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rayman
rayman
Joined: March 14, 2006
Posts: 622
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Posted: Post subject: Did George Lucas Destroy Your Childhood? |
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I keep encountering Star Wars Fans of the original trilogy who pretty much don't like the new trilogy, there seems to be a split in the fan base. People under 30 love (Episode I, II, III,) while some original fans who were there in 1977, pretty much think George destroyed their image of Star Wars.
I'm not a hard-core SW fan but I did grow up with the original trilogy, imagine my disappointment after viewing Episode I and II. I did finally get around to seeing III but only on DVD. The last sequel was a lot better in intensity and action, but I keep thinking it should have had that in the first two movies. Somewhere along the line George lost his vision so to speak and went CGI crazy. So did he destroy your childhood? Are there any fans out there that enjoy all the movies? Your thoughts please. |
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slytherinpinup (deleted)
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Posted: Post subject: |
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No he didnt destroy it, But he did make me realise how much better off we were with the original set being made before the advances in CGI. Without it the story was told, the characters explored, it unfolded before us and pulled us in. With the new advances it was about as deep and meaningful as Space Balls, and frankly I at least got a lot of laughs out of "Space Balls"
The new set came off as sincere as a middle aged man going out and buying a sports car to make up for what is lacking, or a woman going in for a full body overhaul to hide her age.
in a word, it was just...sad. |
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rayman
rayman
Joined: March 14, 2006
Posts: 622
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Posted: Post subject: |
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slytherinpinup wrote:
The new set came off as sincere as a middle aged man going out and buying a sports car to make up for what is lacking, or a woman going in for a full body overhaul to hide her age.
in a word, it was just...sad.
Interesting analogy slytherinpinup, sounds about right. I'm just hoping that the upcoming TV series will focus on stories and characters. On the subject of CGI, there have been some good examples, The Lord of the Rings trilogy come to mind. |
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slytherinpinup (deleted)
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Posted: Post subject: |
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*Laughing!*
Well what can I say? The originals were done when he was young and vibrant, full of creative juices and now? Now he relies on machines to get the job done.
But LOTR's now THERE was the best combination of fx and real people I have ever seen. Used to enhance, not to overshadow. It made the story come to life, it didnt over take the entire film. |
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sara8312063
sara8312063
Joined: March 29, 2006
Posts: 1
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Posted: Post subject: Star Wars |
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Hi, No, episodes I, II and III didn't ruin my childhood or even Star Wars for that matter. Prequels are never easy to pull off, esp. when they're done 20+ years later and the CGI effects are a bazillion times better than the originals. I am not a fan of prequels in sci fi universe due to that alone. Ep. I is intolerable in my opinion. I cannot stand Jake Lloyd's Anakin Skywalker. The best thing about Ep. I is Ewan McGregor's Obi Wan Kenobi. If GL had any brains, he would've introduced Anakin as the 9 yr old brat then aged him within the same film. Not had that sicko 10 yr old v. the 15 yr old relationship with Padme. Just plain gross!! I thought Hayden did a good job as Anakin -- but you gotta remember that GL is not the best writer. He really does depend way too much on special effects and that's sad. I thought Ep. III was wonderful, although Padme was reduced to window dressing -- the strong character she was just seemed to fade away. Who dies of a broken heart anyway? Come on!!! She produced Leia, such a willful character and Luke for pete's sakes!! But hey, I don't write the stuff, I just watch it. Nothing can top Episodes IV, V and VI (although I hate those Ewoks -- I prefer Jar Jar to the Ewoks, that's how much I hate them). But all in all, they're not the worst I've ever seen. LOTR was MUCH better, but also they were doing works by an author of Tokien's ability. Sure wasn't GL's writings!!! The nice thing about Eps. I-III on DVD is you can FF and get to the parts you want to watch. Don't have to watch the stupid crap (for me -- too much CGI). I like that fact. That alone makes them more enjoyable and watchable. |
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fayjprufrock
fayjprufrock
Joined: April 7, 2006
Posts: 26
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Posted: Post subject: |
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Star Wars (I'm damned if I'm going to call it A New Hope, or Part IV!) was terrific. The basic plotline is straight out of Campbell's 'Hero with a thousand faces', so it's gloriously timeless. The characters are surprisingly rounded, and they act as foils for one another; Alec Guiness manages to sell the whole Jedi thing wonderfully - he doesn't sound portentous or pretentious, he sounds like a seriously wise old guy who's been there, done that and got lazer burns all over the T shirt, but who still has a really wry sense of humour despite all the epic struggles in his past. He rocks. Ditto Yoda.
