Cool News
Make Your Own STAR WARS Movie?!?! Lucasfilms Will Help You Now!!
Merrick here...
A few months back, scifi.com launched a feature which enabled users to assemble their own BATTLESTAR GALACTICA movies by mixing home-made material with visual effects and music content from the series (provided through the site).
When this happened, I thought it would be exceedingly fun if Lucas and his minions did the same thing for STAR WARS. I mean, there are a ton of cool fan movies out there (some of them surprisingly well done). And, presumably, there are an infinite number of folks (like myself) who'd like to goof around with making a STAR WARS film of their own...but lack resolve, resources, or both (like myself).
As it happens, this very feature is about to be incorporated into the impending relaunch of The Official STAR WARS Website. On Friday, the redesigned site will deploy with an array of new features. One of these features allows users to integrate their own home-made material with 250 scenes/musical selection from all six STAR WARS movies. And, in an uncharacteristic frenzy of fan officialization, the site will also present a bevy of STAR WARS fan films...some of which have never been distributed on the Internet (is such a thing possible?)
Much of this is being made possible by a company called Eyespot, whose browser based, drag & drop editing application should make assembling material quite accessible & user friendly.
Instead of regurgitating a press release, I'll share more about this by giving you the actual press release itself. There are more details within this piece (including the reveal of some mini-documentaries about the making of the films, etc.), so read on.
StarWars.com Selects Eyespot to Help Usher In the Next 30 Years of Star Wars Entertainment
Relaunch of Site to Debut User-Generated Star Wars ‘Mash-Ups and Provide Hundreds of Videos and New Features, Including Eyespot Video-Editing Tool
San Diego and San Francisco, Calif. (May 24, 2007) – Star Wars fans can connect with the Force in ways they’ve only imagined beginning Friday, May 25, when StarWars.com launches a completely redesigned website that empowers fans to “mash-up” their homemade videos with hundreds of scenes from Star Wars movies; watch hundreds of fan-made Star Wars videos; and interact with Star Wars enthusiasts from around the world like never before.
With an innovative, interactive home-page design that allows users to navigate to multiple Star Wars worlds, a new video focus, and groundbreaking “Web 2.0” features – including a unique online multi-media mixing platform from Eyespot – the new StarWars.com will unveil its redesigned website on May 25 to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Star Wars Saga.
Among the most compelling features of the newly redesigned StarWars.com is the incorporation of an online video-editing tool provided by Eyespot. It allows users to add their own video shots to more than 250 scenes and music taken from all six Star Wars films and create their own Star Wars movies to share with others.
StarWars.com is also unveiling a new collection of hundreds of videos – many never before seen on the Internet – that will let fans enjoy some of the best user-generated Star Wars videos from across the web, including such cult favorites as “Chad Vader,” and five years worth of Star Wars Fan Movie Festival shorts, co-presented by AtomFilms.com. StarWars.com will also showcase extensive mini-documentaries that explore the making of the Star Wars Saga.
“Since 1977, Star Wars has been built on the idea that our fans are the reason we have been successful, and they have long shown their enormous creativity and desire to have fun and express themselves through Star Wars. Our new site brings our fans innovative tools like the Eyespot editor that let them just that in exciting new ways,” said Jeff Ulin, Senior Director of Distribution and Online for Lucasfilm Ltd.
“Eyespot’s creative technology allows Lucasfilm to protect its intellectual property while offering a media playground for fans to have a fun and accessible experience due to our product’s extreme ease of use,” said Jim Kaskade, co-founder and CEO of Eyespot. “We couldn’t be more honored to help celebrate the 30th anniversary of this monumental movie series.”
The May 25 relaunch is just the start of a series of exciting new additions to StarWars.com. In the coming months, continually added features will give the global Star Wars fan community unprecedented new content, new games, and new ways to share the 10,000-page site, which is visited by millions of users every month.
