Star Wars Episode VIII "The Last Jedi" Coming December 15, 2017 (1 Viewer)

[Lord Dalek]

Still doesn't compete with the awful Empire of Dreams for historical revisionism and Lucas back patting.

 

[trevanian]

Still doesn't compete with the awful Empire of Dreams for historical revisionism and Lucas back patting.

The Carol Publishing book (EMPIRE BUILDING?) is the worst, it is just graphs and graphs swiped out of everybody else's work on the history of the first tril, and even though they make wholesale lifts, they STILL misspell like mad. They're the people who did an unauthorized SEINFELD book and got creamed in court over it, so I was astonished to see them still in business in the late 90s.

 

[Carabimero]

I think it's really hard for almost any author to stand up against knowledgeable fans 100% of the time. I still put Rinzler near the top. Even Marc Cushman's books, filled with lazy, unforgivable errors, still contain lots of good information. It would be a mistake for me to discount all that good info because of Cushman's seemingly unlimited propensity for sloppy errors. The trick for me is, when something is important to me, to try and confirm it through multiple independent sources.

I'm finding this McQuarrie book to be setting me straight on a lot of things. Slightly painful at first, but now I am wide open to this book.

 

[Tino]

Bad news!

Star Wars Director Praises Warcraft Movie, Calls It "Human, Emotional, and Metal"

Why is this bad news??

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Even Marc Cushman's books, filled with lazy, unforgivable errors, still contain lots of good information. It would be a mistake for me to discount all that good info because of Cushman's seemingly unlimited propensity for sloppy errors. The trick for me is, when something is important to me, to try and confirm it through multiple independent sources.

In the specific case of the Cushman books, I generally accept anything that he's reproducing from primary sources as fact - for instance, the multiple notes and memos taken from producer Bob Justman. But unfortunately, I don't think a single word of his analysis or any of his own conclusions are worth the paper they're printed on. He has some skill at digging up material that hasn't seen the light of day in decades, but he's very poor at making sense of what he's found, and his demonstrably false conclusions unfairly damage the historical record. It's a tough call with me and his books, because there is raw material in them that's absolutely worth looking at, but his own additions are problematic at best. I sincerely wish that wasn't the case, but unfortunately, there's not much you can do with someone who is completely convinced that Star Trek was the biggest hit on TV during 1966-1969, and that NBC only canceled the show because of a deep seeded and irrational dislike of Gene Roddenberry, and who seeks to explain everything through that faulty premise.

 

[Bryan^H]

The most fascinating Star Wars book I have ever read regarding trivia.
And its author was 11 years old when he wrote it.

 

[Carabimero]

In the specific case of the Cushman books, I generally accept anything that he's reproducing from primary sources as fact - for instance, the multiple notes and memos taken from producer Bob Justman. But unfortunately, I don't think a single word of his analysis or any of his own conclusions are worth the paper they're printed on. He has some skill at digging up material that hasn't seen the light of day in decades, but he's very poor at making sense of what he's found, and his demonstrably false conclusions unfairly damage the historical record. It's a tough call with me and his books, because there is raw material in them that's absolutely worth looking at, but his own additions are problematic at best. I sincerely wish that wasn't the case, but unfortunately, there's not much you can do with someone who is completely convinced that Star Trek was the biggest hit on TV during 1966-1969, and that NBC only canceled the show because of a deep seeded and irrational dislike of Gene Roddenberry, and who seeks to explain everything through that faulty premise.

I agree with you as far as it goes, but for me, Cushman's mistakes add up to only 10% of the sum of those books, if that much. I just can't throw out the other 90% because of it. The material is too good, much of it never-before-published. I have made peace with those books by putting Cushman's many gaffe's and erroneous conclusions in perspective relative to the greater value of what's in those many pages.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I agree with you as far as it goes, but for me, Cushman's mistakes add up to only 10% of the sum of those books, if that much. I just can't throw out the other 90% because of it. The material is too good, much of it never-before-published. I have made peace with those books by putting Cushman's many gaffe's and erroneous conclusions in perspective relative to the greater value of what's in those many pages.

Yeah, I'm not tossing my books either. But whenever I go to revisit them, I will likely read only the sections with primary source research (either documents directly cited and included or original interviews). I will probably skip his sections on interpretations of the show itself and the sections where he presents his critical analysis as I didn't really find any value in those portions. The author desperately needs an editor, not just for grammar and spelling and fact checking, but just for the sake of focus. The books, huge as they are, are wildly unfocused in my view. They could probably be cut in half, or down by at least a third, without losing any actual research.

