*** Official STAR WARS Saga (episodes I to VI) Discussion Thread: Part 4 (1 Viewer)

[MielR]

How can George have emulated so many westerns in SW, and then totally miss the point of a saloon shootout? I wasn't confused in 1977 about that scene, and I'm not confused now.

Nor was I confused, even at age 11 when I first saw the film.
I always interpreted the scene as Han taking Greedo --and the audience-- by surprise, with a blast that nobody sees coming. You're sort of meant to be confused--- for a second (a "what the %&*$?!" moment), then when the smoke clears and Greedo's body is slumped over the table.....well, you'd really have to be thick not to understand what just happened.

 

[Steve Christou]

 

[SilverWook]

It's great that there are still some photos from the OT I still haven't seen, even after all these years.
And that is so wrong in context of a certain revelation in Return of the Jedi.

 

[Sam Favate]

Stumbled upon Disney's Star Wars weekends on Friday when I happened to be in Hollywood Studios in Orlando. Lots of activity - some cool, some silly - but the crowds, especially those in costume, underscore how big and alive Star Wars fandom is, and how hugely successful more films in the series could be. I was frankly stunned at the size of the crowd who were clearly there for this.

 

[TravisR]

...but the crowds, especially those in costume, underscore how big and alive Star Wars fandom is, and how hugely successful more films in the series could be.

Yeah, it's easy to make fun of the costumers (god knows I have) but I do have to give it up to alot of guys because they'll do decent things like visit children's hospitals or raise money for charities. Plus, I imagine that those groups are the only sense of community and friendship for some of the guys that are considered 'odd' by most people. As a long time fan, it's great to see other fans take their love and do something positive for the world.
Also, Star Wars came out 35 years ago today.

 

[SilverWook]

25 years ago today I was at the official 10th anniversary celebration. Doesn't seem all that long ago sometimes!
That's interesting they allow costumed fans into the park. I would think there would be legal/safety issues running around in there with a mask on. I couldn't even get my local theater to give me a straight answer about seeing the 2009 Star Trek film in costume.

 

[Chad R]

Okay, I've been wondering something for a long time and was hoping someone could help me with an answer. I was reading this article:
http://screenrant.com/television-prequel-series-shows-yman-185918/
And in it the author states that Boba Fett is "...one of the galaxies most fearsome bounty hunters..."
And therein lies my question. When did Boba Fett get this reputation? Contextually, if you watch the movies, he's anything but fearsome. In "Empire Strikes Back" he pretty much stands behind Darth Vader the whole time. He doesn't do anything except take a few pot shots at Luke. And then in "Return of the Jedi", he's accidentally knocked into the big yonnic symbol in the sand by a blind guy.
So what is it about Boba Fett that everyone keeps coming back to? Why is he so "cool"? I've never understood it. Where is the evidence that he's anything but a chump?

 

[TravisR]

So what is it about Boba Fett that everyone keeps coming back to? Why is he so "cool"? I've never understood it. Where is the evidence that he's anything but a chump?

Within the Star Wars universe? He's presumably spent more than 20 years building his reputation as a deadly and efficient bounty hunter. If someone hires Boba Fett to find you, he's going to find you.
In the real world? He's got a cool costume.

 

[RobertR]

Within the Star Wars universe? He's presumably spent more than 20 years building his reputation as a deadly and efficient bounty hunter. If someone hires Boba Fett to find you, he's going to find you.

In other words, we're told he's a real super badass, not shown he's such. Kind of like the pathetic midichlorian device to tell people how awesome little Annie is with the force.

 

[TravisR]

In other words, we're told he's a real super badass, not shown he's such.

Actually, we're not even told that. Like I said, the costume is what the fans responded to but he does follow and capture Han & company, takes a few shots at Luke and questions Darth Vader on carbonfreezing Han. Not that any of that makes him a super warrior but it's more than any other less-than-supporting character did in a Star Wars movie.

 

[Sam Favate]

He's also patterned after Clint Eastwood's bounty hunter in the Man With No Name films. Sketches of Fett in the Making of the Empire Strikes Back show the same poncho, the same pose. And in Empire, he's got Eastwood's quiet demeanor, and gruff voice. So it could be his reputation (which I agree is undeserved) could come from years of Clint Eastwood being genuinely cool.

And Fett's in ESB and Jedi for... what? 10 minutes combined? 15? That his demise was the butt of a lame joke shows that the filmmakers couldn't have understood the character's potential.

 

[SilverWook]

Boba had a gruff voice once upon a time. Now he sounds like the guy who played Jango.
The cartoon segment of the infamous Holiday Special that introduced him pretty much set him up in the minds of fans at the time. Being the first "new" character offered by Kenner as a mail away action figure also helped. Everybody knew about him by the time Empire came out, and his name isn't even spoken on screen.

 

[Sam Favate]

Boy, I had to work to find this thread!

Anyway, JW Rinzler's third making of- book is due next week, and it focuses on Return of the Jedi. Came across this article with some of the revelations in the book:

http://io9.com/10-things-you-probably-didnt-know-about-star-wars-ret-1383276948

My favorite tidbit: Boba Fett would be revealed as Luke's mother!

