STAR WARS EP III PICS

[hirohawa]

Looks Craptacular!

At least Howard Hughes had the decency to stop making movies when he lost it.

New Trilogy=Spruce Goose

The biggest bloated digital POS movies ever made and they aren't even fun to watch.

I hope Revenge of the Sh!t has more scenes in:

- The Jedi Library

- The Diner with Obi Wan's crack head fat ass cook friend

- The Senate - can't get enough of it - why have dynamic battles with aliens when we can see them sitting down and talking instead - Genius!

[Duke Togo]

Oh, you're HOT dude, you bash the prequels using terms like "Revenge of the Sh!t". You are SOOOO cool. Hey, why don't you go on to tell us how AWESOME the Rings trilogy was.

[zeo-mare]

hey i liked the rings trilogy you are right that post seemed for the most part not needed, Edited January 1, 2005 by zeo-mare

[Radd]

I loved the Senate scenes. They cut some out from Episode II because they thought it slowed the movie down too much, but included them as extras on the DVD. I thought they were great and wish they'd kept them in there.

There's plenty to complain about when it comes to the prequels (I seriously think EpII would have been so much better just by removing the "love story" scenes), but I think some people have got it in their head that it's cool to bash them, so they'll leap at anything.

[Duke Togo]

Personally, I think Phantom Menace was a far supreriod movie than Clones. Put a good editor on Phantom Menace, and the movie would be looked at in an entirely different light. It has a better script with better performances, and just seems alot more coherannt than Clones.

[Effect]

Personally, I think Phantom Menace was a far supreriod movie than Clones. Put a good editor on Phantom Menace, and the movie would be looked at in an entirely different light. It has a better script with better performances, and just seems alot more coherannt than Clones.

I actually felt that way as well. Phantom Menace seems to flow better and its faster paced it seems. Strangely enough, the scenes they cut out from Attack of the Clones while would have made the movie a little longer should have been kept in since they do improve things. The Padme scenes make the romance between Anakin and Padme a LOT better I feel. The scenes are only a few minutes long but it goes a long way I think to showing why Anakin loves her other then her looks and kinda why she has feelings for me. So it doesn't come out of nowhere. I liked the Senate scenes and those should have been kept in as well. The others in a way were't needed. The scene with Mace, Yoda, and Obiwan was better then the one with just Obiwan and Obiwan but I liked that they showed the Jedi Starfighter hanger, them being worked on, and there are some things said during their meeting that isn't said in the scene that actually made it to the final version of the film I feel. The ones with Dooku really did slow things down at the end should have been cut.

Edited January 1, 2005 by Effect

[Knight26]

IMHO the prequels are all what I call five or six scene rewrites, redo a couple scenes and the movie improves tremendously. Also I think the best part of Clones was Obi-Wan's hunting down of Jango Fett, I would have liked to have seen more of that, more analysis of evidence, examining the different areas, etc...

[Coota0]

Its like saying the YF-19 is a rip-off of the X-29. Oooooh... we're touching holy ground now.

You're saying the VF-19 isn't at the very least inspired by the X-29?

Seeing how many forward swept wing aircraft are floating around this sounds like BS to me.

By the way I'm with everyone else about the spoilers, if you don't like where the thread is going don't click on it. Instead of trying to force the thread in the direction you want it to go, start your own.

[Duke Togo]

I also feel that Phantom Menace was the movie Lucas wanted to make, good or bad... it was his vision. I think Clones was a severe reaction to the backlash against Phantom Menace.

[bsu legato]

All this talk about McQuarrie and there's not one mention of Joe Johnston? For shame.

[Prime]

At least Howard Hughes had the decency to stop making movies when he lost it.

I'm sure many a director would like to have "lost it" to the tune of $740 million in ticket sales. If everyone hates the prequels so much, why are people still going to see them?

The biggest bloated digital POS movies ever made and they aren't even fun to watch.

Well, I think they are fun to watch and obviously many others do, so I guess this statement is also false.

And what are all the great movies you enjoy?

I hope Revenge of the Sh!t has more scenes in:

- The Jedi Library

- The Diner with Obi Wan's crack head fat ass cook friend

- The Senate - can't get enough of it - why have dynamic battles with aliens when we can    see them sitting down and talking instead - Genius!

