SCREGMAN SAYS...

THIS IS MY GAME... SUCKING THE MARROW FROM THE BONES OF LIFE... ONE BONE AT A TIME...

Sunday, November 13, 2005

STAR WARS...[1]


Part the First: Let The Milking Begin...

I loved Revenge of the Sith. There's no getting around it. I believe I saw it 3-4 times in the theatres. And I also saw it while in Spain. It had been dubbed in Spanish, but that was okay since I already knew what was going on. Even the words that scroll up at the beginning were in Spanish.

On Thursday, November 10, 2005... I broke down and bought Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith.

This is where the milking begins. It is absolutely unconscionable how the release of movies onto DVD plays out, especially if the movie is a blockbuster. And the abuse is so much more apparent with sequels and trilogies. First, release one movie at a time (possibly w/extras [behind-the-scenes, audio commentary, etc.]). After each is released individually (perhaps a year apart from each other), then release some kind of boxed set with even more extras, forcing those who bought the individual movies to wonder what they're missing. I have no doubt this is exactly what the higher-ups will do with this current Star Wars trilogy. I hadn't even thought this far ahead, but a friend of mine suggested (and this wouldn't surprise me) that they'll even release a boxed set containing all six movies, most likely with extras. Ridiculous, imbecile, incorrigible, and unconscionable.

What made me go out and buy the final movie rather than "wait" for the boxed set? This is my reason. I'm not going to watch the extra stuff over and over again. Yes, for the most part, it's enlightening and insightful, but once I've seen it, that's it (at least for me). I have yet to re-watch audio commentary and the like. It is for the movie that I bought the DVD. It is the movie that I will watch again and again. It is not for the extras that I buy DVDs. And Netflix will help me out with that. I saw the Lord of the Rings trilogy in the theatre. Eventually, I will rent the ones with all the extras (UTTERLY RIDICULOUS TO DO THIS TO THE MASSES). And I will do this, too, with the Star Wars saga.

Not Even For the Sake of Completeness...
(Forgive me TofU,) but I cannot bring myself to buy The Phantom Menace. Not even for the sake of completeness. (I have yet to complete my Babylon 5 collection. Ironically, because of Netflix, I don't know if I'll ever watch B5 again.) I know... I know... This really goes against the grain, but I absolutely cannot watch Phantom Menace over and over again. To be honest, I saw it twice on the big screen. The first time, I fell asleep, which is why I went the second time. I just can't fathom what George was thinking when he came up with Jar Jar (and the Ewoks). Sure, Jar Jar was completely CGI, but... WTF. Was he catering to the younger generation by creating such a ridiculously useless character? Was he trying to make the movie more fun for the kids? If that's the case, he really bungled. He should have kept our generation as the target. Do you know how many people groaned in the theatre during Attack of the Clones when Jar Jar made his appearance? BTW, I do own Attack of the Clones. I just love the Yoda-fu, but I CANNOT, WILL NOT, EVER own Phantom Menace.

LET THE MILKING BEGIN, BUT I WILL NEVER, EVER, OWN PHANTOM MENACE...

posted by ScregMan @ Sunday, November 13, 2005  

7 Comments:

  • At 8:40 PM, November 13, 2005, Blogger Thor said…

    Holy Smack. The 3rd Star Wars is out on DVD. I have not even seen it in the Theatres yet.

    But it's not really milking, it's more like...marketing...

    They know there is a segment of the market who will buy it when it comes out as a single, then will buy it again as a set and will buy it a third time as a silver anniv set.

    You must be disciplined young Ronin and fight the evil empire and their wicked ways.

    Be strong, fight the urge to buy the first release you must...

    But since you did already bought it, dude let me borrow it.

     

  • At 9:29 AM, November 14, 2005, Blogger Kilatzin said…

    yeah, dude. i kinda concur with shogun.

    the laity wouldn't care about dvd extras and such. that's the one of the two major segments a first dvd targets. (the other being the rabid fans who REALLY need a fix, or allowed a tsunami or birth of a baby to interfere with watching that anticipated movie. yes, that was me and Sin City, which came out the week following my son's birth. so like a meth fiend, i jumped the gun and bought the dvd before it dawned on me that there'll be a LOADED feature coming out 2 or 3 months later.)

