Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008)

posted by Tygrrius @ 8:24 PM

Hold on tight, fellow geeks, I'm about to use a baseball analogy. Think of going to see the six live-action Star Wars movies as the equivalent of attending major league baseball games. And not just any major league games, but the World Series. Like the World Series teams, the live-action Star Wars movies represent the best of the best - in this case, the pinnacle of filmmaking.

Opening in theaters today, the animated Star Wars: The Clone Wars, on the other hand, is the equivalent of watching a really good minor league ballgame. It's a different experience than watching the World Series, but still a lot of fun in its own right.

To enjoy The Clone Wars, you will need to accept that this is a different league of Star Wars movie. If you are unable to get past that, if you are expecting the "standard" Star Wars movie experience, then you might as well stay home and watch your DVDs again. Much like those who turn their noses up at minor league baseball, though, you won't know what you're missing.

I wasn't exactly pumped up about The Clone Wars. While one of the previews looked great, many of the television spots bordered on terrible. Especially those featuring a new Jedi apprentice, Ahsoka (Bless you!). More on her later, though.

As a Star Wars fan, I sold my geek soul to George Lucas long ago. It may be minor league, but The Clone Wars is still a Star Wars movie so I was obliged to be there opening day. Keeping up a tradition we started back with Star Wars: Episode I-The Phantom Menace (almost ten years ago now, unbelievable), Caabbage joined me for the fun. Caabbage is my brother-in-law via my little sister, not to mention a friend. He's perhaps even more of a Star Wars fanatic than I am.

Breaking somewhat from tradition, though, our wives begged off from this one. It was just the guys this time. Well, and a theater full of fairly well-behaved children.

Anyway, I set my expectations bar fairly low for The Clone Wars. You know what? It wasn't horrible, not even close. The Clone Wars is often entertaining and always visually stunning. The animation, which was one of my major concerns going in, turns out to be fantastic. Many of the spacecraft and battle scenes look very close to the computer-rendered effects from the more recent live-action films. The Clone Wars looks like a Star Wars movie just often enough to deserve the name.

Most of the characters have new voice actors behind them. Since this movie is leading into a new TV series starting in October on Cartoon Network and TNT, this was probably due to economic considerations. I imagine it would be rather expensive, if not impossible, to sign Ewan McGregor to a long-term contract to voice Obi-Wan Kenobi in a cartoon series. James Arnold Taylor fills in the role nicely, though, just as he did on the 2003-2005 Clone Wars series.

Matt Lanter ably takes over as Anakin Skywalker, adding just the right edge to the character. Returning in their familiar roles are Christopher Lee (Count Dooku), Samuel L. Jackson (Mace Windu, in what amounts to a cameo), and Anthony Daniels (Threepio).

Soon after the battle of Geonosis (chronicled in Star Wars: Episode II-Attack of the Clones), the Separatist/Droid Army has cut off many of the Republic's shipping lines. When Jabba the Hutt's baby son, Rotta the Huttlet, is kidnapped, Chancellor Palpatine urges the Jedi to rescue him in order to forge an alliance with the Hutts and allow an alternate trade route through the Outer Rim Territories.

Sounds like a pretty bad setup for a movie, right? And it is, for writing is one of the two areas where The Clone Wars strikes out. Much like Star Wars fans really didn't need to meet Chewbacca's father Itchy or his son Lumpy in The Star Wars Holiday Special, adding to the Hutt family by including both a son and an uncle (Ziro the Hutt) brings The Clone Wars dangerously close to being a parody.

Since they are the only Jedi available (despite being in the midst of a battle), Obi-Wan and Anakin are dispatched to take care of the situation. Along the way, Anakin reluctantly takes on Ahsoka (Gesundheit!) as his Padawan learner. Voiced by Ashley Eckstein, she is a bratty teenager who resents being mistaken for a youngling.

The movie works really hard trying to make the audience see the irony of Anakin being forced to mentor a headstrong teen. Due to her affection for handing out nicknames (she calls Anakin "Sky Guy," Artoo becomes "Artooie," while Rotta becomes "Stinky"), Anakin calls her "Snips." Me, I'm going to refer to her hereafter as Spunky Brewster.

To call Spunky Brewster annoying would be an understatement. Keep in mind, I am one of the few known Star Wars fans in the galaxy who actually likes Jar Jar Binks to a certain degree. I don't even mind that the teddy bear Ewoks helped defeat the Empire. Yet Spunky even grates on my very patient nerves.

I can only imagine the thought process behind this character.

"Males love Star Wars. They will come see this movie no matter what we do. Take Tygrrius at The Film Frontier, he and Caabbage would see a movie featuring papier-mâché puppets as long as we stuck 'Star Wars' in the title. The question is, how do we target girls between the ages of 5 and 12 to expand upon our Star Wars empire?"

"Our marketing research shows that those girls love Hannah Montana. Too bad Star Wars doesn't have a character like that."

"Hey, what if Hannah Montana was a Jedi?"

And thus, Spunky Brewster was born. While the high-tech animation makes me look forward to the upcoming television series, the inclusion of Spunky as a main character does not.

The worst part of all of this, though, is that The Clone Wars absolutely wastes Padmé Amidala, an existing strong female character who is anything but annoying. Expertly voiced by Catherine Taber, Padmé's role in The Clone Wars amounts to a short but exciting bit part.

The male-driven 2003-2005 Clone Wars series also unfortunately left Padmé out of the mix most of the time, but filling the female void with Spunky Brewster is just a horrid idea. The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones both set up Padmé as an action hero, so her more subdued outings since those two movies have been disappointing.

Also more than likely due to the TV budget, Kevin Kiner provides the music for The Clone Wars rather than John Williams. Don't get all excited by hearing the classic John Williams recordings in the preview trailers, for not a second of it is to be heard in the actual film. Though Kiner makes use of some of Williams' themes, they are all inferior re-recordings and arrangements.

Kiner has a little more success with his original themes, most notably a rock-sounding song that plays during an intense battle, but even many of those fall flat. Without John Williams, The Clone Wars just doesn't sound like a Star Wars movie.

One technique that Lucas used in the prequel trilogy to anchor it to the originals was the echoing of familiar moments. The Clone Wars takes this technique to an absurd extreme, with echo after echo designed to remind you of specific moments or lines from the live-action movies. This serves mostly to make the audience wish they were watching those other movies on the big screen instead of this one.

As I said at the beginning, though, The Clone Wars is still an entertaining way to pass the time. So buy yourself a hotdog, peanuts, and Cracker Jacks, and take in a game or two of minor league Star Wars. You won't be disappointed. Much.

Story: 3 (out of 10)
Voice Acting: 8
Visual Style: 8
Animation: 10
Music: 3
Overall: 6

The Making of Star Wars book

posted by Tygrrius @ 1:54 PM

The Definitive Story Behind The Original Film: The Making of Star Wars-Based On The Lost Interviews From The Official Lucasfilm Archives book (Ballantine Books, hardcover deluxe edition, 2007)
Author: J.W. Rinzler
Original 1975-1978 Interviews By: Charles Lippincott

Forget stamps. Forget conventions. Forget video games. The Making of Star Wars is the one essential 30th anniversary product. As a Star Wars fan and movie buff, I can tell you that the book is just about perfect.

Relying on extensive interviews conducted during the making of the first Star Wars movie, J.W. Rinzler has assembled the Star Wars book that never was. While there have been "making of" books for the five other films in the saga, the making of Star Wars never made it to publication, until now.

Well, that's not entirely true. There was a juvenile book, Star Wars: The Making Of The Movie from about 1980. That was actually the first behind-the-scenes movie book I ever read, and it sparked an interest in me that continues to this day.

With a whopping 362 pages and weighing about sixty tons, The Making of Star Wars dwarfs that previous effort and offers much more than a glimpse into the film. You basically get to live it. And, along the way, there are many revelations.

These days, everything is hailed as "extensive" or "definitive." Star Wars products do not always live up to their hype, but this one exceeds it. In minute detail and in very small print for my aging eyes, the story behind the film is told.

