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No Star Wars DVD box discussion?

Posted: Wed Sep 29, 2004 3:01 pm
by krabapple
What the hell is wrong with you people? Are we not geeks?

Posted: Wed Sep 29, 2004 3:27 pm
by Rspaight
I got my fill watching the all-out thermonuclear flame-fest over on Home Theater Forum. They've got some seriously intense Star Wars fans over there. Shudder. (I used to be pretty active over there, but the moderating got crazy.)

I did pick it up last week ($39 at Wal-Mart), and it looks amazing. I've *never* seen these movies look this good. Lowry Digital did a bang-up job. The sound seems quite good as well, though (as pointed out in hysterical tones over on HTF) they seem to have screwed the pooch on Star Wars and flipped the rear music channels (but *not* the effects). I didn't notice it myself, but those with golden ears apparently do. ESB and RotJ are apparently fine.

The documentary on Disc Four is a hoot. It's not a fluff job -- it's a real warts-and-all look at the rise of Lucasfilm, with some priceless archival footage of exploding R2-D2s and crappy rejected rear-projection work. Good stuff.

As far The Changes go, they're there. That's about all I can say. I've got copies of the originals on DVD (dubbed from my old LDs), so if I feel like being a purist I can watch those. This set looks and sounds a lot better, and has some annoying new CGI here and there. Pick yer poison.

Ryan

Posted: Wed Sep 29, 2004 11:49 pm
by Xenu
I do have to say, the new Emperor bit in TESB is much better than I thought it would be (although it does remove some of the "mystery" of the original emperor).

Posted: Wed Oct 06, 2004 4:22 pm
by krabapple
To be honest, I haven't bought it yet. I just thought the universe wouldn't be right unless we had a thread about it.

The only one I really like is The Empire Strikes back. I think the other two more or less, well, suck. I was one of those sci-fi snobs who were appalled by Star Wars when it first came out, back in 1977 or whenever, and didn't go to see it until a year or two later. I can barely stomach reading the sci-fi books I thought were good back then (Again, Dangerous Visions, anyone?) but it hasn't changed my mind much re SW: I have a hard time getting over the *really* bad dialogue and acting in the first one, even today. And let's not even discuss the third one..the one with the teddy bears.

I dont' follow SW fandom , but I imagine these are not exactly rare opinions even there.

Posted: Wed Oct 06, 2004 7:31 pm
by Dob
krabapple wrote:The only one I really like is The Empire Strikes back.

Agreed. IMO what makes Empire so much better is the superior script. The shocking revelation at the climax of the light saber battle was a stroke of genius.

krabapple wrote:I have a hard time getting over the *really* bad dialogue and acting in the first one, even today.

Not to mention the rather cheesy special effects. I'm a big fan of 2001, which was made eight years earlier and is far superior, IMO. Maybe lots of folks are partial to the "speed" of Star Wars (Hyperspace! Planets exploding! Death Star attack!), as opposed to the much more subdued "waltz" (Danube, to be exact) of 2001.

Posted: Wed Oct 06, 2004 8:47 pm
by Rspaight
Yeah, Empire is clearly the pick of the litter. Although the first one does have an interesting structure and some nifty subtextual references to the 70s American sociopolitical zeitgeist. (Clone War = WWII. Obi-Wan Kenobi = American Puritan tradition. Han Solo = American freethinker/rebel tradition. Luke = America. Empire = Commies. Or Nixon. Discuss.)

But Empire was the one where it felt like *anything* could happen. No cheap applause moments, no merchandising atrocities, just a gripping plot and real characters.

Then the one with the Teddy Ruxpins. Sigh.

Ryan

Posted: Wed Oct 06, 2004 9:22 pm
by krabapple
Lucas ripped off his best bits from Jack Kirby's 'Fourth World' comics. That's what I've always thought, and I'm sticking to it.

Posted: Wed Oct 06, 2004 9:34 pm
by Dob
Rspaight wrote:Although the first one does have an interesting structure and some nifty subtextual references to the 70s American sociopolitical zeitgeist. (Clone War = WWII. Obi-Wan Kenobi = American Puritan tradition. Han Solo = American freethinker/rebel tradition. Luke = America. Empire = Commies. Or Nixon. Discuss.)

I might be impressed if I thought that George had all those things in mind when he sat down to write the script. IMO what happened is he tried to take the things that he liked best about Westerns, serial sci-fi thrillers, and The Hidden Fortress, and by "happy accident" brought along some powerful (but rather generic) subtextual references that could be applied to a more modern period -- probably any period.

Obi-Wan is the typical mysterious, mythical, and masterful (don't you hate pretentious assholes that obviously think they're clever because of a bit of pointless alliteration?) Japanese samurai hero. Han Solo is a hot-rodding, shallow, cocky punk -- basically the same character Harrison Ford played in American Graffiti (although we forgive everything when he redeems himself at the end).

And Luke is, by far, the weakest character in the film. I don't know what to make of him. He is, by turns, naive, arrogant, ignorant, and oddly heartless (like his uncle). The destruction of his home is treated merely as a means to freedom/excuse for dishing out some whupass -- there is no sense of loss whatsoever (well, maybe he bit his lip for a minute and "really cared," like Clinton). As a result, Luke doesn't garner much audience sympathy. We end up rooting for him by default, and this ends up nearly sinking the whole film.

Posted: Wed Oct 06, 2004 10:29 pm
by Patrick M
Rspaight wrote:Yeah, Empire is clearly the pick of the litter. Although the first one does have an interesting structure and some nifty subtextual references to the 70s American sociopolitical zeitgeist. (Clone War = WWII. Obi-Wan Kenobi = American Puritan tradition. Han Solo = American freethinker/rebel tradition.

A melodramatic opera set in space.

And Yoda is a Zen master. BFD.

Posted: Thu Oct 07, 2004 7:51 am
by Rspaight
Yeah, I know that's all bullshit. But it got me an A in my college "politics and film" course.

Ryan