Oh dear. I have just realized that given the choice between watching the prequels and and having to write a 5000 word essay on how excellent the girly stinky elf movie is, I'd choose Mary the stinky elf, every. time.
Hey, if it means I don't have to read any more, woo and, might I add, a big hoo.
Xander ,'Sleeper'
The Minearverse 3: The Network Is a Harsh Mistress
[NAFDA] "There will be an occasional happy, so that it might be crushed under the boot of the writer." From Zorro to Angel (including Wonderfalls and The Inside), this is where Buffistas come to anoint themselves in the bloodbath.
Allyson - Sep 29, 2004 4:04:55 pm PDT #2413 of 10001
Wait, is this real-world child support, where the money goes to buy food for the kids, or MRA fantasyland child support where the women just buy Ferraris and cocaine? -Jessica
Barry Woodward - Sep 29, 2004 4:07:59 pm PDT #2414 of 10001
I fought the law and I won!
Kalshane - Sep 29, 2004 4:13:55 pm PDT #2415 of 10001
GS: If you had to choose between kicking evil in the head or the behind, which would you choose, and why?
Minsc: I'm not sure I understand the question. I have two feet, do I not? You do not take a small plate when the feast of evil welcomes seconds.
Most people agreed, before the prequels, that the best-written of the three movies was *The Empire Strikes Back*, which wasn't written by Lucas at all.
Actually, Lucas was involved in the writing process. He just had help and had someone else direct. So while it was the movie that had the least personal involvment from him, he was still involved. (Though I do agree with you. As a kid, I liked Jedi the best. As an adult, Empire is my favorite.)
Barry Woodward - Sep 29, 2004 4:18:01 pm PDT #2416 of 10001
I fought the law and I won!
"Actually, Lucas was involved in the writing process. He just had help and had someone else direct. So while it was the movie that had the least personal involvment from him, he was still involved. (Though I do agree with you. As a kid, I liked Jedi the best. As an adult, Empire is my favorite.)"
Yeah, George Lucas actually did write the first couple drafts of Empire and I recently read one of them and it turns out almost all the elements that show up in the finished film were there from his drafts. Interesting enough in every draft of the script Vader said, "Obi-Wan murdered your father." instead of his famous line because Lucas wanted to keep the secret from getting out and Mark Hammill only found out just before he did the scene.
Betsy HP - Sep 29, 2004 4:22:22 pm PDT #2417 of 10001
If I only had a brain...
Plot elements alone do not make a great script. I think if he'd done the scenario and called in a script writer, he'd have had a far better result in the prequels.
Barry Woodward - Sep 29, 2004 4:26:02 pm PDT #2418 of 10001
I fought the law and I won!
George Lucas co-wrote Attack Of The Clones with Jonathan Hales and Revenge Of The Sith with Tom Stoppard.
Mr. Broom - Sep 29, 2004 4:27:27 pm PDT #2419 of 10001
"When I look at people that I would like to feel have been a mentor or an inspiring kind of archetype of what I'd love to see my career eventually be mentioned as a footnote for in the same paragraph, it would be, like, Bowie." ~Trent Reznor
Yeah, George Lucas actually did write the first couple drafts of Empire and I recently read one of them and it turns out almost all the elements that show up in the finished film were there from his drafts.Except the dialogue, I promise you. Having not read those drafts, I can still say with utter confidence that ESB's dialogue was not a Lucas undertaking. Because it was good.
This is the primary reason why the prequels with their colorful cast of characters played by highly experienced actors at the top of their game, sucks--even a great actor cannot save that much awful dialogue. It drags down the character. I wanted to laugh at most of Anakin's dialogue in Ep. II, and I think Hayden Christiansen is a fantastic actor. Lucas hamstrung the lot of them by refusing to acknowledge his own shortcomings.
Pix - Sep 29, 2004 4:31:13 pm PDT #2420 of 10001
The status is NOT quo.
t wanders into thread
t looks up at thread title
Huh. So Tim wrote Phantom Menace too, huh?
That must have been hard for him, what with all the Buffy writing he was doing back then.
Explains what happened to Liam Neeson, though.
t runs away
Barry Woodward - Sep 29, 2004 4:32:42 pm PDT #2421 of 10001
I fought the law and I won!
"Except the dialogue, I promise you. Having not read those drafts, I can still say with utter confidence that ESB's dialogue was not a Lucas undertaking. Because it was good."
Actually quite a bit of dialogue was carried over from his darfts, you'd be suprised. Dialogue may not be George's strong point but he's hardly as bad as people make him out to be. He wrote almost all the dialogue for American Graffiti save for the Ron Howard scenes with his girlfriend and I thought the dialogue was perfect for the movie. The truth is the dialogue in the prequels and even the original trilogy is purposefully corny because the saga is meant as a tribute to the serials Lucas used to watch as a kid. Luke whining, "I wanted to go to Toshi's Station to get some power converters!" That's not Joss Whedon calibre is it?
Ginger - Sep 29, 2004 4:38:37 pm PDT #2422 of 10001
"It didn't taste good. It tasted soooo horrible. It tasted like....a vodka martini." - Matilda
ESB was co-written by Leigh Brackett and Lawrence Kasdan. I think it's far and away the best of them, and I attribute much of that to Leigh Brackett, who was a brilliant writer, both of novels and screenplays, including "The Long Goodbye" and "Rio Bravo," plus she held Faulkner's hand when he worked on "The Big Sleep."