Uxi

Lucas went back and forth on the 9 episode thing for awhile in the late 90s period. This was well documented on USENET (rec.arts.sf.starwars.misc IIRC) a few years ago. His stance for the last few years has been pretty consitently against, however, though there's nothing to preclude Lucas from changing his mind again in 10-15 more years. Noone can say for sure since Lucas isn't entertaining the ideas of the third trilogy right now, but the most appropriate angle would be Luke's son dealing with the dark side and a possible reappearance of the Sith. Besides, if the scope of Star Wars changed before (though i'd argue against that... the POV and details possibly changed but the broad story arcs have been set for near 30 years IMO), what's to say it couldn't change again to encompass a new trilogy?

The ROTJ novelization is still good. I bought the hardback compilation of all 3 originals when I bought the novelization of Return of the Sith and read them semi-concurrently. Some of the detail from the original intent is way off (Ben's reference to Owen being HIS brother, etc), but all such detail is irrelevent minutia IMO. It DOES still hold up IMO and it more closely correlates Luke with Anakin. The way the films are right now, the differences are more stark but the novelizations bring father and son, and their choices, closer in parallel and detail the contrasts between the circustances and decisions of the two. All of the previous introspection is centered on his evaluations of Luke and his plotting against of the Emperor. None of which is really relevent to Revenge of the Sith. Anakin's final introspection in the novelization IS quite moving, tho it would be hard to add to the movie I think. That one line would have been great, though.

Heh, thanks Hurin. Just trying to look at the bigger picture instead of getting lost in the details. I always thought the prequels would have been better if Maul had stayed the whole trilogy. Obi-wan could have let himself drop from the shaft in homage to Luke in TESB. Maul realizes the gig is up, the Jedi Council is about to arrive, and splits. Dooku would have been a pawn of Sidious in rival to Maul in AOTC. Dooku would be the public face of the Separatists while Maul was the hidden one (instead of Sidious). Dooku would flee the Arena and the Jedi would chase him to Maul for the hangar duel. Facing Maul would be a great feat for Obi-wan while Anakin faces Dooku. Naturally they're both defeated (and Anakin still loses his hand). Then Yoda comes and whoops it on with Maul AND Dooku and the Sith Lords flee. Both of whom would see action in the Clone Wars (with their minions Asajj Ventress, Durge, and Grevious). Maul would replace Grevious in Ep 3 and the rest of Ep 3 goes largely the same with Dooku dispatched on the flagship and Obi-wan chasing down Maul to Utapau, where he's finally able to beat him. Only to face Order 66 and Anakin's betrayal. Now I'm not displeased with the execution of the prequels and like the character of General Grevious, but just think Maul would have filled the same roll better. Possibly making Dooku Anakin's father (possibly revealed after he de-hands him at the hypothetical end to AOTC) would give even more similarity (and tragedy) to the subsequent actions.

The prequels purpose wasn't to redefine the original trilogy, it was to add scope and contrast. The prequels VALIDATE the original trilogy, they don't contradict them (fanboy minutia aside). Ultimately they show that Luke and Anakin faced the exact same choices at various points but Luke chooses good and Anakin chooses evil. That Luke's choices are able to drag Anakin out of the darkness and fulfill his destiny is the larger arc over that brings all 6 together. The purpose Lucas had in setting up Anakin as a kid in Ep 1 was to show he had a loving family life with his mother and that we couldn't blame his fall to darkness on his childhood. While different circumstances surrounded them, Luke and Anakin both faced a war and came into their power during their wars. Both seethed with hatred for the Sith Lord who took their hands. The moment of truth for each is when they face their defeated Sith Lord pawn of the true threat. Anakin chooses to kill Tyranus while Luke decides he can't kill Vader. Both have Palpatine whispering into their ear because THAT action must be a conscious choice and not reflexive. The novelization of RotJ gives better treatment to Luke's dillemma. He feels his father is gone by the time of their duel and wonders if there is any reason left to not kill the evil thing in front of him... but he sees two paths... one that leads into darkness and one that doesn't. Anakin DOES briefly bother with the introspection of his choices, but chooses the power to selfishly defy the inevitable loss of his loved ones.

