Star Wars: The Complete Saga (1977-2005)

[chip75]

Total Film have a tounge in cheek look at what needs to be done for the 3D version of The Phantom Menace.

[Batman1980]

Originally Posted by octagon

The arc could have been even better had they not essentially skipped over the single most interesting part - how did he actually become a douchebag in the first place?

We did get to see him fly into his first murderous rage but he grew from normal, decent, lovable little Ani into an adult capable of murderous rages entirely off-screen.

How did he change? Why did he change?

Eh, these things happen.

He flew into a murderous rage because they killed his mother, let's be honest. If someone killed our mother in cold blood, we'd probably return the favour just like he did. As far as killing the younglings and the separatists, I chalk that up to him being blinded by his thirst for power and desire to protect Padme and serve his new master.

[42041]

Originally Posted by Shaft Windu

You REALLY should read "the hero with a thousand faces"...

Why? Does every protagonist in a work of fiction need to slavishly follow an archetype?

[octagon]

Originally Posted by Darth Anakin

He flew into a murderous rage because they killed his mother, let's be honest. If someone killed our mother in cold blood, we'd probably return the favour just like he did. As far as killing the younglings and the separatists, I chalk that up to him being blinded by his thirst for power and desire to protect Padme and serve his new master.

No, I really don't think most people would slaughter women and children if they got mad enough. And he wasn't a guy off the street at this point either. He'd had what? A dozen years or so of Jedi training by then?

But he's still capable of slaughtering an entire village down to the last child?

It just seems like there are a lot of unconnected dots between A and B in this case.

[Shaft Windu]

Originally Posted by 42041

Why? Does every protagonist in a work of fiction need to slavishly follow an archetype?

Actually, it does anyway if you intend it or not... That's the beauty of it! But if something is clearly designed from it's inception as an illustration of a principle like the monomyth it wouldn't make much sense to skip the important stages. It would be like a western without guns...

[punisher]

Originally Posted by Darth Anakin

He was only obnoxious when he was 8? Actually after viewing the 3 films again recently, I have to say I think kiddie Anakin is a better character than the adult. Even taking into considering all the terrible acting and dialogue. The kid is more tolerable because the teen adult is so immature and easily influenced. Still one of my favourite character arcs of all-time though.

+1..........

I always felt that an adult Anakin became Darth Vadar..not some kid going through puberty

[happydood]

Originally Posted by 42041

Why? Does every protagonist in a work of fiction need to slavishly follow an archetype?

I don't always agree with Shaft, but human beings in general should really read The Hero With A Thousand Faces. Regardless of its applications to a Star Wars thread.

[Duffy12]

.

Originally Posted by mtrouth

I noticed some slight static/distortion during the Death Star explosion in Return of the Jedi as the sound moves int the rear speakers. It is a slight static that is present in both the right and left rear channels. I think it is supposed to be there, but I'm not sure. Anyone else experience this on their system?

Originally Posted by mtrouth

Guys, I would really appreciate if someone could answer this for me. It would mean a great deal to me.

mtrouth:


OK, I finally got around to watching this one, and yes, I did notice that in my rear speaker. However, I only noticed it in the 'left rear'. There may have been a little static in the right rear, but I did not notice it as it was really pronounced in the left rear.


Hope this helps.

.

[ZoetMB]

Originally Posted by dookiex

Also, the best quality of the actual film is usually going to be from the originals. When they strike copies from the originals, the copies are then used vigorously to strike additional theatrical prints. Needless to say, the first copies as well as the theatrical prints are usually if not always in terrible shape. They are after all not meant for archival purposes. So for a true restoration of a film, usually the best way to go is to use whatever of the original straight out of the camera film you can find. Then you fill in the damaged parts with the copies that were struck from it but the bulk of the film is going to be from the original print. For a film like Star Wars, I would not be surprised at all that the original prints are worn down to a horrendous state and thus a true restoration would be extremely time intensive and costly. Think about it, it's a film that came out in the 70's and it was a HUGE film, they must've abused the original print to no end. Also at the time, nobody had ANY idea that there would be a HD video market so nobody ever thought about preserving and archiving the original prints. We're lucky that we have a HD version of the original Star Wars at all in HD really. We're also lucky that we have The Godfather in HD because you can tell that the original print is in a sad sad sad state of affairs since the studio abused the heck out of that original print AND film stock back then were not anywhere near as durable as the film stock that came much later.

Not quite. You can't use the camera negative in a film that has tons of special effects, green screen work, etc. unless you're going to re-develop all of the special effects. And the original negative isn't even on a single reel - it's on "A" and "B" reels so that dissolves and the like can be accomplished. And for the early films, most of the special effects were created using multiple camera passes, mattes, etc. So those special effects are cut back into the A and B reels and are several generations away from the original. So you could re-create them as CGI effects, but then it wouldn't really be the same film. It would be another "special edition". Another issue is that when film was the origination medium, they would run dailies from the negative and then they would also run a workprint when it was time to edit. If the lab was sloppy, there would be negative damage even before the first real print was struck.

If they knew up front that lots of prints would be made, they made an inter-positive from the final negatives and then a new negative for printing from the inter-positive.