 

[Carabimero]

Yes, it's a pity. I thought things might get better when Cushman seemingly hired an editor for Lost In Space, but by the second sentence of Mumy's foreward it was clear to me that the book is still internally inconsistent in word usage (ironic since the editor dedicated the book to English teachers everywhere)--and there are errors in what Cushman writes that could easily have been caught if he simply had watched the episodes. But again, Lost In Space has a ton of good info and seems, if only marginally, less prone to errors than These Are The Voyages.

 

[trevanian]

My computer overheated about 5 paragraphs into my Cushman reply yesterday morning (maybe it caught my pneumonia) and I let it go, but I think you can't even trust the stuff that is supposedly drawn from the record, given that others who have looked at these very same memos (and reproduced them word for word) come away with different results. That Cushman apparently summarizes the memos rather than reproducing them is, given all the other goofs, sufficient evidence that he is cherry picking, and when the cherries aren't ripe, he's grabbing grapes from his own vineyard to fill in. The startrekblogcheck site goes into exhaustive detail on this, and I still don't understand why SKEPTICAL INQUIRER or something of the sort hasn't devoted some pages to exposing Cushman as this hulking fraud.

I'm sure there are tons of great 'stories' in these books ... but I can say the same thing about any transcription of stars speaking at conventions, and have just as little faith in them. And by virtue of association with Axanar and Alec Peters, Cushman further undercuts any credibility -- and credibility itself is an interesting phrase, given his greatest claim to fame before this was what, the trek softcore stuff? -- and in fact puts himself right down there with the shiftiest of trek and SF exploiters, a guy whose auctions were usually twisted by shilling.

 

[SamT]

ILM's week of shutdown in fall 1976, more than a year into their time on the film, when only a few shots were approved

I remember reading something about this in this book

Industrial Light & Magic: The Art of Special Effects

 

[SamT]

It's a bad news because Warcraft is a terrible movie.

 

[Tino]

It's a bad news because Warcraft is a terrible movie.

So you have seen it? What was so bad about it?

 

[Tim Glover]

That book is AWESOME and a must have. I just sent out a personal text to all family and friends with the amazon link with attached Note": Merry Christmas to Tim Glover!

 

[SamT]

You didn't know about it Tim? I read that Thomas G. Smith book when I was a teenager. That covers the first 10 years of ILM when the effects were done optically. It was true magic.

There is also a second book that covers the second 10 years.
Industrial Light & Magic: Into the Digital Realm

 

[trevanian]

There's a third volume too, pretty much covering ILM this century. I haven't looked at that one.

I had the first one till it fell to five pieces, loved it.

The 2nd volume was rewritten practically from scratch in something like 3 weeks, and there are points where it shows. I remember there were errors in the STAR TREK GENERATIONS section that really should have been caught.

 

[SamT]

Yes I'm also not interested in the third volume. Have not read it. Maybe if it comes out in e-book format I will get it.

But the first one was truly magical because of my age, being the first one and no digital effects (well except Star Trek 2, Young Sherlock...)

The modern effects are not exciting to watch or read about. It's a computer screen. In the old days you could see the models and all the stuff. I remember even the pictures of the optical printers were interesting to me. The machines that combine the blue screen elements. And it shows my age, at that time there was no green screen, it was blue screen!

 

[Bryan^H]

Still doesn't compete with the awful Empire of Dreams for historical revisionism and Lucas back patting.

I understand Star Wars was a collaborative effort. But as far as the Lucas "back patting" goes, he deserves every bit if not more recognition of Star Wars. It was his story, idea, and passion(even in the face of rejection) that Star Wars was even made in the first place.

George Lucas deserves a back pat, handshake, hug, thumbs up, and a huge thank you for the movie he brought to life.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Kodak announces that Star Wars: Episode IX will shoot on 65mm film

TFA and Episode VIII were shot primarily on 35mm film. The upcoming Rogue One was shot digitally using 65mm lenses.

 

[TravisR]

John Williams is starting to score Episode VIII this month and will continue periodically through March or April.

http://variety.com/2016/film/spotlight/fantastic-beasts-bfg-john-williams-1201930763/