The first goofy Episode 3 rumor making the rounds (Remember when Christopher Walken, Gabriel Byrne, and Jimmy Smits were all supposed to be in Attack of the Clones? Ok, the last one actually happened.) has Scott Glenn boarding the Death Star for the final installment. I’ll believe it when I see it. In other Ep. 3 news, is this drawing of a staff-wielding warrior Chewbacca what we can expect in 2005? All I gotta say is Lucas will have to knock this movie out of the park to erase the bad taste of the past two prequels and Yoda’s speech last night, which was as stilted and embarrassing as Gollum’s was funny.
Category: Star Wars
Laugh it up, Fuzzball.
In a bold move to counter further fanboy defection to The Matrix and Lord of the Rings, George Lucas enlists Chewbacca for Episode III. If they treat him like they did Jango and Boba Fett in Ep. II, expect Chewie to be not only Anakin’s lost-lost uncle but also the father of the entire Ewok species.
Scuttling the Past.
Speaking of never-ending remakes, the worst fears of Star Wars fans have come to pass. As if the prequels weren’t snub enough, Lucas says he’ll NEVER release the original versions of the original trilogy on DVD. Which means, from now to time immemorial, Greedo shot first. Ugh…doesn’t Lucas even read the news?
Gondora gonna fallsa!
A year away and RotK spoilers keep on coming. Today we get out first look at Jar-Jaromir, half-brother of Boromir and Faramir. He looks perfect!
It came to me…
While TTT news flies fast and furious (stills, songs, and even the film’s opening are now available online), the extended version of Fellowship breaks today (expect updates around here to go way down.) To be honest, I flipped through most of the new stuff last night after a midnight madness sale, and I’d say 25 of the 30 new minutes are great additions. [Spoilers in next paragraph.]
The Galadriel/Lothlorien stuff works much better now, with both Galadriel and Celeborn taking on the flavor of Tolkien’s tome. Moreover, all of the underutilized members of the Fellowship – Boromir, Gimli, Merry, Pippen, and even Samwise – are given more characterization. And it just seems to take longer to get from place to place, which might take away from the film’s dizzying pace, but definitely captures more of the feel of the book. The only insertion I don’t like at the moment, other than Isildur‘s death (which seems unnecessary), is the additional Shire stuff at the very beginning. The cut to Frodo reading after the voiceover was a powerful one in the original version, but now there’s more filler about hobbits in between, courtesy of Bilbo. Perhaps it’ll grow on me (it’s a bit jarring to see a new version of a film you’ve seen fifty times, particularly when people are saying the same lines in a different take), but at the moment the “Concerning Hobbits” segment seems a bit leaden. (I dig the Green Dragon scene, though.) All in all, I love a lot of the stuff in here, and particularly the restored Lothlorien. Definitely worth a look-see…I’m having a few gatherings this week to show to friends, and I’m curious to see how first-time viewers react to the longer film. I suspect that this version is less accessible to non-Tolkienites than the original cut, which, on its own terms, is probably the better film.
On a side note, I also picked up the Episode II DVD (more out of dutiful resignation than of anything else) and, however strange some of the hobbit additions may seem, they’re infinitely better than some of the thankfully deleted scenes on this disc. It’s hard to figure out what’s more embarrassing – Lucas’ awful “Amidalas around the dinner table” dialogue or Natalie Portman’s stilted, wooden, and grotesquely bad delivery in every scene. If you buy one DVD this month, buy Fellowship.
Attack of the Clerks.
Director Kevin Smith offers some dubious praise for Episode 2.
Third time’s the charm?
Not to be completely overshadowed by the TTT teaser (more mirror sites here), Lucas drops some Episode III tidbits. Looks like chances of the last one being better than the past one are steadily slipping away.
Hardly Extinct.
Australia counts among its citizens approximately 250,000 Jedi, despite its being an “inadequately described” religion. I wonder how they’re all dealing with this most recent crisis of faith.
It’s not the years, honey, it’s the mileage.
After a decade of rumors and half-starts, Harrison Ford will finally don the fedora again for Indy 4, with Spielberg directing and Frank Darabont writing (from a story by, um, George Lucas). The movie’s currently due July 2005, a month after Episode III.