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LucasArts Embargoes "Clone Wars" Reviews
An anonymous reader writes "George Lucas CGI 'Clone Wars' movie has premiered to reviews ranging from MSNBC's 'Ugly animation and an uninspired storyline drag down the film' to AintItCool's 'I hated the film. HATED IT. REALLY HATED IT.' Critics have noted the animation style, music and slapstick humor had more than a passing similarity to Pixar's Toy Story, and wondered if the introduction of new action figures (sorry, characters) like Baby Jabba Hutt and Jabba the Hutt's Gay Uncle may have taken the franchise a bridge too far.
Lucas responding by enforcing an embargo, forcing the reviews to be taken down. While sites like AintItCool.com responded, by then it was just a little too late.
Still, the CGI eye candy will make it popular with kids. If the 'Clone Wars' movie can't save the galaxy, can it at least save the franchise?"
I was QUITE surprised at the scheming behind the scenes when I read this article some time back. They *know* what they have and aren't holding back. It is interesting just how little they try to hide it and how no one really cares how much they are milking the franchise.
Some odd FORCE really drives the market. I have a collection with items dating as recent as 1981, valued between $5000 and $7500. The original prices for the items summed to no more than $670!
No, not even the spirit. Two parties made a contract with each other, and one is insisting the contract is followed. That's just not a first amendment issue at all.
I second that motion. TIE Fighter was definitely one of the best games of all time. LucasArts really had a streak going there for a while where everything they touched turned to gold. TIE Fighter, Full Throttle, Monkey Island, Dark Forces... I remember Star Wars Rebellion moved me into a completely new genre of vidja games. Recently, I played the first Galactic Battlegrounds, and as soon as I got over the spiffy graphics, I realized the company doesn't have the same outstanding sparkle it used to.
Raging in an online forum won't do anything for the world around you. To see change, you must take action.
At least, according to AintItCool's reply.
Lets not forget that Has Solo made "I Know" and appropriate response to "I love you."
General Grievous is one big WTF if you don't at least take a glance at the animated series.
Actually, I thought all of the prequels are one big WTF whether or not I had watched the animated series.
But then I read the Secret History of Star Wars and it all became clear -- Lucas never really liked Star Wars himself. At least, he never intended it to be the deep quasi-spiritual struggle of good and evil. He wanted a high adventure space-romp. It was Empire (which he didn't have much involvement with) that made things deeper and more spiritual. Compare Obi Wan's talk of the Force, "The Force is what gives a Jedi his powers." with Yoda's, "...for my ally is The Force, and a powerful ally it is." Obi-wan's line was written by Lucas and reveals is initial, shallow desire for the force to be a tool for magic tricks, Yoda's line, written by Brackett/Kasdan, shows where the franchise started to get deeper. It's the depth that really fascinated myself and I think a lot of us fans, but Lucas hated the idea and I think he still does.
Lucas has been trying to lighten it up ever since then, and is quoted as saying that one of the main reasons he made the prequels at all was to "fund other projects."
I think he doesn't care if he ruins it for us, as long as he can make money from it to fund the things he really cares about. It's sad but he has creator's rights over it so there's nothing you can do about it.
Look, the original three had a lot of creative spark and energy in them, and a couple of good actors who stole the show, but most of all you were like 5 years old when they came out. To kids today the new movies are just as good. At the end of the day I have to agree with Lucas and say that these are really kids movies and we are simply nostalgic for them.
That argument is nonsensical. Everyone who saw Star Wars in 1977 was not 5 years old at the time. It got fairly damn good reviews. It was nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor, and a ton of stuff in the technical area. Star Wars was considered Good. What kids today think about the latest boatload of tripe is not relevant.
My understanding of it is that the first edit was a complete mess, and bombed at a couple of test screenings. A couple other people (one of whom being his wife, IIRC, or I may be thinking of something else) totally re-did the whole thing, including some famous creative editing (the looped Tusken Raider thing), often having to search through various takes to find one that had what they wanted, then take that shot right up to the word "cut".
There's an amazing SW fan documentary out there that covers all of this, WHILE showing the whole movie in the background, seamlessly splicing in behind-the-scenes shots, long-ish cut sections (including the entire Tosche Station scene) and interviews. It's THE best making-of documentary I've ever seen. Called "Deleted Magic". You can probably find it on some torrent sites. WELL worth a watch.