Pissed Off by RedLetterMedia?

[Level 2 Diagnostic]

Questioning a MAJOR thing like "They failed once with ONE cube, so why not try again and again again and again and AGAIN with FOUR THOUSAND cubes" is hardly a nitpick.

It's nitpicky because you can make the same criticism of any movie where time travel is easy and commonplace. Why didn't SkyNet keep trying again and again with 4,000 Terminators to kill Sarah Connor?

 

[Tulin]

But we were not talking about other SF films involving time travel. We were talking about FC and more specifically, reasons why it was not that good.

The "nitpick" mentioned above is just one of MANY reasons the film does not hold up.

 

[Myasishchev]

Questioning a MAJOR thing like "They failed once with ONE cube, so why not try again and again again and again and AGAIN with FOUR THOUSAND cubes" is hardly a nitpick.

It's nitpicky because you can make the same criticism of any movie where time travel is easy and commonplace. Why didn't SkyNet keep trying again and again with 4,000 Terminators to kill Sarah Connor?

Potentially more explicable in the Terminator universe--sending an army of Terminators back would have sent an unmistakeable message to the people who were developing the AI and robotics technologies that they shouldn't build Skynet. Or quarantine it.

Then again, these are the people stupid enough to give a newborn AI access to weapons in the first place, so they probably would've went ahead if Skynet just sent nukes covered in skin back.

When you think about how preposterous it is, that with eighty years of speculative fiction about robot holocausts behind the civilization building it, it really is kind of preposterous and damaging to the premise.

Still fun movies, of course. But not very likely because of all the cautionary tales just like them, not to mention plain old common sense.

 

[Kelthaz]

I'm a huge fan of First Contact, but I thought RLM's review of it was hilarious. Sure it was mostly nitpicking, but it was funny nitpicking. Take the room with absolutely no point that Picard takes Lily to for example. A stupid little thing that doesn't hurt the quality of the movie at all, but is hilarious when made fun of by a good reviewer. I disagreed with RLM on a few points, but that sure as hell isn't going to make me hate him or even stop enjoying his reviews. It'd be pretty weird if I agreed with him on every point he made in a 30-70 minute review. In short, I can enjoy reviews by angry critics (Nostalgia Critic, AVGN, RLM, Spoony, etc.) even if I like/love the movie/game they're reviewing.

Best part of the FC review? The nameless security guard arguing with Picard over the punturable warp core. I'm glad RLM brought him back for the PM review.

 

[Broccoli]

"Uh, excuse me. Sir? Is this such a good idea...?"

 

[ronny]

Oh, I voted wrong. Subject said "Pissed off by RLM" and I vote no with out even looking at the poll, then I see the question for the poll is, is he the best online critic. Lame...

I don't RLM nerd rage because he's not just ranting, he's telling you why the movies suck in great detail. I enjoy the Star Trek reviews more than the Star Wars reviews, because I'm a ST fan, never got into Star Wars and he's right, the TNG movies all have major major issues. And he's pretty funny while he's doing it.

 

[firehawk12]

Questioning a MAJOR thing like "They failed once with ONE cube, so why not try again and again again and again and AGAIN with FOUR THOUSAND cubes" is hardly a nitpick.

It's nitpicky because you can make the same criticism of any movie where time travel is easy and commonplace. Why didn't SkyNet keep trying again and again with 4,000 Terminators to kill Sarah Connor?

What about why the Borg didn't just time travel while they were in the Delta Quadrant before coming to Earth?

Time travel stories are always silly, but then again, I can understand Braga and Moore wanting to touch on a fanboy canon moment like Cochrane meeting the Vulcans.

 

[Bones2]

Not a fan of the poll options. I certainly don't think he's the best online critic (surely that's me), but the medium stage being that he makes a few good points amongst the BS is only one small step above completely awful. I think he's good, not perfect.

 

[David cgc]

I'm not pissed off by him. I'm pissed off when my friends insist I should watch the whole goddamn thing of one of his reviews because they're so fucking hilarious. I've been doing this internet thing for quite a while. I've probably heard every single complaint and nitpick a person could make about these films, and I find his schtick tiresome and irritating, giving me exactly no reason to while away an hour of my life subjecting myself to one of his videos.

