Twiggystar

I'm gonna tell you why Empire of Dreams, beats all of the lotr docs combined.

There was almost nobody covering the making of Star Wars back on 1976. It cost only 8 millions to make, and Fox didn't really care for it, until went over-budget and over-schedule.

Compared that to when lotr was made,which was barely a few years ago, with more than 300 millions, do you really think that New Line, wouldn't have this films very well documented, to show people the making, of the most risky movies ever made?

JTH182

So show your kids the originals first... Prequels are just that: Sequels that take place before the original. They are meant to be watched after seeing the original, for back-story.

darkside

Half the fun of watching a prequel is picking out all the things that lead to something you know happened in the later series. That is kind of the way they are designed.

So, I agree with watching the prequels last, but the series will work fine either way.

LuisL

i don't mind the SE's as i'm not old enough to remember the originals, nor when i last saw them. i agree with him that they are his films and he can do as he wishes with them. he's explained why he went back and fixed them up, money, technology, etc...

Qui Gon Jim

I disagree.

TylerDurden_73

Lucas is an artist, and Iam the buyer.

Toad

I'm probably alone here. As much as I want to see how Anakin Skywalker became Darth Vader for coolness and interest, I don't think he should show it.

There are ways to do it, though, that can satisfy both groups of people: those who want to see the transformation and those who don't and/or are unaware at this point that Anakin becomes Darth Vader.

For instance, we're going to see Anakin go bad, that's no question. But we could see him 'rescued' or whatever and operated on; the last scene of the movie could be Darth Vader coming to the Emperor saying something like "What is thy bidding, my master." Those who know will be like "sweet, there's Vader!" Those who don't know will be like, "whoa who's that scary dude?!" Yeah that was cheesy, I know.

Point is, there are ways to do it so that when Vader reveals himself to Luke SOME people are surprised. Obviously everyone born before 2005 will know - even the little kids who have seen the OT. Whether or not Lucas is such a visionary as to ponder future audiences, that's up in the air.

I think since he's so keen on showing connections between all minor people in this major universe, he'll certainly show it.

Qui Gon Jim

I agree, Toad. Another thing that would be cool is if Sidious never uses any force, and that is all saved for the climax of ROTJ. I wish that Dooku hadn't used sith lightning in AOTC.

jough

The real problem with young kids seeing any of the Star Wars films for the first time (in any order) is that the "I am your father!" thing is such a cliché now that they could see something similar in another film and find it cheesy when they see it in Star Wars, not knowing what a shocking revelation it was when ESB was in theatres.

mikewendt

I honestly never read through entire Star Wars threads 'cause they're so damn long... But I couldn't stop reading this one. The bitching and one-upping that has gone on in this thread has me f//king rolling.

Terry Gilliam, How many versions of Brazil are there really & is Gilliam's name on them by force or choice, Scorsese & New York New York, Close Encounters, Lord of the Rings, Lucas supporters & haters, scenes changed, lines changed, Special Editions, Original Trilogy, he doesn't pay attention to us, or does he, there's a painter breaking into house and updating his work for free, and of course no Star Wars bitchfest is complete without the ever popular "Greedo Shooting First" comment...

Damn, my head is spinning... I'm gonna go get an asprin and watch The George Lucas Director's Cut of THX 1138...

Oh shit, now I've really opened up the box. Or since I like Star Wars & "think outside the box..." There was never really a box to open... OH MY GOD I'VE CONFUSED MYSELF! AAAAHHHHHH!!!!


Ah, I'm just f//king with ya... Everyone need to just chill and except the fact that we are all sheep in the same heard and when Hearder Lucas says round up and spend... We will. Over and over again.

djtoell

Really? Please tell me where I can purchase the US theatrical cut. (Hint: the barebones Universal R1 disc features the Criterion cut, not the US theatrical cut - the US theatrical cut isn't on DVD anywhere). It's about as readily available as the original versions of the Original Trilogy. And while the European cut is the version out on DVD in various parts of the world, it isn't exactly "readily available" down at the local video store in the US.

Please do not attribute your personal thoughts to the world at large. I would absolutely love to have the US theatrical cut on DVD, as it features a key joke that was excised from the Criterion cut.

DJ

The Valeyard

Sorry. You're wrong about that.

Andrew

Edited because I didn't want to get suspended for being a jerk!

darkside

Finally the thread gets back to the real important topic Terry Gilliam's Brazil. About time.

djtoell

Deflective sarcasm about the subject being off-topic rings just a bit hollow, given that you're the one who brought up Gilliam in this thread in the first place. It's apparently on-topic enough whenever you want to post about it; whenever something you say is challeneged, however, you instantly feign complaints of it being off-topic. But I guess it beats having to actually put together constructive replies, huh?

DJ

Countdown to unresponsive one-liner reply from from darkside featuring either or in 5, 4, 3...

darkside

Wrong again. Its this one.



