Today's the release day for the new Episode II trailer, "Breathing".

To get it, first you have to get to the official site, which is jammed packed. Then you gotta register (which means answering whole bunch of dumb questions which I b.s. my way through).

Finally, when you thought all the stupidity has ended, and you get to to Quick Time screen. Oh sorry, in order to watch the movie, gotta upgrade to Quick Time 5 Pro, and guess what, that will cost you $29 big ones.

What's the conclusion? Lucas is a jackass. Man, this ain't the first time he pull the same type of crap. Here are some examples:

1. Jar Jar Binks (Also known as dumbass Teletubbies wanna-be from the evil universe with racist accent.)

2. Withholding release of DVDs on the Triligy.

3. Making gazzilion versions of Triligy on VHS.

4. Making gazzilion versions of THX formats for High-Fi market.

5. Making manufacturer pay to get their machine certified by Lucas (and guess what, one pay, one certificate, only paid for THX, sorry boy, no certificate for THX Ultra!)

etc. (you get the ideas)
 

First, he posted this thread in "Officer's Lounge", and not "Star Wars" (altho, granted, its kind of iffy ... still ...)

Second, he didn't check out the thread about the "Breathing" trailer in the "Star Wars" forum. If he had, he would've found a site where he could've downloaded it for ... FREE!!!!

Third, he could've turned on the news. FOX-45 in Baltimore just showed it, CNN just aired most of it and is doing a piece after the commercial break on 'Star Wars' ... I mean, it's not like its hard to find, ya' dig?

Sorry, B.E.

[ November 05, 2001: Message edited by: Malnurtured Snay ]

I understand completely.... utter stupidity.
 

This is not the only instants that I've witness such behaviour, I've seen it again and again in other forums.

Maybe you're right about me being careless for nothing checking out the Star War forum, but resort to personal attacks?

You can argue that I also called Lucas a dumbass, but he did charged people for unreasonable things and therefore pissing people off.

The only reason I can justify your personal attack on me is that I've piss you off directly in some way, which I don't think I did.
 

But, seriously, what has Lucas done that's "dumb"? Greedy, yes. Dumb? No.
 

I do like his tastes in casting though... the young Darth Vader looks cute and ready to be driven.
 

And I still don't understand how Binks' accent was supposed to be racist. It was a black man who did the voice, after all. Was it somehow prejudiced also that all the Imperial dudes in the first movies had British-sounding accents?
 

Sure, it's not exactly 'pleasing the fans', but the man's got business instinct alright (probably more than he has for being a director).
 

Well, no, I paid $7 to see "Monsters, Inc.", (loved it) but 'Breathing' was one of the trailers. It was cool.
 

So the title should read "G. Lucas is a jerk", rather then "G. Lucas is stupid".
 

Charming.

Not a fan of subtlty, are you Mike?

"Was it somehow prejudiced also that all the Imperial dudes in the first movies had British-sounding accents?"

Now, a major difference here is that the Imperials were fairly cool. And Jar-Jar, well, wasn't.

Look, what was better, X-Wing or TIE Fighter? Which ship made the best noise? When they were making Galactic Battlegrounds, were fans more concerned about snowspeeders being in, or AT-ATs? Who has the biggest starship?

The Imperials were brilliant. Everyone loves a bad guy. People who love Jar Jar tend to be missing several chromosomes.
 

I don't know what happened to him. He was one of the most innovative and creative directors I'd ever seen. I saw THX-1138 when I was still pretty young, and it really had an impact. Star Wars is still amazing to me. That same story could have been so mundane and pathetic, and yet it wasn't. I was expecting that the newer technology would enable him to be a better film-maker. Instead we got Greedo shooting first and Jar-Jar Binks. Don't get me wrong, the Phantom Menace was an good movie, but it wasn't an excellent film. Is it the pandering to children? I don't know. I think what I liked about Star Wars and THX-1138 was the maturity. When I was a kid, I didn't understand why Han Solo shot first, and I kind of thought he was a jerk. Now I realize that he's a much deeper character than that. I like that now. What do kids coming up on Phantome Menace get? Jar-jar? There isn't going to be a time when people realize that Jar-Jar is a deep character. I think that's what disappoints me the most. I see our culture trying to make life so easy for children, and they are becoming softer for it. Making an epic saga following the life of a troubled man endowed with awesome power capable of either good or evil against a the backdrop of a corrupt and vicious galaxy filled with slavery, greed and vice is NOT a common subject for a children's film. It should not be made easily digestible. It should challenge the audience. I think that's what impressed me most about Empire. It made you think about it. We have the storybook happy ending pull back shot, but Luke just got his hand cut off by the most sinister villian of all time (*'Best villian... ever.*) who we have learned is his father. It's still totally entertaining, but still thought-provoking. I didn't come away from TPM that way. I'm hoping attack of the clones will put the saga back on track.
 

OK, yeah, yeah. Where's Aethelwer when you need him? Wasn't he like the resident SW expert or something?

And, can we have a debate about why Rick Berman is a dumbass, too?
Oh wait, that's been settled, too.
(I know a rib about me is coming up soon, presumably given by Mr. Snay)
 

And yes, the SW site is really slow the last couple days. If you want to see the trailer, I'd suggest going straight to Apple.(Breathing @ starwars.apple.com)

Here's the deal:

quote:

---

4. Do I need QuickTime Pro to see the trailer?

No. The "small" and "medium" versions of the trailer are available with the free QuickTime 5 plug-in.