I think I solved the problem when one guy demanded I watch the "Generations" review. I started off by aggressively mocking RLM's tone of voice to drown him out and, once that wellspring of immaturity had run dry, I began calling his nitpicks before he made them, like a pool shark, ("Only ship in the sector, side pocket") and identifying, in detail, exactly where off the internet he stole his illustrations (though, doing my own detective work, it looks like he got it from someone else who stole it from the original source I pegged, an ill-fated "Star Trek" mod for "Escape Velocity.")

 

[Base_Delta_Zero]

Which brings up more issues. If Naboo had this great space defense system, how come they didn't go up and attack the Trade Federation when they were trying to land (or before)?

They were attacking and landing troops on the other side of the planet, where Naboo's defences were at its weakest due to the sparse population. It must've been a similar strategy that the Empire used on Hoth, but on a larger scale.

1) The movie suggested the Trade Federation landed on the opposite side of the planet (Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon needing to go through the planet core is evidence of this). Why not just park a mile or two outside of the town? I guess the point is there was no need to land that far away.

The Empire had a much more impressive navy and army than the Trade Federation, but the Imperial armada could not fire upon the Rebel's base on Hoth due to a theatre shield. Then one of the Star Destroyers launched a full frontal attack on Rebel ships leaving the base, a huge Rebel cannon fired upon and seriously damaged the Imperial vessel. And these were demoralised Rebels in a makeshift basecamp. Naboo was a long established world, with large cities and modern industries, and a standing military, so their defences must've been denser. And they had a larger fighter contingent that would be effective against the large landing craft, and were also shown slipping through the anti-fighter defences of Trade Fed vessels and outfighting Trade Fed droid fighters.

So the Federation kept their fleet back, to maintain the siege, and landed their troops on the far side of Naboo, avoiding Naboo's main skyward aimed defences.



The droid soldiers are disposable units, but they can't have an infinite number, while the ships and vehicles they go around in are going to be more expensive and harder to replace. If the Trade Federation suffer heavy losses, and have most of their landing craft and a few doughnut warships shot down in a full frontal assault on Theed, their invasion plans would get drastically slown down and the siege could be broken.



The occupation must've lasted a couple of weeks at least, with most of the character's time away taken up on Coruscant.

Also, it begs to reason that if the Naboo people build the power core, they probably have the materials needed to fix it if it breaks. I think the point here was that we never knew what was so vital to the Naboo that this invasion was causing people to die.

Sio Bibble described the fatalities and hardship of the interned Naboo as "catastrophic", Nute Gunray smugly said Bibble's people were starving, we see dozens of Naboo citizens being hearded away by droid soldiers, and a droid officer mentions camps. It was implied, not shown, since TPM was for family viewing (it was tell not show).

Ummm, Naboo had no army and no planetary shields. They had police and some security volunteers and some fighters that didn't even take off until the very end. There was no resistance whatsoever. The droids landed on the other side of the planet -for no reason- trudged through endless miles of jungle, knocked down a bunch of trees, conveniently placed the Jedi in contact with the Gungans and then rolled into Theed in a triumphal column.

They weren't laying siege to anything. They needed the blockade to force the Senate to declare an emergency over Valorum's policies in the Outer Rim, which Palpatine would somehow use to propel himself to power ... but then he inexplicably orders them to kill the Chancellor's ambassadors, who could have simply been sent away and used to deliver news of the Trade Fed's seriousness, blocks all communication out of the system such that the Senate doesn't even believe there is a blockade and then orders an invasion and occupation of the planet to get Amidala to sign a treaty which would supposedly make the whole thing legal ... and thus negate the original purpose of having the Trade Fed do anything at all.

Ummm ... what? And then the Trade Fed sends Amidala away before making her sign this treaty, under the guard of half a dozen droids so she can easily escape and her one ship can effortlessly run the blockade of 30+ ships, which are bigger than Star Destroyers and filled with fighters they don't bother to launch (admittedly, a typical fault of the SW movies), by flying directly into it.

Yeah, this is a genius plan on all sides totally comparable to the straight-forward assault on Hoth in ESB. Wait, no it isn't. It makes no sense whatsoever.

