Slashdot Mirror
More Star Wars Hype
We break the week barrier, and tons of people email to
gloat that they've seen screenings. The rest of us will
have to settle for massive media hype including
mantid's note from harper's
that proclaims that Reagan's Star Wars project costed $4.166
billion, but Star Wars merchandise costed $4.5 billion.
mattdm noted that
Moviefone blew up under the ticket demand yesterday.
ZD-Net has a report.
DH1 sent us a really top notch interview at Salon with Empire Director
Irvin Kershner- kinda
nice to read something cool about the original movies after all this
gas over the new one.
Lastly Jethro73 sent us a
George Lucas's take
on piracy of Star Wars. Basically,
he will be very angry and fight very hard (big surprise) against
pirates.
Update: 05/14 01:59 by CT : My ticket plans haven't happened, so if anyone
has bright ideas on getting tickets for the Slashdot crew while
we're at LinuxExpo, lemme know...
costed is not a word, bucko. and all this SW:TPM hype was uncalled for. i was somewhat impressed with the screening i saw the other night, but not the "best movie of the century" hype that everyone, including lucas himself, made the movie out to be. austin powers 2 will probably be better.
Mark my words... SW:TPM will hit the wirez on May 19th before midnight.
The exact quote:
"Amount the Pentagon will spend this year on its Ballistic Missile Defense or "star wars" program : $4,166,000,000"
Key words: "this year"
Last time I checked, Reagan had not been in office since Bush's inauguration in January, 1989.
Also, last time I checked, the President has veto power. Our CURRENT president approved this expenditure.
So is it ok now?
(from the Netcraft engine)
www.moviefone.com is running Apache/1.3.6 (Unix) on Solaris
They do what is referred to as "call gaping" which means they drop calls. I've seen a DMS-250
brought to its knees by a massive influx of 800 calls. Dropping the calls was the only way to keep the switch from crashing.
So let me get this straight.
Lucas expects a few lawyers with big talk and the FBI computer crime lab (I'm sure they have nothing better to do, they'll probably be watching the movie at the time...) to prevent hacking on the most hyped Geek Movie in human history by potentially hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of rabid fans.
If you think Star Wars is _not_ going to be pirated, there is a bridge I would like to sell you. There are going to be dozens, if not hundreds, of copies of the pirate available. I bet if you look hard enough, you can find a pirate copy _now._
*whistles innocently, smiling* O:)
This getting the FBI involved before the fact is just further proof that Lucas's Ego must be stopped before it destroys Tokyo.
The best Lucas can hope to do is to just deal with the fact that his movie is going to copied. He's going to make, quite possibly, billions on this movie, before it even goes to videotapes. Pirated movies _might_ take 0.001% profits off the movie, since only the most die-hard wired fans are going to bother with a two-day download of a small movie. The real pirates are the ones that sell tapes on the street corner, not the ones who watch a movie they have already seen in the theater on their computer and advertise the movie for him.
If Lucas didn't want piracy, he shouldn't have hyped it so. Hype has a way of drawing that kind of element to itself. If you say, 'This is the greatest movie of all time,' don't be surprised when _other_ people come out of the woodwork to cash in.
He should also be working on the next film... considering the kind of cash cow he's got, he should be milking it more.
It's not so much the trailer that Lucas is concerned about. It's the distribution of the full movie. No sites which contain the trailer have been contacted, or are expected to be, according to the article (did you read that part? or are you just responding to the headline?).
I think Lucas has a point, especially as someone here has noted regarding quality concerns. But I don't see unauthorised sharing (the more correct term for "piracy" as suggested by RMS) as a bad thing for anyone involved.
Lucas will still get mega $$$s from all the people who want to see it in the theatres, from merchandising, and from "legit" home copies (and gives him more incentive to put out the DVD's BEFORE all of the prequels are released).
Just my $0.02
It's not about the quality of the media copy; it's about the quality of the viewer. Today's home viewing technology is simply not sufficient to adequately enjoy a fullscreen cinema event. It may be in future. However, for now it is woefully inadequate.
Even most movie theatre auditoriums are woefully inadequate or at best 'barely adequate'.
This is simply not something that can be replicated with a TV or projector and a surround sound system no matter how good the dupe is.
Lucas's own adds for the Special Editions bragged upon this fact.
When you can get the real thing, an incomplete copy is nothing more but a very effective teaser.
Pirating is only an issue for those for which the theatrical release is a form of restriction to access to information. Draconian attempts to stop bootlegging during a theatrical run do serve to make Lucas appear Gates-esque. If all a certain part of the market are interested is early access to information then $8+ per nose per viewing is infact highway robbery for that tasteless segment of the population.
A lot of that 4.5 Billion went overseas to toy
manufacturers. OTOH, There wasn't much hardware,
but lots of jobs and research from the $4.15
billion to Reagan's Star Wars.
I wonder which was the better investment?
Even if the movie completely blows, no one that is so fanatical and that partakes in the hype so much is going to turn around and say "Yes, I admit, this movie sucked." I sure wouldn't.. that'd make me look like a fool for getting caught hook, line, and sinker. So I expect even if it does suck (which it will from everything I've heard so far) people will simply swoon over this movie and throw their money at it based on hype and brand recognition alone. If this movie had come out 25 years ago it would have flopped.
...and then you're right.
...it's more likely to make me puke than it is to make me eat in those places.
If you really want to puke; eat in one of those places.
- A.P.
--
"One World, One Web, One Program" - Microsoft Promotional Ad
"Remember when the U.S. had a drug problem, and then we declared a War On Drugs, and now you can't buy drugs anymore?"
I'm confused why people are so worried about distribution of the trailers. I thought the whole point of the trailers was to advertise the movie, so the more copies of the trailers you have floating around, the more advertising the movie gets. (Like Star Wars needs more advertising). Why would you want to restrict your advertising by prosecuting all of the people who mirror your trailer for free?
:)
I also don't understand the comment in the article about "forstalling" the piracy of the second trailer by having it available only on their website (http://www.starwars.com). I don't see how that forstalls anything (except that their server was completely overloaded and slower than molassass).
With that said, I do agree with him about people who pirate the entire movie. Not only do they steal from Mr. Lucas, but they also tie up a lot of bandwidth that people could otherwise use to read Slashdot.
I read the internet for the articles.
Here in Chicago Cineplex Odeon runs their own ticket line (312) 553-CINE. I was able to get through to that and buy tickets for the second showing of the day! I tried MovieFone by phone and web and was completely screwed every time. I wonder how the phone network held up under the load?
South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut
(ok, five words & an ampersand)
I thought the licensing deal was with PFS(?)(the fast-food chains formerly owned by Pepsi...KFC, Taco BEll, Pizza Hut)
Unless the overseas rights are different or something.
PepsiCo gave LucasFilm (or whoever) $2 billion for marketing rights in the food and drink category. They will figure something out. Hell, the Episode 1 Mountain Dew bottles are "collectible", whatever the hell that means these days.
...phil
...phil
"For a list of the ways which technology has failed to improve our quality of life, press 3."
Posted by Chimichanga:
I know one place that has lots of piracy, the Philippines. I went there to do something for Intel, and I went to one of their video game stores and they were selling copied video games and copied dvd's. The copied dvd's were turned into vcd's which can be played by windows media player or put a modchip in your playstation. if he really wants to stop piracy, he should first start in the Philippines, the land of piracy.
Posted by AlexBanach:
I'm as excited as the next guy, but long lines and crowded theaters make this a "wait for the video" situation. Plus, I've heard Lucas has made some hefty requirements for theaters to show this movie, ($$$). I'd rather not contribute to this type pressure when it basically says "even if this movies dissapoints, George will be richer".
Posted by heaven is falling:
To the people who voted "deserved":
If I could strangle you I would.
I saw Episode I this morning at 4 a.m. The title sums it up.
I don't see how Obi Wan and Yoda could have such depth of character in the previous films, and yet the Jedi with whom we spent so much time in this movie can be so flat and lifeless.
Good grief, if the emperor's lackey hadn't finished Liam Neilson, I would have done it myself. Lucas should try not to hire corpses for his leading roles in the future.
