Slashdot Mirror
Star Wars Films In 3D Due In 2012
bowman9991 writes "Star Wars creator George Lucas is converting all six films from his iconic science fiction saga into 3D and will re-release them in theatres in 2012. 'Episode I: The Phantom Menace' will be released first."
I have a very bad feeling about this.
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
The first 3 sucked
Money Grab. Sigh.
Fugga Wugga
re-watching it *and* it being up in your face!!
Seriously - this has got to stop. Making a movie 3D doesn't make it good... *cough*Avata*cough*
So now Amidala's frozen nipples on Tatooine really will put somebody's eye out?
"Common sense will be the death of us all"
Fuck you, George Lucas. Fuck you.
"Share your knowledge. It's a way to achieve immortality." -- Dalai Lama
As if the prequel films didn't ALREADY cause massive headaches...
Who would do such a thing? Why use the normal sequence of things? it's so old fashioned :p
Never antropomorphize computers, they do not like that
I do not want to see a 3D Jar Jar Binks...
Its A Trap!
-Ackbar
Test your net with Netalyzr
With all the time and money spent over the last 30 years, he could of created two more Six-film epic sagas.
The only way I'd see that is if Lucas added a rifftrax commentary (with none other than Nelson, Corbett and Murphy).
All you haters are just jealous that you don't have your own multi-billion dollar franchise to rape over and over and over and over and over and over again
I didn't believe that the world was gonna end in 2012, but now I do. Who would've thought the Maya could predict this!?
One moment while I attempt to care about 3-D Star Wars.....
Nope. Didn't work.
I just don't care.
Oh, and do us all a favor and spend no money on this. We don't need every blockbuster since '78 "remade" in 3-D. We really don't.
Thanks!
*cough*
...just might destroy the Hollywood 3D push in a single movie.
I say bring it on. Anyone who goes to watch crap in 3D should expect to get exactly that. No sympathy.
"I hope you know how very lucky you are to know me, because I am so incredibly incredible."
When the special editions came out in the late 90s, they re-released each movie in the original trilogy like every 3 weeks. Now I love Star Wars, changes & all, but still it felt about as close as back to back to back as I'd want to get (yes, I know many of us watch all 3 in the span of a day, but I'm not one of them).
If they released one a year, well at least that gives me some time to breathe and actually get EXCITED about seeing the next one.
What if we just didn't go? Seriously. Don't go. Just don't. Don't do it.
INSTEAD, go to the movies that weekend, but SEE SOMETHING ELSE. Don't punish the theater owners by withholding business, but show Lucas that he is done fisting our childhoods.
Weaseling out of things is important to learn. It's what separates us from the animals... except the weasel. -
The first two are still very good when viewed as vintage films (which they are). But splicing in CGI here and there (and, I predict, adding 3d) makes them uneven and a pushes them into areas where they can't compete against contemporary films.
3D won't improve the movies as they weren't designed for it in the first place.
"My God...it's full of trolls!"
Oh, I don't know. It sounds somewhat promising.
Maybe the plots and characters will actually have some depth in these new versions!
"What do you despise? By this are you truly known." --Princess Irulan, Manual of Muad'Dib
/)
Don't get me wrong. I like Star Wars and I think George Lucas did a great job, back in the day with the originals. I'm just sick of seeing the "Star Wars" brand exploited again, and again.
I guess Lucas got tired of people saying his films lack depth and are filled with flat, two-dimensional characters.
Does annyone know what kind of quality level they can bring to the "3d-ification" of what is essentially 2D source material? The Last Airbender was genuinely atrocious in 3D, partially because the process of making 3D images from 2D films seems pretty bad at the moment. Of course, it was an atrocious movie in 2D too, but that's not my question.
Also, will he take the opportunity to re-do scenes from the prequels? This might be a great opportunity to edit Jar Jar, and some of the other embarassing storytelling problems with those movies.
The ______ Agenda
Madness!
http://www.acetonestudio.com
Even larger Explosion Rings in 3D! Now you can literally crawl peek under the cantina table to see who shot first!
Seriously though, as much as you might joke and the people here seem to complain, you know you'll all go see it.
My only wish is that they would add smell-o-vision so we could really taste Jabbas Palace.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
It's logical. In 2d it sucked to the second power. Now it will suck to the third.
It seems to me if somethign wasn't shot in 3D, the conversion is going to be very bad. To the extent 3D works for movies at all, it is in situations like Avatar where it was shot entirely for 3D and more or less the move just has depth. It kinda looks like there's a hole in the wall of the theater, rather than a screen. Ok, fine. However if the movie wasn't shot in 3D, you can't do that. You can't capture that depth data you don't already have. So what does that mean? It means cheesy effects. Means most of the movie will be 2D with some really noticeable, and annoying, moments when somethign pops out of the screen at you.
While I'm not a fan of this 3D trend overall and I think it'll be a passing fad, I'm ok with movies properly shot for 3D. At least then it can gain something, it isn't a gimmick, just a way to try and make things more interesting. However I really don't like 3D when it is stupid and gimmicky, the "Hey look! This is in 3D! Are you not amazed?" No, I'm not, knock it off.
Unfortunately I have to imagine that is what this will be since I can't see any way of making it anything else. The original films were shot with only one camera, there just isn't the stereoscopic data there.
Right on the heels of the Blu-ray release in 2011?!?
It appears Lucas is trying to give the White Album a run for its money...
By the way, if you haven't seen the Red Letter Media Star Wars reviews yet, shame on you. At the least, set aside an hour and watch the Phantom Menace review. He goes above and beyond a normal video review (Menace is an hour, Clones is almost 90 minutes) explaining exactly why the movies fail so horribly.
The Star Trek movie reviews are also fantastic -- even better than the Star Wars ones, I think. Funny as hell, dead on the mark, and well worth the time to watch them.
"What do you despise? By this are you truly known." --Princess Irulan, Manual of Muad'Dib
/)
zzzzz
I've seen the Star Wars stories multiple times now. I'm sick of them. I'd rather watch new material like Haven, Eureka, Stargate, and so on. Plus whatever comes out in "Asimov's Science Fiction" each month.
