Star Wars - Classic or Dud?

The Phantom Menace really wasn't that bad, I don't know what the fuss was about. So what if it didn't have a plot? Wow, were those special effects ever cool, and Ewan McGreggor, phew! Even in bad hair and doing Alec Guiness's accent, he's still a hottie!

Personally I liked it well enough, seen everything except TPM twice, seen TPM once. That's enough for me, really. I'm sympathetic to the view that the vast amount of attention paid to SW is a bad thing but you can just ignore it.

I haven't seen them in ages either though. I have all the tapes, but haven't watched them since I was a kid. There are some great double entendres in them, if I remember. Something along the lines of:

Darth Vader: 'My son is near. I felt him' Emperor: 'It is strange I have not felt him'

Well dodgy. And of course Han Solo says 'Let's blow this thing and go home.'

I don't understand TPM haters though, they get very uppity about it, as if the original series was a feat of fantastic writing and acting, the acting at the very least in TPM is better.

But silly pseudo-technical babble is what makes sci-fi so GRATE!!! I mean, honestly, does anyone here actually know what a tachyon *is*? Yet they seem critically important in every episode of Star Trek ever. Come on...

Taking Sides: American Graffiti (Lucas) vs. Duel (Spielberg)?

*sigh*

Classic.

Childhood sense of wonder = not, particularly, activated by Star Wars. (Dr Who, however....)

Your answer = weird desire to fence stuff off against discussion. See also: Replacements thread.

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!!

However, I think it HIGHLY unlikely that my dad had Ra in mind (or had even heard of him in 1977). He meant movies and (even more) pulp 50s books.

It's funny mark, I remember my dad raving to *me* (after going by himself first, the bastard) about the aliens etc., I think he went to see it at the drive in, something like four times that summer. We always did have a ridiculous amount of sci-fi books around the house, he was a real fan, so I think he'd been waiting for that kind of scene for his entire life - and if *he* thought it was a film revolution, I'm inclined to believe.

http://www.guitarpunk.com/SW-85DV-close.jpg

http://www.guitarpunk.com/VADER-ZO%20with%20Soft.jpg

That means Star Wars is cool, no?

I can see a certain very cool cat playing one of these, but by god would he have to be cool. Something in the vein of goofpunk that is not necessarily goofy; just a band that has no image projection and acts stoopid. I could see the Dwarves playing this back in the day and getting away with it. Or the Dickies.

-- Kim (grimstitc...), June 18th, 2001.

It was called "Lapti Nek" and I can still sing it (phonetically)!!!

I've always thought that it should have stopped there. I don't care for Empire... and everything past that is garbage.

WARNING!! contains the climactic "blunt-smoking" sequence!

Oh and I found this for you all

https://i.imgur.com/BCwGQCG.jpg

I can’t stop laughing at the idea that Wookies are about as smart as dogs but Han Solo doesn’t know that because he’s an alien so he just fully treats him like a man and Chewbacca has like 30% idea what’s going on and meanwhile Han is letting him drive a spaceship

— Daniel Kibblesmith (@kibblesmith) August 3, 2020

There's a great follow up tweet to that as well, something like - "that's why Chewie doesn't get a medal, and why Leia thinks Han is a moron."

https://uploads.poplyft.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/23030207/Volkswagen-Dog-Star-Wars-Theme-3.jpg

We were watching New Hope last night and had the brightness on the TV pumped up all the way and saw something new: Vader’s eyes (Proswe’s eyes) clearly visible through his dark crimson visage in at least two scenes, notably during the final Death Star run. Weird

have been watching the original trilogy for christmas, those "despecialized" versions

great stuff

this scene really is too sad ;_;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q19IGr-xeuA

When an Ewok dies, he murders some part of the world
These are the pale deaths which men miscall their lives

the original Dobby

Around 2003 in Chile, when the original trilogy of Star Wars began airing on television there, they did this funny thing to avoid cutting to commercial breaks. They stitched the commercials into the films themselves. Here is one of them, with the English dub added in. pic.twitter.com/wC7N2vPNvv

— Windy 🛸 (@heyitswindy) March 2, 2024

The Truly Special Edition

There is more. It's making this film watchable.