Here Here! I second that motion! Even though i voted "it's pissing me off" you have an extremely valid point, one which made me change my mind about the whole thing (not easily done, mind you)
david
We bitch and moan about a glitzy, heavily-marketed OS, and its associated products and FUD and such; some of us do the same about the "dumbing-down" implied by putting KDE or GNOME on top of Linux, but we don't do the same thing with popular culture. If we are excited over Lucas and Phish and EBM and Alcoholica and South Park (to name just a few examples over the past year or so), it shows me that many of us "haven't tried Linux", so to speak; it shows me that we grok the user-friendly, the glitzy, the hyped, the popular (either mass-culturally or subculturally so), and the shockful -- rather than take the time and "RTFM" concerning music and the visual/televisual arts. My pop-culture examples are not buggy like Win*, but they do come from a dominant platform (shared by a small set of large corporations, rather than a single one), and they have their various deficiencies (and I say that as someone who has enjoyed -- in small doses -- all of the aforementioned examples). I dunno. I have come to associate showbiz marks with WinDOS users, perhaps wrongfully so.
A missive from the 2 department.
--
--
=8^
..are about the same as the odds of successfully navigating an asteroid field. :)
:)
After all, the man gets impressed by a skank throating a 3-foot kielbasa, and compares penis sizes on the air.
Yeah, heaven forbid he might have an opinion that has nothing to do with the antics on his show.
I find it hilarious, I was talking to a friend of mine who was reading an article about people who paid $500 to see the movie in advance, and THEY thought it sucked. (read: people who pay $500 to see a movie 2 weeks in advance are either big fans or fucking idiots) My friend brought out a rather interesting quote from the story too: "This movie is great if you're 12 years old"....
Heresay at least from my viewpoint, but I'd consider the guy to be at least reputable in quoting news stories. I really can't wait until I see 500 slashdot comments, 90% of them saying "it sucked, I was so disappointed."
The more disgusting fact is that most of the Star Wars freaks that I know wouldn't admit something like that if they were threatened with death... You know, the same people who still think Mark Hamill (sp?) has acting talent.
-Erik-
What do you mean, you don't think Hamill has talent? He's great as the Joker on Batman:TAS...
Hehe, I should have clarified... He is a rather talented voice actor, but his appearance in Wing Commander III was probably the hardest (visual) acting he's done in a while, and for good reason.
-Erik-
That's strange, because I have tickets to see it the 23rd at an AMC theater.
?
Hell, even on Gate's own turf Lucas bested him: Pixar.
Sorry to disapoint you, but Lucas doesn't own or run Pixar, and hasn't since 1986, right about the time when Steve Jobs founded the company. (Yes, that Steve.) What Pixar was before the sale to Jobs was a computer animation dept. of ILM.
Besides, it's his movie and his choice. You're more than welcome to film your own movies but you have no rights over someone else's work.
The worst part is that I live in Europe, and the movie will not be released here until August. Already, there is too much hype and merchandise everywhere, from McDonalds to every other toy store. (well, isn't that what McDonalds is to kids anyway...) There is no valid reason to release it late in my country (Sweden), it just has to be copied and subtitled. That process does not need three months. But, what scares me is that this could be only the beginning. When it escalates, I am going to turn my TV off and buy earplugs.
My friends tell me that resistance is futile, but I still struggle.
I am still standing by my thesis - I refuse to see the movie, until I go to see the movie!
"We mustn't be caught by surprise by our own advancing technology" -- Aldous Huxley
While it is a nice diversion (the MPEG version of The Matrix) if you have nothing better to do, all it really does by my estimation is give you a better appreciation for the theatrical original. This is most apparent NOW as this movie is still in it's theatrical run. This lead me to the conclusion that perhaps studios should actually do their video releases as they are showing these movies in the theatres.
You see the dinky VHS/DVD/MPEG1 version after having recently seen the original and realize just how those ntsc videos are just no replacement for the real thing.
A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
Hell, even on Gate's own turf Lucas bested him: Pixar.
George pushes the tech for the benefit of his art, Bill sandbags the tech for the benefit of his pocketbook. While Billy was still fuzting with DOS 1.x, George was giving us (indirectly of course) the Genesis Effect and starting a list of CGI credits longer than Bill's porfolio.
A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
This rather inflamatory flamebait subject is nearly completely off the mark. George has no delusions about being original or innovative (production tech excepted) and quite freely admits to recycling 3000 years worth of ideas and concepts from drama and mythology.
There is also none of the 'if I buy this today will I be able to use foo tommorow' or 'everyone is buying foo so I will need to buy foo or be stuck with an unusable movie' sort of network effects that plague software.
A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
What do you mean, you don't think Hamill has talent? He's great as the Joker on Batman:TAS...
Phil Fraering "Humans. Go Fig." - Rita
(currently testing something about signatures here)
The original trilogy was good, but IMHO slid off with each story. With the "updated" versions still missing the important dialogue (which made the dialogue that WAS there make sense), it's very clear that the next three are going to go the same way. They CAN'T recapture that magic, because I don't think George Lucas knows what the magic WAS.
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
Well...
:(
After seeing the matrix 3 times in the cinemas I hope you understand why I would watch it instead of going again to the cinemas... I mean... They are expensive,
Yes I will buy the DVD the moment it comes out, in fact I'll get a DVD drive for it. But until then the VCD will just do
---
Live Long & Prosper \\//_
CYA STUX =`B^) 'da Captain,
Jedi & Last *-fytr
I know this post will probably get demoted, but it really is just cost, not costed.
Quote, from the letter linked to on the page:
"The Digital Millenium Copyright Act ("DCMA") requires copyright owners to notify internet service providers about infringing activities and about facts and circumstnaces from which infringing activity is apparent, and imposes the obligation on ISPs to remove or disable access to infringing materials. The information set out below provides you with the notice required under the DCMA with regard to unauthorized electronic files relating to the upcoming film _Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace_ ("Episode I"). It also includes information refarding infringment of trademarks relating to _Episode I_ resulting from the posting of illegal video recordings on the internet. We trust that you will act promptly to prevent this infringement."
And later:
"The information provided in this letter is accurate to the best of my knowledge and is provided under penalty of perjury."
IANAL, but this sounds like the language for giving legal notice. (Not to mention that he says he's giving legal notice.) Exactly what is he "legally notifying" them of? That copyright violations are illegal? I think they already know that.
Rather, this is an attempt to reinterpret the guidelines in the DCMA that address whether an ISP is guilty of contributory copyright infringement. This way, the rules that were set up to punish rogue ISPs that flaunt the law can be applied to any ISP that LucasFilm decides was not "diligent enough" in preventing violations.
ISPs didn't want that language written into the law for good reason; this is it.
Is LucasFilm's legal eagle team providing such a nice public service, educating the ISPs on copyright law? Don't bet on it.
You know, I remember the copyright police saying that the DMCA would only kick in for ISPs after official notification for *specific* violations. In other words, you still can't be held responsible for copyrighted material on your site unless you're notified and refuse to take it down.
Now LucasFilm is playing fast and loose with the rules and "informing" all ISPs of the "specific" violation that copying Episode 1 is illegal. This so that the hyperactive legal department at LucasFilm can kick in and sue under the DCMA the moment a file is found, without having to bother with the messy notification clause. After all, they've all been notified of the potential violation, so if a file is found, that must constitute refusal to remove it.
This is the most blatant lawyer-screw I think I've ever seen. LucasFilm stands to make millions on the film, but that isn't enough; they have to twist the law to screw the poor hapless ISPs who happen to harbor a bad apple or two, or who are unlucky enough to get hacked by the wrong hacker.
I hope they sue some ISP and lose, so that the language of the law gets some clarity in case history. And I hope the ISP they sue countersues, and gets a big chunk of those Star Wars revenues.
You know, I _like_ watching must-anticipated movies on opening night. It's great-- the audience is enthusiastic, it's fun to see all those people waiting with me, and yes, I get to say, "I was there when IT came out." The cost? About an hour and a half of my time standing in line (the theatre I went to was a bit off the beaten track). Sounds like a decent tradeoff to me. Surely it will be more worthwhile and lining up outside CompUSA at midnight to buy Windows 95.
-Dean
In 1977 I was in grade five. I don't recall an inordinant amount of hype leading up to Star Wars. I remember rave reviews and almost an instant cult like following. Cult like in that just as people would go and see Rocky Horror Picture Show umpteen times they would also go and see Star Wars umpteen times. Obviously Star Wars was very main stream, but the following could best be described as a cult like following.
I went to see it, I think I've seen it in the theater two times. It was a good movie. For the time the special effects were amazing. I've been in a variety of places in a variety of drunken states as its been played, but I really haven't watched it again. A few years later when it appeared on HBO and my parents had purchased a VCR I did record it, but mostly because it was hiliarious in fast forward or reverse.
