CT RedLetterMedia and The People vs. George Lucas

Anyone here fans of RedLetterMedia? They're the folks who did the scathing 90-minute YouTube reviews of the prequels. Last month they sat down with the director of The People vs. George Lucas and discussed Lucas, the blu-ray changes to the OT, and Star Wars' place in popular culture. I thought I'd post it here for those who haven't seen it, as it's a pretty interesting Star Wars discussion primarily about the OT, and see if anyone has any thoughts on any of the points and arguments these three guys make.

Be forewarned, it's 45 minutes long and there is some strong language in parts.

http://tinyurl.com/6h7revl

 

I'm a fan of RLM, & thanks for the link, will watch tomorrow.

Hopefully the thread will still be active by then - I've yet to see any discussions about RLM remain civil for very long.

 

I will be surprised if it stays open. Keep this to the OT only. This thread is one post away from a lock.

 

Bit meh, really. It's just three guys sitting around whingeing about Star Wars. I really can do that myself.

Alexandre Philippe is reasonable enough, & I'm looking forward to seeing his movie, but Mike Stoklasa & his sidekick just come across as tools. Without the Mr Plinkett persona, Stoklasa simply isn't as funny as he thinks he is.
It's also kind of annoying to hear him make pretty obvious errors while trying to make serious points (as opposed to the deliberate mistakes in the Plinkett reviews, which are meant to be funny) - he claims Richard Marquand isn't dead when talking about the rights of the director, and later refers to American Graffiti as GL's first film.

At the end of the day, this is nothing more than a bashing exercise, even if The People Vs George Lucas isn't. Nothing new at all.

 

I haven't seen the documentary yet, but I did actually see one of the creator's adverts on the internet calling for Star Wars fans to be interviewed and provide a balanced view of the saga as a whole.

I'm not sure if the end product is like it, but the advert was very convincing about it's balanced view points, even if it was a pity about the title.

 

I've seen the People vs. George Lucas. The documentary itself serves as an outlet to disgruntled fans, but for the most part puts their complaints in perspective. They take a slight swipe at the gusherier side of things, but the documentary itself isn't as offensive or stupid as the RLM videos.

 

The mistakes or inaccuracies in the Plinkett reviews are generally not deliberate in the "meant to be funny" sense. They are meant to find ( manufacture ) fault with the films, and often there is nothing funny about them. ( The exceptions would be things like deliberate mispronunciation of names. ) To determine whether or not they are in fact deliberate misrepresentations would involve getting inside Stoklasa's head, but the lack of knowledge displayed by his comments cited above seems to be just another example of the same underlying problem.

 

That's what I meant, just those silly bits where he refers to Jango Fett as Boba Fett, pronounces Padme as 'Pad-a-me' & so on. They're deliberate, & just part of the joke. He's playing a character.

In this particular video, he's making a point about the rights of the directors, & says "Irvin Kershner & Richard Marquand aren't dead." It's not a joke, it's not a trick, it's just a flat-out mistake about a pretty crucial point he's making.

Anyway, I can already hear the bell tolling for this thread - you're less likely to cause a flame war discussing religion or Middle Eastern politics than RLM around here.

 

Actually he says "both of those men are now dead" in reference to Kershner and Marquand.

 

... and they need to get their facts straight too.

 

Interesting interview. Is it just me or could you really see that People Vs GL guy as visibly uncomfortable hearing such stubborn, extreme dislike of Lucas. I mean, they wouldn't even give him a LITTLE credit. It was especially notable that he seemed clearly irritated at Mike for putting words in his mouth.

Mike: "So what you're basically saying is; Lucas is an *******!"

Alexander: "Um . . . no, I don't believe I said that . . ."

 

I stand corrected, I misheard him due to his accent - I thought he said, "Both of those men are not dead." My mistake.

 

No, it isn't your imagination. Mike seems to be playing the Lucas-doubter, and while Mr. People Vs. appears to distance himself from sentiments like "Lucas is a fraud" or "George Lucas is a bad director" I mean, it's written all over his face every time Mike says something totally disrespectful towards Lucas.

It WAS rather funny to me hearing Mr. Mike criticize Lucas as a director, only to say he'd seen THX 1138 only recently.

And I always got the impression that the final edit of SW was overseen by Lucas. Not that "they" got ahold of it once Lucas had made his messy movie.

 

Too bad. Those english-speaking countries with all their different accent (UK, USA, Australia, Canada, New-Zealand, South Africa...)...A real mess !