Then what do you call the encampment of dead Tusken Raiders on Tatooine? Target practice? Granted, they had a hand in Shmi's death, but Anakin murdered them all (women and children included) just the same. Tuskens versus Dooku is the difference between white hot rage and passion taking over versus a good moment for premeditation and consideration. 2nd ("hot" blooded) versus 1st ("cold" blooded) degree murder.

But yeah, looks cool. I saw a super bug at an airshow, on the ground. Doesn't look too shabby, either.

Cause you wanted to be in the Chair Force?

Yeah hopefully they age him and make him smile for the next DVD release of RotJ. And I'm all for adding Watto, Qui-Gon, and the green rancor-food chic to the ghost scene.

Hmm where to start... The imbalance in the Force is Sidious, not the Jedi. A properly trained Jedi acts with the balance of the Force in mind. Ultimately selfless and the means justify the end. The Sith care nothing about the balance, using the Force to only augment themselves. Ultimately selfish and the ends justify the means. The Jedi were plain hoodwinked by Sidious, from Ep1. He was deliberately making the Jedi look bad through the inception and conduct of the whole war, to undercut their credibility, with the war itself having no purpose other than to catch Jedi in the middle.. The novelization goes into far more detail in that Sidious also backed them into a corner. His dictatorship was legitimate with his control (if not acceleration) of the corruption in the Senate. The only chance the Jedi have at that point is to move against the (legitimate) government, which make them quite legal enemies of the state and destroy what (legal) credibility they have left. The difference between law and justice still exists... but the Sith have managed to twist the law onto their side. The battles in the Clone Wars in Ep3? They ARE pointless. The whole war was a ruse never intended to have any other point than to catch some Jedi in the middle of the meatgrinder and spread them through the galaxy surrounded by clones for Order 66. Nominally, the battles had their purposes: Coruscant - Separatists trying to escape, Republic trying to interdict/destroy/rescue the Chancellor. Kashyyk - Droids invade the wookies and seize the area (city). Wookies/Clones Defend. Utapau - Clones: Attack the droids and destroy their stronghold. Droids: Defend Grevious' coughing is nothing more than a nod to the Clone Wars cartoon. Another disposable puppet of Sidious. Just like Dooku. Just like Maul. Ultimately, just like Anakin. And just like Luke WOULD have been, had the wind went that way (and does in Dark Empire). Just like the Clone Wars themselves, they're all pawns to Sidious' schemes. Dooku's purpose is to be Anakin's first cold blooded murder. Like Sidious wants Luke to do later on in almost the exact same circumstances. Maybe if Dooku had been Anakin's dad, it would have THE exact same. With Mace, Anakin also faced a similar choice to Luke but again chose differently. Or the same, depending on your POV. Mace had won the duel and was getting ready to finish off Sidious. Sidious was getting ready to finish off Luke. One made the right choice... one made the wrong one, which is what the contrast between Luke in the OT and Anakin in the PT are all about. There is still a distinct GOOD and BAD in the Force, consistent in both trilogies. Being selfish is with the BAD, being selfless is with the good. Anakin falls for selfish reasons, to keep those he cares about for HIMSELF and not for their own sake. He doesn't want to spare Padme (or his mother) from pain and death, he wants to spare his own loss and Palpatine lures him with the means to that end.

Right now I'm leaning on PS3, but time will tell. I could end up with both like I have XBOX and PS2 right now. Nintendo? They're day is done, though I'm willing to be surprised (unlikely, tho).

Wow, that is pretty good work.

Take your medication, fan boi.

Still going with Galaxies. I actually like the game mechanics of the CU, just HATE HATE HATE the level system that's a part of it. I got kinda jacked on levels but everything else is pretty good.

Looks better than I was expecting. Wonder how long they'll have before they have a new actor.

It's not so much the content of the Hayden replacement in RotJ that bugs but the execution. Particularly that he doesn't look like he's looking in the same direction. The expression is weird, too. Aged and "content and proud of his son" would have been better, I agree. I thought the Emperor in TESB was much better than chimp eyes on the gorilla or whatever it was. The dialogue change was interesting but not bad.

