Star Wars is better than everything

[crumbs 14,301]

Let's face it, three of his six films range from terrible to mediocre, while another was saved in the editing room by other, far more competent filmmakers.

 

He also ruined his two best films with needless CGI revisionism.

[Chen G. 3,943]

I’m not entirely comfortable with this narrative that posits that the original Star Wars was good in spite of Lucas.
 

But, yeah, I don’t think much of his filmography as a whole. Honestly, from a strictly directorial standpoint, Star Wars really isn’t that impressive, anyway.

 

His certainly pales in comparison with the filmographies of his colleagues. Spielberg, Coppola and Scorsese are just on another level altogether.

 

Also, something about Lucas’ dishonesty about the making of Star Wars really rubs me the wrong way. I mean, you’ve already sold Star Wars and effectively retired from filmmaking, would it kill you to admit that you didn’t actually write one huge script of the entire thing? Why keep up the charade?

[Edmilson 7,393]

2 hours ago, Þekþiþm said:

So what does he do with his time? Just bum around?

 

When LFL was still on his hands, he still put some (but not much) effort on trying to make other franchises happen besides SW and Indy happen, like this movie that nobody watched because apparently it is terrible:

 

 

But now that LFL is with Disney, I don't know. He has too much money to worry with stuff like jobs, bills and mortgages, for example.

[danbeck 123]

On 12/16/2019 at 11:51 AM, Jay said:

In 2016, as Sony was about to lose their license to release Star Wars scores, they "remastered" the OST albums for the original six scores.  However, they didn't have access to Lucasfilm's archives or anything, all they had was the existing album masters, so their remastering was simply putting polish on the already edited and mastered 1977, 1980, 1983, 1999, 2002, and 2005 album masters.  These were only released digitally, not on physical medium.

 

In 2017 when Disney Records took over the license, they immediately re-issued those under their own label.  Also only digitally, not on physical medium.

 

In 2018, Disney Records hired Shawn Murphy to delve into the Lucasfilm archives and rebuild the OST albums from fresh transfers of elements found.  However, it seems that the original trilogy ones weren't really total rebuilds at all, but still mostly just the old album masters, just with a horrible new sound.  For the prequel trilogy, he did rebuild them (well, he's not an editor, he's not the one who actually did the editing, he was just the guy in charge), and the result was a ton of wrong takes being used throughout all 3 albums.  These were released on physical CD as well as digital.

 

I certainly never said that the 2018 release of the Empire on CD was the first time that program had been available outside of the vinyl, because that would be a wrong and silly thing to say.  I said it was the first time it had been released on CD, which is true.  

 

In fact Sony's 2016 release from the original vinyl masters were released physically... on 180-gram vinyl (very physicall taking into account the size and weight of the collection). But not on CD.

 

It is a gorgeous package that faithfully reproduces the original LPs (including the "booklets" and inserts of the original LPs for Star Wars [with the fold out poster and an "order form" for official Star Wars T-Shirts - with a small notice "This is a replica. Offer no longer available"], The Empire Strikes Back and Return Of The Jedi) and the center labels of the LPs from 20th Century Fox for Star Wars and RSO for Empire and Jedi. It is really unfortunate that those masters were not used also for CD releases at that time.

 

I hope that when the definitive "MM" version of the complete scores are released they also include the albums (with their unique mixes and takes, like Jedi's "The Emperor" which includes a kind of a wind effect missing in all subsequent releases).  

[Chen G. 3,943]

51 minutes ago, Edmilson said:

 

When LFL was still on his hands, he still put some (but not much) effort on trying to make other franchises happen besides SW and Indy happen, like this movie that nobody watched because apparently it is terrible:

 

George Lucas didn’t direct or write this film. All he has is an executive and “story by” credit.

 

You don’t get to take credit of a film for doing that. It’s just like with Indy.

[Luke Skywalker 1,792]

Question: are the destruction of alderaan music and the two death star shots music from return of the jedi musically related? It seems to me that the latter are fast paced versions of the same idea-ostinato? 

[Naïve Old Fart 9,498]

What the hell does that mean?!

"From the mind of George Lucas"???!!!