We see the early seeds of Star Wars in the Journal of the Whills. The 1973 story featured Mace Windu and was George Lucas' first treatment for what would become Star Wars.

Though it does not reprint them, The Making of Star Wars covers each draft of the movie extensively. There are about a half dozen drafts and Rinzler does a great job after each draft discussion of noting the key "first time" elements from that draft that would appear in the final film.

Star Wars morphed completely from its initial concepts before it became the film we know and love today. Character names were often changed and reverted, which can sometimes make for a confusing read. Anakin, The Skywalker, Luke Starkiller, Binks, Organa, Chewie, Chewbacca (two different characters), and various other names come and go.

The script changes are fascinating and often demonstrate that budget and time crunches can actually result in a better story. Also of interest are early production drawings, including the very first sketches of an Imperial TIE fighter, an X-Wing, and the Death Star. Who made those first sketches? Lucas himself. And you can see them here.

The Ralph McQuarrie production paintings and drawings are examined extensively, though the book skimps by not having large-scale versions of each one. Instead, the illustrations are often tiny. This is probably to make room for the massive amount of text.

If you're expecting a picture book with just a bit of text, this is the wrong one for you. This book is really about the text with some pictures thrown in for good measure.

At times, perhaps the book gives too much detail and the pace can get slow. It takes a long time to get to the point where production actually begins on the movie; but then, it is realistic in that it took a long time in reality to get to that point as well.

Lucas, it seems, faced obstacles at every turn that threatened to derail the film. Even the Libyan army insisted on inspecting the Jawa sandcrawler when filming proceeded close to their border and they assumed it was part of a military buildup for invasion.

Every single piece of the movie is examined in detail, from selection of the actors, to sound design, to the musical score, to the special effects. It's all here. For ILM fans, though, I'd still recommend ILM: The Art of Special Effects and Sculpting a Galaxy to supplement that portion of this material.

The Making of Star Wars is a fantastic book, and the best thing is that it is usually written as if the year is about 1978. Most of the interviews took place before the film was released and became a blockbuster hit. Remember, most people, including many who worked on it, thought Star Wars was going to bomb. In that sense, they are perhaps the most truthful interviews that will ever exist about this movie. Time and success changes perspectives. For that reason, these vintage interviews are more pure than what you'll see today.

The book also doesn't place Star Wars within the context of the overall saga. Sequels, prequels, and special editions are not covered here. This also helps to give the book a 1978 feel.

The deluxe edition contains about 50 pages of bonus material not present in the softcover version. Most of these are incredible storyboards by Alex Tavoularis, Ivor Beddoes, and Joe Johnston, and are certainly more than worth the additional cost. Luke originally was to have made two trench runs and you can see them both here via storyboard.

Also included in the bonus section are circa-1977 notes from Lucas about backgrounds on the characters and the nature of the Force. It feels like a sort of first draft of a Star Wars encyclopedia. A shocker for the nay-sayers: Midi-chlorians are mentioned in those 1977 notes. They were not, after all, invented for the 1999 Star Wars: Episode I-The Phantom Menace.

In fact, padawan learners are also mentioned in the early drafts of Star Wars, so that concept, too, was already in Lucas' mind if not on the screen of the original trilogy.

If you're a fan of the original Star Wars, this is the book to have.

Overall Experience: 9 (out of 10)

Jan 10th Comic RoundUp

posted by JediSheltie @ 4:03 PM

Heh, considering I'm now on my second day of ice-enforced vacation from work, the tardiness of this update is pretty pathetic, I know. Actually, not a very busy week, it was, with one notable exception, which... well... didn't work out so well.

Justice Society of America #2

Issue two brings more goodness, more agreeably brief and well-handled back-stories, and some meta-Nazi's being beaned in the skull with a mace (and bonus flail). Since Mr. Johns doesn't have an ice storm to blame for his recent tardiness on Action, it's good to know that most of the first 12 issues of this comic are pretty much in the can, because I'm starting to like this one even more, and don't really feel any particular cravings for delays.

We're introduced to Nathan Heywood (the Fourth, i guess), heir to the “Commander Steel/Steel” legacy. This Steel (from the moronic “Detroit” JLA), not this Steel, with whom I'm a bit more familiar. The mystery around who killed would-be member Mister America deepens, as the knowledge of who killed him only leads to the further question of who ordered the hit. Wildcat and his newly discovered “kid” do some really awkward bonding, and the new Starman gets to his roots... Kingdom Come.

I'll take a moment to shamelessly shill for Kingdom Come. Though vast in scope, at the core it is a Superman story, and a really great one, at that. Besides, now you need to know all about it to understand JSA, so, naturally, you'll run right out and buy it. Geeze, were I cynical and in marketing, I'd almost consider it a ploy. On the other hand, using marketing ploys for good things has to be good, right?

Johns weaves threads through at least 4 different plots without letting you become too lost, which is quite an achievement. Eaglesham and Jose's art is again up to task, bringing out the emotion in the characters as well as the powerful kinetics of a meta-human engagement. Since there's no delay on this particular horizon, I look forward to what's on deck next month.

Star Wars: Legacy #7

Stop me if you've heard this one... The Jedi Order, keepers of peace for... a longish time, are virtually wiped out in an act of treachery perpetrated by the Sith. The Galactic Empire, ruled by a Sith Lord, ruthlessly represses the people, wages war, and hunts Jedi.

Yes, it's 137 years after the Battle of Yavin and the galaxy is a very familiar place.

I probably sound a bit snarky. Yes, on the whole, the core concept of this series, which is known as the “Reset Button,” does rub me a bit wrong. That being said, I am kind of enjoying it, actually. Shout-outs to the greatest RPG ever, not-withstanding, the actual story is pretty well done and compelling at this point. I'm sure a lot of people who are crying bloody murder over it aren't actually reading it. I can see why, especially if, like I did in my opening, you choose to look only at the similarities and how it kind of renders massively “moot” the entire original canon.

The central protagonist, Cade Skywalker, isn't named Skywalker by coincidence. Yep, he's the Legacy, and training to become a Jedi in his youth then that whole “betrayal/destruction” thing happens (yes, again). Cast off on his own, he transforms from Luke to Han, becoming a bounty hunter, smuggler, “rouge-of-all-trades” type with his own ship and crew. While he grows up, Darth Krayt and his Sith crew shore up power. In the “yes, there are differences” category, the Sith Lords are not just 2 any longer. Not only that, but Krayt usurped the throne of the “rightful Emperor,” thus creating a schism in the Empire. Krayt's major threat isn't a Rebellion, but a group of Imperial forces loyal to the deposed Emperor Fel. And they have “Knights.”

History and Skywalkers, destined to intertwine, apparently, thrust Cade into the middle of this conflict, as he now has the daughter of Emperor Fel under his protection. She is hunted by the Sith with Imperial forces, as they hope to trail her back to her father, in order to kill him and quell the distention in the Imperial ranks.

That's about as nutshelly as I can get here. Issue 7 is, in fact, where Cade, a bit disenfranchised with his heritage at this point, finally whips out a saber and acknowledges his place in the world. If you can get past the central premise of the world in which the story takes place, it's a really good story. If you can't, then you'll be skipping this whether I tell you to or not.

Superman & Batman vs. Aliens & Predator

LightSide JS: Superman & Batman vs. Aliens & Predator will probably be pretty popular, you should ask the fine folks at the comic book shop to put it on your pull list such that you are more likely to receive a copy.

LazySide JS: Please... I drop by right after I get off work, they'll have some copies left.

LightSide JS: Perhaps, but what if they do not? You arrive rather late in the day, after all.

LazySide JS: Yeah, so I'm gainfully employed, unlike the average comic reader. I'll be there at 6, latest, I'll be fine. Those stupid slips are annoying to fill out.

LightSide JS: Yet, it would guarantee you a copy, for such a small effort.

