Ranger Archive

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Vorpaks wrote:
I actually liked it. I even would have liked the Gungans if not for Jar Jar. They showed good taste - they didn't like him either. I had to keep reminding my husband that he was in there because this is a movie that is more than patially meant for kids. Not that I am supporting Jar Jar - he definitely could be removed without me shedding a tear. But I do admit I have no idea what kids these days find funny. A sponge with square pants. I just don't get it.

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The only way Jar Jar would be funney is if his head was crushed in a blast door the instant you first laid eyes on him (so his personality couldn't kill the humor)

Hmm, you'd think they would have learned their lesson after KOTOR II, but apparently not....

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LangaNor wrote:
You can't turn your head away everytime Lucas implements a stupid character (like Jar-Jar) or a character that doesn't really fir the "history" of the films (ex.: Qui-Gon). Its fairly simple, Obiwan says "Yoda trained me", and then EP1 hits and hes being trained by Qui-Gon... Twist the story all you like, invoke the "perspective" line, the "all Jedis are trained by Yoday at one time or another", etc... And it still doesn't make sense.

Lucas is a bad writer/director. The best SW movies were directed by professionals and written by professionals, and Lucas has the story creds as well as Exec Producer creds. He should've never been behind either the pen or camera. He's a slacker, doesn't put enough effort into the scripts to actualy plug the plotholes. And THAT's why I think the prequels are nothing but eye candy, a cash cow that should've left us wanting more, perfect in the knowledge that you can't screw a perfect thing... and then they release the DVD set with Hayden Christanson at the end replacing the original Anakin...

For shame.

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I completely agree. I think Lucas was better when he was hamstrung by budgets/technology. He certainly *is* capable of making good/thought-provoking films (American Graffiti, Star Wars, THX-1138) and he's a good producer when someone else is directing (Indy movies). But it's like he forgot what story structure and characters are all about. Now he's more focused on cool surround sound and the ability to make realistic-looking computer generated blades of grass bend realistically when a computer generated robot foot steps on the computer-generated ground.

Remember when film crews used to spend agonizing weeks in Tunisia and Iceland to get their shots (granted, he didn't direct the Iceland stuff)? In some ways, I think those crappy conditions helped add realism to the acting. He got decent performances from the relatively inexperienced young actors. In comparison, the last two "let's make everything with a green screen and computer" films include absolutely atrocious performances from some very good actors.

I also think part of the problem is that making prequels is sort of idiotic from a dramatic tension standpoint---aside from appreciating action for its own sake, you pretty much know what's going to happen. For there to be tension, you need to care about the characters you *don't* know anything about. And because the character development sucks, you never really do.

For example, I felt practically no excitement watching Obi-Wan and Jango fighting, because, guess what---Obi isn't going to die! In fact, he's going to get real old! I know, because I've seen it! During the mile-high race through Courasant, I thought "wow, those buildings look pretty cool" instead of "OH MY GOD HE'S GOING TO FALL AND DIE!!!" because rumor has it that Anakin is going to grow up and become Darth Vader, and I know that guy is on the Death Star, which hasn't been built yet.

Anyway - that's my Lucas rant for the day. That felt good.

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NikkiT wrote:

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Keatsnam wrote:
I believe Tyrant left the same week that Calandryll left to "be closer to his family on the East coast."

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Probably Tyrant gave his trademark "No!" to the wrong persons, in reply to the wrong questions...just an educated guess. If so, you have my respect, Tyrant. If not...well, we'll never know.

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I choose to imagine a glorious crash and burn surrounding his exit. Hopefully involving some sort of fist pounding on desk and impassioned Frank Capraesque plea about looking out for The Little Guy and not hoisting an incomplete CURB on the masses just to meet a movie release date.

Weirdly, I had just commented to my wife that it was odd we hadn't seen posts from Cal or Tyrant just a few days before learning of their departures. At my company, phrases like "pursue other interests" "form a startup" etc. are code for "was asked to leave," so I was suspicious about the "be closer to family" party line. Plus, the abrupt end to Calandryll's communique's after the flood of helpful and responsive posts smacked of something not being right. Add in the recent confusing SOE letter that talks about our new Director Of Community Whatever, which everyone thought was Tiggs, and I get the sense that there is some turmoil among the ranks (or at least the need for a PR person to do a better job of explaining who our community leader is).

to scratch up EP1&2's crappiness as "kids content" still doesn't excuse that if it is a kids flick, or kid oriented, they didn't make a very good kid movie. Say what you will about Spongebob, the movie is funny as hell. And there's tons of good quality kids flicks (especially from Pixar) that don't dumb down the quality of the acting (voice-overs sometimes) or the quality of the storylines for cheap eye candy.

You can't turn your head away everytime Lucas implements a stupid character (like Jar-Jar) or a character that doesn't really fir the "history" of the films (ex.: Qui-Gon). Its fairly simple, Obiwan says "Yoda trained me", and then EP1 hits and hes being trained by Qui-Gon... Twist the story all you like, invoke the "perspective" line, the "all Jedis are trained by Yoday at one time or another", etc... And it still doesn't make sense.

Lucas is a bad writer/director. The best SW movies were directed by professionals and written by professionals, and Lucas has the story creds as well as Exec Producer creds. He should've never been behind either the pen or camera. He's a slacker, doesn't put enough effort into the scripts to actualy plug the plotholes. And THAT's why I think the prequels are nothing but eye candy, a cash cow that should've left us wanting more, perfect in the knowledge that you can't screw a perfect thing... and then they release the DVD set with Hayden Christanson at the end replacing the original Anakin...

For shame.