I actually liked all of those scenes. And really, they account for what, 10 minutes? But I know you want to get to the stuff blowing up...

Personally, I like the fact that the Sith are taking the galaxy over without using military force to do so. To me it makes them much better enemies.

But what do you care now anyway? You aren't going to see tha last one since you didn't like the last two. So if it is entirely senators in the library it won't affect you in the slightest. And if TPM sucked so bad, why did you go see AOTC?

Personally, I think Phantom Menace was a far supreriod movie than Clones. Put a good editor on Phantom Menace, and the movie would be looked at in an entirely different light.

I always wondered how they would be viewed if there was no Jar Jar (or at least altered) and a slightly older and more mature Anakin. TPM may be considered the worst, but some of the scenes in it are the best of the entire series. Edited January 1, 2005 by Prime

[JsARCLIGHT]

It's funny but the more "spoiler" pics I see in this thread the more I actually want to watch this movie. I was stoked to hell and back to see Phantom Menace but when I saw it I was disappointed... I was only mildly interested in Clones due to my reaction to PM... and until looking at all these pics my overall feeling about this movie was one of "meh".

My hopes for a darker film seem to be coming true. Sure everyone "said" this one was going to be the darkest since Empire but I didn't really believe it. Then again King George has to tackle not only the rise of Vader but the total obliteration of the Jedi order in one movie... how it cannot skew dark seems impossible.

[Amped]

All this talk about McQuarrie and there's not one mention of Joe Johnston? For shame.

Ouch! Good catch!

Joe Johnston also contributed greatly to the functional aesthetic of the OT. IMO, he is a vastly underated designer... so many of the beautiful grey marker sketches from the OT, esp, SW:ANH, were his doing. I think it's safe to say he singly-handedly inspired a generation of artistically-inclined youth to pursue industrial design as a profession. BTW, he's gone on to make his mark in Hollywood as a director of flix like Jumanji, The Rocketeer, Jurassic Park III, and Hidalgo. Not all of 'em are uniformally memorable pix, to be sure, but they all bear the mark of someone with a good eye for aesthetics, ie - 'eye candy'.

Not many folks realize it, but he also contributed greatly to the final design of the title character in The Iron Giant, as well.

[Feyd-Rautha]

I also feel that Phantom Menace was the movie Lucas wanted to make, good or bad... it was his vision. I think Clones was a severe reaction to the backlash against Phantom Menace.

thank god he severly reacted!!! ..part 2 was ten times the flick that menace was..yet still left me wanting,,,

i'm really hoping for the best :for episode 3...not much room for doofy scenes!

[bsu legato]

Not many folks realize it, but he also contributed greatly to the final design of the title character in The Iron Giant, as well.

Now THAT I was unaware of. My already considerable respect for Johnston just went up a couple more notches.

[Duke Togo]

thank god he severly reacted!!! ..part 2 was ten times the flick that menace was..

Sure, I guess if your idea of a good movie is American Pie, Scary Movie, and The Fast and The Furious. If your tastes are just a wee bit more refined, its quite clear the superiority of Phantom Menace.

[Feyd-Rautha]

thank god he severly reacted!!! ..part 2 was ten times the flick that menace was..

Sure, I guess if your idea of a good movie is American Pie, Scary Movie, and The Fast and The Furious. If your tastes are just a wee bit more refined, its quite clear the superiority of Phantom Menace.

considering the movie STARRED JAR-JAR Binks...he just screams "refined"!

and....i'd have too say the whole gungan battle scene was just SOOoo belivable..with those glowing blue paint ball things>>>they really appealed too my sense of refinement...

"mesa so clumzy"...this is a statement of true refinement.

plus, i love when 6 year old kids unwittingly destroy city sized battle stations!..how innovative.

the fact that menace sucked is universally accepted,dude!

[Duke Togo]

How old are you, 12? Have you ever heard of punctuation, capitalization, sentences... stuff like that?

[eriku]

Heheh, I see nothing has changed since 1999. People still hates them some TPM. I thought the movie was fun, but I wasn't bringing in my own baggage when I went to see it. I never really felt like Lucas 'owed' me anything with these new movies so maybe that's why I'm not disappointed.

