Star Wars Relevations
Whoa, just finished watching Star Wars: Relevations, and I have to say, I was totally blown away. I first read about Relevations in the Technology Review's article on intellectual property. The general gist is simple, George Lucas has an interesting deal on his copyright of the Star Wars franchise. Authors and such are allowed to freely make spinoffs as long as they make no profit, rather like a Creative Commons No Commercial By Attribution license. As a result, a large number of film makers and such have made a large number of short fan films and such relating to the Star Wars franchise. One group (Panic Struck Productions) decided to take the idea a bit further, creating a 48 minute movie set between Episodes III and Episodes IV, and then allow the movie to be freely downloaded. This is no Flash based 5 minute bs, but rather a full fleshed production. Now how long until the rest of the industry realizes the beauty of new licesning techniques?
The computer graphics in the movie are simply amazing. The one drawback is the fact that I was viewing the movie in WMV, so naturally there was some compression loss. Nonetheless, amazing space combat sequences with the level of thrill of the classic trilogy, but with the graphics of the new trilogy. Furthermore, rather good costuming, though it would have been nice to see more extraterrestial characters. The beauty of the classics was the introduction of non-humanoid life forms, and sadly, they only have a small role in the film. Good scripting, with the wittier dialogue of the classic trilogy, none of the "Anakin, hold me like you held me at Naboo" bs. The plot feels more like an Star Wars Expanded Universe story (where there are no clear good/bad, betrayals, plot twists), which was good for me, but might be a bit different for someone used to the movie plots. The sets feel rather authentic, and ironically enough, it was only after viewing the film that I discovered that a sizable portion of the film was shot in Centreville and Central Virginia. The acting is not quite at the level of the classic trilogy, but better than Episode I/II. Rather amazing for an all volunteer crew and cast, most of which had never actually met each other in person, but rather done the work together over the internet.
The computer graphics in the movie are simply amazing. The one drawback is the fact that I was viewing the movie in WMV, so naturally there was some compression loss. Nonetheless, amazing space combat sequences with the level of thrill of the classic trilogy, but with the graphics of the new trilogy. Furthermore, rather good costuming, though it would have been nice to see more extraterrestial characters. The beauty of the classics was the introduction of non-humanoid life forms, and sadly, they only have a small role in the film. Good scripting, with the wittier dialogue of the classic trilogy, none of the "Anakin, hold me like you held me at Naboo" bs. The plot feels more like an Star Wars Expanded Universe story (where there are no clear good/bad, betrayals, plot twists), which was good for me, but might be a bit different for someone used to the movie plots. The sets feel rather authentic, and ironically enough, it was only after viewing the film that I discovered that a sizable portion of the film was shot in Centreville and Central Virginia. The acting is not quite at the level of the classic trilogy, but better than Episode I/II. Rather amazing for an all volunteer crew and cast, most of which had never actually met each other in person, but rather done the work together over the internet.