[barend]

I've been wondering for like 20 years but what the hell... (does anybody know?)... is the deal with this Manual Graphic Imageing spot?

obviously painted on to the film to cover something up...
but what? it's so bloody small...
what could they be possibly be covering up?



hmmm?

[Despondent]

Maybe it's the shadow of the empire.

Too small to cover the plot holes to come. Maybe he foresaw those too.

I'll pull out my tape if you think I should. Is it only in that scene?


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I've always thought it was crazy how the doorway Vader uses in the cave on Dagobah scene is so similar to the bespin doorway he uses before Luke's panicky scream. Well, since 1997 anyway. Before that the scream would not have been part of the description

[SouthernRonin]

It seems to me that they were trying to create the illusion of a shadow on Palpatine's face, as thrown by the lightsabers. If you look at the spot, you'll notice that you can actually see a bit of Palpatine's skin near the bottom edge, where it's closer in the light.

Of course, I always thought this was an effect they created w/lights on the day, I didn't think they actually painted anything.

[Just your average movie goer]

Come on, Barend! There are much more important questions to ask about Return of the Jedi than that - the most obvious, why didn't Leia do a dance while she was in that dancing girl costume?

But to answer your question, I think it's from the shadow cast by the cowl and the image suffered some deteroriation when it was transferred to film.

I've always thought it was crazy how the doorway Vader uses in the cave on Dagobah scene is so similar to the bespin doorway he uses before Luke's panicky scream.

I loved that - I thought that was beautiful foreshadowing, as was the vision with Darth Vader's helmet exploding to reveal Luke's face. Good stuff.

[SimeSublime]

the most obvious, why didn't Leia do a dance while she was in that dancing girl costume?

Hey? Why didn't Leia do a dance while she was in that dancing girl costume?

[Just your average movie goer]

Yeah - you know... we sit through that long awful Jabba the Hutt sequence, waiting for fifteen minutes to see Leia in that bikini. And she's only in it for about two minutes of total screentime. I mean, what a waste! With Lucas' big musicals and song-and-dance obsessions, I wonder why didn't he do a great dance number with Leia?

I know what you're thinking. This would have destroyed the credibility of the film even more but it already had a muppet musical at this point. Lucas may as well have gone all the way and just turned Return of the Jedi into a Star Wars musical.

[CowboyCurtis]

AGH!! NO!! STOP HER!! DOESN'T ANYONE REMEMBER THE HOLIDAY SPECIAL!!??

[Just your average movie goer]

Sorry - I should have realised that may have brought back painful memories for some of our older members.

[barend]

the spot is there in all close ups...

solve the mystery damn you lazy bastards...

[Stongbah]

It's the shadow of the camera!
I'm smart.

[SimeSublime]

I alwasy just assumed it was the shadow of the hood over his face, Black Mage style.

[srmoore]

Maybe they missed a spot with the makeup?

[Just your average movie goer]

Ok, Barend - I'll explain. There is something in the movie business called the "Screw-up Gnomes". They are nasty little creatures that mess with films before they are transferred to videos and DVDs. In the past, they were fairly discreet. They did things like mark individual frames with pens and paints.

Sometimes they were not so discreet - like the time the evil little bastards coloured the entire Errol Flynn Robin Hood film and made Will Scarlet's clothing bright red!

In this case, they only caused minor damage to the film, putting that spot over every frame with the Emperor with a permanent marker - although some conspiracy theorists believe that it was the screw-up gnomes that were responsible for the awful rancor effects. But that has never been proven.

[Despondent]

One conspiracy theory I won't even consider.

Barend, YOU added that spot. Either that or I wasted 40 minutes fastforwarding through the third best star wars film. Seeing 3po dancing was worth it, I guess.

"How does Han get his shirt so white for the final celebration" would be a more apt question, I believe. "Heh-heh" as the ewok laughs, credits roll.

so Civilian, is "hoax" a contraction of "hocus-pocus?"


Movie Goer; screw up gnomes mess with theatrical releases as well. their work appears every 20 minutes or so, right before a reel change

[Just your average movie goer]

Ah, those little buggers. And all the time, the projectionists say it's some little cue to let them know when to change the real! Why would they lie to cover the screw up gnomes? They must be in on that one together!