Slashdot Mirror
Attack of the Clones: Less Plastic Crap, More Story?
Newsweek has an article in which George Lucas states that there were parts of Episode One that were damaging to the Star Wars franchise. (shocker, I know) "The last movie did not live up to expectations." They'll cut the merchandise by two thirds, as they still have tons of unsold Episode One merchandise. Yahoo is also running an AOTC story. Mild spoilers in the linked stories, by the way.
At least now I know no major characters die at the end of the movie. Otherwise it would have been mentioned on Slashdot's main page.
I think this Lucas quote says it best:
"There's only one issue for a filmmaker," he says. "Will this make its money back so I can make the next one?"
From a Time Magazine article.
Only the dead have seen the end of war.
That's Senator Jar-Jar Binks, at least according to IMDB and other sources.
Only the dead have seen the end of war.
Well, I can't really say for sure, but from interviews I've seen with various people involved with the film, as well as rumors this one is supposed to have a LOT more action, and be fairly dark.
I'm sure they'll play up the the romance a bit, but from what I understand it's PACKED with Jedi fighting. One rumor is that we find out why Yoda is the bad-ass he's supposed to be. Crossing my fingers to see some kick-ass Jedi fighting. I just hope I'm not let down like with the first one. *sigh*
Also, if it follows the basic trend from the first 3, The first one is more light hearted, introducing characters. The second one is dark, and deepens the plot. The third one will release the darkness, but show the light at the end of the tunnel. *shrug*
Just my thoughts, and what I've heard.
-Alex
I love the Star Wars movies with a great passion, but Lucas is, basically, a consumer whore. How many revisions of Luke in Hoth gear are there? How many Nein Numb and Momaw Nadon action figures are there? If you get .02 seconds of screen time you get 5 action figures, a T-shirt and a mug. There's even a Darth Vader Beer Stein for cryin' out loud!
I'll believe it when I see it... But right now, I'm believe that Toy stores everywhere are getting container shipments full of insignifigant characters.
Either way... I'm going to see Clones. It'd have to be really bad for me not to go back two or three times.
How about the rest of you? Vocal though you are, I doubt you will stay away. It doesn't matter how bad the dialogue is... guys with lightsabers are just too cool.
For some reason I have this huge fear the Episode II will be somewhat of a click flick. Please tell me I'm wrong.
Clusters of wannabe Portman teenager girls, worry about that for a second.
Buy a Nintendo DS Lite
After the DVD came out, I had the chance to revisit Episode one. It's strange, that when you strip away all the hype, the product tie-ins, the in your face constant advertising, and just go see the movie on it's own merits, it's not really all that bad.
And, for some strange reason, it seems to get better every time you watch it. You notice more of the details and craftsmenship that went into the movie.
Finally, if you can go into the film knowing the annoying parts (Jar-Jar, the announcers at the pod race et.al), you can pretty much tune them out.
When it's all said and done, the hype surrounding TPM hurt it more then the bad filmaking... which shows how media can so dramatically effect our expectations. The article mentions 'The Matrix'.. which I knew nothing about, and was blown away when I first saw it. But the more times I see it, the more it's luster wears off... it actually looses appeal every time I watch it, while TPM, strangly, seems to get better.
So Kudos to lucas for entering into this a little wiser. I don't think you're going to see nearly as many fanatic star wars geeks lining up for months in order to see this movie, you are'nt going to be pounded for weeks on end for advertisments for product tie ins... and in the end when we do go down to the theatre (and we will.. you know it) our expectations will have the chance to be a little more realistic.
The Internet is generally stupid
I think one of the main problems Lucas is running up against is the fact that single movies don't exert the influence on mass culture they once did. Simply put, for quite some time now there has been a lack of big movies that "everyone" goes to see. This is not exactly a bad thing, it just shows that movies are differently targeted.
For example, if you ask me, there's been a distinct increase in the quality of war movies over the past decade, even though less people are going to see them. Saving Private Ryan wasn't for everyone, but I think most would agree it was at least a better movie than Force 10 from Navarone.
To get back to Star Wars though, I really think a big part of the problem with Episode I was the attempt to appeal to a wide audience. Keeping away from flaming comments about commercialism, the objective should not be to make a movie EVERYONE likes, but to make a movie every will agree was not a waste of time, even if it wasn't their cup of tea.
Debate me if you will, but I see Empire Strikes Back in this vein. A bit darker then the other movies, but bad? No. It was different, and it was good. Did everyone like it? No again, but few claim to outright hate the movie. It was quality filmmaking, not churned out sludge for mass appeal.
"Isn't that the sweetest little well-balanced undergraduate-level philosophy of life."
No, this film is about IBM in the 80's, and how they lost the PC market.
