Poll: Phantom Menace in 3D Friday??

[zehydra]

I like 3d, but I don't like the phantom menace, so no

 

[Asuka Soryu]

That kind of logic is why I don't like big Star Wars fans. This isn't the first time the movie was released, there's no excuse, no excuse that can justify seeing a movie you didn't like, just because it's in 3D. This is the kind of logic that lets George Lucas make any crappy movie he wants and all he has to do is slap Star Wars on the title and ka-ching~!

It's only more sad that a bad movie is gone to see support from people who've seen it first hand and know it's bad, just because it has Star Wars on it.

Right now, if you've seen Star Wars the Phantom Menace and did not like it, but are gone to see the 3D version because it has Star Wars in the title, then I have no respect for you what-so-ever.

 

[Zack Alklazaris]

I thought Star Wars: The Phantom Menace was an ok film. As someone who loved the games before he loved the movies its more about eye candy than anything else. So I say, hello 3D.

Saw opening night. It was fairly decent 3D for the most of the movie. Some exceptional work included the space battle above Naboo, the Podrace on Tatooine, the planet of Coruscant itself, and surprisingly... the lightsaber fights. They were all very well done, in some parts surpassing my expectations.

I expect them to be even more impressive in the latter episodes. Possibly at its best during the original episodes. There is just so much shit in the new ones and 3D can only bring something to the foreground or to the background, it can't make multi-layers of 3D (least not yet). This is very limiting to the new episodes, which are very detailed. However, the sparse natural of episodes 4-6 will benefit greatly from this if its done right.

Open night was a blast too, just fun being in a room for of geeks. When someone shouts out its "Darth Jesus" during the great reveal that Anakin had no father you know your in the right place.

 

[Buzz Killington_v1legacy]

I would literally rather spend the money on getting someone to punch me in the dick. I'd get the same sense of looming nausea and rage, but at least it would be over in five or ten minutes instead of two hours.

 

[Sutter Cane]

I've paid enough money. I've done my part, paid for movies, paid for DVDs, paid for cassettes...I've bought them enough.

If he's really an artist that wants his 'true vision' to be seen by everyone who loves the movies, he'd be showing them for free. He's not. That says everything that needs to be said on the matter.

you do realize that even if lucas distributed the films free of charge you'd still likely have to pay to see them, as the theaters themselves would still charge you. Also prove that making money off your art disqualifies you from being a true artist, because to me that sounds like an incredible pretentious thing to say.

I do think that FFH has a point that we might be missing, though. He isn't implying (as far as I can tell) that artists shouldn't get paid. What Lucas is doing, that FFH seems opposed to, is selling the same movie a second time for jacked prices for some cheap 3D effects. That's a pretty shallow thing to do if you consider yourself a *good* artist and not just an entrepreneur or greedy idiot.

I still don't understand how being an entrepreneur would prevent you from being a good artist. I just don't see how n a philosophical level simply re-releasing a film to get more money out of it would change the artistic quality of the film. Now if you want to argue that say the changes to the OT have damaged the artistic quality, i'd say you have a better argument there, although I don't take the position that they've ruined the films, and I even like sme of the changes such as the re-done battle scenes and the NOOOO in ROTJ (I do have a legitimate reason for that, and if you'd like me to elaborate just ask. Greedo shooting first and "Jedi rocks" can eat a dick though). I just fail to see how the simple act of re-releasing the film makes it less artistically worthy

 

[Trololo Punk]

Never really enjoyed the movie to begin with. And I personally dislike 3D, most instances since it doesn't add anything to the movie itself.

 

[FFHAuthor]

I've paid enough money. I've done my part, paid for movies, paid for DVDs, paid for cassettes...I've bought them enough.

If he's really an artist that wants his 'true vision' to be seen by everyone who loves the movies, he'd be showing them for free. He's not. That says everything that needs to be said on the matter.

you do realize that even if lucas distributed the films free of charge you'd still likely have to pay to see them, as the theaters themselves would still charge you. Also prove that making money off your art disqualifies you from being a true artist, because to me that sounds like an incredible pretentious thing to say.