Conversely, in the prequels the whole Jedi thing seems forced and faux and wearisome. The prequels take themselves far, far too seriously. (Er, should probably 'fess up at this juncture that I watched The Phantom Menace and enjoyed it well enough, in a rollercoaster kind of way, but that I STILL haven't bothered with Attack of the Clowns. I thought that Revenge of the Sith was surprisingly good, though. But bits of it made me wince, nevertheless.) TPM looked pretty, and the Jinn/Kenobi relationship should have been interesting, but despite the talents of the actors, it was wooden and stilted and dull dull dull. And instead of witty banter, they gave us Jar Jar Frigging Binks.
The English language really doesn't suffice to express my disdain for THAT little choice. Jar Jar Binks really doesn't make up for the marked lack of any Han Solo figure. At all. Even slightly.
Lucas is absolutely atrocious at dialogue, and the prequel movies really come across as all surface and no depth. The original movies were swashbuckling and sexy and had plenty of banter, but they were also resonant. The effects were good. The lived-in look of the space ships and the planets made everything feel surprisingly convincing.
RotS was pretty good, even very good in places, but there were still things about it that made my eyes roll so hard they all but fell out of my head. (Obi Wan does not connect the princess's screamingly obvious pregnancy with the fact that she seems to be pretty much living with Wee!Vader? And nobody else does either? Are we to believe that the Jedis are all infinitely stupider than your average Jerry Springer viewer?)
...I'm rambling terribly. Er. In conclusion: Yes. Lucas is an eejit.
Happily, however, the universe has seen fit to grant us Peter Jackson, whom I adore beyond the telling of it. And Joss Whedon, who has about as much ego as George Lucas, but is one hell of a better storyteller and an observer of human nature. |
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beaglefly
beaglefly
Joined: April 7, 2006
Posts: 1
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Posted: Post subject: |
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I think most people under 30 treat the prequels like any movie that comes out. I don't believe they got into there hearts and minds like SW original did back in the 70's and 80's. Again, alot of that has to do with the fact that when SW came out in 1977, it was like nothing we had ever seen before, even if the story had been told before. And there is more distractions for under 30's now.
No, GL didn't destroy my childhood. I will always have the magical time when I was 10 and saw SW for the first time. I think of I, II and III as seperate from the original trilogy, even though GL has tried to make one flow into the other, which it doesn't. |
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dugger1968
dugger1968
Joined: May 12, 2006
Posts: 8
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Posted: Post subject: A different opinion. |
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You know....I liked both trilogies.
But in some respects it is hard to believe that they are both set in the same universe.
The original trilogy was more of a Good vs. Evil theme for the storylines whereas the prequel trilogy was about Anakins descent into the darkside.
My biggest, and only real problem, was that George, I can call him that since we share the same 1st name, never really developed the bad guys. In The Phantom Menace it was Darth Maul. (Which by the way, in my opinion the lightsaber fight between Darth Maul, Obi Wan, and Qui Gon is the BEST lightsaber fight ever in any star wars film) But he was killed off at the end. The BIGGEST mistake that Lucas (I call him by his last name when I'm mad at him) ever made. In the second film it was Grevious but he barely last past one film and not even that as he apearred in the last 45 minutes of ep II and 10 minutes of EP III.
The great struggle between good and evil is what made the original trilogy that fantastic peice of movie history that it is. ( I can still remember my step-mom hitting my arm waiting on Darth Vader to help Luke) and made the prequal trilogy a good story but not fantastic. |
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ninjabear
ninjabear
Joined: April 26, 2006
Posts: 546
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Posted: Post subject: die, vader! |
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No, the new films did not spoil the magic of what I'll always think of as the first three films.
On the other hand, I'f I'd known back then that Darth Vader was a baby-killing monster, i would've not been sad for Luke at the end of Return of the Jedi
The 'younglings'---okay the three things I hate most in the universe:
Pediphiles/child murderers
rapists
stalkers
Vader deserved to get whacked!
Last edited by ninjabear on Tue Jul 18, 2006 12:34 am; edited 1 time in total |
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lucifer666 (deleted)
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Posted: Post subject: |
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Okay Ninja bear take a chill pill mate the truth is I actually didn't think they had Anakin bad enough it was only literally near the end of ROTS that he showed anything familiar to Vadar. I for one would have loved to have seen Anakin kill off all those Tuskens in AOTC instead of it being cut off as soon as he ignites his lightsabre.
I think I would concur with what alot of people have said already about the Prequels
- There should have been another character similar maybe to Han Solo that helped counter balance all the Jedi in the group, don't get me wrong I love the Jedi but they are dry characters to be able to have them work off one another.
