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R2D2 (Kenny Baker) Replaced with CGI for Ep2
BirdTor writes: "Kenny Baker, the diminutive actor who played R2D2 in all of the Star Wars up until now has been dumped. George Lucas plans to use a computer-generated R2D2 instead. I don't know, there's just something charming about the Kenny-driven R2D2 bumbling along that I doubt the new 3D-generated R2D2 will be able to capture."
...they killed Kenny. Those bastards
It's the same sh*t he's pulling with DVDs. The man is too full of himself to remember where he came from: story telling.
Because you can't, you won't, and you don't stop...
about R2D2 was how he was imperfect. sort of ragged bot...i hope the computer animation does not smooth out those movements.
"My mother never saw the irony in calling me a son-of-a-bitch." - Jack Nicholson
Last time I checked, there was only one actor in the original Star Wars (Harrison Ford). Looks like Lucas was close to his dream.
I mean, first he says, "If they don't use human beings these movies are in danger of looking like Disney cartoons... "
Then he follows that up with, "The progress in digital and computer technology has been frightening. It was light years on from when I was in the first Star Wars movie."
I think these conflicting statements can easily be summed up in a few words...
Beeeeeeeep BEeeeeeeep Beeeeeep!!! EEEEooooo EEEEoooo EEEEooooo!!
-thomas
"Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence."
"And like that
I would think they would want him to act a little bit more like a "normal" human, not a caffeine addict.
#!/usr/local/bin/perl -wT
use CGI qw/:standard/;
use CGI::Carp;
if(defined url_param('action')){
for (url_param('action')) {
if (/respond/) { beep(2); }
elsif {/move/} { wobble;
beep(1};
whirr(2);
move(url_param('direction'));
}
elsif {/trapped/} { hack('imperial_comp');
beep(2);
}
else { #default
random_beep();
}
}
}
--
"L'IT c'est moi!"
George Lucas doesn't get it anymore. The charm of the original movies that made him so successful is more than special effects. It's the details like the way Artoo and Threepio moved... perfect comedy of motion, even if accidental... and the worn, old junkheap look of the Falcon. Those Naboo fighters looked like pre-fab toys. No battle-scarred X-wing fighters for these movies, no sir. The bad acting, the good acting, the classic heroic fantasy in a new fantasy world with robots and starships - that was the magic. It's gone now...
It's a new generation, and 20 years later, the new star wars isn't star wars... it's the Matrix trilogy. (Yes, there are two sequels already in the works.)
-- Still waiting for the Nike endorsement
One of the reasons I disliked EPI so much was the disconnect between the physical and the CGI elements, particularly in terms of the actors. I get fired up when Han, Luke and Chewie come marching down through a crowd of Rebels to get the medals. I could not care less when fake-looking, cartoonish CGIs win a battle over other fake-looking, cartoonish CGIs.
And that's the problem: you're showing fabulous special effects, but there is less and less "reality" to ground the movie.
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Writers get in shape by pumping irony.
It looks like there's going to be a lot of apprehension surrounding the next film. The botching of certain elements in Episode 1, and now this. I don't think the digitization of R2 will have that much of an effect on the character. I'm sure they're working hard to recreate the bobbles and bleeps of the R2 we know and love. My only concern is that due to the nature of today's CGI R2 might come out shiny and rendered looking. There's still something to be said for hand made models and costumes when it comes to realism.
:P
I don't think its fair to compare Jar Jar and R2. Jar Jar was a big mistake, as anyone with half a brain knows. R2 was beloved because he A) didn't speak some kind of horrible broken english, B) was able to convey huge amount of emotion despite speaking in bleeps and bloops, something they never got right with Jar Jar, and C) was one half of a comedic duo. C3P0 was a major part of making the R2 character loveable, and with Jar Jar that other half was missing, or was filled in by whatever character happened to be in the scene at the time. These are things that shouldn't be lost in the CGI transformation of R2, unless they manadge to mess it up completely. I'm sure that if they destroy R2, the public will never forgive Lucas
"I live in a world of make-believe, with faeries and leprechauns and tiny little frogs with funny hats."
---------///----------
All generalizations are false.
--
I like to watch.
--SpookComix
You read fiction? I write it! Lemme know what you th
If you honestly thought that you had to explain on Slashdot that there are two Matrix sequels in the works, this must be your first day here.
Welcome aboard.
El Karma: excelente(principalmente la suma de moderación hecha a los comentarios de los usuarios)
Actually, I think they had two R2D2s, one they used Kenny Baker with and the other was remote controlled or something. The scenes that you see R2D2 "walking" (versus driving on "his" wheels), and probably when you see him up close, were Kenny Baker.
I don't understand why Lucas would want to do a CGI R2. It seems like it's more work than necessary, when a perfectly good prop is available and proven. He certainly is in danger of repeating the problem that plagued Star Trek The Motion Picture: reliance on the "wizz-bang" special effects even when wizz-bang special effect are neither called for nor expected.
--
Aaron Gaudio
"The fool finds ignorance all around him.
"Every man is a mob, a chain gang of idiots." - Jonathan Nolan, Memento Mori
And I can honestly say that in the dozen-odd times I've watched Episode I, I never once thought, "Hey, there's Kenny Baker." It was always, "Hey, there's R2-D2." I'm sorry Kenny didn't get to work on Episode II (Oh my god! They fired Kenny! You bastards!), but, well... that's progress.
"Destroy science and religion. Science would re-emerge exactly the same; but not religion." - Penn Jillette, paraphrased
"George Lucas always told me that R2D2 really came alive when I was inside him."
What the heck is this guy really trying to tell us? And I thought this was a kid's site.... [Rimshot]
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"The only difference between me and a madman is that I'm not mad." - Salvador Dali (1904-1989)
"I have a sneaking suspicion that if there were a way to make movies without actors, George (Lucas) would do it."
-- Mark Hamill (The guy who played Luke Skywalker)
--
"A dessert without cheese is like a beautiful woman who has lost an eye." -- Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin
Yeah, I know - I a sick puppy
There is much cruelty in the universe, John.
Yeah, we seem to have the tour map.
I have been informed by a co-worker that this story is not entirely true...
While the actor is no longer doing the part of R2, it will not be CGI. Here's the story that started it all.
Evidently someone saw this and extrapolated that the droid would be inserted digitally. But they are absolutely, definitely 100% positively using an R/C version for the film: There's also another shot of a crewman with a radio, controlling R2, but I can't find the picture right now.
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This sig has been temporarily disconnected or is no longer in service
I believe the quote is: "If you can do it physically then do it rather than spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on computer graphics." Examples are the egg "waking up", all the sets, the shuddering during takeoff and landing, the outside shots of the derelict, Ash's death and of course the Alien itself.
Now Alien was made at a time when computer generated gfx were at the stone-knives and bearskins stage, but somehow it's aged extraordinarily well. It just has a kind of raw lifelike quality to it that you just didn't get in EP1 - you could feel the effort that went into the acting and directing.
Ironically enough, many people's favourite sequence in the Matrix is the lobby shootout - which hardly features any CGI at all (except the wire removal).
Get a grip George - work on your casting and story some more and you might have a film people like.
--- Hot Shot City is particularly good.