Giant Freakin Robot

Every once in a while there’s a story that flies under our radar but which simply must be given its moment in the spotlight. The release of more Star Wars concept art is an interesting but hardly earth-shattering semi-regular event these days, and it’ll only become more prevalent in coming years as new Star Wars movies roll into theaters. But for this story we’re looking back, not forward, back to a time before the prequels had erupted through our collective childhoods, covering everything in a sickly sheen of too-pristine CGI and Gungan poop. Because while I’m not sure if The Phantom Menace would have been any better if Qui-Gon Jinn had been sporting a mohawk, that’s an unrealized reality I would totally be willing to take for a test drive.

Before Disney’s acquisition of Lucasfilm back in October 2012, George Lucas’ company was planning to re-release the prequel trilogy in theaters with a brand new 3D up-conversion. The Phantom Menace had already seen its way back into theaters and took an additional $102.7 million to Episode I‘s now impressive $1 billion worldwide box office. With the promise of Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith seeing their own 3D up-conversion re-releases just around the corner, Disney instead canceled the prequel re-releases to focus on the new Star Wars: Episode VII. It seems that Disney is now reconsidering a 3D re-release for Episodes II and III.

According to Jedi News, new theater showings in the Netherlands suggest that Disney might actually re-release Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith in 3D next year. According to the source, the prequel films would open on December 31, 2014 in the Netherlands.

It was something I haven’t come across anywhere else, so the first thing I did, was call to confirm it. And they did. On the website they have Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith listed for December 31st, 2014, both movies in 3D!

This week Google changed the settings on YouTube, one of their most popular services, to improve the platforms’ comments section. For years, YouTube’s comments have been notorious for a large array of sexist, homophobic, and downright mean spirited and juvenile comments. To make the service a cleaner, more constructive platform, the Internet giant made it mandatory for all users to comment with a Google+ account, effectively merging the unpopular Google+ with the extremely popular YouTube. The thought behind the change is that, forced to us their real names instead of hiding behind anonymous avatars, people will think twice about leaving nasty comments.

Needless to say, users were vocally upset about the changes, but in true Internet fashion, a few expressed their displeasure creatively, making YouTube memes to get their points across. User The Amazing Atheist created a NSFW video highlighting how various movies might react to Google’s new policy. Short, funny, and to the point, this showcases some of the best (and a few obscure) genre movies to illustrate the community’s frustrations.

Yes, the prequels are terrible! Yes, Jar-Jar Binks ruined Star Wars! Yes, George Lucas killed my childhood! While most of these statements are usually the first thing you think of when someone mentions The Phantom Menace or Midichlorians, the third film in the prequel trilogy is not a bad movie, as it often teeters on being OK. Revenge of the Sith is the darkest of all the Star Wars movies and is the only film in the saga> that has a PG-13 rating. While that doesn’t usually translate to high quality, George Lucas finished the prequel trilogy correctly with heavy action and less trade dispute talk.

The below concept art from Sang jun Lee speaks volumes to what George Lucas wanted to see on the big screen for Revenge of the Sith. The Wookie warriors are really impressive with battle gear and shields, while the images of the Pau’an are much creepier than what is in the final film. Just looking at the Clonetrooper fighter pilot and you can see that Revenge had to have a design that bridged it to A New Hope. It looks very familiar to what the Stormtroopers eventually looked like in Episode IV.

Now that Disney owns Lucasfilm, it looks like they will change the company’s direction, namely with decisions made before the Mouse House acquired them. It appears that Lucasfilm will no longer be re-releasing Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith in 3D later this year. Lucasfilm will now focus all of their attention on the new Star Wars films.

According to Deadline.com, after the weak box office returns on The Phantom Menace 3D up-conversion re-release last February, Lucasfilm decided not to do the same with the remaining films in the Star Wars prequel trilogy. The two films were slated to be re-released in theaters this fall, with Attack of the Clones 3D on September 20th and Revenge of the Sith 3D on October 11th. The Phantom Menace 3D opened to a disappointing $23 million box office.

Lucasfilm made the announcement to re-release the Star Wars saga in theaters with a 3D up-conversion treatment back in September 2010. They announced their plans to re-release Attack of the Clones 3D and Revenge of the Sith 3D back-to-back at Star Wars Celebration VI last August, after the final numbers on The Phantom Menace 3D were dwindling.

Art critic Camille Paglia wants American culture to embrace the story of art, which is why in her new book — Glittering Images: A Journey Through Art from Egypt to Star Wars — she contends that George Lucas’ Revenge of the Sith is the greatest work of art created in the last 30 years.

We’ll give you a few moments to let you process that. Maybe she watched Revenge of the Sith with the sound off?

In an interview with Vice.com, Paglia says:

The long finale of Revenge of the Sith has more inherent artistic value, emotional power, and global impact than anything by the artists you name. It’s because the art world has flat-lined and become an echo chamber of received opinion and toxic over-praise. It’s like the emperor’s new clothes — people are too intimidated to admit what they secretly think or what they might think with their blinders off…

I had considered using Japanese anime for the digital art chapter of the book, but it lacked the overwhelming operatic power and yes, seriousness of Lucas’s Revenge of the Sith.