Any avid Star Wars fans?

General Forums Off-topic Chat
21

Part of the problem with the Star Wars® Franchise … is “excellent marketing.™” By people who do consider it to be “a franchise worth exploiting.”

George Lucas & Co. have proven themselves to be exceptionally good at marketing. They’ve never allowed the Star Wars® Brand to slip out of anyone’s sight. And, they’ve never particularly cared what the stories consisted of, as long as they featured plenty of lightsabers and, later on, tons of CG action.

The original story, the one-and-only film that existed at one time, was: a space opera. Swords and Sorcery, literally, “long ago, in a galaxy far, far away.” (Hence, far removed both in space and time from ‘now and here.’) But it also consisted of special effects which had never existed before … done without the help of digital computers which couldn’t have done such things then.

To me, frankly, it’s been all downhill from there.

The first movie didn’t have “story,” and really didn’t need one. It was Saturday Morning TV. It was Buck Rogers in the -135th Century. It was, “a yarn, well-told.” There was a fierce economy of storytelling because the movie cost a lot of money to make and no one believed that it would ever break even. You used your imagination. You had to. You loved to.

Well, you aren’t even allowed to buy, today, a copy of exactly what’s on those RCA discs of yours, Wolfman. You can only buy a copy of what “The George” decided would be “better” … a digitally-replaced Anakin, two (or is it three?) conflicting and redundant “actual encounters between Han and Jabba” (when the original movie didn’t need one), and so on. Far more attention has been lavished on “making the original movie consistent with The Franchise,” than to recognize, as the National Archives did, the original film itself.

Hey, I’ve got a great idea. Let’s make Casablanca II, and then let’s go back and “improve” Casablanca. First of all, we’ll digitally replace Bogey’s face in all the shots with a computer model of an actor who, according to the latest surveys, will appeal more strongly to ‘the modern audience.’ Since we have the technological capability to do that now, and we own the rights to “The Casablanca® Franchise,” let’s go do it.

22

I have to agree, whilst it was a landmark in how movies can evolve past their original release…George butchered Return of the Jedi. The 1983 film was a great conclusion to the original trilogy, and I even loved the Ewoks for their comical-capers. But I nearly walked out of the 1997 special edition. I hate that version and further revisions that came after so much.

  1. Jabbas Palace: That new music scene was painful to watch and completely killed off the dangerous atmosphere.
  2. Battle of Endor: Perfect opportunity to put the B-Wings back in. Heavy assault starfighters capable of killing Star Destroyers. Could have wowed the audience, but no, George insisted on fucking up the rest of the film instead.
  3. Lightsabers in the Emperors Throne Room: Why do lightsabers produce shadows when they emit LIGHT??? Its a goof-up for all to see! I thought George was a visual perfectionist!?
  4. Hayden replaces Sebastian; Darth Vader was unmasked as Anakin Skywalker by his Son Luke, who dies on the DeathStar. So why does he turn up as a young man as a ghost??? I dunno. Maybe then we should have seen Ewan replace Alec as Obi-wan…I dunno. Whatever the reason, the new Hayden(as much as I liked him in the prequels) simply doesn’t merge well with the old footage. Cock-up.
  5. Pit monster Beak thingy: Adding more tentacles would have fine, but that beak looks crap.

…haven’t seen the film in years, but the special edition of ROTJ make its the worst of all six films. They’ve screwed it up so much that I would rather watch the SW Holiday Special instead…and I don’t say that lightly.

Apart from Han-shooting-first(that was incredibly dumb!) and Han stepping on Jabba’s tail, I did like the 1997 update of ANH. But George didn’t need to go any further. The 2004 DVD release of Empire I’m alright with, but ROTJ is lost to me.

Sorry to babble on again! :slight_smile:

23

I’m a big fan, and starting to get my young boy into it too, boring the next generation with my geekiness i suppose!

Everything that has been said so far I completely agree with. Just reading SamusDrake’s recap of the ANH/ROTJ “Special Editions” made the nightmares come back on how George Lucas butchered my favourite films in exchange for even larger sums of cash. The prequels I couldn’t really care for. The Phantom Menace made me die a little inside when I saw it at the cinema…Remember JarJar Binks? I nearly walked out of the cinema when he triple somersaulted into the lake. He’s the only character I wish had died every time I saw him on camera. Get sucked into a Pod racer engine? Sweet…Blown up by the gungan Army…Good idea…Hell…Drown? That would help…
Saying that though, ROTS was a good film (compared to the others), probably on a par with ROTJ, no where near ESB though.

