Star Wars (May the Force be with you)

[Piney]

Piney: "I will add that there has been a ton of books ok'd by Lucas to continue the Star Wars story."

The books have nothing to do with anything Lucas would use for a movie or a movie script. Lucas okays the books, but even he says that they have nothing to do with his Star Wars saga.

For example, 'Splinter of the Mind's Eye' was the first book after Star Wars. It came out before Empire. In it, Luke & Leia are romantically involved and plan to get married & start a family, and 'Dark Lords of the Sith' aren't evil Jedi. They're rich aristocrat cattle ranchers (or something).

Don't take anything from the book as having anything to do with the movies.

Not taking the books that seriously, but since the story has changed from Lucas' original vision those books can easily be the first targets of money grubbing movie companies trying to make a quick buck with a book written already. Now getting it past Lucas for a movie would be a totally different thing because a movie makes it "official", where in book form they can easily be written off.

 

[tibor75]

Saw it today.

The only thing that bothered me was that I didn't feel there was nearly sufficient reason or urgency, I guess for Skywalker to turn to the dark side.
He goes from "What have i done?" like he feels grief and remorse for stopping Sam Jackson from killing Palpatine - to "OK, I'll be your apprentice" 5 seconds later. i just didn't get it. also thought Amidala, who was always wise beyond her years, became suddenly stupid in regards to Annakin's actions and the politics going on at the time.
For me, the whole point of this movie was to see why / how Skywalker became Vader - not to see how many back flips Yoda could do. On that main point, I wasn't satisfied.
Other than that, though, great movie all the way through. Christopher Lee gets killed again - I'm trying to remember a charachter he has played that lived.

Amidala was never wise. In Episode II, Anakin tells her, "I killed those creatures that killed my Mom. I even killed the children, babies, and the women." And Padme basically says, "Eh, big deal, let me give you a hug"

The entire set of prequels is horribly written and acted (and no, Empire wasn't like that at all) and if you stop and think about them, you'd realize how dumb they are. But you're not supposed to stop and think..you're supposed to reach in for another handful of popcorn and enjoy.

 

[NightmaresDad]

NightmaresDad: "He goes from "What have i done?" like he feels grief and remorse for stopping Sam Jackson from killing Palpatine - to "OK, I'll be your apprentice" 5 seconds later."

All the stuff that frustrated Anakin, leading to his turn, was in the original screenplay and the novel, but cut out of the movie because it was too long.

For example, if you notice, Anakin apologizes to Obi-Wan (they have a sensitive "Master to Apprentice" talk to straighten things out) before Obi-Wan heads to Utapu. The very next scene, Anakin is pissed at Obi-Wan, and asks Padme: "Obi-Wan was here, wasn't he!?"

Well, what was cut out in between that is this: Anakin has hardly been sleeping for weeks because of the Padme dream. He's becoming disturbed & is teetering. He's very, VERY offended by the Council's request of him to spy on Palpatine, and is begining to distrust the Jedi & believe in what the Chancellor has told him. The straw that breaks the camel's back (mentioned in the movie, but never shown) is that Obi-Wan notices this & goes to Padme's apartment in the morning (kindof sneaks in w/o Anakin's knowledge) to speak with her about Anakin's problems. When Anakin goes into Padme's apartment (in the movie) he senses that Obi-Wan was there on her couch earlier that day & becomes jealous & enraged.

He's then even more disturbed, hasn't slept, and goes to Palpatine's office, learns the truth, yadda, yadda, you know the rest ...

Another scene that was cut out was Padme, Mon Mothma, & Bail Organa begining to scheme & form the Rebel Alliance, a young Han Solo (being raised by Wookies) on Kashykk, & Yoda going to Dagobah in the end. The Deleted Scenes on the DVD is going to be a disc onto itself.

Thanks for the explanation, Sloopy. I say, give me the 3 or 3.5 hour movie to start with so all this stuff can be explored and realised during the film (it would be hard for Star Wars to do this because there are so many young kids in the audience) that's why Lord of the rings was so successful, because they made the movies long enough to develop the charachters and the stry line.
Maybe the actor that played Anakin did not do a very good job, then, conveying the underlying emotions and stresses that he was battling. they only showed the dream once - so who knew he was having it continually and losing sleep?
PLEASE say there will be an extended DVD with all these scenes installed within the movie and not just included on a separate disk!?

 

[Sloopy45]

tibor75: "The entire set of prequels is horribly written and acted (and no, Empire wasn't like that at all) and if you stop and think about them, you'd realize how dumb they are."

Ditto.

And if you go back & watch the old ones now with a fresh look, you'll notice all the inconsistencies between the movies. To name a few:

1. In Jedi, Leia states that she has vague memories of her real mother & that she passed away when she was very young. When did this happen? Padme dies when Leia is two seconds old & she never sees her mother.

