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How Yoda Became an Action Star
fexter writes: "This article at Entertainment Weekly talks about Yoda's transformation from a puppet to a completely-CG character, and talks about the animators' horror at Lucas' transformation of Yoda: 'When Coleman and crew first saw them, they were appalled. They thought it was unseemly and undignified for Yoda to bounce through the fight like a Superball loose in a toy store.'"
A friend of mine said that the fight scene reminded him (sound wise) of a battle involving Miss Piggy. Unfortunately, now I picture her in the fight instead of Yoda.
The dogcow says "Moof!"
That little green bastard and his jedi powers. Man on man, no powers, I'd beat him... I know it!
From the first paragraph:
We're talking, of course, about the most crowd-pleasing scene in a movie so far this year, wherein the little green Jedi Master summons the Force to bounce and whoop and haiiii-yah!
No... The most crowd pleasing scene in a movie so far this year was Kirsten Dunst giving mouth to mouth resuscitation to Spiderman in the rain with her nipples hard from the cold.
I have been pwned because my
OUCH!
What would you expect when you put Lucas in charge of it? The guy can ruin everything, can't he...
I thought it was cool.
but he forgot to take a few minutes to warm up as stretching cold muscles can cause injury.
Yoda is (supposedly) one of the "strongest" in the Force. Others can move objects using the Force(which is completely nonsense in my opinion- mental power doesn't have nothing to do with physical power or the ability to affect the physical world) why shouldn't Yoda be able to levitate and throw his own body about to compensate for his low posture (is that the correct word?)... Besides, if he didn't, he would just be able to aim at legs.
:/
I was dissapointed that he didn't just kill dooku on the spot...A tie is not a win. Oh well.
Looking for people to chat about multicopters, coding, music. skype: gtsiros
Finally, you understand that Yoda, although frail physically, has the ability to channel the Force in ways that no other Jedi can, at least as far as we have seen.
I don't think that the fight was in any way a detriment to the character, it actually just enhances his mystique. Besides, the irony of him finishing up bouncing off the walls, only to pick up his cane and hobble around again was priceless.
I'm still annoyed at the Yoda fight scene, and I think the animators were right.
Yes, having Yoda kick ass was cool.
But he didn't have to do it by spinning around at 3600RPM.
Yoda is supposed to be relaxed and smug. He should have overwhelmed Dooku with -skill- instead of just being four times faster, with no moment of inertia. That scene would have been twice as good if the big Y had stayed upright, and parried and feinted like a madman. No need for backflips.
Is it me, or were there an awful lot of pages (and ads) in that article?
Fight Club
How Yoda became
click to continue...(page 2/1345)an action star
click to continue...(page 3/1345)With a little help
click to continue...(page 4/1345)from director George Lucas
click to continue...(page 5/1345)The animators were right...he does look like a bouncing Sooperball, it is undignified, and I (and others I asked) found it more comical than amazing.
Denver Isuzu Suzuki
''George told me, 'You don't understand,''' says Coleman. '''The fans WANT this. They've been dying for this. I can't tell you how many letters I get. They want to see Yoda throw it down.'''
"Destroy science and religion. Science would re-emerge exactly the same; but not religion." - Penn Jillette, paraphrased
You know it looked just like the scene from Karate Kid where Mr. Miyagi opens a can of whoop-ass on those punks. If you use photoshop to color Mr Miyagi green you will see a near perfect match.
http://www.kubuntu.org/
Someone produced a live action/ccg movie recently where Yoda and Jar Jar actually have a love scene. It gets pretty steamy. As a master Yoda truly does have the biggest light saber.
That's because they had to put a pop-up ad at every page, furthering the crapification of what was once a noble and inspired technology. Kinda like TV, just ask Philo T. Farnsworth.
Yoda vs. Miss Piggy.
I'd just love to see Miss Piggy move to her fighting posture, Yoda draw his lightsaber, and Frank Oz get throatache.
In TPM and ATC the jedi fight like samuri. Back with the original trilogy the jedi seemed to me to fight like duelers (mukateers or something), and even then their movements were slower, as if each jedi put a lot of thought into each single move. Watch the new ones, it's a bunch of flashing light and people jumping up and down. The Yoda thing is just the epitome of that. I saw ATM via a download, so maybe someone could clear this up. Did Yoda give Dookie that "bring it on" hand gesture that Neo did in the Matrix? Looked like it to me. It was sad.
Have you seen the new Denny's TV commercial? She and Kermit are ordering breakfast at Denny's. They order a Grand Slam breakfast and go ape-shit because they are overjoyed to be eating pancakes, sausage, and bacon. Man, there is some sick shit on TV these days...
cpeterso
I would have been much more pleased had the action sequence played out like one from Kung-Fu the Legend Continues. David Carradine's character mastered the art of being wise and skilled/strong without flying through the air and jumping over walls.
This "super Yoda" is fun to watch (if you can watch that fast) but it doesn't sit right with me as the same character who hobbles on a cane and eats porridge.
When 875-or-so years old you reach, look as good you will not, eh?
Of course, the bits that really make that scene come immediately before and after the fight, not during, but half the posters on this thread have spoiled the joke for anyone who hasn't seen it yet anyway... :-(
If you disagree, post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like.
The Filthy Critic's take:
"Kirsten Dunst is a very good actress, and each of her tits under a wet shirt is worth a quarter the price of admission. I mean, this is the kind of stuff that makes a man sitting alone in a theater instinctively squeeze the Hamm's he smuggled in."
The animators were right all along, and I had a small piece of my childhood die watching Yoda leap around like a gymnist on crack. Yoda was my favorite character growing up, and that fight scene made no sense. I remember a video I saw of the guy who invented Aikido in the 1900s - I forget his name now. He was a wizened old man in the video, probably pushing ninety years old, his diciples had long-since taken over teaching their own varieties of aikido, and he still showed up in his dojo to train his students and give little demonstrations. What he lacked in mobility and strength he made up for in grace and economy of movement, and I watched as he would toss aside the students with little hand movements or slow sweeping gestures. The students could attack in piles, and still they would be tossed aside like leaves. It was really magical to watch such an old man possessed of such power. Anyway - that's how Yoda should have fought. He should have been slow, graceful and easily dispatched his enemies using only the force. He had no business using a lightsaber, and had no reason to spring about like a ping pong ball. Lastly, the reason Yoda and Boba Fett were awesome characters in the original trilogy was because they were mysterious - unknown pasts, unknown barely hinted-at abilities under the surface. Lucas destroyed their mystique by making them full fleshed-out characters in AOTC.
Despite the fact that I kept picturing kermit doing the fighting with all that bouncing around, I was simply glad that there were no frozen-time effects. Last thing we need is more homage paid to The Matrix with bullet time...
--- http://foo.ca
This Start Wars CG stuff is crap. Did you see some of those graphics? Taking a bite of CG fruit from 3 inches way? Gimme a break.
I say bring back scale models! Watch the old movies. See how the X-Wings look real? That's because they are! How about that AT-AT or "Chicken-Walker"? They looked great, too. They're just small, but hell, WE can't tell.
Yoda as a CG didn't look as real (shaddows and debth looked off), the vehicles, cities, characters, monsters, animals... everything CG looked horrible, except maybe for the light-sabers and lasers.
Wait, I take it back: R2-D2 and C3P0 looked good... oh yeah, they were real! My bad.
I would love it if Lucus, for Epesode III, tossed the CG and brought back the models, rubber masks, and puppets.
If Slashdot is where the spelling-challenged go when they die, I'm in heaven.
They've gotten to the point where they think "Who needs skill when you have the force?"
Could someone please expain the Michelle Yeoh-Dah?
Er, Nevermind
They thought it was unseemly and undignified for Yoda to bounce through the fight like a Superball loose in a toy store.
That's because it was. This part of the movie really sickened me and should never have been in there. Yoda was a wise, old master. He didn't need to fight, and yet still retained qualities of power and intimidation as a Jedi Master. This movie was nothing but cheap effects and this was the worst of them by far.
Is your browser retarded?
I thought that was Bruce Lee's hand gesture that Neo was paying homage to.
Don't moderate flamebait as Troll. Know the difference or you will be Meta-moderated.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
This is the one example I give to folks about why I did not like ATC. Granted there are many more but this one stuck out the most. Just because Lucas made the crowd ooh and ahh doesn't mean he did it right.
I think the animators were right.
He could have accomplished so much more by never even moving his feet.
What is cooler? A jedi that has to jump off the ground for every stroke. NEVER touching his target and showing no forthought?
Or one who stands their ground defending themselves when attacked, pressing only for a resolution to the immediate confilct. And using the force to gauge his opponent protect himself and ensure his victory.
If folks hadn't figured it out, Lucas stole from popular culture when creating the original Episodes.
He must have figured if it worked once it should work again.
Only problem is our pop culture now is so devoid of any meaning that it poisons the story.
Example: He stole from The Matrix in the design of the cloning tanks, again on the hand gesture from Yoda to initiate combat, again with Yoda's obsesion over acrobatics over substance. And can anyone not see the obvious link between Gladiator and the execution sequence.
I could go on about many of the other reasons but this truely shows that Lucas is nothing more than a regurgitator of Pop trash.
Can anyone truely belive that the baddest Jedi master couldn't even make ONE touch on his enemy? Do you think that when Doku starts the pillar falling that it wouldn't have been a hell of a lot easier to just redirect the pillar onto Doku's ship rather than showing off by levitating it?
Lucas destroyed all of the mysticism around yoda in less than 5 Minutes.
One good thing about music... when it hits you, you feel no pain. So hit me with music. -Bob Marley
...and knights are combatants. It only makes sense for their most respected member to be able dish it out when necessary.
That said, Yoda is more in touch with the light side of the force than all of them. When he is a peace it flows through him and he can do wonders. I personally thought that he should just have "relaxed" and start tossing Doku around like a rag doll when he wipped out the light saber. It is peace that has always been Yoda's ally not violence. I think the Yoda we see in AOTC is more rash and youthful himself. He is arrogant and still has a lesson to learn.
The 'move' that Neo did was was THE SIGNATURE MOVE OF BRUCE LEE!
Come on, while Keanu did kick some AI butt in that movie, credit must be given where credit is due.
The only question now being who would win in a fight? Neo? Bruce Lee? Or Yoda?
