How I would have saved Star Wars.
Like most people growing up in the 80's (albeit, late 80's for me) I was and ever will be a huge fan of Star Wars. Before there were those bullshit kid's shows that are just there to teach modern children how to appreciate bright colours and terrible music (hello rave scene) we were sat in front of movies while our parents tried to forget they had us. I was, anyway - a lot.
I had a number of favorites that my Mum knew she was safe to chuck me in front of without protest but the big thing was the Star Wars trilogy. You know how it goes, you want to be Luke/Han, your dog is your Chewie/Taun Taun/Wampa etc.
I was in hospital with a very badly broken arm when Episode 1 was coming out on dvd and Episode 2 was coming to the theatre, I was still kind of young and very forgiving but now that I'm older and a hell of a lot harder to impress I wanted to watch the new trilogy again. I hadn't seen it in a couple of years and thought I remembered a few parts I loved (Darth Maul, Anakin burning) - God I was wrong, while Darth Maul is awesome and died way to early he's still intercut with bullshit.
Why are these movies about politics more than they're about anything else?
I get what George was going for but he really didn't pull it off. Palpatine slowly gaining power in the senate, blah blah.
Want to know how I would have made the new trilogy?
I watched Godfather Pt II last night and it hit me that if at least episode one had used that format there'd have been a great starting point. What if Ep I was both a prequel and sequel to the original trilogy? We flash back to see young Anakin and we flash forward to see a powerful Luke. Hamil, et al would all have been the PERFECT age. Instead of the one boring (How do you make the origin of Dath Vader boring!?) story we could have two story lines paralleling and commenting on one another, showing young Vader and older Luke we could explore if Luke is capable of taking the same path as his father, we could get a fantastic contrast between the worlds pre and post events of Star Wars IV-VI.
I doubt anyone cares about my opinions but I just thought I'd see if I was crazy or if I should be left in charge to save Star Wars once Emperor Lucas goes back to the force and leaves the throne open to someone with a fucking clue.
P.S - Why does the puppet of Yoda from 1980 look better than the one made in 1999? Like, A LOT better?
Nick.
Bored
I don't think that it would have been THAT close a comparison where a lawsuit would be necessary. A narrative device like that film where you tell a pre and post story intercut is exactly that - a device. If I were to make a film backwards, chris nolan couldn't sue me.
I just think George writing and directing all three films was a big mistake - as every year goes by I see that he has less and less talent and creative integrity. I can't believe he vetoed Darabont's Indy script!
Ugh the political turmoil! Why did he think politics should be at least 1/3 of each film? Boring...
Well if I were in a position where I was bringing a character back 20 years later and saw that the version now is worse than the version I'd had 2 decades prior I'd insist they re-try. We all know how much George likes to rely on post production to save the shit he writes and the few shots he actually captures on-set. I remember seeing on one of the film's DVDs that one of the animators for Yoda was like: 'we have to be really careful in seeing Yoda fight - otherwise it could be unintentionally funny' even though it was hilarious. Why couldn't Yoda just walk up and hack Dooku's legs off and be done with it?
I just think there was a missed opportunity and if he had any idea what he was doing he would've played around with what made his original trilogy so great: amazing stories, Kasdan and Kershner.
George Lucas being a quickdraw with lawsuits, he wouldn't put himself in a situation where he could be sued himself - so doing something too similar to GODFATHER would've been out of the question.
That being said, I think it's an awesome idea - the one's path to darkness parallelled with the other carrying the sins of his father. I agree wholeheartedly it would've been much more interesting and entertaining than political turmoil aplenty.
As for Yoda, the difference is that the original was completely done by Frank Oz (whom Jim Henson himself referred Lucas to after turning the job down) while the new films only required his voice; some hotshot digital animator probably told Lucas "Hey, I can do that better than him with my eyes closed!" And closed, his eyes were indeed...