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Star Wars II Trailer Online
Jager writes: "You can download the new starwars trailer here. Enjoy." Seemed to me as if Lucas was worried about the "love story" emphasis in the previous teasers, and wanted to make sure people knew there would be plenty of zapping and slashing.
I don't know how it works at any other download sites, but if you go to www.starwars.com it won't let you download the hi-res version without Quicktime Pro. What gives? I want my free, bandwidth-consuming movie trailers, and I don't want to pay for them!
Hey, this was from the other thread, and the new trailor is up there. Nice Compression.
http://node2.callihq.net/
Someone from the earlier thread posted a nice Divx 5 version of the trailer at 640 x 480 resolution. Check it out here.
Last night I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got in my pajamas I'll never know.
Admiral: Slashdot? You're belief in that ancient religion hasn't help you conjure up that Episode 2 trailer.
Vader: I find your lack of faith disturbing, Admiral.
*Admiral chokes under weight of a full frontal Slashdotting.*
I have to admit, Im impressed. We took down Apple.
Toodles D. Clown
On the previous post about the trailer airing on Fox, many people said that they do not like the direction that Star Wars is taking. Although I agree with most of what these people say, some went as far as saying not to spend 10 dollars at the theatre to see it, but rather wait until rental time.
To those people who do not think this movie will be worth seeing, reconsider -- the visual effects in Phantom Menace did not disappoint, and from the looks of it, this movie will be just as nice with the CGI. As a fan of CGI, I was very happy with the pod race scene on a 40 foot screen, and I think I'll get my money's worth seeing the new movie when it comes out at theatres.
If you've read this far, you probably agree with me.
All the CGI looks like anime or something.
It doesn't look real. Something about the models, miniture sets and mock-ups of Hoth and other planets in the first three movies had a texture to them that made them more believeable. Also the camera didn't fly all over the place constantly.
Looks like another pod race type scene (a big CGI jack off session that has nothing to contribute to a story) and a lot more characters that you won't care about (but hey, if Lucas throws 300 new characters in he can sell figures of them all to people that have to buy every single one.
This crap almost makes you feel like becoming a Trekkie (shudder). At least they come up with an interesting story and leave the visuals as a compliment to it.
D
Crap, I got 1/2 the trailer at the end of malcolm, the other 1/2 in the beginning of the Xfiles ... so I can't watch it all at once ... ARGH!
102 Posts saying the link is dead /. effect
101 Posts reposting the original link
57 Posts discussing
4 Posts that rip-off yoda there be only
13 Posts that post a new link, also dead
12 Posts that declare that link dead
41 Posts declaring that the trailer sucked, but that they'll see the movie anyway
17 Posts declaring that the trailer sucked, but that they'll rent it
2 Posts declaring that Star Wars is dead
31 Posts declaring the dark side (Walmart?) alive
So they show the trailer on Fox and then tell you to see "Ice Age" in order to see the theatrical version of the trailer...wow. A trailer for a trailer, with an inline hype for another picture. Wonder if the actual movie is that creative... rj
Right. It's nothing personal against slashdot, Apple just blocked any site pointing directly to the trailer. They've done this before -- and hey, they want to advertise, right? Nobody seems to have posted this yet, but you can just go to Apple's trailers site and click on the obvious graphic.
Die Menschen verhoehnen was sie nicht verstehen. -- Goethe.
Quicktime pro is required to view the hi=res trailer, that's what people are complaining about, not the silly nag screens.
- sigs are for wimps.
There's so many odd tensions inherent in seeing the latest Lucas movie/product that it's tough to sort them all out...
- Lucas's movies from the 70's are the primary reason (debatably equal with Spielberg's movies) for the "blockbuster-centric" state of the movie industry today. (i.e. opening weekend-oriented, with receipts fading fast even for popular films, therefore "hyper-able" films with a fast return get the most attention). ergo, supporting a new Lucas film is consistent _not only_ with generally supporting the MPAA, but also with supporting the "big (and not necessarily smart, therefore often stupid) movies advertised with big $$" business model which the major studios are so slavishly following.
