Star Wars - Classic or Dud?

http://www.peoplevsgeorge.com/

Most certainly a dud in all ways possible.

This new film coming out: uh.

ugly looking animation

In the climax of Episode IV as Vader's TIE fighter zooms up behind Luke's X-Wing fighter, Vader feels out throug the Force and detects the power of his opponent. His first reaction is to shoot R2-D2.

Given that Vader is known to be unconcerned with his enemies carrying blasters or lightsabres as they confront him, isn't this a bit of an overreaction for a piece of hardware as humdrum as an astromech droid? Not if he is an instrument of the Force, and a power capable of reshaping the destinies of kings.

Well, anyway:

“I am amazed at how it continues,” he said on his way into the afternoon screening following a quick photo shoot with members of the cast and crew. “It’s not something I expected to happen, and not something we spend a lot of time thinking about trying to expand. This was created because I wanted to stimulate kids' imaginations, inspire them to be creative and to think outside the box. I’m like the tar baby … I’ve gotten into the toy box and now I can’t get out.”

"I'm like the tar baby"

okay there are enough uses of that term that are unambiguously racist that we don't also need to also jump up and down and act all shrill about the ones that aren't

The 'toy box' thing is the more unsettling (but also more unsurprising) comment anyway.

calista flockhart has never seen star wars.

why do you think Ford was attracted to her?

Wonder if Ford's ever seen Ally McBeal.

wonder if she knows who kevin smith is

The Sgt. Pepper's of movies, with all that implies: A state-of-the-art audio/visual feast that split the world open when it was released, and is unfortunately destined to be commemorated in every year ending in a "7", until the end of time.

http://www.ratemyeverything.net/image/837/0/Owen_Lars_and_Aunt_Beru_Charred.ashx

this looks terrible btw. can't bring myself to start a thread on it

http://i.enewsi.com/g/albums//Entertainment/Fanboys/fanboys-the-movie-star-wars%20(1).jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3061/3001030202_49e31f24d4.jpg

even the Wayans brothers are appalled by this

Apparently, there's never been a thread on this guy:

http://supershadow.com/

Fanboys did finally get a pathetic release at some point, right? Man, even sadder is how that trailer cuts out Veronica Mars...

we had some fun with supershadow on another thread, i forget which.

still,

Bigfoot doesn't realize the Russian Spetsnaz are real, who don't know the United States Shadow Government exists, who don't know the Illuminati are real, who don't know time travelers from the future are actual, who don't realize extraterrestrials are a fact, who don't realize the supernatural immortals exist. Ultimately, who watches the watchers? This is the paradoxical irony of reality that has no explanation.

The unlimited Multiverse is so massively infinite that individual expanding Universes can NEVER collide.

SuperShadow: The number one rated SS.com update of all time in history ever approaches

seems to be taking his cues now from this thread:

TOP SECRET: da troof

http://failblog.org/2009/03/20/baby-name-fail-2/

Ugh, that Fanboys poster. Parody or not, the 40 Year Old Virgin-style poster thing is PLAYED THE FUCK OUT.

http://wildammo.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/3576703162_c2c1c59585_b-675x450.jpg
http://wildammo.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/3551772099_cbc5f739d3_b-675x450.jpg
http://wildammo.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/3493855156_79ae00578c_b-675x450.jpg

from here http://www.flickr.com/photos/st3f4n/sets/72157616350171741/

I raved to my dad abt the bar full o'aliens and the mutant jazz, shortly after SW came out ? to prove to him that it was the BEST FILM EVER MADE (as I slightly inexplicably tht: I RAN all the way home after first saw it, so hyped wuz I, abt two-three miles ? I had not, admittedly, seen many films at that age). My dad demurred: and sed (re bar-of-aliens and jazz), "This is a very old idea."
But is he right or was he on crack? I can think of no occurrence of EITHER idea in SF prior to this, and these days I sometimes KNOW WHAT I'M'TALKING ABOUT!!

"Lucas dreaded returning to the writing process, which he has described as painful and tedious. For Star Wars II, he turned to Leigh Brackett. Brackett was a legendary writer of pulp science fiction in the 1940's and 50's, a writer of crime novels, and screenwriter for Howard Hawks-- their pairing seemed like a natural formula for success. In fact, her husband was Edmond Hamilton, also a noted science fiction author, whose story "Kaldar, Planet of Antares," published in Weird Tales magazine in 1933 and reprinted in paperback in 1965, has been thought to have been an influence in the development of the lightsaber since it features one-- Hamilton's version was called a "lightsword." Brackett was brought to Lucas' attention by a friend, who handed him an old science fiction novel and said, "Here is someone who wrote the cantina scene in Star Wars better than you did."

--Michael Kaminski, The Secret History of Star Wars

I raved to my dad abt the bar full o'aliens and the mutant jazz, shortly after SW came out ? to prove to him that it was the BEST FILM EVER MADE (as I slightly inexplicably tht: I RAN all the way home after first saw it, so hyped wuz I, abt two-three miles ? I had not, admittedly, seen many films at that age). My dad demurred: and sed (re bar-of-aliens and jazz), "This is a very old idea."