And the plight of Naboo is seriously debatable. At no point before the final three-ring circus battle during the film's climax did a single Naboo citizen suffer so much as a nose bleed. We are told twice bad shit is happening on Naboo: once by Bibble's communication in what was stated to be a ploy to get Amidala to reveal her location with what was most likely propaganda and once by Gunray when he earlier claims people are starving.

Not only is this tell, not show -a big no-no for important info in a drama- but it's clearly bullshit.

RLM makes some tenuous arguments at times, but this stuff here sure isn't that.

 

[TedShatner10]

Ummm, Naboo had no army and no planetary shields.

If an encampment on a icy planet had theatre shields that could deter the mother-fucking Executor and its escorts, why not the major city of Theed with its two mile deep power cores?

They had police and some security volunteers and some fighters that didn't even take off until the very end.

In the uprising you had a Naboo hover car that used its small cannon to punch a huge hole in the side of a enemy MBT. They were more of a militia than a military but still reasonably equipped and dangerous. We don't know if they deployed their fighters or not.

The droids landed on the other side of the planet -for no reason-

Other side of the planet or (most likely) the other side of the same continent Theed is located on? We've only got the Gungans mentioning the planet's core and they're not entirely literal.

trudged through endless miles of jungle, knocked down a bunch of trees, conveniently placed the Jedi in contact with the Gungans and then rolled into Theed in a triumphal column.

The whole thing seemed to take place within a day, from early morning to late afternoon, how is that slow and time wasting for the major invasion of a world? And there may have been very fierce fighting on the road to Theed that we didn't see, with Naboo's forces and ground defence outposts defeated, a cease fire declared and the victorious Trade Fed forces peacefully rolling into Theed (like the Nazi Germans rolled into Paris without firing too many shots; heck Theed even had its triumphant arch).

They weren't laying siege to anything.

The planet Naboo?

but then he inexplicably orders them to kill the Chancellor's ambassadors, who could have simply been sent away and used to deliver news of the Trade Fed's seriousness, blocks all communication out of the system such that the Senate doesn't even believe there is a blockade

Ordering the hit was Palpatine's biggest miscalculation, though I doubt he would've ordered the hit if they were normal diplomats. Palpatine was not taking any chances, with Obi Wan and Qui Gon being very suspicious of the Trade Federation from the start; they most likely would've sneaked off to investigate if they weren't interrupted by the assassination attempt. And what's wrong with the assassination attempt on principle if took place on an enemy warship crewed by thousands of battle droids?

and then orders an invasion and occupation of the planet to get Amidala to sign a treaty which would supposedly make the whole thing legal ... and thus negate the original purpose of having the Trade Fed do anything at all.

Palpatine didn't care about what the Trade Federation ultimately did, so long as they destabilised the Outer Rim and helped boost his political career (which it did), they were disposable tools and the treaty signing was just a way of placating them.

her one ship can effortlessly run the blockade of 30+ ships, which are bigger than Star Destroyers and filled with fighters they don't bother to launch (admittedly, a typical fault of the SW movies), by flying directly into it.

Just because the Trade Federation's doughnut ships are bigger doesn't mean they're more powerful and efficient than the Star Destroyers; they're supposed to be converted space freighters and they're crewed by not very bright droids, and in the context of Star Wars going in close to capital warships is a good tactic of underflying their point defence cannons.

And the plight of Naboo is seriously debatable. At no point before the final three-ring circus battle during the film's climax did a single Naboo citizen suffer so much as a nose bleed. We are told twice bad shit is happening on Naboo: once by Bibble's communication in what was stated to be a ploy to get Amidala to reveal her location with what was most likely propaganda and once by Gunray when he earlier claims people are starving.

Proof? But I agree there should've been more insinuation about the Naboo's suffering. Though Bibble seemed genuinely shaken and what's so good about holding an entire planet hostage?

 

[TedShatner10]

The thing with the Janeway comment is that it was made in a very off-handed way and it lasted for like 20 seconds. If they went on about it for a lengthy period of time, as they do with the structural problems of the film, then I would agree with you.