Neo can bend reality, Yoda's got the force, and Bruce Lee just takes the hits and keeps coming.
fexter (original story submitter) here...
o ri es/20020525/299070.html
It's only fair to note that the article concludes that it was cool for Yoda to do this, after all:
But, boy, were they wrong: The scene has played like gangbusters, and Yoda is by far the most popular character in the new film (as a recent EW.com poll confirms). He even became the star of the ads, which dropped romantic-lead costars Natalie Portman and Hayden Christensen for him.
But I think this points out the bigger flaw with the movie: that a mentor character becomes, with ease, more popular than the supposed heroes.
I think the writing and direction were the root cause of this.
This article:
http://nationalpost.com/search/story.html?f=/st
was really spot on. All about the missing rogue character.
Lucas talks all about Joseph Campbell's mythology structure, which focuses on the hero's journey. But somehow, in the last two movies, Lucas has managed to avoid giving us any heroes we could enjoy watching.
Sure, he has given us a couple characters who we at least like, but that doesn't mean they're heroes who we root for all the way along, and who we grow *with*. The most recent two movies are more of a series of events than heroes' journeys.
fexter, ashintaro.com
why was Yoda straining to lift the column thing in ep. 2, when in the eyes of the force (as it were) everything is the same. Someone as 'powerful' as Yoda shouldn't have had to strain at all. and why didn't he maneuver it to crush Dooku's escape thing?
That is one fucking awesome movie! That fight scene you describe in only one of several awesome scenes. What makes that particular scene particularly cool is that neither Jet Li or the old Japanese master really want to fight but feel obligated to do so because of the political strife between China and Japan that is a constant undertone in the film. And while the two hold mutual respect for each other, they are perfectly willing to kill the other if need be. But once they start to fight, they both realize their commonality is much more important than their differences, which are really externally-imposed.
Cool movie! Go rent it if you wanna see some kick-ass martial arts!
GMD
watch this
The site didn't have any "details"(!), all it had was a picture of this guy... Well I'm sure you know...
I see the Yoda scene as an expedient solution to problem. I knew Yoda was going to "throw-down" in AOTC, and I wondered how they'd do it. No matter what I pictured in my head it didn't look right, and the animators had to do it on the screen. The solution Lucas came up with seems to be: make him move so fast you can't look at him while he's fighting. Part of me wants to call it it a cop out, but personally I think it works.
It also sort of bothers me when adults complain about Jar-Jar and now CG Yoda. We all saw the original trilogy for the first time when we were younger than we are now. I don't know about you, but I accepted the Ewoks then, and in subsequent viewings I've accepted them (for better or worse) as part of Star Wars package. Attempting impartiality, I don't think they are any better than Jar Jar or CG Yoda.
George Lucas himself, confronted by the fact that the Death Star explosion (and other explosions in a vacuum) shouldn't make a boom said something like: "A lot of people have a lot of money invested in this movie, and when something blows up they expect there to be a boom, so I give them a boom."
Science fiction can be heavy on the science or heavy on the fiction. I think it's clear which side of that fence George Lucas has chosen: you can either go to the show, suspend your disbelief, and be entertained. Or you stay home. But I don't think anyone should expect the prequel movies to become to them now, what the original trilogy was to them starting nearly 25 years ago.
But just ONE paragraph above, they admit Yoda was replacing the horrible duo of Portman/Christensen in the previews (which is the other 90% of the movie!):
How you can bow to "Emporor Lucas" for botching 90% of the movie? They shouldn't be bowing, they should be chastising him for not being able to make the rest of the movie worth watching.
If only that Yoda scene was at the beginning, I probably go again, just so I could take my girlfriend to see it and then leave before the "romance" and "dialog" begins.
i clicked on the link too. it had a pornographic picture.
I thought Kermit the Frog on Meth was more appropriate...
If you see Yoda on the road, run him over.
yes, there was one, and she did a fine job of protecting herself from that dog monster. but anakin whats his face was this HUGE creep and she still went for him! so that crosses her off my list of respectable females. instead of Yoda being male (even though there's no prominant indication of this fact) it should be female, or at least have a female counterpart. havnig males do all the dirty work all the time is dumb and repressive of how far we've come n feminism in the last 30 or 40 years. females woudl do a much better job at fighting crime, since they're smarter on the whole.
Okay, mentally substitute the Swedish Chef for Yoda.
Below is a repreint of a top ten (plus one) list entitled Top 10 Things I learned from Attack of the Clones that circulated around work that was originally compiled by Dan Charlson.
1. There are no police, or more importantly, traffic cops or highway patrol officers, on Coruscant. Endangering pedestrians and other vehicles is just "no big deal."
2. Six-year old Jedi trainees are so capable with their light sabres that you can group them very tightly together -- even wearing "blast shield helmets" -- and have them swing away at training beacons without any concerns for safety.
3. Saruman can wield a mean light sabre -- although thankfully, he hasn't forgotten how to use telekinesis (but why didn't he do some more body-slamming?!? Wait -whaddyou mean this is Star Wars...?)
4. Just because you put a homing device on your opponent's getaway vehicle does NOT mean you shouldn't also follow him or her into a really dangerous asteroid belt instead of just waiting for him or her to come out the other side (you have a tracking device, remember!) -- of course, on the other hand, flying through asteroid belts at high speed is required in the Star Wars universe. [Thanks to JLyle for this one.]
5. The GSO -- Galactic Standards Organization (the future counterpart to the ISO and W3.org) -- has been so successful that not only have ALL major industrial manufacturers adopted the same data access, networking, and transfer protocols throughout the Republic, but so have secret, guerilla arms factories -- and besides, those same factories wouldn't use security software or electronic countermeasures to defend themselves against network intrusions anyway.
6. Even though the Republic has scads of enormous, elongated wedge-shaped Star Destroyers, you should never put them into high orbit around a planet and use them to prevent enemy starships from taking off, let alone using them offensively as long-range artillery weapons against enemy ground forces. Pitting land force against land force is pretty much the best way to go -- you can always make or get more robot or clone soldiers...
7. C3PO is so well-designed that there are power cells in every major constituent of his body -- including his head. [Thanks to JacobJ for this one.]
8. You don't need to wear a helmet or even goggles while you drive hovercraft, land speeders, or other flying vehicles in a desert environment such as Tatooine.
9. Little Boba Fett is so accustomed to seeing his dad's face only behind his cool helmet that it just wouldn't occur to him to lift the visor or remove the helmet to look at his poor dead dad's decapitated visage (try saying that three times fast!).
10. One's reputation, manner, and conduct just can't be guessed by observation alone -- you need to have a name which transparently broadcasts to all but the stupidest that you're not a nice person: Darth Sidious, Lord Tyranno, Count Dooku (?!?) -- not to mention Darth Maul, etc....
11. Who's the biggest, baddest dude of the whole Galaxy? He's short, he's green, he has thinning hair, and nope -- he doesn't _really_ need that walking stick after all...
'the guy who did Jar-Jar has now f---ed up Yoda. Burn him'
The only reason people aren't saying it is because almost anyone who cared about Star Wars has given up on the new ones. Jar Jar was just the poster child of the The Phantom Menace problems. In the end, people will dislike Dragonball-Yoda just as much.
Only fewer of them will actually care.
People kept telling me about how great the Yoda fight scene was, and how it kicked ass, and was the best part in the movie, and that it would cure cancer and bring world peace!
:)
Well, maybe not those last two..
Honestly, it was decent, but it was certainly no Boromir defends the hobbits. (It wasn't even a Luke vs. Vader!)
Yoda turned into a flea. So what? He still couldn't take Dooku. Frankly, I'm wondering whether or not if Dooku is stronger than Yoda. Dooku took two Jedi out of commision, and then immediately fought the 'strongest' of all Jedi, to a standstill.
What I found most enjoyable about the entire scene wasn't the fight itself, but Yoda coming off his caffiene rush and hobbling around with his cane again.
I wanna know, is it Peter Panned or not? I can't stand that stuff in Kung Fu. Jet Li has the skills. I hate it when he fakes it.
is it true that Jon Katz is a member of NAMBLA?
Do you even lift?
These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.
I liked the scene, but I always envisioned Yoda fighting by just standing still and using the force to manipulate his lightsaber without actually touching it.
Maybe that's not practical in the realm of swordfighting, but I think it'd be a lot cooler.
So if the guy doesn't perform up to the standards of the spirit of dead, Joe Campbell and reinvent the entire cosmology of Western Mythology then he's a smuck. But, if he tries to live up to the expectations for a reinvention of the Western Mythology, then... he's a smuck. Fans being Fanboyz he should take all the fucking money he can, go home to his mansion and super model bride, play with all his toys and think, 'Fuck you one and all'. :)
"Academicians are more likely to share each other's toothbrush than each other's nomenclature."
Cohen
I personally think that all aspects of digital film in the Star Wars I & II cheapend the Star Wars Saga. Instead of great story telling Lucas has gone over to the dark side relying on cheap tricks. Digital film technology is not as good as real honest to goodness film. It doesn't have the warmth or realism of film. I'm a photographer and use a Nikon D1x digital camera (one of the best) for snapshots and other photos that are not very important to me. I would never use a digicam for my artwork. Yoda just plain old sucked as a CG character. There just was not the emotional depth or magic that we see in him as a puppet. It really saddens me to see to see what has become of the Star Wars Saga that was so very important to me as a child. I'm glad I have the original un"enhanced" versions of the original triology on video tape.
There's no flying in it, if that's what you mean. It's pretty impressive stuff. The only thing that's really fake about it is how much abuse the fighters take. Some of those shots are definitely death blows.
watch this
I had heard he bore afaint resembalnce to Marlon Brando, but with less of a dripping neck
This was the most interesting part of the article for me:
At first, anxious to demonstrate CG's full photorealistic power, the animators took Yoda far beyond his crude former self, having his mouth form full phonemes and moving his body around faster. They also ironed out all the wrinkles: No more jiggly ears or shaky arms or broadly pantomimed walks. But these initial results ''looked creepy,'' says Coleman. ''It looked like a little green man. It wasn't Yoda.''
