THE PHANTOM MENACE - YES!!

[Pak-Man]

Couldn't have had the Yoda/Dooku battle at all with a puppet...

[Variety of Cells]

You can't?  I do ever night.  Well, I guess it's not a puppet, more of an action figure.  But still, it's possible.

[LadyKenobi]

Couldn't have had the Yoda/Dooku battle at all with a puppet...

Well yeah, but did he have to CGI Yoda for every damn thing?  Why not use the puppet for the close-up conversations with Obi-Wan or the Jedi council?  There has to be a happy medium.  Step away from the blue screen, George.

[kodiakthejuggler]

Asking George Lucas to lay off the CGI is like asking Joss Whedon to quit writing strong women characters.

It ain't gonna happen.

[dlobro1080]

Couldn't have had the Yoda/Dooku battle at all with a puppet...

Well yeah, but did he have to CGI Yoda for every damn thing?  Why not use the puppet for the close-up conversations with Obi-Wan or the Jedi council?  There has to be a happy medium.  Step away from the blue screen, George.

I thought CGI Yoda looked great.  He played too large a role in the prequels to have him be a puppet -- and I don't think Lucas forgot or dislikes puppetry.  See the audio commentary to Empire Strikes Back.

[darthvedder81]

I am not meaning that the design team was bad per se, but where is the iconic new designs? I say there is nothing as cool in all the prequels as:
The Millinieum (sp) Falcon
AT/ATs
Snow Speeders
A Wings
Super Star Destroyers
etc...

Was there even ONE designed idea that made you want to run out and get a toy or model of it?
Everything was all chrome and new etc... I liked the 'used universe' look of the OT.
Again, I may be speaking from a jaded 'adult' point of view , but really I am still a kid in the sense that I still like to buy cool toys....
for my kids of course 

Although the camoflagued Scout Trooper armor in Sith rocked hard...

and no, I am NOT a Prequel Hater. I place 2 of them before one of the OT movies myself. I just wish they had been...more.
Especially more space battles. I mean, it is called STAR Wars. Not Jedi Fights.

I kind of see what you are saying but I think, like you said, the fact that none of the designs of the prequels stuck out to you as much has to do with you (and me!) not being an 8 year old kid anymore.

I thought the N-1 Naboo fighter, the Jedi Starfighter (both versions) and the ARC-170 were all really, really cool designs and I did in fact rush right out and get myself models of all of those.

The crome/rocketship look of things was a function of the prequels taking place in an early "craftsman" era of the saga. Then the "Clone Wars" happens and it becomes a "used" universe. I actually thought that whole thread was handled very well through the progression of the episodes. Even so, there was still a lot of the typical SW "distressing" going on it just wasn't as pronounced.

The X-Wing's, Y-Wings, ATAT's etc. are all iconic because we've seen the movies they were showcased in about a bazillion times. Talk to a younger crowd and you'll find many of them prefer the vechicles and characters of the prequels (some even prefer the movies themselves if you can believe that!).

The full CGI Yoda was amazing?especially in SITH. The light refraction and character animation was much improved and right on par with Gollum as far as an interactive CGI character. Even Frank Oz thought what Rob Coleman and the team did with Yoda was fantastic. If a genius like Frank approves that's good enough for me.

[SaucyRossy]

Asking George Lucas to lay off the CGI is like asking Joss Whedon to quit writing strong women characters.

It ain't gonna happen.

I resent that comment. As a Whedonite (whedon fanboy) he has always had strong male characters. Mal Reynolds?

[LadyKenobi]

YMMV, but I just never bought the close-up shots.  It's a stunning piece of computer animation, but I was never able for a second to forget the fact that it was... computer animation.

see the audio commentary

I know what you mean to say, but... let's just think about how this is worded for a second here...

[Pak-Man]

Oh and one other thing Ep 1 gave us: Destroyer Droids. They just rock. :^)

[kodiakthejuggler]

Asking George Lucas to lay off the CGI is like asking Joss Whedon to quit writing strong women characters.

It ain't gonna happen.

I resent that comment. As a Whedonite (whedon fanboy) he has always had strong male characters. Mal Reynolds?

Oh I never alluded to his male characters at all. Of course, any Joss fan can tell you that he writes many strong characters, both male and female. I was just alluding to the fact that so many people would ask him why he writes strong female characters, and he has said numerous times that he'll never stop writing strong female characters.

That's all. No worries!

[PlayMSTie]

Gonna tiptoe away from the Whedon discussion now -- if I piped up with my opinion of those wonderful characters of his, I'd be drummed right off the board. (Although I do like "Firefly" much, much better than Gabby the Vampire Layer "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." Not that that's saying much, because I like test patterns better than "Buffy." But "Firefly" is a huge improvement.)

ANyway . . .

What I really came here to say was, "It's 'Phantom Menace' Day! Yaaay!" 

ETA: I've been feeling guilty ever since I wrote that. I apologize for the snippiness. The fact is I just can't abide Whedon's writing most of the time, but that's no excuse for rudeness. I wouldn't like it if someone went off on one of my favorite writers like that. So, I'm sorry.

[dignan]

Has anyone here seen the show Spaced, starring Simon Pegg of Shaun of the Dead?  His reaction to The Phantom Menace is quite awesome. 

Here's one of the clips, actually:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uc7vwz32pkc

Ah...love that show.

[kodiakthejuggler]

Has anyone here seen the show Spaced, starring Simon Pegg of Shaun of the Dead?  His reaction to The Phantom Menace is quite awesome. 

Here's one of the clips, actually:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uc7vwz32pkc

Ah...love that show.

That was freakin' brilliant!!!!!!!!!!

[Cap'n UKRiffer]

Has anyone here seen the show Spaced, starring Simon Pegg of Shaun of the Dead? 

One of my favourite shows, makes me proud to be British 

A later scene has Tim working at a new comic book store and him having to hold his anger in when a kid comes up asking him if theres any Jar Jar toys and him going through the different types of jar jar toys they have through gritted teeth.

[Shinigami]

I love Spaced.  I especially liked how they got Ray Park to be his rival, and even had him talk like Darth Maul.