** AOTC DVD reaction thread (spoilers)

Haven't had a chance to wade through it too much yet (having aotc and lotr come out on the same day is a nice problem to have). But I did watch the film itself this morning and the deleted scenes along with a documentary or two this afternoon.

Initial reactions:

** I love the restored three lines of dialogue between Anakin and Padme during the confession scene. Especially: "I'm a Jedi...I *know* I'm better than this." I'm not sure why George cut that initially, it may be Anakin's most telling line in the entire movie. Really clues the audience in to his inner struggle and how far he's going to fall. It also makes Padme's falling for him after the Tusken massacre a bit more believable.

** The deleted scenes are MUCH better this time for the most part than they were for Phantom Menace. With the two possible exceptions being Padme's address to the Senate (her acting here is really not good) and the Jedi Analysis Droids scene, which really does nothing for the plot, as George and Ben mention.

** The Windu/Kenobi starfighter hangar scene is great. Redundant since most of that scene was re-addressed in the Jedi Temple scene, but still great.

** Anakin's interactions with Padme's family is really interesting. She's bringing Darth Vader home to meet the parents, after all. They would have bogged down the film but are fun to see here. The holograms on her bedroom wall are pretty neat and really help flesh out her character a lot.

** R2-D2 playing with those little kids is classic.

** I would have really liked to see the Plo Koon/Ki-Adi-Mundi droid ship scene that was apparently shot. Darn!

** The end credits of the Previsualization documentary has some funny gags involving the bloated Naboo cow creature. Looks like ILM has a sense of humor.

** Some great moments in that same documentary showing a potential scene that would have had speeder-bike-riding Clone Troopers in action. Wow! Maybe George is saving that for Ep 3.

 

i still say the gag reel is the funniest thing on the dvd (better than the CG stuff at the end of that documentary),

 

** I would have really liked to see the Plo Koon/Ki-Adi-Mundi droid ship scene that was apparently shot. Darn!

I thought I saw that in the theatrical, and in the IMAX showings?




I will reserve my comments on the rest of it for now. All I can say is please, Unca George: Please give us the OT on DVD!!!!

 

ONE WORD ! SSSSSSSSSSSWWWWWWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEETTTTTTTTTTT!

 

Obey, are you sure you saw the Plo/Ki-Adi droid control ship scene??

I'm sure it wasn't in the theatrical cut (at least none of the ones I saw), but then I missed the IMAX version. It was in the novel I think (didn't read it) and it was rumored at one point to be part of the dvd's deleted scenes. Essentially it was a scene of a failed mission by Plo and Ki-Adi to enter a droid control ship and take out the ground droids, just like little Anakin did in Episode One. Their mission fails, but we do see the very end result of the mission when those two Jedi are herded back in with the other "captured" Jedi in the theatrical cut.

 

The Plo/Ki-Adi droid control ship scene was shot (and discussed in great detail in the 2SA forum when it existed) but never made it in to any of the showings, theatrical (digital or regular) or the IMAX showing. The only thing you got was the Plo, Ki-Adi and the Jedi strike team being shuttled into the final circle.

*faints from geeky overload!!*

 

^^ My bad --I misread that and thought about watching them get blown out of the sky.


Yeah, that would've been a great cut scene.

 

Hey All!

I would like the adi and plo scene as well, but o well. Now I feel that the scene with Padme and her parents should be in the movie. To me, it seemed more natural flowing than the rest of the "romance" plot of the film.

 

WWWOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!! Im just so glad i can watch it at home now.

First- I thought the two lines Red3 mentioned are huge. one thing though, the whole scene seems to kindof... stop for those "re-inserted" lines. Before, he just sortof sank to the ground crying. Now he sinks, stops, says something, then the music comes back up & he goes back to heavy crying.
I really liked it, but it did seem a little weird. maybe just cause I've never seen it.

the rest of the deleted scenes;
To me it seemed like all Padme stuff. they would have added A LOT to her character. yes, the acting in the first senate scene seemed kinda off, but the family stuff seems pretty huge to me.
R2 with the kids was classic star wars material.
Padme's scene with Dooku showed her as a strong opponent and i really liked the wording; Dooku:"join our alliance" Padme:"your rebellion"
it sets up a nice role reversal for the kids.
That was cool.
Poggle on the podium. another example of Padme talkin smack. I love fiesty chicks.

