Hey, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some Rumblings From The Lab.
MCVamp is one of our our chatters, and like many of them, he’s always looking out for some way he can write something for the front page of the site. Providence dropped disc one of the November 12th release of ATTACK OF THE CLONES on DVD into his lap, and he’s stepped up with a fairly in-depth look at what we’ve got to look forward to when it hits stores...
Hey, Harry and AICN in general, MCVamp here. I finally get to make SOME sort of news. I'm quite excited. Well, even if it's not THAT big a deal, at least it's an excuse to write in. So post it already.
(Naturally, this stroke of luck means that someone probably sent in a similar report two weeks ago, but it wasn't deemed board-worthy.)
Regardless, after a long day at work and an annoying wait for the west coast MTV feed to show the return of Axl Rose, I got a nifty little surprise. I'm not really at liberty to say how it was acquired, merely that I owe a man known only as "Jimbo" big time.
I am waiting, as every geek worth his weight in wasted time waits, for the original Star Wars trilogy on DVD. Naturally, since it's the Holy Grail of DVD collections, George Lucas has seen fit to tease us by putting out his CGI-era prequels instead. In November of 2002, STAR WARS - EPISODE 2: ATTACK OF THE CLONES will be released on DVD, 2 discs chock full of Lucasian debauchery. I have managed to get my hands on Disc One (along with a very loud *SIGH* over the absence of the extras disc) of the set. So, without further ado, here's what that particular disc is going to be like.
*Ahem*
Many people bashed The Phantom Menace. Some of those people also bashed Attack of the Clones. No doubt, regardless of how good or bad it is, some of those people will bash the as-yet-unnamed Episode 3.
I (along with, oh, several million others,) am not one of those people. Although I see the flaws in every single damn one of the Star Wars movies (and I mean all five, all editions,) I take those flaws with a grain of salt, and see the entire series as a whole. If one chapter of the story happens to be a little weaker than another, or perhaps the whole in general... so be it. These aren't sequels, they are as-yet-untold parts of a greater story. So get off its back.
Does that mean we should so easily forgive Mr. George Lucas and Co. for the "mistakes," "stupidity," or "raping of childhood memories" that an extremely vocal (and usually vulgar) minority have accused the current Star Wars movies of being chock-full of?
Well, one, it's not my call. It's each individual's duty to call it as they see it. And two, this individual doesn't care how many people try to point out the flaws, faults, and faux pas of Star Wars. Was The Fellowship of the Ring a better movie than Attack of the Clones? Probably. But what am *I* going to watch more often?
Here's a hint: I had disc one of Fellowship almost four months ago and didn't care to write AICN about it. In fact, I watched it once and didn't see it again until I picked up the real disc a few weeks back. Enough rambling, let's get to the DVD.
NOTE: This isn't a full-on movie review, it's a review of the first disc's commentary and menus, with comments thrown in about the film here and there.
The disc I have is Disc #1 of the official 20th Century Fox DVD for AOTC. The menu starts off much like the Phantom Menace DVD, the STAR WARS logo pulling back to John Williams's masterful theme, with different clips of the movie inside the letters. A few asteroids tumble about, and suddenly Jango Fett comes blasting through the screen in Slave-1. Cut to an over-the-shoulder shot of Anakin and Padme being led into the Geonosian arena, and we have the main menu screen. While the arena battle theme plays, a tiny Obi-Wan Kenobi battles the giant crab thing while the Geonosians look on. In the upper left corner, random profile shots of the main characters scroll by.
As with TPM, there are other menu screens to be seen, the others being representations of the water world Kamino and one of Couruscant, specifically the power coupling that Anakin flies through. However, the Geonosian Arena is the only menu I can get to by simply popping in the disc at this time. The other two are the result of random button pushing on my part, so there's no gradual segue into the menus that I've seen.