[mstrox 6,647]

3 hours ago, Chen G. said:

George Lucas didn’t direct or write this film. All he has is an executive and “story by” credit.

 

You don’t get to take credit of a film for doing that. It’s just like with Indy.

 

(and Empire and Jedi)

 

But much like those other films, GL had a lot of input on this project.  https://collider.com/george-lucas-strange-magic-interview/.  Beyond the general idea.  He had been developing Strange Magic for like ten years.

 

Sort of like how Tim Burton gets a lot of credit for Henry Selick's Nightmare Before Christmas.  He was a very extremely hands-on EP who deferred to an animator for direction.

[Chen G. 3,943]

He's still not the director or the principal writer, who are the two people to which the film must be credited, first.

[mstrox 6,647]

I've made that argument about Empire and Jedi, but nobody has ever listened to me!

 

I don't really care about the other examples one way or the other.

[Edmilson 7,393]

 

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

In the original Star Wars movie from 1977, Obi-Wan says he "fears" that something terrible has happened. But that doesn't make any sense. Isn't it said in subsequent films that fear is the path to the Dark Side and that it leads to anger, hate and suffering? So how can a fully trained Jedi Knight claim to fear anything? Does he not run the risk of getting angry and full of hate and suffer as a result? Doesn't he know better?

[Chen G. 3,943]

The whole idea that fear is malicious is the worst aspect about the belief system of the Jedi, which would unfortunately go on to permeate the rest of the series as a result.

[Edmilson 7,393]

 

[Chen G. 3,943]

So, let me get this straight. Assume I’m watching this franchise sequentially with a new audience who hadn’t seen then before. Say, a son/daughter or young cousin.

 

He/she needs to watch

1) one movie (The Phantom Menace) which does next to nothing to push the overall story forward.

2) two movies (Attack of the Clones, Revenge of the Sith) that completely do away with the biggest twist of the series.

3) two movies (Solo and Rogue One) and a TV series (Rebels) that - in a row - completely depart from the main story and cast of characters before we return to those with...

4) a film (Star Wars) which was clearly conceived as part of a totally different continuity.

5) a lackluster resolution (Return of the Jedi).

6) three movies that take place after the whole story had been resolved.

 

Man, I really like some of these films individually, but as a series Star Wars is just broken.

 

[mstrox 6,647]

Just watch 'em in release order, or only watch the things you like.  Canon and chronicity are for nerds.

[Not Mr. Big 4,639]

The lighting in the new Clone Wars teasers looks so good but every time I look closer I see the character design and want to throw up

[Chen G. 3,943]

24 minutes ago, mstrox said:

only watch the things you like.

Oh, I agree; but it is nice when you can watch the films in their narrative order and for it to work, anyway.

[Edmilson 7,393]

A few years ago, I was presenting some classic movies to my young cousin, who was 9/10 back then. Since I only saw him once a week, on Sundays, so we could only watch a movie per visit. Aside from some one-and-done movies such as E.T., Beetlejuice and Roger Rabbit, we also watched classic sagas like Star Wars, Indy and LOTR. 

 

The catch was that we only watched the classic installments of each franchise, so only the SW Original Trilogy, the first three Indys and LOTR, but no Prequels (this was before the release of the ST), KOTCS or Hobbit. Actually, we watched An Unexpected Journey, since this was 2013 and had hopes of the trilogy being good... But when I saw the sequels on theater, I decided not to show them to him, because they were very bad.

 

So yeah, when I have my own children, my philosphy will be of just showing them the good movies of a franchise. We'll watch the shittier installments only if he or she gets really attached to a franchise. If (s)he wants more adventures on the galaxy or the Middle Earth, we can watch other stuff on these franchises, otherwise, life's too short to waste on crap movies.

[Chen G. 3,943]

I’ve already watched the six Middle Earth films with a cousin of mine in narrative order. He loved it.

 

We did Star Wars, but the best way I could devise around the issue was to do it I, II, Star Wars, V, III and VI. The Rise of Skywalker confirmed to me the sequel trilogy’s superfluous, although I believe he caught The Force Awakens on his own and liked it.

