Star Wars: The Complete Saga (1977-2005)

[svenge]

Originally Posted by Monkey_Boy

Actually, I believe it was his vision from the very beginning with ANH. Didn't he request merchandising rights as a part of his deal to make his sequels? I remember toys for the first. And the second. And I remember owning and playing with them as well!

True, but merchandising didn't take a major role on the on-screen product until ROTJ. Giving a pack of feral Teddy Ruxpins a key role in the defeat an imperial garrison at a facility of strategic importance? Jawa, please.

However, the #1 all-time merchandising moment had to have been the entrant line-up for the Pod Race in TPM. It did nothing to advance the narrative and was basically an in-film commercial highlighting "exciting new characters whose action figures were in stores now!"

[Beast]

Originally Posted by jupiter123

Alien anthology got individual releases in less then a year and it is the same distributer. 20th century Fox

Alien Anthology isn't Lucasfilm. And didn't take years to come to DVD and then years to come to Blu-ray.

[Beast]

Originally Posted by svenge

However, the #1 all-time merchandising moment had to have been the entrant line-up for the Pod Race in TPM. It did nothing to advance the narrative and was basically an in-film commercial highlighting the action figures for the "exciting new characters" that were in stores now!

Nonsense argument. As they only made 2-3 of the Pod Race Pilots in the first year of release.

They still haven't made all of them as of yet. Just like they haven't made all the Cantina or Jabba's Palace aliens yet.

[octagon]

Originally Posted by Monkey_Boy

Actually, I believe it was his vision from the very beginning with ANH. Didn't he request merchandising rights as a part of his deal to make his sequels? I remember toys for the first. And the second. And I remember owning and playing with them as well!

He waived his director's fee for Star Wars in return for merchandising which all things considered turned out to be pretty shrewd.

[svenge]

Originally Posted by Beast

Nonsense argument. As they only made 2-3 of the Pod Race Pilots in the first year of release.

They still haven't made all of them as of yet. Just like they haven't made all the Cantina or Jabba's Palace aliens yet.

The majority of the Cantina's denizens were "featured" on-screen for a split-second at most (although they were obviously in the "background" of the dialogue scenes.) Even the ones that were featured for a longer amount of time served a narrative purpose (namely setting up that the universe of Star Wars had many non-human inhabitants.) I'd even give Jabba's Palace a pass because you need a bunch of scummy aliens to set the atmosphere of danger that a crime lord's lair requires.

But outside of Sebulba (who is admittedly necessary to have a "villain" for the sequence), how many pod race characters need to be seen in anything other than a distance shot? None.

[Breather]

Originally Posted by Beast

Alien Anthology isn't Lucasfilm. And didn't take years to come to DVD and then years to come to Blu-ray.

After the Star Wars DVD boxset release in 9/04, the films got individual releases just two years later in 9/06. The SE version on disc 1 and the non-anamorphic UOT on disc 2. It only took them two years to release the OT films separately. The prequel films were released individually on DVD in '01, '02, and '05, with a boxset of the prequel trilogy in '08.

I have no interest in separate releases myself, but if LFL and Fox follow the pattern they used on DVD, we should see individual releases sometime in 2013.

[Howdy]

Originally Posted by svenge

The majority of the Cantina's denizens were "featured" on-screen for a split-second at most (although they were obviously in the "background" of the dialogue scenes.) Even the ones that were featured for a longer amount of time served a narrative purpose (namely setting up that the universe of Star Wars had many non-human inhabitants.) I'd even give Jabba's Palace a pass because you need a bunch of scummy aliens to set the atmosphere of danger that a crime lord's lair requires.

But outside of Sebulba (who is admittedly necessary to have a "villain" for the sequence), how many pod race characters need to be seen in anything other than a distance shot? None.

???? C'mon man! You can't be serious? The podrace sequence is like 20 minutes long. You have to have more than 2 characters feathered in a sequence like that.

I know you dislike the prequals, but you're really stretching things just to bash these films dude.

[svenge]

Originally Posted by Howdy

???? C'mon man! You can't be serious? The podrace sequence is like 20 minutes long. You have to have more than 2 characters feathered in a sequence like that.

I know you dislike the prequals, but you're really stretching things just to bash these films dude.

The fact that you accept that the podrace sequence needs to be 20 minutes long and filled with unnecessary characters that are never seen again is the bigger stretch. Did the audience need to know specific details about the bike troopers on Endor to make the forest speeder chase in ROTJ exciting? (Hint: No.)

[Howdy]

Originally Posted by Breather

After the Star Wars DVD boxset release in 9/04, the films got individual releases just two years later in 9/06. The SE version on disc 1 and the non-anamorphic UOT on disc 2. It only took them two years to release the OT films separately. The prequel films were released individually on DVD in '01, '02, and '05, with a boxset of the prequel trilogy in '08.

I have no interest in separate releases myself, but if LFL and Fox follow the pattern they used on DVD, we should individual releases sometime in 2013.

Releasing the films individually would be great for people who only want certain films though.

[Beast]

Originally Posted by svenge

The fact that you accept that the podrace sequence needs to be 20 minutes long and filled with unnecessary characters that are never seen again is the bigger stretch.