Palpatine You Have To Stop. You Smoke Too Tough. Your Swag Too Different. Your Bitch Is Too Bad. They’ll Kill You pic.twitter.com/rAbW8xUawQ

— Windy 🛸 (@heyitswindy) March 2, 2024

this is the funniest fucking thing ever oh my god https://t.co/XXDzkmxuON pic.twitter.com/spMRtArFvb

— Ren (@StanNajimi) March 3, 2024

Someone shared that with me yesterday and I couldn't breathe.

Right down to the cheesy jingle

what are you talking about that's one of the most powerful commercial jingles ever made

I've been singing "Cerveza Cristal" in that rock voice all day!

There is a Chilean restaurant kinda near me that I haven't been to for a while and I wonder if they have that beer. Might have to go.

I have to say that, as amazing as this concept is, I'm a little disappointed that they apparently only utilized it in advertising Cerveza Cristal. Like why not a shot of Darth Vader in his chamber lowering his helmet and pulling on a pair of Depends pañales para adultos.

i love the implication that everyone in star wars have secret beers hidden everywhere and are constantly riding a 3-beer buzz

"Your sad devotion to that ancient religion hasnt helped you conjure of the stolen data tapes!... "

*smacks lips, eyes start absently scanning the room, tilts head back to "casually" peek under nearby chairs*

The Empire Strips Back
A Burlesque Parody

https://theempirestripsback.com/san-francisco/#instafeed

i know this is a boring sawhorse to bring up again but, having just rewatched the OG trilogy i just need to say again for the record

i want some kind of blind survey sent to households, “did one or more household occupants see any/all of these movies in the theater when they were originally released in 1977/1980/1983?” if the answer is yes indicate which ones and you will receive a physical copy of that/those theatrical version/s in the mail for free for pain & suffering caused by special edition fuckery

everytime i do a rewatch i get all these fucking eye twitches

WHY THE FUCK IS JABBA WALKING AROUND IN STAR WARS? WHAT IS ALL THIS SHIT EVERYWHERE. WHO ARE THESE FUCKING CREATURES. STOP PUTTING MORE THINGS IN THE DESERT. WE DONT NEED MORE STARSHIPS/ASTEROIDS/TIE FUGHTERS. WHY DOES THE SARLAK PITT HAVE ALL THESE EXTRA TENTACLES AND A BEAK NOW. WHY IS HAYDEN FUCKING CHRISTENSEN IN MY RETURN OF THE JEDI?
WHERE IS THE FUCKING JUBJUB SONG???

** explodes like Death Star **

I remember a few years back they said there was no digital copy of the original film anymore so some guy in Poland recreated it, using old VHS tapes and laser disks and shit.. he edited it back together!

I'm a big fan of fan restorations. I know people have done it for the Lord of the Rings movies, too (and they have *no* excuse to be available only in the editions/conditions they are in).

i just want the version i saw. (sobs)

so you don't like Jar-Jar taking an extended solo with the cantina band?

Pardon my ignorance but does anyone actually utter the term “Death Star” in the OG movies?

"That blast came from the DEATH STAR. That thing's OPERATIONAL!!"

WHY DOES THE SARLAK PITT HAVE ALL THESE EXTRA TENTACLES AND A BEAK NOW.

Yeah, this was so unnecessary. It's scary enough as a big weird mouth.

exactly! so many of the “tweaks” are just hats on hats.

like “oh he said he was disappointed in Star Wars because it was only 25% of what was in his head”
~hushed genius tones~

-cut to-
the other 75% = “what if Jabba shows up and says HAN MAH BOOGIE”

turns out we’re cool with the disapponting 25% George

Standard def and all but there's one set of the DVDs with the theatrical cuts on bonus discs. They are so fun with kind of sloppy matte lines and the sound effects really jump out.

