PT Calling all Phantom fanatics! (Back in theaters May 3rd!)

Well said! I remember when I first revisited the prequels that I had a distinct reaction of "this is why we can't have nice things". That these movies that were so vivid and ambitious and unique could be so viciously maligned for so long said something perhaps disturbing about the culture around them. Funny how the internet, a tool to share knowledge which one might have hoped would lead to a sort of new enlightenment for humankind, has instead proven to be the perfect breeding ground for hatefulness. Technology can be a dangerous dehumanizing thing (another applicable lesson from Star Wars). Human conversations about Star Wars were superceded by artificial ones -- message-board debates and YouTube videos -- that re-framed those who disagreed as the enemy, and in effect indoctrinated its followers to a degree you simply wouldn't have seen before the internet. And now we see the same pattern playing out all around us on a wider scale, with possibly disastrous consequences for the planet and everyone on it.

 

It's good to agree that there are solid, beautiful, pressing, and profound things in these movies, isn't it? Regardless of the "focus" other people seem to have.

And yes, the Internet. A beast with many contradictions therein. But it's now the "white whale" of human consciousness that no-one can live without.

And if we can just live with it, and with each other, what a destiny we might have!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noosphere

 

The internet as a perfect breeding ground for hatefulness. Very true. I was watching something on Youtube the other night about the screen tests for the 4 different boys who were the finalists to read for Anakin. Many of the comments were so hateful and vulgar (and sometimes having nothing to do with the video).

 

Interesting link! Although I'm not sure I really want to see where this expansion of the "noosphere", this explosion of human interactions, leads us all in the end. The internet, this strange proto-hive-mind, this new technological terror that we have built for ourselves, might represent the biggest growth in this area since the first foundations of cities, if not the formation of language itself, and surely it will quicken even more the pace of our civilization's technical and scientific advancements. And yet, I'm not sure it's really a desirable or healthy thing for humanity, really. Fundamentally, the internet is a facilitator of interactions, of stimulus, of language. But too much language, too much stimulus, too much anything eventually becomes an unhealthy thing. It creates an imbalance, (in the force?) an uneven lopsidedness in the pace of our lives that manifests in unexpected ways -- in our body politic, in our well-being, in our relationships with the people around us. It's too much yang and not enough yin, too much activity and not enough tranquility. As Lao Tzu says:

Thirty spokes share the wheel's hub;
It is the center hole that makes it useful.
Shape clay into a vessel;
It is the space within that makes it useful.
Cut doors and windows for a room;
It is the holes which make it useful.
Therefore profit comes from what is there;
Usefulness from what is not there.

Sometimes it is the empty space in our lives that is the most meaningful. There is very little empty space, anymore.

 

TPM is the best-designed and best-shot prequel by far. And, IMO, if has the most heart.

 

I love the look and feel of the whole trilogy, but with TPM, they really managed to reinvent the design of the GFFA while maintaining the sense that this was the same galaxy in a different era. I mean, the only thing that came close to copying a preexisting, well known Star Wars design was the Sith Infiltrator and that was just in one scene, as a teaser.
They did a great job with the transition from Republic to Empire over the course of the trilogy, but the way they laid the groundwork with this episode is just astonishing!

 

Yeah. For me, TPM is the only prequel film that truly feels like it exists in the same galaxy as the OT.

 

This scene with Jar Jar is organic. Too cool!

 

You mean that's Ahmed in the rubber suit?

 

Yes! I just watched the scene and realized (or perhaps forgotten to recall it) , that while Jar Jar walks toward the transport, Ahmed is walking away from camera arms swinging and his head and feet unseen.

MJ

 

Wicked!!

 

One thing to consider about the kid friendly nature of TPM is that Lucas might have made the film with his son in mind, who in 1999 would have been six years old. Yes, some of the immature humor doesn't fly for most adults, but that's because it isn't targeted towards them.

 

Yes there are a handful of Jar Jar shots in the film that are not CG. /\ this one, one where Binks has his feet up on the table taking a nap onboard the Queen's ship...


...one where he sticks his hand into the Pod race engine to grab the wrench, and a shot where he is trying to untangle his feet from a battle droid during the ground battle at the end.

 

I like TPM. It looks stunning and I enjoy the sense of a beautiful society right at its peak, blissfully aware of impending doom. Also, it has Duel of the Fates and Darth Maul!

 

Those are the main ones.

I think there are a few other fleeting moments of "Suited Best". At the dinner table on Tatooine, for instance. In close-ups on Anakin, look at Jar Jar's arm at the edge of frame.

Jar Jar would have ended up being a bit chunkier if they went the rubber suit route.

 

In a larger sense, there's a major pop cultural legacy to TPM in the sense that it kicked off the trend of origin films or prequels for other film series, notably Batman Begins and X-Men: First Class.

 

Yeah there are bits scattered here and there throughout the film. Yes, having a practical Jar Jar suit throughout wouldn't have worked as well because his anatomy and expressions in CG worked far better than any animatronic would have. The way Jar Jar was designed benefited most from CG rather than practical body and just CG head. You could have gotten away with CG head and body suit for some shots where the body is static or only partially in frame, but for walking and full body movements, all CG was the way to go.
Even though I love practical fx, people do oversell it. It works in some circumstances and for certain things as effectively or even better than CG, but there are some circumstances where CG is clearly better.

 

Even though there are problems, TPM always seemed as a perfect introduction to the galaxy far far away. The visuals are great, specially in the podracing sequence (looks very real).

 

But as my good friend JRR Tolkien believed, you also shouldn't talk down to kids when telling adventure stories for youth. A lot of the Jar Jar humor was too overt in its pandering to very young children. Better to talk above a kid's head, rather than below it.

That said, TPM is still my favorite of the prequels. It just looks great.

 

What makes you think Jar Jar is targeted at young kids?

 

I, um, have never been asked that question. And I think I understand why.

 

Okay, then...

 

Actually I think outcast frogman manipulated by a political system working against everybody but a tiny elite is a very adult story arc. More so than the primary SW arcs where the young hero gets a cool sword, gleefully celebrates partaking in violence, squares off against the bad guy in a black cape, etc.

 

Especially when it's skillfully juxtaposed by the frogman stepping in ****, accompanied by that hilarious squelching sound. Or seeing him put a thumb in each ear & sticking his tongue out at people. Or his interactions with the farting camel. All this in a film that includes dismemberments & political procedures involving taxation! That's the beauty of TPM. Something for all ages.