2. How come R2-D2 doesn't know who Yoda is when they first meet in Empire Strikes Back? They've only crossed paths about, oh, 100 times in these movies.

3. If learning "the secret of immortality" from Qui-Gon is a new thing taught by Yoda to Obi-Wan, then how come Anakin (a young Anakin, no less, with an old Obi-Wan & old Yoda) reappears at the DVD end of Return of the Jedi?

I won't go on, but you can chew on that for awhile ..

ND: "PLEASE say there will be an extended DVD with all these scenes installed within the movie and not just included on a separate disk!?"

Be VERY CAREFUL what you wish for, ND. You don't want any part of Deleted Scenes if they're anything like the ones for Attack of the Clones. In the Clones DVD, Padme & Anakin go to her parents' house on Naboo for dinner. Kindof an 'introduce her boyfriend to the family' type thing. Padme & her mother & sisters wash dishes while they look out at Anakin & Padme's Dad having a man to man talk outside. Its beyond awful. And there's many other cheesy attempt at love scenes included as well. The line, "Padme, you never brought a boyfriend here before" is used. I mean, think of it this way: if 'sand is coarse, not like you,' and Anakin frolicking with space cows in the fields MADE the movie, imagine how bad the love scenes are that DIDN'T make the movie. Tibbs would get a kick out of this, for sure.

 

[BuckeyeNation27]

2. How come R2-D2 doesn't know who Yoda is when they first meet in Empire Strikes Back? They've only crossed paths about, oh, 100 times in these movies.

because after they decide to split the kids up, jimmy smits tells them to do a memory wipe on R2D2 and C3PO

 

[Sloopy45]

BuckeyeNation27: "jimmy smits tells them to do a memory wipe on R2D2 and C3PO"

Jimmy Smits says (quote), "Do a memory wipe on the Protocol Droid (C-3PO)." He never mentions R2. As far as we know, his memory is intact.

 

[sandgk]

... that's why Lord of the rings was so successful, because they made the movies long enough to develop the charachters and the stry line.

The primary factor working in LOTR favor was the availability of one of the best books of recent times, containing over 20 hours worth of movie material ... coupled with a writing / producing team that tackled the job of hewing to the excellent story line with generally bright dialogue, while cutting down each of the trilogy to fit screen and then DVD time constraints.

If Lucas had actually developed the story for Pts 1-3 with equal vigor instead of (as he himself admits) only putting forth his best effort in this last hurrah -- we would all be singing an entirely different tune.

 

[tibor75]

I was watching parts of Attack of the Clones last night on TV was wondering, when the Jedi are under attack in that big stadium at the end of the movie, can't they use the force to attack and kill all of the droids attacking them. I mean, the ability to destroy a planet is supposed to be insignificant compared to the power of the Force, and you can't use it to kill some mindless robots?

Be VERY CAREFUL what you wish for, ND. You don't want any part of Deleted Scenes if they're anything like the ones for Attack of the Clones. In the Clones DVD, Padme & Anakin go to her parents' house on Naboo for dinner. Kindof an 'introduce her boyfriend to the family' type thing. Padme & her mother & sisters wash dishes while they look out at Anakin & Padme's Dad having a man to man talk outside. Its beyond awful. And there's many other cheesy attempt at love scenes included as well. The line, "Padme, you never brought a boyfriend here before" is used. I mean, think of it this way: if 'sand is coarse, not like you,' and Anakin frolicking with space cows in the fields MADE the movie, imagine how bad the love scenes are that DIDN'T make the movie. Tibbs would get a kick out of this, for sure.

Damn, I really wish DiscoStoo/DaveShula bought them now.

 

[Sloopy45]

tibor: "when the Jedi are under attack in that big stadium at the end of the movie, can't they use the force to attack and kill all of the droids attacking them. I mean, the ability to destroy a planet is supposed to be insignificant compared to the power of the Force, and you can't use it to kill some mindless robots?"

I said the same EXACT thing on the Star Wars Trailer thread (even used the 'ability to destroy a planet' quote too) and buckeyegrad said I was out of line.

Not only that, but during 'Order 66' in Revenge of the Sith, how can Storm Troopers kill Jedi when the Jedi can EASILY control their minds?? "The Force, can have a strong influence on the weak mind."

"Damn, I really wish DiscoStoo/DaveShula bought them now."

The deleted scenes on the Phantom Menace DVD aren't as bad, but they're pretty stupid as well. The Pod Race scene is like an hour long (uncut) with the most useless crap ever and some of the CGI aliens in it look so fake that they wouldn't even make the cut in a Fritz the Cat Porn Cartoon.

