thejediknighthusezni

         Are 100 million dollar features going out with it?

        THE FLY with Jeff Goldblum. I felt queasy for a week after.

        The single most terrifying SCENE in a movie, for me, would be the 'Swinging In A Tube' sequence in the EM film THE ISLAND. On the big screen I felt that I was swinging with them and nearly had to leave the theater.

         I've been wondering about the future of the exhibitors in the face of streaming content and the competition for eyeballs with all the new tech.

        I see there are some industry watchers on the site.

        Any thoughts?

          Should the probes launched from the SDs at the start of ESB go into hyperspace and then drop out near Hoth?  It always seemed to me that the SDs were quite close to the Hoth system and planet.

            ARGO

            Well done. It managed to maintain a decent pace and tension. It captured the mood and character of the times quite well. Afleck has built some real street (Blvd.) cred.

            I'm not inclined to fault actors much for the projects they manage to land. I understand they have to play the game and go with what's available.

            That said, I was stunned by how catastrophically dangerous the SUM OF ALL FEARS is. It pounded the horrifyingly preposterous notion that nuclear weapons come with return adresses into the heads of tens of millions of people around the world. Millions of lefties and uninformed people now form their entire attitudes about foreign policy around this lunacy.

           With his new cred, Afleck could reverse much if not all of this. He might even be able to advance the ball.

           I'd like to know if he has a pair.

walkingdork said:

CP3S said:

darth_ender said:

You clearly see that there are certain inescapable morals built into us genetically, even if you don't believe in a Supreme Being who governs right and wrong.

I say this because I don't believe you'd have access to this site from prison ;)

I don't believe we have morals built into us genetically. In fact, I think the very idea is rather silly. I am a firm believer that morals are developed culturally. Nor do I think they are inescapable. You can look at other cultures and at history and see that not every person, or even every culture, or society ascribed to these inescapable, innate, supposedly God imprinted morals.

 

Word.

           I recall a sociological survey of people from many different nations and regions around the world that found there was a universal set of values that tracked closely with the 10 Commandments. 

walkingdork said:

CP3S said:

darth_ender said:

You clearly see that there are certain inescapable morals built into us genetically, even if you don't believe in a Supreme Being who governs right and wrong.

I say this because I don't believe you'd have access to this site from prison ;)

I don't believe we have morals built into us genetically. In fact, I think the very idea is rather silly. I am a firm believer that morals are developed culturally. Nor do I think they are inescapable. You can look at other cultures and at history and see that not every person, or even every culture, or society ascribed to these inescapable, innate, supposedly God imprinted morals.

 

Word.

           I recall a sociological survey of people from many different nations and regions around the world that found there was a universal set of values that tracked closely with the 10 Commandments. 

doubleKO said:

Bah! Am I Santa Claus?

:P

 

This is a basic maths riddle that baffled me for years when I was young (my mum would never tell me the answer):

A woman selling eggs stops at a house, where the occupant says "I'll have half your eggs, plus half an egg, and I don't want any broken ones". She stops at another 4 houses where the request is the same: "I'll have half your eggs plus half an egg, and I don't want any broken ones". After the fifth house, she has sold all her eggs and not sold any broken ones. How many eggs did she start with?

     67? 

Bingowings said:

...That's where jets make sense (conceptually, not in the Super Mario sense they are used in the PT in it's current form).

And to me using jets to push someone to safety is no more different than using a stormtrooper grapple hook, a loose bit of rigging or driving a car up a slope to leap from one surface to another.

It's not flying if used in that way.

But this is as usual a pointless conversation because the jets aren't even going to be in PT:R.

         R2 in ROTS detatches his jets and fires them at the battledroids they explode taking a couple out?  

      I competely forgot about Luke and Tat.

      New dialog in TPM and AOTC apartment?  The ROTS Tantive conference "...to on Tatoonie..."?

     If Ani is already an orphan...?

Tyrphanax said:

Six tenths of one penny of every tax dollar ain't much to be spent on NASA.

It might not seem like we're making much progress now, but we really are. People asked why we "wasted" so much time figuring out quantum mechanics in the 20s, but if we hadn't, we probably wouldn't be talking on this forum right now.

      Now that it's up there, Curiosity is kinda fun to follow. 

      6/10ths of the entire federal budget. But the manned and deep system programs are entirely unnecessary at this time. 100% of their budgets must be counted towards the deficit and the debt. 6/10ths becomes a % of the deficit that starts to look significant. The ISS, after the interest to China is counted in, will be about half a trillion dollars.

      Even more concerning than the money is the MASSIVE diversion of scitech talent. I've read that the processors and computers on the ISS are from the '80s and early '90s. That is not breaking any new ground in microminiaturization or computing. The solar panels needed to be developed for commercial and military sattelites in any case. Most of the non-endurance experiments could probably have been carried out with good robot arms. We wonder why other countries edge us out in consumer electronics or machine tools that would increase our economy instead of draw from it. Our best R&D people are busy taking videos of another upside-down astronaut.