“We want the new StarWars.com to empower fans to make and watch Star Wars videos, play games, and share their love of Star Wars like no other site on the Internet,” said Bill Gannon, Director of Online Operations for Lucasfilm Ltd.. “StarWars.com already features blogs, special in-depth sections for kids and video gaming, the Hyperspace fan site, and the comprehensive StarWarsShop.com, making it unlike any entertainment themed website.”
Innovation is nothing new to StarWars.com – the website has always been a leader in utilizing the newest Internet technologies. “In 1999, we were the first to host the online premiere of a trailer, which was the biggest online event the Internet had seen to that point, and nearly a decade later we are ensuring that StarWars.com will remain one of the most innovative and fun entertainment sites anywhere on the web,” Ulin said.
StarWars.com is the Internet’s only official 365-day-a-year entertainment destination for Star Wars fans and is produced by Lucas Online, a division of Lucasfilm Ltd., as a digital destination for entertainment, education, reference and e-commerce for Lucasfilm’s intellectual properties and businesses. To learn more about the entire StarWars.com experience, visit the website at http://www.starwars.com.
About Eyespot
Eyespot’s browser based solution fosters creativity and discovery while empowering consumers to play with copyrighted media without having to download clunky software or learn new skills. The drag and drop editing application allows anyone to upload, remix, and create new video from the community’s vast pool of popular and legally-accessible content ranging from movie, television, and music clips or from user generated content. The company has been selected as a trusted partner by many of today’s most compelling brands and media entities, including Paramount Pictures, NBA, Jive Records, Lucasfilm, Ltd., among others. Eyespot can be found on the web at http://www.eyespot.com.
Okay, this is all pretty groovy.
As a next step, maybe someone will conjure-up a similar application that would facilitate the intuitive/easy/quick rendering of basic visual effects & animation. I know the matter is not simple, and such a gadget would be a highly improbable creation at best, but...man...I'd REEEEAAAAAAALLLLLLLYYYYYY LOVE that.
The new site reveals Friday May 25 - in exact conjunction with the 30th Anniversary of STAR WARS (can you believe it? Good God I feel) old. Also, by no coincidence, the STAR WARS Celebration IV begins today.
Relaunch of Site to Debut User-Generated Star Wars ‘Mash-Ups and Provide Hundreds of Videos and New Features, Including Eyespot Video-Editing Tool
San Diego and San Francisco, Calif. (May 24, 2007) – Star Wars fans can connect with the Force in ways they’ve only imagined beginning Friday, May 25, when StarWars.com launches a completely redesigned website that empowers fans to “mash-up” their homemade videos with hundreds of scenes from Star Wars movies; watch hundreds of fan-made Star Wars videos; and interact with Star Wars enthusiasts from around the world like never before.
With an innovative, interactive home-page design that allows users to navigate to multiple Star Wars worlds, a new video focus, and groundbreaking “Web 2.0” features – including a unique online multi-media mixing platform from Eyespot – the new StarWars.com will unveil its redesigned website on May 25 to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Star Wars Saga.
Among the most compelling features of the newly redesigned StarWars.com is the incorporation of an online video-editing tool provided by Eyespot. It allows users to add their own video shots to more than 250 scenes and music taken from all six Star Wars films and create their own Star Wars movies to share with others.
StarWars.com is also unveiling a new collection of hundreds of videos – many never before seen on the Internet – that will let fans enjoy some of the best user-generated Star Wars videos from across the web, including such cult favorites as “Chad Vader,” and five years worth of Star Wars Fan Movie Festival shorts, co-presented by AtomFilms.com. StarWars.com will also showcase extensive mini-documentaries that explore the making of the Star Wars Saga.
“Since 1977, Star Wars has been built on the idea that our fans are the reason we have been successful, and they have long shown their enormous creativity and desire to have fun and express themselves through Star Wars. Our new site brings our fans innovative tools like the Eyespot editor that let them just that in exciting new ways,” said Jeff Ulin, Senior Director of Distribution and Online for Lucasfilm Ltd.