So they ''dirtied up'' the animation, aping all of Yoda's limitations. When original puppeteer (and voicer) Frank Oz saw the footage, he freaked. ''He said, 'You're even matching my mistakes! Those ear wiggles -- you've got to get those out!''' But Coleman, and especially Lucas, vetoed Oz's request, arguing that the evident puppet-ness of Yoda is in fact what audiences remember best about him, and they still expect it.
They were right. I was impressed by the fact that Yoda still moved like he used to, and didn't suddenly have overarticulated lips. I also noticed his ears trembling occasionally as his head moved. This was essential to selling us on the CGI.
I much prefer the more organic look of puppetry and stop-motion to some of the poorly done CGI in the last couple SW movies (and the "Special Edition" of the 1st trilogy). Two examples: In Star Wars: SE there was a lot of crap that was supposed to "enhance" Mos Eisley, including a Stormtrooper (I think) falling off of a beast he was riding. It looked stupid and fake. In ATC, there was the Sound of Music scene where CGI Anakin fell off of his giant snail, or whatever the hell that thing was. Also incredibly fake. Clue to Lucas: put REAL people on horses, or even on big stuffed models of the creatures you're portraying (like the Taun-Tauns in Empire), and film them falling off. Looks much better.
...hand up my ass star!
I thought it was curious that during the scene after Amidala falls out of the ship onto the sand dune, and Obi-wan and Anakin are arguing about going back for her, that the ship doesn't seem to be taking any evasive action to avoid the enemy ships that are shooting at them from behind. They're just cruising along nice and smooth.
A: Kermit's finger!
Thank you, I'll be here all week.
Watch it again. As the helmet files off, 2 shadows diverge. Head fell out long before Boba picks it up.
This sig intentionally left justified.
Darth Sidious, Lord Tyranno, Count Dooku (?!?)
The problem with being "the mysterious Count Dooku" is that the "mysterious" appellation has the opposite of the intended effect, and removes all mystery. Yep, he's the bad guy. Otherwise why would he be so mysterious?
N4st0r, trixx0r h0bb1tz0rz! Th3y st0l3 0ur pr3c10uzz!
Isn't he a real guy? Why didn't he play himself?
Personally, I think that Ep 1 rivaled Empire as the best Star Wars at the time. I think that Ep 2 blows them all away. This nonsense about the original trilogy being better is absurd.
Jar Jar is NO MORE annoying than C-3PO, except that as a kid I thought that 3PO was funny, and Jar Jar was more annoying to a 20 year old.
The acting in the original trilogy is AWFUL. Hands down, the acting is better.
The dialogue STILL sucks.
However, ALL 5 movies are fun flicks. In all 5 movies, scenes on Tatooine (probably mispelled these days) dragged, though Ep2 sucked less in that regard.
They are fun. Luke/Anakin are whiny, Anakin being less whiny than ANH Luke.
These Space Operas are fun.
It isn't Sci-fi, because it isn't from the future... It's from a long, long time ago!
Alex
Admittedly, the first part of Yoda's lightsaber battle was reasonably cool. But once he started bouncing around like a freaking bumblebee, it got annoying fast.
:)
I think the whole thing should have been taken out. Yoda is above physical combat, or at least he should be. I really love the line in the movie where Dooku says something like, "It looks like this can't be settled with the force - we'll have to use lightsabers." Uhm, isn't the force supposed to be more powerful than lightsabers? Why didn't they just play rock-paper-scissors instead? It seems like the force isn't useful for a whole lot, since the Jedi always immediatly pull out their light sabers before even trying to thrash each other mentally.
I really hated the movie, and Lucas' mistreatment of Yoda was one of the reasons. Our only hope for the next movie is if Lucas kicks the bucket in the next couple of months and they appoint me writer/director. I promise I'll set things right.
You have all seen em on old western shows or in a lucky luke comic.
A "doctor" is riding in to town with a wonder medicine,
an old guy is makeing his way to the stage on his crutch, his bendt back and slow slow walk.
he takes a sip of the medicine and hes bouncing around
like a five year old on speed.
the only difference is tat after the fight yoga is
yet again an old, broken down green thingie.
@
8b) when you do 90 mph wearing a cape on one of those flying motorcycle thingies it flaps slowly in the breeze rather than trying to strangle you
They have taken a hint straight from HERE
One thing I noticed about Yoda that I don't think that anyone else has:
None of the other Jedi ever see him fight.
Not in episode 1,2,4,5,6 and I doubt they will see him fight in episode 3.
In the episode 2 fight scene, Obiwan and Anakin are beaten and thrown to the side. When they finally wake up from the beating, Yoda is back limping around with the cane.
Downmix - The Artscene News Source!
Go download yourself a copy of the Proxomitron to get rid of all the ads. Works wonders on that particular page.
I'm starting to wonder if our culture isn't collectively losing its ability to suspend their disbelief. Of course, a diminutive warrior like Yoda suddenly flying through the air is going to be funny on the surface. But if you were lost in the film like I was, really submerged into the world on-screen, not self-consciously fearful of what people might think if you let yourself go and connect with it, then that moment was one of the most startling moments in all the SW films.
One nice touch I noticed is that Yoda grabs his cane afterward and we are left to ponder the fact that this guy just moved like lightning in his fight, but has difficultly with the act of walking. It strikes you that he was exerting the Force on himself to move himself through the air and engage in battle. It makes a definitive statement about his ability.
I didn't have trouble with this. I feel sorry for those who couldn't enter that world and experience it full-force. Pity.
--Rick
--Rick "If it isn't broken, take it apart and find out why."
When the music gets all silly and MM goes nuts on those punks that come to mess up his garden and beat the hell out of Daniel.
KK2 was way better in general.
Sure the crane technique was a step above and beyond that Star Trek(TM) double fisted absurdity that he used in KK2 to beat that guy who also had a cameo in The Game (front desk at the hotel), but Tamlyn Tomita was THE number one cause of the "yellow fever" common among white male tech workers nowadays.
What more can you say about a movie than that?
~D
"compensate for his low stature"
and I agree that Yoda needs this kind of ability. Although, being so short could be an advantage. It would be much more difficult to protect ones legs, but yoda, so quick, could protect all his body. Then, when the opponent least expects it, Yoda could hurl himself upwards and take the mutha out!
In Vino Veritas
he looks like marlon brando?
..."doesn't have nothing to do with physical power or the ability to affect the physical world"
Tell that to Robert Oppenheimer.
-- Terry
"the crew... thought it was unseemly and undignified for Yoda to bounce through the fight like a Superball loose in a toy store. ''They thought, My God, this is never going to work."
I admit I thought the same the first time i saw Pat Morita playing ol' Miyagi, but he turned out all right too.
There's nothing Intelligent about Intelligent Design.
4. Just because you put a homing device on your opponent's getaway vehicle does NOT mean you shouldn't also follow him or her into a really dangerous asteroid belt
Speaking of this scene, probably the coolest sound effect I have ever heard was when Jango Fett shot those seismic charges at Obi-Wan. Does anyone else remember the noise they made? SOOOO cool. Much better than the normal explosion sound we've all heard so much.
python -c "x='python -c %sx=%s; print x%%(chr(34),repr(x),chr(34))%s'; print x%(chr(34),repr(x),chr(34))"
(the future counterpart to the ISO and W3.org)
A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away. . .
Coding Blog
What is defined as dignified here?
Can't be so! The Star Wars story takes place "Long, long ago."
Perhaps the Kung Fu masters are the descendants of Jedi?
Its alot harder to move Jedi/Sith around with the force than it is mundane objects.
And saying that size doesnt matter is relative: the amount of effort yoda had to put into stopping the attack is commesurate with the amount of energy that dooku put into it, perhaps compounded with the possible death of the jedi beneath it- he was being careful: and perhaps precient:
He may have wanted to let tyrannous get away, knowing that the master was his true quarry, and that dooku was not the master...
He's certainly not very wise, considering how badly the Jedi get blindsided by the Dark Side.
You think him not wise. I think he knows exactly what is going on. I think he has seen what is going to happen and just isn't telling anyone. Throughout the movie he is looking at those around him that are doing stupid things and just sort of shaking his head at their stupidity.
Remember, he knows quite well that the two sides of the force must have balance. For a long time now there has been a large presense of the light side of the force, but where has the dark side been? No where. He knows that in order for such a large amount of the light side of the force to be available, there must also be a dark side element out there.
I think that the use of CG here is a double edged sword. I personally laughed histerically when I saw the Yoda fight scene, so I would say that computer graphics are good for something. On the other hand, how does an actor interact with an animated character they can't see in an environment they are not actually in? Yes, actors are supposed to be able to perform in ficticious surroundings, but by giving the actors a real person to interact with and real surroundings to perform in, their performances are also going to be that much more real. I personally think that this is a big factor in some of the wooden performances I saw in both Episode 1 and Episode 2.
How is not the question, Why is the question.
So, all that time in the swamp when Luke was carrying that little guy around on his back, he could have jumped out of Luke's backpack and run a marathon ... all you have to do is piss him off? Is that what Lucas was trying to say. I liked most of the rest of the movie, but Yoda's fight scene made me feel dirty.
"We shall party like the Greeks of old! You know the ones I mean." - HedonismBot
Hint: If Jerry Bruckheimer had made the film, that scene would have been about 5 non-stop minutes of Yoda flitting about like a psychotic firefly, and it would have been THE reason to see the movie.
Might be the first "scientically accurate" sound fx in the entire Star Wars universe. ;-)
I thought the fight scene was cool... besides, what else is going to happen when you have someone in midair, with a lightsabre, when their lightsabre hits someone else's? They're gonna bounce, dude... (oh, by the way, my first post :) )
Time is an illusion, lunchtime doubly so. --Ford Prefect
Lucas, in my opinion, kept it short and sweet. He got in everything that really needed to be got in. And, besides, I don't think that Yoda was in any way undignified. If you ask me, Dooku was the undignified one... he was doing his absolute best to keep up with a very old...umm... whatever Yoda is. Honestly. :)
Time is an illusion, lunchtime doubly so. --Ford Prefect
The Yoda scenes were entertaining, but could in no way shape or form make up for the horrific acting by Anakin or the awful dialog.
Not to mention your fender. And the rest of your car.
Time is an illusion, lunchtime doubly so. --Ford Prefect
During the big one, by the fireplace...yeah, that one... When Anakin says his famous (very stupid) line "If you're suffering as much as I am, tell me...", someone in the theatre (all right, I admit, it was me) shouted, "We are! Cut the scene!"
