The Phantom Menace 3D Release

[Dick Whitman]

Based on what a lot of actors say about filming with greenscreen, it is pretty damn boring. You either have to use your imagination and pretend you're looking at something amazing or interesting or you just stare at a blank screen until the director tells you otherwise. I imagine it can't be much fun for most actors.

I think it depnds on the performing backgrounds of various actors. Ian McDiarmid compared performing in front of green screen to working in the theater. Where there are a few props and little background and mostly curtains. He had no problem with green screen.

Though I could see how actors whose experience is mostly in film and televison would be different. In which sets are fully constructed and shooting is on real locations.

 

[cooleddie74]

Based on what a lot of actors say about filming with greenscreen, it is pretty damn boring. You either have to use your imagination and pretend you're looking at something amazing or interesting or you just stare at a blank screen until the director tells you otherwise. I imagine it can't be much fun for most actors.

I think it depnds on the performing backgrounds of various actors. Ian McDiarmid compared performing in front of green screen to working in the theater. Where there are a few props and little background and mostly curtains. He had no problem with green screen.

Though I could see how actors whose experience is mostly in film and televison would be different. In which sets are fully constructed and shooting is on real locations.

True, I suppose...some actors in legendary sci-fi and fantasy films over the years have jokingly complained about the use of greenscreens and other methods of dropping in background effects during postproduction. Richard Dreyfuss laughingly refers to working with Steven Spielberg as "constantly staring up in awe at something that isn't there...and won't be there until after all the cameras stop rolling." He likes to talk about his experiences in 1977 on the sets of CLOSE ENCOUNTERS and how he and the other actors were instructed to pretend they were staring in awe at something incredible when in fact they were looking at a mundane bluescreen backdrop or a collection of overhead studio lights. Some actors can adjust to working with effects...others can't.

 

[TremblingBluStar]

Based on what a lot of actors say about filming with greenscreen, it is pretty damn boring.

Oh, I know. It's just amusing to see the actor doing that, and stop after a few seconds as if he knows he's acting out of character.

 

[cooleddie74]

Isn't Ewan McGregor known for being kind of fidgety and humorous on the set? That could also help explain his body language in that deleted scene. Maybe I'm thinking about one of the other actors, but Ewan always looks like he's having a fun time in most of the on-set footage I've seen.

 

[Set Harth]

The book also fixed a few plotholes that were in the movie.

While creating its own blunders, such as Obi-Wan knowing Dooku's Sith name or Padme being the youngest queen ever elected.

Because watching AOTC is not something the cool kids would do.

 

[cooleddie74]

The book also fixed a few plotholes that were in the movie.

While creating its own blunders, such as Obi-Wan knowing Dooku's Sith name or Padme being the youngest queen ever elected.

Because watching AOTC is not something the cool kids would do.

True on Padme not being the youngest Naboo monarch ever. Doesn't she even SAY so to Anakin when the two arrive on Naboo in the movie? I'm surprised the novelization got that detail wrong, but then again some film novelizations are based on earlier drafts of a script before the final shooting script is in-hand. Perhaps in an earlier draft Padme said she was the youngest and then Lucas changed it.

Who knows.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Perhaps...Lucas changed it.

Unlikely.

 

[cooleddie74]

Sometimes I wonder if Lucas would use CGI to change his own birth certificate or driver's license. You know...add a Dewback lizard to the background of his license photo. Or list his place of birth as "Mos Eisley Spaceport Medical Center, Tatooine, Outer Rim Territories."

 

[Set Harth]

The book also fixed a few plotholes that were in the movie.

While creating its own blunders, such as Obi-Wan knowing Dooku's Sith name or Padme being the youngest queen ever elected.

Because watching AOTC is not something the cool kids would do.

True on Padme not being the youngest Naboo monarch ever. Doesn't she even SAY so to Anakin when the two arrive on Naboo in the movie? I'm surprised the novelization got that detail wrong, but then again some film novelizations are based on earlier drafts of a script before the final shooting script is in-hand. Perhaps in an earlier draft Padme said she was the youngest and then Lucas changed it.

She said it in AOTC, while it's the ROTS novelization we're talking about. The final version of AOTC was out for a long time before the ROTS novel was written.

