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My ROTS trailer review.

#1 User is offline   Slynt aka Ree Yees Icon

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Posted 19 March 2005 - 12:10 PM

A quick introduction first: I am one of the outcasts hanging out at theforce.net's Basher's Sanctuary. One of the moderators however has decided that he can ban me whenever he feels like it, even though I am relatively polite to people over there, and have no trouble with other mods.
Then I found this beautiful place smile.gif
So what follows is my thoughts on the REVENGE of the SITH trailer. Also called "I need to vent."

Thank you for your time.

REVENGE OF THE SITH
THEATRICAL TRAILER


When March the 11th rolled around, I was so incredibly sad for not being a Hyperspace member. If I had been, I would have the privelege of getting a small version well after everybody and their mother had downloaded full-screen high res versions from anywhere online. I have always hoped society would turn into the kind where people pay to get advertisements, so this was a severe blow. It's a good thing starwarsshop.com or whatever it's called conjures up new and exciting items daily at incredibly low prices, such as ugly Darth Mittens statuettes for ninehundred dollars.

Anyway. I downloaded the trailer and watched it a few times. At first, I was a little surprised I didn't felt more hate towards it. In fact, I began quoting that first excruciatingly slow Palpatine-line, "blahblah .. unnatural." The way he said that last word was cool kind of. A while. Of course, I quickly realized that I was just hit by a momentary Star Wars fever, the kind I have been suffering since the early eighties right up until 1999, for I have truly loved the original Star Wars films way beyond what is healthy for a person proclaiming to be sane.

While The Phantom Menace was a major dissapointment in my life, it has a few parts where it really shows potential; the "Oh what could have been" syndrom, and it is also present in this trailer I think (Attack of the Clones, on the other hand, is terror to my soul from beginning to end; it is the ultimate crap glorified).
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#2 User is offline   Slynt aka Ree Yees Icon

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Posted 19 March 2005 - 12:12 PM

The potential I am talking about in this here trailer is the "darkness"; the physical darkness of the shots, a good move. Not because the story will be that dark, but because it casts some shadows on the terribly boring set designs of these films. Kickass.

But the trailer falls apart at its seams, just like the movie is more than likely to do. Attack of the Clones is a pure feast of spotting the "This does not make sense", and from the looks of it, most of Revenge of the Sith will not make sense either, not in relation to the two first and definitely not in regards to the original films.

Let's see what we have in here that does not make sense.

1.
The shuttle in the very beginning of the trailer speeding towards a planet. Accompanied by two fighters. It's design does not make sense in the way that it is rather stupid that ship designers need twenty + years to realize this ship needs a wing (see Imperial Shuttle). It's a poor design choice to just take an OT ship and remove a wing. It's beyond poor design, it's retarded. Lucas' words back in the mid-nineties keep haunting me: He said the new technology would give him what he needed to conjure up things beyond our imaginations. He gives us ships with one wing less. And Jar Jar. I am impressed.
Oh, not only is the design ripped straight from ROTJ, the scene itself is ALSO ripped right out of ROTJ with the approaching Imperial Shuttle and TIE fighters. I remain impressed at Lucas' boundless imagination.

2.
"The Dark Side of the Force is a pathway to many abilities..some considered to be...unnatural."
This bit clearly suggests ROTS will be *another* Star Wars film brimming with way too long, untrimmed, boring dialogue - stilted, blunt, whatever. And the line does not even make sense. How are the powers of the Sith unnatural? They do approximately the same things as Jedi. Who considers the Dark Side abilities to be unnatural? Normal people? They know nothing. Jedi? Why would Jedi find that unnatural? Is running at 1000mph, mindtricks etc . unnatural? Is Jar Jar's dive into the pond natural?

3.
"Is it possible to learn this powah?"
Obviously, Hayden's dialogue will once again be delivered in a dreary, monotone voice. And while his hair is way better, he still is not Anakin Skywalker to me.

4. "The council wants you to report on all the Chancellor's dealings."
They have the prophecy. Mace does not trust him. He failed at his tasks in AOTC. So why do they give him such an incredibly important mission - alone? Doesn't make much sense although I can buy this one. It's another example of George Lucas doing the "I need to have character A to be with character B", disregarding any logical or emotional reasons to connect the dots. It just has to be this way. The genius.

