If that's the one thing, I think we'll be alright.

Really happy for the old-school emphasis. Will be great to see a very grounded, realistic looking set of effects.

Of course, like everybody, I may just be overreacting to shitty CGI from the special editions. But still.

LegalLord

United States13779 Posts

July 11 2015 15:51 GMT

#1550

The CGI was far from the worst thing about the prequels. I personally thought that the prequels were great, visually, but that too much emphasis on those effects at the cost of telling a story poorly (with wooden dialogue etc) were what really made them worse.

The visuals in the OT told a story. The visuals in the PT were just for showing off.

Yoav

United States1874 Posts

July 11 2015 16:00 GMT

#1551

Eh. I mean, my point was about the special editions, where the CGI has not stood up in the slightest. But even the Phantom menace has a few CGI shots that are cringeworthy. And the prequels did generally lack the "grounded" feeling of the originals, and felt more like a cartoon.

Though of course I agree with your larger point about story. Compare the saber fights as the simplest case: Ep 1 had no dialogue, Ep 2 had only "trash talk," Ep 3 only had dialogue before and after the fight. Ep 4, 5, and 6 they are talking to each other constantly, legitimately trying to change one another's emotional state.

LegalLord

United States13779 Posts

July 11 2015 16:04 GMT

#1552

The only changes in the special editions that really matter are "Han shot first" and Vader's "NO!" at the end, two examples of making the movie straight up worse. Everything else is irrelevant in my eyes.

Yoav

United States1874 Posts

July 11 2015 16:48 GMT

#1553

On July 12 2015 01:04 LegalLord wrote:
The only changes in the special editions that really matter are "Han shot first" and Vader's "NO!" at the end, two examples of making the movie straight up worse. Everything else is irrelevant in my eyes.

Also random rontos blocking the shot.

I was looking for a video of random rontos, and found this, which is an imperfect but decent examination of the changes. He highlights roughly the right things, but lacks the language to discuss them correctly.

And honestly, I think the worst change was the EpV dialogue with Palpatine, which was utterly butchered. It was the only thing when I was watching the Spec Edition through with the gf that I stopped and said, no, we need to see the real scene on youtube and skip past this garbage.

LegalLord

United States13779 Posts

July 11 2015 16:58 GMT

#1554

Very few of them are good, though I do like that McDiarmid replaced Revill simply because I didn't really like Revill's emperor. But to be honest, I really just don't care all that much about random nitpicks.

Some highly criticized changes, I actually like, and I feel that nostalgia has a lot to do with the criticism. Overall, they really just don't matter, except for the two I mention.

[UoN]Sentinel

United States11320 Posts

July 11 2015 17:18 GMT

#1555

I actually like a lot of the changes. The new Ewok song and the added shot of the riot on Coruscant were really nice touches.

Yoav

United States1874 Posts

July 12 2015 01:23 GMT

#1556

On July 12 2015 01:58 LegalLord wrote:
Very few of them are good, though I do like that McDiarmid replaced Revill simply because I didn't really like Revill's emperor. But to be honest, I really just don't care all that much about random nitpicks.

Some highly criticized changes, I actually like, and I feel that nostalgia has a lot to do with the criticism. Overall, they really just don't matter, except for the two I mention.

Don't get me wrong, McDiarmid is a great actor and his portrayal in VI will go down in history as one of the great villains.

But the dialogue change is significant. In one the conversation is about the Emperor (seemingly) trying to persuade Vader to kill Luke, until Vader convinces the Emperor to try to turn him. In the other, the conversation is about the Emperor telling Vader that Anakin is his son.

And the location of the deception is significant: The second has Vader lamely pretending not to know that Luke is his son, something the Emperor isn't blind or stupid enough to believe. The first has the deception in a more credible place, where Vader plays on the Emperor's greed and overconfidence by suggesting Luke as an ally... when all along he meant to ally with Luke against the Emperor. Of course, we know from VI that this was the Emperor's plan all along; to replace Vader with Luke. This means that the scene packs different meaning and emotional punch (1) before you finish ESB, (2) on the rewatching, and (3) after seeing Ep. VI.

See, I like the unaltered versions not because I'm a nostalgic fanboy (I was young enough to love the special editions, and the prequels for that matter). It's because I'm a cinema snob and one is better done as a movie trilogy.

On_Slaught

United States12190 Posts

August 10 2015 22:09 GMT

#1557

Awesome new shot in the international trailer! You can make out the new ATATs in the background. Also, the music is different in this trailer and definitely gives a different vibe off.

[image loading]

+ Show Spoiler +

[UoN]Sentinel

United States11320 Posts

September 04 2015 22:46 GMT

#1558

So I think my fears of 7/8/9 having separate directors and thus having 3 story arcs or a disjointed trilogy is at an end.

I finally got my hands on a copy of Halo 4 and was really impressed by the way 343 managed to simultaneously pick up where Bungie left off with the story and add in new features that reinforce the point that this isn't a "me-too" sequel but a start of something new and bigger. And I love how they were able to make a satisfying albeit sad ending while leaving enough questions and loose ends (for instance, what happened to Didact? or why are the Covenant attacking again?) that Halo 5/any EU material doesn't have to start from ground level but can just continue on the existing threads.

Obviously from the trailers we've seen, 7's in a very similar position. Abrams is picking up where Lucas left off, the bad guys here are a remnant of the once mighty Galactic Empire, and a whole new conflict is about to start. And from what he's done with Star Trek + Into Darkness I've got a lot of hope Abrams isn't about to give Episode 7 a nice clean ending with Brienne + Sith guy dying / major blow against the Empire + no protagonist dies.

LegalLord

United States13779 Posts

September 04 2015 22:50 GMT

#1559

Didn't 4/5/6 also have different directors? I think it's not a bad idea, in principle, as long as there's someone who is in charge of keeping continuity together between the series.

[UoN]Sentinel

United States11320 Posts

September 04 2015 23:15 GMT

#1560

On September 05 2015 07:50 LegalLord wrote:
Didn't 4/5/6 also have different directors? I think it's not a bad idea, in principle, as long as there's someone who is in charge of keeping continuity together between the series.

That's true. And we've got Lawrence Kasdan, the guy who cowrote 5 and 6, cowritng 7. And Rian Johnson is staying around to write 9 after he's finished directing 8 I believe.

But there'll still be differences in overall tone and cinematography I feel. For example 5 seemed a lot more static than 6 was. Jedi in itself, even when you take away the Ewoks, seemed to have more flowing camera movements, more ambitious space battle scenes, and perkier delivery of lines. Even the throne room scene feels more inviting than the Super Star Destroyer did in Empire.