By then the quality of the special effects weren't as spectacular compared to other movies of the time. It was still a good movie though.
This prequel is a bit different though, there is an amazing amount of hype being dished out in advance. I happen to be pretty hard for the media to get to since I don't watch a lot of main stream TV and find playing CD's in my jeep more interesting than listening to the latest Howard Stern impersonator during my drives to and from work. I still can't avoid the hype though. The front page story on the local fish wrap was a review of the movie. I didn't read it but I might later. I'd like to see if its a totally favourable review and if not how many letters to the editor are going to be published lambasting the reviewer.
I will go and see the prequel. I'd like to say that I'll wait till the hype dies down, but I doubt if it ever will.
The interview said Kerschner "prodded" Ford to adlib,
not that Kershner made it up himself.
By the way, that is one of my all-time favorite movie lines! ;)
it must be great!
He wouldn't know talent if it bit him on his "private Parts".
No, I think that Kirshner said that he liked it, and wanted to keep it, rather than follow the script.
;)
Ford is evidently a bit of a method actor - he ad libbed the bit in Star Wars where he talks over the intercom in the detention block, because it would then sound more like he really was making it up on the fly. Which he was....
I think that's stuff that matters.
-- This and all my posts are in the public domain. I am a lawyer. I am not your lawyer, and this is not legal advice.
Anyhow the Geek Code can be found at http://www.geekcode.com/
His code means: ;) ;)
He's a Geek of Computer Science
Dresses casually
A bit fat, but not too much
In his late 20's
Heavily into computers
A wicked Unix guru
Not so big on Perl
Thinks Linux is okay but not amazing
Uses emacs
Uses the web a fair bit
Reads some newsgroups
Loathes the usenet oracle
Is not enlightened about Kibo
Uses Windows but doesn't like it
Didn't care about OS/2 either
Hates the Mac (Between this and his Linux score we can tell he's a no-goodnik
Likes Unix better than VMS
Apolitical
Financially conservative (pro taxes, pro welfare, anti military spending)
Interested in cypherpunk issues but no active
Doesn't use PGP
Likes Star Trek
Indifferent to Babylon 5 (now we really know about the no-goodnik issue
Likes X-Files a lot
Plays some RPGs
Watches TV daily
Likes to read but doesn't frequently do so
Likes Dilbert
Likes DOOM a good bit
No longer so interested in the Geek Code
Has an MA
Married
Gender undisclosed, but gets a lot of it
My code can be decoded here
-- This and all my posts are in the public domain. I am a lawyer. I am not your lawyer, and this is not legal advice.
I wonder if people will go to the theatre for SW1 and, forgetting where they are, leave in disgust when they don't show the SW1 trailer before the film. :)
---
"'Is not a quine' is not a quine" is a quine.
"'Is not a quine' is not a quine" is a quine.
Quine "quine?
I sense a fellow Discordian...
Only 26 times each? I've watched the entire trilogy every weekend for as long as I can remember. It's no waste of time in my book.
And no, I'm not seeing it opening night. I'm going to see it a week and a half later, so I can watch it with all my out-of-town friends. SW:TPM might be good and it might be bad, but one thing's for sure: It'll be *fun*.
Cheers.
-- SG
"I'm not suffering from insanity. I'm enjoying every minute of it."
... to put the SW character on their product. PepsiCo also own Frito-Lays, KFC, Pizza-Hut, etc... so expect to see those familiar SW face on your bag of chips, your pizza box, your fried-chicken barrel, etc.
...
This is not urban legend; this morning I catched an analysis of SW marketing on radio (CBC, serious stuff) where they were talking about the revenue model of the production. I just can't believe how much money they are gonna make with this one
:wq
Yes! Those shoulders, that insouciant posture, those ears...I would commit rithsharsha (sp?) with this being....
teleny, friend of cats.
MPEG TV is only $10 to register. If you'll use it, buy it. Support good software for Linux!
Anyone have a mirror? I've found the trailers mirrored, and even the TV commercials mirrored, but not the video.
A little help?
Get off my lawn.
I don't think that people enjoying a fun piece of fiction is going to hurt such causes. If we want to hype it a bit, it's because it happens to have little bearing on reality, which you mentioned isn't necessarily always good. So what if many people relish a break from that?
No matter what I do with my life, it is almost certain that I will not be able to change the nature of humanity. We don't really learn all that much from history. So, the point of life is obviously not to train future generations by example, since that's best done by bad example anyhow.
Thus, it's really not all that important to care much about these things. Some people have been killing each other for a long time, when we recognise those people, we try to prevent them. We can't predict them all, but we can't do much better. Not that we shouldn't try, but we shouldn't stop enjoying life because more serious problems exist. Why worry about something you cannot affect?
I was there in '77...I saw the FIRST showing of A NEW HOPE on its first day in Toronto. Everybody knew it was going to be big, but basically that was all we knew. Not the stars, not the effects, not the sights or sounds or concepts. Nada. At least part of the movie's impact was that it all came as a wonderful surprise...and I am TRYING to recreate that feeling. It's damned difficult.
I have not seen ANY of the trailers. I avert my eyes when a promo comes on at the theatres or on TV. I haven't read any of the articles about the move (tho' I have read a few about McGregor and Neeson in connection with the movie). I've glimpsed a few things, but not much.
What is everybody thinking about this hype??? Does anybody seriously think that there is a single person in the world who won't see the damned movie if they don't get a preview of the highlights beforehand? I HATE spoilers...I haven't logged onto Ain't It Cool News for months to avoid any taint.
I'm not gonna buy the books (print or colouring). I'm not going to buy the toys and souveneirs. I'm not going to buy a T-shirt or poster or any of the zillion and one bits of flotsam surrounding this movie.
All I want is to be surprised and thrilled...just like I was the first time. But keeping my Phantom Menace virginity is an uphill battle, let me tell you.
"I am your father" wasn't kept secret at all. The novelization came out over a month before the movie and I had already read it. Heck, the Menance novelization (by Terry Brooks... shudder!) has been out for almost 2 weeks, right?
In Bonita Springs FL, it cost me 21 bucks for 3 tickets at $7 a pop, showing at 12:30 am on May the 19th. I guess the theatre has THX sound, but they sure don't advertise it.
:)).
Why you ask did I buy the tickets so early? Because it adds to the excitement of the movie when you are half a sleep when it starts (That is if it is a good movie, if it isn't I can sleep through the entire thing justifiably
Quandary in the Making
Other theatres in town were just fine, this one, however, seemed to have no cap on the number of tickets one could purchase. One lady who was wearing a cap from a scalping agency walked off with a pile of about 80 tickets... About half an hour after tickets went on sale 12:01 seats were going for $25 (they're originally $7.50).
The chaos caused by everyone rushing the box office two hours before it opened didn't help much either.
We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars. -- Oscar Wilde
The hype is really, really annoying me at the moment. Lucas decided to do a simultaneous worldwide merchandising launch, so over here in Ireland, the novel, screenplay and art/vehicles books are already out, but the film doesn't open until July 16th. Arrrrrggghhh!!!!!
--
I've got green eyes, red hair, and I'm left handed. A hundred years ago, I'd have been considered in league with the De
This whining about "theft" of copyrighted material really gets out of of hand. Calling the FBI to prevent some hardcore fans (those kind of people besieging cinemas for hours to get a ticket) from "stealing" a giga of thumbnailed mpegs with their 56k modems is just pathetic.
If the launch of the movie would be somewhat syncronized over the world (here in Austria TPM will start in September(!)) nobody would bother for hours or days with downloading of what could at best be considerd a low quality preview. But I think Georg Lucas' marketriods can't stage the media and merchandising hype in more than one country a time.
Did it live up to the hype? I dunno, I don't pay attention to such things. It was a cool movie. Was it high cinema? Blah... It never aspired to be.
The F/X knocked my socks off. The story was pithy, but then all of the Star Wars movies were kinda corny. That's OK. If you go to Ringling Brothers expecting Cirque de Soleil, you're going to be disappointed. Otherwise, you'll have a good time.
The pod race was incredible, and I got chills as the battle tanks crested the hill on their way down to the battlefield. Wow. Do not see this film in a theatre that's not equipped with digital sound.
Ok, that's my vent for the day. I'll probably see it at least three or four more times. There's so much to see. It's a visual feast!
A host is a host from coast to coast...
Unless it's down, or slow, or fails to POST!
"A New Hope" wasn't "intelligent".