(hey! lucas started a tsunami of crap! he's indirectly responsible for tomb raider! lucas is bad!)
- OTOH, Lucas is in the ultra-elite group of filmmakers who is beholden to _none_ of the movie studios (i.e. MPAA). He doesn't _have_ to create "big blockbusters", this is the kind of movie he _wants_ to make. Lucas even has the clout to create his own distribution company (in addition to Lucasfilm's production end), ala the Spielberg/Geffen/Katzenberg Dreamworks, were he interested.
(hmm... lucas is powerful! but independent... therefore good?)
- Lucas has, in fact, been using his clout to push digital production _and_ display techniques (which would be going faster were it not for distributor/theater overgrowth and mismanagement... which is a side result of the "blockbuster mentality, but I digress...). Aesthetic questions of "digital film" aside), these techniques can dramtically lower distribution costs while increasing theater flexibility, and thereby create new opportunities for distribution and showing of "non-blockbuster" films (independent or otherwise low(er) budget)...
(yay! Lucas is good! he's undoing what he hath wrought! and doing cool digitial stuff! Lucas is good!)
- Lucas's narratives tend to reflect a rather benevolently feudal/fascist view of the world, in which an elite group (Jedi) rules over/provides protection to the general classes; he has furthermore stated his preference for "benevolent dictator" style organization for his businesses (Lucasfilm/ILM/etc.), as well as indicating that his films are very specifically his own (versus "for the fans")... this idealized feudalism is further reflected in his deity-like relationship with his (legions of) fans. i.e. Lucas' s "independent" streak is very much a part of a tendency towards complete control over his work.
(boo! Lucas is anti-democratic... but he's an artist, so it's OK... but he does this in business, too... and see how he treats his fans... but we love him! Lucas is, uh, is...)
Anyway, Lucas's position in Hollywood/business practices/audience relations/artistic bent are very much an integrated and consistent (but still complex) thing - at least to the point that it's hard to reduce it to pure "good" or "bad". Let's just call Lucas a unique, smart, lucky bastard and focus on more concrete matters.
Just something to chew on.
So I guess that Lucas is flattering The Fifth Element. Or am I the only one who had a little deja vu with the "speeding through three dimensional traffic patterns with futuristic cars, followed by vertical plunge shot?"
Also, blocking slashdot referrals? No class.
Requiring quicktime pro for the large screen trailer? No class.
Yet another "milk the shoddy trilogy" moment.
Actually what is most disappointing, is the constant non-stop whining about how the new trilogy sucks.
:-)
C'mon people, please come up with new reasons for not liking the prequels. Do we have to constantly read about "continue milking money out of the franchise" ?
The movie looks like fun, big battles, cool characters, etc. If you've seen previous star wars films you know what to expect. Just saying , "it's not creative" enough amounts to saying nothing. What do you want ? I really doubt that you could come up with anything more creative that the visuals and excitement in those few minutes of the trailer.
Oh BTW, your post is not "creative". Did I already mention that ?
- sigs are for wimps.
Instead he cranked out more fodder, really for nothing more than to continue milking money out of the franchise. Looks like it's continuing.
Let me take this opportunity to say this: Thank god that Peter Jackson filmed all three LOtR at once. Read why before you mod me offtopic:
Lucas had a dream. He made Star Wars. It was... a little campy, in retrospect, but rollicking fun nonetheless.
Years pass.
Lucas made The Empire Strikes Back. It was much more serious. Darker. There's Dagobah and stuff. The sets, the effects, the tone all change. Why? Because Lucas now had better technology, and a different expectation to film for.
Years pass.
Lucas made Return of the Jedi. It was serious, yet fluffy. Dark, yet light. Wonderful effects, of course, now that years have passed. But again, the tone had shifted to become completely different. It reflected years of hindsight and expectations that affected the original artistic vision.