5. "I don't think the boy can handle it. I don't trust him."
Anakin's been training for years at the Temple (I presume). Why does Mace not trust him? I am 100% sure the film will not give an answer as to why Mace suspects Anakin of anything (think of how Mace blatantly defended Dooku in AOTC). And why doesn't Mace do something about it? The Jedi have in short time realized they are being duped, war is fought across the galaxy, and Mace just goes "Well I don't trust him but whatever." Doesn't make any sense.

6. "I need your help son."
The delivery's there, but I just can't stand that line. Count this as a minor bash.
"Son." Meh.

7. The Jedi Council
Yippee! More scenes of people sitting around in a room with only chairs. How interesting and imaginative! Oh look, some of them are holograms! Incredible, how does Lucas come up with this stuff. And what the hell is Obi-Wan doing there? Correct me if I'm wrong, but I am pretty confident the OT clearly establishes Obi-Wan as a JEDI KNIGHT who was tutored by the mysterious, powerful JEDI MASTER Yoda.

8. "Obi-Wan and the council don't trust me."
Anakin whining again. Didn't we have enough of that?

9. "You're under arrest blahblah."
Where does Samuel hide his script? I'm sure he's reading it right there in that scene. How can I, as a sidenote, take this scene seriously when that stupid ugly Kit Fisto (or was it Kitten Fister) is there? And where is the epic drama in having a fight in a lawyer's office on Earth? Lucas, to give battles and confrontations more impact, dream up some interesting backgrounds, interactive environments, what have you.

10. Palpatine with lightsaber and weird Gollumy noises. What can I say? I hope the original print of this film disappears in a fire and we're all spared this movie I still will go to see (lol).

11. General Grievous (in the hangar or whatever it is). Nuff said.

12. Lava planet. Now here was a chance for the truly epic and surprising but Lucas goes for a lava planet. Woohoo. I don't mind too much, but with Mordor still freshly imprinted on our retinas I believe he should have chosen to do it in another manner. Why not on a broken moon, it's pieces still spilling core lava or something.

13. Goddamn Wookiees, and Chewie as one of them to boot. It's criminal.

14. Palpatine's makeup. He seriously looks like he's wearing a cheap Star Wars halloween mask. One manufactured illegally in Thailand and given some slight changes to avoid copyright hassle.

15. Anakin's march: I admit this looks good. When blocking the recently spoiled one-liners from mind. Remember, they are using classic OT music for these bits, music that resonates deeply within many fanboy hearts. With Williams' chopped-up hidden-behind-audio-effects score it may not give the same essence.

16. The Jugs. Best shot. In the prequel trilogy. Evar.

17. "Who could have done this?"
I hope you have brightened since "AOTC", Obi Wan. I can imagine Yoda's really interesting reply. "Clouded this is..", "The Dark Side it must be..", "Shadows make it difficult.."

18. Padmé crying.
The other shot in this trailer I like. I hate the character in the trilogy so far, and I despise Natalie's efforts so far, but with the classic score in the background and an actual display of emotion (!!) it evokes that feeling I have been wanting since TPM; to see an actual emotional effect on a character, to see the legendary parents of Luke and Leia actually reacting to events within the story, I don't know; I like Padmé's sadness here.

19. Yoda in more fights. Can Lucas have possibly heard the groans in the theaters across the globe during AOTC's screenings? Will Yoda show he's a master, not a sonic frog with a tiny lightsaber (how stupid is that).

20. Huge tanks on wheels.
Cool; an abandoned OT concept. But why replace such fast, seemingly effective juggernauts with AT ATs. Doesn't make sense.

21. "You were the chosen one."
*Another* line spoken with emotion? Impressive. Most impressive. But if Anakin *were* the chosen one, does that mean Obi-Wan now believes he *isn't?* In that case, why say it? It would only reveal that Obi-Wan knows something more than Anakin. What's the problem anyway: So Anakin killed the Trade Federation barons and some Sand People (as Palpatine mentions early in the film). SO WHAT. He also slaughtered Geonosians - actually sliced them in half - and his son, the hero, destroyed an entire artificial moon filled with personel. What difference does this make. I may have missed something from the film here.

22. Sidious vs Yoda vs Seats
While this may have been enjoyable (finally Lucas uses the environment), Yoda and Sidious fighting like this just goes against the OT. IMHO anyway. Yay let's throw around some of these pods. Perhaps there will be some subtly placed ETs in one of them, and then the seat is hurled into outer space to hint that this is the pod that lands on Earth in "E.T.". I'm sure Lucas could do it.