LazySide JS: Why don't you leave me alone, go get exterminated, and plunge the galaxy into darkness, you're good at that.

LightSide JS: That only happened once.

LazySide JS: Dude, did you read the review up there?

LightSide JS: EU doesn't count.

LazySide JS: Look, trust me, okay... They'll have a copy. I had a, you know... premonition. Force stuff. Now scram.

LightSide JS: Difficult to see. Always in motion is the future.

LazySide JS: I said scram!

"Star Wars Ep 1 RiffTrax"

posted by Tygrrius @ 12:42 AM

Jar Jar under attack by Mystery Science Theater 3000 alumni Mike Nelson and Kevin Murphy? Surely, the Gungan doesn't stand a chance.

Having only recently acquired enough Internet power to actually download anything over 1 MB in less than six hours, Episode I is my first rifftrax experience.

I started watching MST3k during the Comedy Central days, at about the time Mike took over the hosting duties from Joel. As such, I generally prefer Mike's episodes though I am somewhat of an oddity in that I enjoy both hosts. I loved the show.

And then Trace left.

Around the same time, MST3k was retooled for the Sci Fi channel. And it just wasn't the same. JS hung in there and kept watching episodes, but I couldn't do it. I left MST3k behind.

Though obviously curious, I wasn’t sure what to expect from rifftrax. Could Mike and Kevin be funny without Trace?

Absolutely!

Though they seemed a bit lost at times on how best to handle Jar Jar (maybe the joke potential was just too high), it definitely felt like the good old days.

In fact, in some ways--without the restrictions of the series’ framework or network interference--it was better than the old days.

Yeah, they go after Jar Jar but one of my favorite running jokes was the soft clucking whenever the Queen’s handmaidens appeared on screen wearing decidedly chicken-esque costumes.

When Darth Maul is introduced, he is noted as “Insane clown Sith.”

Pop-culture references are an important part of riffing, and the nature of rifftrax allows them to be timelier than they ever could on a taped TV series.

Even DisembAudio gets into the act, warning Mike and Kevin about an upcoming dialogue-driven scene about politics.

Since I am not hip enough to have an iPod and didn't feel like moving equipment around, I chose an easy path and simply played the rifftrax MP3 file through Windows Media Player while watching the Star Wars DVD with PowerDVD on the same PC.

Since both players use the same volume control, I wasn't able to tweak the audio levels as I would've liked. Fortunately, rifftrax was the louder of the two. Sadly, I know most of the Star Wars dialogue anyway, so it wasn't much of a problem that the movie dialogue was a bit lower than I would’ve preferred.

Though my audio would slowly get out of synch, DisembAudio cued me in each time and it was extremely easy to fix. In fact, the natural flow of riffs makes it obvious when the timing begins to get off and makes it easy to fix it yourself even with the help of DisembAudio.

If you’ve been undecided about purchasing rifftrax, stop hesitating and do it. This was definitely the most fun I've had watching Episode I in a long while!

(Overall Experience: 9 out of 10)

Link: Mike Nelson's RiffTrax

Related Film Frontier Articles
Mike Nelson riffs Star Wars: Episode I
RiffTrax adds new titles, including X-Men
REVIEW: RiffTrax--Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
Michael J. Nelson takes on Star Trek V

"Star Wars" graphic novel

posted by Tygrrius @ 5:15 PM

Star Wars graphic novel (Dark Horse, 2006 edition)
Script: Roy Thomas
Pencils: Howard Chaykin
Inks: Steve Leialoha, Rick Hoberg, & Bill Wray
Colors: Pamela Rambo
Lettering: Tom Orzechowski, Carol Lay, & Mike Royer
Front cover art: Howard Chaykin

For around $5.50 more than buying only the DVD (based on first day of sale prices), Wal-Mart bundled a new printing of Marvel's 1977 Star Wars comic book adaptation with the Star Wars: Unaltered DVD. This 2006 edition from Dark Horse collects all six parts of the 1977 series--which kicked off Marvel's Star Wars comics title.

This was the first time I'd read the Star Wars adaptation, and I was in for a real treat. As with Empire, the comic version of Star Wars was adapted from an earlier script than the final movie, so bits and pieces of dialogue as well as the flow of certain scenes are different.

There are also some additional scenes. Unlike the 1977 version of the movie, Jabba makes his first appearance here. Though alien, he looks completely different than the character that would later be established in Return of the Jedi.

Even more so than Empire or Jedi, the first Star Wars seems well-suited to the comic book format. The story flows very well, and is quite exciting despite the fact that I knew how it was all going to turn out.

Though Luke and Han rarely look like Mark Hamil and Harrison Ford, the art here is fantastic considering it was obviously created prior to the release of the film.

Anyone who has read my reviews knows that the nostalgia factor can rate high with me, and there's no shortage of that here. This is Star Wars in its infancy. Star Wars at the beginning. Star Wars at its best.

My only wish is that the panels had not been re-colored (likely for Dark Horse's 1995 reprint). I guess I'll have to seek out the original versions to get the true experience of 1977.

The comic offers an interesting theory on why Chewbacca was denied his medal at the closing ceremony:

Chewbacca the Wookiee, too, will have his own medal . . . but he will have to put it on himself. Few space princesses are that tall.

29 years later, mystery solved!

Story/Writing: 9 (out of 10)
Art: 8
Cover Art: 8
Overall Experience: 8
Recommended: To all Star Wars and 1970's era comic fans

"The Empire Strikes Back" graphic novel

posted by Tygrrius @ 9:31 PM

Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back graphic novel (Dark Horse, 2006 edition)
Script: Archie Goodwin
Pencils & Inks: Al Williamson & Carlos Garzon
Colors: James Sinclair & Frank Lopez
Lettering: Rick Veitch
Front cover art: Bob Larkin

The comic book version of The Empire Strikes Back first appeared as a six-issue series from Marvel in 1980. By 1995, Dark Horse had taken over the Star Wars comics license and re-released The Empire Strikes Back as a two-part graphic novel.

For about $5.50 more than buying only the DVD (based on first day of sale prices), Wal-Mart bundled a new printing of the comic book adaptation with The Empire Strikes Back: Unaltered DVD. This 2006 edition is also from Dark Horse, and collects all six parts of Marvel's 1980 The Empire Strikes Back series.

Though it has been around for 26 years, this was actually my first time reading the comic version of Empire. After recently re-reading the Marvel Return of the Jedi adaptation, I was not exactly jumping at the bit to read this one.

Whether due to the various personnel differences, or perhaps more time allowed on the project, or just a more comic friendly story, The Empire Strikes Back turned out to be a surprisingly good comic.

The writing is a lot less jarring than Jedi. Sure, there's still a lot of exposition stuff that they work into some of the lines, but it works a lot better than the clunkier dialogue of the Return of the Jedi comic.

Though the quality varies a bit, the art is generally very well done. Most characters are recognizable in most frames. There are some nice full-page spreads, which were rather rare back then as I recall.

A great full-page image of the Falcon racing back to Cloud City is unfortunately ruined by horrible coloring, though. Like Return of the Jedi, The Empire Strikes Back was re-colored (likely for the 1995 edition) to accommodate modern printing techniques. In this case, however, I don't have the original comic book to compare the work.

A minor item that I also found slightly disappointing is that Yoda's coloring (and possibly some of his artwork) was updated to reflect his actual appearance. The original version was colored based upon concept art for Yoda and not the finished puppet. As a result, he was apparently purple and more elf-like. I had been looking forward to seeing this, for fun, but it's not included here.

Still, all in all, this is a great graphic novel. Since, again, it was based on earlier versions of the film, it includes the deleted attack of the wampas on the Rebel base, as well as a longer training sequence for Luke on Dagobah. And in this version, Leia actually takes Luke to task on Hoth for deciding to go off to Dagobah, much like she does with Han regarding Jabba.

Though the Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back comic adaptations were six issues long, Return of the Jedi was trimmed to only four issues for some reason and, as a result, felt rather compressed.