I actually just finished watching TPM about 10 minutes ago after having not seen it for a couple years, and I was surprised to find that the one scene I would cut if I had a magic editing wand was the podrace sequence. Sure it's fun, but it's more like a dumb intermission that does nothing for the 'story'. And those announcers sound like fingernails on a chalkboard to me. If there is one single thing in all of the SW movies that serves to immediately pull me out of that universe, it's the podrace announcers.

AOTC was a blast, too. I'll probably watch that tomorrow night. I just wish it had a little more Jar Jar in it, I like the guy. Or thing. Or whatever it is.

Edited January 2, 2005 by eriku

[Feyd-Rautha]

How old are you, 12? Have you ever heard of punctuation, capitalization, sentences... stuff like that?

dearest togo,

yeah i'm 12 and your a pole smoker...so get buzy with somthing productive.

..let me just unzip my fly

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...feels good togo; don't stop now,

dweeeb

[UN Spacy]

yeah i'm 12 and your a pole smoker...so get buzy with somthing productive.

..let me just unzip my fly

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...feels good togo; don't stop now,

dweeeb

Unstable the balance of the force is.

-Yoda.

[Duke Togo]

[Prime]

the one scene I would cut if I had a magic editing wand was the podrace sequence. Sure it's fun, but it's more like a dumb intermission that does nothing for the 'story'.

For the most part that's true, but it does help to show that Anakin has abilities that are indeed above and beyond other humans. It also allows the audience to be much more accepting when he is in the cockpit at the end...

[eriku]

the one scene I would cut if I had a magic editing wand was the podrace sequence.  Sure it's fun, but it's more like a dumb intermission that does nothing for the 'story'.

For the most part that's true, but it does help to show that Anakin has abilities that are indeed above and beyond other humans. It also allows the audience to be much more accepting when he is in the cockpit at the end...

All very true, but I'd still take it out.

[VF-1Guy]

TPM is one of the worst movies I have ever watched. Despite the basic plot of hecticly running from planet to planet, the movie was still slow and boring. The whole premise of using a trade federation (A TRADE FEDERATION!) blockade and invade a planet to bring an obscure senator to power was a bit weak. Why did the Trade Federation want Naboo anyways? Was it for the resources, the industry, what? The entire Trade Federation is brought down because a kid accidently fires a missile down a hallway of ONE of their ships? Where do they keep the power generator - in a closet just outside the landing bay? Also, hanven't they ever heard of redundancy? Wouldn't you realize it was a bit of a risk to have all the systems that run your ENTIRE army on a SINGLE ship? Electronics in military weapons and operations are all about redundancy. Of course, what does a TRADE FEDERATION know about running a war?!?! The pathetic plot could have been accomplished in less than 2 hours. The evening news has the same content, but is a heck of a lot more exciting!

Many of the characters were very 1 dimensional. Anakin was the poster child for annoying kids. Jar Jar was worse than the worseof Saturday morning cartoons. The Mace character was so flat that all Jackson could do was deliver a flat line then give a goofy smile (take a look at Mace in the movie, it is almost always flat line followed by goofy smile). Padme was a decent character. She starts the movie delaying as politicians do. She then switches to the politician's mode of questioning everything other people do as opposed to actually offering a worthwhile plan of her own. Eventually she redeems herself by givign up the disguise pretense and interacting with the Gungans as equals. She even has an action hero side to her character.

I didn't think that AotC was a great movie, but it was certainly an improvement. The theme of running from planet to planet was still there, but at least the events that happened on the planets made the trip worthwhile. I could have done without the whole trip to Tatooine. For supposedly being a nothing in the middle of nowhere Tatooine sure gets a lot of important traffic. It is the most visited planet in the SW saga (visited in 4 out of 5 movies so far). I think it would have been sufficient for Anakin to never see his mother again and to eventually learn that she met a tragic death ALONE. The fact that she died in his arms gave her a little peace. It stands to figure that Anakin would be even more bitter if he knew that she died alone. Of course, Anakin's character is so simplistic that he is not capable of coming to this realization. The love story in AotC was really bad. Lucas should have contracted a writer with some experience in this area to add some chemistry to those scenes. I'm not saying that the characters had to jump each other in the field, but the scene could have been written in such a way that the audience could have detected a unstoppable romantic tension. I felt that some of the characters grew in AotC. Mace is more interesting now. We have seen that he is a man who is not afraid to make the difficult decisions. After receiving Obi-wan's message he heads off to Gen. to face impossible odds (it was not certain that Yoda would arrive with the clone army in time - or at all). Palpatine thinks for the longterm. He commisioned a clone army 10 years ago, has been watching Anakin all these years and has started on a super weapon. Padme is becoming my favorite character in the prerquels. She is the action hero politican that our world so sorely needs ;-)

