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How would the OT be received today?

Posted: 2003-05-01 02:58am
by Gandalf
Imagine that ANH is released today, just as it was originally but with good effects, no SE crap, just better effects.

How do you think it will be received?

Posted: 2003-05-01 03:06am
by avatarxprime
This might be a stupid question, but ANH is released as the beginning of the trilogy and no SW film has ever been released before or ANH is just released again?

Posted: 2003-05-01 04:03am
by Gandalf
avatarxprime wrote:This might be a stupid question, but ANH is released as the beginning of the trilogy and no SW film has ever been released before or ANH is just released again?
Sorry, I meant SW has never existed before, and this is our first taste of it.

Posted: 2003-05-01 12:24pm
by meNNis
Impossible to tell, because SW has IMHO shaped our ideas of what sci-fi is and should be, it has changed out expectations and without it, many other sci-fi's would not have been produced and who knows, the entire genre could have changed significantly since the 70's

Posted: 2003-05-07 02:35am
by Kurgan
With all the 80's hairstyles and hippie philosophical stuff it would probably be recieved as a "retro" movie and might be quite popular, actually.

Other than that, impossible to tell. It has a lot of spirit compared to some recent sci fi, and with updated effects... probably would make money.

But he's right, it has shaped our expectations, so it wouldn't quite be the revolution it was when it was released.

Seeing the SW trilogy again in theaters when it was re-released in 1997, and seeing the Wizard of Oz were both experiences that were surreal to say the least. They didn't have the same "feel" as more modern movies, but perhaps that is because I've seen them so often on the small screen prior. They're different in a good way, a timeless way....

Posted: 2003-05-07 08:45pm
by AdmiralKanos
The problem is that SW changed the whole movie industry, and without it, we might not actually have the "summer popcorn movie" standard. Before SW came out, we had what the critics called the "golden age of personal filmmaking" (read: "boring, pompous, introspective, snobby, art-house bullshit"). It redefined the whole business: the way films were financed and marketed and merchandised, etc.

It's kind of an alternate-timeline situation: without SW, who knows what the movie business would be like? Not just sci-fi, but the whole movie business.

If we assume that pop culture is pretty much the way it is now despite this historical change, it would probably not do as well. Kids today like shit like Eminem and think that "The Matrix" is profound. There's been a dumbing-down process.

Posted: 2003-05-07 10:45pm
by Gandalf
AdmiralKanos wrote:If we assume that pop culture is pretty much the way it is now despite this historical change, it would probably not do as well. Kids today like shit like Eminem and think that "The Matrix" is profound. There's been a dumbing-down process.
I remember having the "What if our lives were like in the Matrix?" conversations after the movie came out, I was not a happy man.

Posted: 2003-05-07 11:28pm
by Kurgan
Yeah. I like the Matrix and think its fun to think about.. but its a very old idea, done before (though not as slickly and with such a high profile), and some people treat it like it's "new and revolutionary" which is kind of annoying.

In a way, its very much like Highlander (and Star Wars)... fascinating philosophical concept(s) (that is an old idea, put into new packaging) that is the backdrop for a popcorn action movie.

Posted: 2003-05-08 01:53am
by Gandalf
Kurgan wrote:Yeah. I like the Matrix and think its fun to think about.. but its a very old idea, done before (though not as slickly and with such a high profile), and some people treat it like it's "new and revolutionary" which is kind of annoying.

In a way, its very much like Highlander (and Star Wars)... fascinating philosophical concept(s) (that is an old idea, put into new packaging) that is the backdrop for a popcorn action movie.
Highlander had a philosophical aspect? :?

Posted: 2003-05-08 10:02am
by Peregrin Toker
Gandalf wrote:
Kurgan wrote:Yeah. I like the Matrix and think its fun to think about.. but its a very old idea, done before (though not as slickly and with such a high profile), and some people treat it like it's "new and revolutionary" which is kind of annoying.

In a way, its very much like Highlander (and Star Wars)... fascinating philosophical concept(s) (that is an old idea, put into new packaging) that is the backdrop for a popcorn action movie.
Highlander had a philosophical aspect? :?
The whole immortality thing.
AdmiralKanos wrote: Before SW came out, we had what the critics called the "golden age of personal filmmaking" (read: "boring, pompous, introspective, snobby, art-house bullshit").
But I like really weird movies!!

Posted: 2003-05-10 07:40am
by Stuart Mackey
Lets say, for arguments, sake that Aliens takes the place of the OT in the groundbrealing role. By now the OT would be one of many good/average films it would not stand out as it actually has.
The thing with the OT, in 1977, was it had never happned before, and it set the standard, for an entire generation, as a result.