It was exciting, it had swordfights, chase-scenes, and romance. It had Good and Evil, without shades of grey. It had borderline abysmal acting. It had whiz-bang special effects that made you think you were watching a real space battle. But it didn't exactly exercise those brain-cells.
It was, as Lucas has said so many times, a Saturday morning movie for the kids. The fact that it was a damn good example of the genre, made squillions of dollars, and is still enjoyed by millions of people doesn't change that fact.
Carlfish
The more I learn about the Internet, the more amazed I am that it works at all.
Main Entry: 2cost : to require expenditure or payment cost more> : to require effort, suffering, or loss : to have a price of : to cause to pay, suffer, or lose something cost him his job> : to estimate or set the cost of -- often used with out
Function: verb
Inflected Form(s): cost; costing
Etymology: Middle English, from Middle French coster, from Latin constare to stand firm, cost -- more at CONSTANT
Date: 14th century
intransitive senses
1
2
transitive senses
1
2
3 past costed
Merriam-Webster
I love all the hype Star Wars is getting, but that's because I am a huge fan, and would be psyched if Lucas showed 2 hours of static on May 19'th. It basically breaks down to whether or not you're a fan. People either like Star Wars or hate it, and I can certainly understand how annoying all the hype can get if you don't give a damn. The simple fact of the matter is if you're a true fan, you'll love The Phantom Menace regardless of whether it sucks or not. And if you hate Star Wars...well, what can I say? You'll hate it. Either way, the hype will eventually end, and then everyone will be happy.
-- Give him Head? Be a Beacon?
-- Give him Head? Be a Beacon? :P)
(If you can't figure out how to E-Mail me, Don't.
Ok, so people are already saying that this movie is going to be the best ever. Even I say (and truly believe) that it will be the most successful movie of all time. No other movie in history has ever completely sold out within hours in my city. Two theatres, 450 seats each, brand spanking new (opening Friday), eleven showings a day. That's 9900 tickets, SOLD OUT IN JUST THREE HOURS. Regardless of whether the movie actually blows (which I don't think it will), it will likely be amongst the highest grossing movies of all time.
My second point is that anybody who trusts movie critics on ANYTHING is a fool. If I had seen every movie ever made for the past 25 years, I'd probably get kind of grouchy and picky about movies. I also have made it a point NOT to read ANY of the hype in magazines and such, simply because I knew that it might well ruin the experience if I already had every detail in my head. I have seen both trailers, the four commercials, have the official movie poster, have the soundtrack, and will probably be buying the new toys. I've read almost every single Star Wars novel published. I know what the general plotline is, but that does not make me any less excited to see it. If I had the money, I would have paid for those charity tickets to get to see it early. Above all else, I want to see for myself if Lucas is still the greatest mind in the movie industry. But don't render judgement on the movie until you've actually seen it.
It seems to me that a community as intelligent and perceptive as the /. folks would see that Lucas has us all by the short and curlies, same as Gates has most of the non-technical lusers in the world. We are being manipulated and milked for our time and money, and we're letting it happen. How could the movie ever possibly live up to all the expectations that've been built up by all the hype? It can't. Why are we going to spend 5 and 6 dollars at a time for plastic toys worth less than a dollar? Why are we going to rush to the theatres, wait days and days in line, and spend 8 or 12 dollars a ticket, when in 3 months we can get in without waiting at all? To say "We were there when IT first showed"?? Big fuckin' deal. Theatres will probably run the damned thing until November, so what's the rush? And screw the whole merchandising monstrosity. Who thought I'd want to see lame-ass Darth Maul on my Mountain Dew bottle? He looks more like an ugly, angry circus clown with that ridiculous make up than he does a "ph33rs0m3 \/1ll41n". Vader was 10 times the villain this painted joke could ever be.
/rant
--- --- --- Don't just do something! Sit there!
The worst is the ad with Col. Sanders, the Taco Bell Chihuaua, and the Pizza Hut girl driving down the freeway to save the Queen from Star Wars, that's the most shameless Star Wars tie-in I've seen, and it's more likely to make me puke than it is to make me eat in those places.
Of all the comments I've ever posted, this is definately one of them
Only quicktime? That is like giving away furniture for free but specifying that it _must_ be taken home in a chevy. Screw it. If he wants to give away content for free why should he care about the mode of delivery. Pirating something _not_ intended for mass distribution is wrong though - But this trailer is intended to be available for everyone.
-=-=-=-=- osjedi uses Debian GNU/Linux. -=-=-=-=-
tangerine!
I've finally had it: until slashdot gets article moderation, I am not coming back.
I'll only live about 700,000 hours, and although a new StarWars movie may be worth two or three of those, I feel like I've already come close to that even before it's been released.
(Just my opinion, of course; someone who sees it two dozen times and has a lot of fun each time gets my respect for their intensity. But that's not me.)
"Failed to connect to server". Oh yeah, that's cryptic. Once again, fine writing by ZDNet.
--Ivan, weenie NT4 user, Jon Katz hater: bite me!
--weenie NT4 user: bite me!
"Computers are nothing but a perfect illusion of order" -- Iggy Pop
Will it be intelligent and interesting like the original ("A New Hope" is it called now?) and Empire - or will it be a mess like Jedi? Only time will tell.
Ita erat quando hic adveni.
I think this is a mistype but hey, if you're actually correct on this one maybe I will get that Matrix VCD burnt...
8Complex
I camped out, skipped school w/ unexcused absences, walked in to take a test I couldn't get a 0 on, and then drove back to the theatre to wait some more (my mom held my spot). Some people have camped out for > A MONTH!! But, yeah, RALEIGH RULES B/C 12:01 IS HERE FIRST!!! :)
Erik
P.s. The camping out RULED. I would definately recommend it. A TON OF FUN!!!!!!!!!
I don't really understand how changing the file format the trailer is in is "bastardizing" it. The only reason it's in Quicktime in the first place is because Lucas has deals with Apple. None of this stuff has anything to do with "art". I mean all Lucas is concerned about is money, that's it, nothing less and nothing more.
3:00? They started selling at 2:00 here in Winnipeg. I guess Lucas also dropped his restriction about it having to be in THX too, because only two of the three theatres showing it here will have THX (Of course, there's also the third option that this theatre is disobeying the agreements). Oh well, I have my Wed. 12:05am tickets, so I'm happy :)
-"One machine can do the work of fifty ordinary men. No machine can do the work of one extraordinary man." -EH
It's fun to read all of the old bad reviews of the first three movies too. Only in hindsight will we all know for sure.
Besides, what better way to get someone to read your article than trashing a movie everyone is talking about. It's not like it's going to keep anyone from going and seeing it.
Edu. sig-line: Choose rhymes with lose. Chose rhymes with goes. Loose rhymes with goose.
Comparing? THEN use THAN.
It was sooo bad that I just looked at is a sort of poking fun of all of the other hype we are likely to see. I'm probably (definitely?) wrong, but I find the world is much more interesting when viewed as one big self-deprecating joke. :)
Edu. sig-line: Choose rhymes with lose. Chose rhymes with goes. Loose rhymes with goose.
Comparing? THEN use THAN.
Here in Chicago, me and two friends set out to purchase something like 30 tickets for multiple showings and got all we wanted.
The web site was a bust, but the Moviefone phone system yielded to persistent speed dialing. Each of us got on at least twice and were able to order up to our max of 6 tickets.
I am now the proud owner of twelve tickets - shhh don't tell Lucas.
Those poor saps that waited days in line...
-josh
Sizzler has a REALLY bad commercial. There are Luke and Han type-characters eating at sizzler. During the chatter about Sizzler, they are using all kinds of bad star wars puns. "Q:How do you eat it? A:Use the fork" is one of the worst. The acting sucks too
"Let him go, Ralph. He knows what he's doing." --Otto Mann (simpsons)
...are about the same as the odds of successfully navigating an asteroid field. :)
After all, the man gets impressed by a skank throating a 3-foot kielbasa, and compares penis sizes on the air.
-- What you do today will cost you a day of your life.
Not all theaters. Only the ones that signed limit deals and such were allowed pre-release sales. In California I know Edwards Cinemas was allowed to and so was another one...but I forgot. Anyways I know AMC wasnt allowed to. I got my tickets at Edwards 22 in Ontario, the AMC across the parking lot was practically empty. But they got to presale for Titanic so it works out doesnt it?