I have a couple of reservations about RotS. I'm afraid some of the scenes will not live up to expectations that have been building since childhood, but what ever does. I also feel that Lucas will be trying to cover too much in this movie so it may feel rushed (AotC had a good pace for the most part). I'll still see it, but I have to admit that I'm looking forward to Batman Begins more.

Flame me all you want. This is just my opinion. Everyone else's will vary. I have not tried to say that my opinion is right and the opinion of others is wrong.

[eriku]

Padme is becoming my favorite character in the prerquels. She is the action hero politican that our world so sorely needs ;-)

Yep, she's been my favorite PT character since Episode I. It'll be hard to see her go in Episode III. I just hope she gets to kick some more butt before she's gone.

[Max Jenius]

Its like saying the YF-19 is a rip-off of the X-29. Oooooh... we're touching holy ground now.

You're saying the VF-19 isn't at the very least inspired by the X-29?

Seeing how many forward swept wing aircraft are floating around this sounds like BS to me.

By the way I'm with everyone else about the spoilers, if you don't like where the thread is going don't click on it. Instead of trying to force the thread in the direction you want it to go, start your own.

The VF-19 is as much an X-29 as the Naboo Royal Transport is an SR-71. In that they share a couple similarities, but the majority of the design is original. My point earlier is that people don't run around here calling the YF-19 a beige X-29 like someone earlier said the Naboo transport was just a chrome SR-71. They're different... hell Coruscant has similar architecture to Earth.. OMG ... what a ripoff.

I'm exaggerating the resemblance to the SR-71.

That's all I wanted you to say.

Why must we hold movies to that level of scrutiny? Its a different time period in the story, so naturally it would look different from the OT. Times have changed and priorities have shifted from the elegant, smooth lines of the PT to the junkyard utilitarian look of the OT. My whole point from the beginning is that you should suspend disbelief a little when you go to movies and with Star Wars people like to pick them apart and hold the OT up on this pedastal. Maybe its because I didn't see Star Wars until I was a teenager, but I look at all the movies the same way. ESB is the only one of the OT that I don't fall asleep during the middle of because frankly ANH and ROTJ are boring as hell until near the end.

Heheh, I see nothing has changed since 1999.  People still hates them some TPM.  I thought the movie was fun, but I wasn't bringing in my own baggage when I went to see it.  I never really felt like Lucas 'owed' me anything with these new movies so maybe that's why I'm not disappointed. 

I actually just finished watching TPM about 10 minutes ago after having not seen it for a couple years, and I was surprised to find that the one scene I would cut if I had a magic editing wand was the podrace sequence.  Sure it's fun, but it's more like a dumb intermission that does nothing for the 'story'.  And those announcers sound like fingernails on a chalkboard to me.  If there is one single thing in all of the SW movies that serves to immediately pull me out of that universe, it's the podrace announcers. 

AOTC was a blast, too.  I'll probably watch that tomorrow night.  I just wish it had a little more Jar Jar in it, I like the guy.  Or thing.  Or whatever it is. 

Yep, imo PT>OT simply because it feels more complete to me and I like how powerful the Jedi are. Obi-Wan has a greater role, something I appreciate because Luke is really annoying to me, then again in a way he is intended to be. I just like seeing my favorite part of SW(the Jedi) in their prime. I could care less what the space ships look like because they're irrelevant to me. Of course I see some that I think are cool... but whether they're "original" or not has no bearing on this opinion. If all people cared about was originality, then we wouldn't like anything made in the past 1-200 years at least.

Why did the Trade Federation want Naboo anyways? Was it for the resources, the industry, what?

It was initially a blockade because of their unfair taxation. Sideous encouraged further military action so he could generate a sympathy vote for himself when a vote of no confidence was called for Valorum. I imagine he got his nominations through use of the force.

The entire Trade Federation is brought down because a kid accidently fires a missile down a hallway of ONE of their ships? Where do they keep the power generator - in a closet just outside the landing bay? Also, hanven't they ever heard of redundancy?