[mstrox 6,647]

When I eventually watch movie series with my kid, who's 4 years old now and not really old enough for some of this stuff, we're gonna watch all of it and I'll let her make up her mind re: what she likes.

 

We did watch the first Star Wars, which she liked, but mainly when Chewie and/or Leia were on the screen.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

How do you people figure your kids aren't old enough for these movies? I watched them as early as 2 or 3 on TV and video tape.

[Chen G. 3,943]

Revenge of the Sith is properly graphic.

[mstrox 6,647]

There's plenty of stuff made for toddlers and young kids, and doctors recommend 1-2 hours max of screen time in a day - there really isn't a need for me to show my kid a bunch of fairly violent stuff at 4.

[Edmilson 7,393]

I guess my problem on presenting crap movies to my (still unborn) kid is that the time we use watching stuff like Crystal Skull or Attack of the Clones could've been used for discovering new movies, such as Miyazaki Studio Ghibli films, for example. Or for the kid to enjoy other kinds of arts: playing a great videogame (in moderation, I don't want my children addicted to whatever Fortnite or Minecraft), reading books or comics, listening to music... Or even for him/her to be creating his/her own stories with toys.

 

Of course, if my kid gets so excited about Star Wars, we can watch the other movies and the animated TV shows (no idea how violent The Mandalorian is). Or The Hobbit trilogy, if he gets fascinated with Middle Earth. But I really don't want to spend his/her childhood with some objectively bad movies.

 

In any case, all this talk is mostly nonsense, since I don't expect to be a parent over the next 7 to 10 years, at least... lol.

[Fargo 297]

My wife has finally discovered that a PG rating in 1970/1980s movies is not the same as it is today. She doesn't let me watch Indiana Jones with my 4 year old anymore 

 

If your kid does watch Star Wars and gets into it, I recommend read-along audio books in the series. We have an app called Hoopla where we can rent these out (logged in with a public library account I think) and my kid loves them. They are nice if you are worried about too much screen time - plus some even have Williams's original music playing in the background while the book is being read aloud.

 

 

[Pellaeon 593]

Right on, @Edmilson. Educating young people means exposing them to variety and quality. After that, let them develop their own interests and make them their own.

[Manakin Skywalker 4,891]

Looks like all of the films being re-released in 4K will indeed be in 7.1 surround sound. Perhaps we'll get some *slightly* cleaner music rips.

[John 2,032]

5 hours ago, Chen G. said:

Revenge of the Sith is properly graphic.

It really isn’t. 

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

3 hours ago, Manakin Skywalker said:

Looks like all of the films being re-released in 4K will indeed be in 7.1 surround sound. 

 

The home theatre crowd will be devastated.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

No 5.1 EX?

[Nick Parker 3,040]

1. Star Wars is like Toni Morrison's Jazz, shape the story the way you want to!

 

2. Why do any of us 20-something clowns on this page think we're gonna have kids to worry about this crap anytime soon? 

 

6 hours ago, Fargo said:

If your kid does watch Star Wars and gets into it, I recommend read-along audio books in the series. We have an app called Hoopla where we can rent these out (logged in with a public library account I think) and my kid loves them. They are nice if you are worried about too much screen time - plus some even have Williams's original music playing in the background while the book is being read aloud.

 

From an educational standpoint your idea is much better, but I will say as a little kid I hated Star Wars movies, but I couldn't go anywhere without my Star Wars audio drama cassette tapes.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

52 minutes ago, Gruesome Son of a Bitch said:

No 5.1 EX?

 

The home theatre groups on Facebook are so zealous about Dolby Atmos, they go all defensive when I speak highly of my 7.1 system that I only recently built, and the fact that I use the analog outputs from my Oppo player (that seems to stir the shit!). I'm only now just getting aquainted with all my old multichannel tracks that I simply want to enjoy them for what they are. For 20 years, I could only hear them in two channel stereo mixdowns. I can't bring myself to fret that they don't conform to some new "object-based" audio standard.