Moral: ANAKIN CAN'T ACT!!
Time is an illusion, lunchtime doubly so. --Ford Prefect
... instead of drawing lightsabers, Yoda (who would be a puppet, because believing a CG image is Yoda is so much harder than believing a wad of latex with Frank Oz's hand up its ass is Yoda) should have fought Dooku by using the Force to summon a clunky ethereal knight (done in cheap front projection of course; matte lines just look more -real-, and matching color palettes are for sissies), who then fight in jerky slow-motion.
During this battle, there is much groaning, pantomiming, and grimacing (except for Yoda, who has only two expressions: "furrow brows" and "lower ears." That's okay though, because PUPPETS GOOD.) Then, at the end, when there is a big flash of light (all done with squibs), Dooku says "You never could beat me, Egg Shen."
Yeah, that totally would have been worth my five bucks.
(Oh, and bring back Mr. Perfect, Irvin "Empire Strikes Back, Robocop II, SeaQuest DSV" Kershner to direct, because that man can do no wrong. Just watch that Amazing Stories episode "Hell Toupee.")
Please, take off the rose-colored glasses. The special effects technology of Star Wars has always, always, always been a work in progress. Watch the difference in space battles, and the lightsaber battles, between Episodes IV-VI. They make a quantum leap in sophistication, complexity, and speed.
That's because FX technology was, and is, always developing. This expectation that CG is somehow infallibe, and all its imagery should somehow be perfect and consistent, is rubbish. There's probably a very good reason there wasn't a CGI Yoda in Episode I -- and he will probably look much better in Episode III -- just like everything else.
Star Wars has always been about pushing the technological envelope as far as it will go. Sometimes it works. Sometimes they drop the ball. This has not changed since 1977. Look at any of the movies and you will find places where the special effects are truly great, and places where they stink on ice. Why all of a sudden this warrants another "George Lucas sucks" troll of a story is beyond me.
You're right. The fact that these wastebasket-sized seismic charges, unlike that candy ass firecracker called the Death Star, have sounds that travel at a finite speed.
Wait, what's the speed of sound in a vacuum again? Oh yeah! There isn't one!
Yes, they were cool sound effects, but the pause was VERY contrived and VERY distracting.
Why yes, I AM a rocket scientist!
I think they meant to say: like a Happy Fun Ball loose.
May suddenly accelerate to dangerous speeds..
Do NOT taunt Happy Fun Ball.
help fill in hidden movie endings @ End of the Credits
I am reminded of a Saturday Night Live sketch starring William Shatner, in which he is pelted with inane questions from feverish trekkies about "What was the combination to the lock in Episode 17?" Shatner tries to explain that it was just a prop, and there wasn't really a lock and therefore no combination at all, and the trekkies just stare without comprehension.
You are those fuckwits now. And yes, that means you too, you butt-munch, who are even now preparing a reply that goes something like "But Ep1 and Ep2 really were betrayals." Yes, you are the fuckwits.
Our intelligent designer has never created an animal that we couldn't improve by strapping a bomb to it.
Thank you for the information. I was living a lie as a logged-in member, but now that I know the truth about ACs, I've converted.
The depth and breadth of the community devoted to irrelevant posts astounds me.
I can't be the only one who remembers Yoda beating R2D2 with a stick and stealing Luke's candybar. I can think of many reasons that the recent Star Wars movies are no good, but this one doesn't fly.
i agree
look at the recent tyson fight for evidence, lewis had 6 inches on him(but only 15lbs) and much longer reach.
lewis fought rather defensivly though, anyways it worked, tyson's face was in bad shape.
Bring back the old version of slashdot.
there is some wire work in it(ibelieve jet li runs and flips off a wall at one point).
it is no doubt one of the best martial arts movies out there. unfortunatly disney's release of it is cut(the ending is slightly different, in the original ending, jet li trains a group of martial artists to fight the japanese, also a smoking scene at the brothel is cut) and dubbed in english(instead of japanese and either cantonese or mandarin, the funny part is that the dialogue was changed in the parts of the movie where english was spoken(like the court scene). this is too bad because what the judge says in english is funny. its also still 25 bucks at best buy.
you can find the hk dvd online, but it is dubbed in the wrong chinese(can't remember if it is cantonese or mandarin), it is definatly worth watching and i'm surprised it didnt make it to the screens instead of black mask.
Bring back the old version of slashdot.
Welcome to the new new economy :)
Jeremy
Dooku was just barely keeping Yoda at bay, and Yoda wasn't even winded - Yoda was just playing with Dooku at that point. To me, the scene was really well done and I thought somewhat the same as the scene you mention.
:-)
As for just force shoving them aside - how do you know it wouldn't have taken the floor out with it if it were just left to fall? Frankly, I'd trust Yoda's judement in this matter if I were you!
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Aww, I totally missed that. I was sure the head was going to fall out of the helmet as Boba picked it up.
I think that can be resolved by saying that larger objects are not more difficult to move, but that they might take a bit longer to overcome.
Also, Yoda did say the difference in size was all in his mind. Perhaps even Yoda faces some barriers in that respect and can not totally get the size of an object out of his mind, even though he knows logically it would not be any different to move.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Yoda, much Jolt I drink. Fight must I not when Jolt I drink. Superball I become - hmmmmmm!
People discover the meaning of life between getting piss drunk and the following hangover.
Wait, what's the speed of sound in a vacuum again? Oh yeah! There isn't one!
It isn't a vaccuum, it's a plasma after the charge goes off.
Dense enough to carry a sound wave to a camera vantage point a couple thousand yards away? Where do they put all that plasma in the wastebasket?
My contention isn't that it's not explainable...it's just not consistent with the other four movies. It's contrived.
Why yes, I AM a rocket scientist!
You forgot the most important one.
12) When you have the technology to make anything no matter how small or large float, hover and manuever perfectly you will still make devices with wheels, legs, rollers and all kinds of other cumbersome locomotion methods.
War is necrophilia.
...makes it that much better. The DLP projector is silent, so there was absolutely no noise at all to be heard. A remarkable moment.
Good thing it didn't happen about, 20 minutes later, which is when everyone started their mad rushes to the restroom.
I've seen films of him when he was younger-- in his 40s and he was much more aggressive, handling simultaneous attacks by numerous opponents. By numerous I mean more than 5 simultaneously. There were no subtle movements, his attackers went down hard.
Back in his day, he was quite the badass. Some rank him as the second best martial artist that ever lived, after Musashi.
So it didn't surprise me a bit when Yoda turned out to be an amazing swordsman.
Why are all explosions in space only 2D?
The reality of free software.
Bacon with a side order of green eggs.
This balance issue always got me - I think it means that in the end, the universe is better without Jedi. Luke is probably the last one. Otherwise, if there are light side jedi, there will always be dark side jedi, right?
Robots are everywhere, and they eat old people's medicine for fuel.
And the new economy is defective because I did not read any of the ads on the site and can't remember anything other than the article! I wouldn't advertise there!
--jeff++
ipv6 is my vpn
Seems like a pretty thin line - if you know exactly what's going to happen and that it's got to happen, why bother to even get out of bed?
I have to agree with the naysayers. For the first second or two, I was just struck in awe at seeing Yoda in a lightsabre scene. After the initial shock, however, I really was almost horrified at how Lucas went about it. It just seemed so fucking goofy. I thought it would have been much, much better if they would have done it similar to that scene in the Matrix. I haven't seen the movie in a while, so forgive me if I mess something up. From what I can remember, Neo gets a second wind and returns to fighting the agents. Instead of going all out crazy, he fights very relaxed and deliberate, but he's still able to outpace the agents and kicks their asses. I think it would have been much better to see it done that way. Lucas is going insane. The original three episodes are soooo much better compared to the first two. Is it just me, or did both actors who portrayed Anakin Skywalker have absolutely NO acting ability whatsoever? I appreciate the fact that Lucas is trying out new people, but FUCKING CHRIST. If I wanted to see bad acting, I'd see U.S. Seals. And its sequel, U.S. Seals 2. Although I'll admit II was better than I. I liked the big Jedi battle, but Yoda's fight scene just irritated me severely. It doesn't seem natural at all. If he can channel the Force and do all that fighting for a couple minutes, surely he can summon the Force to walk around without a cane for a couple hours. Also, did R2D2 run out of gas? I don't recall him flying in any of the original episodes. I know it's hard, but COME ON. You can't have better technology in the past. Sheesh. I can't wait for the sure-to-be-crapfest that is Episode III. George Lucas really is a no-talent hack. Just tagging along on all those Speilberg movies. I hope III totally flops. Of course I will see it, just to fill in the gap that exists between Episode II: Attack of the Shitty Episode and Episode IV. God I really am starting to hate Lucas.
"Oh, hell, just shoot him with the gun" - Steven Speilberg, during the filming of Raiders of the Lost Ark, when Harrison Ford had an injury from the previous day's filming.
Egads! I don't think ANYONE could call that one.
Piggy could probably channel more than enough of the Dark Side (hell, she damn near DEFINES rage) than ANY of these puny Sith Lords.
Yes. Yoda has some heavy-duty Force skills himself. But Piggy has a spinning right hook that makes the Death Star look like a popgun!
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
Three words: Li Mu Bai. Things would have been better if Yoda had had the dignity of Mu Bai for this fight scene.
Wouldn't that just be a bad ass crossover, Li Mu Bai against Doku. Then I could stomach the flying because it would be graceful, not like Sonic.
Shoulda had Woo Ping choerograph the fight. Maybe we can hope King George will get him to consult for the next one.
What if it is just turtles all the way down?
what a shitty 'first post'
Yeah, that totally would have been worth my five bucks.
Where do you live that a movie costs only five bucks?
Lucas stole ideas about endor and ROTJ from Akira Kurosawa's The Hidden Fortress, in fact, most of the original Star Wars movies were based off that movie and other Kurosawa works...
Here how it should have gone down. Copy Kurosawa again. Yoda pulls a Sanjuro Final Scene. Showdown. Yoda vs Dooku. Just like Mifune fights the banished samurai at the end of Sanjuro. And just like in Sanjuro have Yoda just take Dooku out with one move. Thats It. One move. THATS how brilliant Yoda is. He doesnt even flinch. And you could screw those PG-13 ratings and do blood spirting all over the place or have Dooku slide apart in half.. Like the blood from Sanjuro in the last scene. Nothing was more badass then Mifune in that film, and to liken Yoda's character to him would have added more depth to the story overall.
