FF:NZ One Month, One Saga. Woo Hoo!!

>> Anyway, I'm happy to lend you my tape of it . . . I have to run now, but I'll be online later- <<

Sweeeeet

Thanks! PM me & we'll sort it out...

JP

 

I just got the new TV Guide.

This time there's a brief interview (six questions) with George Lucas about Episode I. If anyone wants me to, I'll type it up and post it here.

There's another documentary, this time back at 7:30pm.

A Long Time Ago - The Story of Star Wars
7:30pm - 8:30pm, Saturday, 29 September
TV3
Documentary about the Star Wars phenomena with interviews, behind-the-scenes footage and clips from all four movies.

Plus of course the movie - the last one.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace
7:30pm - 10:20pm, Sunday, 30 September
TV3

Along with a not-so-hot review (only two and a half stars out of five)...

Writer-Director George Lucas' fantasy-adventure trilogy provides the requisite special effetcs, but lacks the heart of the original 1977 movie hit. The very raw acting from the kiddie cast and astonishingly ill-judged ethnic caricatures of computer-generated creatures are drawbacks, as is limited use of the superbly vilainous Darth Maul. Hopefully, better sequels are on the way.
* * 1/2

There's also a brief article by the movie reviewer too.


And as an off-topic note, Stargate SG-1 returns for season five at 7:30pm, Tuesdays on TV2 starting 2 October with a two-hour episode.

 

Yay! Another documentary!

I remember it was once said of the James Bond movies that critics no longer ask 'is it any good' but ask 'how does it compare to the last one'

I think The Phantom Menace suffers from the problem, and how could it possibly compare to the original trilogy? Especially for my generation who grew up with the films.

The Phantom Menace had it's flaws, but it did not deserve the critical backlash it received.

 

Here's what the [beep][beep] TV Guide Reviewer said in her short article ...

There was no more highly anticipated film than The Phantom Menace.

I remember the months-long hypw for this prequel to Star Wars, the impossible queues to see it in cinemas and, when I finally did get in, observing the mostly twenty-something male audience falling out of their seats as the trademark credits loomed.

Boy, what a swindle.

Unfortunately, George Lucas' first directing chore in 15 years was a showcase for some dazzling effects, but still a huge soulless disappoinment. Now screening on TV3, 7:30pm, Sunday, September 30, The Phantom Menace is best remembered for pandering to every demographic and, as a consequence, pleasing almost no one but eight-year-old boys. Its incomprehensible plotlines, annoying creatures (Jar Jar Binks must die!) and squandering of opportunities made it a sorry addition to the saga. I won't expect so much from part two.

Grrrrrr ...

 

That's nothing to compared to the Listener review. Listen to this:

Star Wars: Episode 1 - The Phantom Menace
TV3, 7.30pm
It starts so flat and it seems so incoherent - some news about intergalactic tax policies, Liam Neeson and Ewan McGregor speaking as though their lines have been dubbed and all sense lost in translation - that you cold easily wonder if the projectionist had the reels confused. And then creator George Lucas wheels on the woefully misconceived Jar Jar Binks - a kind of slouching duck-billed Rasta-farian amphibian thing. It does get a little better - the Ben Hur race is neat, some of the war scenes are impressive - but a film that should have been a blinding comeback feels more and more like padding, or housekeeping, all prologue and no story, as the monomaniac Lucas ties up the loose ends in his increasingly bland, increasingly introverted, increasingly irrelevant fantasy world. (1999)


Wow, do they need to take a chill pill or what? I think the reviewer was in an especially bad mood, because they've run every film on to the ground.

here's the listing for the doco:

7:30 A Long Time Ago: The Story of Star Wars
A documentary about the Star Wars phenomenon past and present. Through interviews, behind-the-scenes footage and movie clips from all four movies, this documentary offers a look at the whole saga. Past and present Star Wars actors Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Ewan McGregor, Liam Neeson and Natalie Portman talk about their characters and discuss the greatness of Darth Vader.

 

I'd say that they're both just hopeless film reviewers.