That's like saying they only needed Luke in his X-Wing for A New Hope or Lando in the Falcon for Return of the Jedi.

And they certainly didn't need all those unneccessary Rebels and Imperials in the other films either. Screw the Ground Battle in Empire.

And hell, we didn't even need the unnecessary Jedis in the Prequels either. The Arena Battle would have been so cool with 2 people.

[Breather]

Originally Posted by Howdy

Releasing the films individually would be great for people who only want certain films though.

I definitely agree.

[svenge]

Originally Posted by Beast

That's like saying they only needed Luke in his X-Wing for A New Hope or Lando in the Falcon for Return of the Jedi.

That's somewhat inaccurate, considering that you do need to communicate with your squadron mates when attacking a major military installation (not to mention giving brief shots of non-major characters piloting aircraft is a staple of the war films that the first Death Star attack was based on.)

You don't need anything of the sort when depicting the main character participating in a glorified go-kart race.

[Dynamo of Eternia]

Originally Posted by PeterTHX

Did you actually read the article?

BTW: a working link to the actual article itself:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/22/magazine/george-lucas-red-tails.html?_r=1&ref=movies

This link isn't working for me. When I click on it, it just takes me to some NY Times log-in page. I set up an account, but when I log in, it then just takes me to what appears to be today's current news headlines. If I sign in and then click on the link again, it just opens another tab with the same log-in screen, and the process is repeated. I've even tried searching Lucas's name to find the article, and I can't seem to locate it.

Can anyone tell me how I can actually read this?

[Beast]

Originally Posted by svenge

That's somewhat inaccurate, considering that you do need to communicate with your squadron mates when attacking a major military installation (not to mention giving brief shots of non-major characters piloting aircraft is a staple of the war films that the first Death Star attack was based on.)

You don't need anything of the sort when depicting the main character participating in a glorified go-kart race.

I don't recall ever seeing huge crowds, dangerous tracks, and crashes and deaths in your average Go-Kart Race. Where have you?

Not to mention the whole point of Pod Racing was that it's not something that most huans can do. Hence the abundance of Aliens.

Besides, we all know Lucas' obsession with cars and speed. He was doing something fun with an intergalactic street race. So what?

[svenge]

Originally Posted by Beast

I don't recall ever seeing huge crowds, dangerous tracks, and crashes and deaths in your average Go-Kart Race. Where have you?

Not to mention the whole point of Pod Racing was that it's not something that most huans can do. Hence the abundance of Aliens.

You're missing the original point, which was that the entire sequence was a bloated momentum-killing waste whose duration could've been cut by at least 75% if Lucas wasn't selling a video game based on the premise on top of action figures of the unnecessary characters involved therein.

[Beast]

Originally Posted by svenge

You're missing the original point, which was that the entire sequence was a bloated momentum-killing waste whose duration could've been cut by at least 75% if Lucas wasn't selling a video game based on the premise on top of action figures of the unnecessary characters involved therein.

He wasn't selling a video game based on it. The video game companies were. Same with the action figures.

He doesn't create and sell all this merchandise himself. You do realize that right? Other companies create this stuff.

And why? Because the demand is there because of the fans. Star Wars has an abundance of crazy aliens. Always has.

And the argument is nonsense. Because the Cantina had just as many weird aliens and that was long before the days of licensed toys.

[svenge]

Originally Posted by Beast

He wasn't selling a video game based on it. The video game companies were.

He doesn't create and sell all this merchandise himself. You do realize that right?

You do realize that the game was created and published by LucasArts, right? I seriously doubt that there wasn't some corporate "synergy" at work there. Of course considering you've got the worst case of PT-based Stockholm Syndrome ever recorded I doubt you could ever conceive of the "Creator" doing such a thing.

Originally Posted by Beaszt

And the argument is nonsense. Because the Cantina had just as many weird aliens and that was long before the days of licensed toys.

As I mentioned earlier, the Cantina had a valid narrative reason: to set up the multi-species nature of Star Wars universe. Until that scene, all the characters depicted were either human or droid (except for the Jawas, whose on-screen identity as a non-human species was somewhat ambiguous due to their robes.)

The same cannot be said for the pod race scene, which was a merchandising opportunity first and foremost. You don't need 20 minutes and prominently feature a bevy of unimportant, completely slapstick alien racers to establish that Anakin has Force abilities that help him in piloting.

[Breather]

Originally Posted by Beast

And the argument is nonsense. Because the Cantina had just as many weird aliens and that was long before the days of licensed toys.

Not taking sides in yet another Star Wars argument, but the "Star Wars Cantina Adventure Set" was one of the earliest licensed toys. It was put on sale by Kenner as a Sears exclusive in the 1978 Sears Christmas Wish Book, as Christmas of '77 had no Star Wars figures yet, aside from the 'empty box campaign'. This was the one that originally came with the blue Snaggletooth, which was also available as a mail-away with Greedo in 1978. I still remember getting this set that Christmas.

http://theswca.com/index.php?action=...&item_id=39641

[TylerDurden]

I remember the Admiral Akbar mail away. I also threw him on top of our house.

[HylianBowcaster]

Sounds like some people are making a lot of assumptions in both directions. I think we need to see some proof in either direction, otherwise this conversation is going to go another few thousand posts and still go nowhere.