Good times...and Star Wars rants

I dumped all of the raw footage onto an external hard drive (supplied to me by Arizona Ted) and the lap top runs smoothly now. I've been placing cloud montages into the movie and it is working out nicely. Ted had a Disc of clouds that we were using, but then with the move, stolen lap top and alien invasion, I sorta decided that I wanted something eles in the transitions. I was going to go back to the EVIL XL2, but then came across some high res images of storm clouds that I had shot two summers ago. They were on the PC in my den that no one uses. They are cutting together quite well.

Also, I've been rethinking my (not so much hate) disgust with George Lucas. The first Star Wars movie changed me in ways too numerous to state in this meager post, and it was that movie that has inspired me to be creative. Empire also sparked me. Jedi, not so much (due to the Ewoks). The space battles and saber fight did bring me back to the theater 10 times, but the Teddy Bears really drove me nuts. When the new trilogy came out, I was stoked. I even liked Phantom. Liam and Ewan were great. But the more I watched it, the more I started doubting it. Missing was the awe I felt when the Star Destroyer flew over head above Tatooine. But then I thought, it's an okay prolog and Darth Maul was wicked awsome (yeah, I said that). But then the next one came out and I was like...okay...this is somewhat better than the first. But couldn't they aford an actor for the part of Anakin? But then there was some cool battles and saber fights. And I knew that Lucas wouldn't let us down with the third one. When Revenge started, I knew that THIS was the one I was waiting for. And it seemed, at first, to be IT! The battles ROCKED, Ewan was great and someone gave Hayden some (SOME) acting lessons. The saber duels were, of course, fantastic. I felt good leaving the theater (although there were some nagging questions at the back of my mind...1) how does Obi wan age 40 or 50 years in a matter of 18 year (Owen Lars seems to be troubled by the same aging problems) 2) Why did Luke keep his same last name? Couldn't Darth Vader simply say, "Hey, any Skywalkers out there? I need you on my team." If you hide a kid shouldn't you change his name? 3) In Empire Ben says "that boy is our last hope." and Yoda says, "No...there is another." So did Ben forget about Luke's Twin sister. 4) JAR JAR 5) Midi Cloreans (sp?) Really? Seriously? 6) If the force runs strong in family lines, wouldn't it be wise for Jedi to hook up and make little baby Jedi? ARRRG. It all started falling apart. And then it hit me. And it hit me HARD. I liked the space battles and saber fights in VI, I, II and III, but that was about it. Star Wars and Empire weren't just about space battles and saber fights. They had soul.

So I started reading "The Making of Star Wars" again. Lucas was a driven man and had real faith in his actors. When I read about the way he praised his actors it makes me sorta shocked that he would have Terence Stamp stand next to a pole with a post it note that says Natalie Portman and expect him to act since Portman was unable to be there. He seems to treat the actors as effects now, when before he had such high regard for them.

Our movie has been frought with many curses and it's great to read through the Making of Star Wars and see that Lucas continued forward despite all hell breaking loose. But maybe that's what makes a great movie. When he had all of the money in the world to "Make the movie I (George) always wanted to make" he seems to have lost his soul...or did he?

Conspiracy Theory time...Paul and George are dead. My cousin Steve once told me the story about the rumors of Paul McCartney's death and replacement. I was buying into the whole story as he showed me the cover of "Abbey Road" and Paul had no shoes (becuase he was dead). Then he started laughing at me for believing the whole tale. But, what if George died after Empire or midway through Jedi and was replaced by a look-a-like (with a large neck). That could explain a lot.

Star Wars is still my all time favorite movie and it has inspired me to make movies, but episode I, II, and III and half of VI are just cool space ship battles and saber duels.


Not sure where that rant came from...