George Lucas Goes After Fan Sites

Arkoth writes: "Sci-fi Newswire posted that Lucasfilm has ordered two fansites to pull authentic- looking storyboards off their sites. What used to be a fun game of bringing in rumors and secret images is now starting to become more serious when Lucasfilm ordered two Web sites, NaboOnline and Aldera.net, to pull two storyboards that looked authentic from their Web sites. Looks like George is getting out the big lightsaber and slashing leaks from his movie, which is 23 months from release."

Comments

Lucas needs to get a grip

[Verteiron]

The reason he's doing this is probably because his new merchandising juggernaut, Episode II, won't live up to all the expectations and hopes churned up by the fan rumor mill. Just like Episode I. He wants to keep our expectations down to reasonable levels. The question is.. why won't it live up to our expectations?

Think about it. Lucas had a great idea; take a classic fantasy plot, and stick it in a high-technology world. Once he saw the green rolling in, though, any thought of "art" went out the window, and became "How can I change this to make more money?" The result? Compare the Empire Strikes Back to Return of the Jedi and Episode I.

ESB is not cute. Look at some of the scenes in that movie. We have the Imperial AT-AT walkers. We have the asteroid scene. We have the escape-from-the-big-space-slug scene. The introduction of the Super Star-Destroyer, holograms, Vader becoming even MORE evil, brilliant light-saber battles.. I could go on and on, but I already have.

Then we have Return of the Jedi. Yes, there were some very cool scenes, but... Endor was originally supposed to be populated by Wookies like Chewbacca. Lucas, being a man of some intelligence, realized that something cute and fluffy would sell better, so he cut 'em in half and called them Ewoks. The result? A sequence of bizarre, Jar-Jaresque scenes of teddy bears overrunning trained Imperial troops in full body armor. Ok.

If I had a point in this rant, it's that Lucas has completely lost sight of the Star Wars "concept". Midichlorians, Jar-Jar's cartoonish escapes from tight jams... This is a live-action cartoon. I want the REAL Star Wars back.

Re:Lucas needs to get a grip

[hyacinthus]

ESB is not cute. Look at some of the scenes in that movie. We have the Imperial AT-AT walkers. We have the asteroid scene. We have the escape-from-the-big-space-slug scene. The introduction of the Super Star-Destroyer, holograms, Vader becoming even MORE evil, brilliant light-saber battles.. I could go on and on, but I already have.

If The Empire Strikes Back is serious, it's chiefly because Lucas brought in other writers, Lawrence Kasdan and Leigh Brackett. Kasdan was a good writer in his day (he wrote the script for another little movie which came out around that time, Raiders of the Lost Ark.) Brackett had put in writing time on a number of Howard Hawks's movies, like The Big Sleep and Rio Bravo. ESB is the only Star Wars movie which doesn't give a writing credit to George Lucas.

By Return of the Jedi, although Kasdan is still co-writing, Lucas is back with a writing credit. Is it any great stretch to conclude that the goofier elements of RotJ are Lucas's?

And of course in The Phantom Menace Lucas is back to where he was with the original Star Wars, with (so far as the credits show) complete control over the screenplay. And the story of TPM is something of a mess. It's not just a mess because it's silly and juvenile in places (Jar-Jar, the two-headed pod-race announcer, etc.) It's full of gratuitous retconning; contriving to work both Threepio and Artoo into the story is bad enough, but placing Anakin Skywalker on Tatooine leaves me wondering how Obi-Wan Kenobi managed to survive so long in hiding on what is now Darth Vader's planet of birth. It spreads itself too thin, spending too little time on Tatooine to give us a real feeling for the quality of young Anakin's life there, but also giving too little development to the political subplot--just who is the Trade Federation, and what are the "trade routes" whose taxation supposedly provoked such a profound crisis?