And it's only getting worse with the prequels.
Which is why I'm glad Peter Jackson shot all three LOtR films in one big go. Sure, the CGI is going to still be cranked out for a while. Editing can be affected by time. But overall, he has the chance to make a coherent hole of the trilogy, which is something I don't feel Lucas has been able to do with the time he's had. As Prufrock would say, time for a hundred visions and revisions...
Right, big ships, a few explosions and some dodgy gunk-cum-plasma firing guns.
When are we going to see films that really capture the true scale of the energy levels we're going to be flinging around? I don't want to see ships throwing primary coloured blobs at each other, I want to see them fling high yield nukes, antimatter weapons that light up the sky and threaten to melt any surface nearby, I want to see missiles that fill space with incandescent plasma that fades before being blown appart as it's lanced by otherwise invisible beams of radiation.
I want to see acceleration an issue; I want to see people who couldn't get to a chair to scream in agony as they get crushed down by high G forces or get torn to bits by decompressions, not a few panels exploding and some lame shaking.
I want to see ground troops frying acres of land as they desperately try to kill an enemy, I want to see them blowing shit up with gauss guns and worryingly powerful antimatter devices, or proper ray guns where you only see what's reflected off dust and things they're melting/frying (and which cause the atmosphere to explode like lightning). Screw phasers.
I want to see believable universes, filled with Humans for a change; no humanoid "aliens" who happen to act like certain stereotypes (aliens will, of course, get a look in, but not as human analogs ffs); there's huge scope for different cultures, technologies, types of people and things people will become (from tweaked to entirely redesigned) that you get with humans alone without having to think up Unlikely Stereotypical Alien-with-ridged-forehead-and-attitude-problem 31338.
Of course, it's not going to happen.. tried and tested paper thin plots and people and a few shiny special effects is just too damn easy to throw together and make money out of.
<fume>
See, George Lucas' inspiration for Star Wars came largely from a man by the name of Joseph Campbell. If you're unfamiliar with him, he was a renowned mythologist (really a mish-mash of cultural anthropologist and psychologist with a focus on cultural dialectics).
Mythology is rarely original. In fact, Campbell, were he alive, would likely point out that there are only a handful of basic mythological stories and most every contemporary myth has some root in a far more generic myth.
So, my point: indeed, there isn't anything original about Star Wars. It's just another way of characterizing a myth, in this case, the fall from grace, that has been around for thousands of years.
Here's the (hidden) direct link to the movie in "large format" (640x288):
e /ep2_clone_war_p640.mov
http://starwars.apple.com/ep2/clone_war/media/gat
From this link, you can save the entire 31MB movie to hard disk and play it whenever you want without downloading it again. I'm sure that they'll appreciate me doing this to help reduce the load on their server.
Is it just me, or is it becoming "cool" to rebel (!) against the new Episodes?
You talk as if we watch Star Wars for the visual effects and acting. No way. It's the musical score. George Lucas is not a composer. He can't muck it up. Episode II will rock.
A massive confrontation like this unfortunately leaves little room for personal interaction. Sure, you might have the last minute Kennedy to Khrushchev calls, but other than that, the plot would involve millions of people being blown up without even knowing the individual who pressed the button. Moviegoers want to watch movies that have some relevance to their life, and interpersonal relationships is one of the more complex and challenging topics for movies to explore.
The apple server isn't slashdotted (yet). It just wants a specific referring page, or it wants you to come straight in. Click the link from the article, get the error message, click in your URL window, and hit return again.
You can also find the trailer at planetmirror. This completes my collection; now I'll have a full CD-ROM full of stuff to keep me excited until the release date.
Secession is the right of all sentient beings.
I don't think Lucas was focusing on the action to downplay romance.
If you look at the Episode 1 trailers, and look at how Lucas does things, you'll see he likes to create a different effect with each trailer. The other trailer was a "love story" trailer, this one is an action trailer. I would not be surprised if there are one or two more that each emphasize a different theme or plot.