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall
Seriously...is there any other film franchise out there that blatantly squeezes more money out of its fans? I myself am not a real Star Wars fan, but even I'm disgusted at the constant re-releases / special editions / extra special editions with 23 extra seconds of never before seen footage. The VHS/DVD/BluRay upgrade cycle for the exact same movie is bad enough. I mean, I know the fans who keep buying into this shit are the ultimate ones to blame...but who do you hate more...the crackhead or the asshole dealer that will do anything to enable and string out the addict until there's nothing left?
Haven't they milked this train for everything its worth to the point of detriment already?
10 years later...
SEE STAR WARS RELEASED AS ITS NEVER BEEN SEEN BEFORE IN HOLODECK CINAMEGA! EXPERIENCE THE ACTION!
Wait, that might actually be cool...
As if we didn't see this coming. I'm sure we'll hear a blurb of this being his original vision for the films because he had a beeping trash can project a message.
Do 3D transitions cut my head off for me or do I just suffer 3x the headaches?
The post subject says it all
Wanted: A better sig than this one. I have neither the wit nor motivation...
Star Wars isn't alone. Lord of the Rings has something like a dozen editions. Blade Runner has so many director's cuts, I've decided Ridley Scott must be schizophrenic. Even Memento has a version where it tells the story chronological order. I don't know why I bought three copies.
The CB App. What's your 20?
Maybe the new editions of episodes 1-3 won't suck?
Two more ?
To my knowledge, he created one three-film epic saga, and one three-film abortion.
Or something like that. - Unfortunately there is little hope the new 3D versions will be able to live up to what the original three movies were. They will most probably be a continuation of the insanity that brought us three additional Ewoks movies, the useless "revisions" of the original classics and three mostly annoying "prequels".
Fortunately there was an improved version (the digitally remastered Laserdisk version) before Lucas went completely crazy (when he added an undersized weird CGI Jabba the Hutt, let Greedo shoot first, etc.). The first signs of Lucas turning to the dark side could already be seen on Return of the Jedi when he opted to have Endor be inhabited by freakin Ewoks (instead of Wookies as originally planned - though with the wrong people at the helm not even Wookies can be counted on to save the day). There should still be some torrents of the rips around.
</rant>
And when you gaze long enough into the code, the code will also gaze into you.
how the hell do you turn a fully 2d primary source into 3d? and 3d that doesn't make you want to scream 'FAKE!'...
if anyone can post a link in reply to my post showing that from a single 2d image source a 3d image can be created that doesn't look a bit wonky i'll stfu. sure, piece of cake converting all that 3d graphics to stereoscopic, but, and maybe i am not understanding the filming process with that expensive 70mm cinema type film, but there is definitely only one 'good' copy of all the shots in 2d, there isn't inadvertently gonna suddenly be a second one... i mean, i would guess you could work on something if there was a second cam recording at the same time at a slightly different but convergent view, but really, you'd have to have one on each side, that could give you a volume model that could let you do the 3d but even still... i call bullshit on converting star wars to 3d. i don't see how it could be done. i'd love to know how such a thing could be done. 3d won't work if you can't flesh out the occluded parts that you see to the left and right of the 2d original.
if you dont want to see it DONT.... i wont be
stop bitching and moaning about another grab for cash... blame someone, blame Avatar for another re-release so shortly after it was shown.
people will still see it cause its star wars, cause you get to re-watch it on the big screen like it was originally shown and feel immersed.
It's not a typo if you understood the meaning!
Why? I don't recall where I heard it but Lucas apparently said he was selling merchandise and toys, not movies. Keep an eye out for the next run of Jar Jar figurines at you local KMart.
Fuck...you...Lucas.
I'm going to find SW, Empire and Jedi on laserdisc and forget anything you've done since. Whore.
Noooooooooooooooo!!!
You're misparsing it. He's saying Lucas could have created two {more epic} {six film sagas}, not {two more} {epic six film sagas}
Of course, Penny Arcade predicted this a while back.
Yes, yes I know you were being ironic.
They sentenced me to twenty years of boredom
...when the world is supposed to end?
Coincidence, I think not.
Why? I don't recall where I heard it but Lucas apparently said he was selling merchandise and toys, not movies. Keep an eye out for the next run of Jar Jar figurines at you local KMart.
Oh, thank goodness!
My supply of clay pigeons was getting low.
PULL!!
Strat
Progressivism (aka US 'Liberalism'): Ideas so good they need a police/surveillance-state to enforce.
Eventually, HE will. Then we will have a J.J.A. or Strazynski come along and do a remake. Maybe this time with a wormhole/time travel effect to prevent the whole thing from happening the way Lucas did it. So....that could mean no douchebag Anakin and no Jar Jar.... I'm sold.
You do realize that the chronological version of Memento came with regular version as a "special feature", right? Hardly a Lucas style moneygrab. I don't know why you bought three copies either...
"linux is just DOS with a UNIX like syntax" -- Galactic Dominator (944134)
I think this is the first article about 2012 I've read that actually makes the Mayan apocalypse predictions sound appealing. Here's hoping the calendar runs out before Lucas's patience does...
Motorcycles, Robots, Space Gossip and More!
Adding an extra d to the film won't help such a horrid script.
At least now we know why the world is supposed to end in 2012.
Will they be in 3D?
Do not want!!
Greedo now shoots YOU first?
If brevity is the soul of wit, then how does one explain Twitter?
Yeah, you get to re-see a really cruddy movie in 3D, but at least they'll throw in the usual free migraine!
I feel a great disturbance in the force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced.
I thought that the Special Edition version of that scene with the band in Jabba's castle was missing something!
Also, more Ewoks please. And make them speak English this time!
How many more times do we have to endure the same movie being released over and over again? Let it go already and make something new, George.
Wait - he does realize that 3D actually refers to a change in technology, not in showing the exact same movie three times, right?
"Give a man fire, and he'll be warm for a day; set a man on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life
I wonder who will have shot first this time
It is something new, so people are intrigued. However will it have staying power? My guess is no. 3D movies with glasses is not a new idea. It has been tried twice before that I'm aware of, and was a failure in both cases (outside of a few specialist theaters). I don't think it is going to be here to stay.
but who do you hate more...the crackhead or the asshole dealer that will do anything to enable and string out the addict until there's nothing left?