But he pretty much made a thirty second propaganda movie about Janeway, with his clips of her evil actions being exaggerated, distorted BS if you know about the source material and original context. Not much integrity.

 

[Broccoli]

If an encampment on a icy planet had theatre shields that could deter the mother-fucking Executor and its escorts, why not the major city of Theed with its two mile deep power cores?

Perhaps, but everything said about Naboo in the film suggests the opposite about Naboo's defenses.

They had police and some security volunteers and some fighters that didn't even take off until the very end.

In the uprising you had a Naboo hover car that used its small cannon to punch a huge hole in the side of a enemy MBT. They were more of a militia than a military but still reasonably equipped and dangerous. We don't know if they deployed their fighters or not. [/quote]

Again, the implication was that they didn't as nothing was seen or mentioned that the security volunteers fought any battle.

Also, don't forget, Padme seemed pretty clear that she did not want to take any action that would lead to war.

Other side of the planet or (most likely) the other side of the same continent Theed is located on? We've only got the Gungans mentioning the planet's core and they're not entirely literal.

"Not entirely literal"? What does that even mean? If the quickest way to get to the Naboo was going through the planet core, then that directly suggests they were on the opposite side of the planet of the Naboo.

In any event, your inference of the events is in no way more correct or incorrect that other's inference.

And there may have been very fierce fighting on the road to Theed that we didn't see, with Naboo's forces and ground defence outposts defeated, a cease fire declared and the victorious Trade Fed forces peacefully rolling into Theed (like the Nazi Germans rolled into Paris without firing too many shots; heck Theed even had its triumphant arch).

Or, more likely, given everything suggested about Naboo at that time, they did not even bother and allowed the invasion to come in.

what's so good about holding an entire planet hostage?

Having a clear-cut reason for doing it.

That's the key problem, I think. Everything else is trivial in comparison. Why is the Trade Federation invading the planet and, supposedly, killing Naboo citizens? Did they want something? Did the Naboo piss them off in the past and this is revenge? Or is the Trade Federation just being jerks?

I know that Palpatine is doing it to become Chancellor, true. But the Trade Federation doesn't know that. They never knew it was Palpatine (in theory, the audience isn't suppose to know that either). What was their stake for invading Naboo?

 

[Rett Mikhal]

Well, based on how quickly their actions escalated to full-on war (a Clone war, even), perhaps they were pulling a Germany 1939; invade a weak, poorly defended nation friendly with other nations to show how bad ass you are.

Course, if they explained that's why, it would have added credibility. Anything I say to defend it is just a band-aid.

Plot holes are everywhere, though, even the original Trilogy. Why didn't the Death Star I unload its compliment of 100,000 wings of TIE Fighters to crush those two pathetic wings of X-wings and Y-wings? It makes no sense when you think about it. Why didn't the Star Destroyers EVER use their tractor beams to catch the Falcon? Why didn't Luke just slice the AT-AT's feet off? What IS the point of having a tank on legs which can easily malfunction or go off-balance? Why are Ewoks so effective at killing an entire legion of storm troopers?

But those are all moot. Explanations can be made or assumed. The fact they didn't send the TIEs showed how over confident Tarkin was (and he was EXTREMELY over confident of his baby Death Star). Tractor Beams couldn't lock onto the Falcon because it was moving too fast. It would take too long to saw through the thick armor of the walkers. The walkers are made for places treads can't go (and they do have tanks on treads, the TIE Mauler). Ewoks were originally Wookies but budget limitations forced them to become teddy bears.

See we can suspend disbelief if something is good. The characters in Star Wars are great, the effects are magical because of the limitations of technology back then, and the story is played out very well.

None of the characters in the prequels are great. Anakin is annoying, Obi-Wan never knows what do, Padme is a victim of plot convenience, Palpatine is just goofy and not threatening, Yoda is CGI and no longer wise but just an action hero, and Dooku is Christoper Lee. The only one that was somewhat interesting was Maul, but he was another victim of plot convenience. Obi-Wan had to win to show that he's Obi-Wan, even though Maul had him.

Watch that scene again on youtube. Watch when Obi-Wan jumps over Maul. He passes waist level twice, on the jump and the return, and Maul never at any point just swings and bisects him. Why?!