With Empire's six issue format, there's plenty of time to properly build the exciting story. I'm definitely happy to have added this one to my collection for such a reasonable price.

Story/Writing: 8 (out of 10)
Art: 7
Cover Art: 6
Overall Experience: 7
Recommended: To all Star Wars fanatics

"Return of the Jedi" graphic novel

posted by Tygrrius @ 11:39 PM

Star Wars: Return of the Jedi graphic novel (Dark Horse, 2006 edition)
Script: Archie Goodwin
Pencils & Inks: Al Williamson & Carlos Garzon
Colors: Cary Porter & Perry McNamee
Lettering: Ed King
Front cover art: Bill Sienkiewicz

I tread into dangerous ground tonight after stepping a bit into the territory of JS. Dangerous not because I’m going to review a comic book, but because I dare review one that originated at Marvel.

For the recent release of the Star Wars: Unaltered DVDs, I had to decide which of the retail bonus items would lure me in. In the end, it came down to the Best Buy tin versus the Wal-Mart graphic novels.

Since reviewing a tin would’ve been quite boring, I took the practical route and bought my Unaltereds from Wal-Mart in order to get the graphic novel/trade paperback bonus items.

The version of each movie that came with the graphic novel sold for about $5.50 more than it did standalone. Since the Return of the Jedi graphic novel was not a free bonus, was it worth the price?

The comic book version of Return of the Jedi first appeared as a four-issue series from Marvel in 1983. The four issues were collected shortly thereafter in a Marvel graphic novel sold by Scholastic books. (Incidentally, it is the circa-1984 Marvel edition of the Return of the Jedi graphic novel that is pictured on Wal-Mart’s DVD/graphic novel box rather than the 2006 Dark Horse reprint that it actually contains.)

I collected the four Return of the Jedi comic issues as a kid. I remember thinking they were "okay." They at least offered one way to re-live the movie.

The graphic novel compilation had a different cover than the comics, but the same content. I was 8 or 9 at the time and had never heard of a “graphic novel” when I ordered it from Scholastic. The cover sure looked cool, so how could I lose?

I believe I was under the mistaken impression back then that the "graphic novel" would be the full-length novelization with lots of fantastic art thrown in. I remember being quite disappointed when receiving the book that it was, in fact, just the same four comic books that I already owned. This was probably my first instance of buying re-packaged Star Wars, come to think of it. How appropriate, then, that it is included as a bonus item on the Star Wars: Unaltered editions.

In 1995, Dark Horse re-released the Return of the Jedi graphic novel as a two-part collection. Presumably, the reprint rights must have moved with the overall Star Wars comic license from Marvel to Dark Horse.

This 2006 edition is also from Dark Horse, and collects all four parts of the 1983 Marvel Return of the Jedi series. It features the same cover art as that graphic novel I duped myself into buying back in 1984.

As I did in the 1980’s, I still believe that the front cover by Bill Sienkiewicz is the best part of the book. This would have made a fantastic poster.

That 1984 graphic novel is long gone, but I still have all four issues of the 1983 comic book series. I pulled them out to compare against the 2006 edition.

The most obvious difference is in the coloring. The 1983 comics were colored by Christie Scheele and Bob Sharen. Since the printing process is different now than it was in the 1980’s, the 2006 edition has glossy pages like modern comic books and was re-colored by Cary Porter and Perry McNamee. The new coloring was likely first introduced for the 1995 Dark Horse editions.

The glossy pages are certainly a huge improvement over the newsprint style pages of the original version. As for the new coloring, I ultimately would have to rate it as disappointing. 50% of the time, the difference is negligible between the two. 25% of the time, the 2006 version is better. The 1983 version is also better 25% of the time.

The main problem with the 2006 version is that the coloring job just seems rushed in certain spots. A lot of details are just left plain white, even when they previously had color in the earlier versions. For example, facial features are often left blank/white in this version, while in the 1983 version, more time was obviously spent on coloring them in to add more detail. In other areas, a single color is used on multi-colored objects--even when the same panel of the original used more than one color. It serves to make the comic of lesser quality than it could have been.

The penciling and inking is farily typical for the time period. As I found myself wanting to judge these against modern comics, which are a lot more detailed, I pulled out some other comics from around the same time in order to provide proper perspective. This is the same approach I take when judging movies, actually, particularly special effects. The art varies from rather horrid to quite nice, with most of it falling in the mediocre range.

We all know the story of Return of the Jedi, but the lines are definitely more stilted here. Whether that is the result of the writer working from an earlier draft of the script than the finished version or perhaps modifying it a bit to fit comic book needs or simply being inept, I do not know.

I found the dialogue quite distracting at times. For example, here’s a line from Han as it appears in the comic book, "Not bad for a little ball of fuzz! Just wish he’d checked with us first! Guess he knows enough to grab the nearest vine and leave the Imperials chasing an empty bike!"

There were several big secrets in Return of the Jedi, and the graphic novel actually leaves out a couple of them. This was probably to keep the news from leaking out in 1983. In the graphic novel, Yoda does not die, nor do we ever see the man beneath the Vader mask. (Actually, the three Jedi spirits did appear in the fourth issue of the 1983 comic book, but only in a "Mighty Marvel Bonus Pin-up Section" at the end and not within the story itself. The various full-page pin-ups are not included in the graphic novel version.)

This bonus Return of the Jedi graphic novel offers a bonus of its own. The last 32 pages feature production sketches from Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi by Ralph McQuarrie, Joe Johnston, and others. Though the graphic novelization itself is somewhat unfulfilling, the production art alone makes it worth the $5.50 cost.

To conclude, I was going to suggest that it would be interesting to see Return of the Jedi remade as a manga. It turns out, however, that Lucasfilm beat me to it and already released this back in 1999. I sense another Return of the Jedi related purchase in my future.

Story/Writing: 5 (out of 10)
Art: 6
Cover Art: 9
Bonus (Production Sketches): 9
Overall Experience: 8
Recommended: Yes, mostly for the cover and the production sketches bonus

"Return of the Jedi: Unaltered"

posted by Tygrrius @ 9:34 PM

Star Wars VI: Return of the Jedi—Limited Edition
Disc 2: Original theatrical (1983) version of
Star Wars: Episode VI-Return of the Jedi

The Web is full of conspiracy theories.

One of them is that George Lucas insisted on releasing the unaltered versions of the original Star Wars trilogy in a non-anamorphic format so that fans would finally accept the 2004 enhanced versions as definitive.

I don’t put much stock in that particular theory but if that was, by some slim chance, Lucas’ hidden agenda, then he has failed when it comes to this fan.

Miserably.

Tonight, I journeyed back in time to 1983. For a brief instant, I was eight-years-old again. And I was watching Return of the Jedi for the first time.

Without the clouding of preconceived notions of Star Wars, without all the fan “entitlements,” I watched Return of the Jedi.

And I loved it. Just like I did back then.

As an eight-year-old, I never wondered how the teddy bear Ewoks could defeat the evil galactic Empire. I never noticed that Harrison Ford seemed to be phoning in his performance, whether due to a weakened role for Han Solo in the script or sheer boredom.

Tonight, I managed to keep those and similar movie-spoiling thoughts from my head.

Tonight, it was all about having fun. And I came to a realization.

Since 2004, I’ve kind of straddled the fence on the whole enhanced versus unaltered versions debate. As is often the case with me, I could see both sides of the argument. Until this month, I was perfectly content with the 2004 versions.

While I still respect Lucas’ right as an artist to continue to change these films to his liking, Star Wars: Unaltered, Return of the Jedi: Unaltered, and, to a lesser extent, The Empire Strikes Back: Unaltered have all made me realize that I don’t need the 2004 versions anymore.

They were a nice substitute for awhile. I enjoyed them for what they were. But the real films are back now.

Now on to a couple of things I would never have worried about as an eight-year-old and which I am almost inclined to skip for this review were they not such topics of controversy around this release: video and audio quality.