      Not all R&D is created equal. In the Heroic Age, we had to do things that no one had ever done. We had to beat the Soviets so we wouldn't cede the high ground and allow others to continue believing that a horrible totalitarian system would overtake us. This led to a strong push for quick advances. With no threat to push us and no great rush to get there because we are already dominant, there is a very different dynamic. DARPA still has some sense of urgency and attempts to develope useful things within a generation. Commercial concerns in this country face incredible pressure without the best people.

      If I was a Japanese or German official, I'd contribute my people's tax money to NASA's publicity-lobbying machine. I sometimes wonder whether the nickles and dimes other countries have thrown into our manned programs were acts of industrial sabotage. The Chinese are loaning us ALL of the money for this.

      As far as inspiring the younglings, I grew up in the '70s and early '80s. Star Wars and Star Trek inspired much of my interest in sci-tech. The Heroic Age and Voyager did as well. The dangerous white elephant of a space shuttle did very little for me. It would cost next to nothing to create videos and movies with Heroic Age film. Imagine how many inspiring space movies and TV series, produced by the very best industry talent, we could have had with a tiny fraction of the manned space budget.

        I want a trip to LEO. I want to do all that cool stuff I've been watching a few astronauts do for the past 40 years. I don't think we need hotels up there, just 3 or 4 hours of playing and sightseeing. Maybe an inflatable chamber or big empty fuel tank with windows built in the sides.

        I see NASA, as currently constituted, as more of a hindrence than help in achieving that goal. These government agencies all have thier own little institutional cultures. NASA's is still "Money is no object- look at this neat video- and if you ask how much it costs, you are an EVIL LUDDITE and an ENEMY OF ALL HUMAN PROGRESS!!>8-0 

       NASA spends way too much on using 90 year old liquid fuel rocket tech to get more neat little videos and pictures of more or less the same stuff we saw 30 years ago. What has the ISS done and why is it worth HUNDREDS OF BILLIONS OF DOLLARS? Is it possible that 10 billion of those dollars spent on earth would have yielded more worthwhile tech? Sure NASA has also done some neat science, but most of that doesn't mean anything to anyone but a couple thousand scientists. It's not the kind of stuff that can really motivate a 13 year old to go into engineering.

      I wonder what we would have now if we had taken a different course. Mercury and Gemini were necessary stepping stones, I think landing a man on the moon ONE TIME was worthwhile for inspiration and national prestige. A Skylab program to run for a couple of years wouldn't have been too bad since we already had the SaturnV. I remember the meeting of the US and USSR in orbit as a positive suggestion of future cooperation in space. What if we had completely ENDED our manned space program then and there in the early '70s? Would it really have been such a terrible loss? Those flyby probes up to the Voyagers provided some great pics. Viking gave us some too. What if we had ended the deep system probes in the mid-'70s? After all, we still would have had an enormous collection of video of summersaulting astronauts and pics of Saturn. We could have cut those into great inspirational films for the schoolkids.

      What if we had taken a fraction of the money we've spent on flipping astronauts and deep system photostunts and gave it to DARPA, an organization with a better track record of sponsoring effective prize contests and R&D for the money, so they could develope new propulsion tech to get us into orbit for a small fraction of the cost? Would some crazy engineers have gone into their garages and come out with a solution by now?

      I'm all for Mission To Earth sattelites to examine our planet and magnetosphere as well as some to examine the Sun and it's effect on the Earth and others to look out for approaching asteroids. We have to remember that the deep system stuff has been up there for billions of years and will all be there 30 years from now when we should have the tech to take much greater leaps of understanding in a much shorter space of time.

      Also, I'm tired of watching flipping astronauts who aren't me!  

georgec said:

doubleKO said:

 

Am I the only one that sees a front-facing Tyrannosaurus Rex wearing two giant oven mitts?

            I'm so relieved that you said full-frontal T-Rex, but I keep seeing two big dog heads slung over it's shoulders 8/  I'm sure that doesn't mean anything. 

zombie84 said:

 ...Meanwhile the theatrical cut of Kingdom of Heaven is pretty dull....

        I appreciated the pace. It seemed to be purposeful. It immersed us in the rythm of the period. I can understand why others could think it was slow for an epic war film.

       Edit: ^ LEGEND is a good comparison. That film was wonderful, if a bit off in ways.

          ^I liked the film. I tend to think you are right that it will grow on me. I look forward to discovering where it will take us.

            I'm someone who eats my meals one dish at a time. First my steak until it's gone, then my salad.... I notice people who take a bite of each dish in alternation and I think Why do they eat from tables when they have perfectly good tummies? I would have prefered a straight sequel or something entirely in another universe.

