Hey folks, Harry here with a better look at the STAR WARS Sansweet panel in San Diego... Our first scooper, CatDaddy gives it to us fairly straight, while Right Bastard has become fed up with the love it or leave style fanboys, the ones that approach film with a righteous indignation. And this folks is one of the reasons I don't do Star Wars on the site much anymore. It has nothing to do with anything other than the fact that ever since Episode One hit, there is a viciousness to Star Wars fandom that I find rather distasteful. Sure STAR WARS EPISODE ONE was not what many of you wanted, but why the hatred and anger at those that did like it? Why is it so impossible to appreciate the concept that while it might not be right for you, it was perfect for others? Well, I don't expect it to change unless Lucas makes Episode 2 to be the best damn film we've ever seen... We'll see....
Hey Harry,
CATDADDY here. I haven't seen much coverage on the new Star Wars footage and I didn't think it was properly covered on the Star Wars web site. Wanted to let you in on a few things that were missed. Most importantly, were the behind-the-scene clips featuring Hayden Christiansen, Sam Jackson, Natalie Portman, and a bunch of other Obi-Won looking jedis all shooting, kicking and slashing on a dirt floor. They were all surrounded by blue screen. I suspect that this is the rumored gladiator scene and from the few clips shown it looked kick ass. Also Natalie Portman looks awesome. She was wearing tight white pants and boots with a white half-shirt and silver rings around her forearms. She looked great, mixing the classic Princess Leia look with a sexy costume.
Also shown were images of Jimmy Smits in robes, Jango Fett and all the rest of the cast. They showed Obi-Won's ship, which was a mix of an X-Wing and a Star Destroyer. Sansweet said that Lucas wanted these episodes to show a natural progression to the familiar images fans recognize from the original trilogy. Therefore we'll see lots of new ships and symbols that look familiar (like Obi-Won's ship) that will foreshadow what we all know will eventually come.
The film CONNECTIONS was cool, but short. WHile no new footage was shown there were lots of good interviews. Hayden Christiansen said that the most difficult thing about playing Vader was combining what Jake Lloyd brought to the character, with the images of Vader that we all know from the original STAR WARS series. He was hoping to find a middle ground that would connect the two performances.
That's that. Also, I've read very little about the MR. SHOW panel which was awesome. One hour of non-stop laughs. They showed clips of RUN RONNIE RUN which, although New Line keeps pushing it back, will entertain anyone who likes Mr. Show.
You've been warned.
CATDADDY
And here's someone that is falling out of love with fandom....
Hi Harry, Moriarty, & Quint,
"Right Bastard" here. I wrote this to be posted, or simply for your personal enjoyment. It's my review of the episode II preview...well sort of. I wrote it in 20 minutes, because I'm supposed to be working.
(read every Steve Samsweet quote with a radio announcer voice)
When I was at the Steve Samsweet presentation of Star Wars Connections at the San Diego Comic-Con on Saturday, something was very wrong. Mark Altman (Free Enterprise) hit the nail on the head the next morning at the "Can Trek Be Saved?" panel, where he said that it felt like being in Nuremberg. Steve would say with an unctuous affect that,"Star Wars is back, and it's back in a big way,"...and the audience would cheer. Then he would announce the Phantom Menace DVD's arrival...and the audience would cheer. Then he would show clips...and the audience would cheer, like the salivating Pavlovian dogs that they are.
I learned very interesting things at the Star Wars presentation. The more that people at Lucasfilm treat Star Wars as a "money producing vehicle", the less I want to be associated with that series. They get a used car salesman on the mic, whose job is to make us believe that he actually thinks that the Menace was a good movie. I've seen the "anti-Jar Jar" version, and I've seen the re-edits, and they still can't fix the major problems with the film. The lack of depth in the characters, the lack of emotional moments, and the lack of story.
More important, I learned of the the danger of fanboys. The die-hard zealots who always end up hurting the cause rather than helping it. These people seem to fall into two sub-categories. First there are the critic-fanboys. These people are the ones who ask the EVIL lucasfilm representative questions with a directly insulting inflection. Guess what kids? If you insult the guy from the studio who is actually willing to listen to you, you won't accomplish much. When the fanboy gets on the mic and says, "Was lucasfilm disappointed in the hatred of Phantom Menace?", how did you think Samsweet was going to respond? Of course he got defensive, and quoted the figures of the Menace being one of the highest grossing films of all time, yadda, yadda, yadda. Think tact when asking your questions. Ask something more to the point, like why was the film so strongly marketed to children, and have follow-up questions ready when he gives reply #2. (Reply #2: We feel that the Phantom Menace was marketed to all groups equally, but Phantom Menace was primarily a vehicle to bring in a whole new generation into our universe).
An great example of this is when the fanboy asked a good question,"Why was the line 'you're lucky you don't taste very good' changed in the special edition of Empire?". The reply was basically, "because the sound editor wanted to". The kid didn't follow through with further questions to engage Steve, and really make him think. (A better question would have been "Why was a really lame Goofy 'ah-hoo-hoo-hoey' scream added into the special edition of Empire when Luke took his noble plunge, ruining the strength of the moment?")