The video quality for Return of the Jedi: Unaltered was top-notch, except for the fact that it was not anamorphic.

I’m not kidding here. This movie looked beautiful. For whatever reason, distortion was not a noticeable issue with Return of the Jedi: Unaltered when zoomed in.

I am very begrudgingly deducting a point for the anamorphic issue, simply because I know that it would look that much better in anamorphic format.

Oh yeah, and I could still see both lines of the subtitles while zoomed in. People with far more knowledge in such matters than I are still complaining about that in various dark corners of the Web. They should know better.

Then again, these are the same people that wanted all of us fans to disregard and ban the Star Wars: Unaltered releases. After what I’ve seen over the last ten days, I can’t exactly respect their opinions on much of anything.

Though Dolby 2.0, this was a great surround mix that added to the excitement of the movie. It was never lacking, so I’m not deducting anything. I don’t care if it’s not Dolby 5.1. So there.

As for bonus features, the 1983 film is the true bonus feature of the set. Also, it's good to know I now have three copies of the LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy video game trailer and demo. That gives me three times the number of opportunities to not watch or play.

By the way, of course the Ewoks could bring down the Empire. It was their destiny.

Movie: 9 (out of 10)
Video Quality: 9
Audio Quality: 10
Bonus Features: N/A (this movie was the key bonus feature)
Overall Experience: 9
Recommended: To both casual fans and Star Wars fanatics

Related Film Frontier articles
REVIEW: The Empire Strikes Back: Unaltered
See the Greedo subtitles on Star Wars: Unaltered
REVIEW: The truth about Star Wars: Unaltered
Return to a time long ago with Star Wars: Unaltered
Film Frontier rounds up Star Wars: Unaltered retail bonus items
EDITORIAL: The Power of the (Unaltered) Force
Lucasfilm releases Star Wars: Unaltered screen caps
Lucasfilm to release Star Wars: Unaltered DVDs in September

"The Empire Strikes Back: Unaltered"

posted by Tygrrius @ 10:09 PM

Star Wars V: The Empire Strikes Back—Limited Edition
Disc 2: Original theatrical (1980) version of Star Wars: Episode V-The Empire Strikes Back

After watching Star Wars: Unaltered a few days ago, I was expecting more of the same from The Empire Strikes Back: Unaltered. Little did I know, however, that I was in for a surprise.

The Movie

This is the best Star Wars movie ever made! It's always neck and neck with Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan as my favorite movie of all time.

It was nice to watch the original version for the first time in a long time. In general, the changes made to Empire in 1997 and 2004 were not as severe as those made to Star Wars and Return of the Jedi.

Watching the unaltered version shows that most of the subsequent changes were cosmetic and, quite frankly, unnecessary. And, as I said in my Star Wars: Unaltered review, I generally prefer to see the special effects in their original forms, matte lines and all. It was wonderful to see it this way again.

Video Quality

The big surprise for me was that The Empire Strikes Back: Unaltered looks noticeably better than Star Wars: Unaltered. After watching the latter, I was expecting more of the same as far as video quality.

While Star Wars: Unaltered looked only as good as it needed to, The Empire Strikes Back: Unaltered looked great most of the time. Whether this was due to motion picture advancements between 1977 and 1980, or simply a better quality Laserdisc master, I'm not able to say.

I viewed it on a 30” widescreen, so the fact that it was a standard 4x3 letterbox image rather than an anamorphic 16x9 widescreen image came into play.

Left unzoomed, the standard 4x3 letterbox image results in a smaller picture bordered on all sides: top, bottom, left, and right. You’re still seeing the entire picture. It’s just smaller.

In this mode, the picture quality is quite crisp most of the time. While it doesn't look like the fully restored and anamorphic 2004 version, the quality difference is not as noticeable as it was for Star Wars: Unaltered.

Like the 1977 Star Wars, the 1980 version of The Empire Strikes Back has a brighter color palette than the 2004 edition. Compare Luke's face when Han is rescuing him on Hoth in both editions and you'll see what I'm talking about.

In general, I prefer the 1980 colors . . . though the difference is not as striking as the 1977 vs. 2004 Star Wars colors.

I also used my DVD player's zoom function to see how the image would look brought in just enough to remove the left and right borders. As expected, it becomes a bit distorted. From a normal, comfortable viewing distance, though, the difference between watching the non-anamorphic 1980 version in zoom mode versus the anamorphic 2004 version was nearly negligible.

I really didn't note a lot of image issues with The Empire Strikes Back: Unaltered. The picture was more than acceptable. Of course I would have preferred a fully restored print presented in anamorphic format but we can't have everything now, can we?

Audio Quality

Though only a Dolby 2.0 Surround mix, The Empire Strikes Back: Unaltered sounds fantastic. Again, I'd rate it better than the sound in Star Wars but this has always been the case. You may have to crank your speakers up a bit more compared to the Dolby 5.1 mix used on the 2004 edition.

Bonus Features

The 1980 film is the true bonus feature of the set. The only other special features are related to LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy video game (a trailer and an Xbox demo). These are the same as presented on the Star Wars: Unaltered disc.

Overall Experience/Entertainment Value

It was great to see the original version of The Empire Strikes Back again, and it's nice to know that I'll be able to watch it whenever I'm in a nostalgic mood. Unlike Star Wars, I'll probably defer to the 2004 edition most of the time simply because the changes are not as jarring. I still prefer those original effects, though, so it's a tough call. I may alternate each time.

Recommendations

If, like me, you’re a Star Wars fanatic who loves The Empire Strikes Back, then I recommend this release whether or not you already own the 2004 edition. You need to own and watch this movie.

If you’re a casual fan who already owns the 2004 set, then I don’t recommend this release. You will likely not find the differences big enough to warrant rebuying this film. Save your money.

If you’re a casual fan that does not yet have the 2004 set, then I’d definitely recommend this release. Otherwise, you're missing out on the best Star Wars movie ever. Be warned, though, that this is Act II of a three act trilogy. If you only watch this movie, you're only seeing the middle and could be left quite confused. To achieve maximum entertainment value with The Empire Strikes Back, you'll also need Star Wars (A New Hope) and Return of the Jedi. If you only want to buy one then stick with the original Star Wars, as it can stand alone.

Coming soon will be the Film Frontier review of Return of the Jedi: Unaltered. Are there any surprises left?

Movie: 10 (out of 10)
Video Quality: 8
Audio Quality: 9
Bonus Features: N/A (this movie was the key bonus feature)
Overall Experience: 9
Recommended: To casual fans who do not already own 2004 edition; to Star Wars fanatics who love The Empire Strikes Back

Related Film Frontier articles
See the Greedo subtitles on Star Wars: Unaltered
REVIEW: The truth about Star Wars: Unaltered
Return to a time long ago with Star Wars: Unaltered
Film Frontier rounds up Star Wars: Unaltered retail bonus items
EDITORIAL: The Power of the (Unaltered) Force
Lucasfilm releases Star Wars: Unaltered screen caps
Lucasfilm to release Star Wars: Unaltered DVDs in September

The truth about "Star Wars: Unaltered"

posted by Tygrrius @ 12:04 AM

Star Wars IV: A New Hope—Limited Edition
Disc 2: Original theatrical (1977) version of Star Wars

If you’re a Star Wars fanatic, like I am, you’ve heard about the controversy around the Star Wars: Unaltered DVD release for months. In fact, the controversy pretty much started the day the release was announced and grew from there.

Now, the DVDs are finally available and we can all judge for ourselves.

Long-winded background on what to expect from this review

Since this is the first time I’ve reviewed a DVD on the site (rather than simply a movie in general), I should give you a bit of background so that you will know how compatible my opinions might be with yours.

I love movies, all kinds really, with a particular affection for the ones I’ve centered this site around. However, I am not a “Home Theater Enthusiast.” That’s not to say I don’t appreciate home theater, I just don’t consider myself a Home Theater Enthusiast.