5. Why make users upgrade to QuickTime Pro to see the largest version?

Apple, our long-time video partner and premiere movie trailer provider on the web, recently began this practice with new trailers hosted at its popular movie trailer site. The increasing bandwidth expense involved with the larger files and the growing number of broadband internet users, combined with the technological benefits of QuickTime Pro prompted this new practice.

Your one-time upgrade to QuickTime Pro 5 will allow you to see the largest versions of any upcoming Episode II trailers, the large versions of other Apple.com-hosted trailers and provides other worth-while feature enhancements.

"Breathing" is currently the only Apple-hosted trailer available in the full-screen 640 size that Star Wars fans want for maximum quality and careful inspection. We are pleased that Apple has been able to make such a large and clear version available and has set up an infrastructure capable of meeting its high demand.

---

Copy and pasted from here.
 

No, the bloody battle aboard Tantine IV, the smoking skeletons of Luke's foster parents and the death of Kenobi was stuff that happens in a cruel galaxy, and it showed how far the opposition was prepared to go. Those fucking battle-droids were just designed to be cute. Saying "Roger, roger!" with ET-esque voice and hobbling away in cartoon penguin fashion.

So, the Star Wars saga has gotten house-broken, as happens with most sequels with too many years between them and the originals...
It wouldn't even surprise me if they intentionally waited with shooting Ep.II until Natalie Portman was "old" enough to do an adult scene with Anakin (although we won't get anything more than kissing and violins).

[ November 09, 2001: Message edited by: G.K Nimrod ]

There's a good point to be made about the differences in sophistication between the old films and the new one(s), but uh, wouldn't it be better served in the Star Wars forum? Why don't I ever think of these things when the issue is hot? Oh, why, why!?
 

I enjoyed the Trilogy a whole deal, and i saw the Phantom Menace coz it was like Star Wars and we waietd forever, but for me it was a real letdown. Especially the character of Anakin, and the explanation of why some people ar emore force attuned than others (smack me if this actually never happened and i'm just babbling). Although being a motor racing fan i did enjoy the podracing scene.
Hopefully Episode II : The attack of the clones (is this seriously the title? i know i've seen it on the trailer et al.) but that sounds really corny. Although i don't want to fully set in stone my feelings for it b4 i see the film.
Also to note (now that i think of it), Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi sound pretty corny as well.....(i'm probly going to be pelted by fruit now, heh)
 

I've heard that Ep.2 will be far darker than Ep.1. Perhaps Ep.1 HAD to be lighter, simply due to its nature. I mean, a dark movie that's main purpose in the series is to introduce a nine-year-old? That, and you couldn't make things TOO horrible, because the next movie couldn't take place for another ten years. I really don't see much other direction Lucas could have gone with it.
 

And I wasn't aware that we were required to magically assess the quality of a film before seeing it.
 

"It's ALL corny! "The Force", "lightsabre", "Death Star"! We're just desensitized to it."

Yes and no. By the time Empire came out, no-one thought it was a cheesy title. Why? Because everyone knew what the Empire was. And now it was striking back. Exciting, no? Same thing with Jedi. Ooh, a Jedi is returning. Cool.

The Phantom Menace, as a title, has matured well. I wasn't too keen on it at first, due to it's vague nature. Now it seems quite cool.

The problem with "Attack of the Clones" is the fact that "attack" is already a pretty corny word. "Attack of the Empire" would have been shit. But "striking back" is not a commonly used phrase, and so was nice. And the other problem is with the word "clones", as "clone" is a really hokey bad sci-fi term. Mixed together with "attack", and you've got a title that simply feels childish, rather than youthful or innocent.

Besides, "Star Destroyer" sounds cool. I thought it sounded cool when I first heard it. "Lightsabre" too. "Lasersword" would sound naff. And a lot of the names in Star Wars are naff. But the ones you listed sound fine, in the context of the film series. "Attack of the Clones" sounds crap even within Star Wars less than stellar naming world.

Oh, and Simon. "Jeff, chill out or be chilled out." would sound cool if you were the Fonze. As it is, you're just going to get stares. For reasons other than the obvious (which hasn't been mentioned in a while, I notice. That should be corrected).
 

Dammit. Why does that never work?
 

(And I've just realised I have no idea how to spell that word. How on earth have I gotten so far in life without ever having written oraphases).
 

[Mid-16th century. Via Old French from Latin orificium , literally "making a mouth," from the stem or- "mouth" + -fic- , the stem of facere "to make."]
 

I would speak on the value of sex, but I cannot speak from experience since I've never done the horizontal hoedown with anyone.
 

Oh, and Sieggy: you really should get out more often (if you want to stand any chance of doing the, as you so nicely put it, horizontal hoedown thingy)

[ November 17, 2001: Message edited by: Mojo Jojo ]

However, my friendships are very close. These are people I'd stare God in the eye for, if you know what I mean.
 

I think it's better to have only a few close friends for life, than a whole bunch of acquaintances you hardly ever see...

[ November 17, 2001: Message edited by: Mojo Jojo ]