I think part of the problem is that with CGI, they don't have the limitations of real life, so they just forget about them. "Hey, let's make the camera fly around the race course at a million mph. Ooo, cool." "Okay, while you do that, I'm going to make my CG character figit around annoyingly while the real actors are talking just because I've got a handle on Inverse Kinematics." WTF? Real life actors can sit still, why can't CG ones?
I think someone needs to come up with a plug-in for Softimage (or whatever program they use) that will prevent the virtual camera from doing anything a normal camera couldn't do in real life. Like if you moved it too high, it would make you build a virtual crane to hold it in position. Or if you moved it around in the air, you'd get a $3,000 virtual helicopter rental fee deducted from your bank account.
c-hack.com |
Is Anakin going to become Vader in this episode? That would be the best, as the whole next movie we could see him in action. Yet, maybe Anakin is too young...
BTW, How come Anakin grows up so fast, and the Queen still looks like a teen? Then they fall in love... in the first movie there was a big age difference... it's a little strange. Oh well, just a movie.
I think you've got a great point with this. When Lucas did American Graffiti and Star Wars, he was a relative unknown experimenting with new film technology. This gave him freedom from people's expectations, which is why Star Wars was such a hit. Now, look at where he's at today--people who love the vision of his original movie aren't impressed with his recent offerings because they really bring nothing new to the table, both in terms of story and in terms of film tech.
.Since Lucas can't seem to have a great story AND great special effects anymore, I wholeheartedly agree--lets blow our socks off with special effects. :o)
Lucas has ALWAYS been one for new moviemaking toys. On one hand this is a good thing: he alone is responsible for getting ILM and the realm of realistic model-based special effects off the ground back in the Dark Ages of SFX. The same is true more recently for digital film. Hell, Kubrick used to shoot all of his films in mono because he was disgusted at the variance in theater quality. Thanks to Lucas, this may not be a problem in the very near future with digital projection.
On the other hand, this dependance on glitzy looks has the adverse effect, at least on his films, of relieving focus on story. Yeah they look great. Yeah they'll sell lots of toys. Back in the 70's, they sold Star Wars to the masses. Now, in our CG-inundated world, audiences need more than this. As an example, someone posted earlier just to this effect, about wanting more impressive weapons instead of what was in the trailer. I agree. .
- - - - - - - -
Don't worry, being eaten by a crocodile is just like going to sleep in a giant blender.
This is really excellent, because as you cheat yourself out of enjoying the film because you're foolish enough to prejudge this, the rest of us will probably love it because it's bigger and better than any of the other movies. I loved Ep. 4 when I was a kid, and my nephew loved Ep.1 and so did I. I'm really looking forward to Ep. 2, and your opinion won't matter an iota when the tidalwave of this movie arrives. So go ahead gripe and bitch, it says more about you than the film. Some people are just spoiled, they get Star Wars and it ain't enough they still find room to bitch and moan. Don't tell us how bad it is, nobody cares, just don't go and see it, I dare you. Of course there's no chance of that, you WILL see this movie. At least I'll get my moneys worth when I go see the film because I'll have a chance of enjoying it.
Greetings!
You may download the trailer from: http://lavender.cime.net/~aotc/ep2_clone_war.mpg
I got it from Drestin (thanks, Dude!)
Cheers,
E
http://eugeneciurana.com | http://ciurana.eu
...insist that one need "PRO" version of the QuickTime to watch big version? I just opened this URL http://starwars.apple.com/ep2/clone_war/media/gate /ep2_clone_war_p640.mov in regular QUickTIme player and got nice, full screen trailer - not some smallish window they force you to see on the web page. And even on the web page this bullshit about getting a paid Pro version. What a bunch of crap.
<^>_<(ô ô)>_<^>
I am afraid it is you who are mistaken about many things... You have a decent analysis, but your facts are all wrong. Of course, that is always a bad start.
