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timdiggerm

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Join date
23-Jul-2010
Last activity
6-Jul-2025
Posts
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https://macrobinoculars.wordpress.com/

Post History

Post
#1276816
Topic
AFI Silver Theater in Washington DC area showing Episodes 1-8
Time

https://silver.afi.com/Browsing/EventsAndExperiences/EventDetails/0000000004

The AFI Silver, in Silver Spring, MD, is showing all 8 Episodes.

  • The Phantom Menace: May 3rd, 4pm
  • Attack of the Clones: May 3rd, 7pm
  • Revenge of the Sith: May 3rd, 10pm; May 4th, 11am
  • A New Hope: May 4th, 2:30pm; May 5th, 5:30pm
  • The Empire Strikes Back: May 4th, 5:30pm; May 5th, 8:30pm; May 6th, 6:30pm
  • Return of the Jedi: May 4th, 8:30pm; May 6th, 9:20pm
  • The Force Awakens: May 5th, 11am; May 7th, 6:30pm
  • The Last Jedi: May 5th, 2pm; May 7th, 9:20pm

The OT listings say “1977/1997”, so it’s definitely SE - wouldn’t really surprise me if it was actually 2004 or 2011 versions, though I don’t recall what’s been the case at previous AFI Silver showings. No idea what versions of the prequels it’ll be, but probably whatever the most recent digital copy is. The ticketing shows them as playing in Theater 1, where do have the ability to project real film - but I’d be surprised in this case.

I’m tempted to go see The Phantom Menace, as I haven’t seen that in years and it’d be nice to see it on the big screen again, but schedule may prevent me.

Post
#1274361
Topic
STAR WARS: EP VI -RETURN OF THE JEDI &quot;REVISITED EDITION&quot;<strong>ADYWAN</strong> - ** PRODUCTION HAS NOW RESTARTED **
Time

trimboNZ said:

snooker said:

timdiggerm said:

The Real Monroville said:

LOCATION OF THE EMPERORS TOWER:
Having the tower in some non descript place on the Death Star felt out of place in JEDI. If the man is going to create a “high tower” to gloat over his enemies, I would imagine he would pick a place where he could not only see the battle with the most clarity, but also a place that would be highly protected. What if the Emperor’s tower was at the center of the laser dish array? Imagine the panic on Luke’s face (and our own) if you could see either the beams or even just the green of the beams outside the Emperor’s window as Luke fought Vader (so he/we are constantly reminded of the short amount of time Luke has to stop the Emperor).

Isn’t it just at the north pole of the DSII? That’s not exactly nondescript.

The movie does nothing to convey this, unfortunately.

The Emperor’s gesture when he points upwards to the sanctuary moon, and Luke’s following gaze, suggest they are well south of the North Pole and probably on the Southern hemisphere. Unless gravity on the tower is backwards and they’re actually standing on the “ceiling”. The lights on the elevator do hint at it traveling “up” to that room though.

That’s a good point. They’re probably at the South Pole then. The angles when viewing the fleet from a distance suggest they’re somehow on a similar plane as the fleet.

Post
#1274220
Topic
STAR WARS: EP VI -RETURN OF THE JEDI &quot;REVISITED EDITION&quot;<strong>ADYWAN</strong> - ** PRODUCTION HAS NOW RESTARTED **
Time

The Real Monroville said:

LOCATION OF THE EMPERORS TOWER:
Having the tower in some non descript place on the Death Star felt out of place in JEDI. If the man is going to create a “high tower” to gloat over his enemies, I would imagine he would pick a place where he could not only see the battle with the most clarity, but also a place that would be highly protected. What if the Emperor’s tower was at the center of the laser dish array? Imagine the panic on Luke’s face (and our own) if you could see either the beams or even just the green of the beams outside the Emperor’s window as Luke fought Vader (so he/we are constantly reminded of the short amount of time Luke has to stop the Emperor).

Isn’t it just at the north pole of the DSII? That’s not exactly nondescript.

Post
#1266722
Topic
1975 Ship Models - Visible for 1st time
Time

SilverWook said:

timdiggerm said:

SilverWook said:
Was Lucas quietly revising the history of the film even then?

If I’m not mistaken, he was having McQuarrie redo the paintings so they could all see how the shots would look with the new Falcon design.