I'm a loner Dottie, a Rebel.
if the new films were nothing other than two hours of text one line at a time rolling up the screen telling us the story, i would pay my 8.50 to go see it. add john williams' soundtrack and of course i'll go. add just one jedi duel and i'm ecstatic. any picture or sound at all, in other words, is gravy on top of something i have been waiting about half my life to see.
in any case i will be going to episode i at least four or five times, and would be going even if, as i said, it was only the text of the story scrolling up the screen.
im am sam i am
burn the computers. go back to the abacus.
I have no idea why the moderator marked it
down, but I can kind of understand why.
I mean, look at the criteria you quoted:
> They call somone names.
"Lucas is a wimp" qualifies.
> Bad comments are repeats of something said 15
> times already making it quite apparent that the > writer didn't read the previous comments.
Bordeline, IMO.
> They are hard to read or just don't make any
> sense.
This is the big one. Many sentences are just
too hard to parse. I don't know what the
author is getting at.
> They detract from the article
> they are attached to.
On the other hand, this doesn't apply, because
it's impossible to detract from this idiotic
topic. The real mystery is why any moderator
would waste time on this discussion.
Lucas = Gates
You = Ignorant Slashdot Reader
The quote where you got your parody "Wipe them out, all of them" was not from Darth Maul but was from Darth Sidius (Senator/Emperor Palpatine). Get your facts straight next time.
Are you on some kind of medication? Do you honestly believe that the movie is going to be out on video by July 1999? Maybe you will be one of the warez kiddies who will be downloading a crappy VIVO version of the movie come July 1999.
It is funny how people try really hard to BE different from the rest of the world. I mean, does it really mean that much to you that you want to sacrifice the opportunity to see the movie the way it was meant to be? I am going to see the movie on the very first public showing in my city and I will be one of the several hundred people chanting the Imperial Death March song while waiting in line for the auditorioum to open. This is an experience that I have missed out on when I was a child when the first Star Wars came out because I was too young to be admitted to a movie theatre even during the showing of RotJ in the early 80's. I wish they would let me take my 4 year old son for TPM but I guess he'll have to wait until Episode II or Episode III to get that experience.
I'll visit my aunt in June. She lives near San Francisco. Which will be the best cinema to watch Star Wars in? I mean do all cinemas have THX and biiig screens and all that, or is there a favourite one where you'll go?? Just asking
-- MicAttAck
Religon is an insult to human dignity.
Well, I just saw the new videoclip from Toy Box: Best Friend and in one scene they start figthing with sabers... How far can and will this Hoopla go? :)
"Fix it? It has been disintegrated, by definition it cannot be fixed!" - Gru in Despicable Me.
Rishathra, I think is the correct spelling. Damn, I haven't heard that term in YEARS.
"All those tubes and wires and careful notes!"
You're redefining the usage of the term ``free''. This is a distinct no-no. If you want to get technical about it, nothing in the world is a can either, because nothing in the world will fit all 50+ definitions of the word ``can'' and all 1000+ usages of such definitions.
...or you get value from/pay for using it. Would be a good extension to your quote. For me Linux equivalent to a perpetual motion machine, because I get more from it than I put into it.
Get the Snowspeeder man, it's cool!
I think I was more excited about the Lego sets than the movie.
I've always wanted this, and now I have it!
It's too bad the TIE Fighter looks like crap, 3 colours?! Come on!!
Oh, and I got the Lightsaber Duel set, and made Darth Maul's saber 2 sided!
Just a little patience and an X-Acto knife...
Pope
It doesn't mean much now, it's built for the future.
Can we say "P-A-T-H-E-T-I-C"?
Heh yeah...costed...
I'll watch it for the special effects, but from what I'm hearing, the plot is going to be Return Of The Jedi II.
Good call on Austin Powers 2. I saw the trailer when I saw Election (AWESOME movie BTW) and I was crying.
"Well which one is it baby? Shpitz or Shwallow?"
-Little Me
Blar.
It's also about the most effective thing Solo could have said at that point - effective in getting Leia to focus her attention on her own problems. Not "I love you too", not "Don't worry about me". Just a smartass response like "I know" to snap her out of a potential melancholy mindset into an action mindset.
Which makes that line particularly effective.
-- Alastair
Yeah, but ask yourself who's doing the marketing in this case - Lucasfilm or PepsiCo? Hint, I'll bet PepsiCo is paying Lucas for the rights to crank out a set of SW:TPM "collector cans", and not Lucasfilm paying Pepsico to advertise SW:TPM on their cans.
Last I heard, Lucasfilm had hardly spent any money advertising the film - they don't need to. Ditto with all the product tie-ins. Who do you suppose was beating down whose doors for the rights to manufacture SW toys and action figures? Lucas probably had to beat them off with a stick.
-- Alastair
They all fail to see the writing on the wall.
Lucas is bright enough to see that digital distribution is the wave of the future... what he doesn't see is that restricting the flow of information to his LIKING has nothing to do with cracking down on "Wild West" (GIGGLE - this Internet cliche is only about 30 years old) lawlessness.
It is about as pointless as trying to hold water in a sieve. Their whole delicate world is crumbling around them and all they can do is bleat about the lack of morality on the 'net.
They're on the ropes...
The argument about the quality of the pirated films being poor enough that people will still see the movies in theatres is a specious one. This trend will not stop at cheap bootlegged ripoffs. Sooner or later technology will make transporting full resolution full frame rate copies trivial.
It is all bits people. Once we can move enough of them at a time, the result is inevitable.
C'mon people.. I now that most of you Linux people beleive in no copyright notices but you have to respsect the creative talents and wishes of the creator. If Lucas wants only QuickTime format then keep it in QuickTime format. If he doesn't want you post the movie anyplace then don't. It's HIS production. He wrote it. It's his dream.
I certainly wouldn't like anyone taking any of my artwork without permission and potentially bastardizing it.
Linux is free only if your time is worth nothing.
You're right!
In order to see Star Wars, I have to find a theater that has an SMP.. i mean, THX system. It has to have a certain amount of client seats. It probably will get used so much that the projector will crash. And speaking of projectors, to see Star Wars 2000 (to be released in 2001?) I'll have to find someplace that has upgraded beyond what is currently available on the market (read: digital projectors).
Why, my open source (16mm) movies will play on damn near any projector, but Lucasfilms need to be in a classy establishment. Plus, his movies cost a lot more.
Darth Maul should be the next Office Assistant. "Spell check your documents. ALL of them." "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
-Chris
I'll second that, simply for the sake of advocating Evangelion. :-)
--
Do I look like I speak for my employer?
Go to the netherlands. Or Poland: in both places they"ll show it subtitled instead of dubbed.
Everyone knows Wakko's Wakko Wish will be better anyway...
According to the article they aren't happy about it but aren't currently prosecuting anyone for it....
While I understand why they to be concerned about this, has anyone actually watched the version of the Matrix that's floating around? no music, really poor lighting, very poor quality. It's difficult to believe anyone would watch this in place of the real deal...
And i'll Third it.
Evangelion has a great storyline.
and weird aliens.
Oh, and Add sailor moon to that pile!
But the best is bubblegum crisis for cool action.IMO.
Lowmag.net
It will be 12:01 here first!!!
On a darker note, I waited 3 hours for tickets, and my friend came by one hour after they started selling them and still got a 12:01 showing. Reverse sour grapes I guess. My local cinema will house EP1 on 3 screens.
when Push Comes to Shove
It also said "Collector's can #17". Boggle.
I wonder if more money was spend marketing the film than creating it.
Kaa
Kaa
Kaa's Law: In any sufficiently large group of people most are idiots.
This Star Wars hoopla is Just Media Hype which is, in part, Deserved and To Be Expected in today's society. *BUT* it's also Pissing Me Off, cuz I want to know as little as possible about the damned film so that I can be as surprised as I was during the first 3. Between friends, enemies, newspapers, web-sites and other such information repositories, I can't escape!! *aiiieeeeeeeee* ;-)
Of course it could have been 45 minutes of black screen and I probably would have enjoyed it if they called it starwars..
I think the hype is deserved, initially I didn't think the movie would live up to the hype but I think it does for the most part. There are a few things I'm not so sure about, how they are going to make the connection from III to IV, for example and they kind of lose some of that cool 1970's style "sci-fi look" that the original new hope had. They also intentionally leave you hanging and wanting more but it was a good movie overall.
This is my signature. There are many signatures like it but this one is mine..
Kershner takes credit for allowing the actors to ad-lib lines, not for the lines themselves. From the article:
Salon> But at Kershner's prodding, Ford came up
Salon> with just the right piece of macho
Salon> wit: instead of "I love you, too," a
Salon> sardonic "I know."
"Whatever happened to fair use?"