Ah yeah, More of the space battle would have been nice, but I thought the clone action on the other worlds was excellent (especially seeing some go down... don't see nearly enough go down in AOTC IMO) and the same for the Kashyyk battle. They included more of Order 66 than I was expecting (was really surprised to see Plo Koon in his fighter) and tragic. I definitely disagree with Coota0. Furious Vader is far more effective than Defeated Vader and fits the character more. Also, I thought Mace's death was awesome and horrible. Much faster than it seemed in the novelization. Some screaming and then ZAP! see ya! Mutilated Anakin on the lava was incredible.

Yes Luke says "real mother" to Leia in RotJ and Leia knows she's adopted. The Novelization has more elaboration (of course), and DOES indicate that these memories of Leia are from her infancy. Why would she have them and Luke wouldn't? Because he was pulled out pf Natalie Portman's glory how many minutes sooner?

Caught the midnight showing last night (went to pick up my ticket and was gonna go home for a couple hours, but there was already a gigantic horde out there, so I just stayed and my friends joined me). Movie was great. Pacing seemed kinda rushed to me in the beginning (and I seemed to notice a distinct lack of music when I thought it might be appropriate) and ended on a kind of a low (while I think the opposite on all counts with Attack of the Clones). Hurin, I wouldn't worry about that. Anakin IS kinda "tricked" (seduced would be a more accurate word), but in the end the choices were his. This movie smacked of tragedy, no doubt.

Expect multiple editions. The 30th anniversary of Star Wars will be in 2007. I'm sure LFL will milk it for all its worth. Lucas also announced at Las Vegas's Showest his plans to convert all six films to a 3D format. What do you base that on? They didn't have that many versions of VHS and only version of each on DVD to date... If anything, LFL has done anything BUT milk their stuff. If *I* was Lucas, i'd be making loot 3 times off some of the Raped Childhoods here. First version, as is. Second version "regular" special editions. Third version "almost" normal versions (improved SFX but Greedo still not shooting first). Then super limited original theatrical cut versions (RotJ vintage), then original classic theatrical version of ep4 (82). Then super duper original (78) without Ep4 titling,etc. All spaced about 10-18 months after the last. Each time including one more deleted scene.

Kingdom of Heaven was far better than I was expecting. About on par with Gladiator, though better on the actual history (which was a pleasent surprise since one of my favorite areas of history is the Crusades and I've most of the classic sources -Runciman, etc near memorized and on the shelf). As far as AvP. I want it like a porno: right to the action with minimal (if zero) attempt at "plot." Just get to Aliens and Predators eviscerating each other with some hapless humans caught in the middle (and preferably shredded).

Have a Qui-Gon Rubies, one of the cheapo non electronic Qui-Gons and one of the Darth Maul Hasbro. Got all of them on clearance a couple years ago. I'd like one of the Master Replicas but will probably never spend that much on one. Got various parts and tools to make one for halloween a couple years ago, but never got around to it. Been using the dremel on other stuff, though.

Sounds good. So when's the mondo super special edition come out?

That is a good special effect. I watched that 5 or 6 times at least. For all you Aayla fans: "134 EXT. FELUCIA-FOREST-DAY A column of CLONE WALKERS marches across the forest floor. The STRANGE CALLS of the alien forest creatures of FELUCIA suddenly stop. The Jedi AAYLA SECURA and her CLONE TROOPS brace for an ambush. AAYLA: Steady. . . . steady . . . They all look around for signs of the enemy. CLONE COMMANDER BLY moves up behind the Jedi. AAYLA: (continuing) Bly, do you think they're Droids? BLY: No. BLY blasts AAYLA in the back. The OTHER CLONES fire on her as she hits the ground. Another Jedi, BARRISS OFFEE, is cutting down a patrol of DROIDS when a CLONE WALKING TANK and SEVEN CLONE TROOPERS round a corner and blast the Jedi away. Ouch.

Oh yeah and IIRC the A-wing gets taken out in Executors explosion in the novelization. Clip looks great.

I've been wanting that game, but never see it in stores.