They put it on one ship for that campaign and they were doing quite well until a young vergance in the force came around.

Wouldn't you realize it was a bit of a risk to have all the systems that run your ENTIRE army on a SINGLE ship?

Yeah, it would also be a risk to put a vulnerability at the end of a long, poorly defended trench. It would also be kinda risky to leave a wide open doorway to your reactor core... ah well... we've never seen anything that stupid before have we? lighten up... at least it wasn't a Death Star this child blew up .... hmm... kinda like another Skywalker.

Your opinion is just as valid as anyone else's but many of your points could be used against the OT as well. One member summed my views of the films up perfectly as "escapist fluff."

[VF-1Guy]

The SW exhaust port was a security risk not a redundancy issue. Having the tractor beam control above a huge pit was a design flaw. At least they had to work for it in both cases. In TPM, Anacrybabykin flew a ship on auto pilot to a warzone, luckily ended up in the landing bay, accidently fired a torpedo (without any Use the Force mentoring), then came home all nice and safe.

The exposed reactor in Jedi was a tactical flaw on Palpies part. He didn't think about the shield generator being taken out. That is what happens when you have a senile ruler.

Having your entire remote controlled robot army controlled from one ship is just silly. Of course, what should I expect from a bunch of Eurotrash accented cowards. One problem I have with the prequels is I don't feel much attraction for most of the good guys (can't wait for them to be killed) and the enemy lacks the cool factor of the late Imperial period. Also, I feel that the story isn't all that compelling since we knew how it would end before it even began.

[Max Jenius]

The SW exhaust port was a security risk not a redundancy issue. Having the tractor beam control above a huge pit was a design flaw.   At least they had to work for it in both cases. In TPM, Anacrybabykin flew a ship on auto pilot to a warzone, luckily ended up in the landing bay, accidently fired a torpedo (without any Use the Force mentoring), then came home all nice and safe.

The exposed reactor in Jedi was a tactical flaw on Palpies part. He didn't think about the shield generator being taken out. That is what happens when you have a senile ruler.

Having your entire remote controlled robot army controlled from one ship is just silly. Of course, what should I expect from a bunch of Eurotrash accented cowards. One problem I have with the prequels is I don't feel much attraction for most of the good guys (can't wait for them to be killed) and the enemy lacks the cool factor of the late Imperial period. Also, I feel that the story isn't all that compelling since we knew how it would end before it even began.

IE - I'll make up excuses for the OT and not the PT.

Anakin wasn't too much of a crybaby in the first movie. If you were being taken away from your home and family at that age, you'd be upset too. The reactor scene was like every other scene where he was in the cockpit and showed his natural piloting capabilities, much like Luke. Luke was a whiner too you know.

Of course the enemy lacks the cool factor. They AREN'T THE EMPIRE. This is about the birth of th Empire, not "the cool enemy before the empire."

[VF-1Guy]

Why can't there be a 'cool enemy before the empire' to make it easier for me to get into the movie? My attitude toward the current enemy is 'What, another stupid looking robot led by some silly looking CG aliens'. Maybe this will get better once Palps is in control and the enemy becomes the clones. Also, I feel that the prequels lack a good action enemy. The OT had Vader throughout the story. He was not a fly-by-night villian. The Prequels have Palps, but he is more of a godfather than an enforcer type. Anakin can't really be considered a total villian since he is supposed to be the hero in the first two movies. Maul had potential, but he was eliminated too quickly. Dooku is just a boring old man. Grevious will be gone about as quick as he appears.

The average audience member probably didn't pick up on the inate piloting ability. The fans know about this since we watched SW 1 zillion times and have the "Your father was a great pilot" line memorized. The average TPM audience member sees it as the annoying kid taking a lucky shot. The average SW audience member sees the Death Star battle as the whiny kid trusting to his insticts thanks to a mysterious message from his recently deceased mentor. Also, the guy just before Luke missed. Neither the OT or the Prequels are excellent screenplays, but the OT comes off as better to me since the writers are forced to present the whole story since it is new to the audience. Lucas expects the Prequel audience to know the entire back story (such as the inate piloting abilities, using the force to control a pod, etc.) so that he can take shortcuts.

