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Post by Weeping_Guitar on Dec 19, 2005 9:31:40 GMT -5
Adam, I was going to Netflix Serenity, but should I rent the Firefly show first? I'm assuming it will make the film that much better?
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Post by Adam on Dec 19, 2005 10:30:47 GMT -5
Tough call, there. I've had the opportunity of seeing a majority of the Firefly episodes before I saw Serenity so, of course, certain character relationships and insights were easier to detect. Yet I don't think Serenity will confuse those unfamiliar with Firefly.
If you can, I don't think it'll hurt to rent Firefly first. But if you can't, rent Serenity anyways. Either way, I think you'll come out smiling.
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Post by maarts on Dec 20, 2005 5:19:52 GMT -5
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Post by Paul on Dec 20, 2005 8:31:01 GMT -5
So over the holidays, I'm thinking of taking the plunge and watching all 6 SW flicks in order. Has anyone done this yet?
I'm wondering if I should include the Clone Wars cartoons in this, considering they contain many cool bits of info Lucas for some reason forgot to include. Here are a few of them: Anakin being knighted, construction of Light Sabers, Jedi trials, Anakin communicating w/ Qui-Gon, Jedi's doing some cool fighting, Obi & Anakin adventures/bonding, Dooku training General Greivous (sp?) oh, and the Clone Wars in general.
All in all, it should be a fun way to kill about 15 hours or so....
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Post by Adam on Dec 20, 2005 11:36:42 GMT -5
Not in a back-to-back marathon style. I bet that would be interesting but who has the time for that?
Now, over Thanksgiving weekend, I revisited Phantom Menace (actually more tolerable now but still the weakest of the series for obvious reasons). Since then I've began to revisit Attack of the Clones, without finishing it (I've made it halfway).
I suppose I could do that this holiday weekend but I want to see other things.
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Post by Thorngrub on Dec 20, 2005 12:45:45 GMT -5
Did Lucas tarnish the legacy of Star Wars w/ the Special Editions (SE), and Prequel movies?
Absolutely not. The fans did that all by themselves.
Was Episode 3 a big let down, the final nail in the coffin, or the perfect way to tie up the two trilogies?
Episode 3 Rocked Tits.
Who used to dream about Carrie Fisher?
Only the healthy, virile, & hetero amongst us.
What the hell is a Nerf Herder?
A dumb band. Also, a sarcastic comment made by Han Solo referencing the particular "fuzziness" aspect of youngling Wookies. I take it wookies give birth to litters...
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Post by Paul on Jan 4, 2006 10:02:59 GMT -5
So over the holiday's I watched all six movies over the course of three days....that was my first time watching them in order, and it was pretty interesting....
For one, I now think I like Episode 1 more than Episode 2. It's a better flowing movie, and IMO edited better. Ep 2 is way too herky jerky and the scenes w/ Padme and Anakin were just as bad as the Jar-Jar scenes of Ep 1. Ep 3 was definitely the best of the prequels but still fell short, and IMO didn't flow well when watching Ep 4 right after it. So much more should have been explored in the prequels, that Lucas just simply implied, or assumed the viewer knew. One thing that came to mind is when the Death Star blows up Alderran, it would have been nice to see that planet in all three of the prequels, or maybe at least two of them to get a better connection to it, IMO that would have really enhanced when it's destroyed. Everything about the prequels seemed rushed, awkward, and forced (no pun intended), but this trend started in Ep 6 and continued through the new movies. Episode 5 is still by far the best of the 6 films IMO, it has the least amount of action, but the most character development.
I could nit pick this to death, but overall I really enjoyed watching the six films and they have as many positives as negatives. One cool thing was observing Luke and Leia now knowing how their parents were....Luke can be a little whiny like his pops, Leia is a bit feisty like her mom, but also Leia seems a little more angry at times, where Luke and his mom have a lot of similar traits in Ep 3, and Ep 6.
A few more things lacking is from the prequels is sense of adventure, as well as a good smart-ass like Harrison Ford. Plus Lucas seemed more focused on his new technology and not getting the best out of the actors. Although, Ewan McGregor gets second best actor from the series; he was fantastic through and through. Was it just me or did Hayden and Sam L. seemed terribly miscast? Hayden had big shoes to fill and did OK, but I think someone else could have pulled the part off better; same goes for Natalie Portman.
This may sound sacrilegious, but I'm not opposed to Lucas tinkering even more w/ [at least] Ep. 4 to make it flow better w/ the prequels. IMO it just feels too different and is hard to connect the two. Ep 4 as well as Ep 3 need to be the bridges of the two trilogies....Anyway, I think I'm gonna go on a Star Wars hiatus, and revisit the films next Christmas.
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Post by Adam on Jan 4, 2006 10:31:36 GMT -5
Phantom Menace does seem to play better than Clones; how fucking weird is that?
Menace, however, is still pussyfooting around, more concerned with with a crisis/situation that is not engaging or interesting and serves one purpose and one only: to get the characters together and start the events for the rest of the series.