-- Duff-Man
RL> I find this truly depressing because I don't
RL> want pre-digested movies and entertainment.
Can you name an "undigested" movie? True, a lot of blockbusters are more sugary and condescending than other movies, but any movie is still a mediated experience. Rather than go live life like W.R. Hearst, we watch Citizen Kane. Rather than actually experiencing nature, we get a synthesized version of it from a PBS documentary or biology textbook.
"Whatever happened to fair use?"
-- Duff-Man
Actually, this is not unlike the Neal Stephenson "Cryptonomicon" essay posted to /. a while back. The essence of the essay was that folks these days prefer mediated experiences to "real" ones. People want easy-to-digest movies, people want idiot-proof GUIs.
However, "Star Wars", as entertainment, works.
Windows, as an operating system, does not work.
If watching Star Wars sucked as much ass as using Windows -- and if they make a "Jar-Jar Binks Meet the Ewoks" saturday morning cartoon, it just might -- I would have to agree with you. Certainly Gates and Lucas are both fanatical about guarding intellectual property, and both have sunk their claws into other industries. Lucas, however, makes good stuff.
"Whatever happened to fair use?"
-- Duff-Man
So according to you, the movie sucked because the herd said they liked it. You, through some Mary Mary Quite Contrary logic, say "Since the herd liked it, I must NOT like it to preserve my individuality!" Somebody else is still controlling your preferences. Me, I watched Titanic, thought it was a relatively not awful movie, and ground my teeth every time I heard Celine Dion wailing (which would have happened with or without the big boat).
I've got 2 tickets for TPM, and I'm giddy like a schoolgirl, and it has NOTHING to do with what the herd thinks, thank you very much.
Why yes, I AM a rocket scientist!
Are you dense? I never had any money for toys when I was a kid, and now I do. If you don't understand why playing with Lego and action figures and neat models is fun, then I feel very very sorry for you. You might think that makes you more mature, but I just think it's kinda sad.
Why yes, I AM a rocket scientist!
So don't let them. Don't believe the hype. George Lucas isn't exactly sitting on your chest with a plunger, you know. Why do you let PepsiCo decide whether or not you're going to enjoy a given movie? If you want to go see it, do so. If you don't, don't. Nobody's forcing anybody to do anything.
Why yes, I AM a rocket scientist!
The decisions become more difficult, maybe, but it's still our responsibility as sentient beings to make them, rather than default to the popular viewpoint.
Now that I've seen the movie twice, I can safely tell you that it NUKED Titanic's happy ass, but that's just my opinion.
Why yes, I AM a rocket scientist!
Here in central europe it's differnt.. it's more like... "I'll skip the mpeg... I am waiting to see it in the theatre".. (*not*)
... grrrrrrrr
That, and then in most places they only show the german version
Now I understand waiting for a month or so to see the movie. I really don't care all about the hype either, and I would have waited had not a friend bought me tickets for opening night.. :)))
But what I don't get is the need to wait all the way until its out on video where you loose the quality of the THX experience, just so you can "be different" I support being different as much as the next guy, but unless you just so completly don't care about this movie that you feel the special effects would be waisted on you I would see the movie in the theators.. If nothing else than for the special effects. It may just be me, but I have a certain appriciate for the big screen experience, that just can't be duplicated at home
Besides "Private Parts" what movie has Howard Stern liked?
DrLunch.com The site that tells you what's for lunch!
I just got back from the movie and i have to say it absolutely rocked. The effects were good, the twists were, well... unexpected, and overall i'd give it an A
but, alot of critics say the movie stinks, it has no dialogue, no more magic. A movie can only do so much. It is but pictures and voice put together. It is what you perceave it as. What i find the magic of starwars is the communal bonding of everyone who sees it. I started lining up for my 12:30 show at 12:00 and had a blast with the other people in line. How many strangers can you walk up to and say food is god in 4 different languages before they give up without you getting hit? When we got in, we hassled the poor kid with focus until it was absolutely perfect, and when the lucasfilms logo appeared some guy in the back screamed out "starwars rules!" followed by another enthuiastic round of cheering. There was the standard laugh and cheering and booing with the movie as there was 16 years ago. For the people that say that it doesn't touch them anymore, you've grown up. i'm sorry but there's nothing a movie can do about that. JarJar is one awesome charactor (i love his walk^_^) and whereas he can get annoying, he's there to bring in the kids, what do you think C3P0 and R2D2 were for besides comic relief? sure, you may say i'm brainwashed like all the rest, but if you let it overcome you, its quite fun. The magic is still there because the community will always be here and always have each other to look for wierdness. The magic hasn't disapeared in the films, the magic has disapeared in you...
"reality is but an constant illusion" - Einstien
#include "i_know_my_spelling_sucks_so_nyah!.h"
Do you realize that in the process of creating said filter, you will have to view tons of the "offending" information in order to make sure it works? Not only that but you would have to read lots of it to discern what distinguishes the material from everything else. Your filter will be counter productive, at least for you.
/*---------------------------*/
Man? What is man?
But a collection of chemicals with delusions of granduer.
What's Star Wars?
For those who care (and a small handful of those who don't), 10-15 pounds in US$ is about $16-$24.
Once you have your (golden) ticket, don't forget to get to the theater 4 hours before your show starts. I figure thats when the line will start for the show to get good seats.
As for me, I think I'll be seeing Star Wars exactly one month after the release. Woohoo!
I don't do this for karma, I do it for cash. It's much better.
The best comment on this was made a few days back, that TPM has to live up to 16 years of expectation.
As I recall back in 1977, there were Star Wars lunchboxes, squirtguns, band-aids, Tshirts, and toys. Taco Bell had Darth Vader cups -- free refills with purchase for the duration of the offer. I remember seeing Carrie Fisher on SNL with the original cast. -- Hype, hype, hype.
I remember reading about Haile Sellassie appearing before the League of Nations in 1936 [?] asking for help against Mussolini and warning the other nations about his Teutonic friend. "I was not crowned emporer of my people to watch them die while you discuss this in a committee."
There *is* nothing new under the sun. Those who can't remember the past are doomed to whine incessantly.
The party's over
Over here in the UK the lame plastic figures go for 10 to 15 pounds!
I agree with the sentiments about saying "I saw it first!" I read that you can't buy plane tickets fromthe UK to the US on the day of release - they're all sold out!
The hype is just sickening, and so many otherwise sensible and rational people have fallen for it.
I agree. We do have to create our own myths; I think it's very important that we learn to do this instead of accepting the ones other people try to feed us. I voted Deserved because I think the Star Wars hype is different from most movie hype in the sense that it's a myth that we really *did* create. I don't like movie advertisers telling me what I should be excited about, and it does make me a little sick to go to the store and see Phantom Menace characters plastered over every product. That kind of hype does piss me off, just as did the hype for Godzilla, Stargate, Independence Day, et cetera, ad nausem. Star Wars is different, though, because, unlike those movies, there's real, grassroots excitement for the movie as well as the corporate-produced hubbub. Years after the original Star Wars trilogy was released, and years before anyone thought that a second trilogy was a possibility for the near future, lots of people still loved Star Wars, not because a marketing campaign suggested that we should, but because we wanted to. The excitement that flowed through the people standing with me in the hour-long line for tickets last Wednesday was something that we had created in ourselves and in each other, something we could really enjoy as our own, regardless or even in spite of the corporate-imposed hype for the movie.
Like you say, there are so few things that can draw our society together today with any sincerity of emotion. Star Wars itself isn't, and shouldn't be seen as anything more than something fun and lighthearted, but that's a really important role for it to fill. I think it's wonderful that people around the country and around the world can get together for a couple of hours and enjoy themselves, sincerely and communally. With all the problems nationalist and religious fanaticism create today, it's good to know we still have the capability to get excited about something that is harmless.
An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered. -- G.K. Chesterton
He changed the policy a while ago. All theaters were allowed to sell on 5/12 at 3pm.
"...and the law enforcement officials are definitely into the '90s on this and are very interested in making sure this kind of contact doesn't occur."
Anyone else think this is a stupid statement? Too bad the "'90s" are all but over.
"you are _so_ early 90's" -- Larry the Cucumber
Yikes, gotta be careful which key I hit...
OK--hype. Yeah, it would be nice to have *some* suprises left when I actually see the movie (my whole department is going as a company outing).
The real excitement for me out of all this is that by the time my daughter is in high school (she's two now), she'll be able to make movies on our home computer that will blow away anything Lucas has ever dreamed of. I wish I'd had non-linear digital editing and 3-D environmental rendering when I was in high school--it would have kept me out of much trouble.
