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George Lucas May Be Completely Evil
gabec writes "Sci-fi Wire is reporting a couple rumors about the changes being made to the original Star Wars trilogy for its next release. That being that Natalie Portman may be being inserted into Episode VI: Return of the Jedi and that universally reviled Jar Jar Binks may be being inserted into Episode IV: A New Hope. May The Force forbid." Mind you this is reported as rumor, but it's so unsurprisingly possible...
As soon as Lucas said he was waiting for the new three to be released before putting the originals on DVD, I said he was going to do this. What will it be called, Super Special Edition? Speciai Edition Pro? 32-Bit Special Edition Turbo?
Jar-Jar is not UNIVERSALLY reviled: the Galactic Senate heartily approved of his proposal to grant Emp^H^H^HChancellor Palpatine emergency powers! Heck, even Anakin seems to like Jar-Jar, and we know what a hothead he can be. Don't you think Anakin would have dismembered Jar-Jar at the first opportunity if JJB was REALLY so reviled?
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"Destroy science and religion. Science would re-emerge exactly the same; but not religion." - Penn Jillette, paraphrased
Personally, I like the idea of this. It helps tie all 6 movies together and makes them seem like the series they are supposed to be. I mean, its not like he's totally changing the movie like he did with ANH and the Greedo scene.
...make changes to his own movie!
"And like that
...that wants to eliminate copyrights so ANYONE can make changes like this on a whim?
Yeah, count my vote on that one.
I think I'd be happy with this news if they decide to replace the alien that was bullying Luke with Jar Jar, and instead of Obiwan cutting off his arm he decides to rid the Star Wars universe of him once and for all:
JJ: "Meesa wanted man in 12 systems!!!"
Luke: "I'll be careful"
JJ: "Yousa be dead like a da Gungans!!!"
(swoosh! - lops off his head)
First I want to say that any lengthy insert would be a disaster. I think their is no argument at all on that subject.
I can , however, see where a small insert would be helpfull to the story line. Something like a shot of jar jar watching luke meet obiwan and saying "the circle starts again" or something similar IANASW( I am not a script writer). A small item to help tie the first three with the next three. With the way that these movies were filmed, in reverse order, Something like this may be necesary to make them feel as a whole series again.
The other possibility is that he needs to add elements to tie the last three to the middle three. For an example having queen amadala show in return to say that she was never gone but hiding out and once the emporer is defeated we need to go do this. He may have excluded these parts in the original filming becuase it would have created a cliff hanger in the movie that would not be resolved for 30 to 40 years. Now he can add it and start the work, striving for a completed nine movies over three sets of three.
The point is a little dash of extra may not be so bad, have to see it to judge. Let's just hope this is not done as some marketting stunt to get us all buy the movies AGAIN.
Papa Legba come and open the gate
At least this opens the possibility that Lucas could redo Episode I.
OddManIn: A Game of guns and game theory.
as much as I love star wars - I cant stand lucas... basically I see him as someone who's whole career is riding on the one good success he had - A new Hope, ep IV....
He is *not* the genius visionary that all his buddies and hollywood ass kissers like to tell him he is - he just had one really good idea - but now he is just a greedy flipping bastard without imagination and vision. The star wars universe has been built up and expanded upon by the great fans that have loved the original seed that lucas planted and nurtured it into a mature and full concept - the only thing lucas does for the sar wars universe these days is capitalize on it.
he is not a good director, he is just someone who stumbled onto something that became great - regardless of him. but he keeps his imperial grip on the concept and makes himself more and more into the palpatine we despise....
/rant
lol. Right. It's imperative that we ensure our fiction is as absolutely accurate as possible. How will future generations know what might really have happened on Tatooine if it would have been a real place? Who can our children trust when they need to find out how the Rebel Alliance could possibly have destroyed the first Death Star assuming that either of those things existed in the first place.
Please. Okay, yeah, Lucas may be a jerk for changing stuff around (if, indeed, he ends up doing so), but hell, don't liken it to 1984. It's just a movie.
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Jar-Jar sure aint "UNIVERSALLY" reviled. .
Hasn't anyone seen the Simpsons episode where the comic store clerk goes to sleep with a life-sized Jar-Jar doll saying "Oh Jar-Jar, no one loves you but me..."
Groening couldn't have been more correct there...
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The movies are the sole intellectual property of GEORGE LUCAS. They do not belong to you. They do not belong to the fans. They do not belong to the merchandisers. They belong to LucasFilm, which in turn belongs to George Lucas.
These six movies are a saga. They tell a long, complex story with lots of twists and turns. When Lucas comes up with what he thinks is a good idea, he puts it in the mix. If he has to change a couple of things around to fit it in, he does. Big deal. It's not like he's going to change his mind on Darth Vader being Luke's father.