I personally, can’t wait for the new Film(s) to come out. The old crew back in? J.J Abrams at the helm? Disney’s unending budget? Lawerance Kasdan writing it? It could work out to be amazing…as long as Disney don’t reign in J.J, and try to make it too child Friendly, I know they are family films…but…JarJar Binks?

The worry I have is Andy Serkis is involved. He is well known for his CGI onscreen characters…Please not JarJar’s demented Cousin…Although saying that, I’ve Enjoyed pretty much all of his characters so far, and they have been deep, well thought out characters. Not a brain dead ant eater…

If the film they produce is as good as the Star Trek reboots…I’ll be watching it.

I might also have come across a little Anti-JarJar Binks. That’s probably because I am.

24

I kinda agree that the first star wars is just awesome, and the last three instalments not the real deal. But then, before watching, and after watching are different things all the same. ANd after watching, and waiting a month on Sundays and then some, well, it’s comes across another complete different alien.

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25

Its sad really because the concept art for Jar-Jar was great, and made one think how much better he would have been in the hands of a stronger director like Kershner or Spielberg. I do remember an episode of the Clone Wars where they gave him the spot light and he was actually entertaining to watch…they toned him down a bit and it left one thinking “if only…”

26

Well, it’s especially fun to think about the original Star Wars movie … ahem, the first time I saw it, “Episode Four” wasn’t there … in a computer-graphics forum. Because there wasn’t a lick of computer graphics in it. That sort of thing couldn’t be done yet.

What you were looking at, was the then state-of-the then-art, being pushed farther than it had ever been pushed before.

27

Just curious, when did they change it to “Episode 4: A New Hope”?

28

Looks like he started “fixing” that earlier than I remember. I dug out the RCA player and disc and fired it up yesterday and it did have the Episode IV in the opening. I looked at the disc and it was produced in 1982 so I guess that explains it.

29

“The George” never treated any of the movie-prints that he had previously distributed as “sacrosanct.” When the time came to publish a property to a new media, for example, he was always thinking (only) in terms of the latest version of his pet brainstorm, and apparently, (only) in terms of new audiences who had never seen it before.

In other words, you’re sitting in the movie theater next to your kid(!), watching “Star Wars” (“again,” for you; “for the first time,” for him/her) … and it immediately becomes obvious (to you, not to your kid) that “The George” is only thinking about: “your kid.”

“The Almighty Story” has evolved, in “The George’s” head. Therefore, according to “The Almighty God: George,” anything that you, <Mom|Dad>, may (fondly, or not) remember … uhh … “is wrong, [“TAG:G” is not …] sorry.”

Sometimes, even during a theatrical distribution, the films would be replaced. Now, to a certain extent, I do understand that logic: the “podracer crowd made out of colored Q-Tips” perhaps needed to be replaced, especially when the press pointed-out the shortcut.

… but “TAG:G” never perceived any limits. For instance, when he “re-released” the original Star Wars trilogy, “Mom and Dad” immediately realized that the films had been utterly butchered. (Worst travesty: Han encounters Jabba personally, not once but twice(!), when in the original film he never encountered him at all. Of course, it makes no sense in any case, story-wise, for a character to have two such encounters … let alone to behave, in each case, as though the other encounter never existed. However, it is clear that “TAG:G” would brook no such questions from his underlings. “We shot these versions, and I’ve decided to include them, and: I Am That I Am™ TAG:G.”)

Quite honestly, I wish that someone at The Mouse™ would be reading this:

  • Release the original films. Just as they were.
  • Release two versions: one “color-corrected,” and one that matches the color-profile of 35mm film stock.

And … don’t laugh. “LP records” are coming back, too. There is m-o-n-e-y​ to be made here. From “Mom & Dad.”

30

Seriously? Like new artists releasing on vinyl, or like the classic albums I have sitting in a box in the garage?
The only plus side I see to LPs were the larger jackets for artwork. Other than that, forget it.

31

Yes, they are coming back. There are those who felt that the sound was better. (And, if “better” equals “what I’m used to” or even “what I prefer,” both of these are valid if your point is to sell something.)

I don’t think that it will displace other forms of media, but it is unquestionably returning to a place among them. The return of the “album cover artwork” is certainly something also to be hoped-for.

32

Actually, just of out interest, I have noticed HMV stores stocking LP records recently and its modern stuff like Lana Del Ray. I cannot see the business sense in it, but it does warm the heart to see such a classic format making a come back. When you consider HMV were on the chopping block not long ago, one wonders why they would take such a risk.