“Eyespot’s creative technology allows Lucasfilm to protect its intellectual property while offering a media playground for fans to have a fun and accessible experience due to our product’s extreme ease of use,” said Jim Kaskade, co-founder and CEO of Eyespot. “We couldn’t be more honored to help celebrate the 30th anniversary of this monumental movie series.”
The May 25 relaunch is just the start of a series of exciting new additions to StarWars.com. In the coming months, continually added features will give the global Star Wars fan community unprecedented new content, new games, and new ways to share the 10,000-page site, which is visited by millions of users every month.
“We want the new StarWars.com to empower fans to make and watch Star Wars videos, play games, and share their love of Star Wars like no other site on the Internet,” said Bill Gannon, Director of Online Operations for Lucasfilm Ltd.. “StarWars.com already features blogs, special in-depth sections for kids and video gaming, the Hyperspace fan site, and the comprehensive StarWarsShop.com, making it unlike any entertainment themed website.”
Innovation is nothing new to StarWars.com – the website has always been a leader in utilizing the newest Internet technologies. “In 1999, we were the first to host the online premiere of a trailer, which was the biggest online event the Internet had seen to that point, and nearly a decade later we are ensuring that StarWars.com will remain one of the most innovative and fun entertainment sites anywhere on the web,” Ulin said.
StarWars.com is the Internet’s only official 365-day-a-year entertainment destination for Star Wars fans and is produced by Lucas Online, a division of Lucasfilm Ltd., as a digital destination for entertainment, education, reference and e-commerce for Lucasfilm’s intellectual properties and businesses. To learn more about the entire StarWars.com experience, visit the website at http://www.starwars.com.
About Eyespot
Eyespot’s browser based solution fosters creativity and discovery while empowering consumers to play with copyrighted media without having to download clunky software or learn new skills. The drag and drop editing application allows anyone to upload, remix, and create new video from the community’s vast pool of popular and legally-accessible content ranging from movie, television, and music clips or from user generated content. The company has been selected as a trusted partner by many of today’s most compelling brands and media entities, including Paramount Pictures, NBA, Jive Records, Lucasfilm, Ltd., among others. Eyespot can be found on the web at http://www.eyespot.com.
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Whahoooo!
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Cool gimmick idea...one that doesn't improve the movie experience...but is fun nonetheless...I'm off to find those home sex tapes I made with a certain young lady...play me the Darth Vader tune!
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Now lets see what all you bitchin fools can come up with HERES YOUR BIG CHANCE POOPY PANTS!!!
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And don't put more than 3 characters in it. And not too many Special F/X! The critics and the audience might get confused!
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...ban *all* references to Jar Jar.
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no message.
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just turn in the 'phantom edit' of ep1, and an ewokless edit of jedi
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that is a really neat idea on LucasFilm's part and a nice way of honoring/helping/etc the fans. And not that anyone cares but Star Wars was the first film I ever saw. Not that I remember any of it as I was only a couple of months old but mom and dad went and saw it at a drive in and lil Everett went with them. It also happens to be on eof the first movies I rmemeber seeing on VHS, it and oddly enough Micheal Jackson's Thriller
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"sigh"...the good ole days.
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For all.
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I can only pay him in beer and crisps, but I would love the opportunity to make a Jar Jar spin-off. They gave the fucking Ewoks their own films, so I don't see why the best character from the prequels shouldn't have a series of his own.Jar Jar was fucked over in episodes 2 and 3 (the man was keeping him down) - this could be a chance to rectify a terrible wrong done to a classic Star Wars character.
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I don't think I could take being laughed at.
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...would be about the only kind of SW movies I would make!
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Cause I have a few ides for that fan film, in fact I have been working on them since I was 12, mostly fomulated them in the shower with a lot of soap.
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http://blamesociety.net/web/chadvader.htm
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He does too.
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...on matters of editing film on computers, but why is this more revolutionary than the hundreds, perhaps thousands, of SW fans who have used SW footage from the films to make movies at home? I doubt very much that many of them will suddenly start doing it on the official website.
