The Star Wars Rants:

[Tiny]

You guys can say what you like about Gary, but I bet he wouldn't be inserting unnecessary odius dialog into key moments of the original trilogy just for ego and giggles.

[Kudos]

Originally Posted by Tiny

You guys can say what you like about Gary, but I bet he wouldn't be inserting unnecessary odius dialog into key moments of the original trilogy just for ego and giggles.

Shhhh. Stop it!! You don't understand. He might come back...

We used to have a poster who was a bit obsessed with all things Kurtz and was making some very outlandish and bizarre claims and because he'd read them on the internet he was spouting them as fact. When several people challenged him on his opinion as fact and dubious sources it got a little bit messy round here.

Seriously though Kurtz did do a lot of good for the OT and did reign Lucas in somewhat at times, if he had been involved with the PT we probably would have seen some very different films. But I don't know if even he could have stopped all the post release tinkering. Saying that, Lucas could really do with a whole lot less yes men around him these day.

[Knappos]

[QUOTE=Kudos;904321]Shhhh. Stop it!! You don't understand. He might come back...

We used to have a poster who was a bit obsessed with all things .../QUOTE]

Probably a bit before my time in the forum then. I'm still only a year (ish) old.

It was an unfairly short list, I was going to start there and go on to name the main cast and crew and of course Brackett.

[Jedit]

Originally Posted by Knappos

Probably a bit before my time in the forum then. I'm still only a year (ish) old.

Are you by any chance Private Eye's controversial new columnist?

[Tiny]

Originally Posted by Kudos

Shhhh. Stop it!! You don't understand. He might come back...

We used to have a poster who was a bit obsessed with all things Kurtz and was making some very outlandish and bizarre claims and because he'd read them on the internet he was spouting them as fact. When several people challenged him on his opinion as fact and dubious sources it got a little bit messy round here.

Seriously though Kurtz did do a lot of good for the OT and did reign Lucas in somewhat at times, if he had been involved with the PT we probably would have seen some very different films. But I don't know if even he could have stopped all the post release tinkering. Saying that, Lucas could really do with a whole lot less yes men around him these day.

Obsessed with Gary Kurtz? Lol, how odd. But, yeah people can become very entrenched in their views, it becomes personal for them somehow. If we're honest it think we've all used spurious facts to back up an argument at some point, the fear of losing face to another seemingly driving us to desperation in our attempts to prove our superiority. Despite the fact that it's just the internet and mostly pointless.

Anyways, it's almost impossible to determine exactly how much of an influence Gary Kurtz had on Star Wars and Empire, film being such a collaborative process. In the end, it's usually those who are credited who get the credit, hearsay and rumor end up as just that.

It's all something of moot point anyways, as Ralph McQuarrie designed Darth Vader, and you can't top that with a bunch of bitter waffle about extended toy commercials.

[darkman]

I have it on good authority that George Lucas was merely Gary Kurtz in disguise.

[Kudos]

Oh, the irony... A transcript of George Lucas testifying to Congress about saving the cultural heritage of classic films back in 1988.

"These current defacements are just the beginning. Today, engineers with their computers can add color to black-and-white movies, change the soundtrack, speed up the pace, and add or subtract material to the philosophical tastes of the copyright holder. Tommorrow, more advanced technology will be able to replace actors with "fresher faces," or alter dialogue and change the movement of the actor's lips to match. It will soon be possible to create a new "original" negative with whatever changes or alterations the copyright holder of the moment desires. The copyright holders, so far, have not been completely diligent in preserving the original negatives of films they control. In order to reconstruct old negatives, many archivists have had to go to Eastern bloc countries where American films have been better preserved.
In the future it will become even easier for old negatives to become lost and be "replaced" by new altered negatives. This would be a great loss to our society. Our cultural history must not be allowed to be rewritten."

[poiner]

I thought I'd start a thread where anyone can post about what projects they're working on and how they feel they are doing.

Where are you in the writing process, editing are you looking to publish on a blog site or aiming for a agent/publisher.

Up to you if you want to give details or post links to your work if not then just post how you feel you are doing.

[Knappos]

Originally Posted by Jedit

Are you by any chance Private Eye's controversial new columnist?

I don't know. Would they tell me if I were?

Kudos,

That's a fantastic quote. Maybe we could put it on a postcard to George.

Like the bit from Star Trek First Contact.

"That's rhetorical nonsense. Who said that?"
"You did."

Haha.

[Veela Magnet]

Yeah but aren't the films (even the ones he didn't direct) technically his property? I think morally, he's not doing anything wrong, as they're his films to do with as he wishes. It'd be like Joss Whedon going back and fixing up the odd episode of Buffy, say ones which he didn't write or direct.

I'm not saying that it's necessarily right or anything, but it's not like he's taking Citizen Kane and slapping a big CGI jetski over the original sled.

Oh I finally watched Star Wars for the first time over the weekend -- I'm not gonna call it A New Hope or episode IV, since neither were in the title! :P