This is Leonard Maltin's review in his HUGE Movie & Video Guide (2000 edition) book, after a bit of blurb telling you about the main story line ...

The beginning of Lucas' epic saga resembles his first Star Wars film in both story and tone, with quantum leaps forward in special effects - including computer-generated charcters (like comic-relief Jar Jar Binks) who seem astonishingly real. Not a lot of heart, but certainly a lot of fun in Saturday matinee serial fashion.

He rates it 3 stars (out of four), so that shows what these others know.

 

The Sunday Star Times gave TPM a good review when it came out (4 stars out of 5). The Press here in Christchurch also gave a good review.

 

More about ANH's ratings, these compared to programmes from the entire week.

NZoom

ANH rated fifth in the "New Zealanders Aged 18-39" and "18-49" categories, and was ninth in the "25-54" category. Looks like it was TV3's highest rating show that week.

 

Ratings for the week ESB was on

ESB moves up from ANH's fifth position in the 18-39 category to fourth, stays fifth in the 18-49 category, but drops to tenth in the 25-54 category.

I think that's pretty good considering all that was happening around that time, and the reduced advertising because of it.

 

yeah, i wonder how much the tv companies lost in advertising.....

what is the deal with this "world wide tv premiere" claim? is this the first time it has been shown on tv anywhere or just freetoair, or what?

 

It's the first time The Phantom Menace has been shown on free-to-air TV ... supposedly!!

 

I was happy that ESB out-rated Celebrity treasure island.

I think TPM was due to show in other counteries, but it was pulled because of the DVD release.

 

Well, from checking around the TFN archives and our old Episode I TV schedule, TPM hasn't been shown on free-to-air channels before. It was scheduled to show on Fox in the US, but was pulled a few weeks prior. However, it has been shown on many pay networks, so the claim isn't entirely right.

The competition question on TV3's website from last week really had more than one possible answer. It was "Who trained Luke in the ways of the Jedi?" or something like that. Both Yoda and Obi-Wan were choices. Both could be correct.

 

It was the "Empire Strikes Back" question - you're supossed (ahem) to watch the movie before answering. And in Empire, it was Yoda all the way. In fact, Obi-Wan never actually trained Luke in ANH either, just told him to "use the force" against the remote, and the Death Star.

 

Only 5 days until TPM.

 

stay on target...

 

now the important thing about competitions is to check to see if they have something written along the lines of this: "no correspondence will be entered into with the judges"

 

There was a spelling mistake in the first of TV3's weekly competitions ("Tattooine") and a wording mistake in the latest one too (Jabba holding the frozen Han "hostage") -- oh well, who cares as long as I win.



Here's a brief article from the TV Guide about the documentary this weekend.

Spoilers - don't read any further if you want to be surprised.

The big names of the Star Wars movies, including Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Ewan McGregor, Liam Neeson and Natalie Portman, talk candidly about their involvement with the epic movies in the documentary A Long Time Ago: The Story of Star Wars (TV3, 7:30pm, Saturday, 29 September).

Ewan McGregor admits he always dreamed of acting in a Star Wars movie, but he fancied himself as Princess Leia rather than one of the male characters! Creator George Lucas also reveals he originally planned Star Wars to be a Saturday morning space adventure serial, but when he finished the first episode, it was 180 pages long.

Hmmmm ... Princess McGregor?!? Princess Ob-Wan?!? I don't think so Tim.

 

YIPPEE!!!

According to the Ratings in yesterday's NZ Herald, Return of the Jedi came in 4th in the "Auckland viewers aged 5 and over" table with 192,000 viewers. That includes me.


There was also a brief article ...

'Star Wars' a real force
Far, far away in a universe where television executives battle it out for ratings supremacy, the force was with TV3.

The channel's Star Wars season gave TV3 its best Sunday night movie ratings this year.

TV gave The Phantom Menace its first international outing on free-to-air television on Sunday night and attracted nearly 600,000 viewers in the national five-plus audience category.

The four Star Wars features screened on consequtive Sunday nights last month at 7:30pm.

The first three films drew nearly half a million viewers each.

 

600,000!? Wow!