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zombie84

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21-Nov-2005
Last activity
12-Jan-2024
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3,557

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Post
#313984
Topic
Anyone else here have a love/hate relation with Revenge of the sith ?
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/313984/action/topic#313984
Time
vote_for_palpatine said:


Don't get me wrong - it's not the worst of the PT movies - that would be TPM. No, ROTS pisses me off because this was the payoff movie. This was supposed to tie everything up beautifully. This was supposed to deliver a punch to the gut.


Given how the series had been developed in TPM and AOTC, ROTS far surpassed my expectations. I mean, yeah, it should have been a punch in the gut, tragic, moving, make you cry, etc--but how could that have been POSSIBLE when its TPM Part 3 and AOTC Part 2?? The first two episodes were of such low quality that in a best case scenario--realistically--ROTS would be only be "good" or "above average", which I think it more or less was. I mean did people really expect that the guy who concieved Jar Jar, wrote "I hate sand", and cast Hayden Christensen would all of a sudden write Hamlet and direct Schinlders List?? I think fans were deluding themselves. The boring plot and terrible characterisatino of AOTC put instrinsic limits on the potential Episode III ever could have; we already disliked the characters and were put off by the storyline, so it would be impossible for the continuation in Episode III to ever be as good as we imagined it. ROTS was a pleasant surprise to me, because I expected it to be a piece of shit the way AOTC was, and Lucas got his stuff together and made a movie that was heavily flawed but still entertaining on some emotional level, however thin, and thats a bit impressive considering the place he set himself up with at the end of Episode II.
Post
#313842
Topic
Splinter Of The Mind's Eye - review and thoughts.
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/313842/action/topic#313842
Time
auximenies said:

Does anyone know how ADF went about writing this? -- zombie84? Was he given guidelines? Did he have the old screenplays and free reign to use ideas that didn't make it into Star Wars?


Foster today insists that he had a free hand and basically made it up himself, but that cannot possibly be true. For one, it contains the usage of deleted plotlines from Lucas' own drafts, such as the primitive aliens defeating the Imperials--a major section of Lucas' first screenplay--and the kiber crystal. So at the very least he was working in part from Lucas' early material. Additionally, there are quotes from earlier in time when Foster says that he and Lucas together hashed out the plot. Lucas also had veto power--Foster's outline had begun with a space battle, but Lucas told him to cut it out so that if they ever adapted it into a film they could do so on a low budget, using props and costumes from the first film that Lucasfilm had held on to.

But in addition to that, Lucas must have sculpted much of the plot himself in personal story conferences--for one, we have partial transcripts of such things. In late 1975, Lucas met with Foster--Lucas had three films in mind, which he had in his contract with Fox, as most people know, but he doubted that they would ever get made given the unsuccessful progression of pre-production at that point in time. So he hired Alan Dean Foster to do them as novels. He outlines some basic ideas at this point--in book two there is to be a love triangle with Han, Leia and Luke, but Han leaves at the end and Luke stands poised to get her. He calls it Gone With the Wind in Space. He also says that Vader's past will be dealt with, and in part three the Skywalker family history will come more into play. But this was a very early concept--script changes and personal changes would necessitate story changes in these sequel novels in the subsequent months. Harrison Ford was not signed to a contract, so he does not appear in book two (SOTME), and then Lucas cut out the lightsaber battle between Luke and Vader from Star Wars, so this would become book two's climax; probably, he also included the backstory of Vader in Star Wars, that being he was the murderer of Luke's father, which he might have originally saved for the confrontation in the sequel. The Kiber crystal was also still part of Star Wars at that time, but then was cut out for the final script. So by the time Foster actually got around to outlining book two in early 1977 it had changed quite a bit, so the concepts from the previous drafts filled out the plot--the kiber crystal and battle of primitives--plus other ideas that Lucas had in mind for a sequel like a swamp planet (Dagobah in ESB) and such, Luke and Leia's romance was now sans Han Solo, and Luke and Darth would have their first confrontation at the end of the story, but without any personal twist.

