade tossed at the end of the story to create one hell of a cliffhanger for the next chapter.

Right, I think Lucas is a pretty good “big picture” guy, but when it comes to screenwriting and directing most of his work comes off sooooo flat. That’s why Star Wars 1977 is so perplexing. It’s the exception to the rule. It’s funny and emotional and when you watch it you think, “this guy wrote and directed the prequels?”

One of the biggest problems with the ST is that there was no “big picture” going into it. And it’s definitely been a detriment to the series. No matter how much you like TFA and TLJ as individual films (I think they work pretty well separately), there is very little narrative continuity between the two. And the way TLJ ended, there’s unlikely to be much narrative continuity with Episode IX either. The ST desperately needed a “big picture”, but I’m not so sure George Lucas would have been the right man to do it.

OutboundFlight said:

I don’t understand how George Lucas is getting all the breaks now for his “originality” while Rian Johnson is hated for doing exactly what haters of TFA asked.

This is what RJ possibly “ruined” about Star Wars:

• Luke’s ultimate fate is sit around moaning about his failure before he returns to form and sacrifices himself.
• You can now hyperspace attack.
• Animal cruelty exists in Star Wars.

Compared to the PT:

• Anakin wasn’t a brave warrior, he was a creep.
• The Jedi were idiots.
• Padmé died of a broken heart.
• Stormtroopers are clones of Boba Fett’s father.
• There’s a ton of weird names.
• It’s potentially racist (likely accidental).
• The Jedi Purge happened in a day.
• Anakin built C-3PO and knew R2.
• Anakin knew about Uncle Owen but never checked up on him.

Yes, TLJ is way worse than the PT! /s I can see the argument TFA is the worst one, although I beg to differ, but I don’t understand how RJ gets SW worse than GL.

George Lucas has definitely been getting a rose-tinted-glasses treatment lately. Undeservedly so, in my opinion. Credit for creating and directing the original Star Wars, but beyond that his work really hasn’t been very good. Just think how boring the Empire Strikes Back would have been if it were written and directed by George Lucas.

Broom Kid said:

Star Wars and Tartovsky’s Solaris probably shouldn’t be on the same shelf either.

At my house, Star Wars and Tarkovsky’s Solaris are literally on the same shelf.

Are you using the recent Criterion blu ray release as a master? What was lacking about them in your opinion and what did you do differently?

RogueLeader said:

I think that is a fair view, basically an auteur theory perspective.

So, do you think it is possible for future films/shows made under Disney-Lucasfilm could be considered more artistic if the right artist came in and had enough creative freedom to create a unique, new story?

Isn’t that what Rian Johnson tried to do? RJ may be the most “auteur” of any director to helm a Star Wars movie; he did something quite different and people hated it.

DrDre said:

You can get something good out of a drink, that isn’t coca cola. Like I said it may taste good, and I may enjoy it, but it isn’t Coca Cola. To me Star Wars is more than the sum of a brand name, a good story, and similar aesthetics.

Dre - You seem to know what doesn’t constitute “Star Wars” in your own personal view. But what does? You’ve implied that Star Wars is more that just a sum of its parts; something more intangible. How can a SW movie ever be made to your satisfaction if that’s the case?

DuracellEnergizer said:

Darth Hade said:

Ahhh.

I’m guessing that you’re one of those originaltrilogy.com members that wanted it to stay the story of Luke Skywalker and not be the story of Anakin Skywalker.

Just not a fan of the chosen one/prophecy brouhaha; too deterministic for my tastes.

And the way it retcons the ending of ROTJ.

Anakin Skywalker “brings balance to the force” by killing the emperor, but not until after he helps murder countless millions of people. I guess it’s okay though since the prophecy was technically fulfilled. It never worked for me.

Hal 9000 said:

With the caretakers being removed, it might be good to trim Snoke’s line about destroying the entire island.

I’ve always thought it was weird that he would specifically single out the island for destruction. We’ve kind of come to expect nothing less than total planetary destruction from the big bad forces in Star Wars, so I kind of just assumed that he’d take care of the whole planet.

Force-Abel said:

Valheru_84 said:

If the recently updated plot leaks are true then TROS will somehow actually be worse than TLJ, at least insofar as the writing of the story and characters.

Can’t wait for TROS to release to DVD, watch it once out of morbid curiousity and then try to forget the ST altogether for the rest of my life…

I think there is more chance that people who won’t / will not like TROS, and some indeed seem to have made their minds up on IX before seeing it, will be endlessly posting about it everywhere.

Much like they have for TLJ or other new Star Wars films they don’t like.
 