 

[cooleddie74]

While creating its own blunders, such as Obi-Wan knowing Dooku's Sith name or Padme being the youngest queen ever elected.

Because watching AOTC is not something the cool kids would do.

True on Padme not being the youngest Naboo monarch ever. Doesn't she even SAY so to Anakin when the two arrive on Naboo in the movie? I'm surprised the novelization got that detail wrong, but then again some film novelizations are based on earlier drafts of a script before the final shooting script is in-hand. Perhaps in an earlier draft Padme said she was the youngest and then Lucas changed it.

She said it in AOTC, while it's the ROTS novelization we're talking about. The final version of AOTC was out for a long time before the ROTS novel was written.

Oh, okay. My bad. My bad. I thought we were talking about the 2002 AOTC novelization and not the one for the later film. Actually, though, I've known a STAR WARS fan who thinks that Padme was the youngest monarch in Naboo history because their logic was: "She was only fourteen. Why elect anybody younger than that if you're going to endow them with any real power? No fourteen year old is competent enough to govern even a small town or city, much less the civilization of an entire planet." What the guy seems to forget is that in real life here on Earth painfully young monarchs have been and continue to be guided by regents, ministers and advisors who wield the real power behind the throne. Any monarch younger than Padme would have clearly been advised and guided by grown adults in his or her government who would have made most if not all of the major decisions for the people. He or she would still have been king or queen, only a figurehead instead of a ruler who wielded any real power.

 

[sonak]

True on Padme not being the youngest Naboo monarch ever. Doesn't she even SAY so to Anakin when the two arrive on Naboo in the movie? I'm surprised the novelization got that detail wrong, but then again some film novelizations are based on earlier drafts of a script before the final shooting script is in-hand. Perhaps in an earlier draft Padme said she was the youngest and then Lucas changed it.

She said it in AOTC, while it's the ROTS novelization we're talking about. The final version of AOTC was out for a long time before the ROTS novel was written.

Oh, okay. My bad. My bad. I thought we were talking about the 2002 AOTC novelization and not the one for the later film. Actually, though, I've known a STAR WARS fan who thinks that Padme was the youngest monarch in Naboo history because their logic was: "She was only fourteen. Why elect anybody younger than that if you're going to endow them with any real power? No fourteen year old is competent enough to govern even a small town or city, much less the civilization of an entire planet." What the guy seems to forget is that in real life here on Earth painfully young monarchs have been and continue to be guided by regents, ministers and advisors who wield the real power behind the throne. Any monarch younger than Padme would have clearly been advised and guided by grown adults in his or her government who would have made most if not all of the major decisions for the people. He or she would still have been king or queen, only a figurehead instead of a ruler who wielded any real power.

yes but in those cases of very young monarchs they wouldn't be elected to the position. The idea of electing teenagers and preteens to be heads of government is just silly. They should have just had her as a traditional monarch or as an older senator right off the bat.

 

[cooleddie74]

She said it in AOTC, while it's the ROTS novelization we're talking about. The final version of AOTC was out for a long time before the ROTS novel was written.

Oh, okay. My bad. My bad. I thought we were talking about the 2002 AOTC novelization and not the one for the later film. Actually, though, I've known a STAR WARS fan who thinks that Padme was the youngest monarch in Naboo history because their logic was: "She was only fourteen. Why elect anybody younger than that if you're going to endow them with any real power? No fourteen year old is competent enough to govern even a small town or city, much less the civilization of an entire planet." What the guy seems to forget is that in real life here on Earth painfully young monarchs have been and continue to be guided by regents, ministers and advisors who wield the real power behind the throne. Any monarch younger than Padme would have clearly been advised and guided by grown adults in his or her government who would have made most if not all of the major decisions for the people. He or she would still have been king or queen, only a figurehead instead of a ruler who wielded any real power.

yes but in those cases of very young monarchs they wouldn't be elected to the position. The idea of electing teenagers and preteens to be heads of government is just silly. They should have just had her as a traditional monarch or as an older senator right off the bat.