The second (and more harmful) fanboy was the dedicated sycophant. People who, if you gave them a piece of pooh with a "Star Wars" label on it; they would buy it, put it on the shelf, and talk about Lucas' genius for coming up with such an idea. This point is proven by how many pre-orders there are for the Phantom Menace. I view these people the same way that I look at religious fanatics. The have the structure of the world fitting to a certain mold, and cannot deviate from that, or the world they have built will crumble down around them. These are the people who say that since I don't like the Phantom Menace, I'm not a true fan. (My reply is usually, not liking the Phantom Menace is what makes me a true fan). These are the people who pretend that kids like JarJerk, and that he did indeed need to be in every scene. Who thought the sports announcers during the Pod Race were funny. Who thought that the out of sink Asian overdubbing on the Federation Aliens was a neat idea.
The reason these people are scary is that they were the ones who were standing up and clapping at everything that Samsweet said. "I have a piece of gum on my shoe." clap clap clap. "I tell yah, I've seen clips from Ep. 2, and they are great" clap clap clap. What do they expect him to say? "I've seen clips from Episode 2, and they suck serious ass!" Of course he's not going to say that!
Even more dangerous were the uber-sycophants who want to impress the lucasfilm guy by showing "how much they know", and asking nitpicking questions. "Why was Mace's light saber blue in the book and purple in the preview?" who cares? "How old is Jango Fett and how old is Bobba Fett?" shut up! "I got a secret script that says the ending of the film is...spoiler...is that true?" die fanboy scum! "I read an internet rumor that..." anyone asking this question is no longer is allowed to have opinions.
What did I learn at the SDCC? After attending it for the past seven years, I learned that I can't stand fanboys. In my younger years, it was almost a badge of pride. Now, after this Star Wars presentation, and the mean treatment that people gave John Carpenter (see Quint's day three article), I view fanboys with pity and shame. I was embarrassed to be in the same room with some of these people who were "representatives" of the general Comic-reading public. Here's a bitter pill for some of you to swallow...just because you like Science Fiction and own a computer and may be a geek/nerd, it DOES NOT mean that you are intelligent or that you have a critical mind. At the end of the day they are just movies and stories, so as Shatner said on SNL, get over it and get a life.
As for the Episode II stuff. The preview looked o.k, but so did the Phantom Menace previews. My ass will be in the seat because Natalie Portman was wearing a yummie belly shirt...now THAT IS giving the fans what they want!!!!!! I will not line up. I will not go opening night. I may even wait for a matinee. The Menace and the Special Editions hurt me, but that's a whole different letter. If it's as good as Empire (pre-special edition), I'll shell out my cash and see it again and again. Lucasfilms should be warned...the salivating fanboys will give them the money they want, but the people with higher standards are going to be even harder to please this time around.
(I'm normally a more thorough writer...but I'm at work now)
Right Bastard
And now we will hear from SPACE WHORE...
Harry
I was at the Star Wars connections presentation on Saturday, and I read some of the coverage about it and I was totally disgusted with the negativity for Star Wars that some "alleged" fans have. One thing they all fail to miss is that George Lucas IS a genius and until they can make a better Star Wars film they can sit down and take a number. (in George Lucas' world, there are probably frog like creatures that talk in high pitched tones, and people just need to accept that. Yes he is annoying but he is critical.)
Anyway, one thing that everyone seemed to skip over in all of their reviews was not only the sheer enthusiasm of the ENTIRE audience (including the naysayers) but also some of the cool imagery and interviews that were presented. One of the coolest was a jedi knight with two lightsabers follwed by about ten shots of random jedi knights twirling lightsabers, these guys seemed like stuntmen for some cool fighting and then they gave us just a tiny glimpse of what seemed to be some bluescreen stairs with a number of dead jedi laying on them, and another jedi falling to his death.
One of the other cool things that we saw was some fisticuffs between Obi-wan and Jango Fett.
The most powerful imagery that wasn't visual was the explanations behind Obi-Wan and Anakins friendship, and they are going to explore what would have torn their friendship apart to the point that Obi-wan would consider his best friend dead (from a certain point of view) and that Vader would revel in murdering his best friend. It was amazing listening to Rick McCallum and Hayden Christensen talk about what was titled "The Original Odd Couple" (I think that was the caption)...
The other cool thing was Samuel L. Jackson stuttering, trying to explain how "awesome" this film is going to be. One interesting explanation that Steve Sansweet gave was for Mace Windu's now purple lightsaber. It was at George Lucas' whim at Sam Jackson's request. And this only came about in April during reshoots.
One thing in Right Bastards ridiculous write up was the fact that he smeared some facts about WHY Ben Burtt changed the line from Empire. Admittedly I sorely miss this line as well, but Steve Sansweet explained that Ben Burtt was going through all of the original sound recordings and picked the one with the highest quality for reasons of the THX sound standards. He had also been supposedly talked to about it many times. He knew he made a mistake but as far as the sound mix went it was unavoidable. But Right Bastard trying to impress his point from the "I'm a Star Wars fan but I don't like Star Wars" group left out all of the facts.
And I don't like being labeled not a Star Wars fan because I liked the Phantom Menace. Phantom Menace was good for a lot of reasons and although at the beginning it didn't feel as comfortable and homely as the classic trilogy it was because we'd all seen them hundreds of times. Watch Phantom Menace hundreds of times and you'll start to appreciate the way you should. And I like Jar Jar. So what if he was for the kids, so were the ewoks.
And the only reason I wrote this right up is thanks to Quint. I had the pleasure of meeting the crusty seaman at the Dreamworks booth just before Stan Winston showed up. I explained to him my frustration with lame-o talk backers and wiener head fan-boys that would flame me when I'd write something that would get posted (three or four things I've written) And he explained to me that they weren't important. I was one of the Fanboys asking questions in Quints write up of stan winston from day one.
Thanks
SpaceWhore
(yes thats a man behind that name)