The really frustrating thing is that occasionally The Phantom Menace touches upon powerful stuff, that same, potent _mythos_ which shines through at times in the original movies. When Anakin's mother tells him, "Don't look back," is this not echoing that moment in the Perceval of Chretien de Troyes, when the young Perceval leaves behind his mother to become a knight, and he looks back to see her fall? But there are few such moments in TPM, diluted by Lucas's frequent tries for cheap sentiment and cheap laughs.

It so happens that, when I was ill and confined to bed last week, to relieve the boredom I watched a videotape of a "60 Minutes" show from March of last year, a show devoted almost entirely to George Lucas and the upcoming Phantom Menace sensation. Watching it, I was taken with the eerie feeling that all the warning signs were there to be seen. He doesn't talk about story, and there's hardly any footage to be seen of Lucas directing the actors. There's tons of footage of Lucas playing with computer models, and of his animators talking proudly about how the pods in the pod-race all sound different or about how you can see Jar-Jar's clothes wrinkle. They're come across, not as people directing a movie and telling a story, but as people making a video game and obsessing over how detailed their game engine is.

Put our money where our collective mouths are

[PDHoss]

We bitch about Lucas and all the CGI. We bitch about Lucas and his greed. We bitch about Lucas because he has a monopoly on desktop operation systems (er... got carried away there).

But how many of us are willing to back up our bitching? My nickel says the overwhelming majority of the readers here will rant and rave and complain and moderate and make jokes about Jar Jar, and then will jump down off the soapbox and fork over the $7.50 to see Episode II anyway. Or we'll call ourselves nonconformists, skip the movies, and later rent it (just to see how bad it is, wink wink).

Is this flamebait? I guess. But I think it's important that as we all get our panties in a bunch in our forum about this thing or that thing, we admit that rhetoric without action is of limited impact to Lucas, Microsoft, Congress, Metallica, etc.

PDHoss

======================================

SIGH... Why does everybody hate the fans?

[handorf]

What happened to enjoying speculation? Using rumor to build anticipation? Liking the attention?

By the time this movie comes out, I won't care at all. Rumor, speculation, things like this keep me interested.

No $8.00 from me this time, Mr. Lucas. Learn to respect the fans a bit.

http://www.naboonline.com/episode2/storyboard.shtm

[bfree]

WARNING: SPOILER ALERT.....

The following is broken up by each panel. While some panels seem to continue the last or repeat, it's because good storyboards include each and every shot and camera angle.

FIRST SCENE (in chronological order)