23. Obi-Wan and Anakin swinging at each other while flying ropes.
I just hope they put Chewie's tarzan yell in there for better integrating the prequels with the OT.

24. The one and only Darth Vader.
With tiny hands. Looking like he's hanging around. Perhaps bored. It's not epic! It's not dramatic! It's not infernal or anything.
Lucas will probably say "I can never do exactly what the fans want". then why do it.

And that's that. Thanks for letting me vent. pirate.gif
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#3 User is offline   Paladin Icon

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Posted 19 March 2005 - 01:21 PM

QUOTE
A quick introduction first: I am one of the outcasts hanging out at theforce.net's Basher's Sanctuary. One of the moderators however has decided that he can ban me whenever he feels like it, even though I am relatively polite to people over there, and have no trouble with other mods.


Hey, you're not alone, I've seen places were the mods are even WORSE than that. Some of them even let arrogent little 15 and 16 year olders do the moderating, too. You'd be amazed with their level of pomposity, arrogency and rudeness...
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#4 User is offline   Just another wretched fan Icon

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Posted 19 March 2005 - 02:40 PM

thanks for depressing me further, ree yees. crying.gif
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#5 User is offline   Paladin Icon

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Posted 19 March 2005 - 03:16 PM

QUOTE
The shuttle in the very beginning of the trailer speeding towards a planet. Accompanied by two fighters. It's design does not make sense in the way that it is rather stupid that ship designers need twenty + years to realize this ship needs a wing (see Imperial Shuttle). It's a poor design choice to just take an OT ship and remove a wing. It's beyond poor design, it's retarded. Lucas' words back in the mid-nineties keep haunting me: He said the new technology would give him what he needed to conjure up things beyond our imaginations. He gives us ships with one wing less. And Jar Jar. I am impressed.
Oh, not only is the design ripped straight from ROTJ, the scene itself is ALSO ripped right out of ROTJ with the approaching Imperial Shuttle and TIE fighters. I remain impressed at Lucas' boundless imagination.


Let's not forget this tiny little quote from George Lucas. He also said once that special effects were just something to improve on the story and make it better, and not to take over. He went back on his own words and produced a trilogy that is essentially special effects mastrubation and special effects heavy. Just take a look at AOTC and you'll see what I mean...

QUOTE
"The Dark Side of the Force is a pathway to many abilities..some considered to be...unnatural."
This bit clearly suggests ROTS will be *another* Star Wars film brimming with way too long, untrimmed, boring dialogue - stilted, blunt, whatever. And the line does not even make sense. How are the powers of the Sith unnatural? They do approximately the same things as Jedi. Who considers the Dark Side abilities to be unnatural? Normal people? They know nothing. Jedi? Why would Jedi find that unnatural? Is running at 1000mph, mindtricks etc . unnatural? Is Jar Jar's dive into the pond natural?


I agree with that. The Force is pretty mystical (or at least, it WAS mystical, before the introduction of 'Midicloreians') and most of the stuff is already 'unnatural'. If shooting lightening bolts out of their fingers is 'unnatural' then what about controling peope's minds, or jumping high into the sky...

QUOTE
"Is it possible to learn this powah?"
Obviously, Hayden's dialogue will once again be delivered in a dreary, monotone voice. And while his hair is way better, he still is not Anakin Skywalker to me.


Hayden's tone of voice and creepy looks were what really destroyed his performance. From the first scene to the last, I felt as if Anakin was a little punk out to hurt innocent people... even BEFORE he was raving and whining and slaughtering sand people by the village...

QUOTE
4. "The council wants you to report on all the Chancellor's dealings."
They have the prophecy. Mace does not trust him. He failed at his tasks in AOTC. So why do they give him such an incredibly important mission - alone? Doesn't make much sense although I can buy this one. It's another example of George Lucas doing the "I need to have character A to be with character B", disregarding any logical or emotional reasons to connect the dots. It just has to be this way. The genius.


Are you refering to a task being given to Anakin? If that's the case, then I don't think that Anakin failed at his duty in AOTC. The job he was assigned was to protect Padme from harm, and while he was a creepy freak who I'd loath to be around, but Padme was never harmed when he was around. Of course, that part when she fell out of the ship was an accident (on part of George Lucas's stupidity... aren't there supposed to be DOORS to stop people from falling out?), and she was unharmed anyway.