So, though the in-betweens and details were Fosters, I would attribute more of the elements in the story to Lucas himself, rather directly or indirectly. Before Foster had finished writing book two Star Wars was released and became a hit, so Lucas scrapped book three altogether and decided that the film version of Chapter II would be a totally different and much grander story.
Post
#313811
Topic
So... your opinion of how much Lucas really had planned out?
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/313811/action/topic#313811
Time
Well...

http://secrethistoryofstarwars.com

But thats if you want the long answer.
The short answer is that pretty much most of it was made up. In 1977 Lucas held that sequels were possible, and had a trilogy by contract, but he didn't have much in the way beyond the obvious--ie that Luke continues to train as a Jedi, Leia has the romance with Luke and Han, the rebels continue their fight, and the climax is Luke and Darth having a lightsaber battle. He didn't know if he would ever film these two sequels, and might not have even wanted to anyway, so he had Alan Dean Foster writing them as novels. When the film was released and became the biggest movie of all time Lucas realised he could turn it into a franchise that could be a huge cash machine that could finance his dream--Skywalker Ranch. So the Star Wars franchise was going to be like James Bond where there was a new film every year or two that would keep the facility in business, the series was infinite because you could write an adventure about anything in the galaxy. As he started work on ESB in late 1977 he settled on a figure--12 films, which would bring him into the year 2001 by the time they were done. 12 because thats the tradition of the classic serials--Flash Gordon, Phantom Empire, Fighting Devil Dogs, they are all 12 chapters long.

In 1978 Lucas wrote a second draft of ESB himself where he decided that Vader was actually Luke's father. This draft was still titled as Episode II, but when he came back a few months later with Lawrence Kasdan to write the final drafts he had decided that the new backstory involving Anakin's fall to evil would make a good series itself--which is why these drafts are no longer Episode II but Episode V. He reveals a few months later that there are in fact 9 episodes--a prequel trilogy, the current trilogy and then a sequel trilogy. They are 3 seperate series with different styles and tones and themes and characters, but chronologically connected if you viewed them in episodic order. My explanation is that actor availability forced Lucas to commit to a trilogy structure--he had Hamill and Fisher under contract for 3 films but thats it, and they probably wouldn't want to do more, and Harrison Ford had to be seriously persuaded to do a third film let along four or five. So this trilogy structure would be structural basis for any other spin-off series--he settled on one taking place before and one taking place after. But then after ESB was filmed he realised how unpleasant making these films are, they were destroying his personal life, so he decided to be done with Star Wars (the Ranch was about to be done construction anyway) and adopted a daughter, but even by then it was too late as he got a divorce by the time ROTJ was released. Close to half of Lucasfilm was split in the divorce, so he was in some difficult financial times in the 80's.

In the early 1990's Star Wars became immensely popular again, and Lucasfilm was suddenly making a comeback with all the Lucasarts games, EU novels and Dark Horse comics. Seeing that there was a massive audience for Star Wars again, he realised that now he could get back his loses--he had always been genuinely interested in the prequel trilogy, unlike the sequel trilogy which was mainly a response to success, and with the CG revolution of 1992 and 1993 he now seriously had the option of doing the films and getting, in his mind, financially free. Since he had been wanting to get back to directing anyway, he decided he would finally make the films, and then became interested in using the prequels to sort of change the way the viewer looked at the OT. He also decided somewhere along the post-1993 road that the series could be re-interpreted to be about Vader, beginning with his discover and ending with his death.
Post
#313594
Topic
New Hulk Film
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/313594/action/topic#313594
Time
Personally, I'm looking forward to it. Just don't expect much from it: its King Kong Versus Godzilla, basically. In comic book tradition the characters aren't exactly deep, but theres something done with them, and the cast is great. The trailer should have showed more of the emotional content of the film, because there's some really good Fay Wray-King Kong elements to the title character, but I guess Marvel is really pushing the action orientation of the picture.
Post
#313197
Topic
New Indiana Jones DVD's - No Blu-Ray
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/313197/action/topic#313197
Time
vbangle said:

Originally posted by: Mike O
Last I checked Amazon, the old Indy set is flying off the shelves, but these don't appear to be making much noise.