I read a Time article on this movie, and it is quite clear that Lucas either doesn't understand or doesn't care just how bad Phantom really seemed to the majority of his fans (including me.) He blames the internet for the crushing negative reaction to Jar-Jar, saying that C3PO and the Ewoks also got a lot of negative feedback and the reason those characters weren't so heavly dumped on was there was no internet to spread the word. Incredible.
I readly confess the Ewoks in particular are weak, but at least they and 3PO weren't so incredibly annoying. Jar-Jar should have been cut out completely once the fan response became clear, whatever Lucas may think about the reasons for the reaction. He states he is in the business to make money - why then doesn't he listen to his customers?? Is the man's ego really that much out of control?
I may see Clones, but I suspect unless the critics rave about it I'll wait for it to reach the dollar movie theaters first. Lucas got more money than he earned for Phantom, and I see no reason to give him more. He needs to wake up to the fact that hype will only carry him so far, and eventually he's going to have to produce a good product again.
"I object to doing things that computers can do." -- Olin Shivers, lispers.org
Much nicer and more Lucas-centric piece on Attack of the Clones at time.
Lucasfilm saved its best goodies, though, for the Web geeks, a stratum of "Star Wars" fandom that, in the past, it had communicated with only via cease-and-desist orders.
Absolutely brilliant line.
The current edition of Maxim has a pretty cool interview with George Lucas that covers a couple pages. Not too many spilers, and it also covers the general direction Lucas is taking it in (as a director and as a story). Some of us might find some cool stuff to look at in the magazine as well...
I can just imagine an archeological expedition thousands of years from now digging up an old garbage dump and what do they find? Tons of unwanted Episode 1 merchandise. "What a strange idol they worshipped" :Pulls string: "Me'sa tink d'is a ba' idea!" They'll think we're morons.
And it's not a boycott. It's the fact that Episode I sucked big time, and last week I was watching Montecristo (great movie) and saw trailers for Attack of the Clones.
And suddenly it hit me.
I was planning to watch it, it was pretty much a given. And then, seeing the scenes, I realized I don't really have a wish to see it. I just had a lemming reaction. The hype got to me. I had been brainwashed.
That is, I was going to watch it because it was a Star Wars film. But nothing I saw on the trailer, and nothing I saw in the prequel, compelled me to see it.
So, ask yourself: If this film wasn't a "Star Wars" movie, would I be compelled to see it? Would I feel it is a good film?.
I have decided it's not. And I won't give in to the hype, however alluring it becomes.
PS: For the opinion or David Brin, great science fiction writer who makes George Lucas look like the hack he is, read this.
A bit off-topic... Released today on TV and Starwars.com. It had a few new scenes.
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
Think about this; The merchandisers are the ones paying to make all the SW paraphenalia. It's not like Lucas is shelling out - They're paying HIM. Lucas knew there would be a rush by people making sure they would get all the collectible crap (is it just me, or is everything but the action figures lower quality?) so they made a whole bunch of it. Sure, they didn't sell it all, but Lucas surely realized a big scrooge mcduck-sized pile of money from it.
So this movie, they're going to reduce the quantity of stuff dramatically which means - you guessed it! - there will be a huge rush on it again. It might take a little time to build up momentum, so toys r us might not have to call in the riot police to get people away from the empty action figure aisle, but it still still produce plenty of cash, and the collectibles will actually have value this time. Not that they don't already, because within just a few months many collectibles were going for over four times their purchase price. I mean, less than a month after they were off the shelves.
And while we're talking about things which could be intentional; Everyone was going to go see episode one whether it sucked ass or not, so Lucas just didn't have to try. Now, many of us will be waiting to see what our friends have to say about episode 2 before we go see it. Based on the trailers I've seen, It's going to suck, but I guess those are not necessarily static or representative.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
If you really must revisit this movie, I highly suggest you do so by finding yourself a copy of The Phantom Edit. It's not perfect either, but it gives a sense of how hard it wouldn't have been for Lucas to make the original not suck.
There's a quote from Lucas in the Time Magazine SWII article (hey, surprise, they got all the major news mags!) which really struck me:
It's pretty obvious that he still doesn't get it. I don't know anyone who complained about a kid being the hero -- a few who complained about the chosen kid's acting ability, and a bunch more who complained about the cutesyness, but this was the first I've heard the idea that the problem is that audiences can't cope with the idea of a child hero. Note to George: um, ex-squeeeze me, there are a few other issues.
Episode I dialog generator:
if (drand48() < 0.5)
return "be mindful";
else
return "you assume too much";
Personally sometimes I don't mind if /. reports stuff slightly out of date, after all I come here mostly for the discussion, not really for the news themselves (at least most of the time)
-- the cake is a lie
The moderation options need a '+/-1: he asked for it'.