I'm really bummed about the Plo-Koon & Ki-Adis mission. I was sure we'd see that on DVD. Bummer. maybe the "saga" edition.

Edit: oh yeah- the analysis scene & the hangar. droid scenes- cool, but skipable.
hangar- I'm not sure if I like the hangar or the temple better. I wonder whos idea the temple scene was.
"hey george, I thought of this little floaty thing we can use for yoda. you wanna try it?"

 

Yeah, the new dialogue does seem to alter that scene's pace in a weird way. As you said, probably because we're so used to the original scene. Luckily I'd watched LotR Extended Edition first where they literally were changing things left and right so I was used to it.

You're right, the cut "rebellion" line has a lot of significance. But I'm very glad George had a change of heart and decided to have Dooku tempt Obi instead of Padme. Makes a lot of sense with the whole Qui-Gon master/padawan connection.

As for the actual movie, one more change I think I noticed: After Padme gets up after falling out of the gunship, and the clone trooper asks her if she's okay, she says something like "uh huh" in this really timid voice. Isn't that response totally different from the theatrical cut?

 

we noticed that in IMAX also. I think "uh-huh" doesnt sound as coherent, and therefore WRONG in this case.
I like "uh-huh" better than "yes"

 

back to that added line in the homestead, I realized - that is were the line "I'm a jedi" came from. I remembered hearing it in the preview & they edit Watto into replying "A Jedi! Whadaya know!".
I always wondered where Anakins quote was taken from.

I dig that addition.

 

I was really hoping for some shots of Dooku goin' at it with Yoda with two sabers. They showed some shots of his stunt double wielding the two sabers, but no sort of finished product. Was hopin' for the Ki-Adi/Plo Kloon mission too. Haven't watched the actual movie yet, so I haven't had a chance to compare it to the theatrical/IMAX presentations. All I can say is that I hope George picks up the Special Extended DVD of Lord of the Rings before he dives full steam into Ep: III. The amount of work that Peter Jackson's crew put into THAT trilogy really establishes the benchmark for other film makers to aspire to.

 

wow. i havent even watched mine yet. I think its time. i keep hearing how incredible it is.

do any of the behind the scenes doc's ruin the effects stuff for you guys? sometimes when i see that stuff i always think "hes' not really there. they arent really doing that." I mean we all know he isnt & they arent, but dont you get that vision of the blue screen set stuck in your head?

it cant be just me.

 

Just got mine today and I just got done watching the Deleted Scenes (during the commercials on Gilmore Girls ), and I have a couple things to say. Family Scenes and the Senate Address should have stayed in!!! And Maybe the Mace & Obi-Wan scene too. Teh other stuff was pointless. So, you pare down the Speeder Chase and the Asteriod Field scenes and voila, room for those scenes!! Oh, yeah, and cut the Anakin dream scene (Sorry Sarah, but that scene was just too disturbing for me).

Okay, now I'm going to watch the movie

 

I agree with you on the family scenes, sort of ... I like them in "deleted scene context," but to me they're just not very Star Warsy or something. To me, there is nothing "Star Wars" about them in terms of their tone and the way they were shot. It's almost as if those scenes were taken from an episode of Gilmore Girls or something (witty banter and all, though Padme has nothing on Rory - did I just say that aloud?).

The more I think about it, I agree with you that the senate address scene might have been a nice addition, if only Natalie had done a little better acting job there. It definitely sets up the urgency and importance of the upcoming army vote, something I think the theatrical cut failed to do.