The chapter selection screen for Geonosis is a recreation of the conveyor belt where Padme does the Mario late in the movie. As you skip through the chapters, a metal press comes down to reveal the next set, occasionally squashing a random Geonosian. The chapter selection of the Coruscant menu takes you down the side of two buildings. The Kamino menu takes you inside the clone vats.
Moving on to the options, (and there aren't a whole lot to be found, this is the movie disc of the set, so for all I know, the Extras disc isn't even finished. Maybe.) I do like the options menus, which feature an imprisoned Obi-Wan Kenobi just kinda floatin' around for Geonosis, the assassin droid behind Padme's window for Coruscant, and neatest of all, Obi-Wan and Jango squaring off (CG-created) in the distance for the Kamino options menus. To disappoint you audiophiles, I'll just confirm that, too bad, DTS is nowhere to be found, just Dolby 5.1, French 2.0, and the always delightful (and too rarely seen these days) Spanish 2.0.
Annnnnd, of course, the meat of my little piece here, the audio commentary. George Lucas once again leads the list of names, though again, I'm disappointed to note that none of the actors were involved. The names that ARE involved are: Rick McCallum, Ben Burtt, Rob Coleman, Pablo Helman, John Knoll, and Ben Snow. It's a fairly dry commentary, nothing like any of the Pixar or View Askew DVDs.
Lucas starts off the commentary with the explanation of the title, though it's not much to go on, just the reminder of the mention of the Clone Wars in the original SW: A New Hope. I don't recall anyone identifying themselves, and only McCallum and Lucas have voices that I recognize right off. Luckily, the speakers are identified in the upper letterbox bar, unless you're watching actual subtitles.
Coleman, during the first sequence featuring Yoda, details the quest to go all-CGI with the character. Frank Oz was involved with much of the studying of Yoda's movement, and how to make the CGI version move ALMOST like the original puppet. The slight dissatisfaction with the TPM Yoda puppet leaks through, and it sets one wondering if CGI Yoda won't be the first thing added to the next release of TPM.
Lucas explains the elevator ride/re-introduction to Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker. Apparently, it was a last-minute addition to emphasize that the two actually DID have a healthy relationship, since as soon as they start talking to Padme a minute later, they're immediately bickering over their approach to guarding the girl.
We're re-introduced to Jar-Jar, but I'll spare you those details. We'll stick to highlights here and there...
Zam Wessel's assassin droid featured a sound effect from the servos inside the original Jabba the Hutt suit.
Skipping to the Coruscant Chase, John Knoll speaks about the difficulties of presenting Coruscant, building by building, section by section. They also mention the X-Wing and TIE Fighter cameos in the midle of the action, but I just can't find the bastids. Lucas talks about the "all in a day's work" attitude the Jedi Knights exude during the chase, and the constant one-upsmanship between Anakin and Obi-Wan. And, as in TPM, George talks about his love of racing and speed, which is why SW is filled to the brim with chase sequences.
Note: I KNOW how much CGI went into this thing, and yet... I didn't, really. Realizing how far effects have come is quite a jolt when you realize just how many props and backgrounds were generated by ILM. Maybe experts can spot them, maybe YOU can spot them, maybe they look out of place or even cheap to some... but don't playa hate. Perhaps but for a handful little pieces, AOTC is beyond amazing in the effects department. Nothing has come close, not for this (necessary) length of time.
McCallum talks about the fun of casting the hot chicks for the bar scene. Fitting, perhaps. He IS a producer. George talks about repeating themes... again, something he did on the TPM video, this instance being Obi-Wan slicing off arms in bars.
Here's what I've waited for, as even I got a little rough on the depicted beginnings of romance between Anakin and Padme. I wanted to hear some insight. What do we get instead? Effects talk, regarding an effect most of you never even noticed--and don't lie, because lies make baby Jesus cry. Anakin goes to touch Padme during the "I hate sand" speech, but he touches her hand first... or DOES HE? Nope, that hand was put in by ILM to give Anakin's movement a little space... or more specifically, so he doesn't look like a total perv. So dead end for the romantic angle, but points for education. And all of the real-life bugs were painted out during the field picnic. Effects are amazing things. Oh, and Anakin WASN'T kidding about the dictatorship. He just covered it up really quick.