The old indy set was a complete POS. Hopefully this new set has a better transfer, better audio.



WTF? The old Indy set was fucking awesome dude. The picture was remastered by Lowry digital to a point where it probably looks cleaner than the original camera negative does. The audio was great too. You need to keep things in perspective: in 2003, there was no 5-disk sets. The Indy set was top-of-the-line, and it still holds up as an above-average set (especially considering it now retails for about $25-35).
Post
#312734
Topic
How much longer will the format war last?
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/312734/action/topic#312734
Time
I honestly never thought that those discount chinese DVD players had much effect. I payed $300 for my DVD player in 2001, and I'd pay that much again now; most of the discount players suck and are poorly made, and honestly what is $200 difference for a player when you will be spending hundreds and probably actually thousands of dollars on disks? Disk price is the real factor here. Players are a one-time investment, so having to pay $300 for a decent player instead of $99 for a lesser one is honestly the least of our worries. Disk prices have been falling steadily, lets hope that nothing stops this aspect, not the hardware one.
Post
#312629
Topic
New Indiana Jones DVD's - No Blu-Ray
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/312629/action/topic#312629
Time
Originally posted by: see you auntie
Originally posted by: Fang Zei
This is as good a time as any to ask:

Has anyone documented the rumored alterations/fixes that were made to the movies for the '03 dvd release? The reflection in the snake pit is the only one I know about.


As far as I'm aware the alterations are the digital removal of the glass as you mentioned, the removal of "production equipment" and I've heard the rails that the boulder runs on have also been removed. I also think there might be some sound changes.

I've found it's hard to find a list of the changes because they are few and far between.

I seem to recall some minor changes to the removal of the heart scene in Temple of Doom. But this was done for the home video release not specifically for dvd. Maybe someone else can confirm this?


No, TOD is intact, it was only Raiders that was tweaked, as mentioned above. They are really so invisible that its not even worth noting. The only exception is maybe the cobra reflection--I sort of miss seeing that, but thats the purist in me.
Post
#312436
Topic
New Indiana Jones DVD's - No Blu-Ray
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/312436/action/topic#312436
Time
This is simple an invidual film release; rather than just releasing the single-disk versions they added a few extras, which seem somewhat disposable. As far as double-dips go this one is okay because I think the main draw is buy the films individually instead of in a set. I still won't be buying them though--no deleted scenes or commentaries. I might give them a rent.
Post
#311839
Topic
Official: 'THE CLONE WARS' movie in Theaters 8/15/08
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/311839/action/topic#311839
Time
Lucas has never had a studio affiliation, really--he's been all over the map, but people just associate LFL with Fox because of Star Wars, but its really incidental. THX was with Warners and Lucas hated Warners, Graffiti was with Universal and he hated Universal even more, Star Wars was with Fox and he hated Fox (and stuck it to them for every sequel), and Indy was with Paramount. Of course he's produced a dozen more films for even more studios. I think the only one he's never been with is MGM, but I could be wrong. This is the first Star Wars film without Fox, but thats misleading because it was never intended for theatrical release anyway, and none of the four Star Wars animated series (Droids, Ewoks, Clone Wars and Clone Wars) have been with Fox anyway.
Post
#311602
Topic
How much longer will the format war last?
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/311602/action/topic#311602
Time
Originally posted by: Fang Zei

good idea? yes? no?

Oh, and zombie, I don't know how it's even entering into your head that LFL would do the next release this year. I'm surprised enough that they're finding room after Indy IV and Force Unleashed to wedge in The Clone Wars. There's no way in hell we're seeing the next release until the end of next year at the earliest. I also don't see it happening until after the much-rumored 3D re-release. If the JoBlo rumor of a Spring '09 date for the 3D ends up being true, I would say it's a pretty safe bet we're seeing the blu-ray in fall of '09, which would - of course - also be perfect timing for the live action show.