    Which kinda leads into my next point, which is in agreement with Shogun, if you're a geek, then it's almost incumbent on you to RESEARCH and FIND OUT about the upcoming dvd releases of a certain movie and plan for it. It takes some discipline, especially in hyper consumerist society, but it is necessary.

    case in point, the lord of the rings DVDs. I waited for the 3 extended versions to come out and LOVE them. The whole trilogy works much better if you consider it as the best damned MINI-SERIES ever created. The extended versions really do flesh out some points that the movies had to skirt for time and flow issues.

    and i hate to say it, i'm not a big fan of the Star Wars prequels. i mean the effects are great, but as a movie, i can't watch them. the first one BLEW!!!! the second one was much better, but that's like saying I'll choose the ugly chick with a minimum wage job over her ugly retarded cousin with no job. And the third, although technically the best of them, left me feeling cold. I thought the Emperor was a huge drama queen . . . "i can feeeel your anger" . . . i swear he almost twisted his titties when he said that line. and my little brain couldn't process all the action that was going on. The lighting seemed much too dark at times, and for the scope of the action depicted, things seemed cut a little too fast and closely cropped.

    but maybe that's my old man fogeyism showing.

     

  • At 1:38 PM, November 14, 2005, Blogger ScregMan said…

    Shogun: But of course you can borrow Revenge of the Sith. Next gathering (hopefully I'll remember to bring it) or next bowling night or next time you happen to be in the area, just give a call to make sure we're home... (I'm ever so slowly making my way thru Sports Night.)


    RE prior comments: Yes... I know it's all just marketing and targeting specific groups of people to make the most money, etc. etc. Even "for the sake of completeness" doesn't phase me anymore. The bottom line for me is: How often will I watch this? That is the absolute bottom line. And it's become a balancing act between Netflix and the actual purchasing of DVDs. There's so much new stuff out there. I should watch the new stuff rather than re-watching stuff I've already seen. For things I've already seen but want to see again (Tron, Miami Vice, 21 Jump Street [YES, 21 JUMP STREET, KILATZIN], etc.), I'll rent them and watch them one last time, then be done for good.

    I've received mixed feelings from others about Revenge of the Sith. It did close the gaps, etc. I really loved it, but, I am also in agreement with that sensation of being "rushed" through the movie. The journey to the dark side seemed really quick, although one could argue there were hints of it in Attack of the Clones. For me, I would've liked to have seen more Sith Lord and Sith Apprentice interaction. We've seen how Jedi train. Why not see the darkside? I mean, we've heard the journey to the darkside is the "easier" path, but is it really that quick? Just nix the first movie and concentrate on Anakin's fall...

     

  • At 3:21 PM, November 14, 2005, Blogger mikshir said…

    This is probably the best review I've seen on the Sith (well the cartoons that is):

    http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=episode3

    I liked it but it was kind of like season 4 of B5, they kind of staged it so they fit in way too much. e.g. Anakin's (what a horrible name) turn was too quick. IMO they should have spread out some of this movie over the previous 2 films, killed the whole immaculate conception thingy and picked him up as a rambunctions teenager with a sorta good heart. Palpatine's involvement should have been more pronounced and elongated to the previous two. e.g. stear clear of the over-sappy love moments and focus on what everyone cared about: the turn to the darkside.

     

  • At 10:05 PM, November 14, 2005, Blogger Kilatzin said…

    YES!!!! I agree with the suggestions about cutting out phantom menace and spreading the last movie over 2.

    A coworker read the novelization of the Sith movie and said that it really did a good job of "closing the gap", particularly with Anakin's downfall . . . i think he said something about the point that Anakin was trying to make the Dark Side work for good purposes. It even went into why Obi Wan just left Anakin there. It was because he was angry, pissed, and getting revenge.

    i did like the clone wars cartoon (what i saw of it)

     

  • At 4:22 PM, November 15, 2005, Blogger ScregMan said…

    Ouch & double OUCH... I checked out that website that TofU recommended. Talk about getting ripped. Does anybody know how far freedom of speech can go on the Web? When does your own opinion also become slander or libel?

    I actually chopped some stuff out of my blog because I thought it was too much. Since I used the term "milk(ing)", I had said something along the lines of Lucas being the nipple. Let's see how many of us go to suck it. And my last line was going to be "PHANTOM MENACE IS ONE NIPPLE I WILL NOT SUCK."

     

  • At 5:36 PM, January 17, 2006, Blogger ScregMan said…

    This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

     

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