Speaking of effects, the only truly terrible effect in the film (think riding beetle-butt cows) gets a quick explanation. Naturally, it turns out that it was one of the most difficult shots in the film, and everyone can tell that it wasn't entirely successful. If Legolas couldn't do it, neither could Anakin.
But we get into the character of Jango Fett next, and George almost sounds like Jango Fett was a serendipitous idea rather than a way to simply give the fans a little extra Fett action for their patience. The idea was to create a villain who wasn't 100% unsympathetic and bad. Still, I'm not sure if this was necessary to make Jango more likable to the fans--after all, the armor alone is almost enough.
Jango Fett's meeting with Obi-Wan might be my favorite scene in the movie. Temuera Morrison's Jango Fett is more charismatic outside rather than inside the legendary Mandalorian Armor, and it's a shame we won't be seeing him again after, oh, another hour or so. The mystery of "did Obi-Wan see the armor" is briefly touched upon, but not really resolved by the commentators.
Ahh, the fireplace scene. Let's hear George talk this one through. "It's intended to be overly dramatic, sort of, almost even... operatic. He's young, and he's... spilling his guts out to her." So I suppose that explains the stiff dialogue. Point: Lucas. But not a SOLID point. Unfortunately, Burtt gets technical again and we don't get much more of Lucas's thought process for the bulk of the discussion. What nobody explains is why Natalie Portman keeps her arms stiff as boards at her sides for the whole scene, like a sophomore trying to remember freshly-read lines in a high school play rehearsal. Even I can't defend that. She could at least have crossed her arms. Point: Critics.
Lucas gets into Obi-Wan's detective work as a minor homage to old film-noir detective films. He segues into how he uses the films (and matinee serials) of the 1930's as influences; the acting styles, the moods, the themes... again. Semisolid Point: Lucas. Minus half a point for repeating himself.
Smartass Burtt chimes in, asking how in the hell Obi-Wan was supposed to bring Jango and Boba Fett back to Coruscant in a one-seat Jedi Starfighter. I thought about that too, actually. Burtt just shrugs it off as a bridge never crossed, and we move on.
As Lucas explains the fight between Jango Fett and Obi-Wan, I found myself appreciating it a bit more. Point: DVD Commentaries. And Lucas does talk about Jango banging his head on the door, and then passing the head-bumping gene on to his clone progeny, the closest thing to a joke George musters on the commentary track at this point.
Quick skip to Anakin going off to search for mom, and the tearful embrace with Padme. That shadow sure looks like Vader, don't it? Well, stop the debate: it wasn't digitally fixed to look that way. Whether or not it was just a happy accident or careful costuming and hairstyling isn't really revealed. Apparently there was a scene in Anakin's search sequence that was cut out, a bit where Anakin finds the bodies of the men who went out to try and save Shmi from the Tuskens. Too bad it didn't get left in. Perhaps it was the difference between PG and PG13, perhaps it was just adding too many seconds to an already long movie. Either or.
Skipping to Anakin and Padme in the garage... Coleman gets damn-near religious on the old Lars garage set, complete with the "has-to-be-there" inclusion of the wonderful blue milk, which builds healthy Jedi bodies seven ways. Lucas steps in to help us sift through Anakin's head, perhaps even tipping a bit of his hand as to where the story's going. But then, we already have the original trilogy to spoil it for us.
NOTE: This is the first instance of the DVD version differing from the theatrical release. Anakin and Padme have a smidgen of dialogue after the "I slaughtered them like animals. I hate them!" speech. Educated guess would say to me that Lucas is answering a complaint of many people: "Why would Padme fall for this murdering psycho?" Initially, if I remember right, Anakin just starts weeping like a baby immediately after the animals speech, when he sits down. Here's what follows now after he slumps to the floor, Padme following suit:
Padme: "To be angry is to be human."