Thinking back now, I feel most of Ep. 1 and 2 could have used more Kurosawa influence. Lucas used to idolize him, but now hes too caught up in his own self image. Its a damn shame hes draging Star Wars along w/ his ego.
-- -=innocent ramblings from the mind of an insomniatic programmer=-
My favourite! The way he rolls in the air with the two-bladed lightsabre, wow.
They mention at some point in the movie that the "dark side" is screwing up their force powers - remember SJ and Yoda talking? They said they couldn't tell the Senate that they were losing their powers..
Cheers,
Backov
In the law there is no overlap between theft and copyright infringement whatsoever.
The REAL problem is that all of these people have a split set of expectations from this film.
FIRST:
They expect to be overtaken with the same sense of awe that they did when they sat down to the originals 25 years ago.
NEWS FLASH! Ain't gonna happen! It's ridiculous to expect a 25-35 year-old adult to react the same way to this material that a 5-10 year-old might. Let's face it. Adults are much more jaded than children are. They've had a lot more experience and exposure to things.bright flashes and explosions all over the place simply don't hold an adult's attention the way they do for a child.
Plus. How many kids ACTUALLY paid attention to most of the dialog? Not many. Absorption of that stuff came later on. Bright flashes and explosions all over the place simply don't hold an adult's attention the way they do for a child.
SECOND:
These adults, while they want to recapture the same sense of magic they experienced in the first one, want the film to conform to what they've already come to see and know in science, sci-fi, and space opera. If something doesn't jibe with the way THEY want things to be, they have a problem.
Face it. Star Wars has NEVER been Science Fiction. It's been a fairly blunt philosophical play (because the kids Lucas targets his SW films at would have been completely lost with something more subtle) in the form of Space Opera, where the sci-fi underpinnings were really no more than a means to move the plot along.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
probably the coolest sound effect
That was to make up for Amidala's spaceship sounding like a WWI bi-plane.
I for one was appalled.
Yoda did not look dignified, he looked like a Taco Bell dog on Crack.
Overall the dialogue in the movie absolutely sucked.
Finally, could anyone care to explain to me how in the "world" seismic charges work in the vacuum of outerspace?
You forgot that it is not okay for Anakin to go back to save his woman because it isn't an important goal, but it is okay for yoda to let dooku go to save anakin from a falling metal pillar.
-Sean
That was for Britney Spears' "Crossroads", not AotC...
There is a big lightsaber duel scene in Crossroads? Damn...
Or more to the point, function following form. I mean, Yoda is a frog! Small, green...need I say more? How else would you expect him to fight, except for hopping around? I think there was really no other way for the small green one to duke it out.
-- Waht? Tehr's a preveiw buottn?
Sheesh. that was the scene with the most horrible dialogue in the entire film. I wanted to shoot myself when Lucas had 3po unload that giant brick of cheese. I mean, one pun would have been fine, but that long string of horrible puns was just too much IMHO.
the part that was retarded was how he struggled to move the pillar when Dooku collapsed it over Obi-wan and Anakin - move the PEOPLE, dumbass, not the humongous pillar thing.
If you can explain to me _HOW_ this is bad, then maybe I can understand you. Otherwise, I thought the love scenes were *okay*.
1. There are no police, or more importantly, traffic cops or highway patrol officers, on Coruscant. Endangering pedestrians and other vehicles is just "no big deal."
;)
;)
;)
;)
;-D
;) ), and allow his memory to be kept functional and accessible in the event of damage to his torso or primary power unit. We've never seen his arms or legs move on their own when they fall off, so it would seem that his head and his torso each have a power supply.
;)
;) As for the others...Dooku isn't really a sinister-sounding name (silly, yes, sinister, no... ;) ). And maybe I missed something, but who the heck is Lord Tyranno? Don't remember hearing that name before...
;) Although I just can't picture Yoda with a full head of hair. Maybe he never did have one. Heck, maybe he never had any hair at all when he was a young...um...green short dude. Ya know how old men get hair growing out of their ears? ;)
Maybe there are...but you know there's never a cop around when you need one...
2. Six-year old Jedi trainees are so capable with their light sabres that you can group them very tightly together -- even wearing "blast shield helmets" -- and have them swing away at training beacons without any concerns for safety.
They could have been "practice" lightsabers...capable of deflecting a target drone's light blaster bolts, but not of removing the appendages of the trainee next to you.
3. Saruman can wield a mean light sabre -- although thankfully, he hasn't forgotten how to use telekinesis (but why didn't he do some more body-slamming?!? Wait -whaddyou mean this is Star Wars...?)
Heh...glad I wasn't the only one having deja vu during that point in the movie...
4. Just because you put a homing device on your opponent's getaway vehicle does NOT mean you shouldn't also follow him or her into a really dangerous asteroid belt instead of just waiting for him or her to come out the other side (you have a tracking device, remember!) -- of course, on the other hand, flying through asteroid belts at high speed is required in the Star Wars universe.
Maybe it's a short-range tracking device? Maybe great Jedi Master Obi-Wan's a little hot under the collar at being thrashed by a low-life bounty hunter and his clone-kid, and isn't thinking straight?
5. The GSO -- Galactic Standards Organization (the future counterpart to the ISO and W3.org) -- has been so successful that not only have ALL major industrial manufacturers adopted the same data access, networking, and transfer protocols throughout the Republic, but so have secret, guerilla arms factories -- and besides, those same factories wouldn't use security software or electronic countermeasures to defend themselves against network intrusions anyway.
Artoo's just a rolling, beeping Black Box. He can crack any system in seconds. Maybe there's a Powerbook under that blue dome?
6. Even though the Republic has scads of enormous, elongated wedge-shaped Star Destroyers, you should never put them into high orbit around a planet and use them to prevent enemy starships from taking off, let alone using them offensively as long-range artillery weapons against enemy ground forces. Pitting land force against land force is pretty much the best way to go -- you can always make or get more robot or clone soldiers...
Those big ships aren't Star Destroyers, though they are probably early ancestors. They seem to be designed more for troop transport and deployment than planetary bombardment. For all we know, they could be lightly-armed transports...we never see them in battle. Remember, the clone army, developed in secret over a decade or so, was Palaptine's ace in the hole. I don't think he had the time or the resources to construct a fleet of powerful warships in the short time he was in power, and it's reasonable to assume that a Republic without a standing army probably didn't have much in the way of a battle fleet either. Palaptine's primary goal at that time would have been to move his army to the battle zone. Once the war gets rolling, he will have plenty of time (and public support) for constructing fleets of massive battle cruisers.
7. C3PO is so well-designed that there are power cells in every major constituent of his body -- including his head.
Well, it wouldn't be suprising that he would have at least a redundant power supply in his head (which obviously contains his cognitive functions). It would make him more modular (as we've seen
8. You don't need to wear a helmet or even goggles while you drive hovercraft, land speeders, or other flying vehicles in a desert environment such as Tatooine.
Luke's landspeeder in ANH had a windscreen. Granted, it was pretty small, but it would have helped. It's also possible that the repulsorlifts in vehicles may have the side effect of repelling sand, dirt, and other particles. Even if they didn't, a light deflector screen could be employed...it wouldn't take much to deflect incoming particles away from the driver. And Anakin has the Force, of course...
9. Little Boba Fett is so accustomed to seeing his dad's face only behind his cool helmet that it just wouldn't occur to him to lift the visor or remove the helmet to look at his poor dead dad's decapitated visage (try saying that three times fast!).
Barring the argument of whether dear old Dad's head was still in his helmet or not (I wasn't paying that much attention, to be honest...), assuming his head WAS still in there, just how is little Boba going to remove the helmet? Reach up his Daddy's neck, grab a handy vertebra, and yank? Ewww...
10. One's reputation, manner, and conduct just can't be guessed by observation alone -- you need to have a name which transparently broadcasts to all but the stupidest that you're not a nice person: Darth Sidious, Lord Tyranno, Count Dooku (?!?) -- not to mention Darth Maul, etc....
Well, for the Sith, perhaps they choose their own names. Obviously, until they gained control of most of the galaxy, they didn't parade them around much. I doubt Darth Sidious introduced himself as such at cocktail parties...
11. Who's the biggest, baddest dude of the whole Galaxy? He's short, he's green, he has thinning hair, and nope -- he doesn't _really_ need that walking stick after all...
Hoo yeah...
DennyK
In the original SW movies (Ep4-6) when a jedi died, their body disappeared. (Yoda, Obi Wan).
They also turned into a ghost. (Yoda, Obi Wan, Anakin)
How come this didn't happen to Qai gon jinn in episode 1? And they burnt his body at the end of the movie? Apparently this was meant to be made clear in Episode 2, but i didn't see how or where.
Just curious.
D.
You can tell how powerful someone is by the magnitude of the crime they can commit and be able to get away with.
5. The GSO -- Galactic Standards Organization (the future counterpart to the ISO and W3.org)
Surely you mean the *past* counterpart...?
In that case, you have no dark Jedi, but you still have guys running around with weapons with destructive power enough to destroy entire planets. It seems to me that the balance of power is radically in favor of the light-side Jedi. Force powers have only a marginal impact on one's ability to seize power, or destroy order. Drone armies and Death Stars are really a lot more useful than the ability to choke someone with your mind when you're trying to keep a galactic empire under your heel. On the other hand, true Jedis have an enormous impact, because without them to pull off miraculous stuff like hitting that exhaust port, the forces of evil would clobber the forces of good, because good is dumb.
Come on man, its a movie. Shit like that can be forgiven.
python -c "x='python -c %sx=%s; print x%%(chr(34),repr(x),chr(34))%s'; print x%(chr(34),repr(x),chr(34))"
I think that Count Dooku is Darth Tyrannus
It must be in the books, I've only heard others talk about this...
When 900 years old YOU reach, bounce as good YOU will not!
her title is queen but she's an elected official - similar to the U.S. president. That her title is "Queen" instead of "President," "Empress," or "Monarch" is a holdover from older times when they had a feudal system of goverment. By way of example, imagine if the United Kingdom decided to start electing the King or Queen...