He can do whatever he wants with his movies, and personally I think he's doing a fantastic job. All six movies will fit together as a cohesive whole when it's all said and done.
This ain't Shakespeare, folks. Even Tolkien went back and corrected some continuity problems after LotR was published. So get over it.
Personally, I don't care what he does to his movie. The sad part for me is that all the work done on restoring footage and reworking original soundtracks is all thrown into these modified special editions. The _original_ films now only exist as worn VHS tapes. The first special editions were different; not necessarily better, but different. Any further rounds of modification will be different still.
It's sad that the original films have become lost to consumers, and presumably will stay lost. How about if he releases the original, restored (but unaltered) movies on DVD first. Then he's free to add Jar Jar, Natalie Portman, Samuel Jackson, Matt LeBlanc or whoever the hell else he wants to Episodes IV-VI.
Yeah, you SW nerds should be on Maury.
Maury: How did it feel when you saw how much Episode 1 sucked?
Nerd: Ah felt betrayed, and ah felt abused. He abused me like ah was a wet food stamp!
Maury: But you stood in line for weeks to be the first nerd to see Episode 2!
Nerd: [Nods, weeping]
Maury: Well, why do you keep going back to him?
Nerd: Because ah LOVE him! I LOVE George Lucas!
- Have a picture
Jar-Jar and Bail Organa looking up at the ominous new star in the heavens.
Jar-Jar: "Issa thata new moona, Bail Organa?"
CUT TO Death Star interior as the Planet Pulverizer(TM) fires and hits Alderaan.
CUT TO Jar-Jar binks being hidiously vaporized on Alderaan in a cruel twist of fate for giving the empire its power.
So you see, people, it might not be that bad...
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I don't know if George Lucas would want to do this, but what if the DVD had all three versions (or at least the original and the newest with both sets of new stuff)? That way, our beloved original is not lost, but there's some fun added stuff.
Would there be any harm in doing this?
mark
If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe. -- Carl Sagan
So now every year or two you'll have to patch Star Wars to keep it current. SP1 will patch inconsistancies with caracter's memories, age, and correct lightsaber colors!
Back in 1977, right after Star Wars became a huge hit, Lucas had said that he did indeed have the rest of the story more or less sketched out, and that he thought it would take 9 movies to do it. Heck, originally he wanted to put the entire Anakin cycle in ONE movie, but it was way too long. He wasn't expecting Star Wars to succeed, he just wanted to make a fun movie. Then it hit it big and he said, "Hmm..." Anyway, originally he thought it would take 9 movies, but a short while later he realized that he didn't have enough story for 9 -- 6 movies would do. Ever since then is the oft-repeated myth that there's going to be 3 more movies after Episode III finishes. If there are, it's not going to be part of the Anakin cycle (well, naturally, since Anakin dies in ROTJ).
I don't discount the possibility that there could be more Star Wars movies after Episode III, but I personally don't think Lucas will want to put out the effort. Remember, he's going to be 61 years old when Episode 3 comes out, and productions of this magnitude take a huge amount of effort. I suppose he could act in more of a supervisory role and let someone else handle more of the day-to-day duties, but, the question of Lucas' talent aside, would such movies FEEL like "Star Wars"? Hard to see, the future is. Not to mention the fact that the story arc would be more or less unrelated to Eps. 1-6, and we probably wouldn't have the same emotional attachments we've formed with the characters we already know.
It has occurred to me that an "interim" movie would be possible, something that takes place between episodes 3 and 4 (call it "Star Wars: Rise of the Empire" with no "Episode N" part) that bridges the 20-year gap... maybe giving some details of the Empire's atrocities, Luke and Leia's upbringings, maybe Han's background, etc. Just a thought of my own.
"Destroy science and religion. Science would re-emerge exactly the same; but not religion." - Penn Jillette, paraphrased
From the home office in Anchorage, Alaska, the TOP TEN PLACES TO ADD JAR-JAR IN EPISODE 4:
10. Orbiting Tatooine in the opening scene.
9. Sweeping the hallway on the Princess' ship right before the stormtroopers cut through the door
8. In the first escape pod from the Princess' ship
7. Standing behind Obi-Wan at the bar
6. Under the table during Greedo and Han's conversation
5. Admiring the Millenium Falcon from the doorway just prior to its departure
4. Running a lemonade stand on Alderaan
3. Last (almost) through the blast doors
2. Porkins' co-pilot
..and the NUMBER ONE place for Jar-Jar in Episode 4:
1. In the exhaust shaft!
"[George Lucas] is *not* the genius visionary that all his buddies and hollywood ass kissers like to tell him he is"
Heh, I always love to hear this kind of uninformed sillyness. It's what keeps me going.
