Sithter Act – Part 2
Continuing our exploration of the Emperor’s inner council, Star Trek: TNG’s Guinan becomes acquainted with the kooky advisors.
Also, Leanne and I would like to invite any of you who can make it, to join us at the American Film Institute in Silver Spring, Maryland for a screening of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. Yes, it’s the Special Edition, the only version that the distributor will allow to be screened, but it’s still as close as you can get to seeing the original film with an enthusiastic crowd on the big screen. We will be there for the Saturday night screening at 8 pm. Get there a little early so you can get photos with the 501st Legion and Rebel Legion in full Star Wars Episode IV costumes! It will be a LOT of fun. Last year’s Return of the Jedi screening was great, and I guarantee enthusiasm for the film that started it all will be even more electric! Click here.
Check out this really neat Yoda song put together by Melody Sheep. I love his little laugh at about 2:10.
This strip reminds me of a serious travesty of justice!
The Imperial Ambassador got his own Kenner/Palitoy action figure, but Biggs and Oola did not, and yet no one was lynched over this grave error, and injustice, not even once!!!
My kids have not seen the special editions yet, I think I’ll screen them soon (with my own annotated commentary about who shot first). 🙂
You should record their viewing of the Original Trilogy. That would be fascinating and really cute! 🙂
I recorded just a few minutes of it (Vader’s entry scene), but the biggest reaction they ever had was to the Indiana Jones Theme song.
They went ballistic! 🙂
Yep “imperial dignitary” was released in the classic toy line, along with no less than 8 different Ewoks, and yet there was no Tarkin, No Biggs, No Oola, No Rebel Soldier from the opening of ANH….
…and no Starbuck!
Get yourself the Despecialised version. Damned good approximation of how the film should look. Though it still has a much of the over-sharpened and over-saturated SE footage.
Downloading them now… Thanks for the tip.
You’re a cleverer man than me. I have absolutely NO idea how to do that stuff. A friend gave it to me on DVD.
You know, I’ll probably never see Adywan’s cuts unless someone helps me out!
Fun fact is, my 57 year old father prefers the special editions. He once told me he felt he could never take the star wars puppets seriously. Even Christopher Lee praised CGI “the real magic” and called 20th century effects “crude at best”. There’s nothing wrong with CGI per say and people shouldn’t be so hateful about it merely for existing. There are good CGI and there are bad CGI, just as there are good and bad uses of “conventional” effects. LotR for instance proved how great and realistic proper CGI can be, whereas sadly the unaltered OT has some of the worst use of conventional effects in the history of 80’s special effects, compared to films such as The Thing or The Fly, who made great use of them. It is possible to just sit back and enjoy either kind of effects and not loathe either one, but still admit they both have as many flawed moments as good ones. To me, it’s not about CGI is everything, as I grew up in the 90’s when CGI was still in baby-state, and I watched the OT’s a lot more than Ep1, it’s merely that I feel if there is one thing Star Wars failed to do, it’s is a ridiculously poor use of conventional creature effects, Yoda being the sole exception that proves the rule, so to speak.
If you love something, then you should be able to love it without makeup. If you truly love it, that is. If you can’t fully appreciate Star Wars without the CGI, then you don’t LOVE Star Wars. Just my thoughts.
Some fans of Star Wars, like my little brother and sister, first saw Star Wars with CGI – for them, that is the only Star Wars they have known for a long time, and when I showed them a clip from one of the originals on youtube, they were surprised, to say the least, and more or less decided that this was not the Star Wars they knew and loved.
This showed me a point of view that I believe everyone should consider, (even if you still disagree in the end – that is your right. But just read this and think it through): it is not about what is the “original” or the “true” version – it’s about what someone loves, and that is their choice. You can’t say someone doesn’t truly love Star Wars just because they prefer the newer versions with less film grain and prettier blaster shots (although we all know who shot first!) – they love the same thing just as strongly as you do, maybe even more, it’s just the same thing in another package. To the viewer, or a fan, the “original” is not necessarily the prototype work that they adore: it is the first that they have experienced, the one that brings back nostalgic memories. For some of you, those were the original Star Wars films. For some, those were the newer adaptations.