 

But he has the perfect anatomy! He is a wonderful study for an artist! I don't think he's cute or anything... just perfectly built.

And I also think those scenes should have been left in... but they should cut out the tail end of the stupid picknick scene. The beginning is ok. It tells of Anakin's innocence and Padme's first kiss.

 

Red3 you've been outed!! And now I have someone else to talk Gilmore Girls with!!

What I liked about the Senate Address was that she showed some passion. She got really fired up and it showed just how deeply she cared about what was going on. She wasn't meant to be under control and it showed. She was, pardon the reference, Unleashed!

 

More Cuts-

The patio scene at the lake. I really like the IMAX edit on that scene.

The Picnic Scene. There's at least a 2 or 3 minutes they could take out of that. Especially the Cow-Tick riding thing!

Queen Jamilla Scene - That scene could be cut down a little too. It seems to stall the action

 

LOL, please don't call it a cow-tick!

There's something really creepy about that description.

Let's call it a cow-lamb so I can still sleep at night.

 

Well here are my thoughts.

I don't like it.

The Episode I dvd was much better i think. I really enjoyed the long behind the scene about the casting and the whole process, i could watch it over and over. But watching a whole documentary about yoda is just friggin ridiculous. One thing i really liked about this dvd was the promotional section. I really enjoyed this a lot and a lot of new dvd's are lacking a good section such as this...(new line dvd's). The movie itself is ok. I didn't notice anything SPECTACULAR or GROUND-BREAKING. It looked just like every other dvd that has been played on a high-def. tv. It's high points are sound and the promotional section. The rest of it was rather lame. I checked out the gag reel and honestly didn't laugh at any of them. There's got to be more hidden stuff on this dvd to justify my purchase of this. Like Darth Jar said at Mediaplay "it's going to have a 2nd disc of crap" more or less lmao. I think they could have done a lot more with this dvd rather than add a bunch of pointless stuff. Overall, I can say that it's probably not worth it to buy it. Some of us...bought it because we already had EP1 on dvd

 

SW is always worth buying!!

And as for the controversy about the helmet and the head. IT ID TOTALLY OBVIOUS!!! You can even see the guys profile in the shadow of the head rolling out of the helmet.

Okay, I sat through the Arena battle while on Slo-Mo at 1/7. I never realized just how many Jedi there were in that scene! But the weird part is, that you never see any of them fall until they start to close in to the circle. They are all knocking out Battle Droids left and right and up and down through the whole thin until then. Maybe the scene was much longer, but they went from hundreds of Jedi to around 20 just like that. ?

 

I would have to agree that Disc 2 was pretty much full of *****. But hey, that's what you end up with when the fans demand an early release of the DVD, and LFL caves to the call of the almighty republic credit to get them out so quickly.

The "gag" reel was definitely more of the variety to make one want to "gag", as opposed to knee-slapping shtick and slapstick.

I enjoyed the evolution of Yoda, but as that was really the dominant "extra" in the set, it was somewhat dissatisfying.

Too much effort to locate the cracked "easter eggs" too. I spent more time summoning the dark side to feed on my frustration with my DVD remote, then I actually did watching the "bonuses".

Overall, I think it fell victim to the Haste makes Waste syndrome of trying to churn out a mediocre product within a short time span, as opposed to spending more time to release a truly quality product. TPM was a much better example, but it also took quite a bit longer to release...


So...

Is the DVD half full...


...or half empty?

 

It's half-full. But I see your point. Compared to the new LotR DVD, anything else looks pretty half-arsed.

While I liked the deleted scenes better than Ep One's, the other bonus stuff is definitely not as good as Phantom's. In fact that series of three mini-documentaries (one of them was called "Love" or something) seemed really thrown together and were kind of disappointing.

Maybe if I hadn't already watched the Web Documentaries online, I would have felt like I was seeing more interesting stuff.

Still, at the end of the day, it's all about the movie itself for me, which I think is pretty great.

 

amen, brutha.

amen.