Wing Commander the Movie Compare And Contrast.

[Earthworm]

If George Lucas was trying to cash in by making TPM, why would he have bothered to supervise every damn thing in the movie, Earthworm?

It's just a little hard for me to believe that after making three great movies (ESB being my favorite) he could release something that didn't compare.

Criticise his choice of a target audience all you like, but I believe that he sincerely was trying to realise his vision, not just cash in.

Why else would he change the audience for whom the movie was directed?

 

[Shane]

I recall seeing an interview where he mentioned he has children now and wanted the movie to be more friendly to them and something they could watch. I do agree with Crusader11, the lightsaber fights were fantastic. Makes Luke's battles in ESB & ROTJ look somewhat lame.

 

[WildWeasel]

I think the earlier (or later) battles were weak because Luke didn't get the training that Obi-Wan and Darth Maul did.

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Put that in your pipe and smoke it!

 

[Shane]

I cocnur. Not to mention Vader was not the most mobile person. I thought Phantom Menace also helped higlight the situation Luke faces in the post ROTJ novels where he tries to rebuild the Jedi but has very little tangible information to work from.

 

[Dralthi5]

Yeah, Episode 1's lightsaber battles were fantastic. Very fast paced and exciting. The lightsaber battles in Mike Stackpole's NJO novels made me think of them, actually.

I enjoyed TPM a great deal, but I did have a few gripes. Too many CG characters. What's wrong with a puppet every now and then?

And my second gripe was Jake Lloyd's acting. I'm sorry, but I fast forward through every one of his lines when I watch it now. Also, the pod race announcers and Jar Jar's utterance of "Exsqueeze me" seemed a little too our-Universe and not SW-Universe to me.



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If I'm locked on, there's no such thing as evasive action!

 

[Earthworm]

Yeah, Episode 1's lightsaber battles were fantastic. Very fast paced and exciting.

Yeah, that's one of the very few things that were done better than in the first three. I especially enjoyed seing Darth Maul with his two sided weapon.

However, there's so many things that were wrong with that movie, I don't even know where to start. The thing that bothers me the most, is when towards the end, young Anaking gets into one of those ugly fighters and flies on autopilot into space. I find it quite amusing that an 8 year old kid who doesn't know anything about controling a space craft survives hundreds of those enemy fighter-thinys, and even manages to nail some of them, and than he even gets to take out one of those colosal cap ships and therefore saves everyone down on the planet from those warrior robot thingys.

 

[Penguin]

Earthworm: In regards to your comments about Anakin's miraculous feats I believe the oh so venerated Jedi Council explained it away by saying that it was the will of the Force. Anakin's flight into the Droid Mothership & its subsequent destruction was proof enough that he was worthy & capable enough of Jedi training - hence the Council's revised decision on whether Anakin ought to be trained or not.

Anyways the lightsabre battles

I think the lightsabres play a big part in making SW movies fun. Imagine an SW movie with no lightsabres - aaarghhh!!! Anyways now that I'm thinking about the skill factor don't you think that Vader should have wasted Luke - on account of the fact that he's had full Jedi & Sith training. And he's undoubtedly battle hardened & probably slain more than his fair share of Jedi. I mean Luke was just a novice, err Padawan

Yoda & Obi Wan didn't seem to go over the finer points of swordsmanship with him.
Finally I think its real cool that Yoda has a lightsabre

Proves once & for all that size doesn't matter.

 

[Quarto]

Earthworm: Yeah, well, one could say the same thing about Blair's first jump in the movie. If you accepted Blair's ability because of his ancestry, then why can't you accept Anakin's ability? Besides, the skills needed to fly one of those pod racers would translate very nicely into ship-flying skills.

By an odd coincidence, I watched TPM again today, on my way to Brisbane and back. All things considered, I really can't see why people insist it doesn't compare to earlier SWs. 'Tis tres impressive, provided I ignore a few nuisances (of which there was plenty in earlier SWs too), like two-headed aliens and such.

 

[Earthworm]

Well, to explain it simplly Q, you once said that P2 feels like a parody of WC right? Well, that's how I feel about TPM.

Earthworm: Yeah, well, one could say the same thing about Blair's first jump in the movie. If you accepted Blair's ability because of his ancestry, then why can't you accept Anakin's ability?