Do not be so quick to judge on who loves something more; after all, how could anyone really know what another feels? 🙂
I completely understand that to people who grew up with/ or were exposed to the special editions first, that would give a nostalgic reason to be their preferred version. However, Leanne first saw the special editions and she likes the originals better as she feels the changes were unnecessary, so it doesn’t always hold that the first version you see if the one you end up loving the most.
Love is pure, not some infatuation with criteria (ie,someone thinking the original looks awful). Love doesn’t need dressing. If you love Star Wars so much, then you should be able to accept the original versions and not feel embarrassed or disappointed with the effects. Star Wars is a classic film for a reason and doesn’t need dressing up. The fact it has been dressed up, in an effort to apologize for effects that made the film maker cringe, is a real shame. I’m saying you should be able to enjoy the original form of the film if you TRULY love Star Wars as much as you think you do. Just liking anything with the logo on it isn’t the same as loving it.
Guinan got the call to join the Sith while working in Reno. You don’t know how hard it is to get a call until you’ve worked in Reno, you know. That movie is strangely adaptable to this scene…
I hear she shot a man in Reno, just to watch him die…
But I thought her mama told her to always be a good girl, never to play with blasters?
I can see one of these guys trying to make a lightpick.
FYI, the Library of Congress Packard Campus Theater in Culpeper, VA, is showing the 1997 Special Edition versions of A New Hope, Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi at 7:30 p.m. over three consecutive Saturdays in September…Sept. 13, 20, and 27. You can find more information at the theater’s schedule website: http://www.loc.gov/avconservation/theater/schedule.html
I wish they did stuf flike that here in Stockholm. I mean, I think there are about 20-30 members only that make up the entire Nordic Garrisson of the 501st legion!
And I who want to help my father re-watch all films before Ep7 comes around. I’m not sure if he ever watched the entire AOTC, but he seemed to like it enough. This is an old fan pushing 60 who thinks Podracing and At-AT’s are his favorite scenes :3
3 Dumb stril ideas, no need to post to comments, hope you like:
1- Johnny Cash is the Man in Black (Retro added to Star Wars).
Luke is at the Cantina and Dr. Evanzan and Ponda Baba are harassing him. Dr Evenzan makes his famous line of “I don’t like you either. You just watch yourself. We’re wanted men. I have the death sentence on twelve systems”.
Johnny Cash (drinking at the bar, dresses in all black, interjects) “Big Deal, I shot a man in Reno just to watch him die”.
– He could also be seated in the Emperor’s throne, at some point, and make the statement “Yeah, this is really why I wear black”.
2- Men in Black Special Edition (inserted after any point where Lucas makes a change for the Special Editions).
MIB agents J and K show up, and flash the readers with their wands and say, “OK, what really happened is that [Greedo Shot First, or some other change to the script]. Afterwards they walk away, and J says to K “Lucas pays us big money to make these changes, I wonder if anyone will actually care about them”? K responds “I know it’s just a movie after all, it’s not like anyone will still be watching it in after 30 some years”.
You could also throw Johnny Cash in as a 3rd Man in black, with no explanation who gets the reference.
3- Return of the Obese Dead
I know they are dead, but if you do any Ewok Cannibal Buffets, throw Porkinson, Grammel, and Delcan Jaba into the line with plates and bibs. One of them says “These strips are not fair all the fat people died horribly”, another responds with “Yeah but damned if I’m gonna miss out on an All You can Eat Buffet, over a technicality like death.”
Eh, I’m not one for dance/techno/disco mixes of music. Whenever someone says “Yoda Song” I always think of Gangsta Rap, even tough I’m not much for rap either: “I’m Yoda, I’m a Soldia’, I’m low to the flow-ya: Don’t be unwise, judge not by my size! You won’t believe your eyes: watch the X-Wing rise!” :3
my parents recorded ep 4-6 on vhs back in the late 80’s. watched those a lot growing up. those are some good memories. special effects versions seem to heavy and overwrite some of the sceens. if you are going to edit something a light touch is needed for such a well loved show. think they missed that