I've seen tons of the fan films, and it's striking that the best ones (Troops and Duality) are about a decade old whereas most of the other stuff since then has been dross starring/written/directed/produced by pudgy midwestern fellows with goatees and hideous girlfriends. -
I'd like to re-work ep 1 a bit. What I think what people really wanted out of TPM was more attention paid to procedural matters in the imperial senate. And I'd love to include a scene where Jar Jar expresses ignorance about how to assist a woman in childbirth.
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...the good folks over at Chiller said something nice about Vincent Price's birthday this weekend. www.chillertv.com
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I so want to move on from SW, and wish ol Georgie boy would focus on those 'small, independent films' he always talks about. If Lucas ever gets around to fully restoring the OOT movies on DVD or HD-DVD, I will finally have my versions I love to watch, and won't have to care what goes on in a GFFA anymore
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May 24, 2007 9:57:24 AM CDT
Soo besides promoting this editing software
by lour reed luvs frank zappa
This story doesn't really do anything?
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They have some good star wars stuff.
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no amount of tinkering and lacklustre prequels can alter the fact that no other movie has created such a fantastic universe. Millenium Falcon, R2D2, Darth Vader, Chewbacca, hyperspace, Han Solo, Death Star - this movie had it all...
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apparently...
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Harry isn't going to live this one down for a while.
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now maybe all you assholes that said you could've made a better movie can put your money where your mouth is
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One of the big reasons the first 3 movies worked so well was because of Marcia Lucas, the editor. Then, of course, George divorced her and made three more movies in some serious need of good editing.
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It's could to see after years of Lucas fucking around with these films he has given us all the opportunity to have a go ourselves
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Just like every great thing he's ever done.
It's because they have no vision.
I see "DocPazuzu" has already started.
Spider-man 3 WAS silly. Lame too. -
Something about that second scene with Luke and Biggs reminds me of the Canteen Boy sketch. "Oh Luke, you're so funny, make me laugh some more!" It looks like they almost kissed.
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And I don't mean "badass" as a compliment. What I'm saying is that most of the people who gripe about Lucas' later work are the people who will try to make their "awesome" Star Wars movie, and it will have Jedi & Sith fighting all over the fucking place, with no decent back-stories, no peripheral characters worth a damn, no sense of joy or adventure, and not much more than Force-user violence. Face it: The whiners complain because what they want is "KILL BILL" with lightsabers, and what they got was something true to the Star Wars story.
Just watch. It's all going to be Jedi versus Sith stuff, and they'll make the Sith look like cool anti-heroes, the Jedi look more like Shaolin Cops, and the rest of the galaxy dim in comparison. You will probably not find ONE film that completely ignores and excludes the Jedi or Sith. It will all be about looking badass and having attitude, and they'll all be completely missing the one thing that made Star Wars so popular: Heart. -
I'd emphasize how Salacious Crumb's Jedi training tipped the balance in the fight on Jabba's sail barge. Marquand really dropped the ball on that one.
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This is the perfect marraige of Star Wars, amatuer film making, and men that live with their mothers. Bravo!
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Does this bother anyone else?
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Sith Gotta Eat!!
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Hey folks, thought you might like to know that re-edits already exist for Episodes I and II, and I'm not even referring to the bi-coastal "Phantom Edits". Episode I is barely an hour and fifteen minutes long, is almost completely Jar Jar-free, and even incorporates a tiny bit of the dvd's deleted scenes to good effect. The podrace was redone so well that it actually made me sad, reminding me of how powerful the original attack on the Death Star played out, with minimal music and hoopla. Sad because it genuinely gave me an idea of what could have been. Anyways, Episode II is not only an hour shorter than the theatrical release, it cuts out so much of the useless love story that Anakin almost (repeat, ALMOST) comes off as cool. Oh, and that C3PO head-switching thing in the 3rd act is completely gone. All in all, once I saw both of these I immediately wished these were the versions I'd seen in the theater; they're that good, with a minimun of artifacting or glitches, pretty impressive for a series of films with wall-to-wall music and an already clunky editing pace. If anybody's interested in getting the link to the re-edits (be prepared for a spot of download time; these are feature-length), then chime in here. No money involved, of course, this is just geek to geek.