1-Its raining. At the entry ramp of Slave-1, as young Boba Fett hurries aboard Jango Fett turns to see...
2-Obi-Wan ready with lightsabre ignited.
3-Jango opens fire with one blaster.
4-Obi-Wan deflects the bolts.
5-As Jango continues firing, he straffes behind and around pillars.
6-Obi-Wan shuffles while deflecting the bolts.
7-As Jango moves behind a pillar, Obi-Wan charges forward.
8-Jango unholsters a second blaster and does a Chow Yun Fat impersonation.
9-Obi-Wan has trouble deflecting the barrage of bolts.
10-Jango takes off (using his jetpack) over the top of Obi-Wan who swings his lightsaber but misses.
11-As he is flying past, Jango pivotes and fires at Obi- Wan from a high angle.
12-Obi-Wan deflects the bolts from above
13-Jango comtinues to fire now that he is flying away from Obi-Wan
14-Jango lets loose with both guns as he flys backwards.
15-Under the barrage of two blasters, Obi-Wan struggles to deflect every bolt.
16-Obi-Wan rolls off to the side to avoid the bolts.
17-Jango flies off behind a tower.
18- Emerging on the other side, Jango fires the rocket that was poking from the top of his jetpack.
19-Obi-Wan avoids the explosion but is stunned
20-Jango flies higher and out of screen.
21-Obi-Wan recovers and look around for Jango (who seems to have disappeared)
22-Obi-Wan is tense in the silence.
23-Obi-Wan senses something and turns just in time to see...
24-Young Boba Fett in the cockpit of Slave-1 taking aim with the ships heavy blasters
25-Slave-1 fires
26-the shots miss but.....
27-Obi-Wan drops his lightsaber
28-Jango appears from above and jumps down.
29-Obi-Wan recovers and with a yell....
30-leaps forward to kick Jango in the face
31-Jango crashes back onto the landing platform.
32-Obi-Wan lands on his feet.
33-Jango quickly recovers and charges forward.
34-In close quaters, Obi-Wan blocks Jango's attempt to rise his blaster to fire and the pair struggle for the weapon.
35-They grapple over the blaster.
36-Obi-Wan elbows Jango hard in the face
37-High angle shot as Obi-Wan judo flips Jango over his back.
38-Jango hits the ground hard but recovers quickly as Obi-Wan moves in for an attack.
39-Jango traps Obi-Wans foot
40-Jango spins Obi-Wan (in mid air) and brings him down face first onto the ground.
41-Obi-Wan retaliates from the ground with a sweep kick to Jango's head knocking him back.
42-Jango falls back
43-Obi-Wan get to his feet.
44-Jango gets up and takes aim with his arm mounted blaster.
45-Obi-Wan leaps over the bolts and onto Jango's shoulders, then flicks himself back and over, flipping Jango onto his back. Jango rolls to his feet.
46-Obi-Wan charges with a punch
47-Jango moves in to attack, chopping at Obi-Wan's head. Obi-Wan blocks it.
48-Jango ducks a wild punch and grabs Obi-Wan by his waist.
49-Jango sweeps Obi-Wan off his feet and flips him over bringing him crashing down over his bent knee.
50-Obi-Wan (momentarily stunned) is thrown by Jango. Obi-Wan lands and skids over the wet surface.
51-Obi-Wan comes to a halt on the ground and spots something.
52-His lightsaber.
53-Jango suddenly appears, flying towards Obi-Wan.
54-Obi-Wan gets up and reaches for his lightsaber (to summond it).
55-Jango fires his cable
56-cable wraps around Obi-Wan's hands
57-ObiWan fails to catch his lightsaber
58-Jango takes off, still tied to Obi-Wan
59-Obi-Wan is dragged along the ground.
60-Low angle behind Obi-Wan who is still being dragged
61-High abgle next to Jango who is still flying
62-Obi-Wan rolls to one side as he is still being dragged.
63-Obi-Wan manages to roll around one of the pillars.
64-Obi-Wan jumps up and wraps the cable around the pillar.
65-Jango crashes to the ground
66-The jetpack shoots off on its own into the side of a building.
67-Obi-Wan (with his hands still tied) charges
68-Obi-Wan kicks jango over the side of the platform.
69-Jango slides down the side
70-Obi Wan gets pulled to the edge of the platform.
71-Almost over the complete edge, Jango activates claws on the side of his forearms.
72-Jango digs his "claws" into the platform.
73-Obi-Wan falls over the edge and onto the slope
74-Obi-Wan slides past Jango
75-Obi-Wan falls off over the edge.
76- Still tied to Jango, Obi-Wan is hanging
77-Obi-Wan starts swinging
78-Jango is getting pulled down now.
79-jango releases the cable.
80-Obi-Wan falls
81-Distant shot as Obi-Wan falls.
82-Obi-Wan reaches for and grabs a service platform with the tips of his fingers.
83-Obi-Wan jumps onto the platform
84-Jango enters Slave-1
85-Obi-Wan, already back on the platform, summons his lightsaber as he runs.
86-Lightsaber returns to its owner
87-Obi-Wan catches the lightsaber
88-Slave-1 begins to take off.
89-In one move, Obi-Wan takes a seeker pod from his belt and throws it.
90-The seeker pod sticks to the side of the ship.
91-Obi-Wan watches from the platform
92-As Slave-1 takes off into the rain.

SECOND SCENE (Warning! MAJOR SPOILERS!)

