I still DO like Star Wars - Page 21

I think it pretty much rankled everybody, didn't it? The first words of the Phantom Menace crawl let us all know what we were in for. "Trade routes are in dispute? This is gonna KICK ASS!"

What always made the first movie work for me was its perfect fusion of disparate action movie genres with fantasy and myth. The Jedi and The Force are high fantasy elements. All the sci fi gear in the world can't alter the fact that at its core, Star Wars is basically about Samurai Wizards.

Oh absolutely and gods bless it for that but I always liked that it was samurai wizards vs the imperial machine of fascist bureaucracy hence where my interpretation of the ending comes from.

Star Wars always works best when it can present a world where the nuts-and-bolts side of things can be believably left in the background, as has been wisely pointed out before. We don't need to know how repulsorlifts or hydrospanners work, just the same as we can assume that a major battle marks a decisive victory for one side in an epic war, so that we don't need to see the petty battles around the galaxy that might logically happen afterward to mop everything up.

If we are to assume that happened, it would have been a minor thing, a background detail at best, but certainly never worthy of an entire series of books full of worthless, tacked-on, and completely unnecessary stories and character arcs for Luke, Han, Leia, etc.

I just realized that I made a thoroughly condemning judgment of the EU books in that last post. I just want to say that despite my thoughts on the quality of the EU novels, and despite the fact that I don't think they should have been made in the first place, I don't begrudge either the marketing machine that churns them out to make dollars for Lucasfilm and their publisher or the enjoyment that readers get from passing their time with them. We all like what we like, and it is what it is, etc.

FWIW, East Germany essentially crumbled overnight.

There's that too.

That was Marvel, right? I have no problem with the EU stuff, but I've never been a fan for basically this exact thing. I've seen Empire quite a few times and Wedge never crashed. I could be wrong, but I had guessed that it was Wedge with the line "Good luck, Luke! See you at the rendezvous point!"

For me, I never thought that every character that you ever see on screen needed to have adventures outside their purpose in the film. I didn't need to know that Walrus Man had a damn name or that because of him Princess Leia wouldn't have been able to get the credits to pay Bothan spies to get her the data disks to make backup copies of the Death Star plans... or something or other.

But that's cranky old me.

Cranky old me as well. EU stuff (for any franchise property) is best when it deals with what happened before, or preferably after. When you get into what happened during, it's usually writers inventing holes that didn't exist so they can fill them with bullshit.

Even dealing with "before" stories is problematic, as the prequels clearly demonstrated. Even Lucas couldn't keep the details straight and avoid contradicting future events that we'd already seen.

There's also the tricky matter of tone. Personally, I think that the idea of an alien invasion is antithetical to what Star Wars is about. Obviously, thousands of fans ate those books up though.

Most of the time I find it quite funny. Star Wars zombies? Knock yourself out!

Sometimes, one can get frustrated or feel awkward when you're in a whole nest of EU lovers. Like being in a church when you know damn well there's that funny tattoo on the back of your head shaped like three sixes.

That book hits paperback in a couple weeks, and I've pretty much talked myself into buying it for yukks.

By the way, the new Making of TESB book is beautiful and amazing. The pictures are stunning. It really reminded me of why I love these movies. McQuarrie's stuff is just gorgeous.

Is this a reprint/update of the original "Making of Empire" book, or something wholly new? I devoured that damn thing back in 1980.

Something wholly new.

First it was this fantastic read:


And now the one Spook talked about is:

With a foreword by Wiggly Scott!

The look on Carrie's face. God only knows what she did with/to that cup.

because you demanded it...new trilogy:

http://iesb.net/index.php?option=com...news&Itemid=71

Getting this:
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These are the non-Skywalker things right?

The link isn't working for me Ambler, but Wired has an update to what I assume is the same story.

http://www.wired.com/underwire/2010/...-wars-trilogy/

Just do a Google news search. Plenty of articles.

Perhaps George wants to simultaneously make money and cause everyone to fully hate and despise Star Wars so that when he dies, so does the franchise...