"I am here by the will of the people and I won't leave until I get my umbrella back."
I'd camp out on line to see the lint documentary.
Yes, Star Wars has a cult following to rival most any other movie. George Lucas did not HAVE to hype the movie. He would have packed the theaters with the rabid fans for weeks and made millions anyway. But, that is not the point. You can never have enough fans. That is a cardinal rule of Hollywood and neither Lucas nor Spielberg are above it. The goal of all this is the same as when ID4, MIB, and the future WWW came or will come out. (WWW= Wild Wild West - funny how all the big-hype movies have acronymed titles)- to get kids interested in it. To get more and more fans. Guess what folks, how many people on this site stood in line and got tix? How many people plan on skipping work to see it? How many people plan on seeing it more than once in the theaters? How many people scoffed at Lliam Nieson's comment, "It's just a movie."? How many people would download a pirated copy at the first inklng of a chance? The hype worked.
Another thing, all this talk about pirated copies of the movie... wasn't this already discussed? I got the general impression that folks who replied to that thgouht the same thing, people will pirate stuff. There is nothing any law enforcement agency can do to stamp it out for the simple reason that the majority of people don't care if it gets stamped out or not. Why is there so much discussion about it again on this poll? Get over it folks, the money-makers will always bitch about people pirating their stuff, and the money-givers will always look for cheaper ways of getting the stuff.
Last thing. Someone said people either love or hate Star Wars. Is anyone else out there as tired as I am of this lame explaination of absolutely nothing? It's like saying, "people either breathe and live or don't and die." No s**t sherlock. True fans will not blindly love anything Lucas puts out. A true fan is Lucas' biggest fear. This is the person who will be, in fact, should be the most critical person of TPM. This is a person who has waited longer, and wanted this movie more than the average person. If it sucks, the true fan should feel the most let down of anyone.
to steal a saying, "Of course, that's just my opinion. I could be wrong."
/Sig/
>What's wrong with getting a little, or a lot, excited about something pointless and childish?
Because, once the 20th rolls around and everyone has seen the movie, the backlash starts...people will be complaining about how bad the movie sucked, when the truth is that their expectations were too high. Lets face it, there are a lot of people who could not be satisfied by this movie even if Darth Maul were to jump out of the screen and cut a movie goer's head off with a light saber. No matter what, people are going to be let down by it....and those of us who are going to *see a movie*, not regain our lost childhood will have to put up the endless whining of the people criticising every small flaw in it. Will I be going to see it? Yes, but with the expectation of a good movie, not with the expectation of seeing the second coming. And for all the people getting the toys....they aren't going to be collectors items. See, there are millions who have bought these things to keep them in their original plastic, in a hermetically sealed container in their basement...the market is flooded and will be for a long time...I went out and bought Darth Maul, and you know what? I opened it and played with it...its on my computer right now...a lot more fun then leaving it in its plasic and staring at it for 20 years.
ah, rational thought. thanks. it's refreshing to see someone put things neatly in perspective.
So I've been hearing about the lines for a month straight- even seen the webcams of the lines.
But when I went to the mall today to pick up some cajun for lunch, I also bought 2 tickets for the 12:01 show with absolutely NO wait! Not even a single person in front of me.
I'm in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, so maybe the people are all chokin back a cold one that night instead or have had their heads stuck under a cow for a month, but I wouldnt have thought that even a bunch of cheeseheads could be so oblivious to something so seemingly HUGE!
Is the hype so big that people don't even want to think about standing in line? Are the negetive reviews souring everyone?
Personally the hype made me want to see it less and the reviews made me want to see it more:)
Oh well- at least I'm seeing it:)
12:01 show was sold out already, but all things considered, that didn't really surprise me, considering I didn't get my ticket until today. Me and lines just don't mix, and standing in line for a long time is just silly. I got there, NO lines, 2 cashiers at 2 different windows. One window had a sign: "This cashier cannot sell Star Wars tickets". The other window: "This cashier can ONLY sell Star Wars tickets", and leading up to that window was a very long cordoned off line (nobody in it of course).
:)
:)
The 12:01 showing was sold out, as were all of the prime time slots, but there were still several times available on Wednesday and all of Thursday (I got there right when they started selling those).
As for the surprise "I am your father" line, I like the way that it was kept secret until the first audience saw it in the theaters. Although, even though the director and Mark Hamill needed to know about it due to their lines, why wasn't James Earl Jones mentioned in that list as well? After all, HE SPOKE IT!
I simply couldn't wait, so I read the book already for TPM, but I'm certain that I won't be any less entertained by the movie. There aren't any shocking revealations in the story although there are a couple IF you knew nothing about the movie before hand, but simply knowing a list of the character names is enough to spoil those. I also realize that there will be elements of the movie that won't be in the book and parts of the book that won't be in the movie. That's just the way things work, and its also quite likely that the storyline the book was written from is several months old and theres a good chance that several plot elements of the movie could have been changed between then and now.
Doesn't matter. I'll be just as excited either way.
hell, I'm excited already.
-Restil
Play with my webcams and lights here
What's wrong with getting a little, or a lot, excited about something pointless and childish?
the bombs are falling, everyone is making enough that they can take a week out to stand in line, or hours to wardial a ticket line. we all just want to have fun. there is not much left in the world that people care about, no charismatic leaders to follow, no religions to throw mad festivals, we have to create our own myths. and heck this one is better than most, like the marshmallow man, let's concentrate on something simple and innocent, and hope the crap goes away.
pease
Everything the detractors and critics have been saying about SW is true. Jar Jar Binks has his moments, but mostly, he's just annoying. Jake Lloyd acts as well as any 10-year old can- he gets a little better towards the end of the film, but mostly, he's a proud graduate of the Keanu Reeves School of Acting. Senator Palpatine looks like a warped Bill Murray, and the special effects sometimes overwhelm the story.
.mp3 was OK, but not that great. The battle by itself was magnificently choreographed, but wouldn't go well with the old Empire theme. With that music as a backdrop, it was 10 minutes of the best lightsaber fight anyone could possibly have hoped for.
I loved every minute of it.
There were parts that were good; the pod race may not have had much to do with the story, but it WAS cool. There were parts that were great; the Naboo/droid battle was spectacular, the battle scenes inside the palace were a lot like the stormtrooper/Alliance battle inside the corvette at the beginning of A New Hope, and the T-Wing vs. the giant ship thing was a lot better than you would think in the trailers. Darth Maul was also much better than the trailers would make you believe; when he stared through the force field, you could FEEL the aura.
And then there was The Duel.
The
If and when the movie's out on the 'Net, what I want most of all is that someone strips the rest of the movie and just releases the duel as a standalone.
I think I'll go see it again on Friday...
Bill Gates is to software as Jerry Springer is to television. Think about it; both of them make their living by peddling trash to an unsuspecting public that, for whatever reason, can't get enough of it.
The Phantom Menace is being grossly overhyped, yes. But the original Star Wars trilogy is an American icon for reasons other than hype, marketing, and licensed merchandise. Comparing Lucas to Gates seems to be almost blasphemous.
We're going down, in a spiral to the ground
You can translate it into meaningful stuff, but I don't have the link off hand. Try infoseek with "Geek Code" as the search subject.
RB
Locally, the moviefone number was hosed all day, the entire automated system crashed. It still just shunts all calls to a full mailbox.
Funny. I didn't know a phone system could be slashdotted.
RB
--::No seriously after reading the critics I understand the movie sucks::--
If I had a nickel for everytime I saw a movie I loved, yet the critics said sucked....... I'd be a rich man.
-Sarkis-
"Disclaimer: Any errors in spelling, tact, or fact are transmission errors."
One of my friends spent 5 minutes either on the phone, or online (dunno which, only know he didn't stand in any line), and got bout 12 tickets for the whole group. 1220am tonight/tomorow morning.
Do I laugh, sneer, or berate those who spend hours in line? No. Why should I. How does their actions affect me in any way such that I should insult them?
That is what gets me pissed off. The complete disrespect people have for others that don't hold the same vaules or ideas as them.
-Sarkis-
"Disclaimer: Any errors in spelling, tact, or fact are transmission errors."
I don't think that all the people who wait in line for Star Wars are doing it because they really want to see the movie that bad. I am kinda into star wars, but I'm not going to die if I dont see it on the first day, or the first month.