            Scott has directed four of my very favorite films.  IMO, ALIEN was the greatest true SciFi film, BLADERUNNER was great TechnoNoir, GLADIATOR was magnificent and KOH was sublime. PROM didn't make it into that league.

       105ANH/75ESB cliffhanger  30ESB+YodaBenROtJ/45tPM/75AOTC/30ROTS    90ROTS/90RotJ ;/

Bingowings said:

thejediknighthusezni said:

              Has anyone tried simply recoloring the Jedi robes in the PT?

             You could have black or deep royal blue or something.

 

 

             Edit: Also, are we being directed from the saga thread to this one or are ESB&ROTJ and PREQ RAD being directed to SAGA?

I'm not sure if anyone has actually done it but the idea has been considered :

         Ah, there it is.  I thought there was something. Looks SHARP!  

           For TPM, the gang never has to leave Naboo. It could make an action-packed 45 minutes. Padme just decides to take the planet right back. A little dialogue adjustment. Maybe a little Sith or holograms of the Jedi.

           I liked the sarcastic smart-ass Jar-Jar alot. The Gungan city would be more important. Obi stays more prominent. Boss more smartass and without the CGI spittle would be cool. Jedi help them meet the Naboo. 

           The Gungan battle is just a diversion. They could stand their ground until the droids just break through their lines and then retreat. Less slapstick. Jar could tell them to eat balls and then get caught in the roll.

           The vid of the two stoner Jedi with the gang in ANH was pretty good. If someone wanted to find a 13-16 year old who looks like HC and a guy maybe with a beard that looks like EM...  They could split-up with Ani leading the pilots into fighter battle and Obi taking Maul alone. EM in the sabre battle could be given the facial hair to match the new Obi in the same costume. I don't know how anyone would erase LN. Not showing the feet might help sell the character replacement shots.

           Everyone could reach the low at the same time. Pad captured, Jar falls off the tank and captured, Obi hanging in the pit, and Ani out of power in the base hanger that he entered in some clever way before he crashed. Maybe some shots of the greater part of the droid army going back into the city as ordered. Then someone does something that distracts Maul on his com-link and it all gets turned around.

           In many shots it might be simpler to recolor EM and LN with orange or red robes and different hair and things to make them look like Naboo soldiers or police and then super-impose new Obi and new Ani or place them elsewhere in the shot.

         I don't know how to introduce 3PO and R2.

         135 TPM/AOTC and 135 ROTS?  45TPM/45AOTC and 45AOTC/45ROTS then 90ROTS and 90JEDI? ;/

              Has anyone tried simply recoloring the Jedi robes in the PT?

             You could have black or deep royal blue or something.

             Edit: Also, are we being directed from the saga thread to this one or are ESB&ROTJ and PREQ RAD being directed to SAGA?

     B/  Bl   =B*/   dwi

            I like the Kamino fight. The Kamino visit needs to be shortened. Yeah, no kid and no Fett without his mask, imo. The Kamino gal promises to arrange a meeting and then Obi reports to the masters then goes and finds Fett trying to get away?

            I like Dex alot. I expect he'll look great in 3D. The AmGraf diner throws me a little. Maybe Dex could simply tell Obi where Kamino is? He gets fairly specific about it. Skip the Coruscant investigation after Dex?

           I think the pregnancy is a natural consequence thing is very clever.

           12 45 36?? Hmmmm...

                 Awsome :)

                 I'm surprised I haven't seen it in a fan-edit yet.

         Any work on bringing the DSII much closer to Endor? Giving Endor a planet to which it is the moon? Parts of the station could poke through the clouds. It seems to sit in geostationary orbit for the shield generator.

        Make the briefing as vague as possible? something like the threat it poses to destroy worlds and then a quick mention that the shield must be breeched. We don't see how it is to be penetrated. Push the reveals of the station and how it is to be attacked back?

          I really liked the red around the patient. I wonder if, with the air mask, it obscures the features too much in the bacta tank. Additional shots of the others looking into the bay at the tank could be added.

          When the MF jumps into hyperspace at the end, were there any shots of it coming out with the ships of the fleet on the other side?

          In the ROTJ reb briefing, it could cut away to the distant shot right after "Your the respectable one/". It would cut out "remember" and the "Awwww, that's our Han." smile from Lando.

          R2 displays holo-recordings of the action while 3PO tells the Ewoks the tale?;/

            If Ben had survived ANH, there would have been two, three or four years between ANH and ESB in which Ben could have trained Luke. My guess is that we would have seen a very different ESB. Maybe 2 or 3 sequences like the MF training in ANH and one or two more expo drops about The Force. Faster and more intense.

            The developement of the Yoda character and puppet required an entirely different aproach. All those long set-ups and mystical, magical and relatively slow sequences didn't seem consistent with GL's method at the time (Enter: Kersh).