[Sukhoi]

Ben was cocky and restless when he was young too!

"So was I, remember"?

In fact I just saw Episod IV and I found it better in many ways that I remembered it, because of all the links to the times of Ep. I.
I.e. "a weapon from a more civilized age" (before the empire) and so on.

Sukhoi

[jezelf]

anyone know what the differnce between these covers ? is the colour change just a regional thing? or is one hardback and the other paperback?? at first I thought it was justa colour correction thing. Just want to get the hard back version

the grey one is from a US amazon site, and the white the UK one.







and theres also this Attack of the Clones Visual Dictionary too!

[convoyrider]

The white version is printed in the UK under a different publisher while the grey version is prinited in the US under under another publisher. Apparently, the UK one is out already while the US one has been delayed.

Personally, I prefer the white one since its consistent with the Ep1 Art book.

btw, does anyne know if there will be an Ep2 art portfolio, like all the others?

[Steven Stahlberg]

quote:

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here you sit on your high horse and say from afar "hey George Lucas that character sucks because it wasn't what I wanted. Redo it

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You're taking this way too personally methinks.
It's just another movie, man.

Just because a director is an old pro, with many successes behind him or her, does that make him/her sacrosanct? Are we not allowed now to voice our opinions on the work of certain directors? If so, where do you draw the line? After they've had 1 movie get Oscar nominations? 2 movies? Or only the directors you like? Or are ALL directors off limits from criticism?

quote:

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I don't remember hearing people bitch out Stephen King because Misery didn't end they way they wanted...

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You call what we're doing 'bitching out'? Then I guess you haven't seen a real flame war...
I'm sure there were a lot of people complaining about that one when they first saw it, and if you look it up on the internet I'm sure you'll find lots of professional movie critics picking that film to pieces. Any movie is fair game. I've got opinions on every movie I see, and I'll be glad to give them to you if you want.

quote:

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I just find it sad in a supposed great group of artists we have a few hear who concern themselves with degrading someone elses work based on what THEY think it should be...it's not yours.

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'based on what THEY think...' so I should go by what YOU think, is that it?
'It's not yours' - so no one's allowed to say anything negative about anyone else's work?

quote:

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and for the person who complained about all the aliens resembling humans...if you look in the crowds a little bit more you might be surprised....and I won't even get started on Sebulba since he totally blows apart your theory that all the aliens resemebles humans

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To make my point more clearly: all the aliens that had to do acting, that is, communicate something to us the audience, were way to anthropomorphized. I understand the reason it was done, it's very hard to communicate to Homo Sapiens if you don't have the body parts we use to communicate with, but still, I think they went WAAAY too far. Yes, let's take Sebulba as an example, though there were others that were even more blatantly unrealistic:

Sebulba has a head on a neck, a torso and arms and legs, and all these move roughly like you'd expect in an earthly mammal, he seems to have an endoskeleton. He has a jaw, a mouth at the bottom of his face, he has flexible lips, hard white teeth, a tongue, nostrils, ears, 2 spherical eyes at the top of his head (with sclera, irises and pupils and everything), and even flexible eyebrow-like flesh above them so he can give us human facial expressions. He speaks with his mouth, and uses body-language like a human. He looks like a cartoony evil camel, with a clicheed voice to match.
Now we can explain this by saying he was some kind of scientific experiment performed by a human scientist, but this doesn't explain all the other alien actors in this movie. Another explanation might be parallell evolution, but IMHO that doesn't work either.
By contrast, look at the cantina scene in the original, or any of Douglas Barlowe's work ( an example ).
(Of course the lower part of this alien is again way too human.)

quote:

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next time some of you post some artwork in the unfinished sectioin I might just drop a line saying "hey you need to redo that because I don't think it works for me based on what I think you should be doing to please me."

---

Hm? That's exactly what this forum is for.

[Loki]

xino: Everyone can be a critic. We judge EP1 just like ANY other audiences would too. And yes we can.
Even more - we don't just say "It sucked" like so many other people that left the theatre after EP1 - at least we wanna know what went wrong. And we were disappointed since we love the first parts so much.

