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Can Star Wars Episode III Be Saved?
mcwop writes "MSNBC is running a commentary asking: 'Can "Star Wars: Episode III" be saved?' It proposes changes such as ripping off Akira Kurosawa, getting the otherwise good actors to emote, and even firing Lucas. It is one year away, but is it too late to save Episode III?"
"changes such as ripping off Akira Kurosawa". Already done. Check out The Hidden Fortress.
As always, please remember to sign the petition for the release of the theatrical version on DVD here: http://www.hanshootsfirst.org
don't forget, copyrights don't expire until 70 years after the author's death. You may have to wait a lllloooonnnggg time before anyone has clearance to do a remake.
Just another example of how copyrights can incentivize dead people to leverage creativity
for value added customer delight (or something like that...)
putting the 'B' in LGBTQ+
Minor points: (1) Joseph Campbell died in 1987, and (2) the interview series with Bill Moyers was basically sponsored by George Lucas, was filmed on Skywalker Ranch, and includes lots of footage from Star Wars. I think Lucas is pretty explicit about his influences here.
I better go watch "The Hidden Fortress" first. Seeing a movie that copied the original not only misleads me to believe that they wrote it but it also dilutes the value of seeing the original Kurosawa film for the first time.
For example:
"Yojimbo" - Fistful of Dollars
"Sanjuro" - For a Few Dollars More
"Seven Samurai" - 13th Warrior, Three Amigos
I may be too late though. They say that parts of "Hidden Fortress" were copied in Star Wars IV:
Newsgroup Posting
Maybe that would explain why the prequels don't compare.. he's run out of other plots to pay homage to?
For Episode III, rip off Kurosawa's ripoff of Shakespeare's "Macbeth,"
Yeah any version of Macbeth not directed by Shakespeare himself is a rip off.
More importantly, with all these discussions on the quality of Lucas' direction and writing, perhaps you should rewatch the original again. The writing, acting and direction throughout the film is unbelievably poor. What carries it is a great storyline - something that wasn't lacking Episodes 1 and 2. As for memorable lines how about "You'll be the death of me"?? - really: grow up, stop whining and get on with your life - it's only a film.
Of course, that doesn't mean that the average moviegoing American would find such a vote in the Galactic Senate plausible, which says much about our instinctive understanding of human nature and history. Also, we wouldn't want the "good guys" to do anything that would help the "bad guys" now would we? That would just confuse everyone.
Why would Obi-Wan mention anything about Quigon? OK, Quigon made Ben (Obi-Wan) swear an oath to make Anakin his Padawan. Fine. That was touched on in "A New Hope" when Obi-Wan was talking with Luke after the Tuskin Raider scene. That's already been covered...
I'm not a prophet or a stone-age man,
I'm just a mortal with potential of a super man.
People have set unattainable expectations on what Star Wars should be. Nothing that could ever be made would ever quench their thirst.
Instead of going into a movie with preconceived notions of what you think it should be (this hardly ever works with anything) go into the movie with an open mind and just enjoy the damn show for once! Over-critiquing just takes the fun out.
You aparently weren't around when they came out. The release of Star Wars was one of the biggest events of the 70's. People stood in line in pouring rain for 3 hours to see it. People went to see it 10 or more times in the theaters. It was all people talked about. It was huge. Everyone saw it. Cinematic quality aside, you can debate this all you like, but it was a monumental event in American culture.
You also seem to be unaware that only one of the three movies was released in the 70's. Empire was in 1980 and Jedi was in '83. Were you even born when Jedi came out?
Isn't it too late to "save" it? IMDB lists it as being in post-production already.
Does everything include nothing?
Not until the 3rd one did it really get any attention and even then it was mainly the unwashed masses..which in the late 70's were abundant
By the 3rd one I'm assuming you're saying "Return of the Jedi"?
If so, then sorry to say, you're just dead wrong. I suppose you were not alive when the first Star Wars came out in 1977? The world basically stopped when that movie came out. We're talking EVERYONE was talking and buzzing around about Star Wars. You couldn't turn on a TV, couldn't listen to the radio, couldn't go to any other movie without seeing a huge line of people waiting to get in and seeing it again.
Not to mention the fact that Star Wars was nominated for best picture of the year of 1977. What beat it out? Annie Hall. But to say that not until the 3rd one did it really get any attention is just...well, wrong. I'm certainly not a fan-boy of Star Wars, but I just can't let this slip by. Mainly because it kind of annoying to see Star Wars everywhere. And I mean everywhere. And it took forever for it to calm down.
Artwork? Probably not. Plain and simple fun? You betcha. Also, Lucas made it originally to be like a serial B movie that he grew up on,
Also, not to be picky, but the 2nd and 3rd one didn't even come out until the early 80's. But I suppose the 80's had their share of unwashed masses for you.
"Music is everybody's possession. It's only publishers who think that people own it." - John Lennon.
you would remember it was all the rage *before* it was released
Actually, the original Star Wars was a sleeper. Meaning that it didn't get released with a lot of fanfair in May of 1977. It came out of no where. They didn't have a lot of cash left over for advertising the movie. You have to remember, they didn't thik this was really going to work and it only cost 9 million to make. Even in 1977, 9 million wasn't a lot of money to make a movie.