[Manakin Skywalker 4,891]

22 minutes ago, Þekþiþm said:

The home theatre groups on Facebook are so zealous about Dolby Atmos, they go all defensive when I speak highly of my 7.1 system that I only recently built, and the fact that I use the analog outputs from my Oppo player (that seems to stir the shit!). I'm only now just getting aquainted with all my old multichannel tracks that I simply want to enjoy them for what they are. For 20 years, I could only hear them in two channel stereo mixdowns. I can't bring myself to fret that they don't conform to some new "object-based" audio standard.

 

They don't like 7.1? Why? I would have thought audio fanatics would see more channels as a benefit.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

9 minutes ago, Manakin Skywalker said:

 

They don't like 7.1? Why? I would have thought audio fanatics would see more channels as a benefit.

 

7.1 is "too basic" for these people. To them, if it isn't at least an object-based track with multiple height channels like Dolby Atmos or DTS:X, it's "worthless".

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

My phone has Dolby Atmos but I think it sounds better with it turned off.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Yeah I don't even know what the phone version even does. Must be a thing for headphones folks.

[Holko 9,499]

Even stereo isn't necessary per se when a mono version is mixed well enough (I always adjust to STAR WARS's mono mix immediately and don't feel anything's missing), why the hell would you need that many channels let alone tell them apart?

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

13 minutes ago, Holko said:

Even stereo isn't necessary per se when a mono version is mixed well enough (I always adjust to STAR WARS's mono mix immediately and don't feel anything's missing), why the hell would you need that many channels let alone tell them apart?

 

Because apparently with Atmos and DTS:X, it works differently to traditional channel-based audio (eg. 2.0, 5.1, 7.1 etc). Instead it's an object-based audio that creates an immersive 3D sound environment, and you can program your speaker placement into the AV receiver to correspond with where they'd be stationed within the 3D soundscape. Within this method, you can have up to a few dozen speaker feeds if your processor allows for it.

 

But only really hardcore home theatre enthusiasts go for this thing. Most regular folks interested in home theatre would be content with traditional 5.1 or 7.1 channel-based tech. Or even their bloody soundbar.

[Faleel 5,340]

 

 

[Holko 9,499]

I don't have any further interest in SW literature after giving up the supposedly good and important Bloodline after the first chapter, but it's nice to see they're doing something new and free and possibly interesting. Video game and movie tie-ins are set to come down the line maybe, if the leaks are correct.

[mstrox 6,647]

My first thought is "no thank you, it's not for me," but I keep up with the comics so I'll probably read a little bit of this here or there.

[Faleel 5,340]

38 minutes ago, Holko said:

I don't have any further interest in SW literature after giving up the supposedly good and important Bloodline after the first chapter, but it's nice to see they're doing something new and free and possibly interesting. Video game and movie tie-ins are set to come down the line maybe, if the leaks are correct.

A score would be nice

[mstrox 6,647]

I would be all in on another McNeely concept album.  This whole thing has a very Shadows of the Empire vibe - not in content, but in execution.

[Manakin Skywalker 4,891]

"The new High Republic series will be getting a musical treatment from the very talented and critically acclaimed...

Spoiler

Junkie XL

 

[Faleel 5,340]

1 minute ago, Manakin Skywalker said:

"The new High Republic series will be getting a musical treatment from the very talented and critically acclaimed...

  Hide contents

Junkie XL

 

Would he be able to survive without footage?

[Fargo 297]

This whole thing has a "horse designed by committee" feel. There's something to be said for one person having a singular vision - and despite what Lucas did to the prequels and how he directed & wrote them, at least he had a singular vision that held the story together.

[Faleel 5,340]

42 minutes ago, Fargo said:

This whole thing has a "horse designed by committee" feel. There's something to be said for one person having a singular vision - and despite what Lucas did to the prequels and how he directed & wrote them, at least he had a singular vision that held the story together.

Eh.

[Chen G. 3,943]

1 hour ago, Fargo said:

There's something to be said for one person having a singular vision - and despite what Lucas did to the prequels and how he directed & wrote them, at least he had a singular vision

 

If you don't enjoy the end result, does that really matter, though?

[Fargo 297]

Just now, Chen G. said:

 

If you don't enjoy the end result, does that really matter, though?

 

I hardly enjoy anything in life anymore 

 

Except for Junkie XL scores.