I think the correct SW line would be: who's more foolish, the fool or the fool who follows him?
AC made a funny!
[UID-HeinzIntel]
I have a very bad feeling about this.
Don't worry, even if I'm the only one who noticed, I recognize your intentional Star Wars cliche: http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/I_have_a_bad_feeling_about_this
And the only way I'll admit it is as an Anonymous Coward.
You weak minded fools! He's using an old Jedi mind trick.
William Shatner, is that, you ?
You aren't fooling me again Lucas. Not this time, not ever again.
Are these not the re-releases you're looking for?
Our suffering will be legendary even in hell
Actually, I'm pretty sure he's just trying to make the franchise pathetic enough that he won't have a legion of nerds knocking on his door whenever he decides to change something.
I admit I'm trolling, but why won't that fucker just die already? Does he have to keep shitting on all of us?
Force Money Grab. FTFY
Absence of proof != proof of absence.
I knew it, I knew it! he had to find a way to rerelease them, again
That's all we need. Jaja's ears flapping at us in 3D. It's not like they will even true 3D. They'll be stereo, hyped up as 3D because people don't know any better. If it was 3D you could change the POV.
You don't need to see these movies in 3D
Theses aren't the films you are looking for
You can go about your business
Move along
I'm just "this guy", you know?
I just can't understand why this guy won't release an anamorphic widescreen Episode IV without the silly modifications he later added. For God's sake, George.. I waited on line, aged 7 years old with mom to see this film. Shit, I'd be happier if he instead released a smell-o-vison version in which I could actually experience the "Incredible Smell" the Princess leads them to.. Forget this "3d" nonsense.
haven has so much cheese in it, I couldn't make it through the first episode. Stargate in its current incarnation has nothing to do with stargate. Even if we allow them to completely change the genre of the show, the show itself just has almost nothing to do with stargate. They've barely touched on the universe at all in an entire season. The first time they landed on a planet with an alien building, it was covered in a "montage".
2012!!
This is a sign of the APOCALYPSE!!
Next will be dead rising from their graves.
Cats and dogs living together.
Total Chaos!
http://i53.tinypic.com/r9hk3q.jpg
I disagree. I think that they stand head and shoulders above modern sci-fi, and that if anything modern science fiction should be renamed "action movies with loose sicnece fiction theme", as most of them aren't really science fiction at all, they are Die Hard with robots, or aliens in them. Not true science fiction at all. They are all about CGI and have no plot or dialog to speak of. Compare The original Alien and Aliens movies to the new Predators movie. Or the new startrek movie to the Wrath of Khan. You will see that it's all about CGI and SFX. You could take most modern sci fi films and relocate them from a spaceship to an airplane or an office building and you'd barely notice.
Star Wars doesn't need to compete with a contemptroary film, it beats them hands down.
Though, to be honest, the childhood memories aren't all good either -- I DID see the Ewok Christmas Special when it was originally broadcast. Don't recall much about it, I think I'm blanking it out. Some crap about the Wookie Life day. I think even at that age I thought it was lame and walked out on it.
I suppose that I should be happy that one day sweet sweet death will come and after that I won't remember George Lucas' movies anymore. For that reason, I look forward to my eventual, inevitable demise. Perhaps that was his plan all along, to make an entire generation more accepting of their mortality. Well now that it's worked on me, I'm quitting his program. I'll not be seeing any more of his movies, thank you very much! The rest of you are welcome to it!
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
For crying out loud, the starwars films were crap to begin with, then they were remastered and released again (yes, sold us the same crap),and then he brings out a few new films, and now he's going to release the same stuff again in 3D (3rd time). Why are there so many gimps out there that keep falling for this crap, its the SAME film!! remastered or not, its still crap and that tool George Lucas is making lost of money from it, just shockin!
I agree, I don't think the older 3 Star Wars films stand up as modern sci-fi because they feel small (due to the lack of CGI)
I disagree, the effects of those are not dated enough to distract from the story.
But, hey, you can watch Avatar if CGI is your thing.
So then a year later they can re-release the original re-released version; i.e. the original which everyone wants, not the new crap, not the extra scenes crap, not the one where luke is replaces by jarjarbinx, not the one with chewee with pink hair, the one shown in theaters in the 1970's and 80's that everyone remembers and loves.
Dear god... you're actually right, take Lucas out of the picture & before you know it, you'll be seeing 're-imaginations' done by the likes of J.J.A. .... God that Star Trek movie sucked
This is not the line that you are looking for.
*handwave*
Probably kept forgetting where he put them!
The Jedi are going to feel this one...
To Lucas's constant raping of the star wars trilogy. Don't buy any of it. I own the trilogy on DVD. Notice I said trilogy? As far as I'm concerned there are three films. I've watched one of the 'prequels' and bits of the others and they suck so I haven't bought any of them. I haven't bought any of the remastered, re-engineered, added a new sound-effect garbage which passes for George Lucas's output these days. I don't even have any plans to buy the blu-ray versions. I feel sorry for the Star-Wars collectors who feel the need to buy everything every time it comes out. They just get screwed constantly and while their bleating gets a little louder each time, they still hand over their hard-earned with a smile.
Lord of the Rings has two versions - theatrical and extended.
As if millions of voices cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced.
Lucas, these aren't the films you're looking for...
It is garbage. I have never watched a 3D film and will never watch one. I won't wear those stupid glasses. Get off my lawn. Damn kids. If I have a stroke tomorrow, the one thing I won't miss from life is 3D CRAP.
The conversion process is basically the computational equivalent of vacuum forming the 2D image over a depth map. Depending on the fidelity of the models that generate the depth map, the effect will vary between passable and looking like cardboard cutouts in a diorama.
From a technical point of view it will be interesting to see how Lucasfilm deal with the conversion. I think the conversion will be abysmal in the first 3 movies with lots of crappy dust & particle effects tossed in and some reshot CG. Potentially the 3D could be more passable on the prequels depending on how far they go. Most of the prequel scenes are pure CG or composite live action and CG so in theory all these scenes could be rerendered. I think in practice though that probably only a fraction will get the full treatment and the remainder will under go a 2D + depth map process.
to realize it's not April fools and then another 5 seconds to verify it's not a dupe from April fools
Yes, yes I know you were being ironic.