The HD film masters are already made and ready to go. There are already a ton of extras made and ready to go from the 2004 release and the prequel DVDs. A half decent Blu Ray Saga boxset could be put together within the space of one month. Trust me, its extremely easy for them to do it, which is why I say there is some reason to suspect they will.
Post
#311488
Topic
Star Wars is Evil
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/311488/action/topic#311488
Time
Who thinks the Force is real? I think this guy's basic premise is non-existant.

There is such a thing as "Jediism", a genuine faith, but its just New Age spirtualism with a pop title and not an actual devotion to the in-universe Force. You would think that the billions of Hindus, Muslims and Buddhists in the world would be a more pressing concern if your goal is to draw followers back into the one true religion of Christianity.
Post
#311406
Topic
How much longer will the format war last?
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/311406/action/topic#311406
Time
Originally posted by: Fang Zei
In all seriousness, I'm becoming more and more convinced that we will finally see the OOT remastered for the next home video release (even if it's in the worse case scenario ADM described).

Maybe it's just delusions of grandeur (who am I kidding, that's exactly what it is), but that mention of wanting to put 100 hours of documentaries on the next release is making me think that they're going to give the movies the ultimate treatment, finally pull their heads out of the sand, and realize that people on the whole generally enjoy the OT significantly more than the prequels. This will translate to them giving each of the original films a five disc release while the prequels will only get two discs each at the most.

ps: yea, I'm really being delusional, but just let me dream for a moment.



Assuming that they follow through on their mega-ultimate-super-duper box set. I imagine there is now great temptation to skimp a bit and do a rather standard blu-ray SE of the six films so that it is available for christmas 2008.
Post
#311271
Topic
Live-Action Akira Confirmed Already for 2009!
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/311271/action/topic#311271
Time
They've been trying to do a live-action version of this for many years now. I think it could be spectacular with todays CGI. As to why do it in live-action: because live-action has a totally different look, feel and effect than animation. If it sucks then the original will still be the original, but theres a lot of potential for greatness here that it worth a stab at it. And personally, I always felt Akira was kind of overrated anyway--cool animation and concepts, but the writing was nothing great, and it wasn't really as original as people think it was anyway.
Post
#310756
Topic
Cop Attacks Skateboarder, For Calling Him "Dude"
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/310756/action/topic#310756
Time
The point is that the cop used massively excessive force preportional to the crime. The man obviously has some anger issues for him to show such aggression over a minor, and rather common, by-law infraction committed by barely-teenagers. Its not like he beat the shit out of someone or anything--but the point is that the potential is there. If he reacts this way to a freaking kid who is skateboarding in a park, its not a stretch to imagine him pulling a Rodney King. And thats something the public should be concerned about. Police officers shouldn't be man-handling 14 year old kids for skateboarding.
Post
#310724
Topic
Indiana Jones IV
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/310724/action/topic#310724
Time
Originally posted by: Tiptup
Originally posted by: zombie84
I think thats a flawed argument. This has nothing to do with "suitability." Theres still an entire platoon of soldiers waving machine guns and shooting at Indy elsewhere in the trailer. I think its just an instance of one of the trailers being from a later source where either more or less soldiers were digitally added as per the filmmakers request. But whatever the case--its not like E.T. Theres not "sanitising" or "cleaning up" because in both trailers there are scores of soldiers pointing guns at Indy and then firing at him later on.


Well, I would hope so. Though it would make sense that a particular trailer might remove certain "offensive" elements in order for it to be viewable in more places. In that case, and someone finds guns offensive to families, I have trouble understanding that.


My point though is: if the guns were removed because they would be offensive to families---then why does the "sanitized" trailer still have two dozen soldiers shoving guns in Indy's face and then shooting at him for half the thing??

Its not a censorship issue.