I merely point to the fact that Lucas's mantra every step of the way through these revisions and enhancements has been to bring forth his 'true vision' of Star Wars, a fair enough decision, but I have to ask, how many times do the fans need to see the same piece of work with differences being interjected again and again?

I paid to see it in theaters when it was re-released (origional version), I paid for the DVD (Perhaps has enhancements), I didn't get the Blue-Ray edition (I don't know what might have been edited in that), I cannot see a valid reason to pay to see a film in theaters again for the only addition being post production 3D, something which has been universally panned as being at best a poor and technically flawed addition, at worst something which provides only headaches and discomfort to much of the audience.

I don't care if an artist wants to make money off of their work, I hope to do that with my writing. I have absolutely no qualms with George Lucas earning money off of something which people are more than willing to give him money for. (Also, I have no qualms with him making revisions to his films after the fact. -His- films, my issues with that...mess, come from Empire, Jedi, and his re-conning other writer's works, but that's beyond the scope of this discussion.) And I have no real qualms with the prequels (No, really, I don't. They're mediocre to meh, it was alright in my opinion.)

I merely state that his desire has always been to bring forth his 'true vision' and to let the fans see what he sees when he visualizes things, steps which he has always believed to be for the better. Post production 3D (PP3D) has been rather largely heralded as mediocre to bad, and never really brings anything to the films it's utilized on. Would PP3D enhance The Longest Day? Would PP3D enhance Gone with the Wind? Would PP3D enhance Blade Runner? Would PP3D enhance any of a hundred other ground breaking and critically acclaimed films which were made long before it's invention? What does that technical aspect bring to the story, to the plot, to the film itself?

It's a technical addition, not an enhancement to the substance of the film. The other changes that Lucas made alter aspects of the story, of the emotion and meaning of what's taking place, we all know the debated changes and much argued scenes, I won't go into that morass. But the thing is, those were things that were changed for a re-release.

He claims that he is making all these changes because he wants it to be true to his vision, true to what he wanted to present, and by extension that entails each of these revisions brings the films closer to what he desires, and the previous versions were further from what he wanted the fans to see. Those fans have paid to see these films many times, in theaters, on VHS, on TV, on DVD's and blue ray discs. Most people, who are Star Wars fans have paid to see every Star Wars film multiple times, probably at least twice for the younger of us, and for the older of us perhaps a minimum of five times or more. By now, I think that most of us have paid for the right to say:

'We've seen all the versions, we've seen all the visions, we want to see your vision George, but we've paid all the other times...can't you just show us what you really want us to see?'

I'm not getting reimbursed for all those other times I paid for the movies. I'm not getting money back for the tapes that were bought, the DVDs that were bought, the times I saw the films in theaters. And by George's own admission, they were imperfect visions of what he wanted us to see. That doesn't mean I get to pay less for the film; "Gee, it's only 85% of what George wanted me to see, so knock 15% off the price will you?"

And you know what, I'm not even asking for that.

I'm not asking for a discount, I'm not even demanding that the films be free. I'm stating that it isn't worth paying for again.

I'm pointing to the fact that they're being re-released again, adding something which doesn't change ANYTHING of substance, and we're being charged for it again. That does not feel like an Artist trying to apply his true vision, even an obsessed one, and before all this I could really look at Lucas and see him as an obsessive artist with a dream that he couldn't bring to reality the way he wished it, and he's spent most of his life looking at that work that is loved by millions, if not billions of people, and feeling haunted by the thought of 'if only I could do...'. But now, after millions of fans have paid with religious loyalty to see each of his flawed visions, he could simply say, 'there, it is done, it is perfect, let any who wish to see it, see it.' and them put the films up on the internet to be streamed for free.

But he's not. He's not changing anything, and there is no integrity to what he is doing. He's not adding, he's not enhancing, he's layering on a technical effect that does NOTHING. The Re-releases, the blue-ray edition, at least with those he was willing to actually change aspects of the film and say it was his vision.

Now, he isn't even doing that.

EDIT: Wow, that exposition got a little long...sorry about that, I'm just a little passionate.

 

[DanDeFool]

No. Why? Because I couldn't care less.

Well, at least I don't think so. Give me a second.



Oh yeah. Thats MUCH less.