Oh no, let's not start the irony posts again!! AAAAUUUUUGGGGHHH!!!!!!
soylentnews.org Go there to enjoy the people!
DSS Woman: How long have you been unemployed, Mr Bisley?
Tim: [checks watch] About an hour and a half.
DSS Woman: Have you been looking for work?
Tim: [laughs, then sees she's serious] Um, no.
DSS Woman: Why did you leave your last job?
Tim: Got fired.
DSS Woman: Why?
Tim: [nonchalantly] Uh, a difference of opinion...
DSS Woman: The Phantom Menace?
Tim: [pauses, then, surprised] Yeah...
DSS Woman: Didn't you like it?
Tim: [cautiously] No...
DSS Woman: Well, [taps nose conspiratorially] you leave this with me. I'll get you some money out in the next few days.
-
Come round my house, I'll throw some X-Wings at your head and then we can revisit that opinion
Can anything that someone goes to so much effort to critique truly have failed? Surely a reasonable standard of failure would be a movie like StarCrash which had David Hasslehoff fighting a stop motion robot with a lightsaber.
If Lucas develops the techniques to convert 2D movies into 3D and it's successful, we'll soon have pretty much every other movie ever released [i]re[/i]-released in 3D. My money's on the Matrix being first in line, they haven't done a re-release of that for a couple of weeks now...
Does Han shoot first in this one?
And Nobody Cared ....
TV and Movie people are excited about 3D like it is "color." It isn't. I need a new TV today. I'm going out of my way to NOT get 3D. The content makers have completely missed our feedback on this. I will not wear glasses to watch TV. I won't spend $5 more on a 3D capable TV. I do not own a DRM encumbered BluRay device (and won't). Something like 30% of us get headaches from 3D content. I saw Avatar in 3D - got a headache (someone else paid). No thanks. This is like the Segway. Interesting, but only slightly. We all want to try it, once, but will not part with our money to own it ourselves at premium prices.
I won't buy an old, bad, scifi movie yet ... again (have VHS and DVD already). The story seems to go on and on and on. The pod racing scene was 10 minutes too long and JarJar should be digitally removed from all the movies.
Lucas should be working on the Han Solo Tales and bringing them to a movie, not this regurgitated crap.
we have a very good southpark episode to look forward to, second half of 2012
People, what a bunch of bastards
Make that one two-film epic saga, one rehash of the first film with extra teddy bears, and nothing else ever again.
oh jesus this means i have to sit through revenge of the sith again...
(1.21 gigawatts) / (88 miles per hour) = 30 757 874 newtons
The acting in Episodes 4-6 was medicore but at least the material was new and exciting at the time. Plot was below the level of the acting.
Episodes 1-3 were worse.
So yah, I get it: You are a fan and you want, no you need, to love the franchise. But same as I refuse to read any "new" releases by Heinlein or Tolkien, it's time for you guys to cut your losses and keep the fond memories while you can. Cause George Lucas will find new ways to abuse the franchise you love(d). And then some.
In case you disagree: "Christmas special". I rest my case.
These aren't the movies you're looking for...
They should call it "STAR WARS THE ULTIMATE EXPERIENCE Is Forever ...One Last Time"
You almost get the impression that Gene Simmons is tied in with this some how?!? He's the master when it comes to milking something for all its worth.
I can't wait to see what the old ones will look like in 3d. These could be fantastic in 3D.
http://www.thetechnologygeek.org
Except the reviewer has got the worst, I mean absolute worse, voice for doing reviews. He doesn't modulate his voice at all; it's that same dull, nasal-sounding voice. I got through about five minutes before I turned it off.
I could barely finish the movie, I'm not going to sit through a movie-length nerd rage about why it sucked. I know why it sucked, I saw it. Or most of it, anyway. I mean, I watched all of episodes 1 and 2. I made it maybe a third of the way through 3 before I decided I wasn't five years old any more.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
It will be released at December 21. The Maya predicted it.
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
You're missing out. This review is almost art - perhaps the funniest coherent performance on the internet.
Yes, we all know the guy's voice is annoying, but it's so delightfully funny and painful how he shows what little regard Lucas had for story. Absolutely brilliant, I've watched it three times.
-THE END-
There actually is a single situation where a 2d movie has quite a bit of 3d information. During a slow pan, the parallax of objects reveals quite a bit about their location in 3d space, and 3d conversion is quite easy to pull off. Unfortunately, slow pans are fairly rare in film.
The only thing missing is his reviews of Episodes 4, 5 and 6.
It's all good and well to, as somebody above pointed out, nerdrage about the first 3 episodes - but in all fairness, the older episodes weren't exactly masterpieces of cinema either.. but either that reviewer thinks otherwise, or he realizes that wasting hours reviewing those movies in the same manner would just destroy the polarization he so carefully set up.
VHS/DVD/BluRay
Like that has anything to do with Star Wars. They haven't even released the new ones on blu-ray yet :/ I bought the originals on VHS as a kid, and only recently bought the DVDs since they were so cheap and the blu-rays aren't out yet..
I'm not counting Episodes I-III in that btw, not sure I even will ever watch them again unless some friends happen to want to while I'm there or something.
which is totally what she said
"I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly milked from their wallets just a bit more."
~~ Behold the flying cow with a rail gun! ~~
Yes I am sure you would hate that, just like rain on your wedding day...
http://michaelsmith.id.au
If his voice didn't sound like he was drowning in his own asthmatic phlegm, I'd have tried watching more than a minute of this sad little kid who never grew up.
Now let's press the button all along
http://www.nooooooooooooooo.com
If he ever finds out how to do that, he'll happily give it to you. And then sell you those "new" movies you've never seen before ...
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
I can just imagine the email to marketting now From : g.lucas@hotmail.com
Subject : Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: I have a great idea, we could re-release Star Wars!