My statement about the Brazil movie was clear to understand. I'm pretty sure everyone on this forum understands we each speak our opinions and do not speak for the entire world. I'll try to get my lawyer to read over my responses in the future though to keep from upseting you.

The point about there being very little interest in the shorter cuts of Brazil and Star Trek compared to Star Wars was clear enough for anyone not trying to nitpick. You are just going out of your way to insult me at every opportunity and by all means enjoy yourself. I'm actually enjoying the hell out of it. I really didn't mean to piss you off with the rolleyes and misread your meaning of three films at the time. However, if something like a rolleye disrupts your world this badly then vent away. Because its obvious you are not going to get over it.

I await you carefully worded insult.

BTW, this does need to stay film related. I happily give you the last word and won't bring it up again.

djtoell

Your statement was quite clear: you claimed to be speaking for everyone. If you were only speaking for yourself, why bother couching your statements in terms of everyone? Does it make you feel more secure to hide your own thoughts within what you believe to be popular opinion?

Quote:

I'll try to get my lawyer to read over my responses in the future though to keep from upseting you.

It doesn't upset me when you make yourself look silly. It should upset you, though.

Quote:

The point about there being very little interest in the shorter cuts of Brazil and Star Trek compared to Star Wars was clear enough for anyone not trying to nitpick.

It was clear, and, even being generous enough to assume that by "no one" you meant something other than the obvious, probably wrong. Those films, especially Brazil, have less interest in them in general than Star Wars; your point that significantly less people want something Brazil-related than Star Wars-related is obvious at best and pointless at worst. The interesting query would instead be what percentage of die-hard fans are interested in the various versions. Brazil fans, I've seen over the years, have strong intersts in acquiring all of the versions; as a percentage of total fans of the film, it may well be quite a significant number. Is the percentage of die-hard Brazil fans who want, among other things, the punchline only available in the US theatrical cut as large as the percentage of die-hard Star Wars fans who want the original versions? Could be. Dismissing it out of hand just because you're apparently not interested in it, however, is a smug error.

Quote:

Because its obvious you are not going to get over it.

I'm quite over it. I even moved on enough to make a post that dealt with just film-related content, remember? You ruined this experiment in actual discussion with a typical deflective and sarcastic non-response that failed to contribute anything, off-topic or otherwise. You keep derailing attempts at discussion, not me. If you want me to move on, then let me do it: shut up and discuss films already. I realize this would force you to stop talking about yourself, which would obviously be very difficult for you, but let's see if it can happen. I have my fingers crossed, but I'm not getting my hopes up.

DJ

abaez

I'm trying to understand George's answer. From what I've read they went through the original negatives and cleaned them up frame by frame.. now how would it cost millions to restore the originals if the original negatives (or whatever was restored) were the ones cleaned up. I mean he ADDED the shots and edits.. he can just as easily take them away and have what we've had all this time. It's not like he has to restore his computer effects edited in the past few years.

chrismcg

Well said... and to quote the man himself...

"I am very concerned about our national heritage, and I am very concerned that the films that I watched when I was young and the films that I watched throughout my life are preserved, so that my children can see them."
--George Lucas on colorization of B&W films (originaltrilogy.com)...

Duder

I own both the Universal DVD and the Criterion DVD, and the cuts are considerably different. Considering the Criterion DVD collection also contains the craptastic studio edit version, I own 3 different cuts of Brazil on DVD.

On topic, George can do whatever the hell he wants. It's his right and his product, after all. However, as fans and consumers, we can also express our desire to have the original works of cinema which made such a huge impact on recent popular culture. George has the right to ignore those of us who want the original versions, and we have the right to not buy them and to say so.

In the end, it's not worth fighting over the internet over, because it all comes down to personal choice. George has made his choice, and now we make ours, and we all get on with our lives.

Jackskeleton

a little out of context since he was speaking about something different.

Static Cling

Play nice, djtoell & darkside.

Class316

http://www.cnn.com/2004/SHOWBIZ/Movi....ap/index.html

The thing is he talks about how he wasn't able to do it "as he wanted" yet I don't see why he couldn't have had Greedo shoot first in 1977 if he really wanted to.

And I don't think why he couldn't have *at the very very least* restored the original non-CGI Han/Greedo scene.

Get Me Coffee

Nerf-Herders!

flyboy

I compare him to Jerry Jones the Dallas Cowboys owner. He built Rome and then started burning it himself....

George is doing the same..he had three films that were perfect as they were..full of magic and wonder and were held in the highest regards...then he decides 15 years later to do prequels and in doing so fucks up the original films forever just to try and fit them to these inferior prequels...

...and then has the balls to slam the very people that grew up and supported his "half finished" films (although he never told us they were half finished!)

PatrickMcCart

Leonardo DaVinci revised the Mona Lisa time after time over the course of a few decades. Now, who's going to say that Leo should have left well enough alone?