Only after it became a hit that summer did all the hype build about it through the only means of the day, word of mouth.
"Music is everybody's possession. It's only publishers who think that people own it." - John Lennon.
> the question "Can Episode III be saved?" begs the question of whether it needs
> to be saved in the first place.
this is not what "to beg the question" means.
The original Darth Vader appears in the burning the "worthless" huts seen in "The Seven Samurai". Darth Vader wears a Samurai helmet. Lucas rips-off Kurosawa all the time. And he admits it. It's not a big deal; artists steal from other artists all the time. Get over it. The Japanese made better stories for a lot less money.
Not true. The first time 'blockbuster' was used was to describe the hysteria surrounding Jaws. Click here.
Support the First Amendment. Read at -1
Absolutely correct. I remember the ads in the papers as being the small ones. It wasn't until after it had been out for a while it got big.
"He's lost in a 'floyd hole"
But by 1934, Germany was already a totalitarian state, and Hitler had already shown that he crushed his enemies rapidly and ruthlessly. They 1934 election result is wholly and entirely untrustworthy. Prior to the terror, in the last free elections (1933), only about 1/3rd of the electorate voted for Hitler, and he was Hindenburg's anointed succesor running on a moderate ticket (at least in comparison to '34) albeit one filled with crude and vile anti-semitism.
Athletic Scholarships to universities make as much sense as academic scholarships to sports teams.
(Aside from mentioning Godwin...)
Whether it was already in place by August 1934 when Hitler had been Chancellor for under a year I don't know off the top of my head, but later German polls (they had a lot of referenda) were emphatically not free or fair. Returning officers were all Gestapo or Nazi party and ballots were pre-printed in agreement with the Government position. If you wanted to disagree you had to take your ballot (having just provided your name and address to the Gestapo) and take your ballot into the booth to amend. If you agreed, you just had to post it.
In other ways Russia and the US both have potential parallels with 1930s Germany which doesn't fill me with joy...
Greg
(Inside a nuclear plant)
Aaaarrrggh! Run! The canary has mutated!
Hasn't Episode III been in post-production for the past 6 months (and will be for the next 12)? Kind of late to save it now...
Who doesn't like free music?
That scene was originally shot with some tubby guy acting the role of Jabba. The scene was never completed for the original film, probably because it was too expensive (or too late) to build Jabba and reshoot the scene with the puppet. Come 20 years later, Lucas wants to put this scene back in, and it can be done now by just drawing over the original actor with a digital Jabba. But there is one problem, at one point in the scene Han walks around behind the guy playing Jabba. So the choice was to either have Han walk through Jabba's tail (not an option), have him step on Jabba's tail, or leave the scene out completely.
Of course you can't "save" Episode III--it's already been filmed. It's in post-production now.
Thanks to his foresight in negotiating for the licensing rights, Lucas is able to finance the productions himself. No studio is involved until it's time to talk distribution.
What's wrong, son, ain't never heard of Trekkies? Sheesh, kids these days.
--
"Open source is good." - Steve Jobs
"Open source is evil." - Microsoft
this is not what "to beg the question" means.
No, that's just what it means. "Beg the question" means to skip over an important point and assume it's true. "Are you still beating your wife?" begs the question that you have a wife, and that you attacked her in the past. Begging questions can be an intentional rhetorical trick- by getting someone to ponder the details of step #2, she might not notice that there were options open back at step #1 that you didn't want her to decide about. Example: "How long should we wait for UN approval before invading Iraq?"
Many people, often Anonymous Cowards, have heard "Beg the question" used and wrongly decided it is a synonym for "Raises the question".
You're both wrong about everything, here's why...
Actually, I think you are both partially correct. The studio and Lucas both thought it was going to be a disaster. The trailer had been laughed at. Lucas showed a rough cut without special effects(he put in WWII fighter plane footage for the space battles) to Scorsese, De Palma, and Spielberg, and only Spielberg recognized the potential. De Palma laughed at it, and mocked Lucas for making it. Spielberg said it was great, and predicted it would make 50 million. Back in those days, though, they didn't have as sophisticated of marketing and polling techniques, they didn't realize that the public was very excited for this movie, because, to the surprise of everybody, there were lines around the block on the very first day. Despite there being no media hype, the movie was a hit from the very beginning. It did not take word of mouth for the long lines to form. In the well-told story, Lucas, on the day the movie opened in LA, was busy trying to fix American Grafitti 2 in the editing room. He went to lunch with his wife, and there were traffic jams, and a huge crowd of people outside a theater across the street. He didn't have any idea that they were lining up to see his movie. At least, that's the way the story is told today. It's probably embellished a little bit. See the book Easy Riders Raging Bulls if you're interested in the 1970's film generation, they talk about Lucas and Star Wars.
You've fallen into the modern habit of substituting "begging the question" for "raises the question".
No. His use was correct. Anyone asking "Can something be saved?" has already assumed that the answer to "Is something in danger?" was true. That's just what "begging a question" means.
You might be confusing "Beg the question" with "circular arguments". Circular arguments are an important subset of "begging the question", but they're not the same thing. If I make a statement/question about Y which only makes sense if X, then I have begged X. And if X=Y, then I have additionally argued in a circle.