Which is one of the reasons the fictional elected monarchy of Naboo is a fairly ludicrous concept. If Padme wasn't the youngest ruler in her planet's history then that calls into question the judgment of the Naboo people when it comes to governing themselves. If they want a damn kid to represent them on the throne and their society to actually be ruled by a coterie of advisors and bureaucrats then...what's the point? For show? And what image did it send to the Gungans(at that time in history on poor terms with if not outright enemies of the Naboo)? And outsiders in the Republic and on Coruscant? That such an idyllic world rich in art and culture would elect as its ruler a child who's completely in over his or her head and has to rely on the bureaucracy or sycophants to govern their people? It might as well be nothing more than a purely symbolic position without any power, but as Episode I clearly showed it isn't. Queen Amidala had tremendous power and the Trade Federation desperately needed her in order to legitimize their invasion and occupation. It's one of the George Lucas concepts that doesn't hold a lot of water upon closer scrutiny, but...meh. Whaddya gonna do.

 

[Dream]

yes but in those cases of very young monarchs they wouldn't be elected to the position. The idea of electing teenagers and preteens to be heads of government is just silly. They should have just had her as a traditional monarch or as an older senator right off the bat.

One of my problems with TPM is that Anakin and Padme were way too young. It made the movie too light, like a Disney movie at times. The PT should've already started out with those two the same age as they were in AOTC.

I think what helped ANH was that the main characters were already young adults.

 

[Shazam!]

One of my problems with TPM is that Anakin and Padme were way too young.

Anakin should have been Padme's age at least.

 

[Dream]

One of my problems with TPM is that Anakin and Padme were way too young.

Anakin should have been Padme's age at least.

8 year old Anakin destorying that Trade Federation ship will always make me facepalm. It makes the Naboo pilots look like complete idiots and the TF looks even worse since they couldn't keep that dumb kid out of their ship.

 

[Shazam!]

8 year old Anakin destorying that Trade Federation ship will always make me facepalm. It makes the Naboo pilots look like complete idiots and the TF looks even worse since they couldn't keep that dumb kid out of their ship.

Lasers can't penetrate their shields but an entire starship can saunter through.

 

[cooleddie74]

Yeah, having Anakin be only 9 in Episode I certainly doesn't jibe with Sebastian Shaw's age and appearance at the end of the original version of ROTJ. Shaw in real life was in his seventies by the time Lucas and Marquand hired him to play the unmasked Vader/Anakin Skywalker and even with significant makeup as the Force-ghost of Anakin he looked WAY older than the 45 or 46 that Anakin is supposed to be when he dies. I know you can always say that Anakin's horrific injuries on Mustafar and quarter-century inside the Vader outfit resulted in him looking so old and haggard, but it's just one of the nitpicks I've always had when it came to casting a little kid as Anakin in the first prequel. But Lucas wanted him to be a kid when we first meet him so we have to live with it and try to make everything else tie together. In Episode IV Obi-Wan does call Vader "a young Jedi" so we knew long, long ago that Anakin was young when he turned to the Dark Side and betrayed the Jedi, but seeing him as a little kid of nine was a big surprise. When I pictured the first episode of the Saga I always envisioned Anakin Skywalker to be a young adult in his twenties or late teens at the earliest and old enough to be the male lead in three consecutive films.

 

[Set Harth]

Lasers can't penetrate their shields but an entire starship can saunter through.

Lasers can't penetrate the shields when they're up. The hangar shield was temporarily down to let out some droid fighters when Anakin went in. You can see them exiting the hangar just as he enters it.

In Episode IV Obi-Wan does call Vader "a young Jedi" so we knew long, long ago that Anakin was young when he turned to the Dark Side and betrayed the Jedi

The ANH novel goes even further, calling him a "boy".

 

[cooleddie74]

Lasers can't penetrate their shields but an entire starship can saunter through.

Lasers can't penetrate the shields when they're up. The hangar shield was temporarily down to let out some droid fighters when Anakin went in. You can see them exiting the hangar just as he enters it.

Totally agree. The shields were momentarily down. No Force magic here...just terrific timing on Anakin's part.

 

[DWF]

8 year old Anakin destorying that Trade Federation ship will always make me facepalm. It makes the Naboo pilots look like complete idiots and the TF looks even worse since they couldn't keep that dumb kid out of their ship.

Lasers can't penetrate their shields but an entire starship can saunter through.

Kind of like how the base in the Hoth system had a force field that needed the ATATs to walk up and destroy the generator. Or better still the Death Star's exhaust port was ray shielded but was vulnerable to proton torpedoes.