As for bitching at Lucas - why not? Maybe he wakes up, leaves his ivory tower and gets back to being the genius that brought us Star Wars and Indiana Jones.

Or maybe he just got old and jaded ?

[jon wofford]

[Warning. Actual non-poser life-long Star Wars geekdom incoming. Avert your eyes if this offends you.]

It's interesting that Episode 1 would be attacked for having an appropriate visual style, while in the same breath LOTR is lauded for it.

LOTR looked like a fantasy painting splashed across the screen. Cliche, but appropriate. Some of my friends more steeped in Tolkien thought it was too dark and that they cut things that would have lightened the movie (e.g. Tom Bombadil, who, fully realized, would have made Jar Jar look low key), but I'll assume that's not the case (I've only read The Hobbit myself). Meanwhile the creature effects were in stark contrast to the colorful vistas, being ugly, harsh, unimaginative, and plain. I'll assume that was intended, perhaps as a way to make the monsters more freakish in the context of the film.

Episode 1. In the grand timeline of Star Wars, The Phantom Menace establishes the precondition for the Empire's rise. An optimistic, imaginative, innocent time. It parallels the child Anakin, who at this time in his life possesses the same qualities. Both are ripe for Palpatine to plunder. The Phantom Menace is Palpatine, the sith, the Dark Side. The aliens, environments, and costumes all reflect the setting of the story. They are bright, colorful,

Compare this to, say, A New Hope. The situation is completely reversed. The Republic is collapsed, Palpatine is in control. People live in fear of the Empire. As such the drab, worn, beaten environments parallel the worn and beaten people under the Empire's fist.

I enjoyed both LOTR and Ep1 quite a bit. And both movies had their strengths, their flaws. But I am much more attuned to the Star Wars mythos, and I saw Episode 1 three times in theaters, where LOTR was graced with only one visit. I'm anxiously awaiting Episode 2. Everything I know about it indicates that it will be one of the best of both trilogies.

Someone mentioned that Ep2 appears to have inappropriate characterization. I don't agree. Obi-Wan appears dry and sarcastic, as he did in New Hope, in which he also seemed playful and wry at times. This still in despite all of the events that have thrust him into seclusion on Tatooine. Note the scene in which he suggests that Luke leave Tattooine with him, in which he sports a scheming smile, as if he knows Luke's destiny from that point. His interactions with Han Solo are almost limited to short sarcastic retorts.

Meanwhile Anakin has to be filled with anger and hate to become as evil and powerful as Darth Vader. He is quite prone to emotion, both now and later. Now he's a young man, and perhaps more prone to it. Hate, anger, and delusions of grandeur are part of being a young man. Add to that the fact that his delusions are TRUE, and well, timebomb.

As for aliens in Episode 1 being too unrealistically human in form and design, that's fairly irrelevant within this universe. Star Wars is in form a fantasy, and not sci-fi. It's purpose is to construct a modern-day myth, and there is no care given to science or realism. Realistically aliens might not generally be bipeds, but then realistically humans probably didn't exist "a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away." You also wouldn't see lasers or hear sound in space or be able to levitate objects with your mind, but them's the breaks ^_~

That's what I see anyway. Feel free to disagree. I'm not attacking anybody, just persuading. I should probably be working.

[ April 24, 2002: Message edited by: jon wofford ]

[Godwin]

they got the book out before the movie is? damn, cool stuff

[gowansy]

Steven Stahlberg i think you been a bit bitchy :/

You ripping the shit outa his work, when theres far worse movies... I think all the Star Wars movies are great, hey ok EP1 is different, but did i still watch it all the way through? Yes... Was i entertained? Yes. Thats all i care about.

[jezelf]

well if anyone is interested, I have got my copy now.