I'm being facetious with that. But on the other hand, I really wonder if George is scared to do anything else because he won't have the same success. Besides the strong source of income, is this a reason he keeps going back to Star Wars?

I love how Harry's under the impression that we won't know this is really happening until Hamill, Ford and Fisher are signed. Lucas would be out of his goddamn mind if he tried to base a sequel trilogy around Han, Luke and Leia in their 60s. Maybe cameos, but I don't want to see Hamill's head CGI-ed onto a digital stunt man and leaping around like Dooku.

my theory is Lucas has long stopped caring...his little movie star wars became the ball and chain of his life, his empire has consumed him, and he's only making Star Wars movies to fuel his drug habits (ILM, Skywalker Sound, fast cars, making his kids fatter, etc)...even he admitted star wars rules his life, "my destiny is star wars".

Lucas never even wanted to make movies, he was interested in things that went fast and was fascinated by film editing that sped up the perception of images (watch his early short films). when he won that apprenticeship at Warners after film school, he wanted to work in the animation department...he only stumbled into filmmaking because he met Coppola who forced him to start writing. and Lucas only got into all that because of his bad car accident, which forced him to focus and shape up. he wanted to race cars, eat chocolate bars and hit on girls.

after Marcia divorced him he probably never recovered...i think people underestimate how sensitive he is. she was the only one (besides Kurtz) who pushed him. after they left, he became Mr. Mom to his kids...kids kind of take the bite out of your passions and you mellow out. he just stopped caring.

we're not looking at a born filmmaker like Spielberg who's passionate about making movies. we're looking at a slacker with a sharp mind who got his shit together long enough to acquire a ridiculous fortune. a toymaker. a business man. and now he's just content shitting out star wars movies every decade or so to feed his habits.

sad, because he really was a good filmmaker.

+1

Harry just baffles me sometimes.

Happy Halloween:

As though thousands of seeds suddenly cried out in terror...

Very cool Death Pumpkin pic.

Anyone finish the Making Of EMPIRE book yet? Pretty cool stuff. But strangely, it left me more interested in the Making of JEDI. I guess I want to see how it all starts to go off the rails. (And I look forward to several pages of Slave Leia candids.)

A couple gaffes in the EMPIRE book. Some minor stuff is somewhat understandable but I mean, a two-page full color spread devoted to a matte painting of the Millennium Falcon supposedly in the Hoth landing bay but actually on the Rebel Frigate landing deck from JEDI? Whoops.

How candid are these books? Would they even get into the "off the rails" aspects of Jedi, are are they love letters of undying praise?

I haven't read them; genuinely curious.

They are brutally honest, going into insane amounts of detail, unafraid to directly address problems and conflicts. If anything, you could argue that they're actually pretty dry and occasionally tedious post-mortems of these movies. The EMPIRE book goes into all kinds of specifics about the film's budget overruns, tension on set, Lucas freaking out over money, etc., etc. I mean, the book even mentions Carrie Fisher's substance abuse!

You should check them out. The photography and conceptual art alone is staggering. These are the ultimate wake up calls for any old school STAR WARS nerd (such as you and I) who thought we'd seen and heard it all.

I would agree with your point about how dry and occasionally tedious the book (I've only read the one for Star Wars) can be. But in the end, it was very rewarding to read through. It is an intimidating amount of detail. I wouldn't really say that they're brutally honest. Not in the way it's presented anyway. It's simply very matter-of-fact.

Oh god... the sheer amount that first book gave of Lucas' many drafts of the screenplay!!! I actually kinda skipped over most of those.

I'm going to try to purchase the Empire book once it's released in paperback. It's heavy to read as a hardcover!

I'm not sure what the difference is in this case. There's no discernible spin here. You're right, it's matter of fact...but that fact is that EMPIRE was a very troubled production, and the book doesn't shy away from that.

Some of my favorite raw data in the book is all the coverage of Lucas' dealmaking with Fox and other companies in setting up Black Falcon (LFL's first merchandising division) while also breaking ground on Skywalker Ranch. All of that in addition to EMPIRE's woes, Lucas had a ton of first class headaches to endure.

