"I'm Luke Skywalker! I'm here to rescue you!"

Micah Cohen
Micah Cohen Posts: 2,022
edited June 2007 in Music & Movies
Okay, children. Say whatever you want about watching TPM -- how it bottoms out your subs and shakes your house foundations and looks so crisp and clean -- I'm here to tell you once again, that it simply sucks in the manner of all "flash over substance."

Why, you ask, must I say this again?

Because this weekend, I shut off the phones, pulled the black-out curtains, turned up the system, and watched THE ORIGINAL, UN-TAMPERED-WITH, WIDESCREEN "Star Wars" on THX VHS from 1995. Guess what? It is a GREAT FILM.

Overlook the tiny idiocies like some sloppy editing, some low budget overdubs and replay shots, and SEE the casting coups of Peter Cushing, Anthony Daniels and of course the amazing Alec Guinness. There were moments when I had tears in my eyes the damned flick is SO GOOD -- when Obi Wan first appears, he's incredible! And of course the first time you see Darth Vader, there is one of those amazing film moments when the momentum of the film, the music and the camera all converge on one spectacular shot! So much about this film was great, including the thought that went into foreshadowing and building the story that we don't see. The film is well paced, well made, and ORGANIC -- no cheesy CGI to get in the way of the GREAT FUN story. No need for CGI -- those little models were cool as spit, and when the space ships fly right by or those TIE Fighters whizz by the screen, man my soundsystem BLASTED them with that cool screaming space ship sound! Forget CGI, it's too easy. Make me believe in a tiny model and you're a BETTER FILMMAKER.

I FELT LIKE I WAS TEN AGAIN!

Okay, it was pro-logic and VHS -- very muddy and not nearly as clear and detailed as DVD -- but it was like a film projected on my screen, and it was widescreen OAR, and the music was thunderous and evocative.

DAMN GEORGE LUCAS for forcing me to watch his best (only watchable) film on such a crappy medium. But I am HAPPY ABOUT IT! HAPPY TO WATCH IT THIS WAY if it's the only way I can see the ORIGINAL un-fiddled-with film, which is a better film than any of the other films combined simply by way of its originality, and its pure story, and ALEC GUINNESS.

What an incredible film! I highly recommend you revisit it. Get some perspective.

TPM is a shame.

"It'll be just like Beggar's Canyon back home!"

MC
ultramicah@yahoo.com

"There's nothing funny about a clown in the moonlight." - Lon Chaney
Post edited by Micah Cohen on

Comments

  • juice21
    juice21 Posts: 1,866
    edited October 2001
    i don't think anybody will argue with you that star wars is a better film than TPM, MUCH BETTER, at least i hope not. i beleive that the quality and care put into the making of the TPM DVD though is incredible, and even more so, gives me great hope of what is to come of the original trilogy on DVD. the star wars THX widescreen trilogy VHS boxed set is the only VHS's i can still watch since merging onto the DVD scene. the entrance of darth vader onto the rebel ship with the imperial march score is one of the most memorable scenes in all cinematic history. the art and craftsmanship of hand made models will always contain a quality and level of art that CGI cannot reproduce. these are also the movies we grew up on, before we became so critical, and before we hated the ewoks. there is a nostalgia that lays in these films with our generation that can probably never be forgotten or outdone. watching these films on a great HT set-up IS enough to bring tears to your eyes. and only jar-jar can bring tears to your eyes in TPM. however, the DVD quality cannot be ignored, even though the movie content is far poorer than the original trilogy. but c'mon micah, you can't tell me you don't enjoy watching duel of the fates or the pod racer sequence on DVD?
  • RuSsMaN
    RuSsMaN Posts: 17,986
    edited October 2001
    Well said.

    TPM SUCKS.

    R
    Check your lips at the door woman. Shake your hips like battleships. Yeah, all the white girls trip when I sing at Sunday service.
  • Micah Cohen
    Micah Cohen Posts: 2,022
    edited October 2001
    Great quote in your subject line, Juice!

    Sure, all the DVD gimmicks are vunderbar! But who cares? That DVD could have been just a series of demo set-pieces. You're getting ripped off by having to pay for a whole lame movie just to show your friends how your subwoofer jumps up and dances during the stupid pod race scene.

    The kid in the scene is SO STUPID it's unendurable. When it's over, the sportcasters do that disco dance thing that makes me EMBARRASSED FOR LUCAS and his whole staff. WHO TOLD HIM THIS WAS OKAY!?

    Yippee! My sub rocks! :rolleyes:

    Nothing beats a really GREAT FILM! "Star Wars" was obviously just a FLUKE.

    MC
    ultramicah@yahoo.com

    "There's nothing funny about a clown in the moonlight." - Lon Chaney
  • juice21
    juice21 Posts: 1,866
    edited October 2001
    oh, i agree. i own it, and all i've watched are the extras, the duel of the fates, and the pod race. it will be awhile, if ever, i have the desire to sit and watch the whole movie in it's entirety. reading your post though, i may have to pop in a new hope tonite and 'feel like i'm ten again.'
  • PETERNG
    PETERNG Posts: 918
    edited October 2001
    You probably won't believe this, I checked on the three LDs that I have, they are so old, first version of the Star Wars trilogy, all of them in P/S version (not WS), these disc are made in Japan. I wonder if they worth anything now?
  • Micah Cohen
    Micah Cohen Posts: 2,022
    edited October 2001
    Sell them on eBay. P&S versions suck. Trade them in for the widescreen THX LDs, same issue (same cool cover art), better OAR.

    Stuff you don't see in the P&S version: The pod from "2001" sitting outside the cantina in Mos Isley, and the stormtrooper bumping his head on the door frame.

    MC
    ultramicah@yahoo.com

    "There's nothing funny about a clown in the moonlight." - Lon Chaney
  • juice21
    juice21 Posts: 1,866
    edited October 2001
    P/S also has no yak face.
  • Micah Cohen
    Micah Cohen Posts: 2,022
    edited October 2001
    Yak face!


    I just like saying that.

    MC
    ultramicah@yahoo.com

    "There's nothing funny about a clown in the moonlight." - Lon Chaney
  • THX 3417
    THX 3417 Posts: 219
    edited June 2007
    It’s the “Road Show” 70mm six-track Dolby Stereo “Baby Boom” versions we want transferred to DVD that is one version that most would like to hear and feel again not the sixth remixed version of A New Hope!

    The tracks would be configured as Left Baby Boom Centre Baby Boom Right and monaural surround. Hence the playback for the DVD format would be Dolby 4.1, has Baby Boom tracks 2 and 4 are playing the same track for enhanced sub bass as and when the track cuts in!
  • Strong Bad
    Strong Bad Posts: 4,278
    edited June 2007
    Is this a new fad to dig up 5 & 6 year old threads and reply to them? Kind of like a time capsule. Bury it then dig it up in a 100 years or so. :rolleyes:
    No excuses!