The bar-of-aliens idea was also used in the French sci-fi comic Valérian and Laureline before Star Wars came out, can't remember in which book though. Considering that the Millennium Falcon looks very similar to the spaceship Valérian and Laureline have in the comic, it seems quite likely that it might've served as an inspiration to Star Wars. The Wiki page for Valérian and Laureline has this to say about the similarities between V&L and SW:

Several commentators, such as Kim Thompson of The Comics Journal,[28] film critic Jean-Philippe Guerand[29] and the newspaper Libération,[30] have noted certain similarities between the Valérian albums and the Star Wars film series. Both series are noted for the “lived-in” look given to their various settings and for the diverse alien creatures they feature. Particular instances of similarities between the two series, which the above have cited, include:

* The design of Valérian and Laureline's XB982 astroship and the Millennium Falcon spaceship that appears in Episodes IV-VI of Star Wars.
* A scene in Empire of a Thousand Planets (L'Empire des Mille Planètes) where Valérian is encased in a liquid plastic and a scene in The Empire Strikes Back where the character Han Solo is encased in a substance called carbonite.
* The slave-girl costume worn by Laureline in World Without Stars and the costume worn by the character Leia Organa in the scenes where she is enslaved by Jabba the Hutt in Return of the Jedi
* A scene in Empire of a Thousand Planets where one of the Authorities removes his helmet to reveal his burned and scarred face underneath and a scene in Return of the Jedi where the character Darth Vader removes his helmet to reveal the burned face of Anakin Skywalker.
* The alien Shingouz and the character Watto seen in The Phantom Menace.

Mézières' response upon seeing Star Wars was that he was “dazzled, jealous... and furious!”.[31] As a riposte, Mézières produced an illustration for Pilote magazine in 1983 depicting the Star Wars characters Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa meeting Valérian and Laureline in a bar surrounded by a bestiary of alien creatures typical of that seen in both series. “Fancy meeting you here!” says Leia. “Oh, we've been hanging around here for a long time!” retorts Laureline.[32] Mézières has since been informed that Doug Chiang, design director on The Phantom Menace, kept a set of Valérian albums in his library.[14]

lol i might be going to this http://www.starwarsinconcert.com/

i went to see this with my brother this summer in the UK, kind of reluctantly, but i have to say it was unalloyed GOOD TIMES

Haha, I AM going to that.

Damn, thought this was the epic thread with the Shakey Mo "utility data" C&P error and all the attendent hilarity. THAT was an afternoon well wasted!

Never say I don't do anything for you etc.:

the crimes of george lucas ('90s on)

lol i might be going to this http://www.starwarsinconcert.com/

I saw an ad for that on a bus yesterday and boggled. Guess you can always find new ways to bilk fanboys.

I saw an ad for that on a bus yesterday and boggled.

I seriously thought you said 'blogged' at first.

he was going to but he sneezed

re Star Wars In Concert, I actually wish I'd got to this when it was playing in the UK. About the only thing that has not been sullied by the prequels and Lucas's revisionism is the music from the originals, and the music composed for the prequels was great in parts too. I'd imagine hearing it played by a full orchestra with suitable visual accompaniment would be pretty spectacular (oh yeah, as stevie confirms a few x-posts back).

/lol i might be going to this http://www.starwarsinconcert.com//

I saw an ad for that on a bus yesterday and boggled. Guess you can always find new ways to bilk fanboys.
--Nuyorican oatmeal (jaymc)

Yeah because who likes to go see a full symphony orchestra play awesome movie scores with a giant movie screen?

you can always find new ways to trick people into doing things they enjoy!

was totally tricked into eating a cheeseburger tonight.

ROBBLE ROBBLE TRICK ROBBLE ROBBLE

http://behnnie.files.wordpress.com/2008/11/hamburglar.jpeg

xxxxxxxxpost - There it is, thank you Ned! Let me express my gratitude by sending you some Bob Seger MP3s...

About the only thing that has not been sullied by the prequels and Lucas's revisionism is the music from the originals,

Except that he changed the Ewok song in the end of RotJ to some generic soundtrack music! That was one of the worst changes in the "special editions", the Ewok song kicked ass! If this "Star Wars in Concert" has a choir performing that song, I'd totally pay for the ticket.

totally.

cannot remember whether or not the 'jub jub' song was performed.

lucas should've left 'lap ti nek' in rtj too.

oh dear, Tuomas, you are right of course. iirc the padded out "new" ending song for rotj allowed for more scenes of celebrations on other cgi planets? so bland I cannot bring it to mind, whereas I have been humming that ewok song since reading yr post.

Yeah, I got it stuck in my head too after I mentioned it, whereas I can barely remember what the new ending was like. I think you're right that there was some bland scenes about celebration on other planets. I can't imagine why Lucas wanted to change such a catchy song, and a scene every kid who ever saw it remembers.