1-Overlooking a grand arena in a VIP style "box" sits Count Dooku and Poggle the Lesser. I believe Count Dooku is Christopher Lee's character. To his left sits a Nemoidian. Poggle is a strangle looking creature (definitely CGI). I'd say a cross between Sebulba and a Gungan but extremely skinny and with apparent wings. Jango Fett stands behind Poggle.
2-Dooku and Poggle talk and watch the arena. Unnoticed by them, there is a flash far behind them and one of the Lesser guards drops to the ground.
3-A hand taps Dooku's shoulder.
4-Mace Windu reveals himself with one hand and with the other keeps Jango at bay with his lightsaber.
5-View of the Stadium as hundreds of Jedi enter from all passageways. All ready for confrontation with their lightsabers ignited.
6-Dooku reveals the droid army awaiting the jedi. Mace reacts as the droids (battledroids, destroyer droids and superdroids (which look like a cross between battledroid and stormtrooper, very big)) emerge from the dark passageway behind him.
7-High angle of the VIP box and droids are coming from all entrances. Mace is surrounded. Jango backs out of firing range.
8-The droids open fire.
9-Mace deflects the first bolts as Dooku and the other dignitaries move to safer ground.
10-The Droids continue to fire as mace deflects the bolts right back at them.
11-Full shot of Mace as he spins and deflects shots from all sides.
12-A number of droids are smashed back by their own bolts.
13-Mace continues to defend.
14-Jango brings up his flamethrower and fires at mace. Lessers are flying away in the background.
15-Mace leaps high as flame scorches the place he was.
His cloak is on fire. The nemoidian is hit by the flame. 16-Jango blasts at Mace in the air.
17-Mace deflects all the bolts as he rolls in mid air and down into the arena. His cloak is still on fire.
18-Mace lands in the arena. Pan to Jango looking for an escape. Pan to Dooku leaving the area.
19-Mace throws off the smouldering cloak and looks around the arena.
20-Wide angle as Jedi fight for their lives against the superior number of droids.
21-two Jedi leap from another VIP box just as its blasted by droids.
22-More shots of Jedi defending themselves from attacks from all sides.
23-A jedi destoys a superdroid but is gunned down by a destroyer droid.
24-Mace looks back at the VIP box he was in.
25-Droids in the VIP box shoot at Mace who defends. Jango takes off in the distance.
26-As Mace defends from the stands, Jango lands behind him in the arena.
27-Jango aims his cable at Mace from behind him as Mace still defends.
28-Jango fires the cable.
29-Mace turns just in time to force push the cable..
30-around a nearby destroyer droid.
31-Mace turns away from Jango to take care of some droids in the arena.
32-The entangled Destroyer turns and fires upon the source of the cable...
33-Taking Jango by surprise as shots whip around him.
34-Jango detaches the cable
35-Jango flies past the destroyer (jetpack of course)
36-Jango's flight path leads him directly behind Mace who is still battling droids. As Jango passes, Mace swings his lightsaber over his head and hits Jango's jetpack.
37-Jango goes into an uncontrolled dive and the destroyer droid tracking Jango ends up firing at Mace who deflects all the bolts.
38-Jango crashes to the ground and rolls to his feet.
39-The destroyer blasts at Mace.
40-Jango jettisons the damaged jetpack while Mace continues with the destoyer.
41-Jango fires at Mace with both blasters.
42-Mace spins to deflect the new attack.
43-With a destroyer droid on one side and Jango Fett on the other, Mace defends from both foe at the same time.
44-Mace leaps into the air leaving the destroyer and Jango firing at each other.
45-Jango leaps into a sideways roll and keeps firing at the destroyer.
46-The destroyer explodes under Jango's attack.
47-Mace lands and a battledroid fires at him. He deflects the bolt without even looking and charges towards Jango.
48-Jango notices something as Mace charges.