Anakin: "I'm a Jedi. I KNOW I'm better than this."
THEN he starts the waterworks.
Perhaps just enough to show that Anakin seems remorseful, and that Padme is willing to accept his faults. Definitely should have been in the original release (perhaps certain digital prints had it, hell, maybe it WAS in the theater. But I don't remember it, so there.) Plus, it solves my internal mystery about the lost "I'm a Jedi" line from one of the trailers.
Back to the commentary... Coleman reveals that Jar-Jar had a little soliloquy of sorts cut out of a major scene. Thank God. For posterity, it was the scene where Palpatine hints that it would be nice if Padme were around to make a suggestion to the Senate. Then, of course, Jar-Jar decides to make it for her, and ends up starting the Galactic Civil War. Go figure.
McCallum talks about a shot of Samuel Jackson walking around in bluescreen, with the entire Senate scene built around him. In a way, it seems like self-hype. In another way, it's funny, but... he's right. It's pretty damn impressive given that CGI was still in baby steps less than 20 years ago.
Burtt talks about another cut, Anakin and Padme swinging across a chasm, ala Luke and Leia, that was cut from the sneaking into Geonosis scenes.
Moving into the factory, featuring the Padme-as-Mario sequence and a sometimes odd, sometimes dead-on CGI C-3PO, Lucas compares Anakin's conveyor battle to an abstract tone poem. I suppose he's rich enough to not be argued with. I must admit this scene features CG that transfers to TV much better than most DVDs do. Some of the mechanical stuff is just unrealistically real. Even the CG Jango is pretty good.
Burtt goes on to explain the importance of Reel 6 to the Star Wars saga. Reel 6 is apparently the traditional kick-off point for the climax of every Star Wars film, where the main characters are shown, sequentially, as action takes place in several places at once. Of course, A New Hope is kinda forgotten here, but it's forgiveable.
The fun here is listening to the perspectives of the arena scene. Coleman speaks about it like the kind of guy who loves to watch these things put together. McCallum talks like the guy who bitches about everything but the end result (which makes him a producer, I suppose.) Lucas admits it's a near-throwaway scene but for the tribute to serial cliffhangers ("Will Obi-Wan survive? Will the Jedi arrive in time to stop Dooku? Be here next week...") Lucas and Coleman, aka Captain Obvious and Redundant Boy, point out the obvious homages to Ray Harryhausen in the sequence.
Lucas gets more into Samuel Jackson as Mace Windu, speaking about how he appreciated the chance to simply introduce Mace in TPM and then let him loose in AOTC. He also makes sure to note that Mace (as well as Jimmy Smits's Bail Organa) will have major roles in Episode 3. Duh.
NOTE: Lucas says that ILM added extra sparks and a false start to Jango's jetpack, just in case you were wondering why he didn't fly away from Mace before... you know. The jetpack was damaged when the beast ran Jango down, but the sparking was a bit muted in the theatrical cut. The DVD cut makes the damage more obvious.
We now get to most people's favorite sequences of the movie... WHEN CLONES ATTACK!
McCallum praises Lucas's imagination. Again.
I, meanwhile, still can't believe there were NO live-action clonetroopers in this movie. There are quite a few obvious bits of CGI, but a lot of these suckers are moving WELL--I'm talking Sulley's-fur/Farquaad's-walk-cycle-well. But that's just one little bear's opinion.
The Death Star cameo wasn't added until late in the game, it seems. But what a cameo it was.
Holy Shit, a View Askew reference! Although Lucas gets the characters wrong (it was Randal and Dante, not Jay and Silent Bob, but props nonetheless) he mentions the classic debate of the contract workers who are killed when the under-construction Death Star is blown to bits. Apparently, some of those workers were Geonosians. So they DID deserve to die after all. Randal will sleep better now.