 

[BuckeyeNation27]

BuckeyeNation27: "jimmy smits tells them to do a memory wipe on R2D2 and C3PO"

Jimmy Smits says (quote), "Do a memory wipe on the Protocol Droid (C-3PO)." He never mentions R2. As far as we know, his memory is intact.

ah....i knew i shouldve been paying attention

 

[LRABuck]

Just got back from my third showing. Caught the midnight showing (did not go in costume, but briefly considered) then went yesterday and tonight.

Being someone who watched the original trilogy far too many times to count and could once recite it line for line (not bragging... it's not exactly something to be proud of), the previous two "prequels" were disappointing. They failed to rejuvenate the fandom in me, and in time it went dormant. It was almost that they tried to do too much, force too much political story and too many names/planets/callsigns for non-SW geeks, make one too many action figures. It felt commercialized to me. There were parts I enjoyed, of course, like any Star Wars fan. Loved Ewan as Obi-Wan. Loved seeing the evolution of R2D2 and 3po, Yoda, et cetera.

Then came Episode III, and it blew me away. It's "The Return of the Fan." Apologetically, It's almost a universal invariant that there will be cheesy dialogue (Lucas admits being bad at writing dialogue, and he hired a coach to help him with Ep III. In many places, it shows. But why couldn't the coach fix Padme's dialogue? The poor girl gets saddled with such lines as "Hold me like you did by the lake on Naboo, where there was nothing but our love." It might work on the written PAGE, but not when spoken aloud.) Lucas finally listened to the fans and gave them what they wanted: More dogfighting! More lightsaber battles! More in-jokes and easter eggs referring back to the original trilogy! And CHEWIE!

Hayden Christensen floored me in this one, or maybe it was just his eyes. Wow. Flip a switch, and they become evil and full of hate. How much of that was makeup? I was shocked that this was the same kid from Ep 2 who seemed destined for a career in teen films (IMHO of course.) His performance at the "endgame" was huge. Obsessed fans already knew what would happen, and had only to see HOW Lucas would have it go about. That movie could have gotten its PG-13 rating for that scene alone (i'm sure the little bit with the younglings helped as well, though there should be no apologies; Vader is a monster!)

Favorite scene, pick one (I can't): where Yoda walks into Palpatine's office and casually throws his guards down with a wave of his hand (or any scene where Yoda has a lightsaber in hand...He's a jedi on the EDGE!); or where Anakin and Obi-Wan grapple hand-to-hand with the huge splash of lava in the background (I want that as a desktop wallpaper); or the opening sequence with R2D2 showing off all his spiffy accessory options (If I'm ever in the market for an astromech droid, I will be sure to get the booster rocket package. With the optional oil slick spout.)

And I jest :) It's well known throughout the galaxy that I am a geek. Now you know for sure.

 

[Oh8ch]

Do a memory wipe on the Protocol Droid (C-3PO).

My wife and I both looked at each other after that line and said "What did he say?" We caw C3POs troubled reaction, but couldn't understand the line.

She was flummoxed last night when I told her what was said.

This site is a veritable font of wisdom.

 

[kinch]

I can't believe Lucas had someone help him with dialogue and still came up with this:

“You’re so beautiful.”
“That’s only because I’m so in love.”
“No, it’s because I’m so in love with you.”

You really need to see the delivery to get the full effect. . .

I agree with Nightmare that the switch in Annakin was abrupt - although I was convinced enough in the leading up to switch and post switch stages.

It was better than the first two, and Ewan seemed to have a bit more fun with it. . .

As to inconsistencies: Both Obi and Vader meet the droids later and don't recognize them - their minds weren't wiped. Obi even mentions that he's never seen the droids before in A New Hope. . . Of course all those damn R2 units look alike. . .

 

[MolGenBuckeye]

One more thing I thought was done very well in this movie was the droids' comic relief. In the original trilogy, the light-hearted moments came from things the droids *did* or their reactions to their situation, not bad puns and slapstick. I don't remember any scenes in this movie that were groaners like half of Episodes I and II.

 

[BrutusMaximus]

Just think if Lucas woulda started in the mid 70's, and made 1,2,3,4,5,6, right in a row............


I wish we could go back to the days when there were no special effects, no cgi.........it has really ruined movies. Take horrors for example. I am a big fan of Asian horrors, which directors over here continue to snag up, port over to our soil, and ruin one by one. Did everyone see the Grudge? Lemme tell you, it was awful. Now, with that in mind, go back and watch Juon..........that is the original Jap version, and it's fantastic. We havent made a good horror movie over here for 20 years. Saw the same prob with the new Wars movies. Lucas sits down and says.........."hmm, ok how can I spend the most money, and make this the most over-bloated, pretty piece of shit there is".