Did Cameo's drag down the PT?

I think most of the "Cameos" were tastefully done. They weren't forced down our throats.

It wasn't like Anakin was like "OMG THATS THE MILLENIA FALCON IT IS THE r0X0r l33t3st SHIP IN THE FLEET! I BET THAT SHIP COULD MAKE THE KESSELL RUN!"

It's not like ET left the Senate and took a bicycle out into the Coruscanti Sky Traffic.

It's not like Lucas showed up all in his flannel, freeze framing the movie, and coming out to explain what we were about to witness in the Theater Scene.....

And Lucas using his kid? Why not? He had to use SOMEONE'S kid. It's not like he had to audition 100 Shakespearian Actors to find the one that would fit a five second role without any spoken words perfectly. His Son did great. It was a really neat part of the movie. The fact that it was his Son did not diminish that in any way.

I guess an arguement can be made that Chewie was not really necessary, but hell, it really doesn't hurt the overall story or continuity. If there were going to be Wookies there may as well have been Chewie.

Frankly, I still havn't seen the Falcon yet.

Carnage

 

Generally the word son is not capitalized unless it's referring to Jesus as the Son of God. Unless you are saying that Lucas is God and thus Jett is Jesus...

 

Watch the films with the commentary running and they more or less tell you where most of them are.

 

HEY. can someone tell me where Indy is in TPM podrace scene? I've been through it a thousand times looking at it and i can't see him!

 

Well, Lucas is God, and though he didn't have him nailed to a tree for saying people should get along with each other, he did sacrifice his own son in ROTS...

 

Just as the bus returns Anakin, Sidious, and ObiWan to where the senators are waiting, you see it fly into a hangar. It has a blueish paint job.

 

As for Boba...I think he was always gonna be in the prequels. I remember reading that Lucas' original idea for Boba was that he was the son of a clone. When it came time to do the prequels he changed it a bit and made Jango the father of the clone and Boba his unaltered son

 

Yes. Boba was always a part of the prequels. The connection to the Stormtroopers and the Clone Wars had already been decided. What Lucas hadn't planned was how to connect them. That came by using a discarded backstory plot for Lando, which originally connected him to a group of clone warriors during the Clone Wars. That Lando was the "son" of a soldier from that era.

 

A few points

Lucas has confirmed it was actually the Millennium Falcon in ROTS.

If we are counting OT characters as cameos in the Pt, the only one I had any problem with was Chewie - he really wasn't needed for the story (however it does make his meeting with Kenobi 19 years later more than just a coincedince methinks...)

Also, I think the cameo factor is something that supports watching the films 4-6,1-3. This way you see all the characters get their grand original entrances then go back and see the clever cameos later.

 

That's not a point. That's an opinion. My son and daughter are going to watch the Saga in numerical order: 1-3 DVDs 4-6 2004 DVDs. That's the way the maker intended, that's what's gonna happen in my house. How others do it is totally up to them. Putting an opinion up, and saying it's a point is just wrong. While I agree that it gives the grand original entrances, that's not the original intention. Older fans must unlearn what they have learned, if they want to share GL's vision in his way.

 

Obi-wan didn't know Chewbacca, so it is a coincidence in that they never knew each other. But it was fate because Yoda helped Chewie long ago, which allowed him to help Luke later on.

 

I agree that the cameos are much better if you watch the movies 4-6, 1-3.
Why would cameos of Lucas, ET, and Indiana Jones take anything away? No one thinks Hitchcock's cameos in ALL his movies take anything away, and they're more obvious than the cameos in the PT.

 

Unless you were really looking no the cameo's did not drag down the PT. I mean how many people can really say they even saw GL? Or the millenium falcon? As for ET how would that drag down the movie?

Then tehre was GL's kid he was in it. But how many people knew that before ROTS came out and after ROTS came out?

 

what about the jedis who toss the light sabers to Ani & OB1 in the arena? I thought at least one of them where from that band? they sure look like it.

 

Seeing Tarkin, Chewbacca, Jabba, Bib and Mon Mothma serves as forshadowing to their roles in the OT, when watching in order. You just see these characters and then you learn that they have a prominent role later on.

 

In my opinion, almost all of the OT-related cameos work against the films by shrinking the galaxy too much (the Falcon excluded because that's just a bit of fun). The only cameo that really makes sense and that I was happy to see was Tarkin at the end of ROTS--he's a high-ranking Imperial, so he should be on that bridge. Chewie, Jabba and Boba Fett were unnecessary at best, forced at worst.

 

Those cameo appearances barely made a dent into the story, as far as I'm concerned.

 

Boba fett? he was a centeral charactor. He explains the clones.

 

But like I said, his inclusion in ATOC shrinks the SW universe. Besides, why not create a new character rather than rely on old tricks?

 

Because Lucas had always intended for Boba Fett to be connected to the Stormtroopers since working on TESB. That's why Fett is in AOTC. Lucas was making his connection. Jabba is in TPM because he controls Tatooine and as such, he would take part in the Boonta Eve. And the Battle of Kashyyyk, the Wookiee homeworld would look off without it's most famous citizen present.

 

It's hard to be sure anymore what Lucas "always intended." Anyway, those answers all have a logic to them, but don't you feel that these characters popping up in some way cheapens them and the GFFA in general?

 

No, I never felt that way. I'm used to characters in other universes popping up and being part of a backstory retcon. As to Fett's connection, this was first hinted at in "The Art Of The Empire Strikes Back".

[image=http://images.wikia.com/starwars/images/f/f6/Sketch-02.jpg]

[image=http://images.wikia.com/starwars/images/thumb/0/0b/Artof-01.jpg/463px-Artof-01.jpg]

Fett's armor was said to be similar to a group of Shocktroopers during the Clone Wars, an offshoot of the Stormtroopers. In the writing of TESB, Lando was originally a clone and part of a group of clone clans all over Bespin. Most of the clone idea was dropped, but for a time Lando was to be a son of a clone leftover from the Clone Wars. This element never made it into the films and the eu hasn't used it. Lucas wound up using this for Boba Fett and explaining the connection to the Stormtroopers.

 

Just like Obi-wan never knew R2D2 or C3PO?

 

No, he said that he does not recall owning a droid. He does not own R4-P14, much less R4-G9 in AOTC or ROTS. Artoo belongs to Padme in TPM and AOTC, but becomes Anakin's during the Clone Wars and into ROTS. Threepio belonged to Shmi until Anakin gave him to Padme, during the Clone Wars.

 

Cameos in themselves did not bring the films down, but perhaps they are indicative of where Lucas "lost the magic" of some of his earlier films. This is to say that he was more interested in including family, friends, actors he respected, ships from earlier films, etc. into the film than concentrating on the more important aspects of the films. It is cool that he granted a great actor like Samuel L. Jackson a wish held since 1977 of being in a Star Wars film, but I wish he had done more with the character, etc. I think the PT was a bit too full of in-jokes, cameos, etc. and could have been a bit longer on making sure more important things worked better, like the central romance and dialog.