The most touching thing in the movie for me was the loyal and self sacrificing fight of the clones near the end.
The clones are the perfect soldiers military trainers have aimed for since the Preussians. Loyal to the death, extremely capable, perfectly synchronized in action and never question their commanders.
Over the clones valiant fight for the Jedi was cast the shadow of their next commander. All the courage, capability and simple mindedness of the clones would be used to build a hideous tyranny that would kill and torture billions. All this simply by change in the commanding power.
This has been more or less the case in world history of tyrannies. Loyal, trained individuals are being used as tools of terror and opression by something controlling them.
In this paradox of committing self to danger and action without being fully aware of the consequences, lies the bitter sweet sense that moves in the little boy inside me, when I'm exposed to war depictions like this.
This spawned the thought in me, that nothing human should be allowed to absolutely control such hierarchies of loyalty and obedience. What used to be the wise and good superiors can always be replaced with something terrible, thus transforming the whole hierarchy into a tool of opression, terror, torture...
Not to be completely offtopic:
Since we are not told the exact laws behind the force in Lucas' fantasy universe, it could well be that Yoda's use of the force in fighting was the most effective and wise possibility. The fact that Yoda looked very exhausted after his heavy use of force kept his normal appearance credible.
He can enhance his physical abilities by using the force, but of course he would only do such a thing under extreme circumstances.
The scene after the fight where the clones quickly run in and past the small hunched character fatigued by his duel was wery touching and metaphorical for me.
Pete
... I'm affraid Star Wars *is* Sci-Fi, the genre has nothing to do with wether it's set in the future or the past, nor does the coy Lucas distinction between Sci-Fi and "Space Opera" hold water, you can sub-catagorise it all you like if you feel (for whatever reason) a need to distance it from Sci-Fi, but whatever other label you slap[ on them the filmns fall into the established genre of Science Fiction, deal with it.
I'm informing you in this message that your use of decimal is disturbing to geeks. I think it likely that you do not know what radices mean, or else you would be using hexadecimal. Read about hexadecimal at intuitor and repost your comment using hexadecimal. You may use "0x" as a prefix or "h" as a suffix for the numbers. Intelligent people despise decimal--so try to show some intelligence. Perhaps you are just too stupid to get it. Please reply using this subject--I'll check for replies by it.
Personalized message:
How many RPM?
I'm informing you in this message that your use of decimal is disturbing to geeks. I think it likely that you do not know what radices mean, or else you would be using hexadecimal. Read about hexadecimal at intuitor and repost your comment using hexadecimal. You may use "0x" as a prefix or "h" as a suffix for the numbers. Intelligent people despise decimal--so try to show some intelligence. Perhaps you are just too stupid to get it. Please reply using this subject--I'll check for replies by it.
Personalized message:
19h years ago.
I'm informing you in this message that your use of decimal is disturbing to geeks. I think it likely that you do not know what radices mean, or else you would be using hexadecimal. Read about hexadecimal at intuitor and repost your comment using hexadecimal. You may use "0x" as a prefix or "h" as a suffix for the numbers. Intelligent people despise decimal--so try to show some intelligence. Perhaps you are just too stupid to get it. Please reply using this subject--I'll check for replies by it.
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80h% is half. Figure it out.
I think that perfectly explains my opinion.
"Oh no, Pikachu's not up to this!
"Yoda, I choose you."
I suppose I should be thankful that the story's being provided for free, but this "two paragraph per page" thing doesn't make for easy reading.
Whenever I get to the end of the second paragraph I hear a voice saying, "and we'll be back in just a moment".
Sigi
"You can justify anything by putting it in quotes, adding a famous name and making it a sig" - Albert Einstein
I can think of two reasons: 1) Lucas didn't want him to, or 2) Yoda is really pretty stupid.
Hmm... It sounded a bit too much like a power chord on an electric guitar to me. I kept expecting Ozzy Osbourne to start singing at any moment ;)
And they have a standardised head/neck connector for robots, so ubiquitous that everyone from mass producers of military hardware to home hobbyist slave kids on Tatooine use it.
Anyone else think he was very very like the white
rabbit from monty python & the holy grail ?
'Great big pointy teeth, and leaping around....'
Hmm.
I totally agree. Before the movie, I really thought Yoda should use the Force's telekinesis to move the lightsaber in the air. In the movies it's apparent that a Jedi can use the force to move either (1) a lightsaber from a catwalk to the hand, (2) some pebbles in the air, (3) a half-ton rock toward your enemy, or (4) an obviously CG slice of apply toward your sweetheart.
Why the hell can't Yoda make his lightsaber a whirling dervish through thought alone? That would be something I would expect a Jedi master to be able to do! Then Dooku could mix his defense with the usual "mentally fling a nearby rock" attack at Yoda to distract him.
After Dooku dispatches the flying lightsaber, then Yoda could whip out another for a conventional fight. But instead of hopping all around, I'd rather see him just floating in midair while attacking...
Sigh... So many times I wished that Lucas would have just let another writer help work out the details. ("Obi-wan is just holding me back!" "I die every day I'm apart from you!" BARF!)
I leaned over to my 7 year old during the scene and said "He looks like flying green cockroach"
Yoda is the greatest of all Jedi Masters. Not only the most skilled with The Force, but also the best with a light sabre. This is even mentioned in the original trilogy repeatedly with instances of Yoda stating, "judge me by my size, do you?" Then, he proceeds to lift an entire X-Wing fighter, full of water, out of a murky swamp.
In otherwords, we've known from the beginning that Yoda has been hiding himself, taking advantage of a key mistake made by his opponents: that they would underestimate him. (Note also that he knows those of the Dark Side do this all the time, and thus comments to it.)
When George Lucas decided to have Yoda fight, I think most of us were thrilled, not appauled. Finally, we got to see the greatest of all Jedi do battle. And it was good. Even if you don't think Yoda should have a sabre, at least consider that watching Yoda do a bunch of psionics would be very boring at least. For me, it realized a very well-known plot element.
Why bother.
I think you're right, most people wouldn't appreciate a realistic fight scene in a film.
OTOH, if you're really fighting with weapons, there's an almost-truism that if you can get inside the reach of the other guy's weapon, his weapon is a handicap. If reality you seek, then Yoda a mini-lightsabre should wield. Inside Dooku's range he should fight to demonstrate his skill.
If you disagree, post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like.
In a vacuum, there is no sound, since there is nothing to vibrate. Not until something that is vibrating (the stuff) gets to you would you be able to hear anything.
Anakin did restore this balance - when he as Vader killed the emperor and returned to the light.
Clever signature text goes here.
Never mind that the central weapon to the series, the lightsaber, is impossible in known physics.
I was sure the head was going to fall out of the helmet as Boba picked it up.
As someone explained to me, "chin strap".
You are correct. Sideous refers to Dooku as Tyrannus.
"On a scale from 1 to 10, people are stupid"
In my opinion the specical effects were good (as usual) I even liked Yodas fight.
My problem was with the storyline and characterisations (plus acting, but maybe the acting is crap because the characterisations were crap).
There was a tension between the lead characters in eps 3-5 that is just not there in the first two. Perhaps its the myth related elements missing I don't know. In eps 3-5 Luke, Han and Leia are thrown together and the characters develop together. There is tension between Han and Leia, Leia and Luke, Han and Luke.
In AOTC there is little tension, and what there is isn't believable.
I think Anakin and Padme going off to Naboo was not productive to the storyline, it didn't work for me. All three should have gone in search of the mystery, not just Obi Wan, then there would have been the opportunity for character interaction and Anakin could have abandoned him friends at a crucial moment to go to tatooine in search of his mother (a similar situation to which his son is subject in ep 5 where Luke realises through the force that his friends are in danger on Bespin).
Instead we had a long meaningless set of scenes with Padme and Anakin where there is little or no plot and absolutely no tension (Padme at least could have been engaged to somebody else that might have provided some tension). it was more like...
Anakin: 'Give'us a shag.'
Padme: 'No.'
Anakin: 'Aw, go on, I really fancy you.'
Padme: 'No.'
Anakin: 'Please'.
Padme: 'Mmmh, hmmm. No.'
I really enjoyed the end of the movie though, the battle was great. It didn't feel right that the Stormtroopers were fighting alongside the good guys though, that just felt plain wrong.
From my Autobiography - "Lifestyles of the Sad and Desperate"...
No. The ISO and W3.org would be the future counterpart. It was a "long time ago" hence being the past counterpart.
"On a scale from 1 to 10, people are stupid"
She was just a woman.
I didn't see it until my second time watching. When you know what to look for, it's there. Lucas couldn't very well show a severed human head in a PG movie.
"Prejudice is wrong; you should hate everyone the same."
Anakin was the chosen one - the one to put balance to the Force. Of course he had to be saved.
Clever signature text goes here.
The Ewoks have allot of things going for them that Jar-Jar doesn't. The first is that they aren't completely useless, they end up saving the day where Jar-Jar just walks around being klutzy. Second is that the Ewoks themselves are much easier to find endearing, they reasemble cute savage teddy bears who can kick ass with appropriate enthusiasm while Jar-Jar just sports a very disturbing accent.
Even if the ewoks and Jar-Jar cater to the same audience (if), I can't help but think that the Ewoks do so in a succesfull endearing way while Jar-Jar does it in an annoying (and unsuccesful) klutzy way.
Willful suspension of disbelief.
You want to presuppose laser swords? Fine. Want to make explosions make noise in space? Great! Just don't change the rules half-way through. It's not playing fair with the audience!
Why yes, I AM a rocket scientist!
It's $5.50 for a matinee here. I gotta move out of the northeast.
"I'll bite your kneecaps off!!!"
Now we know where the "stork technique" in Karate Kid comes from.
"Show me - SAND THE FLOOR!"
Whis is this sad comment given a high rating?
I think Bobba's father and his back story was very well done. Having read novels from years ago, you got this sense that his father was way good but bested and that Bobba would be better so as to not be bested. Lucase gets a B+/A- for this one.