Ive got the greay one - its the paperback edition, so the white one must be the hardback - like you say, to go with EP1

theres also a film companion that goes with it all.

needless to say it's all fantastically illustrated. better than EP1 in some respects. theres some beautiful 'Ralph McQuarrie' like digital art from Ryan Church - he did the cover you see above.

simply a must buy for anyone interested.

additionally it does have the script in the book. but unlike the New Hope book, it's at the back.

the other book 'attack of the clones - the illustrated companion (behind the scenes and inside the story of Epsiode II) has photos from the fillm, some could be seen as 'spoiler' stuff

right, well Im off to soak up all the art!:-)

cheers
Jez.

[Steven Stahlberg]

jon wofford, valid points all. I even agree with most of it, but I'm not so sure about the last part - ANH also had sound in vacuum and all that, but one difference was they had better aliens. IMHO.

edit: spelling

[ April 24, 2002: Message edited by: Steven Stahlberg ]

[The Magic Pen]

So now for your viewing pleasure..pages from THE ART OF ATTACK OF THE CLONES

The first page is Iain McCaige..got to love that style...so so pretty




[ April 24, 2002: Message edited by: The Magic Pen ]

[Drawnblud]

Y'know, I'm sitting here reading all of these posts about how Lucas screwed Star Wars when Ep.1 came out. Someone (Strata) even proclaimed that Lucas has a "God-Complex". Well, he probably does and y'know what? It isn't going away, because 95% of the people posting in this forum are going to go see the movie just so they can piss and moan about it later.
I watched "Goonies" the other day, because I liked it as a kid. Well, it is stupid now. I can't believe that I liked it. Sukhoi had a point. My nephew (12) was bored when I made (yes, MADE) him watch Star Wars, but he loved Episode One. Episode One wasn't made 30 years ago. The times are different.
Face it, ladies and gentlemen, you are getting old. I for one loved the Trilogy. Episode One,however, was a disappointment but I didn't regret going to see it and I bought the VHS and DVD of it. Star Wars isn't a lifestyle but a movie. Don't judge the movies until the entire story is told.

Just the ramblings of a madman....

[ruler protractor pen penc]

well, just because it's a kid movie doesn't mean it should be pokemon.

i mean come on, even eyecandy is fun to watch. PM was painfully bad when i saw it in theatre. i fell sleep watching it on dvd. i love SciFi, but there is a point when it just becomes too silly looking, and extremely cheesy. someone can write a book saying why PM was such an awful movie. i'm sure Lucas is a great director, but maybe it's just because i don't usually get impressed by VFX ONLY.

but again, i'm very excited for Attack of Clones to come out

[The Magic Pen]

I agree..if nothing else EP1 was good eye candy!!

[Anthony]

I must be a Toys R Us kid...I still enjoy all this stuff hehe

[convoyrider]

I love Ian McCaig's stuff. He makes it look effortless.

[Lunatique]

Drawnblud-- I dunno.... I loved Alien, Aliens, Bladerunner..etc as a teenager, and I still love it now just as much, if not more.

I have always thought Star Wars was overrated. Liked it as a child, but by the time I was a teenager, I just couldn't care less. Special effects does not a good film make.

[S4Sb]

I agree, they screwed up Episode 1. But I think they still can make it all work out except two things that somehow ruin the whole story.

First:
The meta chlorins. It really ruined the complete mystical force thing. I wish they could somehow undo this theory. But it's too late I guess...

Second: Why does anakin have the highest meta chlorins dosis ever measured? Even higher than yoda? I remembered Darth Vader just as one of the many handymen of the emperor. he didn't look like the superman to me.

Hmm, maybe it's just me

[specialbrew]

There's a lot to like in this new 'Art Of' book, particularly Dermot Power's lovely costume renderings that really reminded me of McQuarrie's pencil/wash stuff in the old days.

A good deal of the art has been realised through Painter and reproduces well; I must say that I did expect to see more design completed using various 3D packages, but for the most part the 'traditional' path has been taken and it still very much wins out.

For the record, the screenplay takes up very little space toward the rear of the book, and if anything is far less intrusive than previous 'Art of' titles, though maybe there could be a little more text to accompany the illustrations.

[specialbrew]

Oh, just to correct The Magic Pen... only the very first image of his first scanned page belongs to Iain McCaige; all the rest are actually Dermot Power's.

sb