[Despondent]

For the first time I can remember, I disagree with you, Despondent! 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Indeed.

You're absolutely right, but what I think Despondent is referring to is the fact that Lucas had CONSIDERED calling it "Revenge." Which says to me that he doesn't even understand his own material.

That's it, Cowboy Curtis.

but Chef's lists bring gushers to that conclusion (what moment...) every day. (Albeit Inwardly, privately and in secrecy.)

[Chefelf]

Ahhh, I see. Pay no attention to the elf in the silly hat.

[civilian_number_two]

It also makes the galaxy feel very small because every well known character is somewhat connected to each other and appears in almost every movie!!!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I like that MAD Magazine predicted this in 1983.

[JW Wells]

For me, the moment was aural rather than visual. On the balance, I had fun watching The Phantom Menace, despite its many flaws. The "midichlorians" bit made me wince, but I more or less ignored it, and while the pod racing sequence was interminable, the gorgeous set design, improved music, and closing Ray Park-fueled swordfight was top notch. It was a step down from the earlier movies I remembered, but it had its moments.

The Attack of the Clones trailer with Hayden Christiansen mangling horribly written romantic lines scared me, but then I saw Christopher Lee would be in the picture, and was cheered up. I saw his character's name was "Count Dooku". Now I figured that there were two possible ways to pronounce the name - either "dough-koo", or "due-koo" - the "o" rhyming with "go" and "blue" respectively. "Count Dooku" was (in my opinion) a surpassingly inane name, but if pronounced "dough-ku", that would make it identical to the Japanese word for "poison". (Or at least the kun reading for the kanji character - people with more nihongo than me are welcome to correct). "Due-koo", on the other hand, sounded too much like "dookie", and like something that a six-year-old would dream up.

I decided when pre-purchasing my ticket that if Christopher Lee's name was pronounced "dough-koo", the movie had a fighting chance. If it was pronounced "due-koo", it was doomed. When I heard a character talking about "Count due-koo", I knew it was all over but the screaming.

[jariten]

Can you speak some Japanese? How come?

poison in Japanese is pronounced do-ku, in two sharp, short syllables. Its hard to explain in writing. the 'do' isnt pronounced as in 'do it' but as in 'dot', if that makes sense. So it sounds nothing like how its pronounced in the film, although I heard that the Japanese was some distant inspiration for it.

anyway JW, good observation.

[littlejerryseinfeld]

for me, it was after the opening crawl in tpm... when obi wan and qui-gon were just dicks to that protocol droid.

[azerty]

Being dicks to droid is VERY Star Wars!

Escape Pod - you're not permitted in there, it's restricted.
Jawas - they put restraining bolts on them and zap them when they act up...
Uncle Owen - he can't be bothered to listen to Threepio's babbling for 2 seconds (and later casually tells Luke to get Artoo's memory erased tomorrow)...
Luke doesn't seem too worried when the Red one blows up, just trade it for the blue one, one's as good as another...
Cantina man doesn't even want them in the building with him...
Solo just shakes his head in total disgust when Threepio bothers to say "hello" in docking bay 94...
Even Threepio remarks that "Nobody wories about upsetting a Droid..."

Don't say you hate the original too?

Other complaints - "What the hell is going on here? Why isn't any of this connecting?"

"I had very high hopes for TPM ..."

"I don't even know these guys, and already they're buried in pointless action. Obi Wan being some guy's student bothered me as well..."

"I went into THE PHANTOM MENACE excited. I thought it was going to be great...Nothing fuels bitterness and feelings of betrayal like dashed expectations"

So Lardbiscuit is right in many respects - it diverged from the expectations of complete predictabilty and you felt jipped. You need better arguments than that! Don''t be a guidebook tourist, and go to see what you meant to see: be an adventurer and simply see what happens.

"I don't like Qui Gon because he shouldn´t be there" is bullshit. Yoda "Insrtructed" Obi wan and Qui gonn took him out into the real world for some one on one reality training. So what?

This post has been edited by azerty: 24 March 2005 - 05:41 PM

[barend]

poison in Japanese is pronounced do-ku, in two sharp, short syllables. Its hard to explain in writing. the 'do' isnt pronounced as in 'do it' but as in 'dot', if that makes sense. So it sounds nothing like how its pronounced in the film, although I heard that the Japanese was some distant inspiration for it.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

like doh kew

[ernesttomlinson]

Diverging from predictability? I couldn't predict anything before seeing PHANTOM MENACE that didn't come from press releases. And how do our comments prove Lard Biscuit's point? His tendentious argument was that people went into TPM prepared to hate it. We're saying that we didn't. Isn't that enough?

