Hmmm. You defended it very well indeed. (tips hat
) But it does not change my point of view.
Bobtheduck wrote:Hmm... I liked the special editions. I like that they were finally able to do a scene with Jabba that they felt the need to cut out originally.
There are two reasons why I don't like the part with Jabba and Han talking and both come down on the same line (1) It doesn't fit. Jabba, as a CGI character in an old-fashioned type special effects movie, stands out like a sore thumb. The scene was cut in the original Star Wars because they did not have the money to put in a stop-motion Jabba the hut in the of the stand-in. If they had done it today with a stop-motion figure then I'd have complained less, but it still doesn't make up for complaint no 2. (2) The scene just doesn't fit into the Star Wars Trilogy. It shows Jabba the Hut as a stern father rather than a merciless gangster. He already sent one bounty hunter to get him (who Han kills) and doesn't want to trade with Luke for the release of Han in Return of the Jedi. If Jabba was such a "stern father" in the Return of the Jedi he would have probably bargained with Luke...but no, he's a merciless gangster. Which is why this scene doesn't fit.
Bobtheduck wrote:I like taht they cleaned up the "aura of the force" around the stop motion stuff like the Rancor... I like all of those things.
Well, I don't mind that. That's clean-up jobs.
Bobtheduck wrote:I heard they were getting rid of the blood when Luke cuts off that one thing's arm in ep 4. The reason? It has become canon that Light Sabers cauterize wounds... So, they are changing things to fix plot holes as well... Sorta like how Tolkien Rewrote the Hobbit. Do you think Tolkien was wrong for doing that? I don't. It was tolkien's story, he could honestly do whatever he wanted to it.
That's where I disagree. My view is faulty and probably incorrect and intolerable but I still think my point is valid in a sense. When Tolkien rewrote chapter five in "The Hobbit" (the only chapter he rewrote) he did it so that he could make Gollum fit in better with "The Lord of the Rings". (doesn't mean I like it).
As for the lightsaber bloody-arm thing, although bloody violence doesn't really fit in the Star Wars universe I don't think the change would be missed too much (although I dissaprove in principle). But to "fix it up" is hardly going to fill in a plot hole. Speaking of plot-holes, why doesn't Qwai Gon Jinn (Liam Neeson) in Episode 1, when he dies, dissapear like Obi-Wan Kenobi or Yoda? Or the other fallen Jedi in Episode 2? Obi-Wan dies in combat and dissapears, Yoda dies in bed and dissapears. Why not Qui Gon Jinn? You could argue that Darth Vader can't because he's more machine than man, but it's still a plot hole.
Bobtheduck wrote:It's Lucas' story, he can do anything he wants with it. So he's a hopeless perfectionist and a bit crazy... So what? It's still his right to do whatever he wants with his franchise.
Well, that's where I disagree. An artist should know when to stop. Would Star Wars have been half as enduring if George Lucas had made 9 movies instead of three in the "Luke Skywalker" part of the saga? It's too complex a question to answer, even if you want to say in good faith "yes". But the problem with the new CGI additions is that they are all unneccesary. The movies were magnificent already, why should adding to them make them better? These additions do little but add to the mythology of Star Wars but have just been put in to make people go "wow" an extra time where it was unnecesary. Tolkien didn't, like Lucas, add gratuitous scenes where there were none, he just perfected a certain chapter concerning Gollum to make the Lord of the Rings, which he was busy writing, into the masterpiece it is. Lucas, however, is adding unconvincing CGI where there wasn't in a trilogy which was already finished and made it's way into the annals for cinema. If he had fidgeted while the others where in production it might have been excusable, but it's 20 years later and all he wants to do is to show how great his CGI is by trying to one-up himself. When I'm talking about the CGI and the additions I'm not talking about clean-up effects, or adding that scene where Luke meets an old friend in the rebellion. I'm talking about that ring-blast when the Death Star explodes or that giant lizard throwing the storm-trooper from it's back in order to produce a cheap laugh. Or exchanging the original song that the Ewoks sing at the end of Return of the Jedi with an idiotic instrumental piece that doesn't seem half as jovial. As I said, Leonardo Da Vinci did not tamper with his paintings, nor did Michealangelo or even Salvador Dali. An artist must know when to stop or else he'll eventually end up with a terrible mess that no one wants...