I think my biggest disappointment with the prequels is Anakin. He is supposed to be the tragic hero. As such, we are supposed to feel for him. I'll admit Lucas hasn't given the performers much to work with (the Anakin Prequel character is poorly conceived), but maybe a better actor would do a better job. Lucas should have used the Seventh Sense kid instead of whats-his-name and perhaps a tree instead of Hayden C. I want to feel for these characters, but I just can't. I'll be sad to see Padme go since she has been a good character. It would be sad to see Yoda & Obi-wan bearing the guilt of Padme's death and what Anakin has done, but I would assume that this happens in their isolation after RotS.

I admit that I'm more willing to accecpt the OT than the Prequels. Part of the reason is that the OT makes it easier to accecpt as I mentioned above. The story is a little more complete (but certainly is not an epic or anything). Another reason is that the OT was created by a man with a vision. He made do with the resources that he had (which wasn't much at the beginning) and created a decent product. The Prequels are the product of a man who has virtually unlimited resources which unfortunately has resulted in a film that is more flash than substance. The vision is still there, but is it a vision that appeals to the masses and will influence a generation like the OT did?

Edited January 2, 2005 by VF-1Guy

[CoryHolmes]

I imagine he got his nominations through use of the force.

Actually, Palpatine is the most thought-out character in the whole trilogy. I'm impressed by how much of a forward-thinking Palpatine is and by how well he's made his moves.

Started the Clone Army at the same time he was beginning his political machinations. He worked and toiled as a minor politician representing a countryside backwater planet, slowly working up the Trade Federation's taxation policies to the point where he could make use of the outcry against it.

At this point, he was able (though pure political machinations, I think) to engineer his rise to the position of Supreme Chancillor. From there, it was a simple matter to bring the Traders back into this by promising them Amidala's head on a platter.

The thing that I love the most is how Palpatine is playing both sides against the middle, ripening them up for the time where he can move in and take over.

[Graham]

Why must we hold movies to that level of scrutiny? Its a different time period in the story, so naturally it would look different from the OT. Times have changed and priorities have shifted from the elegant, smooth lines of the PT to the junkyard utilitarian look of the OT.

Actually, I've always had a problem with this line of reasoning. I mean it's only what about 20 years difference between the PT and OT and in 20 years, design aesthetics don't generally change that much, that quickly.

Using real world examples, it's 2005 now, but 20 years ago in 1985 we still see a lot of the same planes, cars etc as we do today. Boeing 747 yep, F-15 Eagle yep, Porsche 911 yep all in use 20 years ago, all still in use and/or being manufactured to this day.

Graham

[zeo-mare]

i cannot believe how much argueing there is about this , guys its a movie true what you are saying Graham, but unfortunally if they just reused all the vehicles and stuff from the original trilogy people would have really trashed george about not haveing any ideas left. i think he heard enough about how bad Jar jar was top that off with just reusing ideas and designs from the original probably would have gave him a heart attack. it is a movie simple as that, and when they make a new one we all expect to see something new, even if it does not follow real world rules and design aesthetics.

[yellowlightman]

Why must we hold movies to that level of scrutiny? Its a different time period in the story, so naturally it would look different from the OT. Times have changed and priorities have shifted from the elegant, smooth lines of the PT to the junkyard utilitarian look of the OT.

Actually, I've always had a problem with this line of reasoning. I mean it's only what about 20 years difference between the PT and OT and in 20 years, design aesthetics don't generally change that much, that quickly.

Using real world examples, it's 2005 now, but 20 years ago in 1985 we still see a lot of the same planes, cars etc as we do today. Boeing 747 yep, F-15 Eagle yep, Porsche 911 yep all in use 20 years ago, all still in use and/or being manufactured to this day.

Graham

The same could be said for Macross, where we've seen a huge amount of different variable fights in a relatively short amount of time.

The truth, inevitably, is that styling changes are representative of sponsorship interests (gotta sell toys) and changing real worth aethetics. The series itself gets stuck trying to explain why things look so different.

[zeo-mare]

i think most series with sequels are like this everything from star trek, to Mobile Suit Gundam, true there are so much marketing things that can be done they do not want to use the same things over and over, honestly i believe many of the creators really just want to design new ships and mechs because they enjoy using there imaginations to see what they can create, as a artist i know I am like that. but there is no denying that the marketing aspect is there as well.