Closed minds - closed hearts. Fandom seems to be more about hating on things these days, and letting others know endlessly about it. I can’t see many of the ST bashers forgetting about it just becuase the ST are coming to an end. Hate begets hate.

Yeah, I’m trying to keep any open mind. A film is much more than just a plot summary. That said, there is one specific plot leak detail that I absolutely hate and hope is not true. While TLJ was subversive (not always in a satisfying way) it was at least respectful, but if this TROS plot detail is true I think it would be a total insult to the previous film and the audience. I don’t want to be jerked around and I don’t want to be treated like a dummy.

I mean, it’s pretty close. It’s almost a mirror image of the TFA poster.

We’re back to teal and orange I see. That trend needs to die.

SilverWook said:

But is it in the same system as Endor? How far could that wreckage travel in three decades?

Are you implying that J.J. Abrams doesn’t know how space works? How dare you, sir.

Density said:

If those leaks are even close to right, let me just say “I have a bad feeling about this.”

Like, if the basic plot is what I think it’s going to be (and the trailer seems to suggest it is), this could well be the worst Star Wars movie of all-time. Yes, worse than the prequels.

A plot does not a movie make. For my money, the plot of any given Star Wars movie is usually one of its least interesting or important aspects.

The plots of episodes II and III are pretty grounded and potentially interesting on paper, but were executed in the worst and most boring way possible. The plot leaks of Ep. IX sound pretty dumb on paper, but could be executed in a way that has emotional resonance.

Hal 9000 said:

I still find Palpatine’s survival deeply thematically unpalatable. (Unpalpable?)

Unpalpatinable.

Hal 9000 said:

I just hope the whole thing feels thematically appropriate, but my cynical tendencies see this as unnecessary. I always thought Dark Empire looked stupid compared to the novels, since it just undoes and redoes ROTJ, but then again there’s been plenty of exactly that in the ST so far. I would think it’d be more congruent to figuratively re-defeat Palpatine rather than literally. My concerns aren’t how it makes sense logically, but thematically. But, we’ll see what happens.

It would be nice if we could have both thematic congruity and narrative congruity. I wouldn’t mind if they defeated his force ghost or his spirit or whatever, but if he’s back in the flesh I am going to roll my eyes so hard.

The Emperor was more of a symbol of evil anyway in ROTJ rather than a real character. He was basically the Satan to Luke’s Jesus if we’re going with the biblical analogy, tempting Luke to go down the dark and easy path. I really hope it’s something more in that vein.

“It’s so dense. Every single image has so many things going on.”

ChainsawAsh said:

UncutIsSuperior said:

Avatar_Emil_Borg said:

Um, what are you talking about? Star Wars wasn’t shot in CinemaScope. Where exactly have you heard that Star Wars was filmed in CinemaScope?

IMDb said so, 2.35:1. If that doesn’t prove it, I don’t know what does.

That doesn’t mean CinemaScope. That just means anamorphic 35mm.

2.35:1 anamorphic 35mm which was first pioneered and popularized by…CinemaScope.

It’s still acceptable to refer to that particular format as CinemaScope even if it’s not technically accurate. It’s easily the most recognizable name for the format and even people in the film industry use the word “Scope” as short hand for 2.35:1 35mm.

4throck said:

Hal 9000 said:

I’ve seen a few attempts to trim down the ‘water pipes’ gag with BB8 during the opening sequence, and tried making one myself, but never saw one that really felt right.

Can anyone recommend anyone’s work on this scene? Perhaps there’s a good one out there I haven’t stumbled into, but you have.

Just use the deleted original opening. Solves the water gag and the General Hugs prank.

Doesn’t the deleted original opening have a ton of unfinished CGI?

I tried my hand at trimming down the “water pipes” gag as well. Most of my efforts didn’t really pan out or feel right. In the end I ended up just cutting that one shot of BB8’s multiple appendages trying vainly to plug the leaks. The shot where he retracts them is still there, but it happens so fast that it doesn’t really register. That was the best I could do and I’m not even sure if it’s an improvement.

JSteven said:

Side note: why are so many great faneditors banned from this site??

Can’t speak to other editors, but it’s not hard to figure out why Possessed was banned: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/1250806

DrDre said:

RogueLeader said:

Hey man! Happy to hear you enjoyed it some more in your most recent viewing! Hope your day is going well.

Do you think you just enjoyed it more in a general sense, or were there specific things that you noticed you kinda liked this time around?

I found I really enjoyed the Luke/Rey/Kylo/Snoke dynamic this time round.

That’s easily the most interesting part of the movie.