I recently found a boot of THX without the "enhancements" and that's a trip. Surprising amount of nudity for a Lucasfilm, too

When it was time to watch the original trilogy with my kids I went through the horrible process of figuring out how to download the newest restored fan edit so I could raise my children properly. They do not know a world in which Greedo shot first.

Then we watched the prequels and the sequels which ranged from awful to okay. Rogue One was the best and last new Star Wars movie we watched. None of the shows. There's a particular feel to the original version of the first movies that works for me in a way that none of the others do. Except maybe Rogue One.

enjoyed finding out that Lucas was a fan of Rogue One

I’d like to think he’d be into Andor too! mostly bc it’s so pointedly NOT glazing him the way so much of the spinoff stuff does

Andor is great, I've only watched the first season though. Was the last person to watch it apparently, but was surprised by how much I liked the first season of Mandalorian.

I loved Mando! or at least the first 2 seasons. It kinda lost me in s3 a bit

Thread needs more yelling

Star Wars gets people heated.

like “oh he said he was disappointed in Star Wars because it was only 25% of what was in his head”
~hushed genius tones~

-cut to-
the other 75% = “what if Jabba shows up and says HAN MAH BOOGIE”

lol, this was a good bit in the new ilm doc on disney+ - you start to warm to george again when he talks about film school and american graffiti and his ideas for star wars. Then after seeing all these people slaving away, inventing whole new technologies, coming up with amazing shots... and he pretty much flat out says "I was so disappointed"! Oh george.

I'm watching that series now (watched the first one like a year ago but forgot to continue ha).

Missed if it was mentioned already but original version in UK cinemas this Summer: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/crlddw64x5jo

it's a single screening

Yup, Film on Film festival. They're also showing a 20's nitrate print of Un Chien Andalou, don't think that's hitting UK multiplexes either.

xxpost ledge yeah i’ve been watching the ILM doc too and the way that was laid out was a bummer. His fixation just overrides everything. It must be hard to work for him in that specific regard, when the work is so herculean and crumbs of gratitude are SO meagre. But the familial environment they’ve developed around him/in spite of him/ because of him, counterbalances it.

VG you probably know this and i’m sure it’s referenced upthread but there’s a guy who has painstakingly recreated the og star wars trilogy - and this might be what Andy is referring to - called the “despecialized editions”. it’s an attempt to recreate the original films but using HD sources where possible in order to do it, so you have a kind of hybrid thing that removes all the dumb extras lucas added but with the better picture quality of later editions

i prob shd check it out, might save further aneurysms lol

(but also my own fault for just blindly watching the versions streaming on Disney+ instead of at least digging out my dvd versions)

I have them saved on my Plex and they are truly great. they look sharp as a tack and it’s everything you remember and nothing you don’t.

There are also 4K scans of original cinema prints of the first three movies “circulating”.

I think the only one of the original trilogy I've seen was Empire during the '90s re-release.

https://archive.org/details/05-star.-wars.-4-k-77.1080p.no-dnr.-35mm.x-264-v-1.0-et-hd

38GB upload of the 4K77 version, may have to give it a try

also, separately

i’m a ROTJ stan bc it came out when i was young enough to enjoy Ewoks & i still quite like all that stuff

but this time round it kinda bugged me the way Luke is really leaning right into calling Vader “Father” right from jump. Like, dude, don’t be such a mark - just bc he says he’s yr Dad doesnt mean you have to accept it right away. Dude’s gotta earn that shit! Make him work for it.

oh AND: Vader talking about bringing Leia to the Dark Side?! … bro, you blew up her home planet right in front of her while she watched! if she didnt lose her shit and get Dark Sided then, it probably isnt gonna happen imo

I've always taken the "Father" stuff as 50% Luke being internally, serenely confident in his reading of all this (in contrast with his rapid crumble in Empire), and 50% him being like, "if this is ever gonna work, I gotta come out strong and stick to my guns from minute one."

i guess that makes sense