YouTube Goodness

[Randall]

When I watch the ST:TOS Blu-rays now, I do tend to watch the CGI upgrade versions, partly because I've seen the originals enough times by now. The CGI generally works well, and is respectful of the original look of the show. It also jazzes things up quite a bit (e.g. fly-bys over planets), without looking out of place. The remasters look so good, that the original grainy effects shots can look look pretty terrible by comparison with non-effetcs shots.

If Uni had gone ahead with a CGI upgrade of BG, with a proper budget, it could have worked just as well or better. Yes, it would be nice to see a greater variety of battle scene shots.

[GeorgeC]

Well,

Credit has to be given to Galactica for having some of the highest-quality effects ever seen in a network sci-fi series. It looked just as good as Star Wars if not better in some ways.

Honestly, a lot of the sci-fi movies and this show (of the late 1970s and early 1980s) had very good art design (the best-looking spaceship models I've seen in film were built during this time) and some of the effects have not been equalled in CG. For instance, nobody's done a battle sequence anywhere near as complicated/sophisticated as the Battle of Endor in Return of the Jedi. (In the same way, I got spoiled by the Indiana Jones movies... I just haven't seen an action/adventure film as good as Raiders of the Lost Ark since the early 1980s.) I've seen a lot of CG effects shows of battles where they basically duplicate the movement of one ship and an entire fleet of ships move like the frontline of a wave of soldiers. They did that in the later seasons of Deep Space Nine, for example...

In Jedi, the effects crews went the extra mile to avoid having that effect and the ships and fighters weaved in and out around each other going in different directions like any one with common sense would in real life! These were like real dogfights not tightly choreographed ballet. Real life is far more chaotic when people are trying to survive or kill each other! Furthermore, I still catch the occasional CG shot of a starship that doesn't look anywhere near as convincing as the old way when films were shot with large miniatures. There's a quality of 'being there' that a real-life model has that a CG model often lacks unless they go the extra mile to mimic real-life lighting better in CG. Detailed texturing is another thing. As much as I hated the look of the JJ-prise in the last two Star Trek movies they at least did a nice job mimicking the surface mica/tiled look of the Enterprise in the first six Star Trek movies.

[Dacey]

[EricJ]

And because it's one of the few places it hasn't been posted yet--
Why 50 Shades of Gray will be snubbed at the Oscars next year:

[GeorgeC]

RIP, Leonard Nimoy

I really, really don't like this TV show (oh, but I love the original Star Trek) very much BUT did see this clip on YouTube years ago and found it mildly amusing.

P.S. -- Due to my respect of the man, there was no way in heaven that I was going to post a link to the Bilbo Baggins song today! (Maybe in another year or two if somebody else hasn't already done that... but NOT today!)

I do have his old Spock album on CD, though...
It sits next to Shatner's Transformed Man CD album.





He had a sense of humor about Star Trek but was respectful of the series and the fanbase.
He will be missed...

[James]

Wes Anderson's The Uncanny X-Men

[Ben]

Aargh! Not available in my country...again! I was hoping James' link might work, but no...I'll have to wait until someone reposts this under a different account.

[Daniel]

This link should work.

[Ben]

Indeed it does! Thanks!

Excellent...by far the most precise and perfectly made fan trailer mash up thingy I have ever seen. Perfectly judged, cast, shot, performed, edited, scored...the thing is just spot on.

I now want to see Wes Anderson make a superhero film...

[ShyViolet]

That...was...wonderful!! I love X-Men and Wes Anderson so it was total heaven. Congrats to those who made it!

[GeorgeC]

They're BAAAAACK...

The last Mel Brooks film that I really, really liked.
(And the only decent Hollywood parody of Star Wars.)





Details of a new Blu ray edition of Spaceballs from TheDigitalBits.com:

=> "Spaceballs: “Your Helmet Is So Big” Edition Blu-ray on 4/28. Extras will include a digital copy, the ability to watch the movie at Ludicrous Speed, audio commentary by Mel Brooks, additional commentary tracks in Mawgese and Dinkese, the Spaceballs: The Documentary documentary, featurettes (including Force Yourself!, Spaceballs and the Skroobing of Sci-Fi, In Conversation: Mel Brooks and Thomas Meehan, and John Candy: Comic Spirit), a storyboard-to-film comparison, Film Flubs, 3 galleries (Behind the Movie, The Costumes, The Art), the exhibitor trailer with Mel Brooks introduction, and the original theatrical trailer."

Honestly, I don't know how this differs from the original Blu ray but I'll probably wait for this one to come out before I make up my mind... I've been wanting this movie in my film library for a LONG time!

[Randall]

I think the special features are the same as the last BD release (i.e. the 25th Ann. Ed., which was itself the second BD release of the film). The first BD had a bad transfer, I think the second BD (which I have) bettered it. Not sure on this third release--- might just be a new cover.

[Ben]

I have the two disc DVD and pretty much all those extras sound familiar. Might be nice to have it in HD though.

[GeorgeC]

Can't resist posting one more clip...

The best "lightsaber fight" after Return of the Jedi.

May the Schwartz be with you!




(And the introductory speech about character relationships arguably shows Star Trek was written and planned better than Star Wars much as I hate to say that about an old sci-fi TV show that had no consistency in the order of Star Dates or said exactly how fast Warp 7 was.. Still, at least Uhura didn't turn out to be Kirk's half-sister. That would have put an icky twist on the kiss in "Plato's Stepchildren" much like the retcon in Luke-Leia's relationship in ROTJ gave new meaning to their kisses in ANH and TESB...)

[Ben]

I remember being at the last ever theatrical showing of the original SW trilogy right across the road from where they were made at Elstree studios, in summer 1996, when we ran the three original versions on the big screen back to back to back.

It was full of SW fans all in costume, etc, and we all knew the films and that, but a classic moment came in Empire when Leia kisses Luke to peeve off Han, and someone piped up from the audience, "we know something you don't know" in a na-na-na-naa-nah kinda way. Priceless.