A Home Theater Enthusiast has trouble watching a movie without counting up occurrences of dust spots, scratches, artifacts, contrast problems, shadow detail issues, color saturation problems, defects, grain, bleeding issues, and dot crawl.

If you’re someone like that, then this review (and, quite honestly, this DVD) isn’t for you. I’m not saying you have to stop reading here, but you’d probably be happier to move along to some other section of the site. Yeah, I know, might be nice if I actually finished the Star Wars section and added it someday. Until then, you’ll have to settle for Star Trek.

Though I love movie soundtracks, particularly the Star Wars soundtracks, I am also not an “Audiophile.” Again, I definitely appreciate a great audio mix when watching a movie, but I just don’t put myself into the Audiophile category.

Similar in some respects to the Home Theater Enthusiast, the Audiophile has trouble enjoying a movie without being distracted by making notes of things like processed sounds, matrixed sounds, and frequency response.

If you fit this category, then this review may not be for you. You’ll have to make your own determination about the sound quality on this one, or read someone else’s review.

Okay, now that I’ve gotten rid of 50% of the people who were going to read this review, I’ll continue for the two of you still remaining.

When I review a DVD, my main consideration is entertainment value. Was it worth 2+ hours of my life? And, in this case, was it worth the four month wait? While I’ll certainly touch on video and sound quality, just remember that I don’t let cataloging audio and video oddities take away from my overall experience.

Oh, and another thing, I don’t rate menus. Menus are just what you have to get past to watch the movie. So the only time I’ll generally mention a menu will be if it is extremely annoying for some reason. The Disc 2 menu was fine.

With that long intro out of the way, on with the review of Star Wars: Unaltered.

Video Quality

Let’s just get the big question out of the way first. The thing everyone is wondering about. How does this release look?

In the first three minutes alone, I was able to count 547 scratches, 322 separate instances of dust spots, and an unbelievable amount of dot crawl.

Hey, come back. I’m just kidding.

How does Star Wars: Unaltered really look?

As good as it needs to.

I viewed it on a 30” widescreen, so the fact that it was a standard 4x3 letterbox image rather than an anamorphic 16x9 widescreen image came into play.

Left unzoomed, the standard 4x3 letterbox image results in a smaller picture bordered on all sides: top, bottom, left, and right. Don’t let those borders fool you, though. You’re still seeing all of the picture. It’s just smaller.

In this most basic of modes, the picture quality is actually surprisingly crisp. But don’t go in expecting it to look like the fully restored and anamorphic 2004 version. There is a noticeable and expected quality difference.

However, in some respects, the 1977 version actually looks better than the 2004 version. A lot of the colors changed in the 2004 version, and it is interesting to note how much better the 1977 colors look.

There are some issues, though, the most noticeable being the occasional bout of small, white specks on the screen. Such issues are usually short. And I did not count them, nor did they ruin the viewing experience. In some ways, they contribute to the nostalgia. But I'm kind of weird that way.

So, no, it’s not a perfect picture. But it looks a heck of a lot better than I hoped it would, and tons better than some people would have you believe. 90% of the time, I did not notice image problems.

I also used my DVD player's zoom function to see how the image would look brought in just enough to remove the left and right borders. It, of course, becomes a bit distorted. From a normal, comfortable viewing distance, though, the difference between watching the non-anamorphic 1977 version in zoom mode versus the anamorphic 2004 version was nearly negligible.

So, in the end, the picture was perfectly acceptable.

Some people around the Web have mentioned alien subtitles (Greedo) being cut off when zooming in for a widescreen TV. When zoomed in, I was still able to fully see the two line subtitles. Oddly, the subtitles started between the movie image and the black bars. Perfectly readable. Since they are apparently player-generated, this will vary by player.

Do I wish they could have somehow made this an anamorphic release? I won’t lie to you, of course I do.

Do I wish they could have somehow properly cleaned up the image for this release? Yes, but only with the caveat that the original color be preserved.

For I would rather watch this 1993 image quality of the theatrical version than watch a “theatrical” version whose image had been “cleaned” to resemble the generally darker colors of the 2004 version.

Also, leave those “garbage mattes” in. I don’t mind them being cleaned up for the George Lucas signature edition or whatever, but leave them alone for the theatrical version. They were there in 1977, so that’s good enough for me. Nice to see them back for this edition.

Incidentally, the 2004 version that is on this set is identical to the one first released in . . . 2004. So, in case either of you are fan enough to wonder: no, the lightsaber glitches in the 2004 version have not been fixed. Luke’s lightsaber is still briefly green aboard the Falcon in the 2004 version.

Now that the big issue of picture quality is out of the way, I want to move on to something more important, and that is, the movie itself.

The Movie

This is Star Wars the way I remember it! This release proves that the 1977 version of the movie is much better paced than the 2004 version. Though nice eye candy for those of us in the fanatic set, the Mos Eisley fly-through, Jabba, and Biggs scenes really serve to slow the 2004 version down.

None of that here. The movie runs at a much tighter and exciting pace. Enough of a difference, in fact, that I would actually rate this version of the movie slightly higher than the 2004 version.

By its very nature, Star Wars is the only Star Wars movie that works as a stand-alone film. And without all of that “Episode IV” business at the beginning, this is even more true of the 1977 version. Casual fans can watch Star Wars, skip everything else, and come away with a complete experience. The same cannot be said for any other movies in the saga.

It was exciting to watch this movie again, almost like seeing it for the first time. I did not care for the 1997 special edition version, but I thought the 2004 version was quite an improvement over 1997 and an acceptable alternative since Lucas seemed intent on not releasing the original.

I was wrong, though. The 2004 version, for all its beauty, for all its anamorphic, super crisp picture, and 5.1 surround sound, is still not an acceptable replacement for the 1977 version. For all of its greatness, the 2004 version just can’t take you back to 1977 like this one can.

Again, I have no problem with George Lucas continuing to tinker with these films. They’re his babies, after all. Some people tinker with cars. Lucas tinkers with movies. Nothing wrong with that.

I’m just glad to have both versions. Glad to have the option of which one to watch. Though I doubt he will do it, I think all future releases of these movies should contain both the current “signature edition” and the original theatrical version.

By the way, I also prefer the effects of this movie. They are part of the reason this was such a ground-breaking movie. This film and its two sequels are true testaments to the hard work of everyone at Industrial Light & Magic. Forget digital, this was the real stuff. And it still looks incredible.

Audio Quality

It took me a little while to get used to this Dolby 2.0 Surround mix. At first, I didn’t think I liked it very much. But I cranked it up a bit more. And you know what? It’s actually pretty good.

It has a funny quality where you don’t hear much out of the rears, and then they suddenly kick on when there’s an action sequence. As I said I'm no Audiophile, so some of this may have been due to my system setup.

I also popped in the 2004 version and compared a couple of scenes. While the 2004 version has a fuller sound (and certainly works better for that edition, with one or two questionable mixing mistakes and/or choices), the 1977-era version has what I would call a more authentic sound. It also seems to highlight the incredible John Williams score a bit more. (Incidentally, this is likely a 1993 mix rather than the true 1977 mix, though I am unable to personally confirm that.)

It’s a charming sound mix, that’s all I can really say about it. That and it takes some getting used to, having been exposed to the 2004 version a dozen or so times by now. In general, I actually prefer the 1977-era sound, even though it’s only 2.0.

While I know that Home Theater Enthusiasts will hate the picture quality due to the anamorphic issue, I’m actually not sure what Audiophiles will make of this 2.0 mix. I personally believe it has more positive qualities than negative ones. The fact that it is 2.0 may be the audiophile equivalent of it being non-anamorphic, though. I suppose I’ll find out soon enough as reviews continue to roll in across the Web.

Bonus Features

The 1977 film is the true bonus feature of the set. Sure, it should have been the headliner, but why fret about stupid marketing stuff like that? Not much else in the way of special features on here, though.

There is a preview trailer for LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy. Though I prefer the more realistic Star Wars video games in the three minutes a year I have time to play, I remember finding the first LEGO Star Wars preview trailer pretty funny. Not funny enough to buy the game, but funny enough to give the trailer creators some credit.