Hey guys I have another idea to follow up the 3d release for star wars, this time we could replace Chewbacca with CGI similar to Jar Jar Binx! Then we could creature future releases that replace other characters and the space scenes, remember we also have over a thousand hours of unseen footage left to dribble into future releases; also you know the bit where Leia strangles Jabba? That seems a bit cruel and violent, maybe we should super impose a blaster into Jabbas hand and have him shoot at her first so it seems more like a defensive strangling?
The 3D craze is getting REALLY annoying. I've seen very few movies that utilize 3D in a way that looks even the slightest bit real, and all of them were filmed by 3D cameras.
Actually, the only good 3D movie I've seen in a long while is Avatar. (No, not The Last Airbender. That was just atrocious.)
And to make things worse, this will probably reignite the rather pointless "who shot first?" debate, consuming forums and Facebook pages around the world for several months...
Not so much the 3D, that I don't care about (it might be nice). I missed the special edition theatrical run of the original trilogy, so this will be my chance to see them in theaters.
You'd better get used to it. Soon there will be "Casablanca in 3D" and so on... It could even reach the first feature film of the Lumiere bros. "The arrival of a train to the station, now in atonishing 3D and Technicolor".
Well, in hindsight, squeezing additional money after a film's release is kind of the whole George Lucas "hallmark". It's really his "trump card" he played back when Star Wars was first released, which made him the man who beat Hollywood at their own game.
(He was the first to realize there was a potential fortune in marketing toys based on the movie characters, so got himself rights to any/all of those profits as part of his movie contract. Hollywood, at the time, didn't think that was important so they ignored that clause while trying to screw him in the usual ways,)
I've never really agreed with his premise that movies are always "unfinished projects" you can go back and revise at will, though. IMO, you're supposed to give your best effort and consider it a one-shot opportunity. When the final product comes out in the theater, it's "finished", for better or for worse. Yes, someone else can do a "remake" later, if they so desire. But remakes are other people's interpretations of the story ... not the ORIGINAL producer deciding to revise it.
When it comes to the Star Wars saga though? Enough time has passed so you've got whole new generations of kids wanting to buy/watch it, and inevitably, some of them will buy whatever the latest edition is on store shelves, vs. going to extra effort to obtain the "original" versions. So yeah, some profits will always be there -- but it's just an annoyance to people like me.
Tes, {how did} {you know}? {Was it that} obvious?
"Luke I am your father. Now I am standing closer. Now I am farther away. Now I am closer ..."
[Insert pithy quote here]
In the 3D version, Greedo not only shoots first, but turns the gun on himself and commits suicide.
Free Martian Whores!
What might not be obvious at first is that it's a caricature named Mr. Plinkett. It's supposed to be a slovenly old man who borders on senile and psychotic. They do this to add some additional humor and characterization to the reviews, otherwise you're basically going to be listening to some nasally nerd nitpicking details. It takes a little getting used to but if you've only watched five minutes I encourage you to give it another shot with the knowledge that the voice is satire.
That said, the Star Wars reviews do suffer a little bit from a skit-based "subplot" wherein the Plinkett character has kidnapped a hooker and kept her in the basement. We think he's going to kill her but instead he shows her the prequels as torture. It's supposed to be funny but it's mostly cringeworthy. His Star Trek reviews don't have any of this and I think they're the better for it.
Schnapple
"Spaceballs Two: The Search for More Money!" -- Mel Brooks, Spaceballs
Free Martian Whores!
Sure. It just depends upon your definition of "failure".
It brought in a LOT of money ... but it is nothing more than plot devices strung together with plot holes. If it didn't have "light sabers" and the "force" or "jedi knights" it would have been ignored.
Seriously. How many years were there between the last of the original movies and the start of production of the new trilogy? And that was the script?
Yeah, that's what I've been waiting for. Don't know how I've lived without it. Really.
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
Well, not every movie has to be a masterpiece. What the original movies definetely were was 1) fun to watch 2) something pretty new that hadn't been done yet 3) very "quotable" in a way that they started a lot of expressions that made it into mainstream, like "Use the force", "I find your lack of faith disturbing.", etc....
They also had at least some depth in the story. A lot of that was somewhat ironed out to make them more flat with each re-release in my opinion. Like making Han less "Bad" by not having him shoot first, or adding more CGI to Cloud City to change it from something that looked more like a gritty industrial setting into something that almost had the feeling of a holiday resort, etc..
That's why the last Star Wars movies I bought was a special edition which had the original theatrical releases as an extra. That is also the only DVD I have where I only watched the extras, not once the actual feature movie. ;-P
I actually preferred the older effects, sets and model work to the shiny CGI in the prequels. The latter films looked too clean and artificial. The used, worn, slightly badly fitting look of everything in the original trilogy made it a lot more believable to me.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
"Now in Stereo" sounds like a step back.
star wars was more than words rolling up a screen, too. You need to watch more than a minute.
Seriously...is there any other film franchise out there that blatantly squeezes more money out of its fans?
I don't know if I'd call it "squeezing". The thing with many Star Wars fans is that they want more Star Wars, any way they can get it. If that's what the fans want, why shouldn't Lucas give it to them?
Myself, I'm a Star Wars fan, but not quite a fanatic like some, so I'm not actually interested in more Star Wars. Therefore, I won't go see the 3D versions, and consequently I don't feel "squeezed" by Lucas at all.
"You cannot simultaneously prevent and prepare for war." -- Albert Einstein
Remember, 100% of the non-human elements in Episodes 1 thru 3 are computer-generated. Yes, he'll have to "convert" the few humans he actually filmed into 3D, and those will most likely look like flat 2D images floating in front of some other flat 2D image, like a view-master.
But literally everything else in the films are CGI. He wouldn't have to just convert those to floating flat images, he could re-generate them entirely in 3D.
If he still has all the stock footage filmed against the green-screens, he could regenerate the rest of the movie in 3D.
His re-released episodes 4 thru 6 have more filmed footage and less CGI, but with proper use of the lasso tool he could chop out the humans and regenerate everything else. I'm betting that's his plan.
My plan is to stay home.
And I can watch it in glorious digital on my original laserdiscs.
Do Not Want!
- Darth Vader
You will pay the price for your lack of vision (If you don't wear the oversized glasses)!