First off, as for directing, Lucas is good. He directs well, and his visual sense is utterly amazing. He's terrible at some things, and I would never rank him with someone like Kubrik or Hitchcock. There are, however, only a handful of people who can make a movie as physically engaging as episodes IV, V and II. Technically he does a good job.
But no one sings Lucas' praises solely for his directorial work. The reason that he's refered to as a giant in the industry is the sheer number of times he's changed the way Hollywood works! You may have heard of the names Skywalker Sound, Lucasfilm, Lucas Arts, Pixar, ILM? These are all Lucas companies that have contributed hugely to the modernization of the movie-making industry. Having created any *one* of them would have been an achivement worthy of comment in Hollywood. Having created all of them is frankly stunning.
There are also less... wholesome things that I credit the man with genius and visionary status for. He forsook pay on episode IV in return for merchandizing rights. He was frankly laughed at for asking for this, but the studio happily gave away the "worthless" merchandizing rights. No studio will ever be able to take that decision lightly again because it was George Lucas who showed Hollywood what those rights were really worth. That money paid to turn ILM and Lucasfilm into forces to be reckoned with in Hollywood and in turn founded Skywalker Sound, Pixar, and lots of other little companies as spinnoffs (can anyone remember the name of the medical imaging company that Pixar spun off?)
You may or may not like or respect Lucas, and that call is all yours, but I think genius visionary is a title that can be safely awarded to anyone who slaps Hollywood to its senses and ushers in the age of digital effects and later digital film making.
"Destroy science and religion. Science would re-emerge exactly the same; but not religion." - Penn Jillette, paraphrased
Actually, I got ahold of a bootleg copy of the script for EP III on the internet, and found this interesting little piece of dialog just before Mace Windu's death:
Boba Fet: Hello, my name is Boba Fet. You killed my father. Prepare to die.
Mace Windu: STOP SAYING THAT!!!
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Episode IV: Jar Jar steps in Jawa poo.
Episode V: Jar Jar steps in Jabba the Hut's poo.
Episode VI: Jar Jar steps in Ewok poo.
I just think Lucas is trying to insert "poo" analogies in his films. Pretty soon, Vader will be re-dubbed to refer to his army of "stormpoopers". Han Solo will be encased in poop instead of carbonite, AT-ATs will step in poop, and and the climax of the saga will be when Vader gets unmasked, only to say "Poop, I am your faaaa-tha."
Save The Planet - Nuke California,
Bowie J. Poag
INT: BESPIN GANTRY - MOMENTS LATER:
A furious lightsaber duel is underway. DARTH VADER is backing LUKE SKYWALKER towards the end of the gantry. A quick move by Vader, chops off Luke's hand! It goes spinning off into the ventilation shaft. Luke backs away. He looks around, but realizes there's nowhere to go but straight down.
Darth Vader: Obi Wan never told you what happened to your father.
Luke: He told me enough! He told me you killed him!
Darth Vader: No... I am your father!
Luke: No, it's not true! It's impossible.
Darth Vader: Search your feelings... you know it to be true...
Luke: NO!
Darth Vader: Yes, it is true... and you know what else? You know that brass droid of yours?
Luke: Threepio?
Darth Vader: Yes... Threepio... I built him... when I was 7 years old...
Luke: No...
Darth Vader: Seven years old? And what have you done? Look at yourself, no hand, no job, and couldn't even levitate your own ship out of the swamp...
Luke: I destroyed your precious Death Star!
Darth Vader: When you were 20! When I was 10, I single-handedly destroyed a Trade Federation Droid Control ship!
Luke: Well, it's not my fault...
Darth Vader: Oh, here we go... "Poor me... my father never gave me what I wanted for my birthday... boo hoo, my daddy's the Dark Lord of the Sith... waahhh wahhh!"
Luke: Shut up...
Darth Vader: You're a slacker! By the time I was your age, I had exterminated the Jedi knights!
Luke: I used to race my T-16 through Beggar's Canyon.
Darth Vader: Oh, for the love of the Emperor... 10 years old, winner of the Boonta Eve Open... Only human to ever fly a Pod Racer... right here, baby!
{Luke looks down the shaft. Takes a step towards it.}
Darth Vader: I was wrong... You're not my kid... I don't know whose you are, but you sure ain't mine...
{Luke takes a step off the platform, hesitates, then plunges down the shaft.}
{Darth Vader looks after him.}
Darth Vader: Get a haircut!
Gonzo Granzeau
"Nothing the god of biomechanics wouldn't let you into heaven for.." -Roy Batty
I just got an email from George Lucas himself, asking me what I think of his proposed outline for Episode III (he said his outline for II finished up a week after filming started, we all know what a disaster that was, so he's trying to get a headstart on III).
