x3rxes

As to the original topic, I'm with everyone who says that — given access to every frame of the PT ever filmed, every line recorded — the PT could be reconstituted into much better movies. They probably wouldn't make much more internal sense; but since only fans would be watching this time, the audience would be able to fill in the gaps.

You could make the PT into, I'd say, two good movies (excising TPM completely because it tells us nothing we need to know). But nothing could turn them into Star Wars movies. The OT took place on the fringes of the galaxy, the "wild west" of the Empire. You never see what happens within the Empire's civilized core because it would have been too hard to film using practical effects. That limitation made the movies seem more real, more connected to our world. You can't get that kind of connection in a setting as busy and distracting as the PT's. 

They should literally go back to basics and just call Ep 7 "Star Wars." It could have a dumb serial name too, but I'd just market it as Star Wars, plain vanilla.

That said...

VII: Something Happens To Luke Again for Some Reason

VIII: Search for Yoda's Gold

IX: Who Dat Jedi!?

Jaitea said:

Easterhay said:

Such Luddite thinking. The CGI in the prequels was staggeringly good, raising the benchmark for the industry....

Yep, Lucas has been constantly paving the way and changing the film making process...also pushing for digital projection.

But there can be too many green screen sequences....eventually it overloads and can spoil the film. 

Well, I'm not a luddite in the literal sense. I do not think CGI is bad simply because it is new. I think it's bad because it looks terrible. Even the stuff it can do convincing job of, like distant background scenery, sticks out like a sore thumb because it's often so over-the-top. At any rate LOTR proved that miniatures can look really REALLY good when using CGI to supplement them. Jackson also made a point of filming on location whenever possible.

The other thing is, I fear another tremendous visual disparity between the OT and the next movie. Not that a new movie shouldn't have its own style; but I think if Disney really wants to bring this out of the Kids Only territory, it has to look like the old Star Wars universe, not that of the prequels or the cartoons.

Also, they really gotta shoot this on film. In the traditional aspect ratio. Don't follow Peter Jackson's example there, plsthx.

Kasdan's back, that's good. He had a lot of great ideas about ROTJ that would have made the movie a lot better than it was. He'd have killed Han at the end of the first act, for one. His early scripts put Vader in more danger, which makes sense given how the dude blew it in Empire. The film would have ended by showing Leia struggling with her new responsibilities as Space President and Luke sort of abandoning her to roam the galaxy. If Kurtz gets involved too, I'd be even happier. He voluntarily left because Lucas insisted on putting in another Death Star, which was an obviously dumb idea.

And in fantasy land, I'd be super happy to learn that Marcia Lucas was coming out of retirement to help edit this. And I'd be elated to find out that they'll be relying almost entirely on practical special effects, muppets, etc. But that ain't gonna happen.

eiyosus said:

^I thought the same thing.  I like that first pan down with those slowly building drums.  It's my second favorite opening shot after the original.

It's one of the few "shots" I remember from the prequels. 

Speaking of opening shots, though, is ROTS the only one to open on a Star Destroyer like all the OT movies did?

WhatsMyName said:

I thought the image quality was amazing. a big step up from the DVD versions. Unfortunatly, i saw no difference in the Greedo shoots first scene.

I've only seen the 2004 version once. I'm probably remembering the baffling first try.  

Seems like the lightsaber color issues were fixed a bit. A lot of shots are still hella contrasted out though. I guess an attempt to give things the "definition" of CGI sets?

I remember watching the first few minutes of ROTS in the theatre and thinking, "Wow, this looks really good, it looks like a Star Wars movie... If they did this with models and matte paintings it might look real..."

But of course, being a CGI cartoon, it very quickly melted into something garish, confusing, and altogether waaaay too fast.

So does it really look terrible? Because I've read a few reviews that were pretty positive about the OT image quality.

I've only seen bits and pieces, but it the Greedo shoots first actually looks somewhat kinda 30% natural now. We all know that's not how it went down, but still, it seems ILM has put a ton of effort prettying up that one particular travesty.

Just to clear something up, US law requires anyone seeking a copyright to submit the at least one copy of the material to the Library of Congress (if it requests one). Lucasfilm can't get to them. Same goes for whatever is archived at the BFI.

I also doubt Lucasfilm has actually allowed the negatives to deteriorate. Think about it. This is a guy who actually PLANS on upgrading and repackaging these movies for as long as it remains profitable. Sooner or later, he'll need that stuff.

Ripplin said:

^That's pretty cool. You never know! :) We did end up with the wrapped faces of the sandpeople, though that's more like The Mummy or The Invisible Man with hardware attached. :p

Yeah. There are a few movies/scenes/characters that Lucas and co. have acknowledged as sources. But anything else is a tough call.

Still, I'm always fascinated by these similarities. The sandpeople DO look a lot like Claude Rains in the Invisible Man. Goggles wrapped with gauze!

Then again, Jambe's movie shows how some really distinctive designs -- like the Jawas -- were just ad hoc replacements.

I'm halfway through it. Really something special. Job well done.

Also, something struck me when I heard Ralph McQuarrie talking about how Lucas wanted Vader's face wrapped in black silk. Ever see the old movie Thief of Bagdad (sic), with Conrad Veidt? I wonder if Veidt's entrance was an inspiration for that early version...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhQz2a31UnU&feature=related

Here's a sample of kinda goofy box art I'm making for my Pwnage Edition disc.  Not that the "official" art isn't good, I just wanted something more Criterion-esque.  I might so some similarly minimalist stuff for dark_jedi's versions.

Just wanna say thanks to d_j for some terrific work on the GOUT-sourced that's currently available.  The fact that you continue to toil away makes you, like, the Dr. Ebbetts of the OT.  Who, eventually, got what he wanted.