Regardless, with the illogic about Anakin's and Palpatine's relationship, I'd have to agree with you. It is pretty lame that he would have such a liking to a guy like that... maybe it is because of his supposed 'powers' but that doesn't hold much. Since George Lucas would have us believe that they'd have a long standing relationship between the two and fails miserably to do anything on that in the first two movies. I guess that's the problem with it all... he was too concerned with special effects and battles than with what's really important.

QUOTE
5. "I don't think the boy can handle it. I don't trust him."
Anakin's been training for years at the Temple (I presume). Why does Mace not trust him? I am 100% sure the film will not give an answer as to why Mace suspects Anakin of anything (think of how Mace blatantly defended Dooku in AOTC). And why doesn't Mace do something about it? The Jedi have in short time realized they are being duped, war is fought across the galaxy, and Mace just goes "Well I don't trust him but whatever." Doesn't make any sense.


And so you're saying is that something else is supposed ot make sense? I've already said MANY times before that there was no way George Lucas could come up with a decent story for the final movie, and I guess I'm right.

QUOTE
6. "I need your help son."
The delivery's there, but I just can't stand that line. Count this as a minor bash.
"Son." Meh.


Can you tell me where this line was delivered? I never actually watched the trailer...

QUOTE
7. The Jedi Council
Yippee! More scenes of people sitting around in a room with only chairs. How interesting and imaginative! Oh look, some of them are holograms! Incredible, how does Lucas come up with this stuff. And what the hell is Obi-Wan doing there? Correct me if I'm wrong, but I am pretty confident the OT clearly establishes Obi-Wan as a JEDI KNIGHT who was tutored by the mysterious, powerful JEDI MASTER Yoda.


George Lucas has a habit for destroyed formerly great creations. Back in the old days, he had to make good movies in order to gain esteem and respect throughout Hollywood, and now that he has what he wants, he can do a 'half' retirement and make crappy movies that will sell simply because he's rich and he has enough influence and fame to do whatever he wants.

QUOTE
8. "Obi-Wan and the council don't trust me."
Anakin whining again. Didn't we have enough of that?


Actually, with what you said earlier about the Jedi counsel, and with what we've seen in the last two movies, I'm actually starting to sympathize with Anakin's continous complaining and whining about the Jedi. Maybe he developed that behavior out of continous abuse and chronic mistrust and mistreatment by the Jddi that caused him to be so frustrated and enraged that he doesn't care for acting like an 'adult' since that behavior wouldn't get him anywhere more than decent skills, hard work and patience.

But that still doesn't really redeem his character, or his behavior. It would have been far better if he'd have been screaming about how the Jedi were so fucked up, and then we would have to agree with him regardless of how he says it.

QUOTE
20. Huge tanks on wheels.
Cool; an abandoned OT concept. But why replace such fast, seemingly effective juggernauts with AT ATs. Doesn't make sense.


Oh and so you think that anything ELSE makes sense in the movie?!?!?!?

I think I'll stop my comments right now, from what I've read from your criticism and comments on Episode III I think we can all easily tell what a crappy movie this is going to be. The sad thing is, I've had a major hunch this was going to happen ever since I left the movie theater when I watched AOTC, and that was back in 2002. Being dissapointed 3 years in advance is such a pain. Ahh well, life's a bitch! devil.gif
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#6 User is offline   Just another wretched fan Icon

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Posted 19 March 2005 - 03:28 PM

QUOTE (Paladin @ Mar 19 2005, 03:16 PM)
...but Padme was never harmed when he was around. Of course, that part when she fell out of the ship was an accident (on part of George Lucas's stupidity... aren't there supposed to be DOORS to stop people from falling out?), and she was unharmed anyway.




It was supposed to be like a Huey in vietnam right with the open doors...

how did the GI keep from falling out? just held on.

the stormtroopers should ahve at least sat on their helmets to keep their nuts from getting blown off, a la Apocalypse Now or Platoon.

don't take me seriously here. just commenting for no apparent reason.
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#7 User is offline   Paladin Icon

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Posted 19 March 2005 - 06:13 PM

QUOTE
It was supposed to be like a Huey in vietnam right with the open doors...