In III, it is 15 years later. The Clone Wars are in full swing. Chancellor Palpatine's "War on Secessionists" has killed many innocent people, but has failed to bring Count Dooku to justice.
Amidala has secretly had Anakin's love babies - while Anakin has been called away to fight the "War on Secessionists" with his side kick ObiWan.
Jar Jar accidentally flips the latch on Amidala's window in her high-rise as she leans on it to look out on the beatiful sunrise one morning (er - I wonder what Jar Jar was doing in Amidala's room in the early morning?). Anakin totally blows his top, and abandons his post, returning to Coruscant, he confronts Jar Jar, who admits that he was "doing" Amidala, and that Luke and Leia are really HIS. Anakin force-grabs Jar Jar, and lightsabers his arms and legs off, then shoves him out the same window, and before dropping him 5000 feet, tears his torso to shreds.
In the meantime, ObiWan is instructed by Yoda to NOT confront Anakin, but instead, to protect Luke and Leia from his growing rage. So ObiWan successfully evades Anakin on Coruscant, abducts the children, and spirits them off to Bail Organa's home planet of Alderaan. To have him adopt them as the Jedi's ace in the hole against the growing menace of their loose cannon, Anakin.
Anakin finds out and decides that the Jedi council is plotting against him, and needs to be destroyed. And so, he destroys them. Three escape. Yoda, Mace, and a new Jedi, Ell Ron Hubbardi played by John Travolta. A long hunting sequence plays out where Mace Windu and Ell Ron lead Anakin on a wild goose chase through the streets of Coruscant in a speeder, while Mace and Ell Ron philosophise about the meaning of life, the force, phenomenology, etc.
While they stop for food at a "Space Denny's", Mace goes to the bathroom, and Anakin finally catches up to Ell Ron, and uses the Jedi Mind Trick (TM) to convince him that Mace is evil and that they should destroy eachother. Mace comes out of the bathroom, and they have the lightsaber duel to end all lightsaber duels. Properly disposed of, Anakin now ignores the two and pursues Yoda. But by now, the trail is cold, and he ends up on Alderaan, looking for the kids, so he can destroy them. ObiWan finds him first, and they duel nearly to the death, and Anakin is plunged into a volcano.
Mace has destroyed Ell Ron Hubbardi, and it is in the remains of the shattered high-rise that was the Space Denny's that the emporer encounters him, all pissed off and shit. The emporer turns him to the dark side, and has him change his name to Darth Vader. The emporer says that he will tell everyone that Darth Vader is really Anakin, rescued from the Volcano, and rebuilt with off the shelf cyborg parts.
Yoda catches up with Obi Wan, and tells him that they've got to change plans a bit, because having BOTH twins on Alderaan is a single-point of failure, so Obi Wan takes Luke to Tatooine, and sells him as a slave for a cheap hooker. Luke is eventually sold through several owners, who decide to get rid of him as soon as they find out how much he whines, until he ends up in the same fate as his grandmother Shmi. Eventually, Owen comes to love Luke and sets him free, and even stops molesting him - but continues to keep him on as a farmhand. Yoda, in the meantime, has hidden himself on Dagobah.
Oh yeah, and one twist he wants to add.
The Space Denny's actually gathers roadkill from all around Coruscant. People who have fallen out of windows, or their speeder's seatbelts weren't fastened, etc. And grinds them up as mystery meat. So Mace and Ell Ron were actually eating bits of Amidala and Jar Jar. And when Anakin stopped to warp Ell Ron's mind, he also took a bite of Mace's hamburger, containing bits of Amidala. In this way, Amidala's body became part of the force, and this is the route through which she becomes a ghost at the end of the re-made episode VI. Also, they'll have to reshoot the scenes where Vader takes off his mask in Episode V and VI (and his ghost scene at the end of VI) to replace him with Windu. This is also how Jar Jar's ghost ends up in Episode IV, because he was eaten by Mace, who was Darth Vader. Jar Jar's ghost will be in the scene where Obi Wan is killed, he'll tell Luke; "Luke! Meesa tink yoosa better get a runnin boss" - but he won't admit to being his true father, because that would present an obvious continutiy error with Episode V. In fact, it will never be revealed to Luke who his real father is, and when he pulls off Vader's mask at the end and sees that it's Mace, he'll chalk up the skin color difference to volcanic scorching or something.
- - -
I'm not sure what to say to George. I mean, I think he sent it to me by mistake - I actually opened it by mistake, because the subject line was "Enlarge your penis 500%!" -
I think it's a great idea that hes getting a headstart, and I kind of like this better than where it looked like it was headed.
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