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I haven't watched the video, but I do know Lucas utterly botched the key element of the story, Anakin's seduction to the dark side. In the prequels he's seduced mostly because he's afraid of losing his family (because of dreams) and comes to think the dark side will help with that (how? Who knows), only to immediately turn on all those he wanted to save with a paranoia he'd never shown before. It all makes no sense, and I'd be surprised if anyone were convinced by it. Thinking on it, it's really Anakin's best qualities as a human--his confidence, competence, probity, and self-assurance--that ought've turned him. I do see a superior person coming to think the rules and restrictions, and the arbitrary and perhaps unreasonable power of the council, beneath him; and that, coupled with that superior person's implicit belief in his own righteousness and superior ability relative to others, causes him to turn to the dark side in the belief that he alone knows the right course for everything and deserves the power to make it happen. His own superior qualities poison him. I buy that.

So in this case the failure is not in the execution but in the very conception. George Lucas either did not understand the nature of power or he could not bring himself to truly make Darth Vader evil (or both).

I was thinking about this the other day- I think it would have made much more sense if Padme had some wasting illness that was driving Anakin out of his head over a longer period of time, such that his desire for action and unlimited self confidence tempting him to seek forbidden knowledge would have scanned better. As is, he never actually tries anything to solve this problem that doesn't really exist except flipping directly to the dark.

I also feel as though a lot of the bureaucracy stuff would have worked better if Anakin's purpose had ever come directly into contact with it- if, say, he believed he had a solution to the illness or felt the need to avenge a death that was prevented by the arcane rules of the Republic (presumably at Palpatine's behest), encouraging him to want to throw it over in favor of direct rule by the Jedi Council. His insistence on becoming a Master would have fit better, as would their increasing recognition of his untrustworthiness, and it would have fit well with the fascist overtones of the Empire in the original trilogy.

As is, we spend fully two movies with Anakin's character not really developing much- he's a sunny innocent in episode one and a moody teen in two, but there's nothing especially specific about him, and nothing that will pay off in his eventual fall.

Given the prequels' fascination with bureaucratic machinations, it makes no sense to me that Anakin was never brought into prolonged conflict with the Jedi council. It just seems so obvious. It's like the prequels focused on all the wrong things while the right ones were staring them in the face.

flyonthewall2983 wrote:A fan-restored version of the original 1977 release, sourced from a 35mm print, has surfaced online

That's from February 2016

mfunk9786 wrote:

flyonthewall2983 wrote:A fan-restored version of the original 1977 release, sourced from a 35mm print, has surfaced online

That's from February 2016

Presuming it's in reference to the Despecialized Editions (the article doesn't specify), they exist for all three original films and are very much worth the effort.

Agreed there, it just isn't new news and we should not go on at length about anything amounting to piracy here

Totally forgot about Patton Oswalt's improvised speech on Parks and Recreation. I sporadically watched this show and did not catch this entire episode, but from what I can recall, his character pulls a filibuster, and the show gave Oswalt carte blanche to come up with anything that could indefinitely stall a vote. He wound up doing an over-the-top pitch for the Disney sequels.

Favorite part:

...and then Luke looks down and Han’s wedding ring is gone, "hey, what happened with you and Leia?" And Han’s like, "don’t even get me started on that..."

What is the point of hiring another left-field choice that they're just going to end up forcing out of the production?

I mean, no one cares about Stephen Daldry, for one.

PfR73 wrote:left-field choice

Not sure what field Daldry's from exactly, but I'd go looking for another field, stat

Oh, I'm not a fan of Daldry; my point being he's another director who seems like an incongruous choice for the clear template they want all Star Wars films to fit, so why even pursue him? Even if he were to start making a good film for once, it's still almost certainly going to be another case of a director not making the kind of film they want and you'll have another disastrous production.

Oh, I don't really think so, he strikes me as much more of a Ron Howard than a Lord & Miller. His films aren't really directly personal so much as just kind of generic prestige Oscar-y movies, which to me says he just does what the distributors/producers want him to do to maximize awards runs. He seems like much more of the type that should be doing these films (the fact they're producer-controlled is not a bad thing in and of itself - the Bond films have thrived for decades on that format). Daldry is at least competent enough to theoretically execute Kennedy or whomever's vision decently. It's just a super boring, unexciting choice.

I imagine they're aiming for what Twilight did with Condon.

There have been rumblings of it being Yojimbo inspired. I'd buy that for a dollar.

You're confused, it's going to be based on Yambo

Disney Announces Young Aunt Beru Spinoff Film

Yes, I know The Hard Times is a satire site.

I certainly wouldn't put it past them.

I have pretty good memories of playing the Shadows of the Empire Nintendo 64 game. I hoped they would’ve made that by now.

Luke M wrote:I have pretty good memories of playing the Shadows of the Empire Nintendo 64 game. I hoped they would’ve made that by now.

No longer canon. Au revoir, Prince Xizor.

Rian Johnson to create New Star Wars Trilogy.

They must have really liked The Last Jedi huh?

They're also developing a full on, live action Star Wars show for the Disney streaming service. George Lucas had Matthew Graham write 100 episodes of his vision of a Star Wars show, and that won't be this, obviously, but it'll be interesting to see if they try and draw on that lore in any way.

Johnson’s trilogy—being produced with Ram Bergman—will be separate from the Skywalker Saga of the prequel, original, and sequel trilogies, and will “introduce new characters from a corner of the galaxy that Star Wars lore has never before explored.”

Exciting news! My biggest complaint about these new movies is how heavily they've relied on the original trilogy. I just hope Disney doesn't interfere too much and really lets Johnson make something interesting and original, though I may be being too optimistic here.

Ribs wrote:They're also developing a full on, live action Star Wars show for the Disney streaming service. George Lucas had Matthew Graham write 100 episodes of his vision of a Star Wars show, and that won't be this, obviously, but it'll be interesting to see if they try and draw on that lore in any way.

I bet they will. I know they've drawn on some of it for the animated series Star Wars Rebels and (in a very minor way) for the two post-Lucas live action movies (in developing the idea of the "Church of the Force").