Haven't helicopters advanced since then? Besides, other than having a place for machineguns and rapid exit of transported soldiers, there's no reason to have open doors.

Besides, even if they don't have doors, you'd think they'd at least have a force field or something of that kind to prevent people from falling out. Since the technology of Star Wars is probably that advanced, there's no reason not to have them.

And while I'm at this, doesn't anyone find it odd that there was a clone trooper sitting at the edge of one of those things and shooting with his gun? Don'tcha think it would have been better if he'd have had a heavy gun mounted on that side? It wouldn't have done a lot more damage, and that's for sure.
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#8 User is offline   Just another wretched fan Icon

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Posted 19 March 2005 - 10:18 PM

QUOTE (Paladin @ Mar 19 2005, 06:13 PM)
Haven't helicopters advanced since then? Besides, other than having a place for machineguns and rapid exit of transported soldiers, there's no reason to have open doors.

Besides, even if they don't have doors, you'd think they'd at least have a force field or something of that kind to prevent people from falling out. Since the technology of Star Wars is probably that advanced, there's no reason not to have them.

And while I'm at this, doesn't anyone find it odd that there was a clone trooper sitting at the edge of one of those things and shooting with his gun? Don'tcha think it would have been better if he'd have had a heavy gun mounted on that side? It wouldn't have done a lot more damage, and that's for sure.


dude, that whole battle and that whole movie doesn't make sense....
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#9 User is offline   CowboyCurtis Icon

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Posted 19 March 2005 - 10:50 PM

Ree Yees!!! Glad to have you here!!! (I'm Holy_Ben_Kenobi at Basher's Sanctuary).
Flying Ferret

Battle for the Galaxy--read the "other Star Wars"

All I know is I haven't seen the real prequels yet.
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#10 User is offline   Slynt aka Ree Yees Icon

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Posted 20 March 2005 - 05:20 AM

Hey Holy! Nice to see a familiar face biggrin.gif
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#11 User is offline   Paladin Icon

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Posted 20 March 2005 - 06:10 AM

QUOTE
dude, that whole battle and that whole movie doesn't make sense....


So, do you have any more new news? biggrin.gif tongue.gif
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Posted 20 March 2005 - 09:56 AM

You know, Ree Yees, I have to say that some of the mods there are unduly unfair. I never saw the problem with the trailers being discussed, but I guess it's not place to say. Also, I do wish to discuss the rumors surrounding Episode III more freely. I think the Basher's ought to discuss it more freely.

Oh well. This place has been good, though.
Flying Ferret

Battle for the Galaxy--read the "other Star Wars"

All I know is I haven't seen the real prequels yet.
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#13 User is offline   Garth Vader Icon

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Posted 20 March 2005 - 01:20 PM

my main gripe......

in TPM: the boy is dangerous, they all sense it why can't you - chosen one he may be, but grave danger I fear in his training

in AOTC: he's not ready to be given this assignment, something terrible has happened - skywalker is in terrible pain

in ROTS: we don't grant you the rank of master (smug look on obi's face), very dangerous putting them together, I don't trust him, "the council don't trust me", they're holding me back etc etc

yet the jedi, knowing he's incredibly powerful, sit around and debate the fact that this guy is in fact dangerous and untrustworthy. HINT HINT. can't they even see the warning signs coming especially with the dark side being present some place or another? instead of bitching about him behind annie's back, why don't they just fire him and tell him to piss off?
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#14 User is offline   Slynt aka Ree Yees Icon

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Posted 20 March 2005 - 05:02 PM

Well I wasn't banned for discussing the trailer (I was banned the day before it was released or something). I was banned because I wrote the three letters "wtf".
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Posted 20 March 2005 - 06:02 PM

QUOTE (Slynt aka Ree Yees @ Mar 20 2005, 03:02 PM)
Well I wasn't banned for discussing the trailer (I was banned the day before it was released or something). I was banned because I wrote the three letters "wtf".


That's just plain wrong.

My biggest gripe with TPM, aside from the Jar Jar thing, will always be the fact that Obi-Wan is relegated to 2nd banana when he should've been at the forefront doing all this stuff for Anakin and establishing their friendship.

This post has been edited by Lord Aquaman: 20 March 2005 - 06:03 PM

I am the Fisher King.

I'd like a qui-gon jinn please with an obi-wan to go.
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