Not so with the sequel's trailer. Fairly boring stuff. Incidentally, there is also a demo of the game for Xbox. Since I don’t have an Xbox, that’s about all I can tell you about it.

I have to give the game some credit, though, as it is, more than likely, the only reason Star Wars: Unaltered came to be. Star Wars: Unaltered is a marketing tool to sell more copies of LEGO Star Wars II. Yeah, I know it shouldn’t be that way. But just accept it and be glad you can get the movie now.

I will say the concept of LEGO toys for Star Wars is a great idea. I would have loved that as a kid, not to mention these Star Wars Transformers I’ve been seeing around lately, too. But back to the DVD review, which is getting long enough as it is.

Overall Experience/Entertainment Value

All in all, this was a thrilling and surprising experience. This was a movie I figured I’d be pulling out only for nostalgia while normally deferring to the 2004 version.

I believe the opposite will be true. This will be the version of Star Wars I watch most of the time, and I’ll watch the 2004 version whenever I finally get around to doing that six movie saga marathon.

Overall, this was the most fun I’ve had watching a DVD in a long time–especially considering how many times I’ve seen this movie.

Recommendations

If you’re a Star Wars fanatic, then I highly recommend this whether or not you already own the 2004 edition. Yes, it’s that good.

If you’re a casual fan who already owns the 2004 set, then I don’t recommend this release. You will likely not find the differences big enough to warrant rebuying this film. In fact, you would probably wonder why we fanatics make such a big deal about the different versions. But hey, at least this is one fanatic who’s telling it to you straight: Save your money, this release isn't for you.

If you’re a casual fan that does not yet have the 2004 set, then I’d definitely recommend this release. In fact, in some ways, it is aimed more at you than it is us fanatics. The idea is that you can now buy just the Star Wars title you want, rather than being forced to buy the whole trilogy. In most cases, presumably, an extremely casual fan would just want the original. Go for it. And maybe take a peek at the 1977 version on Disc 2 some day, to see if you can figure out what all of this fuss was about.

I never thought September 12 would get here, and now it is already over. Coming soon over the next several days, though, will be Film Frontier reviews of The Empire Strikes Back: Unaltered and Return of the Jedi: Unaltered. Granted, I probably could have watched both of them in the time it took me to write this review, but such are the sacrifices I'm willing to make for you.

Movie: 10 (out of 10)
Video Quality: 6
Audio Quality: 9
Bonus Features: N/A (this movie was the key bonus feature)
Overall Experience: 9
Recommended: To casual fans who do not already own 2004 edition; to all Star Wars fanatics (except Home Theater Enthusiasts)

Related Film Frontier articles
Return to a time long ago with Star Wars: Unaltered
Film Frontier rounds up Star Wars: Unaltered retail bonus items
EDITORIAL: The Power of the (Unaltered) Force
Lucasfilm releases Star Wars: Unaltered screen caps
Lucasfilm to release Star Wars: Unaltered DVDs in September

Revenge of the Sith treats fans to the Dark Side of the Force

posted by Tygrrius @ 5:16 AM

Spoiler-free section

Overall, Star Wars: Episode III-Revenge of the Sith was even more intense and dark than I was expecting. It tied up several loose threads, but left others open. The second half was very different from any of the other Star Wars movies.

Early on in the film, Artoo steals the show in a series of scenes. Based on fan reaction to his flying in Attack of the Clones, I'm sure some will continue to ask, "Why doesn't Artoo do this stuff in the sequels?"

That doesn't bother me, though. For one thing, he's gotten older by then. And another, it's conceivable that he could have been damaged somewhere along the line and the Rebels either didn't have the resources or desire to fix the rockets. Remember, they were a rag-tag band of freedom fighters. With really cool starfighters. They used their resources on the ships and not repairing Artoo's rockets.

Still, Artoo's contributions left me wondering, could the little droid actually be a Jedi?

The Phantom Menace was Liam Neeson's movie and Attack of the Clones was Natalie Portman's. Artoo aside, Revenge of the Sith belongs to Ewan McGregor. He is Obi-Wan.

How's that for a review that, in reality, says nothing? Now, I'm just waiting for Episode IV to come out so I can find out how the Jedi will defeat...oh wait, no spoilers in this section.

On a more serious note, if you've not seen Return of the Jedi lately, you may want to watch that one soon. There's a scene near the beginning of Revenge of the Sith that mirrors one near the end of Jedi. It highlights one of the differences between Anakin and Luke.

Incidentally, there was nearly an uprising in the first showing here yesterday. After sitting through six or seven previews, the movie finally came on and the top half of the screen was the bottom and the bottom half of the screen was the top. A rather disconcerting start to the movie, especially since it took them a couple of minutes into the opening scene to fully fix it.

Since I knew we were coming back later in the day to see it a second time, it didn't bother me too much. I thought a few fans were going to jump over us and into the projector booth, though.

The way it went straight from the previews to the messed up 20th Century Fox and LucasFilm logos, without the normal theater intro, I actually thought it was a joke at first - the beginning of a last commercial before the movie. That would've been a pretty funny way to start a preview, actually.

Anyway, I loved Revenge of the Sith. It was a very satisfying installment that did not disappointment. And once you see it for yourself, you can read the rest of this review.

Warning: The rest of this review assumes you've seen the movie and contains major plot spoilers.

Having also re-watched the first two last night, I'd say at this point that Revenge of the Sith is the best of the three prequels, although Attack of the Clones comes pretty close for me. As to where it ranks within the overall saga, I'm really not sure yet. I think it is still too new to decide.

This movie does change the experience of watching the first two in some ways. For instance, I noticed that there's a line in Attack of the Clones that definitely foreshadows part of this movie, although it was not obvious until this one came out (I guess that's the mark of good foreshadowing).

Anakin tells Obi-Wan that he keeps dreaming about his mother in pain. Then he says, "I'd much rather dream about Padme." So, he was given his wish. Ah, wishes are always tricky like that. You can never be too specific with them. Lots of other stuff, but that was probably my favorite for some reason.

In Revenge of the Sith, it is Anakin's very quest to save Padme's life that kills her. And, ironically, it is the Jedi who actually unlock the key to "immortality", not the Sith. But even that immortality is only their own and would not have helped Padme, had she actually been in real danger.

Obviously, Anakin must unlock this key as well at some point after seeing Obi-Wan do the trick - information that he does not share with Sidious. Or maybe Yoda and Obi-Wan (and even Qui-Gon, I guess) helped him in some way at the time of his death.

I still find the "All is forgiven, be one with the Force" ultimate ending for Anakin in Return of the Jedi a tiny bit suspect. But I suppose Jedi and the Force are very forgiving. In the end, the Dark Side is not stronger. Just faster and more seductive. Luke was strong enough to avoid its trappings, while Anakin was weak.

I'm looking forward to seeing what affect Revenge of the Sith has on re-watching the sequel . . .er . . . original trilogy.

Let's see, nitpicks . . . or shall I say, open threads . . . with the caveats that I loved Revenge of the Sith and I'm sure most of these can be explained in some way. For many, it could be that they occurred between episodes III and IV. I sense an Episode III sequel novel on the horizon.

Based on the animated Star Wars: Clone Wars series only, I'd say that Mace Windu went down far too easily. As did most of the other Jedi. I guess the cartoon embellishes the whole thing a bit. Or maybe it's just a cartoon, and not real like the movies.

Why does Owen seem so bitter against Obi-Wan in Episode IV? And what was that whole deal about Owen opposing Anakin's involvement in the Clone Wars? Did he oppose it after the fact? He seemed to barely know Anakin, much less offering him advice on getting into a war that had not started the last time they met. Also, do Owen and Beru know the full story of what happened to Anakin? They seem to allude to it in Episode IV.