"but who do you hate more...the crackhead or the asshole dealer that will do anything to enable and string out the addict until there's nothing left?"
If we were actually talking about addictive, life-destroying substances; or if Lucas actually employed the manipulative tactics of the worst drug dealers; then your analogy would have merit.
But if we're talking about Lucas and Star Wars fans... why would I bother to hate either? If fans want to trip over themselves throwing money at Lucas for the next repackaging of the same product, I can ignore them, which is much easier than hating them. Likewise, if Lucas wants to keep repackaging the same product, I can ignore him too.
People who talk about hating Lucas mostly do so because it's trendy, not because he has some evil mind control over fans.
Come on all 3d movies suck royally. The illusion breaks down constantly, and reminds you about 5 times per minute that "hey you're watching a 3d movie!!"
The illusion breaks down at the edge of the screen, especially when an image that is supposed to be in front of the plane of the screen intersects with the edge.
The illusion breaks down when you get that choppiness from panning or from an object moving quickly from side to side.
The illusion breaks down every time there is a bright consistent background (like sky) and the screen itself becomes visible as an unmoving texture right in the middle of the depth of field.
The illusion breaks down whenever something is too close and your eyes have to strain because the focal distance is still the distance of the screen but your eyes are crossed looking at something that appears to be in the next row forward.
I hate 3d movies. I think they absolutely ruin the movie going experience so I am completely unsurprised that Lucas is going to do this to the Star Wars films.
Lets do the Mona Lisa in 3d, and howabout Starry Night.
-- QED
I wonder if Darth Vader will still be banned from the 3D release shows http://blog.moviefone.com/2010/07/12/dave-prowse-darth-vader-banned-lucas-film-star-wars-celebration/. I wonder if Return of the Jedi will finally show a profit and Darth will finally earn a residual.
Ah well, proof positive, the richer you are the greedier you are, really rather lame.
Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
Can anything that someone goes to so much effort to critique truly have failed?
How many Vietnam War documentaries and policy critiques are there?
And with regard to a story, yes, something can be very popular and still fail to tell a good story.
Out of modpoints but really liked a post? 1BDkF6TtmmeZ3yqXbz9yhdYVqRYnwFoXDj
It's worth watching. Not because it is fun to hate on the movies (at least not that alone) but because RedLetterMedia actually manages to explain it from a film critique perspective. He isn't a nerd ranting about mistreatment of their favorite character, he is ranting about a film in a genre which failed as a film, then carefully presenting How and Why it failed.
The manner in which he presents his critiques is just icing on the pizza roll.
Out of modpoints but really liked a post? 1BDkF6TtmmeZ3yqXbz9yhdYVqRYnwFoXDj
The only thing missing is his reviews of Episodes 4, 5 and 6
From a film perspective, they were fairly well presented. I think you are assuming that his critique is a nerdrage, which it is not.
He does evaluate 4,5,6 in one point as to showcase one of the failures of episode 1. Primarily he goes into the details of the danger of splitting the plot/story into multiple lines and trying to keep it coherent for an audience viewing it for the first time.
In short, he shows that 4's ending worked VERY well because you had all plots converge into one single ending (Yavin), then 5 had 2 plots going on, and 6 had 3 (Luke line, endor surface, space battle)
It showed a progression from a clear concise story in which everything split for a reason, and came back together for a reason, as opposed to Episode 1's approach of 'Everyone split up and go do your thing!"
He presents it in a much better way than I can.
Out of modpoints but really liked a post? 1BDkF6TtmmeZ3yqXbz9yhdYVqRYnwFoXDj
I find your lack of faith disturbing.
What a depressingly stupid machine.
>>>SGU has almost nothing to do with stargate
Yeah okay. It's just a title. I wouldn't get hung-up on it. They said the same thing about Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (nobody's "trekking" through the stars - they are just sitting), but it still ended-up being my favorite science fiction show (tied with B5). I'm willing to stick with SGU and see where it ends up. Right now I agree it's "blah" but most first seasons are blah, even for shows I like. They improve later.
Haven improves in later episodes, but it's still too weird for me.
Ditto that other show Sanctuary about strange creatures.
Also the pace is mind-numbingly slow.
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall
The Incas already predicted this happening in 2012, didn't they ?
What a depressingly stupid machine.
Fuck everything, we're doing five dimensions.
(BTW, I bet he still won't get rid of the slugs from the emperor's face, the garbage mattes around the ships, etc etc etc.)
Dear Slashdot: next time you want to mess with the site, add a rich-text editor for comments.
>>>watch Avatar if CGI is your thing.
Or the CGI demo called King Kong. Both of which sucked (too long and too boring). Despite its age Star Wars 4 and 5 still are better overall.
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall
Friends, we need an immediate Amendment to the Constitution that allows a popular vote of the people to put any work into the public domain. Save Star Wars from it's abusive father. Don't let it linger in such agony. Set it free!!!
Thats no 3D! but really, who wants to see The Hutt in 3D? *shudder* And now that it's in 3D, they *have* to release a "Carbonite" edition...
Smoking cures cancer. Smoking also cures stupidity. check darwinawards . com for some stupid stuff
Enjoy over-stating things, do we? Blade Runner has 3 versions and an unofficial workprint
According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blade_Runner#Versions there are a few more.
To boldly suck in dimensions no one has sucked before.
sgu isn't remotely in the same place as deep space nine. Even if they weren't trekking through the stars the show still regularly dealt with the Star Trek Universe. SGU has a very tiny grasp on that as it is. It's one thing to not focus on the gate, it's another thing to basically brush over all the sci-finess of the show and turn it into a soap opera that could be set anywhere, any time with very little impact on the story.
That's kind of the problem. The best episodes were the ones where SG-1 characters were still in it. Not because of them being there, but because it brought the focus back onto the "universe" from where this show supposedly came. It brought back the tech, sci-finess.
We have an ancient ship, we have alien stuff on the planets... this is ripe for discovery and expanding the universe, instead its covered in montages or ignored so some character can look forlorn and depressed.
I'm tired of my childhood memory being prostituted and made all P.C.
There is more new entertainment than I can watch in my life time.
I just discovered "Pushing Daisies" an absolutely wonderful gem of a series.