In any case, this book certainly isn't the standard Sansweetian "STAR WARS is back and better than ever" bullshit that usually comes out Lucasfilm. For my money, the Rinzler books have been wonderfully unflinching.

Oh, I haven't read the Empire book yet and was only referring to the first book. But I see what you're saying.

It's just that when I see "brutally honest," it just feels more aggressive than "matter-of-fact." Semantics!

I haven't gotten the second one yet, but for film junkies like us, the first book was gold. For STAR WARS freaks, not so much (I can't imagine how they'd enjoy seeing them make the sausage and realizing that these films, at least the first two, aren't golden eggs shat from the glorious Sarlacc Pit that is Lucas's asshole). Very candid.

True, but there is a bit of gloss in the first one (haven't got the second yet, but it's almost payday). At one point Rinzler brings up editing problems in specific scenes without telling us which scenes were problematic, which is frustrating for the curious fan. Stuff like that. If it is to be believed, The Secret History of Star Wars is more obsessively detailed in it's approach, but that suffers from bloat and amateur writing, and unfortunately is no longer available for free (legally).

I caught the ILM special on Starz. It's only an hour, and didn't really say anything new at all. I mean, they brought in fucking Robin Williams and Seth Green for interviews. But hey, we got to hear Robin do his Yoda voice!

The only part worth mentioning was when they showed the attic with all the props and models. That stuff is awesome beyond words.

The way they started pimping it months in advance had me looking forward to something really eye-opening, but it's just fluff. It's no Pixar Story, that's for sure.

A thousand pardons if this has been presented before, but this video killed me:

I don't want to live in a world where Greedo shot first

"Does that make me a bad parent? Probably."

The whole thing is just pitch-perfect with the presentation as a PSA as well.

After many years of refraining from purchasing any Star Wars merchandise (the last thing I bought was either the Star Wars Trilogy on DVD or Revenge of the Sith on DVD), I have suddenly caved and bought all the Mandalorian figures I a saw at Target (Pre Vizla, Mandalorian commando, another on a speeder bike) plus the vintage Boba Fett, a Jango Fett, and a Jodo Kast (K-Mart exclusive). And now I've started watching Clone Wars. I'm afraid where this is going. Very afraid. I'm a grown man!

My mail-away vintage-style Boba Fett with actual for real working missile launcher just arrived. Finally having one is irrationaly gratifying.

Adorable Star Wars ABCs:

http://geektyrant.com/news/2010/12/2...-geek-art.html

So ... many ... avatars...

Stormtrooper is my favorite. Never even heard of some of those EU characters though.

I'm the same way man...I bought a few figures, picking up the Lego of Darth Vaders Tie..then picked up the first season of Clone Wars on Blu Ray...I also know where this is leading.

Which leads too..

Yeah, I'm a few figures away. Damn I love the vintage box style.

Those are sweet!

Did you hear that? Alec Guinness is rolling over in his grave again. He does that a lot these days.

Some of the new vintage collection figs are actual artwork. I don't know who lit the fire under Hasbros ass but it looks like they started taking their job seriously.

You know, really brought the smackdown in those sweatshops.

Forget the toys for a moment: why not bid an actual artifact from the films, here? I mean, if you've got $30,000 lying around...

It's got a serious EU taint. D is Dash Rendar and M is Mara Jade, and yet Darth Maul does not appear at all. Totally stupid.

Snazzy.

I haven't seen the original titles, in their proper fonts, since I was a kid. Definitely wasn't expecting that blast of nostalgia.

Those are terrific.

Where'd you find these bad boys?

Devin posted them over at Badass.

That Vader one is sort of haunting. Makes Jedi look like a horror film. Which I guess it is, from some points of view.

Only thing I'd change is the Star Wars logo on the Threepio poster. I'd go for the much more iconic (in my mind) connected lettering.

A friend of mine linked them to me. I was surprised that they hadn't been linked here yet.

I reacted the same way to the moodiness of the Jedi poster. Seems more fitting for Empire. How awesome would it have been if the Ewok battle looked like that?

Something another friend sent me. It's from back in October, but I've never seen them.

Take a Star Wars Holiday!