Luke says that there's something familiar about Dagobah when he first arrives there in The Empire Strikes Back. This is a very personal nit (i.e., I thought I had this part figured out, but the reality was much simpler than my idea), but I'd always assumed that meant he spent the first year or so of his life there before going to Tatooine.

If the big deal about Anakin's fall was that he was not initially trained by Yoda and at a young enough age, that would have partially explained why Luke was able to avoid the Dark Side. (Then again, Yoda apparently trained Count Dooku and look how that turned out.)

That's not to say Luke doesn't go to Dagobah early on his life just because it isn't in this movie. Perhaps it's Obi-Wan showing up to take him there that annoys Owen so much. There's fodder for the sequel novel right there. Which reminds me of another nit. . . .

Would it have been so hard to throw a line in saying that he was no longer going to call himself "Obi-Wan Kenobi," but was going to call himself "Ben Kenobi" instead? (And what kind of a fake name is that? Similarly, did they not think Vader would put two and two together if and when he ever met Luke Skywalker?)

Speaking of throwing lines in, supposedly Kenobi "once thought as" Luke did - that there was still good in Vader. Where was this? Once their Revenge of the Sith battle began, at least as far as I saw, he never tried to convince Vader/Anakin to turn back. Unless, again, that takes place later . . . but . . . IV makes it sound like this was their last battle until what George Lucas has since called their old man fight. During which, Obi-Wan, obviously, was spending most of his energy meditating in preparation to do the Force spirit trick. How's that for a made-up explanation?

I suppose that incident must have occurred between III and IV, though. It had to be something that Obi-Wan attempted to act on, because Vader was actually the one to tell Luke that Obi-Wan had once thought that way.

In fact, Padme's last words to Obi-Wan may have helped to put the idea in Obi-Wan's head. At the time, I suppose he thought Anakin dead anyway.

Did Obi-Wan have the ability to "feel" that Anakin was still alive from such a great distance? He does not seem to know. That also could be an interesting piece of the sequel novel, finding out that Vader was still alive. In fact, if they did think Vader dead, why didn't Obi-Wan and Yoda then team up to go against the Emperor? The Yoda vs. Emperor match was essentially a draw. Obi-Wan would've tipped the scales. Unless there's an implication that Yoda's power was somehow usurped, the more he fought the more powerful the Emperor became? That may be a stretch, though. They both seemed weakened.

The funny thing is, the first time I saw the movie, I misheard Padme's last words. I thought she said, "'Obi-Wan' . . . there's a good name," which would have been the worst last words ever! It wasn't until the second time through that I was able to hear, "Obi-Wan . . . there's still good in him."

Apparently, whatever imbalance Palpatine created in the Force clouded the vision of the Jedi a lot. There was Palpatine working about two doors down from Yoda and Mace, and they never sensed that he was the Sith Lord. Yoda could feel the pain of Jedi millions of miles away, but not tap into the evil Sith Lord hiding in the open. I suppose it makes sense that Yoda could more easily tap into the Jedi, but you'd still think they would be able to get some kind of reading on Palpatine. There's a line in Attack of the Clones in which Mace states that only the Sith lord knows that the Jedi's power to use the Force has been greatly diminished, so I guess we can chalk it up to that.

As expected, they messed up the reveals of both The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. Sure, everyone knows by now that Vader is Luke's father and that Leia is Luke's sister. But still, watching the movies in order will make those scenes less important.

I'll grant that it would have been practically impossible not to show that Anakin was Vader without making a very confusing and far inferior movie. I was surprised that he got the name prior to the suit, though. That was their one, small chance at ambiguity there. It would have been a way to make it appear that Anakin actually died and that "Vader" was someone else. I guess I imagined him "turning" in mid-battle somewhere and then going against Obi-Wan rather than how it was portrayed in the movie as two separate events.

Even then, however, it still would have made Obi-Wan's line "A young pupil of mine named Darth Vader killed him" stand out as a li--unique point of view on the truth once Episode IV rolled around. This wasn't really a problem for me, simply a surprise. I suppose I'm actually glad they didn't take that ambiguous route anyway just to preserve a "secret" that everyone knows. So, this one, I'll give them. I still wonder if the "proper" order to watch these movies in for the uninitiated would be IV, V, VI, I, II, III, though. But that is a discussion for another day.

But this next one I knew I was right about, but of course I was wrong again. Kenobi mentions at the end of The Empire Strikes Back that Luke is their last hope. Yoda tells him, "No, there is another." Kenobi doesn't seem to know the Leia connection at that point!

I thought for sure he'd whisk Luke off to safety (to Dagobah!) without realizing there was another to be born (they could've hidden that from the audience as well, by taking the POV with Obi-Wan--preserving the Return of the Jedi reveal). Another personal nit.

This leads into the part that probably annoyed me the most. In Return of the Jedi, Luke asks Leia about her real mother. He even puts an emphasis on "real," and she doesn't question it. She says that her real mother died when she was very young, but that she remembered her being very beautiful and very sad.

Yes, this can be explained away by "Leia was a Jedi" or "She was just remembering pictures" but it just seemed that they killed Padme for the emotional impact, rather than staying true to the established story.

For a moment, I thought they did it right, though. When Bail Organa first gets back to Alderaan, for a split second I thought it was Padme standing there to take the baby from him. Remember, the fate of the "Natalie Look-alike" from The Phantom Menace was never revealed. The double killed at the beginning of Attack of the Clones was a different character. Perhaps Padme had faked her death and was going to raise Leia on Alderaan. But no, she was really dead.

And yes, it did seem funny at first to hear James Earl Jones utter the particular lines of dialogue that serve as the first words from within the Vader suit--but it also made sense. They were really Anakin's last words (at least for the next couple of decades or so).

Anyway, those were my nits that come to mind this morning. Still, all things considered, Lucas tied it up better than I ever thought possible. Fantastic film.

Story: 9 (out of 10)
Performances: 9
Visual Style: 10
Effects: 10
Music: 10
Overall: 10

Attack of the Clones enhances the Star Wars tapestry

posted by Tygrrius @ 6:07 AM

Note: This review contains no major plot spoilers

Star Wars: Episode II—Attack of the Clones is yet another cinematic achievement for writer/director George Lucas. Attack of the Clones features an intricately woven story that greatly enhances the overall Star Wars tapestry.

While it is called "Episode II," the fact that this is actually the fifth movie produced in the series makes Lucas' accomplishment even more striking. There is no other long-running series of movies so consistent in quality.

As Lucas promised, Attack of the Clones helps put many of the events of 1999's The Phantom Menace in proper perspective. The Phantom Menace was often unfairly criticized by longtime Star Wars fans and its sequel should put much of that criticism to rest.

Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) and Padme Amidala (Natalie Portman) both have larger roles this time around, which serves to further strengthen the film. Newcomer Hayden Christensen proves to be an excellent choice for Anakin Skywalker and his scenes with Natalie Portman are particularly good. Also contributing to the success of the movie are larger supporting roles for Mace Windu (Samuel L. Jackson) and Yoda (voiced by Frank Oz).

Since 1977, the Star Wars films have always led the industry in special effects. Movies with strong special effects seem to be a dime-a-dozen in the 21st century, though. Attack of the Clones raises today's special effects bar more than several notches, far outpacing all others - even The Phantom Menace.

Spider-Man and The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring look like child's play compared to this. Lucas takes total control of the screen, paying close attention to every possible detail. Attack of the Clones is the most visually stunning of all Star Wars films.

After his slightly disappointing effort for The Phantom Menace, composer John Williams proves to be in top form again with a wonderful music score that perfectly compliments the soundtracks of the classic trilogy.

The best Star Wars film is still 1980's The Empire Strikes Back. While Attack of the Clones does not quite have enough power to take this title, it is easily the best one since then. George Lucas' magnificent Star Wars puzzle is nearly complete. Episode III in 2005 will supply the remaining pieces. Like The Empire Strikes Back, Attack of the Clones will be a tough act to follow.

Story: 8 (out of 10)
Performances: 9
Visual Style: 10
Effects: 10
Music: 10
Overall: 10