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What was missing from the PT was not 'more jedi vs sith' but was the combination of humor and the sense of adventure that the OT nailed for SW & ESB, and parts of ROTJ. The PT didn't need a Han Solo specifically, but it needed just one human character who wasn't a jedi, or a queen, or a politician, just a normal guy that people could relate to and say, "Hey I could actually be like one of those characters in the movie." The PT needed one character to challenge the Jedi and their ways and say, "You guys are fucking up this war big time, and you are losing your Michael Jordan-like Jedi in the process because he is fucking mental case!" The PT was loaded with boring characters that nobody gave a shit about, and if you can't even root for a chracter for 2 hours, whats the fucking point? The only redeeming character in the PT was ObiWan Kenobi played by Ewan McGregor, and he is MIA in TPM to Jar Jar and QuiGon, and unfortunately second fiddle for most of ROTS too. AOTC is the only movie McGregor shines, but that is offsetted by Hayden Skystalker rolling around in the grass on Naboo with Pad-Tease Amidala.
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A little too longing..
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Dude, I love Star Wars. I just don't think this latest project is all that and a bag of chips.
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I briefly slapped a flash animation together earlier this year. It's not great, but I loved certain sequences in the Star Wars radio drama and wanted to see that visualized. It's nice to see Lucasfilm doing this for the creative souls that were made with the release of the original Star Wars. I'll be sure to check this out.
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the sail barge. Next, fix Vader's arm gesture after has stopped talking. Finally, more of the "crazy face" droid.
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I was a fan of the OT for twenty years before TPM. By my second viewing of AOTC, I knew Lucas was going to exceed my expectations. ROTS confirmed this.
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Sounds like a hoot! I love the idea.
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It seems the only ones that are worth a damn are the funny ones or the really quick and simple ones. I've seen a couple where they put in a lot of effort...and they were utterly fucking terrible. There was one with that chick who sounded like she had a mouth full of marbles every time she talked. The other one was just horribly scripted and acted. I predict a deluge of unbearable shit coming out of this website with only the occasional golden corn nugget buried inside.
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I want to see Harry piloting an X-Wing AND trying to dip his "freedom fries" in some ketchup...while getting blasted from a Tie-Fighter. And you know that always F*CK you at the fly-throO0ooOO00ooO!
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T.R.O.O.P.S.
RVD
Reign of the Fallen
I.M.P.S. (featuring Peter "Optimus Prime" Cullen)
and many more...though most are indeed crap.
Expect a hundred films featuring amateur saber-duelists fighting in a forest to the theme - Duel of the Fates :P -
My favorite Fan Films are Troops, Chad Vader and Kill Vader.
I'm kinda surprised Kill Vader never caught on more. Its a CG SW/Kill Bill /Lego crossover. Its on youtube. -
i think this is a pretty good idea,its great that lucas is willing to give people another way to play in his universe.
i didnt know battlestar has been doing this for awhile either so i will have to check it out. -
in the first youtube video, Luke should have called the girl a bitch when she threw his electrobinoculars( i'm a geek) at him. as for the new SW.com idea, it's cool, i just hope they add the deleted scene with Darth Maul fighting Qui-Gon on the royal ship landing pad before they leave tatooine.
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Koo Stark did do a soft-core movie called 'Emily', but she's better known for dating Prince Andrew in the '80s.
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really...we don't.
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Anyone have an opinion on this:
http://www.talesofthenewrepublic.com/ -
with my sillier homemade video story. That sound silly to you, fucking lucas?
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silly movies!!!!! And I'm going to kill Jar Jar in a extended torture sequence!!!!
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We need to poke some more fun at AICN.
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but i don't know if the pic is fake or don't. OUTNOW.CH. you have to be a member. It's a german site.