Personally, I got the impression that Lord Dooka was a bad ass... you see this when he fights Anakin and what's his face... he easily dispatches them, almost contemputously, and with out breaking a sweat... he doesn't even kill them in order to humiliate them or meet future plans. Yoda, who has always been a bad ass and whom we have come to learn in AOC and part one is also a badd ass swordsman. No 2foot tall being could duel a 6foot tall being for long standing in place stoicly, force or not. Remember Dooka is very powerful himself in the force as well as with a sword (I believe we are even told that he was second only to Yoda before he left the Jedi order and fell to the darkside... and if you remember your force mysticism, the dark side enhances combative skills even further). Yoda would be forced to move about and atack like he did.
I think it was an excellent job. I didn't realize that he was CGI until this article! The whole scene has solidified in me how important Yoda is to the story line and history of that sci-verse.
and swipe it on a piece of paper, but you won't call me Micheal andelo.
Being able to jump real high is the same basic concept, but the ability to finely manipulate yourself would take a lot of practice.
Remember, Yoda (as a fictional character, lets all remember that too) IS decrepit. He didn't just throw himself in the air, and then physically do gymnastic arial's once he got there. The force had to move him around.
Now you are asking to be pooped on (17 MG file).
Woz
Um, neither are Galaxy-spanning Empires woven together with FTL starships and communicators...
The Mongrel Dogs Who Teach
OK, not so bad as the load of crap coming from other places since the popularization of CG, but still, I _hate_ CG that looks like CG.
And the one piece of utter crap: Padme's yacht. Sorry, but if something is too simple, or is in a context too simple to make it believable, change the model.
Jedi don't only use mental powers.
The "Force", aside from being totally fictional, is what lifts objects, fortells the future, and senses danger. The Jedi are in tune with the force and try to coax it into submission.
This is what the whole scene with the X-Wing fighter in the swamp in "Empire Strikes Back" was all about.
The only mental powers they use are the "Jedi Mind Tricks" and these aren't explicitly not related to the force. So they are only arguably mental abilities.
Jedi != Psionics
10. One's reputation, manner, and conduct just can't be guessed by observation alone -- you need to have a name which transparently broadcasts to all but the stupidest that
:)
you're not a nice person: Darth Sidious, Lord Tyranno, Count Dooku (?!?) -- not to mention Darth Maul, etc..
I guess whe you do well you get kudoos,
but when you do poorly you get dookus
doen't mean we should!
Um, neither are Galaxy-spanning Empires woven together with FTL starships and communicators...
That's my point. Why ponder how so much plasma could be fit in something so small, etc. etc. It's fantasy.
12. A Republic with thousands of star systems that has endured from thousands of years will have no standing army or plan to defend the seat of government when attacked by a quickly assembled army of droids.
How would the Emporer have gotten the plans for his Death Star delivered, without anyone finding out about it?
Graceful slow precision is wonderful when beating off unarmed brawlers. And extremely useless when beating off a weapon with no safe places to touch. You cannot slap aside a lightsaber - your fingers fall off. The only thing that you can do is fence. Fencing with an opponent while being eye-level to their knee is stupid - by contrast Yoda has an advantage when jumping because he's light, manoeverable, and a small target.
Remember, the hard part here is blending this into the originals, the beginning of the originals at that. One concern is the level of the action and saber duels. Think back to 1977 and epIV, the dual between Kenobi and Vader.
You want to give people good action now, but still make the epIV not look ridiculous after wathcing I, II, and III. One way it by having those jedi remaining in IV not be the hottest dualers. There was some foreshadowing of this when Kenobi teased Anakin that if he spent as much time practicing his swordplay as practicing his wit he might be better. In IV the only remaining jedi are Vader, Kenobi, and Yoda. Luke is just a come-lately hack, of course, since he only started as an adult (remember, in epI they thought Anakin was too old to start training). With Vader you also have the excuse of his body being mangled, so maybe he not such hot stuff with the saber any more.
Another blending tactics of note is how the outfits and hairstyles are creeping toward epIV. The story is going to work to his advantage here, too. Since we are going from the story of the Republic at its height to the story of a bunch of rebels on grungy, poor, remote planets with old, beat up equipment, the transition from massive slick CGI to 1977 model special effects will be more believable.
Episode III has a lot of territory to cover. The transition from Republic to Empire. Doku's death. Anakin getting messed up somehow, bad enough to need that Vader suit. Anakin crossing over to the dark side, and becoming the sith apprentice. Padme squeezing out some pups, and for whatever reason deciding to "hide" Luke with Anakin's step-family, and where do Padme and Leia end up? And how does Leia become a princess? Stay tuned, folks.
Light cup, beer drink, thin so chain, neck turtle fat, man I won't say it again
Y: Pinned I have you, Count Dooku. Why then smiling you are?
D: Because I know something you do not know, Master Yoda. You see, I am not left-handed!
Chelloveck
I give up on debugging. From now on, SIGSEGV is a feature.
But can HE install Linux, or can you install Linux on him?
"The two most abundant elements in the universe are hydrogen and stupidity." -Harlan Ellison
The deleted scene actually continued as follows:
That kind of martial arts be aikido, dude.
What he lacked in mobility and strength he made up for in grace and economy of movement, and I watched as he would toss aside the students with little hand movements or slow sweeping gestures.
Not quite. What he lacked in mobility and strength, he made up for in being the venerated founder of a school in Japan, where it would be considered appalling behaviour to cast any aspersions on the Venerated One's declining powers.
The students could attack in piles, and still they would be tossed aside like leaves.
More like "the students ran at him in piles and then leapt aside like leaves as he waved a hand at them". Half sub-consciously, the students cooperated in being thrown. The idea that Ueshiba could have done anything remotely similar on a resisting body flies in the face of any non-mystical biomechanics.
It was really magical to watch such an old man possessed of such power.
Alternatively, it was really disgusting to watch an old man posessed of such vanity.
Ueshiba was a genuine fighter as a young man, but during that period, he practiced jujitsu/tai-jutsu. It was only after he founded his own school in 1942 of a state-sponsored, Shinto-flavoured dumbed down taijutsu that he started becoming a cult and staging demonstrations for gullible Westerners.
-- the most controversial site on the Web
1. There are no police, or more importantly, traffic cops or highway patrol officers, on Coruscant. Endangering pedestrians and other vehicles is just "no big deal."
Actually, the Jedi were the police. They even said so.
I thought having Yoda bop around the screen was the silliest thing in the whole movie. I actaully laughed when that little green rat hobbled up on a cane and then suddenly transformas into a tribble with a light sabre. This is the closest George Lucas has ever come to admitting Star Wars is really a comedy.
Seeing only the form "right wrist stuck out" without the actual process taking place (easier to visualize the direction of motion with a stuck out hand) won't do you much good.
The wall jump in that movie is wireless. I can perform it on any random brick wall.
Kintanon
Check out JoshJitsu.info for Brazilian Ji
<>
He was mentioned by the cloners as the one who hired Jango Fett.
How about...
The camera will be pointed towards the outside of the vehicle, so the sender has to stand out in the rain while transmitting.
-----------
100% pure freak
Aah...yes, I think you're right. Well, in that case, like the other Sith, he probably chose his own sinister moniker, or had it chosen for him. ;)
DennyK
The Jedi are "keepers of the peace", not traffic cops. They would be more like a cross between the FBI and a diplomatic corps. I doubt they would be concerned with minor things like traffic violations. ;)
DennyK
And he's the same person as Dooku.
What is your Slash Rating?
Notice as Anubis Army overruns the city...the head Anubis Warrior has his foot on a severed head....I forget the rating on that movie, but it's PG-something.
What is your Slash Rating?
Out of all the whiny brats who hate Star Wars because it doesn't live up to their outrageous expectations, I finally find someone with exactly the same perspective I have. I just wish more people enjoyed the movies for what they are rather than griping about what they aren't.
What is your Slash Rating?
'Short range tracking device' that trucks through hyperspace in 'short range' as well? Mother!
You can't handle the truth.
Ever seen Ali, Parkinson's making it nearly impossible for him to walk or talk, start throwing punches? It's incredible -- it's like the disease can't get to that gift Ali has that nobody's come close to matching.
Though it's hard to read this into a CG Yoda, that's sort of what I was thinking about when I saw him limp off.
It's all 0s and 1s. Or it's not.
Fucknob. Handjob. Cockgobbler. Ass Badger. Ass Clown. Fuckstick. Skinmunch. Buttslobber. Ass Weasel. Chickenjob. Cockbagger. JeanCream.
Feel free to add on.
Comparing it to Windows will be a moot point, since El Dorado is going to have a 40% larger code base than XP.
Having read other comments about the dual and from how I felt about it after seeing it once, I would have to say that it as well as the ending left me hanging. Sure it was great to get an idea of what Yoda can really do, but the tension and awe just weren't there like the ender saber fight in TPM.
I think CG had a lot to do with that for me. How can you get worried about a hero dying if you know they are just computer generated. The saber fight in TPM, as staged and choreographed as it was, looked real. Why? Because they were real people going at it with amazing feats of acrobatics and swordplay. It was clear at all times just how dangerous that fight was because you could see everything. I found the fight in ATC too "messy". It was difficult follow what was going on since it moved so fast. And then knowing that Yoda wasn't really there would be like watching an actor box a CG character. It may look real, but you know it isn't. So even though Dooku was fighting like mad to fend of Yoda, the real element of danger wasn't there since Yoda was added later to the scene. Kinda like how the Jedi actors deflected blaster bolts that were aimed right at their sabers by the ILM effects guys.
So, basically what I'm saying is that it all comes down the human skill in my mind. TPM saber fight scene was all about human skill, but ATC was not.
The general consensus here at Slashdot seems to be that censorship is bad, and the response
is "If you don't like what you're seeing, don't watch". The middle-brow fanboys in the
audience need to practice what they preach.
The gist of the many overblown conversations I hear make about as much sense as debating
the merits of today's episode of Scooby Doo. When Yoda went Death Blossom on Dooku, we all
cheered like madmen. It was funny and exciting. It was the hightpoint of that movie. The only thing that bothered me about the scene is why Yoda didn't just move the much lighter Anakin and Obi-wan instead of the pillar.
Lucas is talking about inserting Jar-Jar into Episode IV. That made me smirk. The resulting apoplexy it's going to cause is going to give me the biggest fucking case of shadenfreude I've ever had. God, I hope he's flying an X-wing in the Death Star battle.
Lucas can meddle all he wants. My childhood memories are not subject to re-writing as many fanboy's apparantly are.