49-Jango's POV of Mace charging with battles raging in the background.
50-The Reek (four legged, tri-horned beast with a bull- like nose ring similar to the Rancor in ROTJ)appears from a passageways and charges through a number of droids after Mace.
51-Shot tracking the Reek towards Mace. Jango looks stunned in the distance.
52-Mace turns and spots the Reek as Jango scrambles to his feet.
53-Mace's POV of The Reek charging directly at him.
54-Mace swipes at the Reek chopping off one of it's horns. The Reeks still catches Mace with its shoulder sending Mace sprawling.
55-Mace loses his lightsaber.
56-Mace hits the ground and rolls up onto his side.
57-Mace's ground POV of his lightsabe and Jango running toward it.
58-Just before Jango reches the Lightsaber, one of The Reek's feet slams down on it.
59-The Reek snarls at Mace as he gets back on his feet and tries to force calm over the beast. It then turns to Jango on the other side making him back off.
60-High angle os the Reek and the two foes on either side. Mace attempting to get closer to his lightsaber and Jango trying to get a clear shot.
61-Jango peer's under the Reek's belly looking for a shot.
62-Jango moves slowly around.
63-The Reek is still looking at Jango and Mace heads closer to his lightsaber.
64-The Reek reacts to Mace's close proximity
65-Mace tries to calm the beast with the force.
66-The Reek calms somewhat.
67-Mace moves closer.
68-mace tries to free the lightsaber with the force.
69-Jango moves toward the Reek's hindquarters
70-Jango continues to move. Mace is obscured by the Reek's front leg. Jango spots his discarded jetpack lying on the ground a short distance beyond Mace.
71-Close up on the jetpack.
72-Jango shifts aim and fires at the Jetpack.
73-Mace reacts throwing himself backwards and away.
74-the Jetpack explodes as Mace dives clear.
75-Mace hits the ground in a roll and ends near a wall.
76-Startled by the explosion, The Reek rears up on it's hind legs, freeing the lightsaber. Jango is ready to pounce.
77-Jango dives at the lightsaber but...
78-It floats offscreen just as Jango reaches it.
79-The lightsaber returns to Mace's hand.
80-Jango looks up at the Reek as it's shadow falls over him.
81-Jango rolls out of the way of the Reeks front legs as they crash back down on the ground.
82-The Reeks charges at Mace trampling Jango.
83-Jango avoids being crushed by the beast's huge feet.
84-Tracking the Reek as it charges at Mace.
85-Mace leaps into the air as the Reek reaches him, causing the Reek to smash into the wall of the arena.
86-Mace flips into the stands in the midst of a group of droids.
87-Mace lands and attacks.
88-Jango recovers and retrieves his blaster.
89-The Reek shakes it's head, looks around and spots Jango.
90-The Reek lumbers around and trotts towards Jango.
91-Jango raises his blaster and aims carefully.
92-The Reek begins to fully charge.
93-Jango pauses.
94-Jango's POV as Reek charges closer.
95-In the last moment, Jango fires into the beast's eys and dives out of the way still ready with blasters if need be.
96-The Reek tumbles and crashes to the ground, dead.
97-Jango stands and whips around looking for Mace with both blasters raised.
98-Mace leaps down from the stands and charges forward.
99-Jango opens fire desperately but Mace deflects all the bolts as he runs.
100-Mace takes out both blasters with blinding speed.
101-Mace lunges with his lightsaber at Jango's head and Jango ducks but is left off balance. jango manages one blast from his arm mounted blaster but it misses.
102-Mace spins and slices across and downward.
103-Jango's helmet bounces and rolls in the dust.
104-Jango's body falls to the dirt (safely assumed dead), leaving Mace the victor.

In a related story,

[B00yah]

George Lucas has decided to release Leonardo DiCaprio from his role as Anakin, and has brought on Metallica's Lars Ulrich. On being brought on, Lars had this to say; "This is fucking sweet shit man! I get to hit people with my flashlight!"


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