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there's not a whisper of this newly dsigned website launch on starwars.com itself, so I'd call this a scoop. And yay, we know about it even before thos elucky bastards at Celebration IV. I feel slightly cool, vastly offset by my nerdy excitement at the fun I'll be having with the new site.
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Don't you have the balls to at least post "removed by request of WB" or "we got fooled again"? The post is still in the RSS feed, so take your sack in your hand and fess up, huh?
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AICN got pwn3d
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That's what I would've said ten years ago.
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Cuz this will be as bad as "On the Lot"
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I like hearing about all the shit the Empire was up to when ANH started.
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toward the end of the movie back into the film WITHOUT putting in his introduction? Yeah, people who grew up on the comic/radio version/storybook might have known who Biggs was, but most people not in that age-range when the '97 edition came out (like my mom) were like, "who the hell is that?" Dude, either put Biggs all the way back in or edit out all reference the character whatsoever, including "Biggs is right" Sure, more people know who Biggs is now, and Luke's mutterings at the begging are somewhat of an intro I guess. But, Jesus, a ten year old mistake is still a mistake IMO. Oh and as long as we're on the subject of editing and SW. That "alert my star-destroyer" stuff along w/ the shuttle take-off/fly-by/landing....Brilliant! You know, that was such a gaping plot-hole that "bring my shuttle" line, and then out of nowhere Vader is on his ship! For 17 long years we waited and wondered how Vader got from Cloud-City to his destroyer...thank you Lucas & co. Thank you so much for clearing that up! I would hope on that on any future DVD-release however, that you shoot some additional material of Vader making his way from the hanger-bay to the bridge....I think would really help enhance the scene even further
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I am going to make a star wars film using only footage from the original film and other well knowns, like The Graduate or Aliens. then I'll post it all over the net and people will like my fan-made trailer. THEN, a week later, watch as Harry posts it thinking its a trailer for a new star wars film lucas has been making in secret.
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Check out the Star Wars vid. I created. Make sure the URL is connected to view it of course http://youtube.com/wa tch?v=eAOBrlB6zFY
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I dug the ESB parody they did, and I wanna see that chick in the Leia slave outfit. Hubba hubba splooge. Oh, and its kinda funny, too. But, yeah, she's hot. Sex.
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They screened it at Comic-Con last summer but it's been hard to find since then. Maybe they're tweaking it further or something. But it was even more ambitious...and just as funny, if not more so than the last. Especially the part with Pink confronting the Emperor and Vader on the Death-Star just before Luke gets there....good stuff.
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Sorry I forgot to post a spoiler-warning btw. Looks like they have all four up (ROP5 is in two parts) http://tinyurl.com/7nly4
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http://tinyurl.com/yrt49s
If this "make your own movie" and relaunch of the starwars site is the big announcement lucasfilm was going to make today as per that link and many other sites such as theforce.net, then does that mean definitely no KOTOR movie? I don't know if I should be overjoyed or in pain - such conflicting emotions; the path to the darkside it makes... -
Bring 'em on folks, it'll just make me appreciate the prequels more.
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Made out to be comedies and are generally unfuny. Others are lightsaber duels made in forests and deserts with bad makeup and yes, bad acting. Only a few really stand out. I'd like to see those ones.
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...sucks royal monkey dick.Thanks for ruining a great trilogy with a turd prequel-trilogy.
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All he needs now is a pair of bellbottoms and a woman in need of a "pool cleaning". BOM CHIKA WAH WOW!
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... he wasn't kidding. --- But I'm tired of the whole "Let's-Regurgitate-Star-Wars-For-The-Nth-Time" schtick. Let's see some NEW, original space-opera film instead. (And let's see Lucas make those small independent films he talked about making, indeed!)
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I was there 30 years ago.
Why Uncle George never added these scenes to the so-called special edition is beyond me.
Should have called it the special effects edition.
And Han shot first!!!!!
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Not a damn thing. Are they late? Is it a hoax? There's a sign that says "come back Sunday for a surprise" maybe that's it.
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