 

[mattCR]

Never before seen cuts from the original series make their way to a collector.. who posts video clips of them on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/rotjeditdroid


Advice: get it while it's HOT

http://www.engadget.com/2013/10/26/laserdisc-star-wars-editdroid/

(FYI, several LucasArts people have commented on the facebook feed, so I think it's in the clear but still..)

 

[Freddie Z]

Here's the trailer for Topher Grace's 85 minute prequel cut: http://www.slashfilm.com/topher-grace-star-wars-trailer/ Too bad the actual cut will never be screened for the public because from what I've read, it's actually pretty good.

 

[Sam Favate]

I have a question for this group, along the lines of "Which Star Wars film do you show your kids first, Episode I or Episode IV?" (For the record, my kids saw Episode IV first.)

After you show your kids Superman: The Movie, do you show them Richard Lester's Superman II or Richard Donner's Superman II? Why?

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I don't have kids but if you don't mind me answering... I mentioned to my girlfriend that if we ever had them, could I show them in one order to one child and one to another, and see who likes what more? She replied (probably rightfully so) that I'm not allowed to experiment on any future offspring!I think I'd go for production order. A lot of what makes the prequels resonate emotionally, when they're at their best, is playing with characters and themes we're already familiar with from the original trilogy. This is just one example, but the end montage of Episode III is so powerful because it connects the dots between both films. The final shot of baby Luke being held by his adoptive aunt and uncle on Tattooine with the twin suns was emotionally satisfying because you know that that baby will grow up and right all of the wrongs that happen in the film. You feel optimism and hope and joy and I think that's how you're supposed to feel, but I'm not sure you'd feel that way if you were seeing Episode III for the first time ahead of the originals. Also, there's really not much "mythology" in the original film about the Skywalker family, so you might feel impatient watching Luke and Leia and knowing they're siblings when they don't, or knowing Vader is their father when they don't. It ruins the Vader reveal in Empire too. I tried once watching them Episodes 4, 5, 1, 2, 3, 6, and that actually worked pretty well for me. You watch the original two movies and by the end of Empire you want to know the family history...so you watch all the prequels and then finish with Jedi to wrap the whole thing up. For Superman, facing that dilemma cause my girlfriend has never seen those movies but wants to. I think you have to go with the Lester version of 2 first, just because it's a complete film, whereas the Donner cut is more of a sketch of what that movie would have been. It doesn't really have an ending - I'm not sure if you can ask someone new to the whole thing to watch two films that have the exact same end and get away with saying, "but the first one was meant to end differently so it didn't count the first time". I suppose you could do a sort of edit of 1 like they do in the recap at the beginning of the Donner cut, so you're not watching the same thing twice for the first time, but then you're getting into not really showing the original movie as it is. No one would have been happier than me than if the Donner cut actually could have had a unique ending, but unfortunately it doesn't. And I think it's perfectly fine as it is - a reconstruction of a movie that never got finished but would have been great if it had. But I think it has to go last. I might do Superman I - IV and Returns in production order, and then show her the Donner cut so she can more fully enjoy seeing it the way I did, as an almost new Christopher Reeve-Marlon Brando Superman movie. I thought, we all thought, we'd never see Reeve as Superman again. Getting a glimpse, even an incomplete one, of him in that role one last time -- so that the Donner cut and not Superman IV is my last new memory of him in the role -- was one of those unexpected gifts life on rare occasions surprises you with. Just my two cents anyway, I'd love to hear other takes on this too!

 

[Sam Favate]

Thanks, Josh. I did show them the Lester film. As you correctly point out, showing the Donner film to people new to the series would be showing the same ending two films in a row. I think I will skip III and IV for now and show them Returns next.

So you see, it's not just the Star Wars films that are complicated in terms of which order to show them.

 

[Sam Favate]

Back to Star Wars:

This is just a rumor, but an encouraging one: Stand-alone Obi-Wan film in the works.

http://www.starwarsunderworld.com/2014/09/rumor-obi-wan-kenobi-stand-alone-film.html

http://makingstarwars.net/2014/09/star-wars-episode-vii-tidbits-dooku-lineage-moraband-ridley-code-names-kenobi-film-x-wings/

(The second link contains potential spoilers for Episode VII, so be warned.)

I really hope this happens. Filling in Obi-Wan's story between Episodes III and IV could be great. In my mind, he was a teacher of Luke's for a few years, until something happened to cause conflict with Owen, who banned him. Maybe Luke was somehow endangered. Maybe Obi-Wan traveled off world briefly and encountered Vader ("Obi-Wan once thought as you do..."). Maybe Obi-Wan fell in love and it ended tragically or in heartbreak.

 

[Carl Johnson]

How Owen referred to Ben Kenobi in his conversation with Luke made him sound more like that crazy uncle who has been disowned by the rest of the family than Luke's former teacher. And I can't even think of a circumstance where Obi Wan confronts Vader without one of them ending up dead. That would be quite an interesting scenario.