--locust
After watching Phantom Menace and being a child of the 80s, how could I not be but a bit disappointed. It just wasn't what I thought it would be. It was overtly cheesy. The comedy was very forced. It didn't seem natural.
I had no problem with the graphics. Of course, I hated Jar Jar. He was the main representative of the cheesy comedy that ensued within the film.
Another fault I found was that Darth Maul didn't seem evil enough. The part was dimunitive.
I didn't like the Trade Federation reps either as I find their voices and appearance very annoying. They were even very menacing.
The robots, egads, they didn't need to talk. "Roger, Roger"... could you be more cliche?
The biggest beef I have is with the Anakin saves the day sequence... This whole scene was far fetched from the Auto pilot to the sudden overheating of his ship to the uncanny idea that a chief component - determinal to the starbase was inside a landing hanger.
Ok... enough dissing PM for it wasn't all bad.
Now when I heard what Lucas decided to call Episode II, I inherently whinced. I begun to glaze over. I wanted more action less overcheesy forced comedy. Also, I was to look forward to a fluffer romance. Mind you... I am a GIRL! I like romances.. but after PM... I want action. hehe...
However, I changed mind my after reading an article issued by TIME. I became hopeful. I have seen images and I have seen some small footage from the movie. I am actually excited about Star Wars again. Perhaps, there is a charm about second chances. I can't wait!!
If you want to check out that TIME article... visit here:
http://www.time.com/time/covers/1101020429/
~ SeineThinker ~
Truth like surgery, may hurt, but it cures. - Han Suyin, Chinese Physician and Writer
Where do you get off calling Jar Jar "ugly?" Star Wars is supposed to have aliens in it, and from an entirely aesthetic standpoint, Jar Jar is a very cool looking alien.
/. would ever admit having watched.
We hate him primarily for three reasons. First, his whiny, nasal, pseudo-Jamaican voice. Second, his entirely unfunny clumsiness and Jerry Lewis-esque pratfalls. Finally, there's his "How rude" catchphrase, which was ripped off a mediocre sitcom that nobody on
Jar Jar, I believe, can be saved. There's a good decade between Episodes I and II, which provides plenty of time for character development. First, we lower his voice an octave or two. Since we know nothing of Gungan physiology, it's possible that Binks was on the tail end of adolesence, and his vocal cords weren't fully developed. Then, ship him off to war. He is a general, after all. A few years in the trenches and he might toughen up and learn just enough to be more dangerous to the enemy than himself. Finally, war has made him cynical and bitter, so we can replace "how rude" with "kiss my amphibious ass."
Make those changes, and I think everyone would agree that Jar Jar would be tolerable, and possibly even cool.
Or go to plan B, which has Jar Jar meet his decapatastic demise at the hands of the Emperor in the first thirty seconds of the movie.
Neither will happen, of course. But can't I dream?
You want the truthiness? You can't handle the truthiness!
***spoilers***
"Mind, as manifested by the capacity to make choices, is to some extent present in every electron." -Freeman Dyson
You mean, there's official Star Wars(TM) plastic crap, and I've never seen it??? If they're going to be making less of it, I'd better pick some up fast. No more generic fake do-do for me. From now on it's Star Wars(TM) plastic crap, or nothing at all... unless they make fake vomit too.
For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
Maybe it's just me, but I find the entire marketing scheme behind Starwars a bit disturbing anymore... Episodes 4-6 were fine. We had a Hero and his Alliance topple the Big Evil Dude and his Empire.
Now in 1-3, we see how the Big Evil Dude and his Empire got started. Fine. Except for one thing... They're marketing a mass murder to kids. Yeah! Get the Ep.1 Jar-Jar and Anakin coloring book! He's just like you, kids! Buy his toys, see the movie! Yes, watch Ep.2! Watch Anakin fall in love! He's a rebel with a cause! What? Yeah, sure, he enslaves most of the known Universe, becomes second in command to Umber-Hitler, hunts the Jedi to near extinction and kills billions with his Giant Planet Killing Weapon, but that's besides the point. Kids will eat this stuff up!
Personally, I think Eps 2-3 will be the best of the new trilogy and I'll enjoy them throughly, but the with the way they're marketing em, I NEVER want to hear a complaint about ANY videogame violence AGAIN.
You need a FREE iPod Nano
I remember when I was a bit younger, some products would have tie ins...perhaps you would get a starwars toy in your frosted flakes or at McDonalds or something.
Now they are not even trying...they just have a "Star Wars Episode II" cereal - not even trying to hide a merchandising tie in.
What's next: "Star Wars Corn Based Merchandising with Sugar"
Well, sadly, that explains laws like the DMCA.
A firewall can not protect you from yourself. Turn off what you do not need. Do not use the firewall to do your work.