I'm currently in the "watching Inception a half dozen times" phase.
I'm sure lots of folks will go but to me the star wars series is starting to feel decayed.
And Jar Jar was one of two good things about the entire pointless episodes.
The other was Palpatine (somehow he acted DESPITE Lucas' direction and gave a wonderful performance). The other good actors were all flattened by lucas. I'll never watch "1" to "3" again in my life.
She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
I guess what you're trying to say is similar to the words of one Obi-Wan Kenobi: "Who's the more foolish? The fool or the fool who follows him?"
...dang it.
Prove it.
(Common side effects from watching RedLetterMedia. Fear of pizza rolls.)
Atlas Shrugged : Thematic Story
The reviews are much better than the movies.
The characters finally become at least 2-dimensional?
Please do not read this sig. Thank you.
Hey George, how about making new movies that are actually good instead of milking that Taun-Taun of a cash cow until it runs dry?
Perhaps George will also add smells to the movie to enhance the experience. I suspect Ewoks smell wonderful.
When history exposes your film making skills as a fraud (more quaint than talented), your only option is to hang on to the past.
Can we get the short version? Something like stupid special effects, bad character development, poor casting and vapid, after-the-fact revisionist screen writing?
Seriously...is there any other film franchise out there that blatantly squeezes more money out of its fans?
SW may be bad about it, but the band KISS is downright (and admittedly) shameless when it comes to branding anything they can.
Sweet informative mod.
I completely agree. CGI works great if you do everything in CGI and don't try to be too realistic (e.g. every Pixar film). The problem is that mixing extensive CGI and live action almost always looks fake. Maybe it's unrealistic motions, or inconsistent gravity, or every CGI artist thinking that shiny=good looking (hint, real life isn't that shiny). Yes, sometimes you'll get good uses of CGI that are narrowly tailored, or that they spend a lot of effort to get looking good (Avatar looked pretty decent), but the prequels looked like they were filmed in one blue screen studio.
It also probably doesn't help that the actors were shit (Both Jake Lloyd and Hayden Christensen sucked), the dialog was poorly written, and overall the biggest problem is George Lucas insulating himself from any criticism during production. Really, sometimes you need to have someone grab you by the shoulders and say "What the fuck is C-3PO doing in Anakin's house? Why is R2-D2 on Padme's ship? Why is Chewbacca teaming up with Yoda?". I'm surprised George Lucas didn't toss Shia LeBeouf in as Han Solo (Shia was too busy helping George rape Indiana Jones I guess. Well, there's always the rereleases!).
Don't tell me how to do it. It DISGUSTS me.
After seeing The Last Airbender, or as I like to call it, "Real Avatar," I'm definitely convinced that movies converted to 3D in post absolutely suck. They look like crap! They're at least less blurry but still horrible unrealistic.
Secondly, I hear that George Lucas is going to change it so Han shoot at the you, the viewer, first hehehehe.
Google's Super Secret Search Algorithm: SELECT @search_results FROM internet WHERE @search_results = 'good'
The other week I gave my other half a glass of Chardonnay with a joke plastic black fly in it, and said "isn't that ironic?" I've still got a bruise on my face from where she threw a dictionary at me.
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
Blame the fans? I had the original trilogy on VHS and when it came out on DVD got so excited I pre-ordered it months in advance. When it finally arrived I was dismayed that it was hacked up and edited. I just wanted the original trilogy cleaned up and on DVD!
And then I got my wish and he released the theatrical versions on DVD, but of course these were completely untouched, I'm convinced my VHS copy looks better. So I own three copies of the original trilogy, two of which I bought with false expectations. The fans have been misled, we haven't been blindly buying anything with the Star Wars name on it!
If I hated something enough to take that much time over criticising it, I'd rather spend the time doing something else that I enjoy.
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
I always expected Harrison Ford to show up in one of the prequels playing Han Solo's grandfather. I'm not sure whether the idea excited or terrified me. But in general I got sick of Lucas sticking in every single possible connection between the two trilogies he could think of.
Fu-uck.
Hoist Number One and Number Six.
The in-story relation of the prequel trilogy makes the clean and artificial look of most of the things in that trilogy, compared to the used, worn, and slightly badly fitting look of most of the original trilogy (a look which, to an extent, the prequel trilogy also has in the places where it makes sense from a story perspective) make sense.
You act like George Lucas is knowing for compromising the integrity of his art to sell a few shitty toys. I think you owe the guy an apology.
It could be ironic if her name happens to be Chardonnay and you're trying to tell her that she isn't getting enough fly.... Or something....
Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.
My wife and I avoid movies that are 3-D only, and as we only have 10 screens within 50 miles of us, that means a lot of movies don't get seen.
But I will DEFINITELY NOT see this travesty. George, get back to writing some good, interesting, and original material, and bring back the team from Empire Strikes Back to make them.
When you sympathize with stupidity, you start thinking like an idiot.
The subplot in the reviews is more coherent, more dramatic, more interesting, and has better characterisation than the movies under review.
I think it's an additional layer of insult.
His Star Trek reviews don't have any of this and I think they're the better for it.
You mean, except for his having killed his wife by driving his Cadillac into a tree, and the subsequent "suicide" of his girlfriend which he covers up by having a prostitute write a suicide note before he kills her, too?
I recall you commented elsewhere that you refuse to see Avatar. I'd heard so much about how terrible it was, that my expectations were very low when I finally went to see it, and so I was actually quite impressed by it. One detail that impressed me was that it was actually science fiction, as in, you could tell that the background details had been worked out, and while there were things the scientists didn't understand, the implication was that they could understand it, given time to do the research. It seemed plausible -- well, except for the floating rocks.
I'm not trying to convince you to go rent Avatar. I just thought it was an indication of a shift towards science fiction that is, in fact, science fiction, not magic space ships.
Besides, even though it's a cult favourite, you can hardly put BR in the same money league as SW. It's just not going to pull in as many suckers^W fans to keep buying those new, special, collectors, Blu-ray editions.
You only think that because Ridley Scott was more successful than George Lucas when he bought up and destroyed all traces of the Blade Runner Holiday Special.