The party's over
for some reason lucas wants to interject humor into the story (maybe in tribute to the kurosawa movies he used as inspiration), but it felt rather forced in those sceens.
I remember being a little kid and being annoyed at c3po and r2d2's role as the comic releif in the story,their joking antics really didn't add anything to the story itself, but their characters were usefull to the story.
3po's role in that part of the film wasn't necesscary for any other reason than to attempt to make people laugh(the only laughing i heard in the movie was when yoda turned into a bluring mess), r2d2 on the otherhand was useful.
lucas is aiming for a younger audience(or at least what feels like a younger audience than the original versions of the original films) so he has to make parts of the movie relate to little kids wether we as adults like it or not(and i don't).
Bring back the old version of slashdot.
Ah, so you went to a crappy theater? I've been to 4 different theaters. It only sounded good on the theater that had digital projection. I was expecting the bang to sound as good elsewhere, but when it came to it, it just didnt measure up and all I heard was the deep guitar bass. Yes the first theater I went to, it was the coolest explosion sound I've heard in a movie till now.
Lord Tryannarous Rex is Count Dooko's Sith name.
My nephew though it was Picachu and started yelling "picachu picachu", man I was laughing.
"Aikido is jujitsu for people who don't like fighting."
As someone who've studied Aikido, hapkido, and some other martial arts, I would say that you're partially correct. While inheriting techniques from kendo as well as jujitsu, aikido's primary values lie in the martial ART and spiritual aspects.
On a personal level, after an aikido workout, I feel refreshed and confident in meeting challenges with finesse rather then bruising confrontations. I'll never forget what my Hapkido teacher told us, "This is NOT a self defense course. If you want to practice self defense, buy a pair a good running shoes and practice screaming HELP while running at top speed down the street."
With the commencement of the twentieth century where machine guns can kills thousands and bombs can kill millions, all schools of martial arts have had to introspect on their internal value and where their future may lie. Wu-shu followed the paths of acrobatics and performance. Aikido emphasized the spiritual and psychological aspects.
If one wishes only to learn to maim and kill another, indeed it may be best to study assaination techniques or Thai boxing. But SHOULD that be the reason for you to study MARTIAL ARTS?
12. On your standard, interstellar cruiser; the "show me the map to Geonosis" button is right next to the "forward this message to Corusant" button.
I thought that the face plate was going to explode, and underneath you'd see Luke's face.
These are my friends, See how they glisten. See this one shine, how he smiles in the light.
For some reason I thought you were trying to express valid opinions rather than just trolling. Sadly, I was mistaken. I'd sit here and argue with you about whether I was being anal retentive, Episodes 4-6, acting, writing and dialogue, etc., but as a troll you probably wouldn't have the capacity to make a reasoned, thoughtful, cogent, and (shocker) cleanly written response...
What is your Slash Rating?
That's just about the attention span of the average Entertainment Weekly reader...
Assuming the argument is over explosions in the vacuum of space (which wasn't clear to me from the original post), then it is absolutely correct that no sound would be perceived until the "stuff" reached the observer. Of course it seems in that case you still woulnd't hear it unless it came crashing into your ship where there actually was an atmosphere to carry the sound vibrations. I didn't realize the "stuff" crashes into the viewer's spacecraft. This whole argument seems to be an over-analysis. I am sure that usually movie directors and special effects wizards use what laws of physics create the greatest audience impact and response.
No, "balance" must mean that the dark side is no more. It is not a balance between the light and dark side, but a balance in the universe, where the light side must rule.
I agree. If 'balance' meant wiping out the Jedi, I don't think the councel would be so gung-ho about it.
Also, you can see in Ep II how the Jedi are starting to fall from grace...they are loosing their sensitivity, foresite, etc. The whole thing with Vader and Luke seems to me more like a reboot...let Luke start all over again, and see if he cn bring the Jedi back to their rightful place.
Thomas Galvin
Good sir, I read your comment and took a long, hard analytical look at myself. And in no way could I be classified as a "butt-munch". However the rest of your comment rings of truth to my ears like a golden church bell on a beautiful Sunday morn.
and what was the combination to that lock in episode 17?
In the future, I would want to not be isolated from my friends in the Space Station.
You're both wrong. Since Star Wars is set a long time ago in a galaxy far far away, the ISO and W3 would be the future counterpart.
(Yes, I KNOW, it's called making a point)
Christ almighty, you've nearly collected the whole set of useless martial arts; all you need now is tai chi and perhaps a little bit of boxercise. A Hapkido teacher would be right in saying that, although one might ask him why he wasted so much of his time doing it then, since Hapkido has few health benefits and looks like shit.
With the commencement of the twentieth century where machine guns can kills thousands and bombs can kill millions, all schools of martial arts have had to introspect on their internal value and where their future may lie.
With the continuing popularity of nightclubs, bars and dance halls, it is ridiculous to suggest that hand-to-hand combat without weapons is not still highly relevant to the lives of a lot of people. Anything calling itself a "martial" art which leaves people no more able to fight than if they'd spent the time playing darts ought to be prepared to be laughed at.
-- the most controversial site on the Web
It was way better, yes, but it sounds like you're saying it wasn't any good. Ray Park, who played Darth Maul is fantastically energetic onscreen and made the two Jedi look good, when they were really merely decent. That fight was incredible. One of the best ever put on film.
www.Jackassery.com
I'm comfortable with Yoda throwing a little force-induced razzmatazz into his routine, but where I felt cheated was seeing him command clone grunts in a typical battlefield scene. I hated seeing him as part of a machine, even at its head. Yoda as Patton? Nah.
And what happened to his quirky grammar? Does it drop out in high stress situations?
Okay, last rant -- Why does apparently parallel evolution produce humans in this other galaxy, but no other perfect matches? Or did this culture seed our galaxy at a later date?
Erik Baard
"Christ almighty, you've nearly collected the whole set of useless martial arts; all you need now is tai chi and perhaps a little bit of boxercise."
As a matter of fact, I have studied tai chi. What you are ignorant of, though, is that tai chi is a very effective fighting system. However, the practical applications are only taught to very advanced students. Most people indeed only practice it for its health benefits.
Why should a sports or artforms be disqualified as 'martial arts' just because they are impractical in this age? Archery and Greco-Roman wrestling are important contests within the Olympics. I don't see any spectators laughing. If you are only interested in kiling and maiming, you'd be better off studying assassination techniques. But then, I would question you on where your 'art' is.
Why should a sports or artforms be disqualified as 'martial arts' just because they are impractical in this age? Archery and Greco-Roman wrestling are important contests within the Olympics. I don't see any spectators laughing
You are surely kidding if you think people don't laugh at Greco-Roman wrestlers. It's an absolutely risible sport. And it is a sport, not a "martial art" in the ordinary language meaning of the phrase. Archery is certainly not impractical, as Ted Nugent will tell you.
If you are only interested in kiling and maiming
Hang on, you're the one defending tai chi with all those "dim mak killer touches", eye gouges and strikes to the throat! I'm interested in being able to defend myself in a manner consistent with the law of the land and common humanity. Which is to say, to be able to trade a punch for a punch, or to be able to grapple someone to submission. Heck, I'd be happy to learn wrist locks and aikido nage if they worked on resisting opponents, which they don't.
-- the most controversial site on the Web
"oh yeh, the "martial applications" of tai chi. Which are so deadly that they can never be demonstrated. Give over. I am prepared to concede the possibility that there might once have been a martial art which had the name "tai chi". But the connection between that and the art taught under that name today are as tenuous as ... well, the "Lineages" of most traditional chinese martial arts instructors taking them back to the Shaolin Temple or Yang Lu-Chan. They're fairy stories. You can pretend to yourself that any human movement might be a concealed attack if you've got an active enough imagination (I've seen an instructor claim with a straight face that the opening movement of the form is actually a deadly strike with the backs of the wrists). But the fact remains that tai chi practitioners don't spar and don't train for combat, and those few people who do claim to practice "combat tai chi" invariably cross-train with a system that works (usually a form of jujitsu)"
Since YOU have not seen these trainings must mean they don't exists, right?
If you can stop worshipping jujitsu for a minute, perhaps you can learn something. First of all, Tai-chi is based on the philosophy of Taosim. It's a distinct lineage from the Shaolin temple style. In fact, many styles, esp. internal styles, exist outside of the Shaolin styles which tend to be external systems. Some of them purport to teach these "dim mak killer touches", but that is NOT in the TaiChi curriculum.
As for sparring and combat, I can testify that I've seen taichi practitioner sparring. They can be as fast a furious as any other styles. The difference lies in how the forces are applied and directed: not something obvious to the casual observer. As for jujitsu, there doesn't seem to be any techniques there that is not already covered in the various "qiam na xao" (Capture & Grasping Hand) techniques. Nothing special here.
From you last paragraph, I see that you seem to be only interested in disjointed hand to hand combat techniques. This, however, does not translate into knowledge about martial arts systems. I am just a beginner myself, but I can see that you don't have a foot inside the threshold. Instead of putting down people and things which you don't understand, perhaps it's worthwhile to learn more deeply first.
First of all, Tai-chi is based on the philosophy of Taosim
Wrong. This is more fairy stories. The only documented histories of tai chi chu'an place its beginnings squarely in the Chen village in Henan province. The modern inhabitants of Chen village are not Taoists, and there is no evidence that they ever were. Fanciful lineages taking tai chi back to Taoist sages or to Wudang Mountain have no verifiable basis.
Some of them purport to teach these "dim mak killer touches", but that is NOT in the TaiChi curriculum.
Really? Or is it not on the curriculum of your particular school, because you have a fraud for a teacher who is making it up as he goes along. The links between tai chi and traditional chinese medicine are well known.
As for sparring and combat, I can testify that I've seen taichi practitioner sparring. They can be as fast a furious as any other styles.The difference lies in how the forces are applied and directed: not something obvious to the casual observer
Like hell. People have been laughing at traditional chinese martial arts types for the last twenty years for claiming to have loads of "hidden force" powers that nobody can detect, but the message isn't apparently getting through.
As for jujitsu, there doesn't seem to be any techniques there that is not already covered in the various "qiam na xao" (Capture & Grasping Hand) techniques. Nothing special here.
Except that ju jitsu players train to apply these techiques to resisting opponents. Big difference.
-- the most controversial site on the Web