Clones falls short for the obvious reason: the love story. It's so bad. It pains me to have to press the skip button on these scenes but the idea that these two people can't communicate or express their feelings for each other (forget that its dangerous for their reputations or occupations, they're just plain bad at it) doesn't sell, not then, not ever. Lucas wanted a tale of a forbidden, unrequited love arc but the heart isn't in it, which is what was required most of all. I think Hayden and Natalie are an attractive pairing but I sense no chemistry at all.
But I like everything else. Obi-Wan is more of a detective than a Jedi in this, but no matter. He gets all the fun. And having Christopher Lee kick everyone's ass and get away was a really great idea.
Still, I think Ep. 3 is the 3rd best entry in the series and it bridges the trilogies together nicely.
However, in taking all the episodes, I bet you found some gaping plot holes.
I got a great idea: let's see how many plot holes we can notice:
- How can Yoda be Obi-Wan's master when it was Qui-Gon? (I'm assuming Yoda instructed Kenobi as a youngling and then Qui-Gon took over as he grew up)
- How can Leia claim to know her mother when she died mere seconds after Leia's birth? (Is she confusing her with her foster mother and was never told the truth?)
- Why does C-3PO not know who Leia is when Luke first asks about her in A New Hope? Wasn't the droid just on a fucking ship with her?
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Post by Paul on Jan 4, 2006 11:29:31 GMT -5
Why does Obi-wan tell Luke he has gone by the name Ben since, oh before he was born? It is never established that Obi-wan changes his name.
The thing w/ Leia is interesting....she tells Luke her mother died when she was very young, and only remembers images and feelings....I tie that up to the force, so for me, that's not a plot hole.
The force seems to be an inconsistent power, that's a plot hole. Why the hell didn't Yoda train Luke to defend himself against Lightening? Didn't Yoda Learn from experience that its the Emporer's preferred way to fight? What the hell happened to force pushes? Why didn't Luke learn this? He's able to force choke the Jabba's guards, didn't Yoda tell him that force choking may lead to the dark side?
Oh, and for Obi-wan saying Yoda is the master who instructed him...Well at the end of Ep 3, Yoda tells Obi-wan he has more training and Yoda will teach him. However, that was a piss poor way to explaing the force ghost thing, Lucas really blew it there. Also, the one major thing I noticed is that there were hardly any aliens in Ep 4 and 5....I wish Lucas would have used more Flesh and Blood in the prequels on not so much CGI. It's really odd how neat and slick, and alien, and droid everything is in the prequels, and how very human, and dirty things are in the originals. Lucas should have "dumbed" down the prequeals and used more human actors, more sets, more location shots. I don't really know how to explain it, but it's just weird on the eyes going from Ep 3 to Ep4.
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Post by Weeping_Guitar on Jan 4, 2006 14:29:45 GMT -5
I think an easy way to figure out why Luke didn't do this or that is because he had very little actual training and didn't grow up in the previous time when one would be surrounded by different Jedis all the time.
The "slick" look of the prequels, I think, can be attributed to that fact that it was "a more civilized" age. The war certainly hardened the look of the universe and the Empirical takeover would lead to a more streamlined, basic look.
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Post by Adam on Jan 5, 2006 0:05:26 GMT -5
The "slick" look of the prequels, I think, can be attributed to that fact that it was "a more civilized" age. The war certainly hardened the look of the universe and the Empirical takeover would lead to a more streamlined, basic look. Or it was the restraints of the budget.  But I'll be a dreamer and accept this theory. |
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Post by Adam on Jan 5, 2006 0:15:37 GMT -5
The force seems to be an inconsistent power, that's a plot hole. Why the hell didn't Yoda train Luke to defend himself against Lightening? Didn't Yoda Learn from experience that its the Emporer's preferred way to fight? What the hell happened to force pushes? Why didn't Luke learn this? Luke didn't stay on Dagobah long enough to get the full "12-step" program. He's lucky he picked up what he could. I kinda smile at the fact that he turns out to be truer to the Jedi code despite his limited training yet extensive experience. I don't recall Yoda ever telling Luke this. I assume Jedis are trained to subdue or stun opponents rather than kill them but maybe it depends on the situation. Luke is in Jabba's palace, after all. |
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fredrum
Struggling Artist
and I'll burn....like a roman fucking candle
Posts: 152
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Post by fredrum on Jan 5, 2006 0:16:53 GMT -5
how long could lukes training really have lasted? in the prequels, its clearly established that training to become a jedi involves a lifetime of commitment, starting at a very young age....even anakin was considered too old.....and even being the most powerful jedi ever, anakin still wasnt a master when he turned......how then could luke have recieved anywhere near the complete amount of training from yoda....really, all the time he had there was between leaving hoth and when han and leia made it to cloud city....now unless it took them a year to get there......lukes training couldnt have lasted more than two or three weeks....a month tops.
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Post by Adam on Jan 5, 2006 0:20:25 GMT -5
Luke seems more confident in ROTJ. Perhaps he kept practicing between the end of Empire and the timeline leading up to his arrival at Jabba's crib. (Maybe Yoda "phoned" some lessons in?)
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fredrum
Struggling Artist
and I'll burn....like a roman fucking candle
Posts: 152
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Post by fredrum on Jan 5, 2006 0:33:47 GMT -5
well...im assuming the loss of his hand put a stop to any....."extracurricular"......activities, so he just had to focus on being a jedi.
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