George Lucas did make the original Star Wars. And that movie turned out pretty much how you describe it. However, George Lucas did not make the two following films. Not really. Not in the sense we usually give that word.
The Empire Strikes Back was directed by Irvin Kershner. Lucas is credited with the role of executive producer and with the story, but not the script. Apparently, Lucas gave Kershner a lot of leeway. Kershner put a lot of himself in the film, which explains why it stands out so vividly in the franchise. As for Lucas, he thought it was a bit too dark. (There is an anecdote, verified by Kershner, about Han's macho "I know" line, which he says to Leia when she tells him she loves him. Lucas didn't like the line and wanted it out, but Kershner held his ground. Lucas only let it stand after he saw how the public reacted in a private screening. Sad but true, Lucas would have preferred Han say "I love you too.")
Now admittedly The Return of the Jedi looks more like a Lucas movie. But he still didn't direct it. He gave that job to Richard Marquand. Again, Lucas is the executive producer and is credited with the story, but not the script. Obviously the film is going to feel a bit different. Now apart from the advance in technology which you mention, I personnally see this film as a return to the aesthetics of the first film. I think that this is what Lucas wanted when he picked Marquand. Now, I understand that Lucas guided Marquand more than he had Kershner. But maybe Marquand just happened to share Lucas' tastes more than Kershner did.
So do not be surprised if the movies look and feel different... They were made by diferent people. Funny thing is, I think Lucas used to be very open about all of this. But not anymore. He doesn't usually mention neither directed nor wrote the scripts to two of them. Kind of strange. So... As long as Lucas writes and directs the prequels, don't expect any one of them to turn out like Episode V. Especially since he didn't like it that much in the first place.
OK, in the new trailer that aired last night after Malcolm, right after Yoda says "In grave danger you are", there's something I can't believe. You see Obi-Wan jumping through some kind of press that's trying to crush him vertically. Didn't Lucas see GalaxyQuest?! As Sigourney Weaver would say, "This episode was badly written!"
grep -ri 'should work'
Watching EP1 last night on the Movie channel I had a rather interesting insight. That Anakin is/was always the second Sith [candidate].
Anakin 'imaculate conception', hint's of genetic engineer, aka The Clone-Wars.
Palpatine familiarity with Tatooine, 'a minor outland planet on the edge of known space', he clearly knows about it, Why ? He Certainly he has some interest in it!
Tatooine close proximatly to Naboo, Palpatine home planet. Convenient or Coincidence ?
Qui-Gon Jinn believed Anakin to be the Chosen One spoken of in an ancient prophecy, the one who would bring balance to the Force. What does he know to suggest he is not a natural produced/wild Jedi? And Why is training Anakin, the most important thing/ last wish he asked of Obi-Wan ?
Anakin's unatural talent for machines, when Jedi are supposed to be connected to living things.
Anakin 'training' on Tatooine.
Bobafetts links to Tatooine, and Palpatine and Sith's.
> A massive confrontation like this unfortunately leaves little room for personal interaction.
Nope; you're not going to make a film entirely out of that, there's plenty of room for getting across the raw panic/cold determinism/etc of the people involved, then you've got space for setting up these huge battles, all the politics and interpersonal relationships that caused them etc, then the after effects as people risk their lives to save survivors. And of course, you've got the more mundane aspects of the lives of the main characters.
Really, you're not going to make a movie entirely out of that sort of large scale battle; they're probably not going to last long anyway (how long do you think anyone would survive these sort of battles without either being vaporised, running out of ammo, overheating or deciding to run away?), and nobody's going to go about nuking planets/space stations/each other without good reason. You might as well say the same about any movie; sure, done badly it'll end up being a special effects showcase and nothing else, but hey, it's not going to be any worse than what we already have, is it?
.. . .and there was this one time, in band camp. . .
These are my friends, See how they glisten. See this one shine, how he smiles in the light.