In many cases, the original negative is either so incredibly damaged or no longer exists that they have to restore from a print. And no matter how great a job they do in restoration and no matter how qualified the restorer (like Robert A. Harris, who I have a great deal of respect for), restoring from a print never has the same "crispness" as the original production because it's usually several generations away from the original camera negative. So as positive as reviews have been for The Godfather, Lawrence of Arabia (on DVD) and other films like those, they (IMO) still do not look anywhere near as good as they did when originally presented in a theatre.

As far as prints go, it's a mixed bag. In some respects, the old technology of having multiple projectors in the booth was better for the prints because the projectors were frequently cleaned when they weren't projecting the current reel. On the other hand, the ends of each reel were frequently dragged on the floor. But the current process (for theatres that still project film) of using platters is frequently worse because the projectors are almost never cleaned and if a little bit of dirt gets in the gate, it can scratch an entire print in one showing. And the prints are assembled for platter use and then disassembled before being sent on to the next theatre where it's assembled onto a platter again. So if you were seeing a film outside of a major city, most of the time you were seeing highly damaged prints, which points to one of the great advantages of digital presentation. But most studios do not permit archival prints to be shown using platters, so most film festivals have a multiple-projector setup. But even then I've read of the only remaining copy of 70mm prints getting destroyed by idiot projectionists.

[Shaft Windu]

[Dynamo of Eternia]

Originally Posted by 42041

That would've worked fine, really. The script/story would have to be reworked obviously but I don't think it's inherently a weaker start.

I agree. If anything, it would have been a better start.


For one thing (and I've said this before) IMO this whole "chosen one" prophecy nonsense wasn't really even needed. I would think that it should have come up at some point in the OT if it had been that important anyway.

But putting that aside, while we see how Luke first "goes on the path" to become a Jedi, he joins this path MUCH later in life than most Jedi did (including his father as the films now stand). But we see him actually getting trained shortly into the movie. Obi Wan is showing him and teaching him about the force. We see Luke training with a light saber, etc.

Regardless of his age, we don't really get any of that with Anakin. We see him go on a path that will take him to the path of becoming a Jedi. The way I see it, Anakin as he appears at the end of Episode I in the parade scene in Jedi Padawan clothes is pretty much the equivelant of Anakin barely being at the door step of where Luke actually ends up just shortly into ANH. At no point is Anakin actually being taught about the force, being trained in any kind of Jedi arts, etc. For TPM, the whole movie (at least as far as Anakin's story is concerned) is about convincing the council to allow Anakin to be trained.


That to me is a big part of the problem. We don't really see what are pertanent moments of character development and growth with Anakin. We get to the door step of where that will just begin to happen, and then by the next film he's already a skilled Jedi. With Luke, we see his training begin in ANH, then it takes another major step in TESB, etc.

Now I realize that Anakin's circumstances aren't the same as Luke's. Anakin, upon going into training, was constantly trained for many years, while Luke got a couple of scattered "crash courses". None the less, the point is that we see key moments in not only Luke's training, but his growth as a character. Most of that is largely skipped with Anakin. IMO it would have made more sense for the first 2 PT movies to focus on major turning points in his actual training than to worry about showing us how he first became a Jedi. Not that showing us how he joined up is necessarily a bad thing, but again, it's not as big of a deal back during a time when there were many, many Jedi as it was in Luke's time when he was the first and only (to our knowledge) "new" Jedi to go into training in a couple of decades or so.

The whole idea was for Luke and Anakin to go down roughly similar paths, but in the end make largely different choices. But somehow the end result just seems like a missed opportunity. I guess Lucas was so focused on mirroring and creating parrallels between more superficial aspects of the two trilogies that he kind of let this fairly major issue go to the way-side.

[Yeast]

What the hell are you people talking about?!! Does anyone here own the blu-rays or what?

[HD Goofnut]

Originally Posted by Yeast

What the hell are you people talking about?!! Does anyone here own the blu-rays or what?

Yes, and I've watched all six already.

[Yeast]

Originally Posted by HD Goofnut

Yes, and I've watched all six already.

Awesome!

[Yeast]

Originally Posted by Shaft Windu

is this from the extras?

[dcowboy7]

Originally Posted by Blu Titan

In fact, when you look at Amazon sales rankings the Blu-ray format is outselling the DVd version for just about all of the high profile titles.

Didnt happen for X-Men First Class in week 2:
388,825 blu
530,318 dvd

[Shaft Windu]

Originally Posted by Yeast

is this from the extras?

Unfortunately not. The extras are pretty weak...

[nmycon]

Originally Posted by Yeast

is this from the extras?

It's Joseph Campbell's "Hero's Cycle"

High school english

[Yeast]

Originally Posted by nmycon

It's Joseph Campbell's "Hero's Cycle"

High school english

I took high school japanese. Hey, I just bought the blu-rays!!!!

[Monkey]

Originally Posted by octagon

No, I really don't think most people would slaughter women and children if they got mad enough. And he wasn't a guy off the street at this point either. He'd had what? A dozen years or so of Jedi training by then?

But he's still capable of slaughtering an entire village down to the last child?

It just seems like there are a lot of unconnected dots between A and B in this case.

Fully agreed. That is just pure evil on every level, regardless of what happened to his mom. Especially so considering the training /environment he was raised with. They need to re-do episode I to make little Jake Loyd a sadistic f'r who goes around killing things.