Makes sense. I wish the originals had been included in the McQuarrie portfolio at the time. Thanks for the explanation! 😃

I think it’s covered in Rinzler’s Making Of

Post
#1260485
Topic
Episode VIII : The Last Jedi - Discussion * <strong><em>SPOILER THREAD</em></strong> *
Time

DrDre said:

rodneyfaile said:

The Last Jedi is a well written and well made movie, and I think that is why many critics like it. The Last Jedi also takes Luke Skywalker, one of the most beloved characters of all time, in some very unexpected directions. Some people find that very refreshing and others find it a travesty, thus the split between fans. I think over time people will appreciate TLJ more.

I agree TLJ is well made with amazing visuals, and generally strong performances (except Hux, who’s just a buffoon in this one), but I’m not sure it is that well written. It’s not badly written, I think, and has plenty of good and sometimes even great elements, but a lot of criticism has been leveled at the rather contrived “slow chase”, which is the backbone of the movie, the tonal issues, the superfluous casino plot, the contrived introduction of DJ into the story, and the whole Poe/Holdo conflict, which relies on characters not communicating for no reason. I mean is a film that has Holdo perform a kamikaze maneuver in a universe, where droids can perform complex tasks really that well written, even if the excitement and visuals distract from this fact? I would say the writing is a rather mixed bag, where the good often outshines the bad. I conjecture the critics liked TLJ, because it is an above average movie with plenty of highlights and surprises when seen in a vaccuum, while the fans are split over the way the film connects to the previous episodes in the saga.

This is the best, even-handed summary of the TLJ response I’ve seen. Good job.

Post
#1260041
Topic
The Prequel Radical Redux Ideas Thread
Time

Smithers said:

-Remove yoda from the movies, this is crucial and actually serves the OT more because you can leave in all of the lines mentioning master Yoda, setting him up as a great Jedi Master. This is also no problem to me because Yoda is boooring in the PT, save for a few good lines.

This is the only one that I am not sure about. You lose his convo with Obi-wan at the end of TPM, all the council scenes get screwed up, and you lose the meeting with Obi & Bail at the end of ROTS. Plus, then when he shows up in ESB you gotta wonder “Where was this guy in the first three movies?? When did he train Obi-wan???”

Post
#1260040
Topic
Rogue One * <em>Spoilers</em> * Thread
Time

Finally got around to rewatching this last night; first time since theaters. I was pleasantly surprised to see that I still really like this movie, despite the intermediate time being full of reading people say the movie has Problems and isn’t so great. Nah, I think it’s great. I was even surprised to find that CG-Leia was fine! CG-Tarkin, however, is still not fine. It is bad. Oh, and incorporating Red & Gold Leader worked surprisingly well. I could still tell the footage wasn’t quite as crisp as the others - but it was close enough.

But yeah, I liked the characters! I even think Jyn had an arc: She went from not wanting to be a part of the Rebellion because of her traumatic childhood, to giving her life for the slim chance that someday someone might succeed (i.e. hope). I suspect the Cassian show will have a lot of stuff about him learning to kill.

Standout performance was definitely Riz Ahmed - but I thought all the rest were good too. Most compelling scene was the emotional debrief onboard the cargo shuttle after the botched Eadu mission, confronting Cassian about whether he was sent to assassinate Galen or not. Worst moment is, of course, when Vader makes a pun, and frankly that entire scene is pretty bad, even though I’m all for showing that Krennic is all about getting favorable job performance reviews instead of the glory of the Empire. If that guy had been born a hundred years earlier, he would have been obsessed with ensuring the Senate recognized his ability to manage grain shipments or some equally Republican job.

And, yes, I am a sucker for Exciting Times with X-Wings. I can not deny that that helps.

Post
#1257467
Topic
General Star Wars <strong>Random Thoughts</strong> Thread
Time

screams in the void said:

https://screenrant.com/star-wars-anakin-built-c3po-george-lucas-1977/?fbclid=IwAR3L_FEb366vVbJKbbJXstoLP02ljq_mOLnP5vQO_8Kp5OyTxUKe0j9WhzY

It is always interesting to see which ideas had been bouncing around in his head for a lot longer than you might expect. Of course, those old behind the scenes peeks inevitably reveal how other ideas changed over time - the Republic still growing on a wild frontier, for example, suggesting a very different feel than the prequel’s eventual version of the Republic.

Post
#1255519
Topic
All Things Star Trek
Time

Yeah, really the problem is that things like TNG’s holodeck version of NCC-1701’S bridge and the time travel incidents set a precedent which modern show runners aren’t willing to follow because it would constrain them too much. They could never make Discovery if they were beholden to the aesthetic of the 60s, but some people don’t want a change in precedence.

Of course, I also think the Augments Klingom retcon was silly, so what do I know.