Because, all Blair did was jump. Yes, his being a Pilgrim did help, but the training he got at the academy had something to do with that jump.

Besides, the skills needed to fly one of those pod racers would translate very nicely into ship-flying skills.

That's like telling a pilot from a jet fighter to fly a space shutle.



[This message has been edited by Earthworm (edited November 11, 2000).]

 

[Quarto]

Well, to explain it simplly Q, you once said that P2 feels like a parody of WC right? Well, that's how I feel about TPM.

Fair enough - I know how I feel about P2, so I know that if that't the way you feel about TPM, there ain't no way of changing your opinion.

 

[Wedge009]

Crikey, I leave this thread for a couple of days, and look what happens. Though I don't think it'll happen, if this keeps up, it'll outstrip the Nephilim thread in no time.

When I saw TPM, I rather enjoyed it, despite the shortcomings I heard everyone was griping about. Now that I look back on it, I don't think I'll think (word clash!) of the experience in the same way that others think of their first experience with the original SW. True, I guess it was a bit childish, but as has been pointed out, all will be clear in the next two episodes.

I didn't know Yoda had a lightsabre. What I wanna know is what was so good about Maul's double edged lightsabre? I thought two single sabres would be better, one might not have the strength to block blows from an opponent with one sabre, but it only takes contact with one sabre to do damage. I guess it has something to do with the concentration that a Jedi is supposed to have in keeping the crystal alignment in his/her weapon intact. Supposedly the slightest misalignment and the sabre stops altogether, or even goes boom.

 

[steampunk]

Just because it was targetted at a less mature audience doesn't automatically mean that it was bad.

I concur. Many people don't seem to realise this. On top of that, from my experience, people who think something is bad becasue they think it's childish, are also interested in things just as childish. Bunch of hypocrits.

Oh, yes, a reason for Lucas to change his target audience would be to attract a younger generation to the best damn series of movies that will ever be made in anybodies life time. Lucas did piss me off becasue he tried to keep so much under wraps until the movies release.

 

[Bandit LOAF]

Further, didn't *WE* all get introduced to Star Wars when we were 10 year olds? I mean, we've grown up with idiots ranting about how it's the most important story ever, but didn't we fall in love with it because of the flashy colors and cool aliens?

Which is to say that Lucas didn't change his target audience -- he kept it the same, we just all grew up.

 

[Penguin]

Wedge009: Yeah Yoda has a lightsabre - he is a Jedi after all.
As for Maul - I think what makes him special is that his weapon is unique & he has an aura of mystery.
His lightsabre isn't common - not in any fictional universe or the real world. I mean had you even seen a similar weapon that compared to it prior to SW:TPM? Besides its bigger and flashier than Qui Gon's & Obi Wan's

As for the mystery - we don't know much about him. Sure you can criticize him for having next to nothing screentime or just being eye candy but theres quite a lot we don't know. Sure he could've been nothing but a pawn but then again maybe he had a really pivotal role in Sidious' plans. He's also a personification of the Sith's modus operandi - hiding in the shadows, waiting for the right time to strike.

steampunk: What's wrong with Lucas keeping everything under wraps? How much fun would SW be if you already knew exactly everything that was going to happen?

 

[Wedge009]

I expected Yoda to have a lightsabre, but I just don't recall seeing one on him.

And LOAF, are you showing your age? Or are you just saying you became interested in SW at 10? Cos I didn't know anything about it until the TV re-release just before the video re-release which was just before the movie re-release. Hmm, they seemed to be going backwards, don't they?

 

[Shane]

I saw Star Wars when it was originally realeased in the theaters when I was 7, and maybe part of it is we (at least some of us ) have grown up. I think and thought at the time that the Ewoks were also awfully cutesy. Jarjar is an extension of that. I also think Lucas wants to present us with a wholesome, good hearted Anakin Skywalker that we will really like and feel for, so he can really twist the knife in the third movie. Overall I liked the latest film, but it won't have that same place in my heart as the other films, particularly Star Wars, because I am more jaded than I was when I was 7. Yes, they aren't perfect films and if I look a little too closely I can see the wires and bluescreens, but because of when I saw them, they made a mark.

[Edited by Shane on 11-15-2000 at 14:35]