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CT The executor destruction technically questionable

Discussion in 'Classic Trilogy' started by PricyCaptain, Jan 7, 2016.

  1. Sarge

    Sarge 7x Wacky Wednesday winner star 10 VIP - Game Winner

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    Oct 4, 1998
    This is SW; we don't do "massive coincidence."

    [face_liarliar]
     
  2. darth-sinister

    darth-sinister Manager Emeritus star 10 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

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    Jun 28, 2001
    Right, but Lucas only had so much money. He had a certain amount that he had to spend on ROTJ, which was $32 million. The other money went back towards building the Ranch, THX and Skywalker Sound. He even had to start relocating everything after TESB, because he had a larger staff than when he first started. He had two people in 1976 and had eighty in 1981, doing the job of just two. So he had to cut corners and then start relocating. Hell, Lucas even said that it was far more daunting to work on ROTJ than it was on TESB and ANH.

    Paul Scanlon: Even though you're no longer directing, I get the impression that making a 'Star Wars' picture, even the third time around, isn't getting any easier.

    George Lucas: Jedi almost killed everybody, every department, from costumes to building monsters to the sophistication of the mechanics to the special effects. Everything was very, very hard on everybody. This one was grim for me, just as bad as Star Wars, just as bad as directing. I don't know how I got into it. It's the demands, the amount of time one has to spend, and the anxiety, the worrying: ''Is it going to be good? Is this going to work? Why is everything going wrong all the time?'' And it's my personality. I'm very emotionally involved in it, and I've made a big commitment to it.

    --Rolling Stone interview, 1983.

    So for Lucas, if he felt that the Executor was good enough, then for him, it was. When the SE's rolled around, he was very selective about what he wanted to change. Some of which he had to be talked into by Dennis Muren. Note that he didn't change the shots of the Falcon being chased by the Star Destroyers in ANH. Basically, those shots still hold up, but as joked about in "Family Guy", the Falcon doesn't really do anything impressive when Han's stalling for time. Especially compared to the maneuvers in TESB, ROTJ and TFA.

    Also remember that Lucas had a tight deadline on the OT. When he did the PT, he gave ILM all kinds of time to get things ready.
     
  3. moreorless12

    moreorless12 Jedi Grand Master star 4

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    Jan 4, 2016
    I don't think theres any need to go searching for them though when they aren't needed. My explanation might be quite long winded but really its just trying to explain something I think was intended to be self evident, you don't need to know much or anything about physics to recognised that the SSD is behaving in a similar kind of fashion to an object falling to earth.

    Honestly I don't think Lucas can be blamed for this FX shot not being entirely convicing, I think it was more a product of the limits of FX tech at the time. I would say as well that the shot just before it with the SSD angling downwards is excellent and really sells the sense of giant mass for me.
     
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  4. Darth__Lobot

    Darth__Lobot Jedi Grand Master star 4

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    Dec 29, 2015
    I think Lucas can be blamed for not cleaning it up or replacing it when he did the SEs.... I mean we get Jedi Rocks but he leaves this in?
     
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  5. moreorless12

    moreorless12 Jedi Grand Master star 4

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    Jan 4, 2016
    Yeah I'd agree with that, there's really little evidence that the SE's were about "realising his vision", it was always about either testing new CGI or trying to link the films to the PT.
     
  6. Darth__Lobot

    Darth__Lobot Jedi Grand Master star 4

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    Dec 29, 2015

    Well to be fair - they did do a lot of great clean up work on some of the matte lines and stuff.... I just don't get how they could look at that scene and think "oh that's fine.. nothing to fix there.

    I mean they basically re-did significant portions of the ANH DS battle
     
  7. darth-sinister

    darth-sinister Manager Emeritus star 10 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

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    Jun 28, 2001

    ANH was about that. He wasn't even going to do TESB and ROTJ initially, but then decided to go ahead. That's why there are fewer changes on those two films than there are ANH.
     
  8. Admiral Volshe

    Admiral Volshe Chosen One star 10

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    Sep 2, 2012

    Keep in mind Palpatine's plan was entirely overconfident, and it showed rather quickly. He didn't want the fleet to attack and told them to trap the Rebels, which was just signing the Fleet's death certificate, in all honesty. I wouldn't be surprised if he told them to float around by the Death Star to draw the fleet in without alerting them to the true size of the fleet. At least, that's my headcanon.

    But then the battle from the Emperor's throne room seems to show the Executor out with the fleet. :p

    It doesn't make sense to me either. The destruction of a bridge logically shouldn't mean the end of the entire ship, especially one with 43,000 crew (or whatever the number is now). It's not like the bridge is the only part of the ship that has anyone working, that makes no logical sense. In fact, I've always wondered why there was not a secondary bridge, or secondary command for the ship's systems (for a ship that large, it only makes sense that there are multiple command centres coordinating). It especially doesn't make sense to me why the main bridge deflector shield domes are...well...right on top of the bridge.

    The only explanation for all of this is that the plot called for it, and so that's how it had to happen. :p
     
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  9. Lt. Hija

    Lt. Hija Jedi Master star 4

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    Dec 8, 2015
  10. Iron_lord

    Iron_lord 53x Wacky Wed/5x Two Truths/29x H-man winner star 10 VIP - Game Winner

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    Sep 2, 2012
    In Lost Stars, a point is made of how damage to the engines happened as well - it was the combination of damaged engines and destroyed bridge that took out the Executor.

    Maybe after TESB, the Emperor claimed the Executor as his own Star Destroyer (to punish Vader for losing Luke). - and used it to take him to Endor.