And there's nothing intrinsically good about mere novelty. Just because it's new and different doesn't mean it's any frickin' good. I'll make accommodations; I'll give something new a few chances before deciding it's crap. But my patience has its limits. I was willing to accept Jar Jar up to a point. I was willing to allow Anakin a couple of "yippee!"s. I was even willing to swallow the idea of midichlorians. It just got to be too much, though. Oh, yeah, I couldn't predict that George Lucas would invent a blood test for Force ability or that he'd dust off the "virgin birth" trope. I also couldn't predict that he'd cast a boy band reject in the part of a future Dark Lord of the Sith or that he'd turn Yoda into Sonic the Hedgehog. When, exactly, are we permitted to stop giving Lucas the benefit of the doubt?

You want better arguments for why the prequels are garbage? There's whole lists of them. Answer a few of those and I'll maybe start taking you seriously. Maybe.

[Hannibal]

You want better arguments for why the prequels are garbage? There's whole lists of them. Answer a few of those and I'll maybe start taking you seriously. Maybe.

Attack of the George Lucas Minions

This post has been edited by Hannibal: 25 March 2005 - 02:48 AM

[HK 47]

So Lardbiscuit is right in many respects - it diverged from the expectations of complete predictabilty and you felt jipped.  You need better arguments than that!  Don''t be a guidebook tourist, and go to see what you meant to see: be an adventurer and simply see what happens.

Worst argument ever. It sucked and we felt jipped. We didn't expect predictability, we expected a good movie. So you mean that it is ultimately our own fault that we didn't enjoy it?

A metaphor for your silly thoughts:
You go into a very hyped restaurant that looks really good on the outside expecting a fine meal and you're served a pile of manure. You complain to the waiter and he simply replies: "So we diverge from your expectations of complete predictability? You need better arguments than that! Don't be a guidebook tourist, and go to eat what you meant to eat: be an adventurer and simply see what happens."

If I expected TPM to be a Gigli level movie I'd still be utterly disappointed.

Wells and Jariten, I doubt there is a japanese mystery behind his name. Don't you think "Count Dracula" whom Lee has portrayed many times would be a more probable source of inspiration?

This post has been edited by HK 47: 25 March 2005 - 04:09 AM

[jariten]

Wells and Jariten, I doubt there is a japanese mystery behind his name

No, because Lucas said it himself. Its not a mystery, the pronounciation is different, but thats clearly where he got it from. You're right about the 'count' bit though, that seems very Lee-ish.

like doh kew

not really...its tough to explain if you cant hear the sounds.

[azerty]

I agree that it sucked, but I also think ALL of them sucked. However, it's the "dashed expectations", the "Yoda is different", the "Qui gon is good, but I really wanted more Obi-wan", and "none of this is connecting" I suppose to what you already thought you knew.

Course it all sucked! What the fuck, do you think I am blind? I know why it sucked and why they all sucked, but Jabba sucks equally with Jar Jar, and the lame ass burbling muppet Yoda, and Luke becoming a pretentious (and basically useless) prick of a Jedi, and Ewoks, and yet another Death Star, and Solo going from a bad ass pirate to a love sick jam tart, and on and on.

How does Phantom suddenly let you down from the supposed pinnacle of seriousness?

This post has been edited by azerty: 25 March 2005 - 07:17 AM

[Xombie]

Episode 4: Meet Himmler. Watch him kill 6 billion people.
Episode 5: See Himmler torture those who oppose tyranny.
Episode 6: Watch Himmler get into Heaven.

Episode 1: Baby Himmler.
Episode 2: Teen Himmler in love.
Episode 3: Himmler gets hired by Hitler.

Yeah, I'd say episode 6 is where the true loathsomeness really kicked in.

[HK 47]

No, because Lucas said it himself. Its not a mystery, the pronounciation is different, but thats clearly where he got it from. You're right about the 'count' bit though, that seems very Lee-ish.

Alright. You know, it's not a bad idea (do ku = poison), for Lucas anyway. But you gotta admit, with a name like "Count Poison", you really need the alias "Lord Tyrant" to make it perfectly clear who's the bad guy. No but really , I like it.

This post has been edited by HK 47: 25 March 2005 - 10:36 AM