We, French, have usually lesser trouble with French-speaking Canadian (Québec) and most African countries sharing our beeeeautiful language ...Although it can be a little tricky sometimes.

 

EDIT: You were warned

 

Um, I believe all the posts in this thread are criticising RLM for this latest work, not supporting it.

One way or another, the RLM reviews have become a part of SW culture, due to the impact they've had, like them or not. Whatever Mike Stoklasa does related to SW is as worthy of discussion as the works of Robot Chicken, Family Guy, The Simpsons & so on. As I pointed out, I liked the previous Mr Plinkett reviews of the PT, but this latest segment on his website is just rubbish, disguised as a legitimate discussion with a SW-inspired filmmaker (who clearly doesn't share the same bitterness & hatred to GL that Stoklasa does). Any attempt from Philippe to bring up 'the other side of the argument' is met with a swift cut to Stoklasa giving a deadpan 'uh-huh' & a contemptuous roll of the eyes.

Rich Evans, Stoklasa's sidekick, is even more obnoxious - the sort of stereotypical bitter old-school SW dork that the character of Mr Plinkett was supposedly created to parody - but he's just too horribly real to laugh at, because he actually is for real.

Stick with the insane character of Mr Plinkett & you might be able to carry on, boys - but the characters of sad, miserable, unreasonable old nerds presented in this video just weren't interesting. I've met enough of those already.

As a previous supporter of RLM, it must seem strange that I'm trashing Stoklasa the same way that so many PT fundamentalists do, simply because he was criticising their precious Prequel Trilogy, but it's just annoying to watch this latest effort which is so lame, so half-arsed, after three works which I enjoyed so much (even if the third one wasn't quite as good as the first two).

Oh...

 

So-called "PT fundamentalists" don't trash Stoklasa "because he was criticizing their precious Prequel Trilogy". That's the surreal, insecure viewpoint of the Stoklasa groupies who cannot see fault in their high priest. But you've seen through all that now... right? Doesn't your newfound realization of Stoklasa's shallowness mean that your concept of the motivation of PT defenders should be similarly reevaluated?

Stoklasa is trashed because his arguments against the films are largely complete garbage to begin with and because he constantly misrepresents the facts ( which has been well documented ). Not to mention that those in search of substantive criticism tend to know puerile diversionary tactics when they see them.

 

You mean the 108-page rebuttal from StarDestroyer.net?

 

Eh, not really. His PT reviews are still pretty damned solid. I just think he's a crappy interviewer who puts words in people's mouths now.

EDIT: I do actually think a discussion of their two philosophies on Lucas would have been interesting to see. Two takes on Lucas' perceived failings. Mike, who thinks that Lucas was never all that talented and just got lucky by having people around him who knew what they were doing and Alexander, who thinks Lucas was once talented but has lost his way. There was an interesting exchange to be had that didn't really happen and was kind of danced around. The gap between their opinions merely seemed to make some awkward moments.

One thing that definitely comes to light is how each of these men made their movies/videos with a completely different mindset. Mike clearly comes from a very angry place (despite his assertions that he has no strong feelings towards Lucas). He thinks Jorge is a hack that stumbled onto a winning idea that succeeded despite him and he will not let that go unsaid for long in any of his Star Wars related videos. On the other hand, The People vs George Lucas was most definitely made as a labor of love (despite its valid criticisms). Alexander loves GL . . . or more accurately, he loved him back in the day and wants to love him again. You can see a man who genuinely wants Lucas to see his film and who hopes against hope that maybe . . . just maybe Lucas will see the error of his ways in regards to his treatment of the OT and his relationship with his fans.

 

Not those who include phrases like "I didn't even bother watching the whole thing", "I stopped watching after ten minutes" or "that guy's voice is so annoying".

FWIW, I didn't 'see through' anything. I regard the Plinkett reviews in the same way, I just realise that he's got nothing else, & doesn't really have a place in any serious discussions. I don't take the reviews as gospel, or even consider them completely worthwhile, but they're still a bit of fun. Too many people took them too seriously and/or personally.

Nail. Head. Couldn't agree more.

 

This is just sad.

 

Yes, it is. Sigh. Lucas needs to have someone, other than him, re-edit the Prequels, and restore the old versions of the OT. Enough is enough.

 

IIRC, Robert A. Harris has publicly stated that he has an open offer to Lucas to restore all of the original Star Wars movies, provided that they are the ORIGINAL versions and not the SEs, free of charge. Lucas has not responded.