Look at Empire Strikes Back. Vader kicked Luke's ass every second they fought to show Vader was stronger. Well, here, Maul is clearly much stronger, yet he loses to benefit Obi-Wan's story. What was wrong with Maul leaving Obi-Wan in the pit? It seems like something for him to do. It's a win-win. If Obi-Wan survives, Maul can fight him and best him again. If Obi-Wan dies, he's beaten two Jedi like he trained for all his life (yes, he did have a backstory... a rather tragic one, in fact).

So, same with the Trek Movies. We forget about small flaws in the good ones (the even ones... Nemesis never happened. It was a weather balloon). For instance, how did Khan and Company know how to operate a Starship? A Starship that probably had lots of encryption codes to prevent something like that happening... since they say that IN the film. Why was the 'fire while cloaked' Bird of Prey never mentioned or seen again?

The answer is WHO CARES. The fire while cloaked ship added real tension to the battle, and Khan was a good villain and foil for Kirk so it's all in the name of story.

In my opinion, it's fun pointing out these things. I like looking in depth to the story with my friends. If it's a good movie, we just laugh about it and make something up. If it's awful, we go even further with how glaring an error it is.

I'll sum up everything I just said with a quote:

"All words have the capability to harm and educate. Sometimes they must do both."

 

[Kelthaz]

The thing with the Janeway comment is that it was made in a very off-handed way and it lasted for like 20 seconds. If they went on about it for a lengthy period of time, as they do with the structural problems of the film, then I would agree with you.

But he pretty much made a thirty second propaganda movie about Janeway, with his clips of her evil actions being exaggerated, distorted BS if you know about the source material and original context. Not much integrity.

He was making a joke.

 

[Broccoli]

The thing with the Janeway comment is that it was made in a very off-handed way and it lasted for like 20 seconds. If they went on about it for a lengthy period of time, as they do with the structural problems of the film, then I would agree with you.

But he pretty much made a thirty second propaganda movie about Janeway, with his clips of her evil actions being exaggerated, distorted BS if you know about the source material and original context. Not much integrity.

He was making a joke.

NO! He was making a PROPAGANDA VIDEO against Janeway!!!1!!! And he turned teh entire interwebs against her and ALL of VoYAGER!!111!! Justice must be served!! Berman and Paramount NEED to make a counter-video to SAVE Janeway's reputation!!!!!

 

[Alex1939]

But he pretty much made a thirty second propaganda movie about Janeway, with his clips of her evil actions being exaggerated, distorted BS if you know about the source material and original context. Not much integrity.

He was making a joke.

NO! He was making a PROPAGANDA VIDEO against Janeway!!!1!!! And he turned teh entire interwebs against her and ALL of VoYAGER!!111!! Justice must be served!! Berman and Paramount NEED to make a counter-video to SAVE Janeway's reputation!!!!!

Lmao!


I will now write RedLetterMedia and demand he review "Endgame". I feel it could be his masterpiece.

 

[super12345]

Well, based on how quickly their actions escalated to full-on war (a Clone war, even), perhaps they were pulling a Germany 1939; invade a weak, poorly defended nation friendly with other nations to show how bad ass you are.

Course, if they explained that's why, it would have added credibility. Anything I say to defend it is just a band-aid.

Plot holes are everywhere, though, even the original Trilogy. Why didn't the Death Star I unload its compliment of 100,000 wings of TIE Fighters to crush those two pathetic wings of X-wings and Y-wings? It makes no sense when you think about it. Why didn't the Star Destroyers EVER use their tractor beams to catch the Falcon? Why didn't Luke just slice the AT-AT's feet off? What IS the point of having a tank on legs which can easily malfunction or go off-balance? Why are Ewoks so effective at killing an entire legion of storm troopers?

But those are all moot. Explanations can be made or assumed. The fact they didn't send the TIEs showed how over confident Tarkin was (and he was EXTREMELY over confident of his baby Death Star). Tractor Beams couldn't lock onto the Falcon because it was moving too fast. It would take too long to saw through the thick armor of the walkers. The walkers are made for places treads can't go (and they do have tanks on treads, the TIE Mauler). Ewoks were originally Wookies but budget limitations forced them to become teddy bears.

