Speculation Original Trilogy Aliens vs. Prequel CGI Aliens

The thing that bothered me about the Prequel Trilogy was the over-abundance of CGI Aliens. The Pod Race Scene, the Gungans, Geonosis, etc. The Original Trilogy had a more "real world" feel with Aliens. The Cantina scenes and the beasts of burden milling around Mos Eisley lent a realism to the feel of the film as background fodder. As a kid seeing ROTJ for the first time, I was enamoured with everything about the occupants of Jabba's Palace.

The new Trilogy really needs to bring that gritty "real world" authenticity that was present in the first three films. There are so many unique creatures in the Cantina scenes, they almost beg for more development. Bom Vimdim, Dr. Evazan, Snaggletooth, Feltipern Travagg, Hem Dazon, etc.

Here is a site that identifies many of these aliens:
http://cantinacustoms.tripod.com/id18.htm





Thoughts?

 

Yup. Needs to be more gritty. If they use CGI let it be like the Hobbit or LOTR. Not all shiny like the PT.

 

The best alien/creature might be the Rancor. Maybe not alien but close enough right?

 

"Real" Yoda looked way better too!

 

I'm on the fence about this one. Cause while it may look better at times for aliens to be puppets, it's very limiting as to what the alien can do. The best example I can think of is Yoda himself. As a puppet, he looked magnificent yes. But as a cgi character, he was able to portray an array of expressions in his face that just would not be possible in his puppet form. And no matter how good one may try, it would be impossible to make a puppet Yoda jumping around with a lightsaber.

From a distance, I do agree and think that the aliens look better. But when up close, with their faces not moving at all and stuff like the Quara in Mos Eisley it just looks fake to me. Another example would be the laughing rat thing in Jabba's Palace. I swear that thing had only one expression.

There needs to be a balance here, one similar to how the hobbit was handled for sure. CGI is a great tool and should be used to do what a puppet/costume/set/ect can't do. But it should not replace old school costumes entirely.

And heck, there were a lot of dressed up senators and extras in the prequels too. Did everyone forget them?

 

I actually preferred a lot of the alien design in the prequels. Things like Watto and Sebulba were quite welcome to me - not every alien race is going to evolve to look like humans wearing a mask and gloves.

Yes, there were elements of the OT aliens that made them look more realistic, but I think there has to be a mix of practical costuming and alien designs that just can't be done practically - and I think that's a mix that the PT actually handled pretty well.

 

Hopefully they come up with a nice blend of puppets, costumes, and CGI. For close shots avoid the CGI and use it in action scenes or when multiple "aliens" are shown. Even though by today's standards the costumes and/or puppets of the OT look a little fake, they still felt more "real" than some of the obviously CG creatures in the PT. For example Gollum in LOTR, or even Davey Jones in POTC look really good, and it's been over 10 years since the PT so I am sure things have advanced.

 

CGI is another ****ing tool in an artist's toolkit to realize a directorial vision. PT vs OT, blah blah blah. Really? It's the 21st century and no one is going to revert to claymation, puppets, stop motion, and random stunt arms in furry sleeves alone. The PT had a wide mixture of real fx and CGI fx all blended together to create a truly vast range of places and beings, more so than had ever been done before, imo.

Please give this **** a rest. Whine about your lost childhood, stolen by the prequels, elsewhere. They've been made, they're on disc, they're here to stay. Get over it and move on.

And please don't any whiners sit next to me at the midnight screening.

 

I think the OT Effects worked so well, because (in Georges Mind) theyre posssibilities were so limited back in the day.

So they were forced to worked very hard on every detail to create something unique, and that fits George imagination just so.

CGI is unlimited, you can (almost) do what you want. And maybe thats a huge lack of creativity. There are no question pops up in your mind; how can i do that, how could it work. Today you just do it.

 

You can have both. CGI allows you to create non-humanoid aliens, and that's always a welcome thing.

 

I love the diversity of the aliens in the PT, and the imagination of the designs. And of the OT as well.

 

Personnaly, I never really liked the whole CGI thing.
I agree that the aliens of the OT looked better. They felt more real.
I think the aliens on the Jabba set and the Cantina set are great!
I like them way better than the Gungans and the Geonosians in the PT.
Newer is not necessarily better.
Nw things do not necessarily replace older things.
At the beginning of Episode 3 (the battle over Coruscant), the first thing I thought was: wow, that is a lot of CGI!

 

Who hurt you, Panaka?

 

The gritty real world authenticity of wolfman and walrusman was staggering the first time I saw the film. Not since Tokyo Story had I seen such on screen realism.

 

Fine. Your sick of people bashing the PT and I'm sick of Star Wars looking like a cartoon.

 

I hated that! I always thought Yoda was beyond Lightsabers and beyond fighting, kind of a God like figure. Once he starts waving his Lightsaber around I kind of feel he has been degraded. Can you guys understand that? Maybe I'm just weird.

As for the aliens. Well. It's not so much CGI vs puppets that's the problem, it's the lack of diversity. You know. Kamino is all Kaminoans. Kashyyyk is all Wookies. Naboo is all Humans. Endor is all Ewoks etc etc. The cantina scene in ep4 is great because you have the kind of diversity you'd expect from a galaxy with faster than light travel. If the CGI is used well to create a more diverse Star Wars universe then I'm all for it. I didn't have any particular problem with the aliens in the PT. It was more the way they were used. Jedi poodoo anyone.

 

Well Yoda was described as a great warrior and powerful Jedi in episode 5. So he was a fighter to an extent. One could argue that he should have used much more force in the fight, which I don't necessarily disagree with. But it seems like his jumps did use the force a bit.

Not trying to start an argument there, it's just my opinion.

As for the diversity of planets, I think it was realistic that a lot of planets had a vast majority of one alien species. I mean that's how a lot of countries in our world work, it's just in places like the US where there's tons of diversity.

 

I wish the Yoda/Dooku battle had been longer.

 

I always find it funny when people come with the argument that puppets are "more real" than CGI, how Star Wars must the only exception in modern cinema where CGI should be avoided, and how people criticize the prequels for using CG while praising and gushing over flicks like the Avengers and LotR...

 

The practical alien masks of the OT just dont do it for me anymore.

They have a certain charm in how they were created and for background characters they work great. But, Davey Jones is a prime example of how a CG character well-done can squash anything a practical mask can do.

The problem with the PT is most of the CG aliens weren't up to that caliber. To be fair though, Davey came a full year after the final PT film so tech had to evolve.

Personally, I like the idea of hybrid characters that are a blend of CG and practical. However, those are very few and far between.

 

I'm also kind of on the fence on this one. I can partially agree with the OP, that some of the aliens in the PT looked a bit cartoony to me. I'm specifically thinking about several of the podracers. On the other hand, there are some great aliens in the PT, for instance Watto, the Geonosians and the tall aliens on Utapau. So I guess that the design concept is more important than how it is realized. If someone says "I want 20 new aliens on my desk tomorrow morning", some of them will be less thought through. But I agree that puppets, at least some times, come off as more real if done well. For instance, I think that ROTJ Jabba is by far the best one, definitely better than Jabba in the special edition of ANH. Jabba in ROTJ has a great presence, there is no question that he is there in the room with the others.