- CGI I preferred the puppetry of the original trilogy, I had a huge problem with this in the new movies particularly with someone like Jar Jar Binks! the human and cgi interraction is so bad it is beyond belief that Lucas and his crew didn't see it. There are times particular in the first movie where you can tell Liam Neeson and Ewan McGregor aren't talking to Jar Jar's head but to the neck region where the real guy's head was, this happened in numerous ocasions ...now Peter Jackson could have taught Lucas some lessons in this regard with Gollum who was brilliantly incorporated with real actors. But it wasn't just Binks other scenes like the one in AOTC where Anakin and Padme are having their lovey bit on the green hill and Anakin starts riding this creature quite frankly you would know he wasn't really on it you could see that the creature was added later and that Hayden was in some blue room riding some appliance lol.
- The dialogue and scripts were so bad for a start there was far too much politics which just helped slow down the movies and then that brings me to the dreadful lines in the film................
ANAKIN : Are you an angel?
PADME : What?
ANAKIN : An angel. I've heard the deep space pilots talk about them. They live on the Moons of Iego I thimk. They are the most beautiful creatures in the universe. They are good and kind, and so pretty they make even the most
hardened spice pirate cry.
I'll tell you all I wanted to cry when I heard all this crap
Or ROTS
PADME: Hold me . . . like you did by the lake on Naboo, so long ago . . . when there was nothing but our love ... No politics, no plotting ... no war.
Or this little gem of words.....
ANAKIN: You are so beautiful!
PADME: It's only because I'm so in love . . .
ANAKIN: No, it's because I'm so in love with you.
PADME: So love has blinded you?
ANAKIN: Well, that's not exactly what I meant . . .
PADME: But it's probably true!
They laugh.
Needless to say I wasn't laughing in fact I think I was contemplating slitting my own wrists at this point
- There should have been more Sith Lords with better backgrounds, the whole concept that there can only be two I believe was an awful waste ....truthfully I always wanted that massive lightsaber battle on a planet between Jedi and Sith it would have been amazing now it seems we will never see that.
- Stop messing around with the original trilogy too in order to fit it in with the new prequels changing Boba Fetts original great voice to that crappy one of Jango's was a travesty ...it actually depletes away at the venom of the character. I also didn't like the newly added Jabba scene in A New Hope!!!
The biggest fault of the prequels in my opinion though is that he should have got other directors in to direct at least the last two like he did the original trilogy. My favourite Star Wars movie is Empire Strikes Back.....why? because of Irvin Kershner who directed it and put his own feel to the movie and was generally left alone by Lucas to get on with the job, he was even able to change words from the script. The famous Solo response to Leia's declaration of Love was originally in Lucas's script "I love you too" Kirshner and Ford changed it to the cool "I Know" It was just little touches like that makes movies better..
Dit the Prequels ruin my childhood ....No but I do want to feed Lucas to that Sarlacc now |
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rayman
rayman
Joined: March 14, 2006
Posts: 622
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Posted: Post subject: |
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lucifer666 you pretty much pointed out everything that was wrong with the prequals, so you'll get no arguments from me. Let's hope Lucas doesn't mess up the upcoming TV series. |
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lucifer666 (deleted)
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Posted: Post subject: |
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I really hope Lucas doesn't direct the new series himself but instead gets others in to do so. Aparently its set when Luke is young but it hasn't been clarified whether its going to be about a young Luke or Han I hope the God its not .... I could think of nothing worse!!!
Its very quiet here Rayman ....is it always like this??? |
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rayman
rayman
Joined: March 14, 2006
Posts: 622
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Posted: Post subject: |
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It's pretty much a given that Lucas will be involved in the TV series, at least in the first season when it comes to directing and writing. I hope he listens to other people's ideas, and not surrounded by "yes" men. |
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darthbreezinlo
darthbreezinlo
Joined: July 3, 2006
Posts: 1
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Posted: Post subject: |
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No, George didn't destroy my childhood - I survived the Holiday Special intact as a fan, so a few misdirections in the prequals don't phase me at all.
Are there things I wish he'd done differently? Hell yes!! I think the Prequals suffer from too much poor planning - too much to cover in too short a period. Sith should have been two films (a hitchhikers trilogy of 4) as the 'turn' was too abrupt...
Still, can't take away the enjoyment from moi! |
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ninjabear
ninjabear
Joined: April 26, 2006
Posts: 546
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Posted: Post subject: Lucifer666 is right |
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Give the devil his due; I agree with Lucifer666 when it comes to the honey sweetness of the 3 prequels. (go figure, a bear that doesn't like honey.)
The romance scenes, the love story in general---I know I could have written better and I've never done a screenplay in my life!
There was a place for it, it was important to the storyline to see what pushed this basically good kid with anger management issues over the edge, but it takes a very light touch.
Anakin's turn to the dark side should've been more like a shark attack. You want to show how such a turn can creep up, unseen, then devour someone---and that it can happen to anyone; that's what makes it scary! |
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