But still, I cut school on wednesday, drove to vacaville (20 or 30 miles away) with some friends, and stood in line for four hours to get tickets. I did it kinda partly so I could one day say "I stood in line for four hours to buy tickets to star wars." I mean, how often do you get to participate in something like that, as boring as it may sound, it was actually really fun, lots of star wars fans, people doing things, in fact, I even saw some other friends who were waiting in line too. It was like a party, the only thing it was missing was beer. And when I got my tickets, it wasnt for the 12:01 showing, but it was for the first day, and I felt pretty cool.
Sometimes part of the reason for things isnt so much the result, as the experience of doing what it takes to get there. Maybe I have an interesting idea of fun, but it works for me.
Rakshasa
Star Trek movies released since 1977: 9
Star Wars movies released since 1977: 4
Not sure how you can equate these. Paramount's been churnin' out the Trek as fast as they can, while Lucas has released nothing truly new since Jedi. It's been a longer (and more agonizing) wait for TPM. I just hope it doesn't suck...
In any case, I've got my ticket, I'll be experiencing TPM in less than two hours, and I'm seriously psyched. =^)
--
I think Rob's message about the cost of SDI vs. the merchandising of Star Wars is a bit misleading (at least the way I read it). Here is what Harper's actually states:
"Amount the Pentagon will spend this year on its Ballistic Missile Defense or "star wars" program : $4,166,000,000
Amount the world has spent since 1977 on licensed Star Wars merchandise : $4,500,000,000"
The old Star Wars.
Even went to see the "special footage" version.
Bottom line is, Star Wars was ahead of it's time in special effects. Who doesn't like a light saber? Or princess lei her?
I think I'm gonna watch spaceballs again before I see Phantom Menace.
The original Star Wars was corny.
Cheers
I was thinking that it would be a great help to the weak-minded (such as myself) by creating a Star Wars Filter that would block out any potentially spoiler content from websites and email.
Anyone interested in working on this project, please contact me, or visit the project's site ( http://woj.com/filter). Especially welcome are those with experience in AI and Linguistics.
Cheers.
ian
And why should he pay back the fans who willingly gave him money? Of their own free wills?
It would be interesting to see what kind of hardware/os MovieFone was using for its pages and phone service. Also to get some traffic stats as well. We hear all kinds of talk about the kinds of traffic that all FOO-brand servers can handle, let's see some real-world data.
I'd also like to see what killed the Victoria's Secret servers a couple of months ago.
Yeah, it was just that I remember another article saying that he wouldn't prosecute kiddies who were posting trailers on non-profit websites, but this article seems to say he'll go after anyone. I wish there were more specific statements on "can-do" and "cannot-do"...
Does his stance against piracy include those of us who turn the Quicktime trailers into MPEGs and distribute them for free?
Yes! That's it exactly. I voted "deserved" because that was the only option I had, but "fun" hits the nail on the head.
--
Patrick Doyle
I mod down every jackass who puts his moderation policy in his sig. Oh, wait a sec....
These are the same reviews the first three movies got.
IMHO, reviews carry no information whatsoever. That is, they're as likely to be right as wrong.
--
Patrick Doyle
I mod down every jackass who puts his moderation policy in his sig. Oh, wait a sec....
If a movie is called the 'movie of the century' and it turns out to be the movie of the year, people are disapointed. If a movie is made out to be the 'worst movie ever' and it turns out to be the same movie of the year, people are happy. I think in the end, most people will lose.
Plus-- Lucas was quoted as saying he didn't expect episode 1 to be as big as Titanic. Maybe that's not saying a lot because Titanic was big. Okay, camped out at the theater. I have my tickets. I would do the same if it was made out to be the worst movie ever. Stupid? A little. In fact, I would expect worse movies to get more hype to equalize things... does anybody remember Godzilla?
Well, I suppose among the list would be--
Palpatine - Ian McDiarmid
Yoda - Frank Oz
C-3PO - Anthony Daniels
R2-D2 - Kenny Baker
Not the most interesting characters to come back, but they're there, next time search for yourself.
It's so cool looking sitting on top of my monitor. I don't know if I'll buy the X-wing or Tie Fighter, as they're a little too pricy for my Lego jones, but the Landspeeder was the right price.
Now I just need a few pounds of brown to make a sand crawler.
George
The second coming of Jesus? No! That would greatly be ignored - I think. No this is the second coming of Star Wars.
:)
This is a chance to find out what happened before the movies we have already seen. A chance to expand the view into a universe we (or most of us) have come to find as the best alternative to reality. A superb mix of science-fiction and romance of classic fantacy (AD&D/Tolken) stories.
Hopefully George have continued his vision in style. If not we'll still get the story of how Anakin became Darth Vader. And we'll still get some new starfighter designs LucasArts can use for spacefighter games
i've watched the first 3 about 26times each..
mainly for fun, sometimes for boredom, then it becomes fun, then for drinking to with friends, so that becomes fun....so basically i watch it for fun...mind you.... i haven't watched a starwars movie for about 4months now...hmmmm?
cos Lucas went back and edited the original scores when the technology became available cos it was unfinished when it was released...which wasn't his fault..he was ahead of his time...... :P
AS FOR GATES......what a joke
just a question......i don't watch tv....
only seen two trailers once each...
so there...legit question....
hey, .. of probably the greatest set of movies ever made....
star wars is f* excellent. Back in those days the fx were awesome....the story however...to this day is one of the greatest....i'm going to watch it for the story.....not the bullshit fx that people have been talking about....if i wanted to see fx i would have seen ID4 Starship troopers and all the other clones around.....this will be the greatest event....the sequel (in reverse order)
Lucas is a legend...however he should shut up about copyright.....that dude that wrote in about people going to watch it in the theatre is right.
People aren't going to watch a f* great movie in mpeg format when the awesomeness is fully experienced in a theatre...Lucas should realise this cos he isn't the stupidest f* in the world.
cya
With hype or without hype everyone would get tired of hearing about it. Titanic had no hype. It's popularity was word of mouth and I'm sure not one person wasn't SICK of hearing about it after a few months. To say that it is the fault of the media for your StarWars OD is wrong. Lucas could make a documentary on lint and name it starwars with no hype, and you would still hear of it nonstop. The media is not to blame for the hype, lunatic obsessive humans are.
Star Wars is not a movie you can watch for the first time from a crappy, small mpeg that some encoded from sneaking a hand held video camera into the theatre. Granted, that mpeg may make its way onto my hard drive eventually, but not after I have paid to see it several times in the theatre. .. I am just going to wait for the mpeg'. ;).
Its a special effects movie; everyone with half a brain cell knows it has to be seen in a theatre to experience to the whole thing. I have yet to hear from anyone, including my friends that have pirated more than bluebeard himself, 'oh geez, I'll skip the theatre
The point is, although the mpeg will proliferate like no other, people are *still* going to pay the money to see it in the theatre. So my advice to Mr. Lucas is not to become so enthrawled at finding and torturing these horrible, horrible pirates, but devote the energy at designing and producing better films. The early reviews of PM should hint to him that this is necessary
If he made enough money from royalties this time around, maybe he'll rethink that sequel thingy. Then again, like he hasn't made enough already from the originals.
Maybe he should think about paying back to the fans that have supported his films.
:. Ultimate Control Dedicated/VM Servers
I think you've answered your own question. Bombs are falling, politicians have no morals, kids are killing each other in schools, and people care more about a movie than any of these things. That's what's wrong.
People have completely lost perspective on what's really important. Instead of wasting a week for tickets just to be first to see the stupid movie, that time could have been spent helping people that don't even have enough money for food.
There's nothing wrong with seeing the movie. I'm going to go for sure. But why let it rule our lives?
It's just a movie. Nothing more.
...absolutely rocked! Just came back from seeing the 12:01 am showing (Eastern) - it was excellent.
It was everything I expected, which was a good, fantasy story. Nothing more, nothing less.
My only gripe was how it seemed to parallel the original released trilogy (episodes 4, 5, and 6) a bit too much - you'll see what I mean when you see the movie. Other than that, it was well worth it, and I, for one, will be seeing it again in the theaters.
PinkFreud
...absolutely rocked! Just came back from seeing the 12:01 am showing (Eastern) - it was excellent.
It was everything I expected, which was a good, fantasy story. Nothing more, nothing less.
My only gripe was how it seemed to parallel the original released trilogy (episodes 4, 5, and 6) a bit too much - you'll see what I mean when you see the movie. Other than that, it was well worth it, and I, for one, will be seeing it again in the theaters.
PinkFreud
I had herd Variety magazine and Howard Stern both gave it a bad review.