NOTE: Another change from theater to DVD... when Padme is found by the clonetrooper, she originally answered the question "Are you all right?" with a flat and damn-near comical "Yes." Now she grunts out a somewhat-more convincing "Uh-huh" before getting up, unharmed, and trotting away.
I thought that most of Dooku's fighting was a stuntman with Christopher Lee's head attached. I do believe that's much of the case, but it looks like a lot of Dooku action was fully-CGI. Much smoother than the little bits of CGI Maul we saw in TPM.
Everyone covers the Yoda duel with a fitting level of reverence. Yoda is such a little bad-ass, ain't he?
Skipping to the end, everything is going as Palpatine has planned. Lucas just comes out and says it... the Empire begins HERE.
NOTE: The last change to DVD is found here, though this one made it to the digital release. Padme takes Anakin's mechanical hand during the ceremony.
Lucas closes with more thoughts on how he loves being able to go back and tell the stories of how the original movies got to their starting point.
Personal Note: What he doesn't add is that the backstory is a tad more complicated than the resolution of Episodes 4-6, and perhaps he should have just cheated, changed A New Hope to Episode 5 for the '97 Special Edition releases, and made four new movies instead of three. Or at least condensed Episodes 1 and 2 into one 3-hour Epsiode 1, which could have been done more easily than anyone at Lucasfilm would probaly admit on the record. But I can live with what I've been given, as my life is not easily fulfilled or destroyed by two hours of images moving on a screen in fictional action.
The very last line of the commentary: McCallum makes a joke about how his name should have come first in the end credits. (Surrrre, it was a joke...)
That wraps up the commentary, and it was instructive, if not supremely entertaining. But again, this isn't Kevin Smith and the cast of Mallrats talking here.
Since you were wondering when I'd get around to it, the imagery is pretty damn near flawless, as it's a straight digital transfer. Certain scenes, as in all CGI-FX films, are made more obvious by digital video, and AOTC is certainly no different. However, even with these few mildly sore thumbs, the picture quality will make most Star Wars fans weep, especially since the original trilogy still is nowhere near a DVD release.
The sound, though as I said, no DTS here, will give the 5.1's a real workout. Musically and just plain old blowin' up real good-wise, the sound lives up to the name Star Wars.
I really, REALLY wish I had the extras disc. If this summary/review gets posted, I'm sure many will bitch about it being incomplete without the extras. I wholeheartedly agree, but I figure I might as well just send in what I have, and if you don't like it, I'm sure I'll hear it on the Talk Back Boards.
In closing, I'd like to claim the first Easter Egg from the disc! It didn't take too much thought, but it worked, so there...
In the options screen, simply press the sequence "1 1 3 8" (what a surprise) on your DVD remote to see the DVD credits. Interspliced with the credits, as with the TPM disc, are bloopers from the filming of AOTC. Though there aren't any CGI surprises like the racing Sandcrawler or the Gungan dancing, there are some funny little bits that might actually endear Hayden Christensen to viewers a bit more. Apparently, he's as clumsy as Jar-Jar claimed to be, as he stumbles and totally eats it several times during takes. Natalie Portman takes an ironic poke at Lucas for making her do the bluescreened version of the Mario Brothers conveyor scene. There are also some funny bits involving the speeders, but I won't totally spoil it all here.
This one disc alone would be worth a purchase, if only for the plaster that will shake from your neighbor's ceilings when you crank up the home theater. I'm sure this will be the benchmark disc for a score of DVD junkies when it hits stores. So, if the extras disc comes anywhere near the mighty supplementals of TPM, the Force will be strong in November, indeed.
Spider-Man, Fellowship of the Ring extended cut, AND Attack of the Clones in the space of two weeks? Blessed are the geeks, for they shall inherit the good shit... Sometime around November of 2002.
Thanks for noticing me.
The name is MCV. I'll be here all week.
3,800 words!! Holy shit!! Finally, someone who makes me look like a haiku artist!!
Seriously, though, nice work, man. Thanks a lot.
"Moriarty" out.