See we can suspend disbelief if something is good. The characters in Star Wars are great, the effects are magical because of the limitations of technology back then, and the story is played out very well.

None of the characters in the prequels are great. Anakin is annoying, Obi-Wan never knows what do, Padme is a victim of plot convenience, Palpatine is just goofy and not threatening, Yoda is CGI and no longer wise but just an action hero, and Dooku is Christoper Lee. The only one that was somewhat interesting was Maul, but he was another victim of plot convenience. Obi-Wan had to win to show that he's Obi-Wan, even though Maul had him.

Watch that scene again on youtube. Watch when Obi-Wan jumps over Maul. He passes waist level twice, on the jump and the return, and Maul never at any point just swings and bisects him. Why?!

Look at Empire Strikes Back. Vader kicked Luke's ass every second they fought to show Vader was stronger. Well, here, Maul is clearly much stronger, yet he loses to benefit Obi-Wan's story. What was wrong with Maul leaving Obi-Wan in the pit? It seems like something for him to do. It's a win-win. If Obi-Wan survives, Maul can fight him and best him again. If Obi-Wan dies, he's beaten two Jedi like he trained for all his life (yes, he did have a backstory... a rather tragic one, in fact).

So, same with the Trek Movies. We forget about small flaws in the good ones (the even ones... Nemesis never happened. It was a weather balloon). For instance, how did Khan and Company know how to operate a Starship? A Starship that probably had lots of encryption codes to prevent something like that happening... since they say that IN the film. Why was the 'fire while cloaked' Bird of Prey never mentioned or seen again?

The answer is WHO CARES. The fire while cloaked ship added real tension to the battle, and Khan was a good villain and foil for Kirk so it's all in the name of story.

In my opinion, it's fun pointing out these things. I like looking in depth to the story with my friends. If it's a good movie, we just laugh about it and make something up. If it's awful, we go even further with how glaring an error it is.

I'll sum up everything I just said with a quote:

"All words have the capability to harm and educate. Sometimes they must do both."

This entire post is nonsense.

All that crap was explained by the films you failed to watch. The Death Star 1 was overconfident and only realized there was a chance that the Death Star had the risk of destruction DURING their invasion. Tarkin replied that he believes their chances are overestimated.

The Death Star had to use them on the Falcon if you mean ANH. In ESB, the Falcon was merely at a rather far range and most of the time out of view. Assuming you watched the film, you'll see that much of their time was spent on a game of hide and go seek in an asteroid. They couldn't use it accurately.

Lightsabers aren't so massively strong that they slice through anything instantly. You can't chuck a lightsaber at the Death Star and expect results. We've seen them take long in TPM to slice through a metal door, let alone military grade steel. Or maybe Luke doesn't want an AT-AT falling on him so he planted a bomb that one time.

The Ewoks had home turf advantage yet were getting their asses kicked hard until Chewie and a few others hijacked a walker. Also, read about Vietman, the inspiration for the Ewoks vs Imperials.

The trade feds are lead by a Sith who clearly hates Jedi and wants two Jedi discretely dealt with. Yes, they can send the ambassadors home scared but they can also mail them pictures of their corpses to show they mean extra business if they want. For some reason, you think that living Jedi = only way to show they mean business.

They have Maul lose because of Qui gonn's lightsaber for similar reasons as Han saving Luke in ANH. The villain is bested but only because of help. Maul being active in that time would cause a mass Sith-hunt on Naboo and other places too. As for why he didn't strike, he had the enemy at checkmate but forgot to account for other aspects. As noted elsewhere "he hesitated in order to revel in his triumph ... Maul did not have enough time to parry the blow that must have been the last, great surprise of his life. My worthy apprentice failed me in the end" his overconfidence is his weakness. This is a typical Sith weakness. The Emperor didn't expect Vader to save Luke even though Vader had long gotten up and walked towards him right after the Emperor openly told Luke to kill Vader. Vader openly said "I have you now" and couldn't aim right once Han came in.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Holy shit, this thread is a decade old. That's one hell of a necromancy. Has to be a record.

 

[Tosk]

Indeed. The person they are replying to hasn't even been on the board for nine years.