"Slashdot - News and Chat Sites Deviant". (Click "homepage" link above for details).
What ever happened to letting a film stand on it's own as a classic over time? It's not like these (at least the first three) were not well loved. To keep messing with them with every new technology is ridicules. The present rendition of 3-D is gimmicky at best and picture is less then impressive. If you like motion blur and RGB highlights on everything then the new 3-D is for you, but if you want a clear, vivid picture then a new LED is the way to go and skip this generation of cheesy 3-D. Even the 3-D in the theaters is less then impressive. The only 3-D that I have seen that was a real WOW was movies done at Disney's parks. Sad that even those from 20 years ago blow the current theater 3-D away and destroy the experience of 3-D tv all together.
Whatever.
... the original Japanese.
I believe I speak for everyone when I say "Fuck you George Lucas."
Decker shot first!
Well, Kaluza-Klein theory does suggest that spacetime is five-dimensional.
I'll give you MY short version. And it had nothing to do with the special effects or casting.
The most important thing Episodes 1-3 had to do well was the making of Darth Vader. In Episode 1, we should have seen Anikan Skywalker as he was before his corruption, with the seeds of future trouble almost completely hidden. In Episode 2, those seeds should have taken root, though only the audience and Palpatine should have been able to see it. And in Episode 3, he should have turned progressively more to the dark side, for perfectly plausible reasons, culminating in his betrayal of the Jedi.
We had almost none of that, and all of it was done badly. One minute, he's just dark-side-curious. The next, he's killing a bunch of children at Palpatine's request. And all over dreams? Please. If Skywalker wasn't smarter and tougher than that, he'd have made a terrible Darth Vader.
And the odd thing is, it's not just that Lucas can't do it. He managed a similar story of similar complexity -- the rise of Emperor Palpatine -- quite well. We see Palpatine the manipulator, and we see how he's set it up so no matter which side of any given conflict wins, he gains power. Maybe someone else handled that part.
Possible new slogan.... Disappointment enters a new dimension...
I know everyone will knock this, but there are definitely some scenes that easily lend themselves to 3-D:
And so on, and so forth...
Freedom is drinking a beer in the park when you're supposed to be at work.
Hmm, he should have written it down.
Don't forget the LaserDisc edition! How many years until the SSD edition comes out?
the Star Wars fans want it though.
Slowly waving my hand - "This is not the sig you are looking for."
...explaining exactly why the movies fail so horribly.....
I do not think that means what you think it means. Please define fail because I cannot seam to find a way to apply any definition I know of to those movies.
As an example, when I tucked my 10 year old son in tonight, he showed me his latest LEGO Star Wars Clone Wars creation. He described every feature, It was a great bonding moment (Thank you George for giving me this connection, it means a lot to my son).
Slowly waving my hand - "This is not the sig you are looking for."
Didn't you get the memo? In the revised editions:
Boba Fett was Han Solo's Father, and jabba the hutt was the spawn of yoda, a slug, and a big bottle of tequila...
Here is to thinking boba fett was a better mystery figure than explained one(was he even human pre-E2?)
I guess I meant that he doesn't break up the review with a bunch of video-based skits. The implied subplot is fine, I'm just not a fan of the way he does it in the Star Wars reviews.
Schnapple
>>>DS9 still regularly dealt with the Star Trek Universe. SGU has a very tiny grasp... basically brush over all the sci-finess of the show and turn it into a soap opera that could be set anywhere
So basically SGU is like Star Trek Voyager. ;-)
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall
>>>I recall you commented elsewhere that you refuse to see Avatar.
I did eventually download it off the net. I found the story good at the start, but it quickly got ridiculous. Like zombie movies. WE have tanks - zombies have rotting bodies. With our tanks, missiles, and other crap the zombies would be toast. Same with the guys in avatar who I doubt could win the battle against modern weapons.
And even if they did manage to win a single skirmish, the military would just nuke them from orbit and be done with it.
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall
They were mercenaries; I could believe they were underprepared for the scale of the conflict. I had the impression that part of the premise for the planned sequel is that the military will be back, so the Na'vi did basically win just a single skirmish, against an opponent that didn't happen to have nukes in orbit.
I had a harder time believing that if a single planet had been discovered, with a fully-developed ecosystem and sentient life, that most of the people involved in the small human outpost would be so blase about it. Most of the scientists, and quite a lot of the corporations, would be dying to get there; if there were only a small outpost, the people there would be the best of the best, and the head of the operation would not be some ninny who is as bored as the manager of a drugstore in a suburban strip mall.
What most bugged me was the bit with Jake becoming the Na'vi champion. Okay, he's a remarkable individual that everyone underestimated, and I could accept that he managed to convince the Na'vi that he had become one of them. But, did he have to suddenly become the god-emperor of the Na'vi? Wouldn't it have been enough for the plot for him to win the trust of the warrior leader and the spiritual leader? Surely they had the motivation and ability to lead a struggle, with Jake's advice and help. Of all the cliches they could have dropped, couldn't they have at least dropped the most offensive one, the "white guy is better at being an Indian than the Indians are / the white guy is worshipped as a god" cliche?
I enjoyed it over all -- it's the best science fiction I've seen in a theater in a while -- but I'm certainly not going to claim it was flawless.
Except star trek voyager still regularly dealt with the star trek universe. Tech, aliens, etc. They may have been new aliens and new tech being a different part of the universe, but we got extensive information and time spent on them. SGU is unlike any of them because it's basically thrown the franchise under the bus.
Even Memento has a version where it tells the story chronological order.
Actually, that's pretty great. I always thought it would be interesting to see it that way.
I don't know why I bought three copies.
Amnesia?
Property is theft.
I wasn't being ironic, I just always speak in hyperbole. ALWAYS.
The CB App. What's your 20?
Really? I actually didn't know that. I've only seen the movie in the theater once, then rented it years later. Didn't check out the special features. Damn, I was trying to be funny and I failed!
The CB App. What's your 20?
Oh, man, this is funny. I wish I could moderate, but it's a comment on a branch I started.
The CB App. What's your 20?
Ooh, if only I had mod points.
+1, Insightful
"Nine times out of ten, starting a fire is not the best way to solve the problem." - my wife